>> live from paris, world news from france 24. these arthe headlines. ssia gives conflicting versions oevents. mercenaries paint a bloody picture. moscow says airstrikes and ground fighting are continuing. this is in line with ukraine's present statement that the battle is ongoing. more on the situation, we are live in kiev. more demonstrations from supporters of the former

president of brazil, bolsonaro. security forces are on alert as more protests are scheduled. the premier of french football has been forced to step aside, caught in a double-headed controversy for remarks he made about a national football icon and ongoing sexual harassment allegations in his office. live from paris. ♪ >> thank you for being with us. there are conflicting reports on the russian side in ukraine of the situation in the donbass. it is the home of europe's largest salt mine.

a photograph emerged of rcenaries inside the salt mine. doubts beincast on the veracity of this image. moscow says fighting continues. this is in line with president zelenskyy. kiev says thfighti is ongoing. russia tries to gain a strategic advantage in the eastern region. we are following this. what more can you tell us aut the situation in the donbass? >> it is interesting, the russians don't eveget their own story straight. more evidence emerging of disagreements, to say the least, between the mercenary group and the rest of the russian military.

this comes on a day when russia has replaced the general that was in charge of operations in ukraine. there had been expectation this harsh general, notorious for his role in russia's operations in syria, would change the gameor the russians and bring them more successes. he failed and has been replaced. at the same time this mercenary group seems to be wanting to take center stage and claim this victory. the russian armed forces and ukrainian armed forces and the ukrainian authorities are all saying the groups claims to have taken control are not true and that the fighting is continuing. that is the message coming from all directions except the group. whether journalists nearby, ukrainian soldiers in the town or the oc ukrainian authorities. to those photos in the salt

mine, there are 200 kilometers of tunnels that make up this salt mine, the largest in europe. it is possible the group was in a tunnel. that is part of this. but whether that means he is under the center of the town is a different question. >> can you speculate on what the group might be trying to achieve by saying they are taking control of the town? >> the ukrainian president put forward a theory today that the russian side was trying to claim this victory in order to boost morale back home and in order to garner some support for a new wave of mobilization, of drafting, that the ukrainians claim the russians are planning. though russia has not announced any new wave of drafting. that is one theory. that is not consonant with the fact that it is the mercenary

group claiming this victory while the official russian armed forces are saying fighting is still going on. we can only speculate. >> speculation, we leave it at that. why is russia so intent on taking control of the area? >> that is clear. it is militaril strategally important to taking the third-biggest ukrainian held town in the donbass. it is the prime target of the russian offensive. not the only main target where russian forces are on the offensive but they have not been able to take it for seven months. they are 10 kilometers away, south of the town. it is downhill. you claim the heights in one direction above, if you claim it. there is military significance. there are these massive networks of tunnels which may have military significance.

possibly the economic significance of the salt mine. also just the desire to claim something as a victory that is bigger than a small village. it is only 10,000 inhabitants. now, far fewer than that because the vast majority have fled. it may be a way to boost morale by claiming a victory but what the ukrainians are saying and backed up by international analysts, is, even if they manage to take it and finally take control of the ruins, then where do they go from there? the real crisis in the donbass, two biggest ukrainian held cities in the region, they are still a long way uphill, for the most part and very well defended. if the russians take control, no one thinks they will quickly march northward. >> covering all the events in ukraine, thank you.

he will bring us more as it develops. we are watching for all developments on the story. security stepped up in brazil as more far right demonstrations are planned in the wake of the storming of the presidential palace and the supreme court. there was an arrest warrant issued for bolsonaro's allies for alleged roles in the writing which took place in brazil on sunday. >>'s administration may be just over a week old. brazil's president is bracing for further antigovernment protests. meeting with the country's lawmakers on wednesday, he called for a crackdown on anyone involved. >> i would like to think that what happened was an attempted coup. i want to believe it was a group of czy people who still do not understand the election is over. is agast brazil's democracys or will be pundiished within the law. >> the concerns have prompted

security measures to be ramped up in the capital. the senate approved military forces to intervene if necessary. the 1200 pro bolsonaro supporters have been formally arrested and charged in connection to the riots as they called for an overturning of the election results from last october. a supreme court justice has echoed the call for punishment. >> i am absolutely sure the institutions will punish all those responsible, all those who carried out thects, those who planned them, those who financed them and encourage them by action or omission because democracy will prevail. >> authorities continue to investigate the mass protests as questions remain around those who may have worked in coordination with the rioters. >> let's get more on analysis. lori, senior associate of the

american program, international studies. these protesters are not going away? >> doesn't seem that way. >> in terms of what happens next, one wonders how far the stepping up of security can work? how far will the protesters carry this? protest.s been an ongoing this began the day after the runoff. it has been going on two months now. at this point, we are seeing the clearteps that any kind of assistance, any kind of, even support, may be considered illegal under these current measures. the endgame might be nearer than we think. >> does responsibility lie with bolsonaro? >> tricky question. obviously, this entire movement

that seems detached from the reality in which many of us live, that is in many ways his responsibility. he built up this movement over years. at the same time, he's been missing in action. he's been in florida for a week now, which complicates u.s.-brazil relations, to have him on u.s. soil while this is going on. at the same time, he was not there to incite the crowd. on sunday. he was not physically present. afterwards, he did post on facebook and kept it up a couple hours, a video, late last night, saying lula had not been chosen by the people of brazil but by the supreme court and the electoral court. it is a mixed bag. >> a series of false statements of course, taken on and amplified by social media. quite simply, this kind of

situation, we saw a similar situation in the u.s. how does the president begin to reverse this? the more hardline he becomes, that could even backfire. >> there is a possibility. he needs to be relatively cautious. right now brazil's institutions seem to be working. that is a really important point to remember. throughout the process, if anything, the courts have taken the lead. there is a strong judiciary in brazil. also, the army, there is no sign they are equivocating on democracy. the tricky question is a variety of police forces and agencies, at the very least, that have been negligent in the process. not necessarily the legal sense.

clearly, what happened this sunday was something that should have never happened. the police forces present should have been able to prevent them. >> security and police forces present in brazil yet according to witnesses were standing back and letting it happen, which of course is the reason the president made the decree endorsed by the senate. is that a sense that brazil has a recent history of dictatorship? will this stoke fears in some quarters this may happen again? might it give some of those in the military sector ideas that perhaps they could take advantage of the situation? >> we have no sense of those kind of ideas developing, as it is. in some ways, as absurd as the behavior was and these attacks were, at the same time there was always something about this attack that she mentioned dictatorship.

these have been the seats of brazil's powers throughout much of the republic, 1960's onward, through the military dictatorship and during the republic. there is a chance here the people who have supported this, who were involved and supported it financially, that they could be painted into a corner. it looks like reasonable brazilian politicians are coming together and have come together this week condemning these attacks. at the same time, as long as bolsonaro is out of the country and posting videos that may be stoking further protests, riots and altercations, the situation remains unclear. >> thank you very much.

your thoughts on the situation in brazil. we are watching all developments. we thank you for your contribution. >> thank you. >> next, a sentence of death of a man convicted of spying for british intelligence. no details have been given in iran's official news release on the story. it is the latest in a series of death sentences handed down in tehran recently. they are being accused of weaponizing capital punishment. four people were accused of working for israel's intelligence service. a man was shot and arrested by police in paris after stabbing people. french police are treating the stabbings as attempted murder,

not as a terror attack. the french football federation president has been forced to step aside just weeks after france was defeated in the world cup, following a series of controversies. there was an emergency meeting of the federation in paris. he made clumsy remarks but perhaps more seriously, the 81-year-old is facing accusations of sexual harassment by a number of women within his office. >> the writing was on the wall. now it is official. after 12 years at the helm, he is taking a step back from his role as chairman of the france football federation. now it is up to the governing body, after a three-hour meeting in paris on tuesday. >> an agreement with the

executive committee meeting in paris today, has decided to step down from his duties as president of the federation, until the final communication of the audit, commissioned by the minister of sports and pending analysis by the fff executive committee. >>'s contract was due to run until '24, had faced widespread calls to resign, after he admitted to clumsy remarks about the coach of the french national team. he said he would not have taken his call when asked whether he had rung him to express an interest in taking over as coach. he has been accused by several women of sexual harassment, which is now the subject of a government investigation. the fff have decided to suspend the executive director, citing her strained relationship with the former president, saying it was tarnishing the image of the federation. the vice president has been

termed active interim chairman until the second investigation. >> we will bring you more as it happens. time for business. good evening, kate. workers in england and wales on strike for the second time this winter and a deepening standoff overpay. >> in december, the u.k. saw a crippling strikes from a number of sectors including health care, transport, border control and postal workers. this wednesday march the second major walkout by paramedics, ambulance drivers and support staff ahead of the national health service, saying patient care is being disrupted. the government has defended plans to enforce minimum service levels in service sectors even during a union led walkout. unions have slammed the plan. we have more. >> overworked and underpaid.

paramedics and drivers. thousands of ambulance workers went on strike across england and wales on wednesday. they say they are no longer able to provide adequate care and are calling for the government to put more funds into the nhs. >> the reason is to save the nhs. it is about patient care. the government need to know what is going on realistically. simply acknowledging understanding about the work, nights, weekends, christmas day. >> local media outlets said they saw strikers leaving picket lines to respond to emergencies. soldiers were mobilized to cover for those on strike. this did little to reassure the government. >> what's terrifying is that right now people, not knowing whether they call 999, they will get the treatment they need. canada and the u.s., they ban

strikes on blue light services. we are not doing that! all we are saying is patients should be able to rely on a basic level of lifesaving care! >> a day earlier, the government introduced a bill in which workers in key public sectors including the nhs would be required for minimum service levels during strikes. the u.k. has faced a wave of strikes in recent months. they were led by health workers. they say they have failed to keep up with double-digit inflation, hovering around three year heights. >> the day's trading action. the major european indices closed higher. the europewide stocks 600 index, near eight point highs. wall street closed sharply higher, the nasdaq up, the s&p 500 and the dow jones. investors will be watching for fresh inflation data thursday

and expect the pace of consumer price rises in the u.s. to slow slightly to 6.5%. moving on to the other headlines. in japan, the owner of a fashion retailer has said it will raise domestic staff wages by up to 40%. consumer inflation hit 4% in december, the fastest pace in four decades in japan. the government has called on japanese businesses to increase salaries to protect workers. currency in egypt tumbled to a new low against the dollar, down 14% on wednesday. the central bank is trying to shift to a more flexible rate to mark the latest bailout deal with the imf. a south korean manufacturer's spending $2.5 billion to build a factory for solar power equipment in georgia, the u.s. state. the announcement is the biggest investment yet to benefit from

the green subsidies and tax breaks approved by the biden year. the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges going on a hiring spree. the ceo said his workforce had more than doubled in size in '22 and that he would further increase staff by 30% this year as well. it is a sharp contrast to other players in the market, which have been pushing ahead with layoffs. coin base this week said it would cut when he percent staff, the second round of job cuts in a year. cracking is reducing its headcount by a third. the cuts underscored the volatility of the industry over the last 12 months. $2 trillion were wiped off the market as bitcoin lost 60% of their value. ftx lead to broader concerns about the stability of the sector. lots more about this issue, the future and challenges for the crypto industry in this week's

people and profit, airing on thursday at 4:45 p.m. paris time. >> thank you very much indeed. great to see you. time for truth or fake. kathleen, looking at a viral video featuring elon musk allegedly off his face on drugs. truth or fake? >> this is the viral video of elon musk on the web. he's allegedly confessing to being high on drugs. here we have users saying please tell me this isn't elon musk, tesla and twitter ceo? or this users saying elon drops edible and is feeling it. let's take a look at this video of elon musk. this deepfake video that has gone viral on the web, which we can confirm is fake. it is a deepfake video.

you may have heard of deepfake before. it is tech that uses ai to replace one person with another. we will get more into it later. this is the first time elon musk has gone viral on twitter with a deepfake. this video here, also that went viral last year, this is a deepfake of elon musk, not the first nor the last time he will be going viral over a deepfake video. >> have you been able to trace the creator of the video? >> we looked into it. we found the original post of this elon musk deepfake is a account on tiktok called platypus. 153,000 followers, 8 million likes. he is dedicated to posting and creating deepfakes. he's posted other celebrities as well such as andrew tate, but

mostly elon musk with this red baseball cap. a big indicator here. if you see these videos of elon musk with a red hat, that is a fake. >> deepfakes, pretty common on social media these days. is this something we should be concerned about? clearly it is risking manipulating our interpretation of things? >> this does seem to be a normal practice nowadays. there are accounts dedicated to posting and creating deepfakes. four years ago, 2018, this tech was still pretty unknown. many were still frightened of the impact deepfakes could have on the spread of fake news. this is the first infamous obama deepfake video where this introduced the technology to the general pop-culture where you can see him insulting former

president donald trump. this was a warning sign as to the impact this technology could have on fake news and more recently as well, we debunked this zelenskyy deepfake that was posted at the beginning of the war in ukraine where he calls on soldiers to lay down their weapons. pretty high impact fake news there. but not everything is so serious. there is also humor as well. on tiktok, there is a filter dedicated to a tom cruise deepfake. you can see it here. it looks pretty real. tom cruise deepfake doing the viral wednesday dance on tiktok. most of the time, it is used for humor. it can be used under more serious circumstances so much so that china for instance is the

first country to introduce, the first of its kind regulation around deepfakes, that came into effect yesterday, a regulation that includes getting for instance, user consent to produce digitally altered images and prohibiting the dissemination of fake news. maybe we should also be adopting these kind of regulations against deepfakes. >> thank you very much indeed. you are watching france 24. more to come. ♪ >> princs islands, the outcome is dividing opinion. there are those suffering from inflation. >> [speaking non-english language] >> those who disagree with president erdogan's policies.

>> [speaking non-english language] >> and then there are those that always supported him. >> [speaking non-english language] >> for the president, how the young vote will be decisive in the june, 2023 elections. france 24 and france24.com. ♪

01/11/23 01/11/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> we are commanded our rights. they do not represent us. they kill our brothers and sisters. amy: at least 17 people were killed in peru when security forces opened fire on protesters opposed to the recent ouster and arrest o