♪ anchor: hello and welcome to live from paris on france 24. here are your headlines this hour. macron plans and overhaul in french relations with the african continent, declaring a new era and partnerships. the french president says a troop numbers will be reduced ahead of his four nation tour of central africa this week. a new era also being claimed by the u.k. and e.u. as they rehash the terms of their divorce deal. the so-called winds are framework hopes to overcome a northern ireland trade

difficulties that have remained a thorn in the side of the framework. violence continues to sraln the occupied west bank after another shooting on monday left one is really critically injured after is really settlers -- israeli settlers went on a rampagsunday in the worst violence the area has seen in decades. ♪ good to have you with us. french president emmanuel macron is getting ready to set off on a four country tour of central africa. before his trip he outlined his vision for future relations with the african continent after multiple countries effectively shouldered the french out of the country. he noted a reduction of his troops in africa.

he also announced a new era of economic partnership saying france must realize africa is no longer its backyard. take a listen. pres. macron: where you have military bases set up, sometimes with hundreds of thousands of french soldiers, there will be a reduction in the number of our soldiers. these bases will not be closed, but transformed. they will become academies and partnership basis. they will change in appearance, logic and imprint. anchor: emmanuel macron picking earlier. we take a look at france's waning influence on the continent as krohn prepares for his trip. -- as macron prepares for his trip. reporter: emmanuel macron set to return for another regional tour of africa. his last visit was marked by the end of france's military presence in mali after a decade

on the ground. french troops were pushed to leave following a military takeover. this time around, paris's forces have left burkina faso. >> we are here to show support to our army and say no different imperialism. reporter: but there is concern that a russian group could move in to replace them. moscow has made clear it wants closer cooperation with african economic interests also sharedds by china and turkey. motives that further challenge french influence in a region where it once exerted strong control during the colonial era. at the same time, anti-french sentiment has taken root in other countries like chad and senegal with people keen to see an end to the former colonial powers influence. a feeling that france says has been stirred up by russia, which it accuses of spreading

disinformation in the region. despite these protests, emmanuel macron has repeated that the french partnership with the continent remains a top priority, and is going for a new chapter in the relationship. to back these claims, he is promised to return already previously seized on the continent. >> i can't except that a large part of several african country's cultural heritage is in france. there are historical explanations for it but nothing can justify it forever. reporter: so far, 26 artifacts have been returned to benin but that hasn't stopped anti-french sentiment from getting a ground across africa. anchor: next, a store that never seems to end but could change. brexit has dominated much of the public discourse in the u.k. in

europe, ihas pulled at the lucifer -- the loose threads of british society. p.m. rishi sunak met with the eu. northern ireland has been a roadblock to a clean exit but after years of discussion the sides say they've come to an agreement. but not all sides are happy with the deal. our reporter breaks it down. reporter: goods shipped here in holly had in wales have since brexit had heavy e.u. paperwork even though it's heading to northern ireland. that's been part of the problem with northern island protocol, which london and brussels says have been resolved. they hailed what is called the windsor framework and a new chapter in u.k. and e.u. ties. >> it delivers smooth flowing

trade within the whole united kingdom, protects northern ireland's place in our union and safeguards sovereignty for the people of northern ireland. >> the new framework respects and protects our respective markets and our respective legitimate interests, and most importantly, it protects the very hard earned peace gains of the belfast good friday agreement. reporter: the deal follows more than a year of tense talks over the northern island protocol that has unsettled the province 25 years after the good friday agreement ended three decades of conflict. >> thousands of pages scrapped. reporter: the framework introduces a new green lane for goods staying in the u.k. and it means u.k. approved food and medicine are fully available, and future vat changes in the rest of u.k. will apply to

northern ireland as well. it also limits oversight by the eu's european court of justice concerning northern ireland, and the northern ireland assembly will be allowed to prevent application of new eu laws. the leader in northern ireland welcomes the deal. the bub says it will wait to see if it meets the test. this is not yet a done deal. u.k. mps will vote on the new arrangements for the province, which has been without a government since last february. anchor: vivian is a lecturer in politics at queens belfast. thank you for being with us. i have a few questions for you.

for u.k. goods that stay inane northern ireland. anyone who has been to an airport is familiar with this concept of going through the green lane or the blue lane for european arrivals. why did something so simple take so long to get to? vivian: two differenteasons. first, we did not have much data. when t u.k. was still in the europeannion, there was very little information about goods traveling to the eu, going to rthern ireland. know how tradeorks mucha we better. the second is about trust and we had a very bad relationship between the u.k. and e.u. and if you don't have trust between the parties, the eu was basically not trusting the u.k. would make sure there would be goods that would not meet the eu rules entering the eu sing a market. now the relationship seems to be

rebuilng in theu seems to be looking at the u.k. again as a potentially trustworthy partner. anchor: this has broken trust in the u.k. as well, between people and the government, the government and westminster and edinburgh but also belfast where you are as well. these changes will affect customs, vat, are these changes likely to help keep the peace in northern ireland and ensure the good friday agreement is upheld? viviane: we're almost at the 25 year anniversary of the good friday agreement and we just had last week policeman in northern ireland being attacked. moment and there's a lack of trust. last week we also had polls published taken a few weeks back that about 3% of the people in northern iland trust the u.k. govement to soe things. hopefully the news today will incrse that but we are at a fraud moment. no one wants the return of

violence. i think there has been complete commendation for every political party for what happened last week. there's a lot of hope coming out, also a lot of hope, we see a lot of pressure as well from the u.s. in terms of getting some kind of anniversary for the good friday agreement. there are a lot of possibilities going forward positively right now. anchor: could this still be derailed? rishi sunak has to get it through parliament into the labour party has said they will back it. he could face a rebellion from some of his backbenchers but also from the dup in belfast. viviane: definitely. rishi sunak, there's been a lot of question about how much of a statesman is he, what kind of prime nister will he be. this is his first big test and i think a lot of people are happy and surprised by how he presented this deal. this was a very well done job from him.

it is very unlikely -- i don't see it feeling in the commons. now, the dup has not rejected it outright. one of the mp has, but the party has said they will take the time to look at it. the dup, the type of test they have set up are so strict that it is unlikely the deal will meet all of the test. the question is, will the thing they manage -- achieve quite a lot. the idea of revising the protocol, going back, renegotiating their withdrawal agreement, was something that seemed very far-fetched a few months back. they've managed to get that. there is now according to rishi sunak, only 3% of eu law that would apply to northern ireland. is that too much or is it the kind of pill the u.k. will swallow to get back into the government? that's up to the dup, which is

hard to predict. anchor: this is now the fourth british prime minister to be trying to handle this saga, for lack of a better word. how do you think the eu is feeling about rishi sunak? you think we finally have a partner we can work with? viviane: i think so. if we look back arecent predecessors, we had dup and u.k. government extreme the critical. now with sunak we've had a different approach and that seems to have worked pretty he appears to be much more interested in working with the eu and we have to mention the war in ukraine. that has been a major geopolitical issue for t u.k. and e.u. and they found common ground. they've managed to start working together again and trusting each other again and that has helped

with solving the northern island protocol. anchor: briefly if you would, how has this messy divorce deal been in belfast? it must be a lot more frightening than the rest of the u.k.. viviane: basically, w had a very different brexit. some impacts that brexit has felt widy, we haven't felt them and we felt other things. with this deal, it looks like we will have a more similar brexit. whher that is good or bad depends on what you feel about brexit. anchor: thank you so much. other news, turkiye has been hit by its fourth earthquake in as many weeks. monday's 5.6 magnitude earthquake hit a southern province around 200 kilometers north we of the other

earthquake that devastat the entire region paired one person is confirmed -- entire region. one person is confirmed dead. the world bank has estimated the damage from this month's disaster stands at over $34 billion, around 4% of the countries gdp. violence continued in the occupied west bank monday with another is really being shot by a palestinian gunman. this after sunday saw the worst widespread violence in decades in the territory. israeli settlers torched dozens of houses and cars with one palestinian killed in clashes sunday evening. the rampage was sparked by the killing of two israelis earlier sunday we have the late. reporter: damaged homes, burned cars, broken windows. palestinians in the west bank counting the costs of israeli

venge attas. >> i was here yesterday when the incident occurred. i didn't know how to escape. the immediately closed all the roads and escape routes so i was forced to stay here. i locked the door and then the settlers arrived and burned things. they set fire to all of the wood i had and burned my car. they burned everything. ? -- reporter: the deadly violence began just two hours after two is really brothers were killed by a palestinian gunman. israel says they are still searching for the gunman that shot the brothers. the government has called for coma. -- calm. >> i understand hard feelings but this is not the way forward. we do not take the law into our own hands. the israeli government are the

ones that should be crushing our enemies. reporter: the latest twist in violence comes as joint talks held in jordan sunday with a view toward de-escalation. something both sides have pledged to work toward. this year, more than 60 palestinians and 13 israelis have been killed. anchor: it is time for a look at the business news. i am joined by peter o'brien. good to see you. the u.s. treasury secretary paid a surprise visit to ukraine. peter: that's right, on an unannounced trip, she was meeting with president zelenskyy and other officials and she reiterated america support for ukraine. she organized a successful transfer of funds to the country and said talks were underway about how russia might be made to pay for the damage it has caused. reporter: it has been just over a ek since u.s. president joe

biden made a surprise visit to kyiv, and on monday it was the turn of his treasury secretary, janet yellen. it was as much about honoring the dead as it was reaffirming the u.s. support for kyiv on the frontline and financially. >> america will stand with ukraine for as long as it takes. reporter: with the treasury secretary announcing the transfer of one point when he dollars from washington. monday's transfer is the first part of a new $9.9 billion package. it brings the total economic and budget aid given to ukraine by the u.s. to $14 billion, with an additional 8.6 billion dollars expected by september of this year. but it may not be enough for ukraine, whose economy shrank by

30% in 2022. kyiv has its eyes on confiscated russian assets to fund its recovery. >> we have discussed a sanctions policies in-depth with the treasury secretary. these are personal sections on politicians and also industry oriented sanctions. reporter: it is unclear other washington can fulfill kyiv's wish. the treasury secretary says there are significant legal obstacles to fully seizing some $300 billion in frozen assets from russia central bank. war-torn ukraine is estimated to be in need of up to 57 billion dollars in external financing to boost its economy. peter: in the markets, wall street recovered slightly at closing after the worst week of the year last week. the s&p 500 up just 0.3% at closing and the nasdaq a bit better at 0.6.

huawei is donating for seizing -- proceedings at a major telecom industry get together, putting on a brave face spite being lack listed by some western countries. the chinese tech giant is taking up almost an entire exhibition hall despite that there were productions it would have a more discreet presence. it has been crippled i sanctions from the u.k., u.s. and sweden, who fear beijing could use huawei networks to spy or sabotage. huawei has always denied this would be possible. let's hear from one of their executive advisors. >> huawei doesn't think politically. we build a systems and infrastructure. the message we are sending to the world is that's where our focus is. we honestly don't have great engagement with governments either in china or abroad because we think our focus should be on delivering the best

networks and the best services to our customers. peter: three weeks after the disappearance of one of china's top bankers, we still don't know where he is, but we know what he is doing. his company said he was cooperating with chinese authorities on an investigation. the group has supervised the ipos of several domestic tech giants. this comes amid a crackdown on alleged corruption by president xi jinping that has clipped the wings of many leading tech committees and financiers in china. finally, canada has announced it has banned tiktok from all government issued mobile phones after the european commission took a similar step last week. canada's chief information officer determined the video app resents an unacceptable risk to privacy and security. tiktok is immensely popular but it's chinese ownership has raised fears that beijing could use it to collect data or push pro china narratives.

despite tiktok's owner moving headquarters to singapore a few years ago. anchor: i hope they don't bring that rule to france 24 because i would be devastated. thank you so much. it is time now for truth or fake, our dose of daily fact checking. it is good to see you. you've been looking into viral images of a ukrainian soldier wearing some surprising in cigna -- surprising insignia on his uniform. >> starting with these accusations after these circulated showing a ukraine soldier with a pageant that users say show his affiliation to the islamic state. these are screenshots from a danish television report where the soldier was visible just in the background and that's what users have picked up on. the patch itself shows a black

background with a white sphere and text that users claim is the seal of mohammed that has been used since 2007 by islamic state. these images themselves were also shared by the russian embassy in denmark with some pretty strong words, saying they think this is a clear example of what values ukrainian military are dear to. accusing ukraine of terrorism affiliation. the photo and caption were also picked up by international media, including india and iran, and they presented these images as evidence of links between islamic state and the ukrainian military. anchor: what else did you find out about this soldier? >> from a reverse image search, i found those images are actually not from a -- the danish television report used them from a news agency,

associated press, and that's where they took the images from. it was filmed in the donbass region on the front land and it was a danish channel that took the images. i can confirm the images are not manipulated or doctored and they are real. according to the description that was attached to this, the soldier himself was identified only as kurt and there was no mention of the badge he was wearing on his left arm or any terrorist affiliation. we know very little else about this soldier apart from his name, which also may be a pseudonym. but it's not the first time he has appeared and online footage or articles. including this twitter video in which he appears with his squad mates from february 10. at 52 seconds, here is a screenshot, we can see the same

black badge with white text on his left arm, what people say is the islamic state badge. he was interviewed last november by german media and this was a 4.5 minute report in which he featured, and while he is wearing a different and rather thick jacket, there is no patch or badge visible on either arm. he also made headlines in ukraine last november also when he shot down a russian droning. his left arm is visible, where we had previously seen the patch but it is not visible in this article from last year. anchor: a lot of online presence. we've established the images are real, is it true or fake that the soldier has anything to do with the islamic state group? >> i spoke to france 24's resident terrorism expert for his analysis and he said the seal of the prophet, which is

visible on the patch, is used by several different jihadist groups, whether it is al qaeda, the islamic state or even rebel groups in syria. he says it is not proof of belonging to the islamic state group. the ukraine center for strategic communication and information security interviewed the soldier with his face uncovered. in the interview, he told him that he found the badge. he claims he stumbled upon this patch on the body of a soldier belonging to the reston mercenary walking or group. he claims he is -- russian mercenary wagner group. he claims he is a christian. he also gave an interview to polygraph, the fact checking arm of the voice of america media

outlet and this was a much more extended, extensive interview. he explained these military patches are trophies he collects from his time on the frontline. he says he has a host of many others he collects and wears that he has found and so do many of his colleagues. overall, this is all the information we have on this story and that's all we really know for now. while the soldier has claimed -- denied these claims and said the badges are merely war treasures, it is plausible considering the latest known footage we have of him wearing this badge on his arm is from february 10 and we can't find any older images or instances of him online. it is a plausible reason that he has given. it's also not the first time the soldiers have been known to do this. there is no evidence this soldier fought on any other battlefield since 2014 or has

any connection with jihadist groups. i reached out to the ukrainian nila terry spokesperson -- military spokesperson with no response. this is the information we have. anchor: another deep dive, thank you. we are going to take a quick break but stay tuned, i will be right back with your world headlines. ♪ >> they observe. they contact us. they report, film, photograph. they are the voice of the voiceless. your eyes in the fall from -- far-flung reaches of the world. the observers, a network of citizens working with france when he four. amateur testimonials checked by our journalist and broadcast weekly.

the observers on france 24. ♪ ♪ ♪

02/27/23 02/27/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> we really don't know about these things. these are not the 90 greatest experts on the internet. [laughter] amy: the supreme court has just heard two major cases that could reshape the very structure of the internet. we will speak to the electronic frontier foundation about what's at stake and why the future of