tv France 24 LINKTV April 25, 2022 3:30pm-4:01pm PDT
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anchor: welcome to live from paris, world news and analysis from france 24. these are the headlines. one more time -- world leaders sent congratulations to emmanuel macron on his reelection. he got 58% with a victory over marine le pen in the final tally. the governor of ukraine's donetsk reason -- region says four people including children were killed in russian bombardments on monday. and elon musk is set to buy twitter, a 44 billion dollar bid
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apparently accepted. the social network falls under control of the multibillionaire, who vows to expand the parameters of free speec all set to be revealed, probably in a tweet. this is live from paris. ♪ thank you for being with us. congratulations coming into paris all day this monday, the final tally of votes confirmed, confirming the margin of victory for emmanuel macron in the french presidential election. as the newly elected -- reelected president with 58% of votes cast. he starts another term. his challenger marine le pen took 42%, the highest ever
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showing for the far right. emmanuel macron admits some voters may have chosen him to keep the far right out of office. next up will be a just laid of elections in june. macron's scored a landslide in 2017 but few are expecting the same result this time. reporter: victory for emmanuel macron but celebrations likely to be short-lived. his political opponents are already lining up for the next electoral battle, legislative elections in june. that vote will define the makeup of the government he will rely on to push through policies. supported by centrist allies, the republic on the move has a clear majority. on the far left, france unbowed has a 17 mp's.
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there was generally low turnout among supporters of defeated candidates. le pen is urging supporters to ensure a strong opposition. >> tonight we launch the great battle of legislative spirit i will lead the battle with those who have to oppose emmanuel macron. reporter: a far left veteran with his eyes on a new prize. >> says third round starts tonight -- the third round starts tonight. by calling on you to elect me as your prime minister, my am calling on you to create a new future for our people. reporter: voters appear eager for change. a new poll suggests just one in five wants macron to secure a majority, with more than half in favor of an alliance that would block his policies.
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while the president faces a tough challenge in june, it is also unclear how well his rivals on the far left and right will fare despite having the momentum -- will fare. despite having momentum behind her, le pen was disappointed in the last elections. the far left candidate also had difficulty against other candidates in 2020. anchor: let's get broader analysis with our guest. thank you for being with us. is the major issue that the french political scene is even more fractured than 2017, making the upcoming legislative elections more tricky? >> it is an interesting question. i think certainly if you look at the presidential results, you think there is an increasing breakdown of traditional parties
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left and right. it is important to remember in the regional elections 12 months ago, those parties did pretty well, they won the majority in france. there's a difference between voting at the local level and voting for president. macron's party has not done as well as he has done. it will be a challenge to see if he can gain ground again, and whether other candidates can gain ground. they have strong personal mandates but they don't traditionally have party movement behind them. anchor: indeed, the socialists ceasing to exist on a presidential level, that at grassroots level, still very strong. joël: absolutely. i think it comes down to the fact that people are looking for different things in a president
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and parliament. the president really embodies the state to a certain extent, being a single actor who has certain values, but at the local and regional level they might be looking for a more nuanced purpose -- nuanced perspective, and there are voting matters as well. marine le pen in 2017, her party took i think only eight seats in the parliamentary election because of the two round system where at the local level, you can have a minor republican front, or the parties that did not get votes in the first run can unite to keep the others out of power in the second round. she is disadvantaged by that system again and again and it is hard to break without fundamental voter reform, which has been pushed by others but not delivered. for obvious reasons. anchor: has the emergence of a
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racist helped or hindered le pen ? helped her appear more mainstream, but hindered because maybe it has taken some of her voters? joël: that's another interesting question that i don't think we fully have a grasp on. i think it is fair to see that the main thing we were seeing is it was limiting the coverage of le pen in terms of the traditional discussions of islam , as you say, very toxic policies to do with wanting to ban. it was little discussed because this other candidate was there and pushing out even more radical, you might want to use stronger words than that, leg which around islam and immigration in particular. at the end of the day, marine le pen, despite less focus on her, she did make massive -- she did not make massive inroads, it
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feels like there is a limit on who is willing to vote for her. some felt that was a game changer but i'm not sure it has been. the big question is what happens to right wing politics in france in the future. le pen may think that she has run three times and she has gotten close but not close enough, if her time is up, it might be this crumbling republican party, the traditional right party, looks for a new home with allie's -- allies like this other candidate and try to appeal to wealthier, conservative voters but also working-class voters that were drawn to le pen and use a broadbrush. sort of like in the u.k. with boris johnson. anchor: indeed, marine le pen catching herself as representing an ordinary person despite her highly privileged backgrounds.
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it is one of the paradoxes apollo talks -- paradoxes of politics. thank you for your time. invaluable insight. what's bring you the latest on ukraine. day 61 of the russian invasion. four people including two children were killed in donetsk in a russian bombardment. this comes from the regional governor. presre of courseenies targeting civilians. there have been -- russia of course denies targeting civilians. there have been more bombings on rail stops in ukraine. in mariupol, the situation just as intense and difficult to protect for those people still inside the steelworks under bombardment. marines but also civilians. bringing the cover mission of
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additional military aid worth $73 million, antony blinken and lloyd austin met with the ukrainian president met in ukraine, the first meeting of high u.s. diplomats since the war began. the russian foreign minister has given, made a statement basically warning of the real danger as he put it of world war iii. reporter: one day on from the kyiv meeting with president zelenskyy, antony blinken and lloyd austin in a confident move, america's secretary of state and pentagon chief indicating ukraine could win the war against russia. >> we believe they can win if they have the right equipment, the right support. we want to see russia weaken to agree it cannot do the kinds of things it has done in invading
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ukraine. >> in terms of russia's war aims, russia has already failed in ukraine has succeeded, because the principal aim president putin brought to this, in his own words, was to fully subsume ukraine back into russia, to take away its sovereignty and independence, and that has not happened and clearly will not happen. reporter: alongside president zelenskyy, the officials and also gradual return of a u.s. diplomatic presence in ukraine. joe biden set to nominate a veteran as the new u.s. ambassador to the country. a new injection of military aid also set to be delivered by the u.s., including $400 million to 15 of kyiv's neighbors. the u.s. has already accelerated the delivery of military quit meant to ukraine, notably heavy weapons. officials believe these could be crucial in repelling the ongoing russian offensive, now concentrated in the east and south of the country. meanwhile in mariupol russian
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forces continue to bombard the city, where the last fighters have taken shelter, but also nearly 1000 civilians are trapped. >> it has been a month and a half since our children last saw any sunlight. reporter: on monday, the russian foreign ministry announced another cease-fire, allowing evacuations from the port city, but none of the previous attempts of a humanitarian corridor from mariupol have been successful. anchor: let's turn to our international affairs editor. that meeting between antony blinken and lloyd austin, u.s. secretary of state and u.s. defense secretary, very important. >> that's right. at rhetoric ratcheted up with sergey lavrov speaking of world war iii. it is not looking very peaceful or like any resolution is in sight.
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to focus on that meeting, the highest-ranking u.s. officials to visit ukraine since the beginning of the conflict. it was meant to be a secret meeting, but latimer zelenskyy -- i suppose -- volodymyr zelenskyy, i suppose he was excited, he gave it away before they arrived in kyiv. what it did signal is the americans are there and very much present and it is a show of force and confidence. we are hearing there will be a new u.s. ambassador in kyiv and diplomats back in the country, particularly in the west of the country, lviv, more military equipment, also former soviet ammunition. ukrainians more accustomed to soviet munitions. that is on top of the $323 million pumped in. we will see an increase in the
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shelling back-and-forth particularly in donbas, reminiscent of world war i with bunkers. 400,000 ukrainian troops stationed there and more drafted in. what we are seeing on the front line is so-called howitzer long range weapons being fired over the trenches to the ukrainian side. right now in donbas, the easternmost region, you have about one third of the area already controlled by the russians. now we see the ukrainians with more access to those same howitzer long range weapons provided by the americans. we also know there will be training on those weapons. the americans are not saying where. this is pretty stents -- pretty tense stuff, no gn of revolution -- of resolution. anchor: vladimir putin calls it
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a military operation and everyone calls it what it is. we saw macron's diplomatic efforts, maintaining contact with prudent and some people mocking him for that because it did not seem to be achieving anything. but i suppose we can say at least there was contact. macron's reelection means that link continues. what sense are you getting whether that strategy will be continued or change? do you think macron will continue that? james: we saw in his first term his efforts with sort of difficult, you could say autocratic leadership style, such as donald trump and vladimir putin. going in there with his charismatic clumsy. it did not work with -- charismatic diplomacy. it did not work with donald trump. as to the effectiveness of trying to talk to people who are single-minded and autocratic,
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that is one question. the second question is whether macron will start to see this strategy in this instance has not been so effective and he ought to align his approach with the rest of europe, who have been speaking in strict terms about vladimir putin and russia and there is a bid to isolate russia. that is akin to the american approach. briefly we heard antony blinken say in terms of russia's war aims, russia has already failed and ukraine has succeeded and the intention is to ensure that russia can never do this again and should be wekaned so -- weakened to the point it can never try this again. we don't know yet macron's strategy. anchor: and of course emmanuel macron remains in charge of the eu presidency until june when it changes hands.
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james, thank you very much with the international affairs brief. great to see you. turkey sentenced a prominent civil rights activist to life in prison without parole. the court found him guilty of trying to overthrow the government in a mass protest. he and seven others were sent to prison. this comes as the council of europe lnched procedures against turkey for refusing to abide by a ruling of the european court of human rights that called for his release in 2019 on grounds his rights have been violated. we have more. reporter: shock, dismay and contempt. there must have been 200 people in the courtroom, they stood on the benches and booed the judges
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as they left the court guarded by police. the spectators chanted -- the main square where the protests took place. everywhere is this square, everywhere resistance, they re saying. he was sentenced to aggravated life and subversion, 30 years. the seven others got 18 years for aiding subversion. what was seen as particularly nasty about these sentences is all convicted persons are to go -- is often convicted persons go free pending an appeal, but the judge said there was a risk they would flee the country. now all but kavala had been free during the process anyway. some had wives and daughters
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crying and whimpering. there were 11 diplomats in court -- the u.s., france, germany netherlands, italy. all of turkey's big trading partners had diplomats there and their reactions will come tomorrow. i spoke to some opposition and they said this was a political vertex. -- political verdict. they said it is not justice, it is one-man rule, referring to the president. earlier in the day, one of the defense lawyers in summing up, pointed out the trial began in 2019. he said if the accused had been a threat to the country, really been subversive, the prosecutors would not have waited six years to bring them to court. anchor: we will have more on that as it develops.
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time to take a look at his news. paul is here and it is all about twitter. paul: that's right, the board of directors gave a green light to a purchase by elon musk, the ceo of tesla. muska has said he wants to better protect free speech. it is a remarkable development and one that seemed far-fetched even days ago. here is an analyst on what change the calculation for twitter. >> i think there were two issues that changed the board's mind. one was the financing. when muska got the financing, that was the clock struck in 12. another was there was no other bidder. they were at the altar but nobody came. anchor: this deal has sent the stock price of twitter soaring. cole: that's right, shares up 6% today. gains across wall street.
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concerns on the covid situation in china weighing on u.s. markets, but wall street in the green. the european figures finishing the day shifting -- finishing the day in the red. as i said, covid concerns overshadowing emmanuel macron's reelection. anchor: talking about macron's reelection, you have been examining his record, lee contested inference. -- partially contested in france. why do you think his record has been so controversial? cole: a lot of it depends on where you are coming from. they from an american or english point of view, it might seem boilerplate, but in france,
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social protections are more generous and a president governing from the center right in terms of economic policy. you might call this neoliberal economic policies. part of his agenda, one of the most emblematic is his repeal of the wealth tax. also the new flat tax on investment he has implemented, reforms of labor laws to weaken collective bargaining agreements, scrutiny of unemployment benefits, overhauling the state rail system. all of this a pro-business platform. where it gets more complicated is macron has changed tack on more than a few occasions, his presidency has seen a series of crises, resulting in more interventionist policies. we saw that with the yellow vests, with covid and the whatever it costs philosophy, also reflected on the european people where france pushed for
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more generous stimulus measures. also with the more recent spike in energy costs, price caps in place, very different from the u.k., where costs are rising significantly. all of this makes his program difficult to categorize. a reformer with you might say neoliberal tendencies but clearly not hostile to state intervention when the moment is right and there have been quite a few of those moments. anchor: indeed, and he got rid of the housing tax too, which benefits people who earn less money. regardless of where you stand politically, it is a personal conversation. macron, next five years, economic wise, what can we expect? cole: much of it will depend on his majority in the national assembly we have elections in june. macron is the favorite because of the reelection, but it could
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be tricky. this could shape his agenda if he has the majority or not. there are a few concrete policies he has campaigned on, and true to form, it reflects a double edged form of governance i just mentioned. on the one hand, more pro-business policy proposals, hiking the retirement age, also eight conditions for a welfare program, imposing work requirements. at the same time, and this is one of his signature phrases -- at the same time -- he wants a prime minister in charge of ecological planning. so much of this will depend on whether he has majority in the national assembly. anchor: is it that ecological thing about the rise in the cost of diesel that led to the yellow vest thing born? he has to be careful, i suppose. maybe not to be seen as out of touch, which was why the yellow vest thing sprang to life, right? cole: yes.
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anchor: thank you for shedding some valued light on macron's past, present and future. great to see you. we cross the studio to kathleen. truth or fake is the question. electoral fraud in france, disproving this one. go ahead. catalina: on tiktok, some announced electoral fraud against marine le pen. we see a man opening an envelope with his electoral ballots, where he shows three different papers that are ripped. in the caption, this person writes -- attention, a defective paper ballot is not valid. we see this video shared also on english social media on twitter, where the video mostly comes from a pro marine le pen account.
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it reads talks of election fraud in france. and this one says french elections have been spoiled again, election fraud against the people. indeed in france, according to the electoral code, if there is a defective paper ballot cast, it is counted invalid, but there are certain specifications in the law, and to verify this information, we contacted the national commission of electoral control for elections in france. they monitor irregularities during the ballot process. they confirmed that the ripping on these ballots do not represent an invalid vote and these ribs can happen during the packaging and delivery of paper ballots. they also said voters can pick up a new ballot. anchor: so it is false, whichever robot that is behind this twitter campaign saying if
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the ballot is slightly ripped, it is false to say that doesn't count? catalina: it is false and this is important to verify. other examples of this during the first round of elections, april 9 we saw denouncing electoral fraud against zemmour, saying the stains on the paper would be an invalid vote. we saw these posts on facebook as well. normally a paper ballot considered invalid would have to have more evident scribbles. here are some examples from 2016. we have these ballots as well that were clearly invalid votes with inexistent candidates, charles de gaulle as a candidate. here is one from 2016 for emmanuel macron. we cannot really see what is
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written but this would be considered more of an invalid vote with more control -- troll, like scribbles. but not the stain or the rip we just saw, that is not electoral fraud. anchor: this isn't the first time voters in france have been talking about electoral fraud. catalina: exactly. anchor: thank you very much indeed if you vote, vote and don't mess around. and don't believe everything online. you are watching france 24.
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04/25/22 04/25/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i know that for many of our compatriots chose the extreme right today, their anger and disagreement which led support for this project must also find a response. and it will be my responsibility and that of those around me.
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