>> 10:00 in the french capital and here are the stories making headlines. chaos in the u.s. congress as a republican lawmakers fail to elect a speaker of the house. kevin mccarthy fails to get the votes he needs to clinch the top post. facing a revolt from a hard right action of his party. our watching -- washington correspondent is standing by. is planning a new majorns russia offensive against his country. his comments llow a new year's attack that killed 89 rsian

soldiers in a region occupied by moscow. they played romeo and juliet in the classic film in 1968. now in their 70's, two actors are suing paramount pictures for child abuse because of a nude scene in the film. we talk to an expert on american film about what the case means. you are watching live from paris. ♪ >> thanks for joining us. we begin in the u.s. house of representatives which still has no leader. lawmakers have held a fourth, fifth and sixth round of voting is underway. republican kevin mccarthy has the name -- has been unable to get the votes he needs to become speaker the house.

newly elected lawmakers cannot be sworn in and the house cannot function. with just a slight majority, mccarthy can only afford to lose four votes and there are a group of 20 hardline republicans refusing to support him. let's add to our washington correspondent. what is happening at the moment and is there indication mccarthy is gaining or losing support? >> that is the big question as we are in to the six round of voting. it looks like he is not gng to get enough votes to be elected speaker. is the momentum in his favor or in the favor of those republican holdouts? there were 20 republicans who were voting against kevin mccarthy and one republican has started voting present, meaning she is not expressing any vote

for mccarthy or his challenger, but is lowering the threshold for that majority part -- majority. it looks like there is about a dozen republicans who are against mccarthy who have voted for donald's. there could be still more, but we will have to wait until the end of the round of voting to see whether or not the anti-mccarthy camp gained votes, or if some people were convinced by kevin mccarthy to return to the fold of the majority of the party. either way, it is not looking good for kevin mccarthy. even though he is saying he is going to stay on the floor, they are going to keep voting until a speaker is elected but already you are hearing voices, very few, but it is starting to move. one republican has so far voted for kevin mccarthy said this would likely be his last vote for kevin mccarthy. and that mccarthy should start thinking about stepping aside

and leaving someone else to try to get that majority of votes to be elected speaker. this is not looking good for the republicans. they were supposed to come back and reclaim control of the house. this was supposed to be they are moment. -- there amount. >> what could break the stalemate? it looks like this group of high-grade right republicans are digging in their heels, they are not budging. >> some of them within this group of 20 or so called "never kevins." they will never vote for kevin mccarthy and have said so. but that is a small group of four or five members, which is really what kevin mccarthy can't afford to lose, four votes. they seem to be doing this personally. they do not want kevin mccarthy.

anybody else will be fine, but not kevin mccarthy. what is interesting is that this group of 20 republicans or from the freedom caucus, the trump members of the party. the former president waiting this morning, donald trump calling on republicans to unite around kevin mccarthy. saying this was an embarrassment and that they should fall in line and support the man that he himself has supported. we are waiting to see if that would change anybody's mind and so far it has not. even though those 20, most of them are staunch supporters of the former president. it looks like nothing could change their mind. we are talking about what concessions kevin mccarthy could give them, but he has already given them quite a few.

and even that was not enough. how many among these 20 never mccarthy's will not move no matter what? if it is more than four, kevin mccarthy will not get these votes -- and there is one small caveat, that it is a majority of the members voting. if at some point people start not showing up on the house floor were designed to vote present, that will lower the threshold of that majority. that could maybe give a small plastic kevin mccarthy or someone else. >> certainly interesting to see this play out. in the meantime, congress cannot function. they consequences here. now to the latest in ukraine. volodymyr zelenskyy warning that russia is planning a new major offensive against his country. these comments after a new year's attack by kyiv that

killed russian soldiers in a region occupied by moscow. the russian defense ministry has blamed its own soldiers for using mobile phones, revealing their location. >> in a rare public commemoration of soldiers killed in the ongoing war, hundreds gathered in this russian city. many of the service been hit by ukrainian missiles in the ukrainian attack were from this area. >> we cannot be broken. grief unites us. we will crush the enemy together. >> while much of the russian public what's the blame on ukraine -- puts the blame on ukraine, a host of correspondence and lawmakers have voiced anger at military command. the russian defense mistry was in damage control. >> the commission is working to investigate the circumstances of the incident. but it is already obvious that

the main reason for what happened was the massive use of mobile phones by personnel who were within reach of enemy weapons. >> russian warorrespondents accused top commanders of trying to shift blame onto the troops. amid reports the service been were staying in an unprotected building with munitions stored in nearby which detonated during the strike. the leader of the just russia party demanded criminal liability for the officials in charge, writing obviously neither intelligence nor -- air defense work properly. they stopped short of blaming the kremlin, a signal it was -- vladimir putin and his defense minister launched a frigate on a training mission armed with new generation hypersonic cruise missiles. >> this ship armed with missiles is caple of delivering pinpoint strikes against the enemy at sea and on land. >> two weeks after president biden's promise to deliver

patriot missile batteries to ukraine, the arms race continues to heat up. >> they played romeo and juliet in the classic film in 1968. now in their 70's, two actors are suing paramount pictures for child abuse because of a nude scene in the film. the lawsuit claims the director cajoled them into performing the scene, telling them that without it, the picture would fail. >> now in their 70's, the stars of zeffirelli's 1968 romeo and juliet were only 15 and 16. and now, they are suing paramount for sexual abuse, sexual harassment and fraud, asking for more than $500 million in damages. their story is one of two teenagers manipulated. they said they were originally

reassured there would be no actual nudity and that they would wear flesh-colored underwear. but during filming, zeffirelli said the film would fail without the nude scenes. -- asserts they were secretly filmed. defendants were dishonest and secretly filmed the nude or partially nude minor children without their knowledge in violation of the state and federal laws regulating indecey and exportation of minors for profit. >> the scene in question features both bare breasts and buttocks. paramount pictures has yet to respond publicly to the lawsuit. both actors win golden globes for their performances but have had limited professional success in the decades since the film's release. the film itself won two oscars and has been coming national zeffirelli died in 2019 and the lawsuit was filed last friday. many historical sex abuse cases were filed in california around

this time is the end of 2022 marked the end of a temporary waiver on statutes of limitation. >> for more we are pleased to be joined by richard payne, professor of film and media studies at columbia university who also served as the program director of the film society at lincoln center and the director of the new york film festival. thank you for being here with us. i want to get your reaction to this lawsuit. do you think this is something you can see happening today? if not, what does it say about how things have changed for younger years over the decades as young actors over the decades? >> it seems to me primarily a labor dispute. in reading what i have about the case, it seems both actors claim they were assured verbally by zeffirelli that there would be no nudity, and then there was. that gets into the question about them feeling force,

feeling like this was their big break and could not disappoint the director who might have power, all of those classic features. but it really is a labor to stupid -- labor dispute about what people thought they were signing up for and what they were expected to perform. am i surprised? we will hear about a lot of cases coming out of the woodwork. when i think has not engendered any legal proceedings, i read that rosie perez complained about the scene in do the right thing in which spike lee rubs ice on her body. she felt like she was being raped. that is a horrible thing to say. when she said that, i think to be people who admired the film work like shocked. >> talk about other films in which actors coerced into shooting scenes maybe they were not comfortable with.

you cannot break the law, but where does the dirtor draw the line? >> it comes down to a point of fact about a labor agreement. these are workers and workers have to assert their rights and say i will do this, i will not do that. in terms of sexuality and whatever, i cannot say too many examples. one of the most famous ones was the passion of joan of arc. the suppose it director told his star not to worry, we are not going to cut your hair, then at the last minute said we are going to cut your hair, leaving her practically bald. you see herrying during the sequence and supposedly that was her reaction, that she was so shocked she had been lied to. it is a powerful scene, but there seems to have been a betrayal of human trust. >> it is important to highlight here in this case, we are

talking about minors. how has cinema changed since the 1960's in terms of how young actors are treated? >> i wonder if it is -- for exple, if you think of the french film called that girl - fat girl, that uses two very young actors. it is a great film but it is a film that does violate child pornography laws because it shows you a young woman naked in a graphic sexual act. these are very difficult decisions. i think it has to be done with the understanding of the people who are in it. if they are comfortable with what is going on, if they are part of the creative process, it really is just a question of if they are willing to do it.

society seeks to find ways to codify -- you can't do this if you are under 16 or 18. but human interactions are often more complicated. >> as someone who follows film closely, what impact do you think the me too movement has had on the way films are made? >> we have had a couple of very good reactions or impacts on the field. first of all, for people to ask why? to just say it, why do i have to have someone dress this way? why do i have to have somebody do this particular act? if we have even gotten that far, that is progress. plus, it has also made film workers, let me go back to that term, more conscious of their rights. there is simply not slabs of

beef. they can actually say i will do this and i will not do that. will there be professional consequences? that is part of what me too is about, to make sure consequences are nonexistent. in the end, there has to be human interaction where people trust each other. me too has given people the sense that i too can say something, that i am not too small that i can complain about this great production company is requiring me to do. >> we will have to leave it there. richard pena, thank you for joining us. time for business with kate moody. as we begin 2023, you are looking at the biggest geopolitical and economic risks facing the global community. >> 2022 was dominated by

russia's invasion in ukraine and the crisis that stemmed from that as well as ongoing disruptions to supply chains. many of these themes will carry over to this year. according to the eurasia group, the top of the risk list is rogue russia which continues its attack on ukraine. followed by xi jinping, weapons of mass disruption, inflation and iran. i have been speaking to the group's founder and president. them are very similar.op 5, 4 of aging dictators. a whole nch of individuals making very disruptive decisions without expertise, and without checks and balances. putin is the most dangerous of precisely because as of last

february, he made the single biggest misjudgment of any major legal -- any major legal -- any major leader. he is paying for it and there is no way back to the status quo. even with the cuban missile crisis, both sides had the ability to have cool heads, then go back and do business as usual. that is not possible for russia because the energy has been cut off. nato is expanding. ukraine is going to have the most capable military in europe. all of these things are non-starters for putting and he can't do anything about it. what we are seeing is a significant likelihood of russian escalation. >> you can catch the rest of that check -- chat on thursday. the pace of consumer price rises has slowed slightly in france. new data from the french

statistics agency indicate the drop -- inflation dropped a bit to 6.7 percent in december. this is from the eu harmonize index. energy costs 15% more than a year earlier, slightly less than the previous month. food inflation remains stubbornly high at 12%. let's check in on trading action. we saw gains of over 2% in paris and frankfurt. the pan-european stocks 600 index up just nearly 1.4% at the close. wall street closed slightly higher as well, although it did pervak earlier stronger gains as minutes from the latest meeting indicates the central bank will remain aggressive and policy shifts. moving on to other headlines, facebook and instagram's parent

company is facing two finds in ireland. irish regulators say the social media giant's data handling -- they say they should bring their operations in line with gdpr regulations. meta will appeal. quinn vase has settled with regulators in new york. authorities say the crypto exchange violated a number of regulations including allowing people to open accounts without sufficient background checks, opening the door to possible money laundering. there has been renewed scrutiny after the collapse of ftx last year. salesforce is cutting 10% of its workforce. it had nearly 80,000 workers at the end of october. after a hiring spree, it is the latest company to reduce numbers and spending as the industry

faces headwinds. crowds of tech enthusiasts descending on las vegas for the annual consumer electronics show. there are plenty of gadgets being showcased including pillows that can stop you from snoring, massage chairs and a host of innovations in home health care. artificial intelligence is the start of many innovations and progress with developing reliable driverless cars has yet to reach fruition. our correspondent is there, speaking to one entrepreneur who has developed a special way of checking if your lunch is ready. >> this allows consumers to check the avocado without damaging it. you do not have to squeeze it. we take this avocado press here, within a second it will say it is perfect for eating. >> ready to heat. i could tell you a very low-tech way, put it in a paper bag.

>> plus you have to have this device you bring with you to the grocery store? not sure how practical that is. >> the technology opens all new doors and possibilities. >> time for truth or fake, our daily fact checking segment. you have been looking at online claims that vladimir putin is hiring paid actors for public events. >> yes. vladimir putin recorded himself on new year's eve for his annual message to the public. but this year, unlike previous ones, which we can see have taken place at the kremlin, he decided to do something different. this year's new year's message was recorded at a military base surrounded by troops. allegedly fighting the war effort in ukraine. internet sleuths are convinced that something in this photo is familiar. this woman here.

people are convinced she is a paid actor hired by the russian president after a woman who looks like her appears in several photos with the president. let's take a. that's let's take a. this was by far the -- look. >> this was definitely the most viral one i could come across. this user is ridiculing the idea that the president has hired an actor. the caption does say, soldier, sailor, devout christian, god moves in mysterious ways. this is one of millions of tweets i came across supporting the idea that this was organized by the kremlin. there was a lot of reaction. i've got one hereby of the former ukrainian ministry of

defense has said, is anyone surprised? cnn's international correspondent also reacted to the same tree thing. the sick a closer look. -- let's take a closer look. we have these three photos that seem to be taking storm of the internet. if we have a closer look, this is from the address we have just seen, but these two are from years ago. the common -- is this blonde haired woman. there is quite a strong resemblance between these three photos. if we take another look, just to show you the scale of how far these rumors have spread, there have been reactions from all sorts of media companies. international business times, the mirror, all taking into account that this could be a real force taken on by the

kremlin. that really does show the scale of how far the story has spread. >> has anyone been able to figure out who this woman is the echo is a fake? >> i confirm that i can confirm this is not the same woman in the new year's eve photo that is in the other two. just have a look. it is also not the first time the russian president has faced these accusations about hiring actors, or even his own agents to take the place of normal people around him. last year in may, we actually debunked a similar claim that these were fake fishermen in that same photo with the orange jumpsuits. video reverse image search we were able to specify the specific origin of these two photos. this photo here is actually from a trip in 2016 made by the russian president in 2016.

this photo at the bottom is from the same region in 2017. we are also able to identify that the woman these two photos is an entrepreneur in the fishing industry and a highly active pro-prudent activists. i did manage to find her profile on the website and we can see she is very active in the united russia party. as well as the fishing industry. last year we found these two events were organized in her home region and that is why she is in the photo. a year later at the same montage, that was another invitation by the kremlin of the same fishing industry. that is why she occurs in two photos. she is the women in both photos.

however, this woman in uniform, this is not the same woman. this is on the official kremlin website. i found a live stream here saved on the site. this is a military award ceremony that took based on new year's eve hosted by vladimir putin good from there i was able to identify this woman who did receive an award. her name is captain anna. she is identified as an army medic of the 71st regimen. despite a strong resemblance, these two are not the same. if we look at a little side-by-side, there's a slightly better angle and lighting for them both. one is a fishing entrepreneur who has been photographed several times with the russian president and the other is a fishing entrepreneur -- sorry, one is an army captain.

we mustn't confuse the two, they are two separate women and these claims are false. >> looks like there's a difference in age, but they do look similar. thanks for that research. that is it for now. stay tuned for more world news coming up.

01/04/23 01/04/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> no person having received a majority of the whole number of votes cast, a speaker has not been elected. following the procedure used by the house in 1923 and recorded in vibes six section 24, the er