♪ >> it is 9:00 p.m. this is live from paris. these are headlines on france 24. angry reaction from washington following today's incident over the black sea in which a russian fighter jet struck a u.s. drone causing it to crash. with 500 days to go into the paris olympics president macron says there is still a lot -- there's still lots of work to be done and he is urging everyone involved to give it everything they've got. police in pakistani city couple with supporters of the former prime minister as officers arrived outside his house to arrest him. ♪

welcome back. the united states military has condemned moscow for being reckless after an unmanned american spy drone hit the propeller of a russian fighter jet causing the drone to crash into the black sea. washington says this happened over international waters and u.s. president joe biden has been briefed on the incident. the first of its kind since russia began its invasion of ukraine over a year ago. here is what the pentagon press secretary had to say. >> with the u.s. air force intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance unmanned aircraft that woods operating with an international airspace over the black sea today. at approximately 7:03 a.m.

central european time one of the russian aircraft struck the propeller causing u.s. forces to have to bring the m q nine down any international waters. several times before the collision the su 27 dumped fuel on and flew in front of the m q nine in reckless and unprofessional manner. >> the pentagon press secretary speaking. let's cross to our correspondent who joins us from washington, d.c. tell us more about what the u.s. version of events is. >> as you heard from the pentagon spokesperson, the really put the blame solely on the russians insisting that u.s. drone was flying above international waters and international airspace. the pentagon secretary saying the incident lasted about 30 to 40 minutes. he described and the soundbite -- in the soundbite there were

several attempts to disrupt the flight path of the drone by flying close to it, in front of it, by dumping fuel on it and the last incident was when the russian fighter jet according to the americans hit the propeller of the drone. the pentagon insisting the propeller being damaged, the u.s. decided to take down the drone themselves. he did confirm the u.s. had sort of crashed or downed the drone on its own into international waters. the recovery, we don't know that. the pentagon not confirming whether the u.s. was actively pursuing recovery but they did say they did not believe the russians had recovered the u.s. drone. there was also a big message from the white house really insisting on the fact that this

drone had every right to be in that area. insisting multiple times through multiple officials these were -- this was indeed international airspace and above international waters. the spokesperson for the national security council john kirby briefing reporters insisted this was not uncommon, these type of intercepts in that area were not at all uncommon. what was uncommon was how unsafe come unprofessional and reckless it was in causing the downing of this aircraft. he said that is what made this incident unique. he also had a message for the russians. he said the u.s. did not know whether the russians intended to cause the downing of the drone or simply to threaten the american drone. he said if the message he wanted to send was deter or dissuade us

from operating in international airspace over the black sea that message has failed. we will not stop operating in that area and the u.s. summoning the russian ambassador here in washington to convey their very strong concerns about today's incident. >> thank you very much for that update. 500 days and counting. 500 days away from the start of the paris 2024 olympics many of the events are going to take place in a working-class suburbs to the northeast of paris. that area is home to the elliptic village and an aquatic center. there is construction at every turn. noise and disruption to local transport. let's listen to what french president emmanuel macron said about the level of preparedness for the lipids in paris which are just 500 days away -- the

olympics in paris which are just 500 days away. >> we need to move very fast in the 500 days to come. we are going to put in maximum energy and give our all for these to be a great olympics and paralympic games so france can show its best side. so that our citizens can be proud. so that you can be proud of the work you have done. i am counting on you. being on schedule with a high level of excellence in our execution, organization, security, ticketing, logistics, transport. obviously it is a huge sporting event but above all it is a huge mobilization of humanity of the world will be watching. >> president emmanuel macron speaking. we can speak now to simon who is an expert on e-sports -- on sports diplomacy at the international university of leeds.

500 days to go until the olympics in paris. does this look and sound to you like a cy that is ready for the challenge ahead? >> good evening and thank you for hang me. certnly there are still challenges ahead but in many regards the position paris finds itself in is ahead in terms of other olympics this far out. certain olympics have had a great deal of run in. paris has a lot of the existing infrastructure. while there may seem to be a lot of disruption it is no on the scale as it perhaps was in rio or london. the exception being t tokyo in 2020/2021 because of the covid crisis. that was done in such an isolated fashion it was difficult to assess the impact on the general population when the population was locked down for a portion of that year of course. the preparation for the olympics

begins on a seven-year cycle. we are a year and six month or so away from the opening ceremony. i think paris is in pretty good shape. >> any alarm bells? this is a country that has had a couple of issues with policing major sporting events doubly football last year -- notably football last year. some say the ticket website is quite occult to use. not particularly intuitive. have you heard anything that makes you think a bit of improvement could be in order? >> i am sure there are these kinds of challenges that are still there. certainly something like a website interface making it intuitive particularly to users from other cultures and making it mobile friendly as well as available on a desktop access. these are typical challenges major sporting events face

particularly in multisport events. because it is the olympic games and you have all the different sports across multiple sites, others are spread around paris and around the country to the extent of the sailing and the like. there are different challenges when you have a multisport event even when it is centered on suc an established global city is paris. the particular challenges in terms of the logistics and moving things around, if we started with a blank sheet of paper, it might be in my suggestion book paid because paris has so many established ways of working, the ioc and the olympic games from the ipc has to negotiate their way around that as well. >> i don't know if you've been to paris recently but there is an off a lot of of construction work around the place. there are a lot of bicycle lanes that have been built, taxi drivers are always complaining about the state of the traffic

and on the difficulty of navigating the city. are they going to be rewarded? is this city going to recoup some of the sacrifices and investments that have been made by putting much everyone who lives in paris in these games? are there rewards for a hosted he? -- a host city? > there certainly are rewards. other they compensate dictly the pocket of the taxi driver today or a sale kiosk tomorrow, that is a much harder thing to track. the rewards will, in the performances on the track and in the pool and other sporting venues. hosting an event gives a bumof about 20% to a nations medal table. that is a tangible benefit you can put down in sporting terms. whether that is a cost everyone in paris would buy into, everyone in france would agree to come that is some from mr.

macron and the organizing committee to convince people of certainly there are benefits. the visitor numbers. the businesses that will benefit whether they are hotels, restaurants who will benefit from the visitors, they are tangible things that can improve and help the french economy. the balance as with any mega sporting event between the initial outlay and the legacy that paris will leave to the communities, the facilities on the one hand making sure they don't become white elephants, that is unusable for communities. those are the kind of things the paris -- that paris built into its thinking and will remain to be seen in decades after a mega event. that is where you can tell the health benefits. some of the nonsupport outcomes, the education, global engagement. they are the things that make countries and cities invest in

hosting the events. >> and a clean river seine as well. the environment of benefit. they're trying to get the seine ready for some of the summing events. that is something i find exciting in the buildup to the olympics. what struck you that is on the cards here in france ahead of the paris 2024 olympics by way of a venue or initiative? something that has made you say wow. sorry to put you on the spot. >> not at all. going back to your previous poin paris has a long history of hosting events whether that is on a diplomic frontere sporting occasions. some of those have met challenges. and a keen leader of french domestic politics you would recognize that peer the opportunity to have the opening ceremony not in a stadium but to have it on the river seine. that lends itself to a sustainability dimension which

you mentioned. weaning up the river seine -- eaning up the river seine, making it able to host imming events etc. just the opportunity to showcase theonderful river that bends its way through the city of paris, that is a really thoughtful approach to my mind. i think it is something that will make a unique stamp on the elliptic's. -- the olympics. all the olympics and paralympic games are unique. think that is a bold move on behalf of the paris organizing committee and something that will be the visible, tangible, cultural and sporting legacy of paris 24. >> that is going to make it less directly comparable to some of the other opening ceremonies we have seen inside stadiums as you have said. thank you for taking the time to speak to us. >> pleasure. thank you. >> strikes are continuing here in france against plans by the government to overhaul the pension system and raise the

retirement age from 62 to 64. while widespread disruption is expected any friends airports tomorrow and in some cases airlines have been asked to scale down their schedules in paris, tons of bin liners are piling up on the city's pavements as been collectors continue their industrial action for a ninth straight day today. some tourists don't seem too thrilled about the site of mountains of rubbish. others say they support the striking workers. >> this smell is unpleasant when you want to eat but also when you move around the city. >> strikes in england as well. even though it does spoil lot of the view and the smell, i do support the strikes. retirement and pay is important to a lot of people. >> tourists speaking in paris. some 10 scenes today in the eastern pakistani city where

police scuffled with supporters of former prime minister imran khan outside his house. please had come to arrest him for failing to appear in court on corruption charges. is assembled supporters were having none of it and they hurled rocks at the officers and police responded by firing tear gas. around a dozen policemen and some 35 of the supporters were injured in the scuffles. our correspondent tells us more. >> it is a tense situation outside the park, the home of pakistan's former president. tear gas shot within its walls. outside, crowds of supporters clashed with security forces disrupting police attempts to arrest them for failing to appear in court for corruption charges. >> we are standing with our leader imran khan and we are ready to give our lives for him. he is waiting inside his home. he is not the type to run away. >> the former cricketer turned

politician has avoided public appearances since an attack -- an assassination attempt at a rally last november. he believes by arrting himhe authorities want to prevent his precipitation in the upcoming elections and urged his supporters to continue the fight. >> the government believes if imran khan goes to jail the nation will fall asleep. you have to prove them wrong. prove this is a nation which is wide awake and struggle for your rights and freedom. i fought this battle all my life and will continue to do so. if anything happens to me or i go to prison or they kill me, you have to prove this nation will continue to struggle even without imran khan. >> last april he was ousted from office by a no-confidence vote he says is a plot by his successors government. it took place after he tried to circumvent the move by dissolving parliament and calling a snap election. the supreme court ruled this was a constitutional breach.

>> let's get a check in on what is happening in the world of business. the latest u.s. inflation numbers are in and they are going to come to kate things for the fed as they try to deal with the failure of two banks to >> the central bank will be holding its next policy meeting next week or the pressure is on for it to find the right balance. consumer prices were .4% higher in february than january or the 6% higher on the annual scale. it does mark the lowest scale since september of 2021l it three times the federal reserve's rget of 2%. possibly increasing the pace from a quarter to have a percentage point because inflation is not going down as fast as it would like. the collapse of silicon valley and signature banks will complicate the path. the rapid rise of interest rates over the last year from near zero to almost four point 75% was among the factors that piled

pressure on svb. it had heavy investments in government bonds which had fallen in value because of the rate hikes. the fed now faces a tricky balancing act between insuring the stability of the banking sector and protecting households and businesses from spiraling prices. let's speak now to an equity research analyst at cf a research. thank you for joining us on france 24. how do you think the fed will handle this dual challenge? will it be pushing ahead with the more aggressive rate hike next wk despite the turmoil into the banking sector? >> i appreciate you having me on. i would say i do think there was a consensus it would be 25, even 50 basis points before this week but given what has happened with the two bankruptcies i do think there is a good chance it is just 25 and not 50. there is even a chance to go for zero this round. following that, i expect them to continue to raise because

inflation is so high and unemployment is so low. >> after monday's initial panic wall street seems to be recovering. what has changed for investors? >> i think monday was a little bit of a carryover from the weekend. with silicon valley bank going down friday, i think a lot of people got worried on saturday and tried to go to the bank to take out their money. on sunday i think investorsere looking for new silicon valley bank got acquired and that did not happen. instead of that they got the new signature bank also went down. i think there was a lot of concern there. the headline that came out after that talking about how uninsured deposits -- still major panic and today people started to realize their uninsured deposits at least in those banks would be safe so i think that got rid of a lot of the concern. >> about 24 hours ago we were

hearing from president biden saying the u.s. banking system is safe, that customer should not be worried. the ratings agency moody's has downgraded the outlook for the entire u.s. banking system from stable to negative. are you at all concerned this is just the beginning of a full-blown banking crisis? >> i am not that concerned about a full-blown banking crisis. there were twoanks that nt down with signature bank and silicon valley bank but also a smaller one that dell and crypto. all three ofhose companies were extremely niche or they were not diversified with their posits. i think it is very important this is not credituality based. if it was credit quality out be a lot more worried about contagion but since it is based off bad securities books, it was really a hedging issue and deposit outflows came from the bank run. so i don't view it as much as a full industry issue.

>> so not necessarily mainstream banks we are talking about. understand u.s. authorities are investigating the collapse of svb. do you think we might learn something that could serve as a warning to other lenders? >> yeah, i think people will think twice about investing in their securities books. previously that was considered quite safe but now i think people will look at the duration more on their securities portfolios given what has happened here. i also think banks will be more careful about their diversification of their deposit base and they will look at what is the insured versus uninsured amount on their deposits. these are things people knew about but were not necessarily top of mind before this. >> thank you for joining us on france 24 this evening. >> appreciate you having me on. >> silicon valley bank, signature bank and silver gate capital which also closed down last week were all lenders that focused on crypto or tech clients.

sector is in turmoil. since the start of the year there have been one please stand by. please stand by. more 128,000 job cuts on tuesday. the pair company of facebook, instagram and whatsapp confronting it would/10,000 jobs in addition to 1000 layoffs last year. drivers for platforms like uber and lift should be considered independent contractors, not employees. that is the ruling from a core in california. a blow to labor activists who have been lobbying for a change in how the gig economy is regulated. cather has the details. >> it is being seen as a victory for the gig economy in california. an appeals court and of the state ruled that uber, lift and other at taste on-demand companies can continue to treat their workers as independent contractors and not employees.

the decision on the labor measure known as proposition 22 was considered constitutional by the court. in tweet tweet uber welcomed the news. >> today's ruling is a victory for app aged workers and millions of californians who voted for prop 22. we are pleased the court respect of the will of the people and prop 22 will remain in place preserving independence for drivers. >> proposition 22 was passed by california voters in november 2020 and was strongly supported by uber and lift. some drivers also backed it but labor groups were against it pointing out being classified as an employee included six-day -- sick day leave and overtime pay. require the companies to offer workers some benefits including health care and accident insurance. gig economy workers are paid by the task such as a car trip rather than receiving a set wage.

most u.s. laws that offer employment benefits and protection don't apply for these workers which number in the tens of millions around theorld. >> this is a battle being fought not just in california but in cities and countries around the world. the future of the gig economy still very much in play here. >> are business editor kate moody. that is it from us. i will be back at the bottom of the hour for the top stories. ♪

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03/14/23 03/14/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! pres. biden: the bottom line is this, americans can rest assured our banking system is safe. your deposits are safe. amy: president biden is defending the stability of the banking system after the second and third largest failures in the nation's history. we will look at how executives at the now collapsed silicon valley bank and signature bank