>> welcome to "live from paris," world news analysis from france 24. france and switzerland face european court of human rights for their alleged failings to protect the environment. it is the first timeovernments are responsible for environmental protections. a demonstration in the west of france, there's a claim law enforcement delayed the intervention by paramedics at

the scene. two protesters remained in critical condition in hospital after being hurt. for the first time, vladimir putin seems to admit sanctions on him and his team in pressure are having an adverse effect. this is "live from paris." thank you very much for being with us. the united nations general assembly adopted by consensus, and it has to be said, to cheers, the resolution calling for the world body's top court to outline legal obligations related to climate change, pushed for for years by the

pacific island youth. the measure asks the international court of justice to lay out nations' obligations for protecting the earth's climate and legal consequences they might face if they do not. >> it is a historic moment for climate justice. for the first time, the united nations general assembly is to consult the international court of justice on the role of states in climate change. 120 countries support the initiative. just a few days after a new alarming report by the intergovernmental panel on climate change, scientists say a global rising temperature by one degree will happen in the next decade no matter what efforts are undertaken. >> we need to react and react

very quickly with a majority of countries cosponsoring that resolution. that's the difference. more and more countries are paying attention to the climate change question. >> international court of justice rulings are not binding but carry mol and legal weight and are taken into consideration by national and international courts. these are increasingly attuned to the question of climate change. wednesday, the european court of human rights years two cases against france and switzerland, enough to combat environmental degradation. it is a first in international jurisprudence but unlikely to be the last of its kind with more such cases set to be brought against european countries. mark: france and switzerland are facing a court case for neglecting the environment. they have been brought before the european court of human rights. the french case has been brought

on the channel coast. his as the government has failed to meet obligations to protect life by taking steps to prevent climate change -- he says. the case in switzerland is based on complaints by an association of elderly people who call themselves the club of cmate seniors, concerned with the nsequences of global warming on their living conditions and health. we will watch for developments. anger over the violence at the climate protests in western france deepens this tuesday. video evidence shows a demonstration on saturday exploding into a full assault on police and how the police used force on protesters. the family of one of two protesters left in a coma is bringing charges against the police of attempted murder. the pair remained in critical condition in hospital.

>> emergency services prevented or delayed at a demonstration on saturday -- that's what the parents of one gravely injured protester want to know. they have opened a criminal complaint. between the first phone call to report the man was sioly injured and his treatment, nearly an hour and a half had passed. reporters showed a telephone exange between a doctor near e site a emt operators a few kilometers away. [speaking foreign language] >> [speaking foreign language] >> [speaking foreign language]

>> security conditions allowing intervention of emergency services were not met. >> it is only to prevent the emt's or firefighters from being attacked for collateral victims in the context where the violent groups moved very quickly. >> in the aftermath of the violent clashes in which at least 200 people were injured, a judicial investigation and two can internal investigations have been initiated to shed light on the circumstances surrounding the delay in medical assistance. >> russia's vladimir putin conceded this wednesday that sanctions imposed on russia for its intervention in ukraine, its invasion of ukraine could bring about negative consequences for the country after insisting that moscow was adapting to the penalties. putin talks of low unemployment

and marginally higher wages as consumer demand falls. >> illegitimate sanctions imposed against the russian economy could in fact have a negative impact on it in the midterm. returning on a growth trajectory should not make us relax. it is important to support and enhance the positive gains in our economy, increase its efficiency, and ensure its technological and financial sovereignty and human resources. >> vladimir putin speaking earlier. let's get the analysis. a professor of economics joins us. thank you for being with us. we always appreciate your time. in your view, how are the sanctions affecting russia and the everyday lives of ordinary russian people? >> i think the sanctions have

started exactly one year ago. european sanctions started with an embargo. there were several different measures. together also with financial sanctions, the overall objective of the financial and economic sanctions was to insulate russia from the rest of the world. we know that sanctions are not effective immediately, but now we enter in a phase in which they can deliver the effect that europe wanted to impose on russia. the analysis of the speech given

by mr. putin, he says that the consequence may be perhaps impacting the deeper economy of russia in the near term, so he is preparing perhaps something. mark: i think it is clear the support depends on the narrative that russian people are being fed via the media within the country. we could take that on a different direction. coming back to the economic angles and how things are working along those lines, which is your specialist area, the increase in trade activity with other markets, and thinking eastern markets, china specifically, oil pipeline and a big deal which clinched shortly after the outbreak of the

invasion or launched the invasion back in february last year -- will that somehow offset the sanctions that have been leveled against russia, do you think, or is it too early to say at this stage? >> there will have already some, let's say, approaches that have measured the losses in terms of international trade, specifically on fossil fuel. the period now is becoming tough for russia because europe has [indiscernible] therefore, he knows he cannot sell the same volume he has sold in 2022, in the first period of 2022 to europe.

he is trying to replace, if you want, the money that he gets from europe going around, especially selling to china, india, turkey, and indonesia. the problem is that he has sold the oil but at a discount, so to convince those countries to buy oil, they have also accepted a decrease in the revenue. overall, to give you just a figure, from the beginning of the war, up to and considering the averages and expenditure in this last year, europe has given 140 billion euros to russia, and for this next year, it is foreseen that we are going to

give him only 60 billion to 70 billion euros. he has not replaced exactly the same amount of money. mark: if i'm understanding this, in order to create a market elsewhere, russia has had to cut the price of what it is trying to sell in order to get other countries interested in buying, and by doing that, of course, it is reducing the profit is its making. will this kind of economic pressure put on russia perhaps be the biggest weapon against putin's aggression in ukraine? >> i think that this reshuffling -- something that is really sustaining his economy because we have also to remind that fossil fuels represent more or

less 10% of the gdp in russia, so he has to sustain the sector of the economy. internationals have also decreased their presence in russia. we have to say that one aspect is that the insulation is also going to reinforce the effect of selling at a lower price all the fossil fuels. there is also another lever. they have been asking for everyone to pay, but the point is that it is not enough to beat inflation. also, the purchasing power of russia overall is decreasing, which makes then a worse

condition for russia to continue . mark: indeed. i think it is fair to say that it is ordinary russians who will be feeling the bite worst of all. thank you very much indeed for joining us. thank you for being with us here on france 24. we always appreciate your time and analysis. the head of russia's wagner mercenary group acknowledged that fighting for e ukrainian city of bakhmut has inflicted severe damage on his own forces as well as on the ukrainian side, something, of course, we have been reporting all along here at france 24. he has made claims since july that his mercenaries had taken bakhmut. u.k. intelligence says russia has lost heavily with only

marginal gains on the ground. the situation is murky but the damage is there for all to see. >> after many days in which the front lines did not seem to move at all and some were actually saying that the front had stabilizednd that ruian forces were culminating and about to seize t initiative it appears the russians have made some small gains within the city of bakhmut. the ukrainian general staff in its evening report this evening used the term partial success to describe what the russians had achieved in theast 24 hours while insisting that ukrainians still held the core of bakhmut and had no it -- no intention of giving it up, but it is rare to see theeneral staff make any kind oadmission of defeat. what you usually see if ukrainians lost any ground is how well they have defended the next bit of ground, that is the

next town inward towards ukraine or so on so that is the kind of rare and perhaps worrying admission from general staff, but by analysis of the institute for the study of war, it says russians have been taking control of an industrial area in the north of bakhmut and increase overall control over the city's surface area from 60% to 65%, so that is obviously a majority of the town, but we are talking about the eastern suburbs, the southern and northern suburbs being in the hands of the russians while the city center is still held by ukrainian forces. mark: gulliver cragg reporting earlier from kharkiv. time for business. kate moody joins us. ceo of starbucks is in hot water as he faces accusations of unionbusting. >> labor unions have largely lost their luster in the united states over the last 50 years or

so. just about 11 percent of american workers are represented at the moment. a growing number of starbucks employees, though, have voted to form unions in recent months. nearly 300 of its american branches. starbucks has yet to reach a contract agreement with any of its locations that have voted to unionize. the coffee chain's ceo faced sharp criticism from senator bernie sanders, an outspoken champion of labor rights, in a long-awaited showdown on capitol hill. >> do you understand that in america, workers have a fundamental right to join a union and collectively bargain to improve wages, benefits, and working conditions? do you understand that? >> i understand and we respect the right of every partner who wears a green apron, if they choose to join a union or not. >> will you make a promise to

this committee that you will exchange proposals with the union so that we can begin to make meaningful progress? >> on a single-story basis, we will continue to negotiate in good faith. >> the results of a two-year investigation by a u.s. senate finance committee suggests the bank credit suites has continued to provide a safe haven for wealthy americans to hide assets even after being prosecuted for doing just that in 2014 and agreeing to reforms at the time. the senate panel said it had been notified of at least 23 large undeclared accounts longing to american citizens, including nearly $100 million held by a single family. that would mean the bank had violated the terms of its authories.ee deal with u.s. it is clear if or how the regulations might affect last ek's bailout of struggling credit suites by its rival ubs. meanwhile, ubs has brought back a familiar face to oversee that

takeover. the former ceo from 2011 to 2020 is coming back to the ceo position. the bank said his experience in carrying out past restructuring plans would serve ubs well as it integrates credit suites's -- credit suisse's business. let's check in on the day's trading action. wall street close higher with tech shares and chipmakers in particular leading gains. the nasdaq up about 1.8% by the closing bell. there has been a lot of volatility on bond markets amid uncertainty about interest rates. the yield or return on the benchmark treasury bond 3.6%. earlier, major european indices were up as well.

gains of over 1% in london, paris, and frankfurt. even leaders within the tech industry a worried about huge leaps being me in developing tificial ielligence. more than 1000 scholars and industry figures includinglon musk have signed an open letter calling for a six-monthause to the rapidly evolving technology. >> profound risks to society and humanity. campaign group the future of life is sounding the alarm on the breakneck speed of developments in artificial intelligence. elon musk and apple cofounder steve wozniak are among the 1000 tech leaders who signed an open letter calling for a six-month pause in new ai experience. >> recent months have seen new labs locked in a race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one, not even their creators, can understand, predict, or reliably controlled. >> their apprehension triggered

by huge leaps forward in recent months, notably the release of the chat gpt tool by microsoft-backed tech firm open ai. it has impressed users with its ability to summarize complex documents, carry on conversations, and even compose music and poetry. it has, however, shown flaws in informational accuracy. the technology is already disrupting higher education where students have used it to write papers for them. medical and legal professionals have also adopted its usen search of greater efficiencies. critics, including eu authorities, worn it could be used as a powerful tool of disinformation and cybercrime. u.s. investment banking giant goldman sachs meanwhile has said it could make millions of jobs obsolete. >> interesting life training, but rather scary at the same

time. mark: thank you very much. great to see. kate moody with all the business. time to go truthing are faking. the national shooting. conspiracy theories concerning -- the nashville shooting. conspiracy theories concerning the shooter and the shooter's wardrobe. >> indeed, this is the 67th mass shooting in america this year. sad statistics and misinformation that follows each mass shooting. this time conspiracy theories regarding the shooter's shoes. let's begin with this viral tweet that has made the rounds with over 2.5 million views on the platform with this user and other users claiming the nashville shooting was staged. why? allegedly because the shooter went in with whom -- kuma -- puma shoes and vans going out,

and this was because law enforcement released a prerecorded video, which was why they released the footage so quickly. we have other similar claims. this one on facebook, where this user asked if active shooter's change shoes before they shoot. two examples where these users claim that the shooter was wearing two different pairs of shoes, prove, that would be, that the nashville shooting was staged. mark: ok. that's the conspiracy theory. what's the truth of the matter, and what's the truth of the matter about these shoes? >> first of all, we can confirm the shooter was not wearing puma shoes. the shooter was wearing vans. how do we know? first of all, the shoelaces of puma, they end long before the

puma sign. as for vans, they end right at the length of the stripes. this is our first piece of proof. then the logo of the vans in the video survey camera footage was visible, and you can see that the vans do have this logo, while puma shoes have no logo at all on the back. finally, there's this part of the video where you can see that the shooter was wearing -- power the shooter had his pants risen up and you can see the shooter was wearing vans with this striped right there, confirming that the shooter was wearing vans and not pumas, contrary to claims online. mark: you can see why people got a bit confused, can't you? why do you see in one image lack and white vans while in the other image, you appear to see flames on the shoes?

can you shed some light on that? >> it is confusing. this is the second debate online. is the shooter wearing black and white vans or wearing flame-colored vans? let's compare both images we have available of the shooting. let's begin with this video surveillance footage. when the shooter enters the high school where we see black and white vans, we have the images released by the nashville police bodycam footage the moment that they shot the shooter down, where we see these flame vans, so which is it? we can confirm the shooter was wearing these flame vans. how do we know? we contacted an expert who explained to our team what happened. he says that in the video surveillance footage that has low definition, which was also taken in an environment with artificial lighting, and add onto this a compressed image, this results in the loss of

color, which results in this black-and-white image. then we move on to the bodycam footage that was taken in natural light and, too, the quality of the camera is better, resulting in the fact that you can see the flame of the vans that the shooter was wearing. a clear example of how optical illusions that can easily confuse our perceptions. mark: i will always be feeling incredibly sad because six families, three children age nine, and three adults shot in this tragedy, people argue about training shoes online rather than the big issue, like gun control. thank you very much indeed. pleasure to see you, and thanks to you all for watching. do stay with us. more to come. ♪

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03/29/23 03/29/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i have been waiting for their father. they told me they were going to hand him over to me. we started to see smoke building from everywhere. they left the men locked in. everyone was removed from the area but they left the men locked in. they never opened the door. amy: at least 38