the globe in response to the news that four pros democracy figures have been put to death by hanging in myanmar's first executions in 50 years. the russian foreign minister says moscow's goal is to free ukraine from what he called the unacceptable regime. meanwhile, ukrainians clawing back territory in the province of kherson. and during a visit to canada, the pope apologizes for the churches role in forcibly

assimilating native people boarding goals, many of whom suffered horrific abuse. welcome back. thank you for joining us. we begin in myanmar, where it was confirmed today that the first executions in nearly 50 years have been carried out. four people, a former lawmaker, a democracy activist, and to other political prisoners were put to death by hanging. the junta accused of the four of terrorism in a closed military court. there has been condemnation across the world. the u.n. human rights chief called it a cruel and regressive step. china, for example, has refused to comment. some estimates thousands have been killed and many more rested since the military coup february of last year. we look at the events the last year and a half. reporter: the first of february

2021, the day myanmar's transition to democracy came to a halt. widescale election fraud was the reason generals justified taking back control, a claim denied by the election commission. the country's de facto leader at the time was arrested. this after her national league for democracy party came on top during the 2020 election. the president was also detained. a state of emergency was declared and powers handed to the commander-in-chief of the military. the military coup did not go down well with the public and protesters poured into the streets across myanmar. a month after the coup, the military changed tack and began suppressing protests with force. 163 people were killed in 24 hours. the message from the countes generals was clear -- demonstrators would be thrown in

jail or killed. despite this, general strikes and demonstrations continued. according to one local ngo, close to 2000 civilians have been killed and 15,000 arrested since last year's coup. the killing of democracy activists is the latest move they have taken to suppress political opposition in myanmar. anchor: the russian news agency ria said today two regions of ukraine could hold referendums in september on whether to become part of russia. ukrainian officials say that their forces will have recaptured that region of kherson by september. boosted by long-range artillery supplied by western allies, ukraine has been going back territory. we have more. reporter: it was the first major city to fall to russian forces and now ukraine's has a turning point has been reached in the

region of kherson. over the weekend, president zelenskyy said his troops were moving step-by-step tour the city, a sentiment echoed on the ground. >> we will liberate kherson, that is for sure. we will not give it away to the russians. that is while -- that is why we are here, so our children won't have to fight anymore and we can solve this issue now and forever. reporter: these ukrainian soldiers are fighting to retake kherson, and while they are able to hold their positions for now, they are aware more weapons will be needed before any counteroffensive is launched. >> we really don't have enough artillery here. if we fire eight times at us, a fire back 48 times. -- if we fire eight times at them, they fire back 48 times. reporter: ukrainian troops have been recapturing territory with the help of western weapons. ukraine claims to have targeted

russian arms depots and destroyed three key bridges. while russia denies any counteroffensive is coming, western intelligence shows moscow's defensive decisions are being reinforced. anchor: supplies of russian gas through the nord stream one pipeline into germany are to be cut sharply again. as of wednesday, supply will be reduced by 50% versus the current level, which is already about 40% of normal capacity. the eu says moscow is using energy as blackmail, but the kremlin claims the cuts are simply due to maintenance. europe imports about 40% of its gas and 30% of its oil from russia and some analysts say if russia turns off the taps altogether this winter, it would lead to soaring prices for consumers and countries like germany would be plunged into recession. it has been 10 days since u.s. president joe biden visited israel and the west bank, and a

palestinian official gave a blunt assessment of the visit, saying it was just like the trump years. but with a smile. that is because present biden sidestepped the issue of settlement expansion in the west bank. they are currently 700,000 is really seven months -- israeli settlers. this is accompanied i a surge in violence. our team on the ground reports. reporter: this is really couple and their three children setting up a tent on palestinian land in the northern part of the west bank. >> today we come here, god help us to build every part of the country. reporter: the operation has been planned for months. religious scientist agreed to meet at three different sites to create six new outposts. this is legal under -- this is a legal under israeli law and they don't have permission. some tried to stop them without

success. they are committed to staying. some have already started building. >> we start with tents and caravans, the israeli people need to spread all over israel and this land belongs to us. reporter: under protection of the police and the israeli army, they celebrate the chief of a jewish supremacist party. openly racist, he calls for a greater israel that would include all palestinian territories. an appealing narrative for these young activists. >> build more and more. reporter: for palestinians, the violence is part of the daily life of occupation. about 10 kilometers away, this man is returning to the site where his son was killed by an israelsettler.

>> a six centimeter knife directly to the heart, broke one of his ribs and hit the main artery to the heart. meantime, the police and army prevented his brother and cousins from saving him. reporter: a month later, the family is desperate for justice. >> the station is so near. there is a camera there. reporter: these incidents are becoming more frequent according to human rights defenders. so far this year, 71 palestinians at least have been injured by israeli settlers. anchor: a massive wildfire in california has been spreading during the last day or two and thousands of people have had to evacuate their homes in areas to the west of yosemite national park. the fire is now more than half the size of paris. extreme heat, dry forests and a breeze are making it more difficult to contain the blaze. we have more.

reporter: more than tripling in size over three days, this wildfire has already spread across thousands of hectares of land, forcing several thousands of residents to evacuate. >> my wife, her mily is native american from the yosemite area and their houses full of different artifacts and things, family heirlooms passed down and we are hoping for the best because we don't know if the houses there. reporter: air tankers and thousands of firefighters deployed to battle the brutal blaze, called the oak fire. they expt it could take a week to contain. >> it does affect our aircraft. pilot safety is the number one concern. reporter: as a state of emergency was declared, several thousands of homes and businesses lt access to power the largest and fastest growingd all fire in california this season. >> they came by about 15 or 20 minutes ago and told us everybody's got to go. about 4:00, the power went out and the fire has been coming

toward us faster and faster. reporter: wildfires in the western u.s. are common in the summer season but as extreme drought and record high temperatures become more frequent, blazes are likely to increase in intensity and size. anchor: two people have been killed in the canadian province of british colombia following a mass shooting in a vancouver suburb. police say in addition to the victims, the gunman was also killed. according to reports, those targeted were homeless people. mass shootings are much less common in canada than they are across the border in the united states. the pope is currently in canada and today has been visiting the site of a former indigenous residential school. during his visit, the 85-year-old pontiff delivered a long-awaited apology for the role of the catholic church in canada's policy in forcefully assimilating native peoples into christian society.

the canadian government admits that physical and sexual abuse were rampant in these government funded christian schools, which were operational from the 19th century through the 1970's, while some 150,000 children were forced to attend them. of them, thousands died. a little earlier i spoke to an assistant professor of indigenous methodologies at trent university and i asked what the people apology might change. >> it doesn't change that much. we've been wting for this for the call to action, which as the pope to come to canadian soil and apologize. to my knowledge, the pope did not acknowledge the sexual abuse that happened in the residential schools, he just said physical and verbal abuse. he also did not talk about the psychological abuse, a key component of these schools. it is nice to finally have an apology, it has taken decades to get this apology. the anglican church of canada

and the united church of canada actually apologized in 1993 and 1987 respectively. anchor: tell us more about the background. in the last your so, there's been -- year or so, there's been discovery of burial sites at schools. what we know about what happened in the schools? >> these schools, to be frank, are the worst schools you could image possible they existed for over 100 50 years, for generations of indigenous students. as i just spoke about the physical, mental and sexual abuse was a key component as well as removing indigenous leg which is in cultures. in one school in northern ontario run by the catholic church, they still have not returned the documents from this school, and there are allegations and tons of witnesses that say an electric chair was used on children to forbid them from using their languages. the most horrific institutions you uld ever imagine were really these ones by the catholic church in canada. anchor: it sounds like there was

an attempt to cover up? >> for sure, the documents have never been returned by the catholic church of canada, that is one of the demands by survivors. only 44 of the residential schools were acknowledged in the apology, but in reality, the catholic school in partnership with the government operated 327 indian day schools with the same kind of system, the only difference was children could go home at night, but the same type of abuses occurred. in 2019, 1 .9 billion dollars was paid by the canadian government to survivors into that settlement funds. there is a whole host of other schools and institutions the church was part of that impacted indigenous peoples that hasn't been addressed whatsoever yet. anchor: that brings up-to-date with world news. stay with us here on france 24. ♪ >> fake news, noun.

false stories that appear to be news, spread on the internet or using other media. at france 24, our job is to provide you with information that has been verified. we check sources, we check facts, sort what is true from what is fake. >> at the france 24 observers, we vet photos and videos online and they are fake, we tell you. >> we dig into viral stories around europe to shake out the truth from the trash. >> every day, our team scours social networks to fight fake news aut the reality of migration. >> france 24, news based on facts. ♪

♪ [singing] >> seven women, 15 musical instruments and a performance style they call punk cabaret. the dakh daughters have been stirring up the theater scene for a decade for the invasion of ukraine pumped them to leave the country. now there shows have taken on an air of resistance. two of the troop are here.

>> bounjour. -- bonjour. >> you are performing in paris. it is billed as a story of pain, violence and exile. these are difficult things to talk about. what were the most important ideas you had that you needed to express in this show? >> we started thinking about the show, something like seven months before the war. we thought that it will be good to make a show about this. people didn't know how to speak about it. it is a difficult term. we did not know it would be a performance about war. but it was like that.

>> it was already something on your mind? >> yeah, and you know, now it is our reaction of what is happening in ukraine, very important to share reality that we have now. it is more than three months and people already can scroll the news. but theater is the place where you come and this black box encloses you and you cannot scroll this picture. this is the moment where you can be straight from heart to heart. this is the moment where people can see real people with whom this happened, the war. now we have nice possibility to

share truth with people and this performance about death and also about love. how to stay human in this huge, horrible situation. >> the reality really has come to the stage. let's get a feel for the show, here is a clip of danse macabre. ♪ [singing] ♪

i read that parts of the show take inspiration from the bible, the book of job, which talks about the presence of people in the world. those ideas, good and evil, dark and light, it's a bit like folklore and fairy tales, and in the fairytale, the good and normally wins. how do you see this story playing out in the real world right now? >> i think that some stories of the bible, i don't think everything, but has such wisdom. the story of jacob, it is actually a story like shakespeare. something that will be all the time with us. it is a story about your belief, how your belief, how can you be

powerful when you are with nothing, when all you have in your life is destroyed. who you are as a human being, when you are with nothing, without nobody, without friends or family, who you are as you are. it is a good question. we don't think a lot about it in our normal life, who we are. because we have graphic, our job, we have all of this world, but when you don't have it anymore. >> these are important questions of faith and identity and i wanted to ask you about coming to france. i know you both came here in early march, other members of your trip as well fled ukraine. you've been hosted with artistic

residencies in normandy while your husbands, fathers, brothers stayed in ukraine. how has the expense of exile changed about the way -- cage the way you think about your country? >> before war, we had already toured france. it's why we understand that somehow we must go but also we understand that we are citizens of a country where war started and and understand that emotionally we want to stay at home to help of volunteer, but one moment we understand our art is very powerful and we can do a lot of good things and stay like our soldiers protect our country inside, we can protect our country outside to remind people

each day what happens in ukraine come and not only ukraine, but ukraine stands for the whole world's democracy and freedom, because it is a question of terrorism and the democracy in the world. it is a war between good and bad , like a fairytale really. because it is a war between past and future. mentally, we are too far from each other. anchor: you speak of activism and you took part in a charity show in hollywood. we've seen artists pledge their support to ukraine since the beginning of the world and prominent events like the eurovision song contest have made their position clear. let's take a look.

♪ >> of course we will continue to fight. we have no other choice than to fight for freedom. i am convinced. ♪ >> our culture now is under threat and has been for a long time. that's why it was important for us to go to eurovision. it is important to be here, to show ukrainian culture and all of its aspects. >> we are here representing the country, our identity and culture. what is happening in ukraine is a war of two cultures. ukrainian culture is now being demolished basically. by missiles but also russian narratives and we are here to fight those narratives. anchor: we can see the institutional support in our world for ukraine. do you think it is having a tangible effect? ruslana: everything is helping

ukraine now. each poem, each style of culture, democracy, political, each way supports and helps ukraine to be not alone in this world because we were alone and it was very hard work. anchor: mentioning the history of that conflict and looking back at your career arc, the dakh daughters was founded in 2012. the following year, you wrote a song called dundas -- donbas long before it was regularly in the headlines. let's take a listen. ♪

as we know, the following year in 2014, russian troops arrived in donbas and crimea, sowing the seeds of the war raging now. from a civilian point of view, you were involved in a grassroots movement, pro-democracy and pro-european movement and you performed there. can you tell us about what the mood was, what did that mean for you? >> it was important for all of the citizens of our country, important to say for ourselves who we are. which nationality we are, what we have to be honored by what we have in ourselves. who we are. it was a point when people understood that we are free and we want to be free, and we don't

want to come back to the soviet union. we want another way. of our growing. and it was a revolution of dignity. it was like that. anchor: that fight continues today with your activity. thank you both so much for joining us. a reminder that danse macabre will be showing in france, switzerland, luxembourg and georgia, and at the glastonbury festival in the u.k. later this month. we leave you with a tip from the dakh daughters, this is your sister troop, also performers, sometimes with you and sometimes elsewhere. we leave you with one of their performances. you can get more arts and culture on our website and social media channels. more news is coming up on france

24 after this. ♪ ♪

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07/25/22 07/25/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i have decided to global monkeypox obreak represents an emergency of international concern. amy: as thousands of monkeypox infections spread to 75 countries, the world health organization declares a global emergency.