>> it's 9:00 p.m. this is live from paris. these are our head lionels on "france 24". in a new day of strikes and protes across france, unions make another bid to stop a pensions reform bill from being passed in parliament. the russian and u.s. defense ministers speak by telephone after a u.s. surveillance drone crashed in international waters yesterday after an encounter with russian fighter jets. and of course in pakistan, orders the police to halt their operation to arrest the former prime minister in a bid to end clashes outside his home.

♪ >> welcome back. unions here in france have been making a last-minute bid to try and put the brakes on government efforts to reform the pension system and raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. from the northern city of lee to the southern city of marseille, right across the country, people have been taking part in today's strikes and protests. tom: despite what's been two months of resistance, it looks as though the pensions reform bill, which was chan championed by president macron, is on the verge of being pushed through parliament. this update from the disruption that was caused by today's strikes. reporter: from the western city to the southern city of marseille, an eighth day of

nationwide mobilization to object to the government's pension reform bill. protesters say it's necessary pressure on the government. >> we think we need to keep this pension system, which is good for the workers of this country. and for them to enjoy a second life after a lifetime of hard work. >> there's no budget issue with the pension reform. the government just wants to use the money to finance something else. so we have to fight for the young, for everybody. reporter: the legislation, which would see the retirement age raised from 62 to 64 is promoted by macron as being central to his vision of making the french economy more competitive. around 2/3 in france are against the plan which would also scrap some special privileges for public sector employees. but despite two months of protests and cross-sector strikes, the bill is on the verge of being pushed through parliament via two possibilities. a vote on thursday which risks being rejected, or the utes of a special -- or the use of a

special constitutional power to force the bill through. >> we hope to not use the article 493 but we also won't abandon our pension reform plan either. i guarantee you that. reporter: both sides show little sign of a possible concession with patience wearing thin. the most vib impact of the -- visible impact of the standoff so far have been the seven,000 tons of uncollected rubbish clogging the streets of the capital due to the strike of municipal garbage collectors since early last week. tom: more analysis now. a senior lecturer in economics in the u.k. thank you indeed for joining us. as we heard in that report, this bill is going to go through whatever happens, isn't it? >> yeah, it's going to go through and it was largely expected to go through. despite not having a majority in parliament, macron had a clear majority for that specific reform because he executed everything that the conservative

party were asking for. so together they have a majority in the senate. they have a majority in the parliament. and it's relatively safe in the senate, only tried to make them happy. i don't flow if it's that macron had difficulties to find agreements with the left or the left refused to, but in the end the reform is a very traditional conservative reform that mostly protects older workers and will be conceived by people on the left as being largely unfair. but it's going to pass because it has a majority. it was expected toave a majority and mobilization was expected to be very high. it was very high. so everyone has been doing everything that was expected. the only big question left tonight, and i think this is what macron will be doing in the office right now, is to try to counter votes. do they have enough votes to pass it directly through parliament or do they need to go through the so-called 493 or do they need to make an executive

order that only a vote in no confidence in the government could consider? but either way it's going through. he halls the majority. it's just very attempting for some people within the conservative party on the right not to put their name on that reform. because it is very unpopular, as you mentioned, in the french electorate. tom: it is but it's kind of unfinished business. they raised the retirement age from 60 to 62. i mean, 64 isn't a round number either. it sounds like there's another step to go beyond this which is eventually to get to the number 65. i mean, that would be more coherent as as a number and would put france more in line with other countries. do you think that's an inevitability as well? >> those kind of things might happen but it's also largely about symbols. there was pension reform that didn't touch the symbol of the final age but it did offer the same by increasing the number of -- what's so special about retirement age and what makes it

i think so unpopular, it is perceived as unfair because it treats people differently who start work early and those who start working late. if you think voters are likely to be protected when you reach pension age, would you expect any further government coming after macron might be attempted to raise the pension age to 65, while left wing parties might try to increase contribution to other means. just like reform did -- either way, what i don't suspect is that in treaty of time, anyone will be -- [indiscernible] -- platform for the presidential election with the idea of really coming back to 62 or 60. i don't think that will be the case in two years' time. so it's unpopular but when tomorrow there's a choice between do we want to spend $20 billion lowering the pension age or investing in schools, hospitals, or lowering taxes, i don't think anyone will go seriously for lowering the

pension age. tom: yeah, of course. how risky is it, do you think, if the government goes down the -- will force this through, whatever happens root? do you see that as having some risks attached to it as a strategy? >> as always, there's always a risk of social unrest and of course demonstrations of this week of this reform isn't as high as what you saw in 1985. it was still pretty organized but you never know, when people are angry, things can go further. my impression at the moment is that if the reform goes through, there will be still some attempts to go through the legal ways. so a motion of no confidence in the government, attempts to go to the courts. so this may carry things down and maybe we'll not hear a lot about the reform in the future. but you can never rule out social unrest in those kind of circumstances. tom: no. but we did see fewer people taking part in today's protests. the strikes don't seem to be quite as crippling as they were

in previous waves of industrial action. do you think people are basically just resigned to the fact that they've done what they can, the unions have played all their cards, and this is, unfortunately, the reality everyone's got to face? >> this is clearly a sense of inevitability. as we discussed, it was very clear it would happen like that from the beginning. people are tired. there was a time of covid, i think it's not the ideal time to have a big spring of demonstrations in the street because people are exhausted. the question is, are they exhausted and resigned and then we don't hear anymore about the reform? which i think is what most people expect to happen. or at some point people get fed up and continue the movement? i don't expect it to happen but you can never rule it out completely. tom: thank you very much indeed for take the time to speak to us. senior lecturer at economics in lancaster university in the u.k. thank you. it's not just france that's seeing a wave of industrial action. hundreds of thousands of workers

in the u.k. across a whole range of sectors are on strike over pay. doctors, teachers, tube workers and civil servants are amongst those taking part. while the koss of living crisis seems to be a major underlying reason for this unrest. the government unveiling its new tax and spending plan. there have been heated exchanges of words bet after a u.s. surveillance drone crashed into the black sea. all that unmanned aerial vehicle which is recorded to have crashed after an encounter with russian jets in international air space happened also over international waters. while russia denies that contact this incidt is a reminder of the dire risk of c confrontation between the u.s. and russia over ukraine which moscow invaded last year. here's the u.s. defense secretary speaking a little earlier. >> i just got off the phone with my russian counterpart.

as i've said repeatedly, it's important that great powers be models of transparency and communication. the united states will continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows. and it is incumbent upon russia to operate its military aircraft in a safe and profession al-manar -- professional manner. tom: we're in washington, a little earlier on we got this update. reporter: this point about the international air space and the fact that that u.s. drone had every right to be where it was was a key point for lloyd austin and it has been a key point for the administration, ever since that incident happened. but he also insisted on this pattern of risky behavior from the russians and we've been hearing that too. that this was not a one-off

incident. that these intercements by russian -- intercepts by russian aircrafts have been happening in recent weeks, whether it involved u.s. aircrafts or other allied aircraft. but that this one really sort of was unique because it was so brazen and because it led to the downing of a u.s. aircraft. but then there was really a key point that was actually made by general mark milley whrofs standing next to -- who was standing next to lloyd austin in this press conference. whether he was asked about whether this was an act of war from the russians, about whether this was intentional for the russians to down a u.s. drone, and mark milley, like many u.s. officials in the past 24 hours, has steered clear of outright accusing the russians of voluntarily downing u.s. aircraft. he basically said that, yes, the intercept by the russians was

voluntary. the harassment by those russian fighter jets of the u.s. drone was intentional. but he said that whether or not it was intentional to down the drown, to come in contact with the drone, that was not determined just yet. that there would be more investigations to come to really determine that. and so this is a sign that the americans at least are trying to really be very balanced, respond very seriously and forcefully, but also not escalate the situation by accusing russia of basically intentionally downing a u.s. aircraft, which could of course call for the americans to respond way more forcefully than they have this time around which basically involved lloyd austin speaking to his counterpart, the state department summoning the russian ambassador to the u.s. but so far it has stayed tre and they are hoping thatt will stay to this level.

tom: speaking just a little earlier on. the president of malawi has today made an appeal for more international assistance to help the reef effort following cyclone freddy. 225 people were killed in malawi. hundreds of others have been injure and more than 40 people are still missing. the president has declared 14 days of national mourning. while rescuers have been working around the clock to try to reach survivors in the country's south. cyclone freddy first made landfall in february, hitting madagascar, then mozambique. anthony blinken has been holding talks in the ethiopian capital. his talks with the prime minister focused on efforts to ensure peace in the region of tikrit. for two years the ethiopian government and forces from that northern region were locked in deadly conflict. but they signed a peace deal back in november. blinken also announced more than

$threezero zero zero zero zero zero zero u.s. in humanitarian aid for ethiopia today. ethiopia is a country that faces regular droughts and food insecurity. blinken is going to head somewhere else tomorrow. let's listen to what the u.s. secretary of state had to say early on. >> it's been very important to us that we do everything we can to make sure that people who are caught up in any of these human tragedies get the assistance they need and indeed today i can share we're going to be providing an additional $331 million in assistance through this joint emergency operations program to try to reach more people in ethiopia who are in need of food security and we think we'll reach another 13 million or so people being affected by drought in particular. tom: the u.s. secretary anthony blinken speaking there. at least 14 people are now known

to have been killed as a result of heavy flooding in turkiye. torrential rainfall has been centered around two provinces. those are some of the areas of the country that were devastated by last month's catastrophic earthquake. amongst the dead were five syrian nationals whose bodies were found inside a flooded basement apartment. this severe weather system has made life even more difficult for thousands of people who are left homeless by last month's earthquake. today marks 12 years since the start of the uprising in syria. wh followed wasomplex civil war which then went on to claim the lives of an estimated fivezero,000 people. today thousands of people have been demonstrating in the rebel-held areas of syria, rejecting what they see as the ground ball rehabilitation -- gradual rehabilitation of damascus on the international stage. today the syrian president has been in moscow. he held talks with his key ally,

president vladimir putin, whose military support changed the course of the war. their talks have been focused on rebuilding syria and mending damascus' ties with turkiye. a court in pakistan has today ordered the police there to suspend their operation to arrest the former prime minister, khan. on tuesday security forces turned up at his home to arrest khan but they were met by large crowds of his supporters. khan's original arrest warrant centered around his no-show in court to face corruption charges. charges he denies. reporter: following violent clashes with hundreds of his supporters, police appeared to have pawlsed their attempt to -- paused their attempt to arrest pakistan's former prime minister, khan. by tuesday evening his supporters had made a ring arnd his home, facing tear gas and police batons to defend him. police wanted to arrest khan for skipping court dates to answer

allegations he failed to declare gifts he received during his three 1/2 years in office. or profits he made from selling them. >> this operation, it's unheard of in pakistan, that rangers, thousands of police would sort of storm us. the reason why this is happening is not because i broke any law, the reason why this is happening is they want to put me in jail. and they want me in jail so that i cannot contest elections. reporter: the former cricket star turned politician has avoided appearances in court since an assassination attempt last november. he says he was ready to travel to islamabad on march 18 under the arrest warrant but that police did not accept the offer. he alleges that the charges against him are part of a plot by the government of his successor to prevent his returning to office. last april, he was ousted by a no confidence vote by sharif's government. it took place after khan tried to circumvent the move by dissolving parliament and

calling a snuff election but thele supreme court ruled this was a constitutional breach. tom: after a three-year pause for the covid pandemic, china has reopened its boarders to tourists and resumed issues visas today. it's a move that it hopes will revive tourism and the economy. this announcement follows what the country's leadership called a decisive victory over covid-19. reporter: after three years of pandemic restrictions, china reopens its borders to tourists. the first major easing of travel restrictions since the outbreak of covid-19. >> the chinese government has decided that from march 15, visas issued before the pandemic will be reactvated. we will also begin issuing tourist visas and resume riejal visa-free entries. reporter: the announcement comes after china declared a victory over the pandemic in february. after a year of sluggish growth exacerbatedy covid measures, beijing is now seeking to revive

the world's second largest economy. the news has been a long time coming for the hundreds of millions that remained isolated during t panmic. >> i want to look into flights for vietnam today, now tt outboundroup tou have opened, i want to go and see my mom. >> i want to go to paris because i hear it's a romantic place. i'll probably join a group tour. reporter: china is one of the last major cntries to reopen its borders. it abandoned its harsh zero covid policy on the end of last year after rare nationwide protests over daily testing and stringent lockdowns. tom: let's get a check now of the top business news stories. let's begin with the latest on the swiss lender, credit suisse. it's seen its shares slump today to a record low. >> yeah, they plunged as much as 30% earlier in the session. sending shock waves across europe's banking sector. which was already reeling from the separate failure of two american lenders over the weekend. switzerland's central bank has

this wednesday evening put out a statement trying to calm some of those concerns. it says credit suisse meets the capital and liquidity requirements impoatsed on systemically important banks. if necessary, this swiss national bank will provide credit suisse with liquidity. no word yet on whether credit suisse in fact require that back stop but it had apparently asked switzerland's central bank for a public show of support. credit suisse has been one of europe's more troubled lenders in recent years. its situation is not directly linked to that collapse of the american silicon valley and signature banks. >> investors are on edge as shares in banking giant credit suisse have plummeted to a record low after its biggest backer said it cannot provide additional financial assistance. stocks of switzerland's second largest bank slumped by as much as 30%. recovering slightly to close

down 25% at the end of the session. >> credit suisse is too big to fail. this is once again setting alarm bells ringing in the financial markets and causing dramatic losses. this bank is of a different order of magnitude than the u.s. banks that were closed most recently. it is systemically important for switzerland, but also very significant internationally. reporter: investors took to their heels after its biggest single shareholder, saudi national bank, announced it would halt any further funding due to regulatory reasons that limit its stake to ten%. the fallout spilled over for other european banks with losses of over ten% for french and german neighbors, b.n.p. paribas and deutsche bank. markets were already on tenter hooks after last week' collapse of two midsized u.s. banks. silicon valley bank and signature. in what marks the biggest failures since the 2018 financial -- 28 financl crisis. >> there's been a reassessment of risk in the banking sector following the problems in the

united states last week. credit suisse is seen as the weakest link. reporter: credit suisse insists its position is not a concern. the european central bank is due to meet thursday and is likely to address the instability in the banking se sector. >> european banks may be in for a volatile ride, but largely unrelated to that situation in the u.s. take a listen. >> today we see a lot of turmoil at cdit suisse, which is not in the e.u. but in europe, in switzerland, andhe announceme, the statement in their financial publications whh is a big issue. but that situation h been developing for some times and it's not directly linked to

what's happening in silicon valley. so you can haveisk materializing in the banking ctor. the banking sector is full of risk. that's why it's subject to regulation and supervision. but i think not all these issues are connected. >> so different risk factors affecting the likes of credit suisse and other parts of the european banking system. but when we look at the reaction from the markets and from investors, we still see a bit of panic here. >> maybe the word panic is a little bit strong. but certainly there is a lot of volatility and that's normal because as we discussed, the sill von krall -- silicon valley bank was a big event and unanticipated. so that's not good for general confidence in the system. having said that, given the magnitude of the immediate response of u.s. authorities announced last sunday, i think

the risks from a u.s. perspective should, you know, be manageable and in other jurisdictions will see the ripple effects. i think this is a big sck in the system. it has read across in a number of jurisdictions. the well known financial saying, when the tide withdraws, you see who was screaming naked and that's exactly the kind of situation we're in. >> let's see. the rest of the day's trading action. credit suisse shares were down about 25% at the closing bell. they are already -- have already lost more than 75% of their valuele over the last year alone -- value over the last year alone. those jitters dragged down other european lenders there. b.n.p. par da down 12%. deutsche bank and germany down about 10% as well. all that weight on the indecease, losses. more than 4.5% down in millan.

wall street has paired back some of its earlier losses. the nasdaq managing to scrape out a slightly positive close there just above the flat line. the dow jones and s&p 500 still above in the red -- both in the red. investors are worry being their exposure to -- worrying about their ex exposure to possible weakening banks. just months after a botched mini budget sent british pound into freefall, u.k. prime minister's government has unveiled its own spenting plans for the year. it includes aid for household energy bills and child care. but is unlikely to appease the hundreds of thousands of demonstrators who have been striking across the country, calling for higher wages. reporter: following ex-prime minister's botched mini budget last year, the stakes for this year's spending plan are high. increased support for child care and raising corporation tax from 19% to 25% were among the

financial minister's proposals, which he hopes will improve the country's stagnating economy after the shocks of brexit and the pandemic. >> i want us to have the most pro-business, pro-enterprise tax regime anywhere. even after the corporation tax rise this april, we will have the lowest headline rate in the g-7, lower than anile period under the last labor government. >> the announcement comes as u.k. workers across the public sector stage the latest day of mass strikes. reporter: calling for higher wages to keep up with inflation, which remains stubbornly over 10%. the government show nothing signs of giving the strikers the pay rises they're demanding but extended by three months a cap on household energy bills, an effort to respond to the cost of living crisis. >> i recognize that even though wholesale energy prices have been falling, there's still enormous pressure onle family

finances. i today confirm that the energy price guarantee will remain at 2500 pounds for the next three months. reporter: am the economy would contract by a mere .2% this year, avoiding the widely predicted session. >> that's all for now. tom: thank you very much indeed. i'll be back at half past 9:00. paris time. do stay with us here on "france 24".

>> "france 24" is news you can rely on every day, across platforms. ♪ ñtñf?o■ñ ■#■#■#■■

03/15/ 03/15/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> this incident between u.s. bridge road and russian fighter jet is a public manifestation of a secret that is barely concealed, and that is that the u.s. and nato are engaged in war a proxy war with russia that could very quickly snowfall into a full-blown hot war