♪ nicole: this is "dw news," live from berlin. the fierce battle for soledar continues. heavy fighting is reported in the eastern town as ukrainian forces continue putting up resistance. and president biden is under scrutiny as lawyers find more classified documents at his home. he says he will cooperate with investigations. we will ask about the fallout he is facing. ♪

legendary rock darst jeff beck dies at the age of 78. he will be remembered as a pioneer of jazz rock and one of the most influential musicians in the business. ♪ i am nicole frolich. to our viewers on pbs in the united states and all around the world, it is good to have you with us. ukraine says fierce fighting in the eastern town of soledar is continuing following conflicting reports about whether the town has been captured. this comes amid a major shakeup at the top of russia's military as russian president vladimir putin appoints a new commander to take charge of his war.

we seem to be experiencing some technical difficulties. i apologize. but we want to stick with this topic, with the war in ukraine and what the international community is doing to help. poland is offering to supply ukraine with german-made leopard 2 battle tanks, ramping up the pressure on germany and other allies to do the same. it is becoming a divisive issue in germany has so far refused to send battle tanks, instead sending lighter marder infantry fighting vehicles. and germany is likely to have a final say on whether any leopards reached the battlefields of ukraine. reporter: poland has offered to send some of the world's most advanced tanks to ukraine, the german-made leopard 2. there's a catch.

germany, as the manufacturing company -- country, needs to agree. so far german chancellor olaf scholz is not agreed, fearing that the war could escalate. but there is growing pressure on germany to change this stance. while paying a visit to some german nato troops, germany's defense minister was asked whether berlin would agree to the delivery of leopard 2 tanks. >> the government has not made a decision. reporter: even within the governing coalition within berlin there is still debate on whether to send advanced battle tanks in addition to the lighter marder infantry vehicles. germany should support the delivery of leopard tanks. >> germany should not stand in the way of other countries making the decision to support ukraine, irrespective of the german decision. reporter: with no end to the war insight, germany faces mounting pressure from all sides to make

a decision. nicole: justin crump is a security analyst. he gave us an assessment of the situation in soledar. justin: as you said and we just heard in the report, it is very confused. differing claims from differing parts of the russian military as to what has been going on. without that, the russians have obviously achieved something around the town of soledar, north of bakhmut, and that situation remains fluid. they have made other minor advances as well. soledar is considered important because it starts to unhinge the city of bakhmut itself. it is kind of a stepping stone to taking bakhmut, which obviously the russians would celebrate further. they have a long way to go regardless. this is only a stepping stone on the way to the main cities of the northern donbass and others. there is a way to go before the

russians are close to that. while it might be celebrated by russia that they are making some advances finally, but after six months they are only 20 kilometers from the start line, and this was not even a particularly significant strategic objective. nicole: putin just put a new commanding general in charge of the ukraine operation. this is at least the third change at the top of the mission. what does that tell us about the state of affairs on the russian side? justin: this is mainly a political move. the report touched on it earlier, about potential political infighting within elements of the russian military and the pmc's and the government itself. the government is run on the idea that people are in competition with each other for the boss's favor at almost every level, particularly when it comes to being around putin. they are possibly concerned about their own apparent success on the battlefield compared to previous commanders.

i think that move has to be seen in that context. it is pretty unusual for the head of a nation's entire ground forces to be put in charge of the military operation as well. it certainly questions if you will be able to do that job well. it needs to be seen as part of a political move and part of that infighting more than anything else. i don't think it will have a particularly positive effect on the battlefield for russia. nicole: ukraine's western partners have steadily increased the liveries of weapons to ukraine. with poland's offered of leopard 2 tanks on the table waiting for other allies to join, do you think we will soon see european battle tanks join the war? justin: i think it is definitely getting closer. the british offer of 10 to 12 challenge 2 tanks needs to be seen in its context as well. the numbers talked about are not very high, but it is all about

unlocking access to particularly tanks in germany. there are many older versions of the leopard 2 in stockpiles, many in germany but also finland, poland and elsewhere, that could be donated to ukraine. but there has been fear throughout the conflict that this was a redline for russia, providing heavy equipment we heard this before when it came to the supply of the possible launch systems that came from germany in the end, but it took a while before nations pulled up the confidence that these donations were not going to escalate the conflict. we're the best part of a year in, and so far nothing has escalated the conflict. nations are increasingly confident that supply of a small number of tanks will not be the thing that escalates, will not be the thing that brings the population of germany into danger, and i think rightly so. while we might just see a few now, it is all about unlocking much bigger supplies. because the reality is, however good the leopard 2 is, what counts is having large numbers of a vehicle like that. it is certainly better than

anything on the russian side. it's designed to be better than anything the russians had. so it will be important for ukraine to have them, but they need a lot. they cannot just have 10 or 12, they need hundreds. nicole: would you say berlin is mistaken in being concerned about putin's possible reaction to the delivery of battle tanks then? justin: i think it is right to be concerned about throughout the conflict. we do have the specter of nuclear warfare that makes this different from the war against saddam hussein in 1990 and 1991, say, when he invaded kuwait. that means nato in general has been more careful. but the alliance has moved forward together i think, and they have taken these decisions in such a way that countries are not exposed. so i think the hope is germany will not feel the country is exposed by handing thanks over because other nations will be doing it like the u.k., and the u.s. has already sent heavier

infantry fighting vehicles. so the door is opening and nations are doing this together. that should give berlin a lot of comfort at this point, especially given the process of the last 11 months, donations of rocket launchers, patriot batteries. these are all things that were considered problematic at one time, and have not been deployed to the conflict and there has been no repercussion. so i think berlin should be very confident, and this is a gesture that would make a huge difference to the ukrainians, and a huge difference to the war on the ground if it is enabled. nicole: justin crump, many thanks for your time. let's have a look at some other stories making headlines. spain's supreme court has dropped sedition charges against the former catalan president. he led the region's failed bid to independence in 2017. he still faces other charges. the decision comes weeks after a

controversial reform where spain scrapped the crime of sedition. europe's largest known deposit of rare earth elements has been found near a swedish mining city. the mining company in charge said the newly discovered deposit contains more than 100 tons of the minerals. they are essential for many technologies considered vital to the green transition. europe currently relies heavily on chinese imports of rare earths. massive storms continue to batter the u.s. state of california, causing widespread flooding and claiming 18 lives so far. tens of thousands have been driven from their homes in the torrential rain and powerful wind that started in late december. further downpours are expected thursday and friday. the u.s. justice department has appointed as special counsel to classified documents were found at president biden's delaware home. earlier this week, news broke that secret reports had been found back in november in an

office biden used after his time as vice president. by law they should have been given to the u.s. national archives after he left office. the discoveries are politically embarrassing for biden after his sharp criticism of former president trump's alleged mishandling of secret documents. biden now says he's cooperating with the investigation. >> people know i take classified documents and classified materials seriously. i also said we are cooperating fully and completely with the justice department's review. as part of that process, my lawyers reviewed other places where documents from my time as vice president were stored and they finished the review last night. they discovered a small number of documents with classified markings in storage areas and file cabinets at my home and my personal library. nicole: our correspondent michaela kufner has more. michaela: we know that they were

classified, but we know very little about what they exactly contain, what exactly the level of classification was. we know that we are talking about more than 10 documents, but not hundreds, as was the ca se in donald trump, where whole boxes of classified documents were carried out of mar-a-lago. as far as the legal process is concerned, there is now the special counsel that highlights attorney general mary garner is taking this very seriously, elevating this case to the level where he was in the investigation with donald trump. he came out with a statement, not taking any questions, saying that this was so sensitive and of such importance that he felt that this was merited, despite the fact that he was confident that the department of justice could have dealt with this without a special counsel. so, it is drawing full attention. not many documents in two locations, and joe biden's team

himself indicated that indeed, those documents were in a private office used by joe biden after he finished being vice president. so this was several years ago. nicole: what kind of political fallout can we expect from this for biden, especially now with a republican led house of representatives? michaela: huge. we're just at the beginning of this. what is very contentious here is that this finding dates back to one week for the midterms in early november, so that raises a lot of questions. we have a new republican majority in the house of representatives, although there is still a democrat majority in the senate. they have already launched an investigation into what they call the weaponization of the government against the republicans. it is called by the democrat side, essentially, a committee that wants to get the

republicans out of the spotlight over the january 6 storming of the capitol. it's usually political, and no matter what the legal process here is in the end, it's all about perceptions and nothing else here in this political circus that is already unfolding over this very case. one has to bear in mind that donald trump legally is in the spotlight and is being investigated for obstruction of justice because he did not hand over those documents. with joe biden, his team is volunteering these documents, they indicated them, there is a question over the delay why we found out so long after the midterms, but it is a completely different legal case. at the end of the day it is the perceptions that will matter, and those narratives are being spun and pushed from both sides right now. nicole: we actually have mr. mccarthy, the speaker of the

house of representatives, reacting. let's have a listen and then come back to you. >> i think congress has to investigate this. here's an individual who has been in office for more than 40 years. here's an individual that sat on 60 minutes that was so concerned about president trump's documents locked behind and now we found that as of vice president, keeping it for years out in the open in different locations. nicole: this is certainly not a good look, but where does it lead the 2024 presidential race? looking ahead, are the key u.s. parties likely to seek fresh blood with both of their possibly main contenders, possibly tarnished? michaela: i think it is too early to say whether this really makes another standoff between donald trump and joe biden more or less likely. but it certainly is not helping joe biden's potential bid to run again. he's very old, he would be above

80. it's something that many democrats are also concerned about. when you look at the polling amongst the democrat camp, a majority does not want him to run again. so he needs to win his own party over to a certain degree. what we are hearing from his team is that he is intent on running again, and same seems to be for donald trump. but this is still an open question here and everything about this case feeds into this very question. nicole: thank you very much, michaela kufner in washington, d.c. russia's invasion of ukraine 10.5 months ago prompted the formerly neutral countries of sweden and finland to seek new dome ever ship. all but two of the alliance's 30 members have since ratified the nordic countries, but turkey and hungary are still holding out. officials seem confident budapest will eventually agree, leaving turkish president recep tayyip erdogan as the chief obstacle.

but not everyone in turkey is against the planned expansion. indeed, some have a real appetite for inclusion. julia: this unassuming local restaurant is an institution in istanbul. nato serves traditional turkish disses, and it's been doing so since 1952, the year turkey joined the nato military alliance. the boss here is proud that his restaurant is so popular with locals and foreigners alike. everyone is welcome to join his nato, he says. >> my customers come from all around the world. from japan, china, finland, sweden, from germany, the u.s. not everyone can join the nato alliance, but in my nato, no one gets turned away.

julia: turkey is famous for its hospitality. at the highest political level, however, the world is currently experiencing quite the opposite. when it comes to enlarging the nato military alliance, the turkish government has been presenting itself for months as a gatekeeper who does not let anyone in. russia's war against ukraine has raised major security concerns in europe. that is why countries like sweden and finland, which have long been opposed to nato membership, now want to join. but all nato members have to agree to this. and this is exactly how turkish president recep tayyip erdogan is putting on the brakes. he accuses sweden and finland of being too lenient with groups that ankara considers terrorists, including the kurdish militant pkk, which is

also on the eu list of terrorist organizations. >> countries where pkk members can run riot in the streets, hold rallies under police protection, and extort significant sums of money, should not become nato members. this would not benefit nato at all. rather, it undermines its values. julia: erdogan blames kurdish militants for attacks in turkey, such as the bombing in istanbul in november. he says sweden and finland are harboring people with links to terrorist groups and has demanded extraditions to turkey. finland and sweden have promised to take the turkish concerns seriously and to do more against kurdish extremists in their countries. but experts think that erdogan's continued obstruction also has domestic political reasons. >> before elections, erdogan

wants to nurture his image as a leader that is tough in international negotiations, that advances turkey's cause, and gets the support of domestic constituent. there will be no green light to nato until elections. julia: the next presidential election in turkey is set to be held by june, 2023. so there is still a lot of time for many unforeseen things to happen. but the restaurant owner knows one thing for sure. in his nato, the door will always remain open to everyone. nicole: police in western germany are continuing to evict climate activists from the village -- they moved into stop and energy

giant from demolishing homes to make way for operations. the government insists the coal is essential, and activists say germany is losing sight of its climate goals. reporter: a peaceful protest or is exported away from -- is escorted away from a condemned farmhouse. police raided the building after a tense overnight standoff. within minutes, hundreds of officers had flooded the complex. >> it was very scary in the morning when the alarm went off and the police stormed the barricades. it was really a very scary situation. reporter: police then turned their attention to the hard-core faction holed up down the street. they barricaded themselves inside what was once residential apartments. it began with a game of cat and mouse. but grew more menacing as police tried to clear the way.

activists threw fireworks and glass bottles from makeshift ramparts. projectiles grew ever more vulgar. police retreated. they made their move. storming the building from two sides. a spokesman said police were negotiating with the activists inside. >> according to my information, one yard had already been completely cleared. other building's talks are still underway with the activists who then that may leave voluntarily. work is being done on a wide range of buildings, so it is not possible to have a detailed overview. i will put it this way --we are making progress. reporter: progress for the

police though is a setback for activists, and they say, for global climate change. >> i'm feeling very sad, disappointed. and a little bit lost. reporter: their last stand may not save the village, but if nothing else it has brought attention to their cause. nicole: dw reporter leonie von hammerstein has been following the eviction of climate activists, and here is her assessment. leonie: all day long police have continued to evict activists from the houses, barns, and treehouses here, some of which you can see behind me. the atmosphere has remained largely peaceful, and there were some clashes between protesters and police with some bottles and rocks, fireworks thrown at police officers. the protesters have also said that there has been some violence on parts of the police

towards them, but largely everybody agrees it has been pretty quiet and peaceful. the morale among the activists that are still here, despite the weather, it has been raining and very windy all day, but they are still staying in the houses and barns, keeping them occupied. police count a couple hundred that are still here, and they say morale is still running high. they want to stay here as long as possible. they expect to make this eviction as lengthy as possible. but we often have to see that the sheer police presence and heavy machinery that have started demolition work, two of the structures here, they have taken downed trees, and it is immense. but they want to stay until the weekend at least, when a huge protest is planned. activists are coming including greta thunberg.

they want to continue protesting here because they want to send out the message that the coal that is underneath this village needs to still stay in the ground. nicole: leonie von hammerstein reporting there. one of rock music's most influential guitarists, jeff beck, has died at the age of 78. beck explored rock, jazz, blues, and r&b, shaping the music world for decades and earning seven grammies and eight gold records along the way. ♪ reporter: jeff beck and his fender stratocaster, the instrument he called his other arm. his innovative technique and style were the envy of many guitarists who tried to imitate him for decades. beck was 21 when he got his big break replacing eric clapton in the yardbirds. his solos help make some of the yardbirds's biggest hits, including shapes of things.

beck was not happy with the banned though. he left after 1.5 years and formed the jeff beck group together with rod stewart. what was a one-off instrumental recording with led zeppelin founder jimmy page and the who drummer keith moon that remains one of his most famous, beck's bolero. ♪ the song's primal, almost psychedelic energy inspired even jimmy hendrix. beck continued making albums, but became a kind of musician's musician, playing with eric clapton and b.b. king, recording solos for tina turner, kate bush, and most recently collaborating with johnny depp. he will be remembered by many other musicians who admired him. despite plenty of accolades, jeff beck never became a superstar like many of his peers. he said that was for the best.

♪ nicole: don't forget, you can always get dw news on the go. just download our app. that will give you access to all the latest news from around the world, as well as push notifications for any breaking news. you're watching "dw news." after a short break, i will be back to take you through "the day." hope to see you then. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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these are the headlines. special counsel has been named to investigate classified records found at president biden's home as is revealed by his lawyer. they reported the latest discovery of documents to the justice department on thursday. satellite images show signs of the devastation caused by days of intense fighting in ukraine. tributes to jeff beck the

groundbreaking guitarist who has died at the age of 78. he has worked with them all but on his own terms. he is seen as the pioneer of rock jazz blues fusion. this is life in paris. thank you for being with us. top-secret papers in a public controversy. president biden acknowledge this thursday that a document with classified markings from his time as vice president were found at his home in delaware. documents were also found at the office of his former institute in washington. the u.s. has appointed a special

counsel to investigate. merrick garland confirmed that he was alerted to soon as the documents were found. >> a fresh headache for the by the administration. the president admitted a second batch of documents were found at his private delaware residents but he had nothing to hide. >> we are cooperating fully and completely with the justice department's review. my lawyers reviewed other places were documents for my time as vice president restored and they finished the review last night. they discovered a small number of documents of classified markings in storage areas and file cabinets at my home. >> the review was conducted after a first stash of classified documents was found at the president's formal -- former washington office. the president said he is surprised at the this cover and he did not know what was in the documents.

in both cases, the department of justice was immediately notified and took custody of the records. on thursday, it nominated special counsel to investigate any potential violations by the president. house republicans also called for a potential probe into the matter and denounced the so-called double standard in reference to donald trump's own judicial woes. another faux pas by the biden administration but treating law differently based on your political beliefs. treat president trump one white but president biden a whole different weight. >> donald trump's mar-a-lago residence was raided by the fbi last year leading to the discovery of hundreds of classified documents. the former president is now undergoing an inquiry into possible obstruction of justice. >> documentn joe biden's possession were destined to the national archives.

>> the classified documents found in u.s. president joe biden's personal library and those found in donald trump's mar-a-lago home last year should have been in possession of the national archives. what is this u.s. agency and what is the significance of the documents? the national archives official website describes its function as the u.s. governments collection of documents that records important events in american history. or the 95% of the records in the archives are declassified and open to the public. some documents are classified meaning they contain sensitive information that requires a security clearance to access. the lowest level of classification is confidential. information that poses a minor risk to national security. the next level is secret that could cause serious damage to national security. the highest level is top-secret

the type of information that warrants a highest degree of protection. this includes for example national defense plans or sensitive intelligence operations. how would classified documents be handled? by law, they must be given to the national archives when a president or official leaves office. if the offender obstructs the probe or refuses to return the documents as in the case of nald trump in 2021 it becomes a criminal matter. >> we are watching to see how the story develops. next, the latest from ukraine. day 323 of the conflict. pujols -- who holds this area? it was mercenaries who claimed they held the town but moscow

contradicts that. the fighting between ukrainian and russian fighters was ongoing. our correspondent in ukraine sent us this. >> i think the fact that volodymyr zelenskyy convened the special meeting of the heads of general staff and also invited the defense minister and foreign minister to it shows the situation is difficult. the ukrainians insist they are not giving up on this town and they say they' going to build to keep supplying the troops as the russians claim to have surrounded the town, the russian claims to have surrounded the town is false but the ukrainians are finding it somewhat harder to get into the town.

whether or not or because they genuinely are confident they will be able to get the weapons and and keep holding ese towns remains to be seen. what happened today was that the mercenaries were filmed by russian television flying out of a window apparently there not the russian flag but the other flag, they are trying to promote themselves with this offense. i guess that shows they control part of the town but according to the ukrainians but also according to russian military spokespeople, they don't control the whole of the town. >> watching all development's for us on the situation in ukraine. let's turn to the climate issue and the weather in california. show the images coming from t west coast. you can see widespread flooding

although experts say these images would suggest there is water aplenty. it won't necessari mean that the drought conditions that have been affecting calornia in recent years will be resolved. december in february are the two rainiest months in california. san francisco has seen something like 35.5 centimeters of rain which is a very large amount for that part of the country at this time of year. however, this is the situation. it is not said that it would resolve the drought, but we can say more rain is forecast for next week. basically this miserable situation for californians could continue and we will bring you more as we get it. the music world continues to react to the death of jeff beck. rated as one of the all-time great guitarists, he died on wednesday after contracting bacterial meningitis.

he came to fame with the yardbirds. he formed his own band in 19 six to seven and released his most popular hit high host silverlining. his work in fusion of rk jazz and blues is perhaps his trademark. the tributes still coming from the biggest names in the business. ♪ >> the sound of blues, jazz, and rock 'n' roll all in one. this guitar prodigy was unmistakable. jeff beck studied on his guitar like no other musician. after his death, tributes poured in. >> i can't express how sad i am to hear the passing. what a terrible loss for his family, friends, and fans.

it was an honor to have known him and an incredible honor to have had him play on my most recent album. >> he became a sensation in the late 60's with his band the yardbirds. a band that saw other musicians pave the way. he appeared twice in the rock and roll hall of fame for embarking in a solo career. >> the six string poirier is no longer here for us. jeff could channel music from the if uriel. -- ethereal. i will miss you along with your millions of fans. >> despite being in the rock guitarist pantheon and ranking fifth in the list of 100 greatest guitarists of all time, he so focused on playing instrumental music which did not give him the commercial success of his contemporaries.

2022 is marked by his collaboration with johnny depp. >> there was a knock at the door and someone saying johnny depp would like to meet you. i didn't know him. he was just -- he was like a brother and straightaway we laughed and we been laughing for the last six years. >> a memorable tribute is that of mick jagger who posted this video of the two of them in their 70's having fun like they did in the good old days. >> mick jagger jimmy page rod stewart you name it, they've all been paying their tribute to jeff beck today. let's bring in our guest. thank you for being with us. why is jeff beck so restrict -- soespected in the music business? >> because he innovated.

he changed what was possible on the instrument. >> jeff beck was as you say an innovator, but there is a certain irony that for many people of a certain age generation he is perhaps best known for a party hit song called hi ho silverlining. >> that's true. he was something of a stubborn person. he didn't really fit in there with bands. he didn't like the sound of his own voice. one of the ways we compensated was we made the electric tart a solo instrument. -- he made the electric guitar a solo instrument. that meant that the party hits

were never really on his repertoire. he was never that comfortable with that aspect of his career. >> we're going to wrap there, because we are having problems hearing you. we are sorry for that. were interested to hear the stuff you have about jeff beck. many are big tributes to him. his best-known song in many ways does not represent the things he is best known for. his most prominent hit he sometimes referred to it as being like having a pink toilet seat around her neck for life. adam, thank you for your attempt

to give us some insight into the life of jeff beck. let's talk about the situation in sweden next. there has been an important discovery of something called rare-earth. if you don't know them, let me explain re-fleet. they are used in almost every electronic per -- product used across the world and the monopoly on them has been in china. this discovery in sweden may give way to releasing the stronghold of china. >> above the arctic circle, a windfall for europe's green energy transition. the swedish minincompany says it is found the world -- the continent's largest deposit of rare earth elements. >> it will be a foundation for continuous european leadership

regarding industrial development in this important task to electrify and conduct the green transition but continue to be competitive. >> rare earth elements are said to be heavy metals with luminescent properties. they are crucial in manufacturing. 98% of the eu supply is currently imported from china. demand is expected to quintuple by the end of the decade. sweden's energy minister says it alone will not be enough to meet the need. the latest discovery is estimated at one million tons. the company already operates a large iron ore mine there. the permitting process means it could take 10-15 years before extraction is fully underway and it could face resistance.

northern scandinavia is home to an indigenous population that relies heavily on traditional livelihoods including rain gear hurting. -- rain gear raindeer herding. >> we will be watching the develop it's on that story with all of those issues. next it is time for an update on all the business. >> the guinness book of world records says the tesla boss who lost his position as the world's richest man late last year has recorded the largest loss of personal fortune in history. according to some estimates, he has lost more than $180 billion over the past year partially due to a decline in the value of stocks he holds. tech shares on the whole have been dropping with the nasdaq falling more than 30% 2022.

>> a record that no one would want to break. the guinness world record announced that elon musk has officially suffered the largest drop in personal fortune in history. the decline of an estimated 182 billion u.s. dollars from his net worth from a peak of 320 billion dollars u.s.. most of his cash is iested in tesla stock. the company lost over 65% of its value lasyear due to lackluster performance. elon musk's purchase of twitter further extended the lost. the tech soccer -- sector lost trillions of dlars in value over 2022. >> during the super growth that

we saw, the hyper investment for the last five years going into e paemic than after. we are seeing some of the leaders do a poor job of anticipating the downturn we are going into. >> meta lost over $600 billion u.s. and microsoft saw a drop of $700 billion. the tech sector -- sector is in the doldrums. apple lost over $600 billion u.s. capitol. many stocks have rallied in the new year but that's not enough to stop layoffs. >> argentina ended 2022 with inflation at a staggering 95%. price hikes and much of the world are beginning to ease.

in the united states, inflation fell for a sixth straight month in december to an annualized rate of 6.5% which is the lowest level in more than a year. the core consumer price index set at 5.7%. prices dropped slightly from the previous month. the first time this has happened since may 2020. that inflation data lifted u.s. stocks on wall street. all three indices ended the day up in positive territory. the dow gaining .6%. francis prime minister urged labor unions not to penalize the french as the nation braces for more industrial action. the union called for strikes in petroleum and refinery sector against pension reforms in addition to a nationwide day of protest announced for next thursday. the plan unveiled this week will

push the retirement age to 64 from the current 62. setting the stage for a clash with workers. the leader of france's green party supports the move. >> what we hope will happen in the coming weeks is that people will rise up for their pensions, for the climate, and that's what we ecologists are working on. everyone has their place in this movement. the trade unions political parties and ecologists. we want to combine the fight to protect pensions and social rights together with the movement to protect the planet. >> finally, the toy company mattel has launched a barbie doll targeting children as young as three years old. my first barbie is taller and softer and not as skinny as her 63-year-old p or.

--peer. it slightly deemphasizes her bust line and her first finger -- first finger and thumb are fused. >> the first thing we knew we wanted to address was to make the scale of our new preschool my first barbie bigger. it's a taller doll which is easier to manage. inddition,e created a softer body. more articulation in the arms and legs. we also closed the hands of the doll. like this. >> she has been in inhumanly slim shapes. it has always been a center of criticism. >> in my thoughts it's giving

the wrong message. who am i to say? thank you very much. let's turn to truth or fake. today looking at russian claims that the ukrainian army is sending children to fight on the front line. truth or fake? >> this is the new pro-russian narrative that ukraine is using children, forcing children to fight in the war in ukraine. let's look at these. a post from january 7. claiming here are the soldiers right here that zelenskyy sends to the front. children of europe and the united states support this. we have one more example of this type of post right here. this is the same video we will see in a bit. from november 8, 2022.

rumors that have been circulating for a while. this user claims these are just kids ukraine where you doing this to your people? they should be in high school or college, get them off the front lines. let's take a look at this video. we see a female soldier then two more male soldiers fighting in the ukrainian army. soldiers that pro-russian accounts are calling children or teenagers. these same images have been widely used by russian media in an interview where they claim to have sources that claim that the ukrainian army is sending 14-17-year-olds fight in the war in ukraine. >> can we categorize the people we see in this video as children? i wonder if they are in that video.

it looks superimposed but i'm sure you will tell me. >> it's a fine line because even though the young people we see on these videos they are young, but they are not technically children. we were able to identify two out of three people soldiers in the video. these are real videos who are between the ages of 23-25. ukrainian media contacted this female soldier that we saw in the video. for this ukrainian news report, we are going to fast-forward a bit. this woman they contacted, her family they were able to determine she is a military paramedic in the ukrainian army who is 23 years old and not 14. she is called elizabeth. here's her post, the one we saw on twitter. he is her twist -- post on tiktok august 2022. she says she volunteered to

defend her country and join the army and she has been serving since the beginning of the war. she is young but she is not technically a child or a teenager. then in the second sequence in the video posted on twitter, we see this man posted by this soldier right here on his tiktok account september 23, 2022. the france 24 observers team was able to contact him. his name is andrew and he is 25 years old. serving in the ukrainian army. >> a third soldier that we saw in the video remains unidentified. can you tell us anything about him? >> is this soldier right here. we were not able to identify him just yet. nor did ukrainian fact checkers. this video right here that was posted on youtube may 2022 with

the claims we saw on twitter, considering it was posted last year these images cannot support russian claims of recent child soldier mobilization within the ukrainian army. but we have identified two out of three soldiers right here that we can confirm are not children. even though they are young, their participation in the war is illegal since the minimum age for conscription in the ukrainian army is 18 years old. for now, we have no concrete proof that ukraine is sending children to fight on the front lines. >> those young adults they are in their 20's, probably on the russian side if you look you would see fighters of similar age. thank you very much indeed.

stay with us, more to come life in paris. for those who always supported >> >> for the president, held a young goat will be decided in the june 2023 elections.

revisited on france 24 and france 24.com. ♪

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01/12/23 01/12/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i am so upset according to the news, no one can continue their activities as part of society. women have no place in afghan society is so disappointing. amy: in afghanistan, pressure is growing on the taliban to reverse a ban on women going to college or working with non-governmental organizations.