>> you are watching live from paris. these are our headlines this evening. in new york, at least 17 people have been injured after a gunman opened fire in rush hour on a subway train. we will bring the latest on that tragedy. russian troops have intensified a campaign to take the port city of mariupol, what is expected to be a massive onslaught across eastern ukraine. and the second round of the french presidential election with both candidates campaigning hard.

the first round was last sunday. >> thank you for watching. we start in new york for 17 people have been injured after commuters for shot in an subway in brooklyn. five reported to be in critical condition and police are still searching for the shooter. a reporter in new york has been following those events. let's take a listen to her. >> the attachappened a about 8:30 in the morning during rush hour here at the 30 six st station and sunset park, brooklyn. we have reports from witnesses

who say that there was a man on the train wearing a gray houthi and -- a gray hoodie and a green construction mass, who put on a gas mk and got out a canister, spreading smoke throughout the train carriage. he then opened fire on the passengers. witnesses described chaos as passengers fled out the doors of that subway train as it arrived athe station in brooklyn. some people fell to the ground with gunshot wounds to the legs. police say they don't know which way the suspect fle, if you ntinued that train or came out of the subway station here in brooklyn. this active shooter is still at large. the whole area here had been cordoned off earlier but it is gradually opening up. children are being kept inside lol schools until the

situation stabilized, but now police are saying they're not treating this as an active terrorism, but at this stage, nothing can be ruled out. james: and a tougher than expected fight for reelection in france. on tuesday he was campaigning in eastern city. he will face arima pin -- marine le pen. both candidates are focusing on domestic issues such as -- >> i intend to implement a new democratic rectus. that means that going forward, the prince -- presidential

election will not determine all subsequent decisions for the coming years. is it possible to propose a measure more democratic than this? i intend to consult the only expert that macron ever consulted, the people. people don't want to work in these conditions. they don't work -- they don't want to work seven days out of 74 pay that is inadequate. >> do you know what it is like to work 38 hour shifts in a row? >> we were given 183 euros, but we don't feel it. >> we are not able to take em al in. james: we're joined by dr. paul smith, a professor of french studies, do discuss -- to discuss the upcoming second

round of the french presidential election. thank you for talking with us this evening on "france 24." . it's the same two candidates as last time, the final score five years ago, 66% for emmanuel macron and 34% for le pen. the polls are very tight this time around. they are within the margin of error. so this could go either way, couldn't it? >> the polls are predicting 44 vers 54. he is now the incumbent and ta lae exten he's done a lot of campaigning as a candidate, but also it is kind of a referendum on the last five years. that is part of the problem he's got to confront. james: what would you say first of all, to look at the far right

challenger, would you say it is fair to say we are witnessing the normalization of the far right here in france after the campaign that was a bit me radical tn le pen? has she bn made more palatable to a segment of the french that would have not been far right? >> it is partly to do with media coverage and with the way the other parties have responded, thinking to have to respond by trying to fight the far right. normalization has been there since 20 tevin -- in 2012. it's looking very tight. it has made her -- if you look at her program, all of the bold policies are there with regard

to nationality and such. she stepped back from radicalism and played much more the role of being out and talking to people. we heard and that extract their, she has very much played that kind of part. she has tried to be the candidate of pure populism this time around and it has worked. james: what of the candidates attacks to chi away at the far left candidate who got 30% of the voting? who is more likely to be successful, and tell us why? >> there are difficulties on both sides.

e a lot of very angry , whether the yellowjacket movement or whatever they were. they are going to struggle to get over that visceral dislike of macron and his elitist image. le pen, but that's not the same -- he said not to vote for le pen, but that's not the same thing at all. macron has not done a good job and moving the left, either. james: one word on the specter of the high rate of abstention. we saw it in the first round,

there were quite high rates of abstention. it looks pretty likely that a lot of people will stay away from the polls on sunday the 24th, doesn't it? >> that's one of the suggestions, i'm not absolutely convinced. we might have a drop of 5%. we had this kind of discussion before in 2017. it was much more of a drop off than we were anticipating. i think there will be a turnout because people are committed to this, but they are going to have to make some very difficult decisions. james: we will be keeping an ion all of that over the next 12 days. thank you for that, paul smith. russian troops have intensified their campaign to take the city of mariupol. officials in the united states, the u.k. and australia said they were investigating claims russi. it was confirmed that russiaforf

chemical weapons and a final push to seize the city. we have this report. >> it's the last stand for mariupol, the destroyed port city is in a decisive phase. it could fter russ at any moment. advisor said ukrainian forces had been closed in on. >> tens of thousands dead. 90% of houses destroyed. ukrainian soldiers are surrounded and blocked. >> moscow's troops suffocate the city and have advance into the center. what is left is the industrial district where ukrainian soldiers are holed up. it's the only area they remain in control of. russian president vladimir putin

said in a press conference with his belarusian counterpart that the invasion was inevitable. >> what's happening in ukraine is a tragedy. there was no other choice, it was only a matter of time. >> pollutants defiant remarks come as the military unit said russian forces dropped a chemical agent onto the steel plant. a telegram claimed many were ill. a pro-russian separatists spokesperson -- the united states, the united kingdom and australia are investigating the unverified information. if confirmed, it would be the first known use of chemical weapons are russia during its invasion of ukraine. james: meanwhile, russian troops have withdrawn from the suburbs

ofkyiv, the horrors of residents are being reported. some have gone so far to say rep -- rape is being used as a weapon of war by russian soldiers. >> this is anna. she lives in a quiet hborhood, 75 kilometers west of kyiv. she said russian soldiers raped her. her name has been changed in her face blurred to protect her identity. >> [speaking foreign language] >> anna says her attacker was a chechen soldier. russian soldiers entered while he was raping her and took him

away. they enter the house and found viagra. >> [speaking foreign language] >> just down the road from anna, her neighbor said the same chechen soldier raped another woman. inside theouse, this note was left on a mirror, written lipstick. it reads, tortured by unknown people, buried by russian soldiers. anna's story is one of many that are being reported from areas around kyiv. the president of human rights organization say they have documented several cases of rape. they called on the u.n. to investigate war crimes. >> we want you to hear our voices that violence and rape are used as a weapon now by russia. >> the priority is to provide

survivors with report. the director of the agency has called for an interview -- independent investigation into all allegations of rape and sexual violence. james: following a string of deadly attacks in israel over the past few weeks, the israeli army has been tracking down palestinian suspects in the west bank. searchers have been intense in the hometown of several palestinians who carried out attacks recently. forces have been on high alert and are trying to prevent anymore attacks. we have this report. >> israeli soldiers continue their searches for the fourth day. they are trying to track down palestinians who are suspected of having played a role in the recent attacks seen in israel. some of the assailants were from here, a militant stronghold in the northern west bank. several palestinians have been killed during the operations in the west bank. on monday, thousands of people

attended the funeral of a 17 year old who was reportedly killed as he made his way home unarmed. >> mohamed was coming home from work to break his fast when they shot at him. he wasn't carrying any weapons. >> around 30 palestinians have been arrested in just one week. the israeli army's claims it has thwarted 16 attacks. since march 22, the country has been marked by a spate of deadly attacks. 14 people have died. this tuesday, and israeli police officer was stabbed. his assailant was killed. overall, 15 palestinians, including assailants, have been killed from the uptick in violence. last year they escalated into a deadly war in the gaza strip. james: time for business with kate moody. as the war in ukraine continues, international organizations are

mobilizing for emergency aid. kate: one of europe's poorest nations, moldova, has seen an influx in immigrants and is also dealing with rising food and energy prices. approving 267 million dollars in additional financing today, the imf said they are appropriate prioritizing measures to deal with the humanitarian crisis but that it needed help to deal with those rising costs. the world bank is also eparing to release $100 million worth of bonds from moldova -- formal dover and is preparing $1.5 billion in support for ukraine. it will find hospital workers in social groups there. the war has led to higher cost and growth across -- across much of the globe. the wto said international trade will grow much less than expected this year. it cited a double whammy of the

pandemic and the war. the revised its forecast to 3% grth in trade of goods for the year ahead. also warning potential food crisis is looming, especially in developing countries, as a result of the disruption from the war in ukraine. inflation has hit a fresh for year high in the united states. consumer prices were on average a .5% higher in march than a year earlier, the fastest rise since 1981. is the first round of data from the u.s. to reflect the impact of russia's invasion to ukraine and the disruption and supply chains and energy supplies in particular. inflation was pule -- fueled by 32% pricing energy, food prices rose 8.8 percent, used cars were 35% more expensive. you strip out food and energy

prices, the core inflation rate is at a 40 year high of 6.5%. it shows signs of moderating, that .3% rise in core inflation february was significantly lower than expected. some analysts say it is a sign inflation pete may have been reached. the white house has blamed that inflation spike what it described as prudence price hike . in an effort to lower prices at the pump, president biden is waiving regulation on biofuel plans for -- for the next few months, yocan buy fueled mix with 15% ethanol rather than the usual 10%. he has ordered the release of 180 million barrels of oil from the nation's strategic reserves to boost supply and lower costs. let's check in on the day's trading action, wall street close down about .3% in the red across the board. the yield a return on the

treasury bound -- european indices closed in the red as well at about .5%. less in paris. emmanuel macron maybe watering down his efforts to reform france's pension system. with less than two weeks until the second round of presidential elections, he told voters he might be flexible about raising the retirement age to 65 and even open the door to a possible referendum on the issue. his rival has accused him of pandering. she insists her own reforms would be better for french pensioners. james mulholland has more. >> is there room for compromise on the? ? controversial issue of pensions reform incumbent president emmanuel macron has long vowed to raise the retirement age to 65 from 62. he said he would be willing to drop it to 64.

>> i'm listening, i can't sam reaching out one evening and say i don't want to change anything. we can imagine review clauses. >> marine le pen slammed the move is a blatant attempt to appease the public. >> the french are very smart. everyone knows it is a rus by emmanuel macron to try and win over leftist voters. the reality is he will push for retirement at 65. it is his obsession. >> she wants to leave the official retirement age at 62, and lower it to 60 for people who began working at the age of 20. both candidates now want to index pensions to inflation. akron says the system is running out of money and that pensions must be overhauled.

his first attempt to do so in 2019 resulted in widespread backlash, sparking massive protests in a long list of transport strikes since 1968. she has vowed to -- he has vowed to 3 -- he has vowed to see it through if he beats le pen. james: we will hear more about it over the next 12 days. thanks for that, kate. good evening, it is truth or fake time. we're looking at her french luxury brand. >> an alleged publication claims to report, the first publication of this on april 7 reporting that chanel stores all over

paris were vandalized with these stickers accompanied by an image of hitler's. this is one of the earlier posts that we saw on instagram that was later deleted on this influencers account. she is called victoria bonya and is currently residing in monaco. mentioning co chanel's connections with the nazi regime. this tweet reads, the chanel logo was identified with hitler's in paris. unknown people pasted stickers with the leader of fascism on the brands stores. it seems like a pretty legit news report. james: that is a really bad image. >> we -- this is the latest report on their twitter account. you can see there is some similarity to the logo, but what

differs is the text. le figaro never published the report -- confirming it's a fake. in case it isn't clear, for some of our viewers as to why chanel boutiques are targeted with nazi stickers, many biographies do mention how coco chanel is known to have nazi connections, in particular her relationship with a nazi officer during world war ii. james: what can we say about the vandalized chanel stores? did that happen? >> many people tweeted these photos of the alleged vandalized

chanel stores in paris and all of its paris locations. they all show these photos with the vandalized hitler's tag. we can see these images that were circulating on social media. apparently a chanel store in russia was also vandalized with the same, with this poster. even though we cannot confirm the veracity of these images, the earliest publication of these images that we found was from this telegram post from russian media. it's been viewed over 260 thousand times. we did contact the chanel team here in france to verify the information. they told us the images are indeed photoshopped and that the boutiques were not vandalized. they say this is fake news and

firmly condemning the circulation of the images on social media. there is a lot of anger against the rand, due to their sale ban. we can see her cutting up her chanel bag on social media which many russian media influencers have followed. there is more anger -- i think she's going to be sad after this. james: i don't know how she looks, but she doesn't look angry. >> there is also lots of anger, she denies selling some of their products to russian socialites. this is a chanel boutique that seems to be free of any nazi tags, so just another take on the consequences of this war. james: whether the problem is

real or not real, the image sticks, which i guess is the purpose of tarring the brand. thanks for that, catalina. stay tuned, we will be right back after this break. ♪

04/12/22 04/12/ [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i generally have no optimistic impression that i can report to you from this conversation with president putin. the offensive is big on a massive scale which is why i made clear stable access for the international red cross is needed. amy: after a meeting with vladimir putin, austria's chanor