berlin. tonight, wanted for war crimes. an international arrest warrant issued for pressure's president. the international criminal court in the hague says he is responsible for illegal deportations of ukrainian children to russia. also, turkey's president finally saying yes to finland's did to join nato.

but what about sweden? and imran khan sitting down with "dw news." the former pakistan prime minister says that election is the only way to solve the country's current political chaos. plus, making waves in the circuit -- the surfing world. we catch up with the sydney surfer who has taken the title for the longest ever continuing surfing session. ♪ i'm brent goff. two viewers watching on pbs in the united states and to all of you around the world, welcome. the international criminal court in the hague today issued an arrest warrant for russian president vladimir putin. the court saying the warrant was issued over alleged war crimes in ukraine. put is suspected to have been involved in the unlawful deportation of children from occupied areas of ukraine to

russia. the quinlan has dismissed allegations and says that the court's warrant is meaningless. >> the charges are the first that the icc has ever laid against the head of a permanent member of the united nations security council. russian president vladimir putin and his commissioner for children's rights are now wanted for war crimes. they are alleged to have been responsible for ukrainian children being forced from the occupied cities and seemed to live in russia. >> judges reviewed information and evidence submitted by the prosecutor and determine there are credible allegations for the alleged crimes. the judges issue arrest warrants . direct secured and depends on international cooperation.

>> the charges are being welcomed in ukraine where officials have been sounding the alarm for months. >> there are suspects in the illegal forced transport of ukrainian children. this means that the president of russia, as the head of a terrorist state, will be afraid to travel outside russia because of the possibility he will be extradited to the international criminal court. >> russia is not a member of the icc and has no legal obligation to cooperate with it. moscow's rejection of the charges came quick and fast. can's secretary said the decision was now void -- putin's press secretary. while the charges are yet another condemnation of putin's invasion, they are unlikely to bring any swift justice for ukrainian children in russia.

brent: i asked a law professor what consequences the icc decision could possibly have for vladimir putin. >> i think the biggest consequence is for his colic who has also been subject to an arrest warrant today, that it becomes more difficult to travel internationally. the international criminal court has 123 state parties, and now every single one of them is under an obligation to transfer putin or the children's minister . that includes strategic allies of russia, a lot of countries in africa. the response is to be expected,

like we are not party to this court, we don't recognize it, but i think internally, the conversations have been, this is consequences. brent: we expected the kremlin to dismiss it leak, but they cannot dismiss the fact that this arrest warrant has been issued after lots of work has been done in gathering evidence, right? talk to me about what has gone into the icc being at a point where it feels like it can legally issue an arrest warrant. >> in order to issue an arrest warrant, the court has to be satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the crimes alleged have been committed, so it is not proof the on reasonable doubt, which ultimately has to be proven. it is a lower standard of proof but still a significant one. i think what is notable about this particular issue of the arrest warrant is the fact that

it is almost implied that there are others that have been issued under seal or that are coming down the track. the fact that they said we are going to keep this under wraps, but without it is important to prevent neutral crimes of this nature, to make it known that this arrest warrant exists for these particular crimes. i do wonder if there are other arrest warrants out there or in process. the prosecutor has been -- you know, he is relatively new in the job, but ukraine has been a big area of focus for him since taking over. the prosecutor of the icc has been there 4 times, reviewed thousands of pages of evidence, not just these particular crimes, but other crimes under the statute, possibly even genocide. brent: i noticed the arrest warrant today was issued for vladimir putin but also for

russia's commissioner for children's rights, a woman. i'm wondering if she is on this arrest warrant as well because the chances of actually physically arresting her in the eyes of the icc may be more realistic. is that maybe a line of thinking that went into the issuing of this arrest warrant? >> i think the reason the arrest warrant has been issued against her is that the evidence is pretty overwhelming. there are recordings out there of her talking about her own adoption of a child from one of these occupied territories. her office has been allegedly responsible for this whole program of transferring ukrainian children to russian families. one of the big challenges of international criminal trials is evidence and proof, and this might seem like in the big context of things, it is

surprising in the sense that the scope of the arrest warrant is quite narrow and focused as far as we know just on these two people, but it seems like the prosecutor has may be made a strategic decision by saying, we've got some really strong evidence on these, and this is what we are going to lead off with and perhaps issue more against these people in the future. brent: we appreciate your time and valuable insights tonight. thank you. >> thank you. brent: china's president will meet with his russian counterpart in moscow next week. the visit will be his first to russia in nearly four years. a kremlin official says the leaders will discuss the conflict in ukraine as well as military cooperation between the countries, and the visit signals a strong show of china's support for pressure as putin faces increasing international isolation over his invasion of ukraine.

turkey's president has finally agreed to finland joining nato. erdogan's ok will still need to come with a ratification by turkey's parliament, but it clears one of finland's last hurdles to joining the nato alliance. hungary is now the only member which has not approved the nordic country's bid. >> a piece of good news for helsinki. ♪ at the presidential palace, erdogan greeted the finish president. turkey has been dragging its feet in the ratification process. >> we have seen that finland has taken sincere and concrete steps to fulfill their commitments under the trilateral memorandum, considering the sensitivity

demonstrated to eliminate our country's security concerns and the progress that has been achieved. >> following russia's invasion of ukraine, finland and sudan -- finland and sweden applied for nato membership. unlike finland, sweden must continue to wait for approval from turkey. finland's president the decision and repeated his stance that sweden must join nato. >> i have a feeling that finland's nato membership is not complete without sweden. we have so much common interest, having been neighbors and having the baltic sea area on our shore. i would like to see that we will

need the alliance of 32 members. >> federer one's -- one -- erdogan's criticism of sweden became more pressing as elections approach. brent: when will turkey's parliament give the green light to finland, and what about hungary? >> all those things are important. now that the biggest obstacle, what was believed to be the biggest obstacle, turkey's disapproval of both swedish and finnish membership, is now unblocked for finland, it will move quickly for helsinki. president erdogan today said he would like to see this ratified by the turkish parliament before elections in turkey in may. hungary has said it will also approve within the next month or two. they keep changing the date, so i hesitate to believe exactly which day hungary will ratify.

in any case, this is due to happen in the next couple of months and then will move fairly quickly. the finish president said he would like to wrap it up on their side before the next parliament is elected, but that's last week of april. we are not sure how the timeline will go, but it will move quickly now. brent: we're talking about finland and we also have to talk about sweden. do we have any idea when erdogan, when turkey will say yes to sweden's bid? >> as good as the news was for helsinki today, it was very bad for sweden. erdogan said that sweden embraces terrorists. this is the kind of thing he has been saying about stockholm ever since they launched their bids last may. he believes the swedish government is far too lax on kurdish groups that oppose erdogan, that he considers enemies, and also perhaps more significantly, on the pkk, which

he has labeled a terrorist group . the difference really has been that in sweden, it is not illegal to burn a koran, and that is exactly what happened in january. that would not happen in finland, and that's why finland moved ahead. friend: does the fact that these two countries are not going to join at the same time the way they had wanted to originally -- will that have a negative impact on nato and its stance with ukraine and its stance to be a bulwark against russian aggression? >> as you say, this is not the way nato wanted things to play out, certainly not the way finland and sweden wanted things to play out. sweden feels like it will be left alone and left vulnerable by being the only one outside of the nato alliance. inland tries to reassure its neighbors that once they are in

nato, they will be even safer. nato on the side with norway, nato on the side with finland, so nato will take care of them, so they are trying to reassure the swedes of that, but it does look bad for nato that it was not able to stay united, that turkey and hungary both opposed two of the countries which are best trained, wealthiest countries. that does not look good as you are trying to stand up to russia and present a united front. in the end, no one really thinks sweden will not get through. it will just have had to pay a pretty high-priced in turns up -- in terms of public relations. brent: patience is a virtue, as they say. thank you. let's take a look at some other stories making headlines around the world. u.s. media reports that the department of justice is investigating the chinese company that owns the popular video sharing app tiktok for the illegal surveillance of american

citizens and for obtaining users' details illicitly. dozens of u.s. states have blocked the app from government phones in recent months. germany's education minister will make an official visit to taiwan next week. it is the first high-level trip to taipei by a german official in 26 years. the politically sensitive visit comes amid growing tensions between china and the u.s., including over the status of taiwan. russia's defense minister has decorated the pilots of the two outer jets that intercepted a u.s. drone over the black sea tuesday. the pentagon says a video that it released shows one of the planes dumping fuel on the drone. washington has called the russian conduct in the incident unprofessional and irresponsible. there were tumultuous scenes among supporters of former pakistani prime minister imran khan as he attended a court hearing today. supporters of the former cricket

player, former prime minister mopped his car as he traveled to the courthouse. he had been refusing to leave his home until a warrant for his arrest was lifted. dozens of cases have been filed against him since he was renewed -- removed from office by parliament last year. he has denied any wrongdoing. dw ask him what solution he could offer to solve pakistan's political crisis. >> there was always only one solution -- free and fair elections. the reason why there is political chaos right now in pakistan, because we have a hodgepodge of a government, which has failed completely. it has driven our economy to the ground. we have the worst economic crisis in our history. we have unprecedented inflation. we have a contracted economy with unemployment ruling. we actually have no hope for

this government because there's no political stability and no economic stability. the supreme court, by the way, has ordered elections to be on april 30, and the government is trying to get out of elections. the problems are because the government knows that a party that has won 30 out of 37 elections, they're scared they will sweep elections, hence they are trying to get out of it. the other worry is the situation of chaos. if this leads to chaos, it would soothe the government because they are already trying to get out of elections, despite the supreme court orders on april 30. brent: earlier, i asked my colleague who conducted the interview if the way out is

getting closer. >> no, i don't think this political crisis is about to diffuse. i think things in pakistan are going to get more messy. pakistan will soon have two important provincial elections. one will be carried out in the province of punjab, which is the most populated and influential province in pakistan. every political party in pakistan wants to have big strong court in this province, and imran khan believes the government, along with the military establishment, their conspiring together against him and making all efforts to

postpone the election because the government is in a weak position and he is confident he would be able to win elections. i think the situation will get worse. there will be more confrontations. in the interview, i could clearly see that imran khan was very defiant, and it seems his finest moment is not yet over. brent: it also takes us to the question, how far is he willing to go? obviously he has a lot of support. we have seen the pictures. he is accusing the military of being in cahoots with the established political parties. if you cannot get the solution he wants, what will he do with all these angry supporters on his side? >> i think right now, he feels like he has exhausted all his

options, and he has to now fight the entire machinery against him. that's how he presents himself to the public, and it seems the public is with him. he has been getting out these big rallies today. it was like a festival. people were cheering for him, supporting him, and i think also a show of power and strength, and a message he is giving to his opponents that you can try all you can to crush my efforts and my campaign, but i will fight back. the government says they're not doing anything unconstitutional. they are allowing code orders. the military says they are not involved in the politics, but

imran khan believes otherwise. brent: definitely a volatile situation. thank you. russia has been widely accused of indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas in ukraine. the attacks have left many ukrainians, including many children, with life-changing injuries, but doctors are finding ways to tackle the trauma. dw visited a hospital where a medical team has helped one young girl get back on her feet. >> they say it takes a village to raise a child. for this six-year-old, it has taken one to put her back on her feet. >> she has grown so much during this time, since the war and everything that has happened to us. she has become very mature. she sees everything differently. >> that shift started over six months ago when moreno lost her leg and started treatment at this kyiv hospital.

a russian shell hit her home in the city of caps on that caps on -- of kherson. natalia did not want to add to the trauma by moving away. for the team of physical therapists, recovery had to start from the inside. >> i approached her first as a child. then as a friend. then as a patient. it was very important to set priorities. if i had approached her immediately as a doctor and she as a patient, we would not have had this result. you need to find an approach and first of all, become a friend. >> then there was the challenge of finding a purse that is --

prosthetist who can work with someone so young. >> for children, we have to pay special attrition -- attention monitoring the height of the prosthetic. the length and height has to be adjusted constantly. >> marena also regularly meets with a psychologist who has helped her make sense of her new reality. >> when she first entered our hospital, she asked questions. why me? why did this happen to me? why my house, my family, my leg? she did not want to communicate with anyone. she would cover herself with a blanket and just wanted to be in her mother's arms. she did not let a psychologist near her. but then slowly, with the help of various methods -- family

therapy, art therapy, a rehabilitator -- you can see she communicates perfectly with everyone and has fun. >> less than a year after starting her treatment, she can now kick a ball, walk with confidence, and jump on a trampoline. her remarkable progress has become a point of pride and a learning experience for the all ukrainian team. they say that prior to the war, they did not have many cases where they could work together in an interdisciplinary set up. >> yes, we are like one big family. >> she is energetic. some days, she wants to be a soccer player. on others, all she talks about is racecar driving. whatever sheehan of doing, her team will always be proud that they helped her take that first step. brent: thousands have gathered

in ghana to mourn the death of a 31-year-old footballer who was killed in turkey in last month's earthquakes. ghana's president and staff and government ministers attended a service today. he was survived by a widow and three children. his remains were recovered from a collapsed apartment building in turkey nearly two weeks after those devastating earthquakes. here is one for the record books. the world's longest ever surfing session. blake johnston made history by clocking more than 40 hours riding the waves continuously on friday. the australian shattered the previous record of 30 hours 11 minutes, raising money for mental health initiatives. >> served's -- s -- surf's up for more than a day.

blake johnston was catching waves for 30 hours, 11 minutes, and kept going from there. >> how are you feeling overall? >> the former surfing probe replace celebrated with supporters during one of the short breaks he was allowed. he then paddled back out to stay in the water for a full 40 hours. spotlights were set up to provide nighttime illumination. in total, he was estimated to have caught more than 500 waves, raising charity money for the bid was personal, as this marks 10 years since losing his father to suicide. >> my dad, he died 10 years ago. i would say he needed to love himself. it is hard to even comprehend. >> for johnston, a day to

celebrate and to raise awareness for a cause that affects many families. brent: before we go, here's a reminder of our top story -- the international criminal court has issued an arrest warrant for russian president vladimir putin. a court in the hague says it is alleged involvement in the kidnapping of children from ukraine. and conqueror is approving finland's bid to join nato after talks between erdogan and his finnish counterpart. stick around. we will be right back.

ñtñf?o■ñ■#■#■#■■q

>> hello and welcome. these are the latest headlines. the international criminal court has issued a warrant of arrest -- warrant of arrest for vladimir putin. both have been accused of war crimes involving the illegal deportation of children from ukraine to russia. turkiye has moved forward with approving finland's nato application, ending a deadlock. but hopes for sweden have been dashed. protests broke out across france

in opposition to that contentious pension reform decree issued by government. it comes as emmanuel macron's administration faces a no-confidence motion in congress -- in parliament. ♪ >> thanks for joining us. we are live from paris. the international criminal court friday issued an arrest warrant for vladimir putin. in a statement, the court held putin responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation and the transfer of children from occupied areas of ukraine to russia. a separate warrant has been issued for the arrest of maria below the, russia's commissioner for children's rights, on similar allegations.

-- calling it historic, but the beginning. moscow continues to deny the accusations. here is the prosecutor speaking to france 24. >> it is an important day. it is not driven by being historic, it is driven by the evidence. it is, of course, a sad day. that a head of state, commander-in-chief of a large, powerful and hugely important country, that is a permanent member of the security council, has had a warrant issued against him. that should bring no joy to anybody. >> to help understand what this means for prudent from a legal perspective, i am joined by -- wacrimes prosecutor as member of the international commission. how did the icc arrive at this decision? what can they do? >> we are not privy to what the

prosecutor has decided, or how he worked. presumably one of the reasons the prosecutor chose the deportation and unlawful transfer of children is because it is a policy that clearly would seem to implicate the highest levels of the state. we have decrees that were signed by putin. we have different ministries for the rights of the child and the health ministry. it looks very much like a state policy that goes up to the top. why now? one speculation is, actually, that the prosecutor wanted to show the relevance of the icc. let's remember that there is a growing movement, a call by

ukraine as well as the european union, to create a special tribunal on the crime of aggression, with the argument that aggssion is a crime that goes straight to the top. otherwise, it is difficult for a prosecutor to work his way up to the top. this may be another reason why this warrant came right now at this time. whatever it is, it is historic. this is the first time the icc has issued an arrest warrant for any citizen of the permanent five members of the security council. much less a head of state. >> thanks, that is all the time we have right now. read brody, international commission of jurists. we obviously have the icc decision, the warrant of arrest for prudent. but a lot of the crimes he has been elected allegedly committing have been on the ground regarding children of

ukraine. the deportation of children. joining in studio is andrew -- who been reporting from ukraine. you have seen the subtleties of this case, specifically talking to parents who have had their children handed over to moscow. >> i am going to start with figures. ukraine says russia has deported at least 16,000 children since it launched its invasion last february. however, what we saw on the ground, the reality is far more complicated. in this first example, this first case, we met parents who were originally from the regions of kharkiv and curse on -- who handed their children over to russian forces when there was heavy fighting in those regions.

that is because russian forces promised their children would be kept out of harm's way. we do not know if that happened under duress. we do not know the circumstances. but when those steric -- when those territories were retaken by ukrainian forces, the parents who had managed to get in touch with russian officials to find out about their children, they were told by russian officials that they would have to go and get the children themselves. as for the children, we know that they were taken to so-called holiday camps in occupied crimea before being taken to russia itself. the whole process lasted between four and six months. it was ultimately up to the parents to go to russia to get their children back. we were in kyiv when the parents came back from russia with their children after a 13 day trip. you can only imagine the complexities involved in getting from ukraine to russia.

you can say they are the lucky ones. you can see pictures here when we filled in kyiv in february. the reality is many parents simply do not know where their children are inside russia. >> that is not the only thing that you heard, you also spoke to people who had their children forcibly removed. it is not just voluntary. >> the second example, these are cases of orphans being forcibly taken to russian occupied territory and sometimes even deported then to russia. we spoke to one person who witnessed firsthand russian forces coming to an orphanage in kherson just before russian troops pulled out. >> there were three big buses in front of the gate. there was an armored vehicle in front of the entrance. they blocked off the area. if they were armed and would not let anyone come near.

they checked phones to make sure no one was filming. everyone was shocked, but there was nothing we could do. they kidnapped these children and deported them. >> in this case, 40 children were taken. by looking at russian propaganda, we were able to trace what happened to those children afterwards. in those propaganda videos, you can see them pictured alongside maria below the in occupied crimea. that is russia -- these are the pictures, that is russia's commissioner for human rights. one of the people for whom the icc has issued a warrant. we do not know what happened to those children, they may have deported, then transferred to foster families in russia. we know that happens. we visited another orphanage on the outskirts of kherson whose direct or managed to hide dozens of children from russian forces.

russian forces did manage to take 15 children with them when they pulled out of the city. with the help of international ngos, those children were eventually brought home to ukraine but ukraine says ultimately only a tiny proportion of children who have been taken out of the country have actually been brought back, when in reality there's potentially thousands of children who have been deported. it goes to illustrate the sheer complexities of this case. >> i can't imagine what those parents are going through, thinking about their children. thank you for that information. this of course relating to that arrest warrant for vladimir putin. the kremlin has reacted, including a government spokesperson and former russian president medvedev. >> we consider the very formulation of the question outrageous and unacceptable.

russia, like a number of states, does not recognize the jurisdiction of this court. and accordingly, any decisions of this kind are null and void for the federal -- russian federation. actually, this is all that i would like to tell you about this decision. >> to talk more about moscow's viewpoint of this warrant, i am joined by our former correspondent in the city, nick holdsworth. just in terms of putin's movements, he is technically limited to one of those countries outside the members of the icc. what you think his reaction will be? >> do n thinkhat putin himself personally has any reaction to this at all. it is extremely unlikely he would travel to any of those countries. china is not a signatory to the icc.

he is meeting xi jinping in moscow next week. also, america is not a signatory to the icc. the reaction from the kremlin can be gauged by the comments made both by the ministry of foreign affairs spokeswoman and also the children's commission herself. sarcastic, in a word. the ministry of foreign affairs -- russia does not recognize the international criminal court. who would've thought that 15 years ago that in the west, taking care of children would become a criminal offense. the children's commissioner wade in even more to the sarcasm, saying it is all very strange. clear confirmation that when you have no oer way to the -- a country, you can come up with some absolutely fantastic idea

like -- when they can do nothing else. clearly, the narrative has already been structured to picture russia as the vict. russia is the one who is under attack. russia is only taking care of these children. it is all an evil plot by the west. this reinforces that narrative which putin has been increasingly stating in recent weeks and days that russia is now at war with the west. on the other hand, it makes russia even more of a pariah state and putin will have this hanging over his head for the rest of his life. whether or not he is ever actually arrested and -- the hague. >> you talk about the siege mentality by moscow in the wake of what they call western aggression. but, take me through more of that legacy that putin will now be faced with.

what company does this put him in? >> there is aogue gallery of company for prudent now. he is now in the company of the libyan leader muammar gaddafi, who was indicted when he was still the head of libya. he was ousted a few months later and killed by his own people. also, the sudanese president omar al-bashir who was arrested and is waiting to be indicted. and of course, further back before the icc was established, its predecessor was the international criminal tribunal -- tribunal of the former yugoslavia. the leader of serbia, slow it on melissa veg, sat there until he died. he had been charged with 66 crimes including crimes against humanity and a raft of other issues. of course, there is also the case of the liberian president

charles taylor w was indicted 20 years ago for crimes in sierra leone. what this really does, and we heard earlier from the prosecutor, but this really does is it frames these war crimes in a way that prosecutors and investigators can now go to the top, they can go after leaders of states and say what you are doing is regarded as criminal around the world. whether or not you recognize that, you will always -- and it backs them into the corner. it may make some people think twice in the future, i doubt it will give vladimir putin any sleepless nights. >> nick holdsworth, former france 24 correspondent in moscow taking us through moscow's reaction to the warrant of arrest for vladimir putin and

a breakthrough move, turkiye's recep erdogan says his government will endorse findling's nato application, paving the way for finland which shares a border with russia to join the military block. although its neighbor sweden will have to wait on its own vote. turkiye having accused it of being too soft on terror organizations. let's hear from leaders of turkiye and finland following the meeting. >> when it comes to fulfilling its pledges in the trilateral memorandum of understanding, we have seen that finland has taken authentic and concrete steps. this sensitivity for our country's security and based on the progress that has been made in the protocol for finland's accession to nato, we have decided to initiate the ratification process in our parliament. >> we have a neighbor, sweden,

and what i now say is not only due to the fact that they are nice people and we have excellent relations with our neighbor, but i have a feeling that finland's nato membership is not complete without sweden. >> sweden voicing its disappointment at turkiye not ratifying its nato membership. angry protesters have taken to the streets in paris and other cities for a second day friday. this in response to emmanuel macron's unpopular pension reform. protests by several 1000 has allegedly degenerated into a scene echoing the night before with riot police and teargas. our correspondent has gone to the plaza where she has been seeing everything. take me through the last couple of hours. what have you seen?

>> probably the second evening of protests, protesters gathering in -- opposite the national assembly where this controversial reform has been pushed through by the government. we have seen many young people here this evening, many students have come across -- a fair few are moving to the outskirts of the protest as things took a bit of a turn. police have intervened and many more younger people are backing away, saying they did not want to be involved in any violence and are simply here to have their voices heard. that the government actions are against democracy and they are not listening to the people. we have heard chance against the police, the government and the president. we have seen fireworks set off, which has prompted the police to slowly intervene with objects on fire.

the police are being quick and there is a heavy police presence , they have been quick in evacuating the area using teargas. therefore dispersing protesters, trying to get them down some of the smaller streets, away from the main plaza. there were thousands here earlier when we arrived, but it has to be said that has been slowly disintegrated. there is only i would see it -- 100 or 200 people here where i am standing. there's a lot more teargas in the air, which has made most protesters evacuate for now. >> what is the general sentiment in terms of the efficacy of these protests? have you spoken to anyone who believes that they really could force the government to change their decision? >> we know in france, taken to the streets is an integral part of french culture. french people always believe

that by taking to the streets, they have a way of changing things in government. a lot of people who have spoken here today believe that the actions by governments invoking the -- articles pushed through the -- reform is antidemocratic. that is why they are here. it is a lot of young people that are here, feeling very much affected by this too and some of them saying they are protesting on behalf of older people that cannot congregate themselves. i think a lot of protesters believe these actions will invoke change. obviously, there has also been a vote of no confidence that will be discussed in parliament for monday. that has been approved by opposition mps. many people hope their presence here on the streets will also galvanize opposition against the pension reform. >> selena sykes reporting from plaza to concorde where there

has been a scene of combat between police and protesters. it comes as printer -- pressure mounts in france in opposition to the pension reform bill filed by president macron's government. just to talk about that motion, which was cosigned by members of the broad left wing coalition, i am now joined by paul smith, professor of franco studies at the university of nottingham. recent polls show 80% of the french public are against this pension reform. is it, as many say, a denial of democracy? >> it is not so much a denial of democracy, i think the government and president have used the constitution, but they have done it in an ill-advised way. what we are facing here, what france is facing is a social, political and institutional crisis. i think the recourse to 49-3 was

a bad move, but it was one the government was forced to take because the -- you might have supported the government bill that looked like they were going to support the bill actually their support dissipated. when it became clear that the bill would be voted down, they -- government -- i think macron has not been playing his cards well. >> you say not playing his cards well, what do you think the outcome of the vote of no-confidence confidence will be monday? >> it is up in the air. a lot of people are saying we cannot possibly win. there are two motions. one by the centrist group that will be supported by new two. also, the one that is -- claiming the motion. it is quite possible that one or the other might just pull votes together. there are a number of deputies

saying they will vote no confidence in the government. the margins are so close, between now and monday, a lot of things can happen in terms of negotiations and so forth. it is still very much up in the air. >> a real tug-of-war. where would you see macron now turning to in terms of support? >> in terms of support, one of the things that is happening is there are senior figures who are offering the idea of a government which would include macron's party, supporters and -- but that would be a significant step to the right. -- this evening was talking about that. but that is a very different ballgame. that would mean a new prime minister, it would mean elizabeth would have to go. it is very uncertain what would happen to the left wing macron supporters. there are a lot of irons in the fire. >> paul smith, professor for

francophone studies at the university of nottingham. breaking down what is going to be happening here in france. global cocaine production has reached a soaring level. a record level, according to a new report, with demand following the easing of covid lockdowns around the world. the human office on drugs and crime says coca cultivation increased by 35% between 2020 and 2021. new trafficking hubs have emerged. gavin lee investigates. >> standing guard in a field worth millions. the latest drug bust in mexico. a massive coca leaves burned. the destruction of the plant and the nearby lab is a drop in the ocean and the fight to end the

trade. the first ever global report on the cocaine industry pates -- paints a picture of growth. >> the global supply of cocaine has reached record levels with coca cultivation soaring 35% from 2020 to 2021. while the cocaine market remains quite concentrated in the americas and parts of europe, there is strong potential for expansion in africa and asia. >> the report notes the global covid-19 lockdown effective bars and clubs saw a slump in the trade. but it was brief and they adapted. the u.k. has seen a sharp uptick in packages delivered through the post. it points to a surge in crack cocaine use across france and western europe. there is now an expanding market in ukraine after the war initially disrupt supply. the main source of most of the world's cocaine is columbia and cultivation is growing, despite

regular, well-publicized police operations like this. >> during our security operations, the colombian navy found a submarine transporting more than 2.5 thousand -- 25 hundred kilos which was headed to central america and elsewhere. >> one big factor behind the surge is geopolitical. when farkas dismantled after conflict, huge swaths of land they once occupied are now controlled by armed gangs. without bigger and better policing, the u.n. concludes traffickers will remain one step ahead. >> time for a more uplifting story, grab a pint of guinness, dress yourself in green. it is st. patrick's day. thousands have lined the streets in celebration commemorating the man who brought christianity to ireland. in dublin, spectators witnessed this year's st. patrick's day parade sporting leprechaun hats,

green beards and emerald scarves. this year's theme was one, meant to shine a light on embracing global traditions, culture and heritage. marching bands, floats and acrobats cap spectators entertained while traditional irish songs sounded over the loudspeakers. some fantastic scenes there. let us all the time we have here, but there is more coming up soon. ♪ announcer: join us on down to earth where we explore the incredibly complex relationship between humans and our planet. we meet the people behind fascinating envirmental, health and technological innovations, sustainable

solutions to our world. down to earth. france 24 and france24.com. >> the history of our world is ever-changing. the flow of information is constantly increasing. we cover all subjects. we verify. we commit. on the ground, in all circumstances, t anticipate the future by understanding the present. we are with you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. france 24, an alternative look at the news. ♪ it'sñtñf?o■ñ■#■#■#■■

037/23 03/17/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> family detention is inhumane, but acceptable, and has no place in a just society. the evidence is crystal clear. detention under any circumstance harms people. amy: almost 400 immigrant and human rights groups are urging the biden administration not to reinstate