phil: this is "dw news," live from berlin. a big first day for germany's new defense minister. hours after being sworn in, boris pistorius meets with u.s. defense secretary lloyd austin. top of the agenda, german battle tanks for ukraine. also on the program, after alec baldwin is facing charges of involuntary manslaughter over the fatal shooting of a crewmember on a film set. he could face jail time.

more than one million french workers strike against president macron's plans to increase the retirement age. and -- >> i am leaving, because with such a privileged role comes responsibility. the responsibility to know when you are the right person to lead, and also, when you are not. phil: new zealand prime minister jacinda ardern shocks the country by quitting nearly a year before her term is due to end. ♪ i'm phil gayle. welcome to the program. germany's new defense minister boris pistorius has hosted his u.s. counterpart lloyd austin in berlin for talks on ukraine. their meeting comes at of nato consultations on friday, at which countries are expected to make critical decisions about further what terry aid to kyiv.

-- about further military aid to kyiv. reporter: a busy first day in office. shortly after getting his certificate of appointment, boris pistorius met his u.s. counterpart lloyd austin. both of them signaled their unified stance. >> i would like to thank the german government for all it has done to strengthen ukraine's self-defense and your contributions and training for ukraine's defenders have been invaluable. >> as so often in history, the federal republic of germany and the united states of america stands side-by-side in their approach, but also on the concrete issues. be it the infantry fighting vehicles, the patriot air defense system, or the multiple rocket launchers. reporter: but for many in germany and further afield, one thing is missing -- battle tanks for ukraine.

something that beneath the show of unity, is turning into a growing dilemma for both countries. according to media reports, germany would allow german-made leopard tanks to be sent to ukraine if the u.s. agrees to send its own. while there are still division within the german government on that matter, u.s. officials have insisted that washington has no plans to send u.s.-made tanks to ukraine for now. expectations are growing ahead of friday's meeting of the ukraine defense contact group session at ramstein airbase in southern germany. a meeting where the two countries might be able to settle the tank debate, at least for now. phil: our political correspondent benjamin alvarez gruber filed that report, and i asked him how ready the new defense minister was for this meeting with his u.s. counterpart. benjamin: it was definitely pretty quick. he met the german president who also told him you need to get started right away. then he had a phone call with his french counterpart, and then

the meeting we just saw in the report with the u.s. secretary of defense lloyd austin. but that is something the german chancellor also stressed when he announced who would be his new cabinet member, saying his interior minister he also dealt with many years on topics of security. and he also appointed him to this critical position in times of war. phil: so germany taking a lot of heat from its allies at the moment for blocking the supply of these german-made leopard tanks to ukraine. what we are hearing is germany will drop its objections only if the u.s. sends its tanks in first. do we presume that this was on the table today? benjamin: we presumed that it was on the table and that it also will be on the table tomorrow on friday with this important meeting at ramstein airbase in southern germany. that is something that was already mentioned in a press release by the u.s. department of defense, saying 10 countries and counting will have a meeting

on the sideline, focused particularly on the issue of getting leopard tanks to ukraine. that is always a difficult topic for the german chancellor, who was pressed specifically on this also a few days ago at the world economic forum in davos. where he said it's important that germany has sent several heavy weapons already, he has mentioned several of them, but he has not answered yet if germany also wants to send these tanks. we have these media ports that were also mentioned in the piece, that germany would wait for the u.s. to send their abrams tanks, then germany would send their tanks to ukraine. it would definitely take center stage at this meeting of the ukraine defense group in ramstein where they will talk about further arms deliveries,

and very importantly, what ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy has been asking for repeatedly, to send battle tanks to ukraine as quickly as possible. phil: thank you for that, benjamin alvarez gruber. kyiv says it needs modern equipment like the leopard 2 in order to break through russian front lines. the ukrainian take units say they will be able to quickly integrate the new technology on the battlefield. reporter: a ukrainian base in the kharkiv region. the area has been under russian fire again since the weekend. the area has been under russian fire again since the weekend. tetiana and her medical team are looking after this tank brigade. the men have been stationed here for weeks. >> these are russian projectiles. nearly every day and night they fire at my colleagues and our ambulances. at the moment, we only have two of these vehicles. at least this one survived. reporter: she inspects the vehicle they use as an ambulance.

it has to hold out a while longer. there is no money to replace it. that worries her. there are more and more bullet holes. >> these are all old cars that volunteers donated to us. they buy up cheap old cars, then they bring them here and give them to us. we then repair them all the time. because they keep breaking down. reporter: it's not just the makeshift ambulances. tank officer mykola is worried about the condition of his own vehicles. >> we are fighting here with old tanks from the soviet union. with the same tanks the russians have. to have an advantage to break through the russian front lines, we need more modern main battle tanks like the leopard 2.

reporter: so far, his unit has been using old soviet t-72 battle tanks from the early 1970's. the tanks have seen a lot of use, and some of them are badly damaged. hence, the push to get leopard 2's as soon as possible. >> i'm sure our soldiers will master the modern technology. soldiers who have combat experience with the t-72 will learn to master the leopard very quickly. reporter: the soldiers here are waiting for russia to mount another major offensive. this doctor is going to stay here, though she could earn much more money in kyiv. >> i'm exhausted, tired all the time. i would like to go to my little daughter who is waiting for me at home, but i know that the soldiers here need me more. even when i am gone for a short time, i worry about how the men

are doing. reporter: she hopes that the new modern tanks will arrive soon. phil: marina miron is a defense analyst with the war studies department at king's college london. we asked her why ukraine is so desperate for these tanks. marina: ukraine has not got any tanks, or many tanks left. and whatever it was using, those were old soviet tanks. and obviously to gain a competitive edge, especially in light of the fact that the russians have built excellent defense along the front line, ukraine is in desperate need for tanks. as a matter of fact, they are asking for some 200 to 300 tan ks, which is a significant number. but this number indeed makes sense, because they would be integrated to conduct defensive of his -- defensive as well as offense of operations. phil: defense analyst marina

miron. regardless of that u.s. germany impasse over heavy tanks, 11 european nato members have announced a new package of military support for ukraine. a meeting of defense ministers in estonia including britain and the baltic states agreed they would send heavy artillery, air defense, ammunition, and more. poland says it is prepared to send a squadron of its own german-made leopard 2 tanks even though berlin has not given his approval. here's a look at some more stories making headlines around the world. german parliament has recognized the massacre of ethnic yazidis in a rack as genocide. the move was hailed by yazidi community representatives who attended the session. fighters from the so-called islamic state killed more than 1000 yazidis in northwestern iraqi in 2014. morocco has been hit by heavy

rain and strong winds. although snow lead to travel disruption in central regions, the rain has been welcomed by farmers and agricultural experts in the country. last year, morocco experienced one of its most severe droughts for 30 years. rescuers are scrambling to get to six people trapped under a collapsed building in the dominican republic. cameras have been wedged into the rubble and firefighters are in contact with people waiting to be rescued. several inhabitants were injured when the four-story building collapsed. no desa been reported. swedish activist greta thunberg has accused global fossil energy firms of fueling the disruption -- destruction of the planet. she presented a letter that she and other activists had written to energy companies, demanding that they stop exploitation of fossil fuel reserves. in the united states, a

prosecutor in the city of santa fe has announced after alec baldwin will be charged with involuntary manslaughter over a shooting on a film set. the incident happened in october 2021. a cinematographer was killed when a revolver mr. baldwin was rehearsing with during folding fired a live round -- filming fired alive round. today, entertainment journalist kj matthews is following the story from los angeles. alec baldwin has always denied responsibility for this death. how is he reacting to the news he will now be charged? kj: he has not responded specifically. he is usually very vocal on social media, whether it is his twitter or instagram account. but this time we do have a statement from his attorney, basically saying this decision distorts halyna hutchins and's tragic death -- halyna

hutchins's tragic death. i also have a statement from the armor. -- the armorer. her job on the set would be to make sure the live gun had only done -- dummy bullets in it. she is also charged. her lawyer released a statement saying hannah always is and has been sad about the tragic accident but she did not commit involuntary manslaughter. so, that is what they are saying through their representatives. it will be interesting to see if either of them take the social media to put in their own words how they feel about both being charged with involuntary manslaughter. phil: do these sorts of charges bring jail time? kj: yeah. what they're saying basically is because it is involuntary, it can be up to 18 months.

neither of them have shown signs of pleading any type of guilt at all. there was another person who i believe was also charged, the first assistant director david hall. he has already agreed to plead no contest for the charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon. i think the key thing here is if you heard from the district attorney earlier today saying they in no way believe this was done on purpose. they recognize that no one meant to shoot and obviously kill halyna hutchins, and that it was an accident. but after their investigation, they found there were a lot of protocols on this set with regards to safety that were not followed. and alec baldwin, although he was the actor, he is also the executive producer. that is key, it was not his job as an actor to make sure that the bullets were not real in the gun, it was the job of the armorer and the assistant a.d. however, when you take the job of executive producer of the

entire film, that is one of your duties, to make sure the overall set is safe at all times. and what they are saying is he failed to do that. phil: entertainment journalist kj matthews in los angeles. kj: thank you. phil: now to peru. the capital lima is bracing for more mass protests in support of ousted president pedro castille. officers have been deployed. protests began last month after president castillo was impeached following a failed attempt to dissolve congress. more than 50 people have been killed. our correspondent nicole ris is in lima and i asked her for the latest from the protests. nicole: thousands of people have been arriving here during the last few days. they are coming in buses or

their own transport from the southern regions where we have the main protests and escalations. many of them now are getting on the way to the protests here in lima. and it is a tense situation. there is police everywhere on the street. over 10,000 police officers right here in the capital to make sure the protests are safe and secure. and there is also a lot of people who are very motivated to raise their voice and ask for the resignation of dina boluarte , the current president. and to also condemn the violence that has happened over the past few weeks. at the moment there have been more than 50 people killed and connection to these protests. and many here are condemning this as it makes them even more worried and angry as well. phil: talk us through what these protesters want, nicole. nicole: i am standing here at a campsite.

there have been roughly 1000 protesters coming here. it is a university site right behind me. there are lots of posters saying that dina boluarte is a murderer and they will raise their voices for those who have been killed. here's what the people had to save to us -- say to us. >> we want dina boluarte to resign. we want a new constitution so that the country can find its way back to peace. >> there is more poverty. we feel more abandoned. there is nothing. no history is waiting for us. that is why we came here today to fight her. >> we're not terrorists. where we are going now, they say we are terrorists, but that is not the truth. that is not how it should be. we are now asking dina boluarte to step down. phil: authorities there must be

quite concerned about the potential for violence. nicole: the potential of violence is given, but from both sides i would say. yesterday and also today it was confirmed there are two more deaths in connection with the protest. one person was shot in the head, the other in the breast, and they died. and that is why tensions here are also very felt. there's a lot of police but on one side the violence can come from police. on the other side there are protesters who are more prone to be violent during the protests, and things could get tense. so this is a long time going already, for a few weeks, but this is not over. this protest is going to start in a few hours, and then we will see the scale of it, the scale of the violence today. phil: thank you for that. nicole ris in lima. not to france, where more than one million workers have joint

strikes and protests over president macron's proposed pension reforms. most public transport is not running and many schools are closed. in a rare show of unity, all french trade unions have joined the action. the president wants to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. reporter: asea of -- a sea of people with a clear message to president macron. hands off our pensions. the huge crowds in paris and across france are a reflection of the deep unpopularity of the proposed reforms. according to a poll this week, 68% of the public are opposed. every french trade union has come out united against them. many critics say hiking the retirement age would hit manual workers hardest. >> people won't work two more years because most of them, especially those with strenuous jobs, shift workers, not jobs, cleaners -- night --

they cannot work two more years. where if they do, they will retire broken. it is a social issue. do you want to retire sick or even died before you get there, or do you want to enjoy life? reporter: but macron insists the reforms are essential. >> if we want to be fair between the generations and save our pay-as-you-go system, we must do this. in countries that are living longer and longer where we have created stronger tiered systems based on equality. at a time when you have fewer and fewer working people and more and more pensioners. if you want the pact between the generations to be fair, you have to carry out reform. reporter: but with french companies posting record profits, protesters say there are other ways the pension system could be funded. the government has not yet introduced the reforms in

parliament, but trade unions worn that if it does not abandon them, this wave of opposition will be just the beginning. phil: journalist john laurenson is in paris and. he talked to me through today's action. john: it has been a big day for strikes and demonstrations in french today. most of the demonstrators have now gone home, leaving a few member of the black blocks, far left anarchist militants as they call them, to throw stones at police. the cgt union, one of the biggest unions involved today, says two million people were demonstrating today. 400,000 in paris. the actual figure is probably lower than that, but even the employment minister has conceded that the immobilization today has been very big. on the strike front, the education minister says 42% of schoolteachers did not turn up

for work today. it was the same for just under half of the workers in the state electricity company. and around one third of public sector workers overall were on strike. so we have several dozen schools which did not open at all. phil: this is not the first wave of public sector strikes to hit france in the last few years. how significant are these latest? john: well, i would say this is probably the biggest test of strength so far for emmanuel macron. and the trade unions are particularly and unusually united against this pension reform. in the past, the pensions issue has been one that has brought down governments, notably the government which fell after strikes paralyzed the country for three weeks. that pension reform, therefore,

was thrown away. in parliament, although macron's party has the support of the conservatives, the socialists but also the extreme left, the extreme right, also quite strong in parliament now, are against this reform. even if he can get this bill through parliament, how things are really decided on this issue in france is about how hard the strikes bite. can the unions bring the economy to a halt in the way they did in 1995? and what will public opinion do? we heard in your piece just now, 68% of the public are at the moment against the reform. that's quite a high number, isn't it? so that does not look so good for macron. but perhaps as the strike goes on, maybe people will get fed up with the disruption and rally to him. that is what macron is banking

on, in any case. phil: journalist john laurenson speaking to me earlier from paris. in new zealand, prime minister jacinda ardern has shocked the country by announcing her early resignation. she let her labor party to a landslide reelection victory two years ago but now says february 7 will be her last day on the job, eight months before the next election. reporter: jacinda ardern led the zeeland through the pandemic, a terrorist attack, and natural disasters. she now says she is ready to pass on the baton. >> and so today, i am announcing that i will not be seeking reelection. and that my term as prime minister will conclude no later than the seventh of february. i know what this job takes, and i know that i no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice. it is that simple. reporter: she became the world's

youngest female head of government when she was elected in 2017 at the age of 37. she quickly gained global recognition for her brand of liberal and inclusive politics. the following year, she had a baby, becoming the second elected leader in history to give birth while in office. her compassionate response to the mass shooting a christchurch mosque in 2019 won her widespread praise. new zealand's parliament order to change the nation's gun laws less than one month later. enter government's go hard, go early approach to the pandemic is probably what got her a second term in 2020. new zealand quickly shut borders and imposed a prolonged lockdown

to stop the spread of the virus. but polls suggest her popularity has waned in recent months. her planned departure has come as a surprise not only to those who support her, but also those who don't. >> i think she was an excellent leader. and i am devastated that she is resigning. >> no, it was time for her to go. no one in their right mind would have voted for, surely. >> i was neither surprised -- actually, i was a bit shocked. i was shocked she threw in the towel. i kind of thought she was going to be in it for the long haul. it was a shock. >> it is a shame to see an effective leader like that go. but i guess nobody is irreplaceable. reporter: ardern says she has no plans yet for the future, other than spending more time with her family. phil: just a reminder of our top

story, germany's new defense minister boris pistorius has held talks with his u.s. counterpart load austin in berlin. this comes amid a wider meeting of european defense ministers at friday at the ramstein airbase in germany. berlin is under pressure to deliver leopard 2 battle tanks the ukraine. we will look at that issue and we will look at what the republican control of the house of representatives in the u.s. might mean for america's involvement in ukraine. that is in a moment with me in "the day." otherwise, have a good day and i will see you next time. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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fraser: hello and welcome to "live from paris." france in the grip of strike action once again. nationwide protest against emmanuel macron's pension plan seen over one million people hit the streets. the eu chair says no measure should be spared in granting ukraine membership. and big major setback is the world's only hiv vaccine trial

fails. johnson & johnson has said they will discontinue the trial after their formula was found to be ineffective at preventing infections. it is good to have you with us this evening. france all the ground to a halt on thursday as the nation was crippled by widespread industrial action. a strike was called in response to the government's plan to increase the retirement age to 64. trains offered reduced service. in paris, several metro lines closed. schools across the country shut their doors. it was coupled with large-scale marches in several cities were france's eight major unions united for their first joint action in over a decade as more than one million people protested nationwide.

>> huge crowds have been out on the streets of paris today. the french trade unions, united for once, have built it as the mother of all battles against the french government's pension reform, to see the age of retirement rage -- raised from 62 to 64 and see people contributing to pensions paying for a greater period of time. there has been a great deal of outrage. people from all ages and many walks of life have been taking to the streets of the capitol. school students whose teachers are also on strike, health workers, the sum of the private sector and even some police officers we have seen on strike. people saying if they accept these reforms, then their social rights, so cherished here in france, would be systematically

eroded. there have been a few arrests and some scuffles on the margins of these protests. riot police firing tear gas, but many people here saying they would continue to take to the streets in the days and weeks to come as this proposal was brought before parliament, so it looks like the battle here over french pension rights and reforms is only just beginning. fraser: nick rushworth tells us more now about the controversial pension reform behind these protests. >> [speaking foreign language] >> pension reform is a cornerstone in emmanuel macron's second term. spearheaded by the prime minister, the government argues the retirement system as it is is unsustainable. money for it will simply run out, and as current retirement age is 62, 1 of the lowest in the european union, the headline

proposal is to gradually raise it to 64. that pushback will take place in periods of three months a year up to the year 2030. another key change is that workers will have to pay into the system longer. getting a full retirement will reque 43 years of contributions by 2027. the current requirement is 42 years. there will be exceptions for those starting work early or who have physically demanding jobs. however, many argue the proposed reform is unfair. it is the straw that breaks the camels back. this man says he will have to work longer, even though he will start -- even though he started when he was 18. >> this is a heavy burden. our job has its challenges. we stand up all day. we work with our arms. task are repetitive. i don't know many hairdressers who stay in the profession until retirement. >> the proposed changes include

ending the 40 or so specialized pension schemes for different trades or industries, streamlining the system, and the minimum pension would be raised to 85% of mimum wage or around 1200 euros a month for those who pay their full contributions. that's not enough to convince french workers. more than two out of three are opposed. >> let's bring you the latest on the war in ukraine. the eu cheapest in kyiv -- the eu chief is in ukraine this thursday. the eu says it needs more western weapons. tanks have become the hot button issue in recent ways -- recent days. all eyes have been on germany to permit leopard tanks, but berlin has been resistant.

those discussions will likely be center stage as the u.s. assimilate meeting of ukraine's western allies in germany. >> a red carpet reception for u.s. defense secretary lloyd austin. >> putin's horrific war of aggression has given nato a chance. >> thursday brought a flood of western arms pledges aimed at helping western ukraine prepare a new russian offensive. the more mobile leopard battle tank seen doug in.

several western nations want to send ukraine their leopards but need permission from berlin to do so. germany is reportedly waiting from berlin to do so. chancellor olaf scholz coming under increasing pressure to approve the delivery. >> do not hesitate. it seems to me we will give tanks if we also received tanks is not a good strategy. >> western leaders have hesitated to send ukraine offensive weapons for fear of sparking an escalation with russia. that conce, though, now fading after nearly 11 months of war. fraser: in other news, after years of trials of a vaccine for hiv, the johnson & johnson trial has been found to be ineffective after the safety monitoring

board found it did not prevent more infections than a placebo treatment. >> yet anoth trial that has failed. on wednesday, johnson & johnson announced it was discontinuing his trial for a vaccine meant to prevent hiv. >> we are disappointed with this outcome and stand in solidarity with the people and communities vulnerable to end affected by hiv. we remain steadfast in our commitment to advancing innovation in hiv, and we hope the data will provide insights for future efforts to develop a safe and effective vaccine. >> the trial began in 2019 and was conducted at $.50 in nine countries including -- if the sites in nine countries including the u.s., brazil, and poland. the news has sent shockwaves through the scientific community, and groups working on the response to hiv. the prevention advocacy group

said it was necessary to act as though there might never be an effective vaccine. it called for focusing on existing prevention options and developing new ones. it said this should happen in tandem with research to develop a future hiv vaccine. >> the hard truth is the science of developing an hiv vaccine is challenging, but this is not the time to dial back support. file -- far from it. hiv remains a global threat and a safe and efficacious vaccine is still needed to provide an end to the pandemic. >> according to the united nations, 1.9 million people were infected with hiv in 2021. fraser: let's bring a scientist at the plosser institute here in france in to discuss the issue. you are the person to speak to on the issue. there has been a huge advance in

treatment of hiv. why is the disease proving so difficult to prevent? >> i think the major issue is the diversity,he number of variables, the capacity of the envelope, the surface of the values to evolve and to escape immune responses, and also the practicality that hiv is going to adapt, so it will very quickly impair the immune responses. fraser: are there other vaccine programs in the pipeline? is there anything else scheduled that we can look forward to? >> yes. there are different studies that are advancing with new vaccine candidates.

i would say to keep being optimistic, that we have learned a lot about the immune responses that protect some people or at least allow some people to neutralize the variables. what the new vaccine candidates are trying to do is not so much and gives a very strong immune response but to save the immune response that the vaccine is going to induce. there are a few trials, one here in france, responsible for activation signals. there are other trials using vaccines which have tried to educate the immune system to

produce antibodies. they are very important in the neutralizing activity. >> on the treatments for hiv, i mentioned prep for. there's a couple different forms of that, one of them being an injection you can take every three months. can you tell me a bit more about that please? >> as you mentioned, there are different types of prep. basically, prep three prophylaxis is what people with hiv are taking to control the effects. these can be taken orally every day for now there are new formulations. these drugs allow with one simple injection every two or three months to maintain, as i

mentioned, the critical levels. >> that's going to be a big change for people who used to -- who are used to taking the daily pill. would you say hiv is still a big priority for the scientific community? >> of course. there is dedication to preventing new tools and approaches. almost 40 million people are living with hiv. 1.5 million people are being infected yearly. there is no cure. currently one person who acquires hiv is going to require treatment for life, and not all people are getting this treatment on time, so this is a huge concern.

we also have tools to control the hiv pandemic. there have been disruptions in diagnosis and prevention and access to drugs, so we need to keep investing and developing in new approaches for the prevention and also for the treatment of people already living with hiv. >> thank you so much for your time. thank you for speaking with us here on france 24. several sessions of this year's davos world economic forum have been devoted to the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy, but many remain skeptical about the change. >> it has been an unruly guest

at this year's davos form since day one. activists protested calling for attacks on the rich. climate campaigner greta thunberg addressed the gathering on wednesday. this year, she refused to participate as an official delegate. >> we are right now in davos were basically the people who are mostly fueling the destruction of the planet, the people who are at the core of the climate crisis, the people who are investing in fossil fuels, etc., and yet, somehow, these other the people we seem to rely on solving our problems. >> alongside other activists, she presented a cease and desist letter to chief executives in the energy sector calling on them to stop new oil and gas projects. it has already been signed by 900,000 people. a day earlier, the united nations secretary-general also delivered a strong message to oil companies while in davos.

>> like the tobacco industry, those responsible must be held to account. >> he was referring to a study published in the journal of science last week which found that exxon mobil scientists predict mobile warming as early as the 1970's. davos has increasingly sought to address the climate crisis, even making sustainability its main theme in 2020, but it has faced criticism for failing to turn talk into action. fraser: it is time now for today's business report. good to see you. >> good evening. fraser: with the strikes underway, you have been looking at what has been proposed in terms of pension reform. >> that's right. the main take away from this plan to reform the country's system is the raising of retirement age from 62 to 64. the number of years someone needs to contribute to qualify for a full pension is also set

to rise to 43. if the reform does in fact past, there is also a plan to streamline pensions. currently, for instance, workers for the paris metro have special privileges and so do employees at the bank of france and notaries in this country. let's go back to the main headline, the retirement age itself. france wants to raise the age to 64, but that would still be among the lowest in europe. people in germany, for instance, currently retire the age of 67. last year there was a debate on raising that age to 70. fraser: let's get a check on the markets next. this thursday here in europe, stocks and of the session in the red. the dacs closing down over 1.5%. in the united states at this hour, the dow jones ending the session down over 100 50 points

on fears the federal reserve will be raising interest rates, even though inflation in the country is slowly starting to ease. the u.s. government has hit its official borrowing limit this thursday. the so-called debt ceiling is rare in developed economies. in america, it has occasionally led to political crisis as lawmakers occasionally scramble to stave off debt default. >> it is usually a routine procedure, but raising the u.s. debt ceiling has hit an obstacle in a new republican house of representatives. many in the majority want to pair a hike in the borrowing limit with spending cuts to social security and federal health coverage. the white house slam republicans for holding the nation's credit hostage. >>'s it's a recipe for economic catastrophe. as president biden has made clear, congress must deal with the debt limit and must do so

without conditions. >> treasury secretary janet yellen urged congress to come together to avoid the risk of a first ever u.s. default, which could lead to chaos on financial markets. leading the deadlock, lawmakers from the freedom caucus, emboldened by their recent stand up in the house, which won the concessions from new speaker kevin mccarthy. president biden reiterated his willingness to work with the republicans to break the stalemate and rejected criticism of so-called big spending democrats. >> i reduced the deficit last year $350 billion. this year, the federal deficit is down one trillion plus dollars. these guys are fiscally demented, i think. >> treasury can stave off the immediate danger with extraordinary measures, essentially shifting money around government accounts to remain within the debt limit,

but the reprieve is only expected to last until the summer at the latest. in a bid to keep up with the rising cost of living, many moderates have converted cars to use bioethanol. until recently, it offered huge savings at the pump, but now, the cost of this fuel is also on the rise in france. >> it is a symbolic but significant limit. the price of bioethanol in france has risen above the one euro mark, hitting one euro $.13 per liter this week. the pricof the fuel has soared since the beginning of the year. bioethanol is produced from carbohydrates up sugar or starchy crops through fermentation. it is therefore a prime target of inflation. >> as a whole, petrol distributors agree. the contracts for 2023 were a great in october on november

2022 when the cost of food products like wheat, maize, or beet root were at their highest. >> in order to run on bioethanol, vehicles require the installation of a conversion kit, a process that was authorized by france in 2017. since then, many have rushed to cash in on the cheaper fuel. now it is also hitting their pockets hard. it remains to be seen if prices will stay at current levels or if distributors will be able to renegotiate their contracts. bioethanol is still much cheaper than unleaded or diesel fuels, which can cost around one euro 80 two over two leaders -- over two euros per liter. quickset is it for business. thank you so much. time now for truth or fake, our

daily fact checking segment. it is good to see you. in today's segment, and anti-korean poster in the middle of a paris metro station. tell us more about that. >> we have this photo right here that was allegedly taken in a parisian metro station where we see this poster that was created by a nonprofit organization in france allegedly. in the photo, we see the ukrainian flag right here with these footsteps that you see here. it says go ahead, written on the poster, located in a paris metro station, so this photo has been circulating only on russian media and telegram accounts. we have an example right here of this account that has over 200,000 followers on telegram posted on december 19 with this poster in a parisian metro

station claiming traces on the ukrainian flag may be a hand that the refugees have already overstated and it is time for them to return back home. we have a similar post right here on telegram with much of the same from this russian blogger, and this post has been viewed over 81,000 times as well on telegram. this poster has also been published on russian media with much of the same narrative that they support saying that the poster is a hint that it is time for ukrainian refugees to return to their homeland. >> how can you manage to disprove this? >> an independent russian media for by russian exiles or ex-pats contacted our team to verify this piece of misinformation, and we were able to determine it

belongs to the metro station line six in paris where in this video posted some years ago, you could see there are similar traits to the one we can see in the photo. for example, there's the stairs and also this railway as the train goes away where you can see most posters are placed. here's also a closer look. this photo comparison right here where you can confirm that both pictures have much of the same elements, confirming this metro station in the photo was edited into right here, so much of the same elements. once we were able to confirm the location of this alleged poster, we contacted this alleged nonprofit, this nonprofit organization that created this

poster, who confirmed it was never placed in any parisian metro station or elsewhere as the false claims want us to believe. there was also no trace of these posters, this publicity on their official twitter account, so we also contacted the ra tp, which is responsible for france's public transportation system, who also confirmed this poster never existed in any of their metro station's. right here, what we have is an edited photo trying to show a different reality, claiming that ukrainian refugees are no longer welcome in france. >> once again, incredible work. thank you very much for that. it is time now for a quick ride, but do stay tuned. i will be right back at half past with more world headlines.

>> 200 years ago, a unique country was born, liberia, founded to welcome emancipated american slaves, a dream that rapidly turned into a nightmare. >> when they came to this place, they used a gun to subdue the native to surrender their land. >> following, a battle for domination, civilar, an massacres. >> it created conditions for war. >> what is the situation today? our teams went to find out. watch "liberia revisited" on france 24 and france24.com.

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01/19/23 01/19/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> there are elected officials in this room today were shot at in this despicable act of political violence. amy: election violence continues at home. in new mexico, republican candidate and election denier has made his first court appearance after being arrested on charges