♪ ♪ >> this is it dw news live from berlin. as the russian invasion of rain hits the one-year mark, a call for peace from the u.n. the united nations calling for a resolution for an end to the fighting. it could be of a ramen or on global sentiment one year into the war. we get the latest from new york. and we meet a couple who listed as -- and listed as volunteers in the civil defense force for

ukraine -- enlisted as volunteers in the civil defense force for ukraine. and a death sentence imposed in tehran against a german iranian national on terrorism charges. ♪ i'm brent goff. to our viewers on pbs and in the united states and around the world, welcome. the united nations general assembly is holding an emergency session just hours before the first anniversary of russia's invasion of ukraine. the assembly is considering a draft 10 point plan to end of the fighting, a plan outlined by the ukrainian president, volodymyr zelenskyy. the u.n. secretary general has repeated his calls for the conflict to end and has once again called for respect to be

shown to the u.n. charter. delegates are expected to vote on the resolution shortly. our correspondent has followed the debate at the u.n. in new york and she joins me now. you have heard the german foreign minister's speech there before the u.n. general assembly . she basically told the worldwide germany is on ukraine's side. what stood out to you? >> what stood out to me was how emotional the speech started. she said it takes 45 minutes between hearing the sirens and a missile hits kyiv. and what these 45 minutes mean to the people, the parents, the children. that's her approach. she wanted to tell the world, to convince the world that this war matters for everyone. it matters to the people of ukraine and it matters to the rest of the world.

because russia is fighting and is in waiting, a country on no legal terms. if russia is able to do that, other countries might follow and that is what she tried to convince the states voting any minute here, that it is important to stand on the u.n. charter and condemn things which are just not right. brent: as we said at the beginning of the program, this resolution vote can be seen as a barometer concerning global sentiment on the war, russia, ukraine, the west and its standing. do we have any idea of how this boat is going to turn out? >> well, there's a lot of concern here that not as many nations as before will be voting for this resolution. i had a chance to ask our foreign minister, annalena

baerbock, directly after she delivered the speech what she thinks the turnout will be. she seemed to be optimistic. that she herself intensely tried to convince leaders from brazil. but the expectation is that they will not reach again this 140 plus nation members of the u.n. to join this resolution as they were able to do right after last october when 143 nations condemned the war. brent: these resolutions are not legally binding but still, they are important. assuming that the u.n. approves the resolution, what will it mean for the war in ukraine? >> it's pretty safe to say that they will get a majority to vote for this resolution. it doesn't have any kind of

concrete output but as you put it, it's a barometer kind of for a sense for how the world feels about issues and it is really a huge question. how countries for example from the global south will continue. what they will think about the ongoing support ukraine. we heard voices saying let's stop this war right away. this is the most important thing to happen. even if it means that ukraine would lose some territory to putin. brent: our correspondent there at the u.n. headquarters in new york, waiting for that vote on a resolution calling for the fighting to stop one year into the russian invasion of ukraine. thank you. as she mentioned, the german foreign minister, annalena baerbock, was among one of the four -- speakers at the u.n. and said it was time to bring the fighting to an end.

>> each and every one of us here today has an opportunity to contribute to this piece plan. by telling the aggressor to stop. by making it clear that it is not peace if an aggressor tells the victim to simply give up. it is not peace if an aggressor is rewarded for ruthless violence. this runs counter to the very essence of our united nations charter. brent: that was the german foreign minister speaking just hours ago in new york. the fighting has devastated ukraine and had a major impact on the global economy and international relations. the u.n. has recorded more than 8000 civilian deaths from the fighting but says the real figure is probably higher. around one third of the ukrainian population has been

displaced. millions have fled their home country. the u.n. says 17 million you indians are in need of humanitarian us -- assistance. russia has suffered several setbacks on the battlefield but still controls 1/5 of ukrainian territory. thousands of ordinary ukrainians have joined in on the effort. defending their country. i spoke earlier without correspondent in the city of kharkiv. i asked him who these volunteers are and what motivates them. >> this was one of the impressive things from the first day of the war, long lines in front of enlistment offices where people from all walks of life have joined the army. it's exactly what we have been seeing over the past year when we visited positions. these are people of all ages.

60-year-olds and 80-year-olds. men and women. less women than men but still a considerable number. and there are academics, people working in the academy of sciences along with construction workers. so it is really something that many people in ukraine felt they had to do at the time and many of them didn't have any military training or experience before. it was something they felt they had to do and they felt they could contribute something. ukraine has created a military unit for those people without prior experience a few years before the war. they started in the months before the war and picked up these defense units. people who were, basically anyone could have joined before the war, it was a kind of weekly training. these people then went to war. i have met two of them one year ago and now here again.

let's see their story. it's the first time in months that they are able to take a leisurely stroll through their hometown of kyiv. both of them are on furlough. >> this time it's like returning completely to the time before the war. kyiv seems renewed after the few months since the beginning of the war. it's good. it's good to have a place where you can return from the frontline and understand that it is quiet and peaceful. >> we met them one year ago. both had just enlisted in the ukrainian territorial defense. the newly created army unit for people without literary training or experience. >> all the stuff that you would just see in the movies, it

seemed very simple but in general when you started to do it, it was quite difficult. >> the threat of invasion was already lou -- already looming. people thought that vladimir putin might be bluffing. but martel wanted to be prepared. -- marta wanted to be prepared. >> it's difficult to explain to foreigners but it has happened so many times. physically destroying all -- destroying all roots of ukraine. >> many doubted what they could achieve. the answer claim quicker -- came quicker than many thought. originally the territorial defense was created behind the lines with many already having been sent to the front lines. including the donbass. this is where they have just

returned from. he's fighting at the front line while marta serves at a rescue point. >> i am still afraid. but what happens when i know i have to go there, you know? otherwise i would never go there. >> it is the first time that both have a longer furlough. the war is far from over. the fighting has recently intensified. >> honestly, i was not really optimistic in the first months. i had a feeling we were losing. but i saw how the army became stronger. i'm really proud to say this. >> outside downtown, a few

traces of the war can still be found, like these destroyed battle tanks the authorities have put on display. they, however, have seen enough of this. war is their reality now. brent: the story makes it clear, war is the reality for so many ukrainians. so many civilians are on the front lines fighting. what effect is that having on the day to day functioning of ukrainian society? >> if you add those who have left the country, a lot of the active population of the work or's are not available at the moment and of course this reflects on businesses, etc.. but much more than that, the toll of having so many people fight, being wounded and killed, of course it affects society. everybody has friends, relatives at the front lines. many people now, the longer the

war lasts, have also lost friends and relatives. it also, this also adds the fact that so many people from your neighborhood, from your family are on the front lines, of course. it also leads to people feeling very closely, very close to the army and the solidarity with the army inside society. we don't see any signs of disintegration there. so many people volunteering, collecting money or whatever to support the country, the refugees and the army. brent: we remember that after russia annexed crimea, in eastern ukraine there was a rise of independent militia. there was a lot of criticism that there was no official oversight over them and that

some of them were affiliated with far right ideology. has ukraine been able to overcome this and get these militia under control? >> it's a very different situation, now. at the time the army was basically badly functioning if functional at all and was not able to get together enough combatants to get to these front lines, so people rushed in from right wing radical groups and also troops that were put together by oligarchs. with time, of course, there was anxiety not only because of their convictions but also the question of how do you control them. how do you minimize the risk that some of them may attack at some point and kickoff something you don't want to kick off as a state or government? they integrated most of these

formations, all of these formations almost into the regular forces within the interior ministry or armed forces and transformed them into regular army units. so we do not see these kinds of formations anymore. we do see a few volunteer battalions. meaning not only do they have volunteers to fight, but they are also not receiving for example any pay. these are very few, mostly some of the foreign legions. they also have to work closely with the army. so there is no risk of something being not controlled by the army. brent: mattias there in kharkiv on the eve of the one-year mark of the invasion of ukraine. thank you. well, it is being seen as a clear sign of international indignation over the russian attack on ukraine. delegates meeting in vienna at the organization for security

cooperation in europe, boycotting the session because the russian representative was present. the osce is comprised of 67 countries and was created during the cold war to promote east-west dialogue. ukraine wants russia to be expelled. the rules of the osce make it unlikely. >> natalia is a ukrainian member of parliament, coming to vienna to take part in the osce parliamentary assembly. now that she's here, she won't be going inside. why? because the russian delegation has arrived. >> this is the reason we are boycotting this session of the osce. >> delegations representing ukraine and lithuania are boycotting the event and a slovakian member left the assembly on behalf of ukraine. >> we must not let the warmongers win.

not now, not ever. >> the president of the parliamentary assembly believes russians should be present but thinks now is not the right time for dialogue with russia. >> one year into this awful war, it is indeed a momentum to further increase pressure on russia in do all we can to ensure they are hearing the words of unified support for ukraine. >> the head of the ukrainian delegation demands reforms within the osce. >> if one country member starts a war of aggression against another country member, the presence of that delegation in the osce should be suspended. >> on top of this, every member country has veto powers. because of the moscow veto, the organization has had to stop projects in ukraine.

brent: now to diplomacy and the death penalty. germany is expelling two uranian diplomats to protest a death sentence against a german iranian activist accused of terrorism. human rights organizations say that he was forcibly of ducted and taken to iran. germany has joined in condemning the death sentence. >> two iranian formats expelled from germany at short notice as a response to the death sentence handed out to a duel iranian german citizen here picture during his first hearing at an islamic revolutionary court. iran claims he's the leader of an outlaw pro monarchist group that carried out the deadly bombing of a mosque in 2008. family and human rights groups rejected the accusations against the journalist and software

engineer who is a u.s. resident. in a tweet the german chancellor criticized the verdict. the regime is battling its own people in every imaginable way and is disregarding human rights. the death sentence is unacceptable. we condemn it in the strongest terms and call on the regime to overturn the ruling. the german foreign ministry says it is working to provide support. iran has denied access as they don't recognize dual nationality for iranians. the iran born leader of the german green party says that germany is taking steps in dealing with the case. >> if a german citizen is executed in iran because he is a german list, there won't be any normalization of relations with iran for the foreseeable future. not with this regime.

>> the court decision can still be appealed. despite the difficult circumstances, the family and the government hope his death sentence can be overturned. brent: i am now joined by the daughter of the man being held under death sentence. we appreciate you taking the time to talk to us. i wanted to ask you, are you in contact at all with your father now? >> no, unfortunately i can't talk to my father anymore. in the first year when they kidnapped him i was allowed to talk to my dad. but it was not out of human reasons. it was to put pressure on me to provide other false evidence for their court hearings. they wanted me to write a letter declaring him a terrorist leader and they wanted to get onto my computer. of course, we refused and since then i'm not allowed to talk to my father and my -- anymore.

my mother was only allowed to talk to him two times in one year. all of his phone calls are completely controlled by the people sitting right next to him. they barely tell us what's going on. brent: have you been given a reason? have they told you why you cannot speak with your father now? >> as i said, we did not cooperate. they were planning show trials for the next year and to portray my dad is a criminal and terrorist. that is what they do with critics. they want to show them as bad people so they can execute them in the system and they wanted me to take part in it and i said no. they broke off the contact for nine months. we did not know if my dad was alive and now it is only sporadically my mom can talk to him. brent: help us understand exactly what happened with your father. i understand you say this was

not an arrest. you say that your father was abducted. tell us what happened. >> yes, absolutely. it's an ongoing kidnapping. we still don't believe it. they are keeping his location still secret. it's an ongoing kidnapping. my father was on a short is this trip traveling from germany to india and he had to stop in dubai during the pandemic. his flight was canceled, he got stranded there and that is where they kidnapped him. my mom was very worried when she found out he was waiting for his next flight in dubai. he opened it up so she could see where he was on the google tracker and she could see that while he was not responding to us and not picking up the phone anymore, his location was moving over the border towards the coast, where it broke off.

the next day the islamic regime released a video where he was blindfolded with a swollen face and he is forcing to confess. then the minister of iran said that he was taken in a complex operation. so it is a kidnapping that has not been acknowledged by germany or the u.s., a german citizen kidnapped without even talking about it. brent: that's one point, the fact that this is going to be news to a lot of people. the iranian government, how did they say there was a connection at all with this charge of terrorism and your father? >> the islamic regime has done this for 44 years. always taken things that go on in their country, for example explosions, anything that goes on, any misery that goes on, using it as, as, turning it into terror plots, saying that this

was the cia or [indiscernible] , outside people doing things in here. when you talk about it, they try to find a connection. they have done this over and over, you can see it now with the protesters. they are not going to execute you because you are protesting. they say that you killed somebody from our government. they use this to execute people, to silence people. but these are false charges. nothing about it is true. i hate when these charges are always repeated, they are false. brent: the german government today expelled two diplomats from the embassy here in berlin. we understand of european union has condemned the death sentence for your father. this is action. is it the kind of action you in your family want to see? >> it's

a good first step. i don't know when they were able to expel these people. why wasn't it done when a german citizen was kidnapped and taken to iran and is being tortured for 930 days in isolation? why does it take this charge to do it? brent: are you in touch with anyone from the foreign office as a liaison between you and your family and your father through the german government? are you in touch with anyone here in berlin? >> yes, we are talking to the foreign ministry of course. not someone who can tell us anything about what's really going on behind the scenes, but they have someone who talks to us. the same person who probably talks to you to give you information. that's another problem, we don't have insight into what's being done to save my dad.

a person who could answer my questions. is this going to be the first step or the only step? what's going on? brent: making it clear, you are in touch with the foreign ministry but you are not satisfied with what germany is doing for your father as a german citizen, right? >> i'm not briefed on that? yeah, no. they don't tell me what they are going to do about this specific problem and i always ask them what do you want to do, and i have no idea. this is about -- go ahead. brent: you finish your thought, be got about 30 seconds. go ahead. >> i'm a nurse. i saved lives. it's like if my patient came to me and said have we done enough to save the life of the patient? i'm the professional and should know how. our governments have the same

responsibility. they have to save the lives of their citizens and i have not seen that. i hope that now we will see some action. brent: giselle, daughter of that german arabian activist -- german iranian activist, we appreciate you taking the time to tell us the story of your father. >> thank you for having me. brent: after this short break i will be back to take you through the day. stick around. ♪ ♪

>> the time is 10:00 p.m. and we are coming to you live from paris. these are your headlines -- the united nations overwhelmingly passes a nonbinding resolution calling for russia to withdraw from ukraine. the vote is seen as an indicator of support for kyiv and comes on the eve of the first anniversary since the invasn began. tensions have flared up once again between israeli forces and palestinian militants, trading rocket fire on thursday. all the while, palestinians come to terms with the deadliest israeli raid in the palestinian

territory in 10 years. and mexico's president is set to sign a new bill into law that would cut money for thousands of stuffers -- staffers at the country's electoral agency in charge of oversight of campaign spending. thanks for joining us. we are "live from paris." the united nations general assembly has voted overwhelmingly to demand russia withdraws its troops from ukraine. the nonbinding boat comes nearly a year after moscow chose to invade its neighbor with both sides now gearing up for intensified fighting in the spring. we will be joined later by our correspondent station in new york with an update on what this

latest result and tally indicates. just one day after a key disarmament nuclear treaty with washington was suspended, vladimir putin talked up the possibility of expanding russia's nuclear arsenal. ukraine and others have dismissed the rhetoric as a distraction from failures in the military campaign one year after russia launched the biggest land war since world war ii. >> as before, we will pay increased attention to strengthening the nuclear triad. we will continue regular production of the air launched

hypersonic systems and begin mass deliveries of the hypersonic missiles. >> the war of weapons is turning the page on a new chapter as u.s. a western allies send modern precision artillery to ukraine. kyiv's arsenal is still mostly made up of soviet era materials and on the front lines, ukrainian forces say they simply do not have enough. we have this report from the eastern donbass region, the scene of most active fighting. >> under bare winter tree cover in the donbas, a ukrainian army unit weights for orders. the skies are clear, prime conditions for artillery fire. a target is spotted, and the men have to move quickly.

the timto fire undetected is short. munitions are precious. just two salvos of grabs to provide cover for ukrainian infantry coming under russian fire. >> we would like to have more ammunition. if we get more ammunition, we could get to work more and liberate our territories faster. >> these men say they have enough to defend the mainly static front line but not the material to attack. this grand multiple rocket launching system dates from 1973, and despite western weapon donations, soviet-era equipment makes up most of ukraine's military machinery. some kilometers away on the approach to the russian occupied

city of donetsk, winter weather has turned this position into a maze of freezing, muddy trenches the soldiers nicknamed the swamp. they live huddled underground in a small shelter. the day before, they tell us, enemy fire rained down. >> when we have incoming fire here, we just wait and pray until they stop shooting at us. >> this soldier says he has given up hope of ever receiving the modern western weapons so often in the headlines. >> this is not very reliable. it is not very reliable. it is falling apart. it is almost a year now of this warfare, and nothing is arriving. >> as the clouds clear, they emerge from their bunker. to strike at the enemy, this unit is equipped with a d 20

howitzer, a canon first developed in the 1950's which uses soviet-era ammunition. >> 152 calibers and we don't have many of those. apart from the old ukrainian stocks, we only have what we took from the russians. >> even soviet-era munitions are becoming much harder to source. the major producers being russian -- being russia and china. suddenly our interview is cut short. surveillance has spotted a target. they are aiming at yet another wave of russian soldiers who have launched a ground assault. >> they are just cannon fodder. they are draftees and wegner

recruits -- wagner recruits who are not well trained. >> after we leave, the brigade is forced to shelter for two hours under russian fire, a deadly routine in this grinding artillery war. >> earlier, we brought you the news of -- that ukraine has basically got the favor of the united nations general assembly. we will be back with more on that, but first, france 24 conducted an exclusive interview with the general prosecutor of ukraine. t's take a quick listen. >> we identified and collected evidence is -- evidence of war crimes by this terrorist

organization. we informed about suspicion and that this case will continue to be investigated, but maybe at some stage, we will capture this criminal and make him liable before ukrainian courts. >> if you want the full interview, make sure to stay tuned at 11:15 paris time. a series of rockets have been launched by israeli forces on gaza, coming as a response for rocket fire from the palestinian enclave. fighting arrives one day after the deadliest israeli army raid in the occupied west bank in nearly 20 years. abc news' foreign correspondent jordana miller was in the region thursday. >> we know about for :00 a.m. local time, sirens rang out

across southern israel, even as far as the southern city of ashkelon, which is about 30 kilometers from the gaza border. that indicated, of course, that there was incoming rocket fire. the israeli army says they shot down five of those six rockets with the iron dome. one slammed into an open field, so there were no damages or injuries on the israeli side, and about two hours later, the israeli army carried out several airstrikes in central gaza and in the northern part, hitting what they called several hamas military sites, weapon factories, and weapon storage sites. there were also, as you said, no reported injuries on the others. for now, it appears that that is the end of the violence coming across the gaza border.

hamas is really in no position to escalate this. they are not interested in that. under t previous israeli government, they were given the most amount of work permits -- record numbers, almost 20,004 gaza worrs -- which really helps their economy, and that has not been rescinded under this government, so they are not really interested in escalatn. isra alsos not ierested in that. they are embroiled in a, as you know, contentious debate here in israel over judicial reform and other issues, but knowing into this weekend, israeli security will remain on high alert. more troops on the ground in jerusalem and the israeli army will be positioned along the seam between the disputed west bank and israel because israel is expting thereill be oer attempts to avenge what was a

very deadly raid on wednesday. >> mexico's president is set to sign a new bill into law cutting money for thousands of staffers at the country's electoral agency. affected workers aren charge of oversight of campaign exercise in mexico.-expensive electoral authorities now say they fear the latest move could severely weaken e democratic process. to get more clarity on this, let's turn to the director of the woodrow wilson center's mexico institute in washington, d.c. obviously, a big move in terms of the constitutional process of mexico. president over door -- president cobra door -- president obrador has been a long time critic of

spending legislation. >> good evening. thanks for the invitation to speak with you. you are asking a good question in terms of his animosity, and it really stems from the 2006 election where he narrowly lost the esidency and continues to believe that the election was olen from him. he has never trusted the organization, which is a little ironic because it is generally thought to be the most trustworthy and highly regarded institution in mexico except perhaps the -- excepterhaps he has, as you know, through this reform sought to shrink the budget and the staff size, and as we can all appreciate, when you reduce budget and staffing of any agency, it makes it harder for it to completely conduct the activities for which it is responsible. i thinkt is concerning, coupled with some other actions

he has taken over the coursef his now about four and a half years in office. there are some real concerns about the strength of mexican democracy. >> can you expand on those concerns? obviously, he himself has said he expects the court to challenge this decision. how far do you see that challenge going? >> the opposition which anticipated that it would lose this vote, had already indicated it would take it to the supreme and argue that the law is not constitutional. even some members of the president's ruling coalition have questioned the constitutionality of the reform, so it would go to the supreme court. i'm not going to try to guess what the mexican supreme court will decide. it is possible they would try to

defer action. note -- no changes can take place within 90 days of the electoral process which starts in september. go back 90 days, it is about june, so the process is fairly short. in terms of some of the actions, not only have there been a number of attempts to reform or reduce its budget and change the way it works, there have also been other efforts to reduce the free flow of conversation and debate in mexico. attacks on the press, pressure on think tanks in mexico, as well as efforts to reduce the independence of other agencies, other parts of the government. i think if you combine all that this proposed reform, you see the possibility of a situation in which lot of mexicavoters

are disenfranchised because they cannot run enough polling places, given the reductions in budget and personnel. sort of combine the actual -- the efforts to make it harder for the institution to do its job with efforts to suppress democratic conversation. >> thank you very much for your insights. we will be keeping you up-to-date with any further development there. earlier, we brought you the news that the united nations general assembly has voted overwhelmingly to demand russia's withdrawal of its troops from ukraine. for more on this now, i'm joined by our new york correspondent in the u.s., stationed there. what can we take away from this vote in terms of double sentiment. do we see any shifts from the

start of the war? >> this boat shows that mobile powers really condemn russia on the whole, that there is overwhelming support across the world for ukraine and that russia is very much seen as the aggressor here. this resolution, which calls for just and lasting peace and also calls for russia to withdraw its troops from ukraine, got 141 votes in favor. that is exactly the same number of votes in favor as a previous resolution put to the general assembly back in march 2022. you could say that really, russia remains just as isolated on the world stage as it was back then, right after the invasion began, so this is a resounding success for western powers, which have lobbied hard in order for this resolution to

have the support that it needed. of course, there's no veto possible in the general assembly, so it was always going to go through with 2/3 of countries supportingt. it is interesting, however, to look at the countries that abstained. most notably, china and india, but also african countries. many african countries abstained. south africa was one of them, and the cap -- south african delegate explained the decision saying that south africa did not feel that this really laid the groundwork for peace in ukraine, that it did not lay the basis for peace, and that was one complaint, that this resolution, despite calling for peace, did not really go into any details about quite how peace could be achieved. amongst those voting against it was really a lineup of the usual suspects, but with the addition this time of mali, which has come under russian sway more and

more over the past year or so. really, this resolution carries symbolic weight, as there is no veto. tomorrow on the one-year anniversary of the start of the war in ukraine, there will be a ministerial-level security council meeting. although there will be many western foreign ministers attending that meeting and u.s. secretary of state, the russian foreign minister and the chinese foreign minister will not be attending that meeting. >> thank you that update. -- thank you very much for that update. the united nations have overwhelmingly passed a nonbinding resolution calling for russia to withdraw from the ukraine. the vote is seen as an indicator of support for kyiv and comes on the people of the first anniversary since the invasion began.

time now for some of the day's business news. the european commission has banned its staff from using tiktok videos. tell us more. >> the eu executive arm has said that the aim was to protect the commission from cyber attacks but gave little detail behind the decision. the chinese-owned app is immensely popular but has been a source of concern over data security. the move follows similar measurements -- similar measures announced by some u.s. government agencies. >> with more than 1.5 billion global users, tiktok has taken the world by storm. in brussels, though, officials are not so enthusiastic about the social media platforms. from thursday, the european commission said staff would be banned from installing the app on corporate-owned devices, plus corporate ones if they are used for work. >> the reason the decision has

been taken is to protect -- is to increase the commission's cybersecurity. also the measure aims to proct the commission against cyber security threats and actions. >> the move reflects wider scrutiny from western governments and regulators who fear tiktok's chinese parent company could share user data with china's government. there are also concerns the chinese communist party could use the app to spread disinformation or propaganda. at the end of last year, u.s. congress passed a law banning tiktok on federal government-owned devices. a spokesperson for the social media giant condemned the condition -- the commission's move. >> we believe the suspension is misguided and based on fundamental misconceptions. we have contacted the commission to set the record straight and explain how we protect the data of the 120 5 million people across the eu who come to tiktok every month.

>> the commission did not give furthe details about if there had been any incidents involving tiktok, and so far, european parliament andhe eu council aryet to follow suit. employees have been told to remove the app as soon as possible with a march 15 deadline. >> let's have another look at the markets. on wall street, all three main indices finished today up in positive territory after starting trading on a weak note with the dow, the s&p, and the nasdaq all up, in the grayness they finished this thursday's trading. let's take a look at some more of the day's business headlines. sam backman freed, the disgraced founder of crypto from ftx, has been hit with new charges including conspiring to make more than 300 illegal political donations. he now faces the potential of 12

criminal charges instead of eight. in an earlier indictment, he pleaded not guilty to all charges, denying that he had tried to defraud investors and steal billions of dollars in customer funds. france's national railway company has reported record profits for 2022 as travelers returned to trains after covid doldrums. sales rose 19% from 2021, 18% from pre-pandemic 2019. the result is the state-owned company making 2.4 billion euros in profit, which will be spent on upgrades in the future. general motors will halt production at its truck assembly part plant in indiana for two weeks as inventory starts to out weigh demand. the temporary closure will start on march 27. the factory was idled last year after semiconductor chip shortages, but production has increased since then and -- as

the supply chain issues eased. u.s. president joe biden has nominated ajay bangor to become the next president of the world bank. the indian-american businessman is the former chief executive of mastercard. although all members can nominate a candidate until the end of march, the institution has traditionally been headed by someone on the united states, its largest contributor. the nomination comes after the current world bank chief, david malkmus, announced plans to step down. >> we will see how they do under his new stewardship. thank you. it is time now for our fact checking segment, truth or fake. there's been a video shared since mid february of ukrainians burning russian books, sparking comparisons with the nazis.

we remember how they famously burned books by jewish people. is this video true or fake? >> it is a well-worn line and a pretext by the kremlin to justify their invasion of ukraine, labeling the ukrainians nazis, and saying that they are due not defying the country -- saying that they are denazifying the country. we see hundreds of books being thrown out into a sort of warehouse where they appear to be stacked and packed up. if we school to the end. anyway, this video has been seen hundreds of thousands of times on twitter. here are a couple of examples. there's one in english and another one in france -- french. they ascribe it to what they call the nazi regime in kyiv. this french user says -- the

destruction of books by russian authors like tolstoy and dusty askey has started just like in germany in 1933 when the nazis burned jewish and russian text. there is a distinction because whereas the nazis burned oaks, -- where is the nazis burned books, that does not appear to be what is happening in the video. it was also shown by a french far right presidential candidate who is well known for his pro-russian sympathies. he also links it to the values of the neo-nazi regime in kyiv. this tweet, though, goes even further and says that more than 11 million books in russian have been destroyed in order to rewrite history, and it goes back to that justification that the russians use that pressure and ukraine are one country, they have one history, and it sort of nullifies the identity of ukraine. >> are they right? are the ukrainians really destroying these books as we are

being told? >> well, yes, they are, but let's put it in context. how did we fact-check it? we went to this tweet, where there are a few clues here. we can see it mentions 22.5 tons of books, and it also has this at the bottom here. this is a small town in western ukraine. this writing here is actually the name of someone, which indicates telegram. using that, we went to her telegram channel, and here we have a few more clues. she says that actually, this has been organized by a charity as well as the local city council, and that they delivered all these books. it was actually to help the ukrainian war effort. >> that's very interesting.

what exactly would you say is the ultimate goal here? >> france 24's fact checking team contacted the charity in the city council, and they explained that they were collecting what they described as russian propaganda that people willingly donated them -- that people willingly donated in order not to burn them but to recycle them and they raised 2500 euros which was used to help displaced ukrainians. the city council also said that the goal was to motivate people to get rid of the remnants of the russian world. note the r, -- note the lower case r, which has been adopted by many ukrainians, but is it's important to note is it's a local initiative, not a national one. for kyiv, it is a necessary step

because it has been too long stifled by russian influence, but in this case, it is a local initiative. >> that is all the news that we have right now live from paris, but there is more coming, including a look ahead to the elections in nigeria. we will see you in just a few. ♪

02/23/23 02/23/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the one-year mark of russia's invasion of ukraine stands as a milestone for the people of ukraine and for the international community. that invasion is an affront to our collective conscious, are violations of the united nations charter and internatial