>> these. a commitment to a cease-fire on ukraine's eastern border. the u.s. applies to russia's demands in a letter hand-delivered in moscow. we have the analysis coming up. emmanuel macron has identified one of the most controversial episodes in the algerian war. party gate closes in on the u.k.

prime minister accusing him of lying to parliament over his 56th birthday party. they demand he resign. this is life in paris. thank you for being with us. there is a commitment to an unconditional cease-fire on the ukraine russia border. talks held in paris in the normandy format set up initially in 2014 to address the crisis. this represents the most positive news yet in the crisis that has many fearing a war on ukraine's border were -- where

russia has stationed troops. the french minister says that france is working flat out with its european partners and the united states to find ways to de-escalate the crisis in ukraine. >> it's important signal. emmanuel macron said we are looking for always to de-escalate the situation and signal the escalation. with this discussion that lasted very long, or than eight hours of discussion in this format that we couldn't manage to get together since 2019, we finally had a communication and it was the first one in this format since 2019. if you look at what is stated in it, they managed to agree on

several points. still a lot of differences, but they managed to agree on the fact that the minsk agreement is relevant to the discussion. that the cease-fire should be respected and that is very important part. the last one is that there is a second meeting planned in berlin in a couple of weeks. this is already a path and we hope out of this that this could lead to the de-escalation we are all looking for. there are several discussions ongoing. the letter that was replied to the russians by the americans is one thing that was intensely discussed with also european partners. there is a second letter in the nato format that is being discussed in the framework of the alliance. we also have discussions ongoing

. we are pushing forward all of these diplomatic ways in order to de-escalate the situation to underline how much -- howwant serious situation is. emmanuel macron was one of the first leaders pushing for re-engagement with russia on the basis that we need to have this discussion for the sake of european security and today we see that. we need to have this discussion, emmanuel macron has had the occasion to have this frank discussion with vladimir putin. it is not for me to disclose the discussion that will take place on friday. obviously, we will push on all of these different aspects of the discussions. i want to remind that this comes in a framework where we have been very clear and very unanimous in the eu but also with our allies in nato to state

clearly that there would be masse consequences and heavy price to pay for russia if they were to take any action against ukrainian integrity. we had the 2014 crisis. we have already precedent that we can learn the lesson from parted what we learned is that we need to be united. that is the message that has been sent clearly. you can take it back in december when the g7 then the european council stated clearly what kind of consequences russia would face in case of action against ukraine. what we learn from our precedent history is that we need to be very cohesive in the response we

give to the russians and that is what we see today. that is what emmanuel macron and schulz demonstrated in berlin. discussing the crisis in ukraine. the u.s. ambassador to russia has delivered a letter to russia's foreign minister in response to moscow's demands on the ukraine crisis. lavrov says it will take retaliatory measures if the demands are not met. russia demands that ukraine not be allowed to join nato. antony blinken has said that nato's door remains open. >> make includes concerns of the united states and our partners about russia's actions that

undermine security. an evaluation of russia's concerns and our proposals for places where we may be ill-defined common ground. there are principles that we are committed to uphold and defend including ukraine's sovereignty and the right of states to choose their own security arrangements and alliances. >> the view is that there is this commitment to an unconditional cease-fire. more talks to take place with this normandy format in berlin into weeks time. we will stay on all development's for you. next, joe biden says he will stand by a pledge to propose a black woman on the supreme court. the time could be now as justice breyer is said to retire at the current term and. he is the oldest current member of the court. the supreme court is tipped politically towards republicans.

former president trump appointed three new supreme court justices with republican leanings. >> first of all, it's not going to change the conservative majority that you just mentioned. it will not change up the political makeup of the court. it could change the way the court is seen as representing the population of the united states, because if you think about it, so far in the history of the united states there have been 115 supreme court justices. only seven of those have not been white men. that is important because when joe biden was a candidate running for the presidency, he said if you got the opportunity, he would like to nominate a black woman. he is likely to do good on that

campaign promise. the other thing that is important is that this is an opportunity for joe biden to deliver on something that his base, the liberals have been calling for for months. even more so since the death of ruth bader ginsburg september 2020 before the presidential elections because they lost someone who was seen as a liberal icon. since then, they have been pushing for stephen breyer to retire in time to give the possibility to joe biden to appoint a replacement to him on the bench. that is important because the midterms are coming up soon. november 2022. what the left wants is for joe biden to be able to nominate and confirm through the senate his appointee before the midterm

elections because there is a good chance that the democrats could lose the majority in the senate then lose the opportunity to be able to push through their own nominees for the supreme court. it could go very fast if you take the example of ruth bader ginsburg, she died at the end of september. a week later amy coney barrett was nominated by donald trump and one month later, she was confirmed by the senate. we could see that process go through possibly before the summer. that's what the democrats would hope for, that this process goes fast and is done way before the elections. >> emmanuel macron has made a gesture to the victims of the julia -- algerian war of independence. he's is recognized shooting as a massacre.

>> their families were among the 800,000 french citizens who fled their homes when algeria gained -- gained independence. 60 years later, emmanuel macron recognized the pain of those born in colonial algeria. he recognized massacres including one in which dozens of anti-independence protesters were shocked by french forces. >> 60 years later, france recognizes this tragedy and i say it today loud and clear, the massacre of the 26th of march, 1962 is unforgivable for the french republic. >> it is a step toward reconciliation with france's community which he angered during his campaign when he called colonialism a crime against humanity.

since taking office, he has about to heal the wounds of the war which ended over a decade before he was born. he commissioned a report on france's colonial legacy by a historian. in september, he asked forgiveness on behalf of france for abandoning muslim algerians who fought with the french army. he apologized for demonstrators who were brutally beaten in 1961. with this latest recognition of this, he seems determined to acknowledge all parties involved in the algerian conflict. it is a political tightrope he will have to walk through the 60th anniversary of the end of the war in march. just weeks ahead of the first round of the presidential election. >> party gate rumbles on in the u.k..

boris johnson refuted calls to resign over his downing street and -- his 56th birthday party apparently had 30 people present. his rules at the time limited such gatherings to only two people. a report is pending publication. a police investigation is underway. >> since it applies to him, will he know resign? >> no, mr. speaker. >> does the prime minister really not understand the damage his behavior is doing to our country? >> mr. speaker, i hope that the right honorable gentleman understands that the issue that he raises is important, there is simply no way as he knows.

>> we await the publication of the report. we await the results of the police inquiry. we are hearing that more conservatives are poised to send letters of no-confidence to boris johnson. has boris johnson broken the ministerial code and should he >> that will be decided in part by the report tomorrow. there will be a political judgment start to be formed by mp's who decide whether his actions were serious enough to mean that they lose confidence in him. it is likely that he did in some way reached -- breach of the code.

he is likely to dismiss it as a trivial matter rather than serious. the public may disagree. i think boris johnson has gained a reputation as somebody who has a loose association with the truth. on occasion, he has misled the public and he has got away with it because it has worked for him. this is something that most ordinary people i think understand. he misled the people it appears about his activities in downing street and there was a time when he was demanding and asking all the people to stay-at-home and limit their social interaction. it appears as though personnel were engaged in parties and this is bitterly disillusioned even his strongest supporters. >> booze being carted in a

suitcase, it is all in the public domain. unofficial report is pending publication. there is a police investigation underway. does anything surprise a seasoned lyrical observer like yourself? seasoned politicalbserver like yourself? >> we have become very used to things. a prime minister's activities being the subject of a police investigation is novel. there were investigations of tony blair at the time, so there is historical precedent, this is not something that most prime ministers can ever seriously contemplate. his activities, those of his closest advisors are being scrutinized by the police and that in itself is symbolic and

has caused a lot of upset amongst the public and the conservative party. >> if you or i were subject to that, we would at least be put on suspension by our employers. thank you for giving us some insight into what is taking place. let's give you some football news. egypt knocking ivory coast under the africa cup of nations. as i understand it, the other game is still playing.

we love the africa cup of nations. time for business. america central bank is laying out its plan to wrap up the emergency support it is been given during the pandemic. >> it is highly invested -- anticipated by investors. the central bank says it will phase out its monthly bond purchases by march and if the recovery remains on track, it is likely to raise interest rates which sit between 0% and .25%. analysts expect up to five rate hikes in 2022. inflation hit a near 40 year high of 7% in december. >> the drivers of higher inflation have been predominately connected to the dislocations caused by the pandemic, price increases have spread to a broader range of goods and services.

we understand that high inflation imposes significant hardship especially on those least able to meet the higher cost of essentials like food, housing, and transportation. we believe the best thing we can do to support continue labor market gains is to promote a long expansion. that will require price stability. >> earlier, i spoke to a representative from oxford economics. >> the fed sent a clear signal that they're going to be raising interest rates at the march meeting. everything else in the policy statement and what jay powell had to say in his press remarks so far is in line with our forecast which is for the fed to raise interest rates a total of four times this year. they signaled that they will be withdrawing some of the other emergency support that they have provided during the pandemic.

primarily, they're going to start reducing the massive portfolio of securities they have acquired which has been another way of propping up the economy during the pandemic. >> the main focus at the moment is trying to get a handle on this hot inflation we have seen in the u.s.. 7% in the month of december. remind us how the fed's actions are intended to do that. >> this is an unusual experience where much of this inflation is driven by supply-side bottlenecks arising from the pandemic. in reality, the feds traditional tools are not really designed to address that. raising interest rates and withdrawing other measures of support will suppressed demand a little bit. the fed expects that that will help chip away at the high

inflation rates at the same time that supply chain bottlenecks start to ease. >> another volatile session on wall street saw u.s. stocks giving up earlier gains for relatively flat closed. the 10-year treasury yield climbed above 1.8% as investors digested what could be an aggressive stance from the fed in tightening monetary policy. the european indices closed higher. more than one third of workers at the french power giant went on strike today over the governments efforts to reduce electricity bills. it resulted in a 3% reduction in power production. >> more than one third of the employees were on strike on wednesday including these workers at a nuclear plant in

northern france to protest against government orders that they cut price energy to its competitors. [speaking foreign language] >> french authorities have imposed a 4% cap on an increase of energy bills. the measure is expected to cost the company nearly 8.5 billion euros striking criticism at the french power giant which generates 70% of the country's electricity with its 56 nuclear reactors. [speaking foreign language]

>> the government which owns 84% of the shares says the concerns are unfounded. >> edf is already struggling with maintenance of aging nuclear reactors and cost overruns for its project for a new power plant in northern france. >> high stakes for french households. >> thank you very much. true thing or faking, that's the question. enigmatic as ever, great to see you. >> your first story takes us to quebec.

walmart stores applying different rules for unvaccinated customers in line with new legislation and there is some fake news circulating. >> looking at some of the tweets , they are pointing the finger of blame at walmart who they view as unfair toward the unvaccinated. it is generated an appeal for boycott of walmart stores in quebec. what they were pointing to was these special chambers you can see here. there appear to have been barriers installed in walmart stores with glass paneling that could be moved around. it left a lot of people

concerned that this is how the unvaccinated visitor would be treated, they would be caged. walmart says that those unvaccinated wait to be escorted to the pharmacy. indeed, the vaccine pass is ambitious to say the least it is being introduced in quebec and it means you cannot get into places like walmart unless you produce the vaccine past. what about people who want to access pharmaceutical products in walmart in canada? what they have done in order to make an exception for that for people to come in and get their medical necessities is to wait and be escorted by member of staff. if that is true and that has been verified, walmart were quick to point out and it

appears to be true that these cubicles are for staff, not for customers. it is to allow staff members to stand in a protective manner while they process the vaccine passports of the customers which does make a lot more sense. if you're going to put your staff in eight protected zone, then ask and unvaccinated customers to go into an enclosed environment pretty horrified people -- that horrified people that they would be excluding the unvaccinated. quebec has gone the furthest of any jurisdiction in taking measures like this. if you don't produce a vaccine passport, you won't be able to get into -- or even to buy cannabis.

you can't get into a walmart, that is true unless you are going to the pharmacy part of the store in which case you have to be escorted and you can't go into an off license. that has generated division and controversy online and in the midst of all that, you get a little bit of fake news through into the mix. there you go. >> online claims to show a hidden message for joe biden. >> we don't have to go into the origins of the meme. >> are people taking that seriously?

>> new york post tweet it is actually photoshopped by the satirical account. that is the original image which was shared by the new york post. there were four marsh -- formations of troops on the ukrainian border. you could say some of it looks like letters appear. people got very carried away and it was shared as fact. that's one of the pitfalls of satire. >> people are daft. [laughter] you are a shiny beacon of truth. pleasure to see. great to see you.

thanks to you all for watching. stay with us. you are watching france 24. óc

01/26/22 01/26/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> what we have seen over the last tee years is the collapse of cooperation and solidarity. absolutely no reason why the continent of africa should be back behind having 7% of the population fully immunized, a continent of 1.2 billion people, toy