>> welcome to elephant lsp -- welcome to "live from paris." fire on the streets of paris. once again, tear gas used to disperse protesters. it is attends national strike against retirement reform. 2 million demonstrators turning out. with a walkout against the raising of the pension age from 62 to 64. suspected money laundering and large-scale tax fraud led to a police raid on five french banks

this tuesday. one hundred 50 officers carrying out searches up premises in paris. we have more on this. germany sent 80 advanced leopard nks and 40 infantry fighter vehicles to ukraine as well as an air defense system, part of berlin's pledge to boost initial aid to kyiv. this is "live from paris." thank you very much for being with us. french protesters blocked train tracks and highways and clashed with police in some cities as they marched across the country against president macron and his

deeply unpopular pension bill. in paris, there was a strong police presence in anticipation of problems similar to last thursday's national strike. the union said there were some 2 million people on the streets this tuesday. there was disruption across the country. all eight major french unions are united against the plan to raise the retirement age from 60 to 264. >> the turnout was down slightly -- from 62 to 64. >> the turnout was down slightly. 93,000 people according to france's interior ministry. trade unions put that more than four times higher, 400 50,000 people, they said. there were some tensions along the way. police setting off rounds of tear gas against protesters, at times charging them, and protesters at times set fire to bins in the streets, and there were tensions, but nothing on

the scale that france saw last week, at least as the evening drew to a close. at the final point of the demonstrations in the east of paris, there were a marked number of young people out on the streets this time, perhaps more than in previous demonstrations, in the french capital. students from universities and from high schools, sometimes teenagers who blockaded their high schools and came to join the protest movements, demonstrating not only against these controversial pension reform plans but against what they called emmanuel macron's anti-democratic methods. they have been angered by the forcing of the build through parliament, using the 49.3 constitutional amendment, but also by the policing methods, videos of which have flooded social networks in recent days and weeks. there is still anger and defiance in france. people telling us on the streets

they are determined to carry on demonstrating and that they don't intend to back down. >> germany has confirmed the supply of 18 leopard two tanks to ukraine's military. the move comes as kyiv forces are digging in to bakhmut in the eastern dundas against the russian invasion force. berlin is providing tanks and fighting vehicles to ukraine as well as an air defense system. meanwhile, the first british challenger tank has arrived on ukraine soil. germany, of course, is supplying tanks to ukraine as part of an ongoing promise from the country. >> a much-needed boost to ukraine's war effort, germany in it -- germany announced it had sent 18 leopard tanks to the country after crews had been trained to use them on german soil. >> the answer to your question is yes, we delivered leopard tanks as we announced.

>> germany first agreed to supply the tanks to ukraine in january following months of sustained pressure from allies, and kyiv has also confirmed the arrival of u.k.-made challenger two tanks. the u.k. prime minister posted a photo to his facebook page of one of the tanks alongside other western military hardware, describing the tank as a work of military art. the u.k. declined to comment but did confirm that ukrainian crews were now back home after training with the tanks in the country. western leaders have also ramped of criticism of pressure's decision to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in belarus. the prime minister warned moscow against their use. >> we and our nato allies are carefully watching the situation . russia knows the consequences would be in norma's -- enormous if they use that kind of weapon.

>> ukraine said the decision to transfer weapons could destabilize belarus, accusing russia of turning the country into a nuclear hostage. >> let's get the analysis from the united services institute. how significant could this be, the delivery of these leopard two tanks and these challenges to ukraine? >> i think it is very significant. obviously, one of the most important advantages the russians have is numerical superiority. utilizing that is vital for a counteroffensive. i think they will launch in late march/early april, as expected, and possibly target separation. >> comes on a day russia claims to shut down a missile fired by ukraine, a weapon supplied by the united states. what do you make of that? >> i think that is par for the course. the russians are trying to show

that they can combat western arms supplies, and now they are trying to show tha their denses are able to dig down as well. i think it is just par for the course that this will happen. one isolated incident like this is not really going to move the needle. quite how does putin's announcement last saturday of russian nuclear weapons being sent belarus change the situation? germany has already spokeout to condemn it as an escalation. >> i think it is an escalating move but it has also been a move that has been a long while in preparation. when the ukrainian invasion began, belarus had a referendum. now obviously with the suspension of new start, the russians are ratcheting up the nuclr rhetoric, so it is unsurprising western countries

would view this with alarm, and they should, but i think it is mostly a saber rattling tactic. >> the other side of the nuclear question, you have weapons on one side, separation nuclear power station on the other side in russian hands -- the separaon -- theaporizhza nuclear power station on the other side in russian hands. >> it is a very clear that not just to the security of ukraine but to all of europe. it has been clear that some members of parliament have said that could even trigger an article five nato intervention

if launched, so that is very much a serious threat, and even the cnese recognize that. xi jinping, when he went to meet with putin in moscow, one of the points of his peace plant is about the safety of nuclear plants. >> as you say, it could represent something very significant beyond ukraine's borders. can we go back to more specific things like the bakhmut situation? russia has been saying since july there on the verge of taking it, though clearly that not happening. although the situation is, i think it is acknowledged even from kyiv's side of things, extremely delicate. do you think that what we are seeing now with new armaments coming in, with those tanks, with the other systems coming in to ukraine's hands, it could be a moment where the advantage is tipped in kyiv's favor? quick to think the situation in bakhmut has been difficult for some time.

-- >> i think the situation. but they have made the decision to stay in bakhmut because they believe the loss in casualties and war material is far more significant than what they are losing. obviously, there's heavy losses on both sides, but ukrainis have managed to defend in bakhmut, at least for now. they certainly have done a lot to weaken pressure's military potential, and more importantly, the russian spring offensive, as so many people talked about, that they thought would be able to create some breakthroughs has only created breakthroughs in one small town and not even backward, where they have been fighting for nine months. >> a ukrainian soldier i spoke to described it like a first

world war seen happening in bakhmut right now with soldiers being mowed down. you detail that there, saying they are sending combat records basically into the fire that ukrainians are hitting them with. it is a hellish situation, but the spring offensive, as you mentioned, not working as moscow would like it to, i think it is fair to say. will there be a ukrainian counteroffensive soon? ere do you think it might happen? >> they are obviously gathering the main forces of the question -- will they withdraw more forces from backward to put them there or not and if so, how many? i think they are likely to advance along two axes. separation has long been noted to be a relatively weak spot in terms of defense. it would really disrupt their supply center from crimea, and

crimea also faces periodic strikes. another line of attack would be to damage and dent pressure's annexation of luhansk. >> thank you very much indeed for sharing your assessment of the situation in ukraine with us. we appreciate your time. next, a russian man whose daughter drew an antiwar picture has been sentenced to two years in prison. the 53-year-old was not in court, having escaped house arrest. for now, his 30-year-old daughter remains in state care. >> in these images reportedly filmed during his trial, he can be seen sitting in the dark, but on the day of sentencing on tuesday, the 54-year-old had vanished after allegedly fleeing house arrest. that did not stop the court from sentencing him to two years

behind bars. his crime -- allegedly discrediting the russian army on social media, accusations he denies. >> i think that the sentence is absolutely unjust because there is no proof of his guilt, no proof that can unconditionally show that he is guilty. the sentence itself is based on testimony by witnesses and documents which were questionable. >> it is not the first time he has been on the run. the 54-year-old fled with his daughter earlier this year after police began investigating the pair over a picture on the internet depicting russian missiles being fired at a ukrainian family. the master of her school contacted police who looked into alexi and discovered antiwar comments. on march 1, they were found, and the goat was taken and put into

an orphanage. supporters say the case highlights past consequences of speaking out against the war. >> it shows parents what will happen to your children if you don't agree, if you protest. if you express your opinion on social networks or elsewhere. >> shortly after the invasion of ukraine last year, russia outlawed any criticism of its army, a crime that comes with a maximum penalty of 50 years in prison. >> the international olympic committee this tuesday issued recommendations for the gradual return to international competition for russian and belarusian athletes. in spite of the ongoing war in ukraine. ukraine, meanwhile, has welcomed

a postponement of the decision of russian participation in the paris olympics. >> as paris works toward its grand vision of host of the 2024 olympic games, organizers are taking up a politically charged question -- weather to allow russian and belarusian athletes to compete. a member of the international olympic committee tuesday -- at a meeting of the international olympic committee tuesday, the ioc made a declaration. >> athletes with a russian or belarusian passport must compete only as individual neutral athletes. teams of athletes with a russian or belarusian passport cannot be considered. >> the ioc chief emphasized no decision had been made but the suggestion that athletes from russia and belarus could compete as individuals sparked outrage from the german sports minister who called it a slap in the face for ukrainian athletes, saying,

international sport must condemn russia's brutal war of aggression in no uncertain terms. this can only be done with the complete exclusion of russian and belarusian athletes. despite the blowback, athletes from russia and belarus are currently taking part in competitions. the world fencing body ruled this month it would allow them to compete, but in in spite of that, more than 300 active and former fencers are calling on the ioc to exclude russian and belarusian athletes from the summer games. last year, the ioc recommended banning athletes from russia and belarus on security grounds following russia's invasion of ukraine but has recently sought to create a pathway for them to return to competition. the ioc chief did not indicate when a final decision would come, saying that the committee would make it at an appropriate time. >> clearly a fraud situation -- clearly a fraught situation.

as we saw in our report, germany's sports minister speaking out saying that it is not think that should be done at this present moment in time with the were continuing. 2024 is when it is all happening . as we see from what we have been hearing from ukraine over the past 20 minutes of this program, very little in terms of signs of peace. we will continue watching, of course. star now to business. very good evening to you. financial prosecutors targeting five french banks here in paris. it sounds extreme interesting. tell us more.

>> it is all to do with an investigation into suspected tax fraud and money laundering link to dividend payments. banks including b&b para bout and societe generale were targeted -- banks including bmp perry bach -- banks including bnp paribas. they accused of helping customers avoid paying tax. >> a sticky situation for banks as investigators searched offices across the paris area tuesday. the raids the climax of an investigation into alleged tax fraud and money laundering using a strategy known by its latin nickname, when foreign investors in french companies temporarily transfer ownership of their shares to french banks in order to avoid higher taxes on

dividend payouts. the practice is similar to a practice in which investors use shortselling tactics to claim multiple dividend tax rebates when only a single rebate should have been due. a seminal investigative report published in 2018 by a group of european media outlets estimated fraud has drained more than 140 billion euros from european treasuries, particularly in germany. tuesday's rates are the latest stroke of bad luck for the global banking sector, already battered by a crisis of confidence that has seen spasms of selling in u.s. regional lenders and finished off swiss giant credit suisse. tuesday's rates could mean a load of trouble. prosecutors are seeking fines of more than one billion euros. >> meanwhile, the u.s. banking sector is also under the microscope as regulators answer lawmakers' questions on the collapse of silicon valley bank

and signature bank. the deral reserve says visits evaluating if more ntrols were needed to stop svb from failing, this is most banks are better equipped to deal with changing market conditions, including the risk posed by rising interest rates. >> picture that has emerged thus far shows svb had inadequate risk management and internal controls that struggled to keep pace with the growth of the bank. supervisors began delivering supervisory warnings near the end of 2021. our review will consider if these supervisory warnings were sufficient and if supervisors had sufficient tools to escalate them. >> chinese tech giant alibaba has announced a radical restructuring plan that it has hailed as a new opportunity for growth. the overhaul will split the group into six businesses, all of which will be able to pursue independent fundraising and ipo's. they include cloud intelligence, domestic e-commerce, local

services like food delivery, logistics, global e-commerce, and digital media and entertainment. $600 billion has been wiped off the company's market value since its share price peak in october 2020, all while beijing has been tightening restrictions on the tech industry. following that announcement, alibaba's shares saw a significant boost on the new york stock exchange, gaining more than 40% by the end of the session. let's take a look at the closing bell on wall street. all major indices were down. the tech-heavy nasdaq shedding just under .5% while the s&p 500 and dow jones a bit less after a mixed trading session. european stocks closed flat with banks making up for losses earlier in the session. london's ftse 100 was up .17% with caution prevailing after

the bank of england said it was on alert following recent turmoil in the banking sector. a new study has found that if you have a university degree, artificial intelligence is most likely to come for your job first. the paper by open ai found that for about 80% of the u.s. workforce, at least 10% of their taskcould be aected by technology like chat gpt, while around 19% of workers could see half of their tasks affected. professions most exposed include mathematicians, writers, and web and interface designers. you never know. we could have robots running france 24. mark: some say they do. thank you very much. thanks very much indeed. let's get truthing or faking. we are going to look at an angry

mob chasing down the police in kenya. truth or fake? tell us more. >> let's begin by taking a look at this video where we can see a tense situation going on here, where we see police or law enforcement officials being chased down by protesters, and this angry stone-throwing mob. users claim that this video we see right here was taken in kenya on march 20, 2023. other users also claim that this video shows the kenyon opposition leader's fence chasing police. this same footage was even used in uganda news right here. they posted this video during a debate, a broadcast debate over recent protests in kenya, a video that has been circulating

online as antigovernment protests in kenya reach a second week, including a violent protest that took place that same day the posts were online on march 20. >> did you find where these videos really came from? give us the sort of insight you've gotten. >> our team conducted a reverse image search, and we found that the same video has been taken out of context over and over again and for many years. for example, the same video was posted on the same day for senegal, claiming that this video shows what is going on today in senegal during an opposition demonstration that took place in the country last week. then the same video was used and posted on turkish media back in 2017 where they claim this is how police who are inadequate in

the face of demonstrators fled. this video was used quite differently here on facebook in this anti-migrant post in german, claiming that the video shows refugees in greece in february 2016, and even on the others of the globe, the video was used in venezuela claiming to show protesters in venezuela in 2016. >> all these different cases beneath the same video. is it just a coincidence? if this video was not filmed in kenya nor senegal nor venezuela, do we know where it was filmed? >> even though we cannot prove with certainty where and when this video was taken, we found it dates back at least 22015 or earlier, and the video was most probably filmed in the drc.

the earliest instance we were able to find of this video online was this post on this youtube channel by news vision. drc posted on january 2019 -- january 19, 2015, where they claim the police flees in front of determined young people. indeed, on this day, you can find on france 24 on the news on january 19, 2015, this news article on the congolese police cracking down on protests. even though we cannot completely confirm this video, we can well confirm it did not take place in kenya, in senegal, or in venezuela as the fake claims posted online. >> looking at the quality of that video, it looks even older

than eight years, doesn't it? the way you see it degrading the way it has. people choose to believe because they love subterfuge. thank you very much indeed for truth or fake. thank you for the business. great to see you. and thanks to you for watching as well. stay tuned. more to come live from paris.

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03/28/23 03/28/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> out of national responsibility, i have decided to suspend the second and third readings of the law in order to allow the time to reach the wide consensus during the next knesset. amy: following months of mass protests and a general strike on