tom: it is nine :00 p.m. this is "life from paris." a brick talk is announced -- a break in the talks nancy tigray region. both sides have agreed to a permanent cease-fire. the u.s. federal reserve announces another increase in the interest rate to the tune of .75% as it fights the worst

inflation in decades. welcome back. we begin with the latest on a breakthrough in a peace talks between the warring sides in ethiopia's tigray province. after two years of deadly conflict, the two sides have agreed to a permanent cessation of hostilities. the conflict began in november 2020 and the brutal fighting has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. the african union played a key part in the peace effort. let's listen to what the african union's envoy, the former nigerian president, had to say about the outcome of those peace talks.

>> both parties in this conflict have formally agreed to a cessation of hostilities as well as to systematic, orderly, smooth, and coordinated to disarmament. >> we learn more about how the agreement was reached. >> 15 days of intense negotiations in pretoria, the capital of south africa. these negotiations were led by the african union. previous efforts between the parties to talk to each other failed and it was the african union who called for urgent talks in october. the african union is very proud of it. think of this an african solution for african problems, which is what the african union tries to do, solve problems

within the confident, and the former presidents of south africa and kenya were deeply involved in the negotiation. the united nations was not involved in negotiations, so that is something the african union is very proud of. there were some difficult moments, and tensions were very high in the discussion room. tom: on saturday, russia announced it was pulling out of a deal that had been brokered by turkey and the united nations which allowed for ukrainian grain to be exported by the black sea. after a conversation between the presidents of russia and turkey, russia announced a reversal of his decision. some say russian efforts to block shipments of grain did not have any effect anyway.

>> the united nations and turkey brokered a deal with kyiv in moscow in july to end the russian blockade on ukrainian grain exports. the agreement meant merchant ships could use a safe secord or in the black sea. distention's take place under the control of a joint coordination center. the kremlin has demanded security guarantees for its fleet, insisting the maritime corridor be demilitarized. >> pressure's primary concern is that vessels inbound go unchecked and may be susceptible to use for weapon smuggling. that is what russia has said they will conduct their own expections -- their own inspections of western vessels. >> the kremlin has also criticized the deal on the ground, saying that most of the

grain that has left ukraine has gone to europe and not to poorer countries. >> those ports traditionally accounted for 50% of the exports out of the black sea, so they are very key. they were shipping about 3 million tons a month, and that is up considerably from what they were doing prior to the agreement, but still far below what is traditionally shipped out at this time of year. >> the current grain export agreement expires on november 19. another deal has to be found to extend it. meanwhile, the war is hitting supplies of cereals worldwide and in turn, making food more expensive. tom: around 85% of ballots are counted in israel and it looks increasingly likely the former prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, is on track to return to office.

netanyahu and his allies appear to have the numbers they needed for a parliamentary majority, paving the way for a right-wing government. netanyahu addressed supporters earlier today but has not claimed an outright victory. his opponent has not yet conceded defeat either. we have an update from jerusalem. >> the comeback kid, definitely. he dominated as israel's longest-serving prime minister. he dominated when he was in power. he dominated for the 16 months he was out of power. he in fact dominated this election. only netanyahu and only not in yahoo! where the two factions, really -- only not netanyahu were the two factions, really. they did not play a good game

like he did, and two of the parties have fallen below the threshold. that means they lost to that side of politics, and so those people are not represented in parliament, their voters, and some of those folks are redistributed to the right wing, so a tribute to him, bad play by the opposition and he has won big. tom: north korea fired more than 20 missiles earlier on today, sparking alarm across the region, not least in seoul because one of the missiles landed close to south korea's territorial borders. seoul and washington staged their largest ever air drills. we have this report. >> in the early hours of wednesday morning, another north korean missile launch. this time, too close for comfort

for their southern neighbors. dozens of missiles were fired, one of which fell just 57 kilometers from south korean borders, and action that will have consequences according to south korea's army. >> this is the fourth time -- this is the first time a north korean missile has reached our territorial waters in the sea of japan. this is very rare. we will not tolerate it. our army will respond firmly. >> almost immediately, the inhabitants of the south korean island were asked to evacuate. seoul retaliated by firing three air missiles, and the president has since denounced the act as a territorial invasion. in the capital, many watched the news unfold on television screens. the timing of the tasks particularly tough to stomach for some.

>> as a south korean, i just cannot tolerate the fact that north korea has tested missiles and aggravated complication between the two koreas. >> it is the first time a ballistic missile has landed near south korean warders -- waters since the peninsula was divided. russia has called for calm with a kremlin spokesman saying all parties should avoid taking any steps that could provoke a further increase in tensions. tom: people across the u.s. will be going to polls for the midterms less than a week from now. revote could see the governing democrats lose their majority in congress. today we are talking about gun controls and that's going to take us to missouri, which has some of the weakest gun laws but one of the highest rates of gun violence of anywhere in the united states.

>> until recently, st. louis held the grim title of murder capital of america, and it still has the second-highest murder rate in the country. this father of four knows this well. his oldest daughter was killed in august. >> while riding on the street she was on, she was hit by a stray bullet. supposedly she rode in the midst of a gunfight. she wasn't doing anything wrong. she was not involved in the situation. she was just driving. >> one of the nearly 160 victims of gun violence on st. louis this year, her father believes more gun control is needed. >> just irresponsible. the epidemic we have with guns in this country, if we don't have gone reform, if we don't

lobby our representatives and public officials, if you don't do something, we will constantly have public officials who are hurt and killed and murdered senselessly. >> the state does not have a minimum age to purchase a firearm, and anyone who can legally own a gun can openly carry without a permit. >> you are going to fill out section b of the form. it starts there with your name. you can abbreviate the state. height, weight, sex, birthdate, two digits, two digits, then 4. >> federal law requires a background check, but for unlicensed dealers in the state, there are no such requirements.

the laws are good for the lawful people, and i think the laws are ignored by many others. >> after the mass shooting at robb elementary in uvalde, texas, joe biden once again promised to ban assault weapons. >> every time there is a bad incident iolvingirearms, someone wants to ban the aault rifle. if they did, ford ever reason, it would have very little impact because this rifle is used in an extremely small percentage of incidences. it's not going to make a change in gun violence. >> with guniolenc on the rise, americans agree on the need to change but not the solution.

democrats believe the answer is more gun control while republicans argue the key is tougher policing. >> the economy is also shaping up to be one of the biggest issues for voters in midterms, in particular runaway inflation. inflation has surged at its fastest pace in decades, and households in the u.s. as well as across the globe have and feeling the squeeze. the federal reserve has already hiked interest rate five times since march and has just done so again in the last couple of hours. they have been increased to the tune of .75%, this in a bid to try to cool down the economy that right now stands at 4%, its highest level in years. let's hear what the fed chair had to say. >> financial conditions have tightened as a result of your actions and we are seeing the effect on demand. it will take time, however, for

the full effects to be realized, especially for inflation. that's why we say in our statement that determining a pace of future increases in the target range, we will take into account the cumulative tightening of monetary policy and the lads with which monetary policy affect economic activity and inflation. >> jerome powell, the chairman of the fed, speaking there. thank you indeed for joining us. are these rate hikes having the desired effect? >> thank you for having me. unfortunately, it's going to be very difficult to bring down inflation when so much of it is being driven by energy and prices, which the fed has very little control over. we hrd powell mention we are seeing declines in interest rate-sensitive areas like housing, but unfortunately, when you look at the monthly cost of owning a house, that continues to rise because the fall in

prices has not offset the rise in the mortgage rate. when we look at the outlook for inflation over the coming years, we will be talking about a scenario where it does still remain high historically, and the fed has got its work cut out for it. >> do you think the fed will go further from here and perhaps have more rate hikes to come? this in their bid to try to bring down inflation. >> certainly, and powell really did signal that. we expect another 50 basis points in december, another 25 paces points in february, and another 25 basis points in march, taking the rate up to 5%, and the market has largely been pricing that in. the big question mark is once we get to 5%, how long do we stay there? the market is expecting cuts late next year. i certainly do not think that will happen. i think rates will have to stay higher for longer. tom: we have mortgage costs up,

and that has cooled down the housing market. the latest jobs report suggest the labor market is still pretty strong. it is quite a confusing picture. what is the overall impact for households, would you sayat this stage? >> it certainly is a very confusing picture indeed. when we look households, the cost of living is rising substantially, and we are starting to see households feeling that squeeze, but the labor market is still very tight. there's still roughly two job openings for every one unemployed person in the u.s., so we couldn't your be entering an unusual situation where the u.s. falls into recession, inflation remains high, and unemployment still remains relatively low. that's a combination we have not named in a relatively long time and i think that is the combination we are heading towards. tom: someone who does not understand much about economics who might be watching right now

might be wondering if it is better to perhaps risk triggering and inflation to perhaps tame inflation or perhaps leave things where they are and leave inflation high and wait and see? as we have said, so many of the factors that have driven it up are sort of beyond the control of the fed. you ask a very good question. i would argue the fed has csen what he views as the lesser of inflation under control, even if that is going to be very difficult, and the reason for that is once inflation expectations get out of hand, you could end up in this spiral that essentially sees prices rise very dramatically indeed. of course, that is something we have seen in countries like argentina, and that is very difficult to get under control and could be a problem for years to come, so the fed has essentially said they would rather risk a recession, which is far more likely to be short-lived, then risk inflation

getting out of control. neither situation is great, but certainly a recession is probably preferable to inflation really starting to get up. tom: are you seeing indicators that that recession that is feared as being a necessary evil in the battle to tame inflation -- are you seeing any signs it is imminent? >> one of the interesting things ere is the u.s. was in a technical recession, which means two quarters of negative growth, in the first half of this year, and it has actually just come out of recession, but really, the u.s. where the economy is around 70% driven by the consumer, a true recession is a consumer driven slowdown and that is certainly something we expect to see next year. overall, consumption is still relatively strong, but when you break it down by income group, you can already see the cracks. the bottom 20% of households in

the u.s. are already starting to feel a lot of pain and we are starting to see this trickle up effect through income groups and by the time we get to next year, it is likely on aggregate the economy will be in full-blown recession. tom: thank you very much indeed for taking the time to talk to us. twitter users are watching closely to see what further changes to the platform that a new owner elon musk might have in store. the world's richest man took control of the social media giant. he has already announced verified accounts are going to have to pay eight u.s. dollars per month. >> six days on from his controversial takeover of twitter, elon musk is ready for changes. his latest move, an eight

dollars charge per month to verify users. >> twitter's current lords and peasants system for who does and does not have a blue check is -- power to the people. >> musk has claimed the charge would give users priority on the app and cut down on trolls. a poll shows upwards of 80% of people say they would not pay to be verified. elon musk, who bought the company for 44 billion dollars, has made a number of changes in the past week including sacking twitter's ceo, cfo, and chief legal counsel. many users have said they will leave the app, seeking out alternatives such as counter

social. twitter currently has over 200 million daily users, but since its creation in 2006, the app has not been able to monetize in the same way as its rivals, something which elon musk has vowed to change. tom: to get more analysis, we speak to a policy analyst at cato institute center for government. you specialize in regulation of governing online speech in the u.s. elon musk has announced you will have to pay to have certification on twitter, to have that blue tick. what would you say that indicates about what plans he's gotten what could be in store for the future of the platform? >> it illustrates he is trying to make twitter profitable. in the past, as an at-funded platform, twitter has always struggled to become profitable,

and so here he is looking for another avenue of income. tom: we have also heard suggestions that perhaps some old faces might return to the platform. do you think that is a big deal for the platform? do you think it is going to have a major impact on the future direction of democracy in the united states? >> i think it depends upon who comes back, obviously, and what that her for returning are. i guess here you are referring to president trump returning to the platform or being allowed back on? tom: indeed. >> i think it will be a little bit of a litmus test for some of musk's fans adore him because he has claimed he will return free speech to the platform. many of them who are trump supporters will see if trump

comes back on as a test. in terms of how trump's return will really affect elections, i think his impact at this point will be much more limited than it has been in the past. even if he runs again, he has taken a while on the bench. while it would give him another way to punch at desantis in a republican primary, even towards the end of his presidency, i don't think his tweets garnered the same amount of attention and focus within american politics as they did when he was newer to the stage. tom cohen -- tom: going back to elon musk and his plans for twitter. he wants to create some sort of a counsel -- counsel -- council that will judge editorial

issues. what do you think of that proposal? >> it turns on the independence of the council, but it is probably a good way to go in making moderation decisions. the more you can bring stakeholders in on these important decisions and make that process formal and public rather than meeting privately in an ad hoc fashion in the back room, the more it can bring trust to the decision that is ultimately rendered, legitimacy to it. tom: that is assumed it is composed of a broad range of people and people twitter users have confidence in. >> obviously, and i think this is something, you have other board proposals -- like facebook's oversight board have struggled with, looking at the set of experts available to join

something like that. a lot of them are international, oxbridge lawyer types. at the end of the day, that is not a terribly diverse crowd, so it would be very telling if musk leans more towards twitter power users or those who have authority and status off platform in staffing this board. tom: lastly, do you think it is a matter of time before twitter becomes a pay to use platform for everyone, if indeed elon musk's objective and goal is to make the plaorm profitable? to line >> i think paying per tweet for eryone ivery unlikel a lot of what makes the platform unique and enjoyable is its serendipity and the ability for everyday users to rub shoulders with the powerful, and

obviously, gating the entire platform behind a pay wall would cut down on that interaction, so i don't see twitter going that direction. i do wonder, however, if in relying more on page users, musk hopes to rely less on advertisers and therefore be able to relax moderation without losing their cash flow. tom: thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us. that is all we have time for. thank you very much indeed to you. thanks to you for watching. i will be back in a couple of minutes. ♪ >> we are here in the u.s. as it gears up for the midterms, but with the supreme court having

made the decision to rollback the constitutional right in accessing an abortion, these midterms have become a mestone election for american women voters, especially in the southern state of kentucky. >> "the 51%," presented by annette young, france 24 and france24.com. ♪

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11/02/22 11/02/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> water to power, the legislature remains bitter to the ctor of a sovereigand indendent ukraine and we are working so ukraine can -- amy: as the biden administration vows military aid for ukraine, we host a debate on the biden administration's response to the