liberté, égalité, actualité. anchor: just past 10:00 p.m. in paris and you are watching france 24. these are your headlines. china says it has successfully completed three days of military drills around taiwan. show of force comes in the wake ofeetings between taipei and washington. saudi officials have met with iran rebels in yemen, part of a flurry of activity to end the brutal nine year conflict. and we look at the good friday agreement 25 years on from its signing. as british politicians reflect

on its importance in the search for a stable brexit. ♪ thank you for joining us live from paris. after three days of military drills around taiwan, chinese authorities monday declared the exercises over. beijing says it was able to successfully test its military capabilities in real combat conditions, having practiced precision strikes and blockading the island it views as its own. in response, taiwan says it would never relax efforts to be combat ready while it would closely monitor china's missile forces and the movement of aging'navy. we have this reaction. reporter: three days of wargames

around taiwan successfully completed according to china, serving as a stark warning to those seeking taiwanese independence. >> this is a serious warning against the collusion and provocation of the taiwan independence separatist forces to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity. the hope the international community will fully understand the essence of the taiwan issue, firmly abide by the one china principle and firmly oppose all forms of tain independence separatist activities. reporter: the eastern command released a statement monday saying troops were ready to fight over taiwan. and would resolutely smash any separatism and foreign interference attempts. the chinese organs begin after the thai weeds -- the taiwanese president returned from washington. according to china, it's simulated strikes on targets on

and around the island and released a short animation of attacks. the military also rehearsed sealing off the democratically run island, which beijing considers a breakaway region. >> the recent harassment has destabilized the region. this became their excuse for exercises, and their actions have jeopardized the security of the surrounding region. reporter: meanwhile, a u.s. navy vessel sailed through the south china sea. the ship got within 12 nautical miles of mischief reef on which there are chinese military bases. the u.s. military says it conducted normal operations, stressing it is not an island and does not have territorial waters under international law. anchor: the pentagon has called

it a sick -- eight serious security risk, while u.s. officials scrambled to identify the source of leaked security documents. it was first reported by the new york times on friday in addresses a range of topics including south korea, the middle east and the war in ukraine. we have this report. reporter: it is the latest international response as the united states grapples with the fallout of leaked, highly classified documents. south korea says it will demand answers over allegations of spying. this as a south korean officials grew concerned artillery shells sold to the united states could end up in ukraine, going against its long-standing policy of not supplying weapons to a country at war. >> we strongly regret that the top u.s. intelligence agency had been illegally spying on allies like our country. we strongly demand a thorough investigation and urge similar incidents do not occur. reporter: the trove of leaked

documents released at the end of february includes a pentagon assessment that stocks of missiles for up to 89 percent of ukraine's air defenses were projected to be fully depleted by early next month and defenses designed to protect troops on the front line will be completely reduced on the 23rd of may. u.s. officials feared this would allow moscow to change the course of the war in ukraine i bringing in fighter jets to attack ukrainian positions and targets on the ground. while ukraine has not addressed the leaks, is urging western allies to continue arms deliveries. over the weekend, the french defense ministry denied any of itsorces were in ukraine after recent revelations suggested a small contingent of nato special operations forces from states including france were active on the ground. anchor: when will the counteroffensive start? that's the question in ukraine as the country's armed forces gear up for another push to take

territory back currently occupied by russia. it's not only the military preparing. civilian administrations in exile are making plans to return. our correspondent met in kyiv with a mayor in exile from melitopol, currently occupied by russians but he says not for much longer. >> after our soldiers yucky by our city, we as a team have to make it livable again as quickly as possible. we have studied the experience of other cities and see that they take everything, fromwns, ambulances to police carso medical equipment. today we have to make detailed plans for different scenarios as to what condition the town may be in when we get it back. >> what do we know tay about how the russian forces in melitopol are behaving, particularly toward civilians? >> they are starting to panic

and as a result they are increasing pressure on our residents. of course these are defenseless people against who the enemy is committing genocide by destroying all that is ukrainian. speaking ukrainian or having books in ukrainian get you called in for police questioning if not worse. >> what is your advice today for people remaining in melitopol? >> today with the help of international partners, we are trying to help our residents to evacuate. it's very important and we are seeing a tendency. we've seen a new wave of departures the last few weeks. a few thousand have evacuated so theessages is getting through to our citizens and we all understand we have to prepare for the counteroffensive and help our armed forces. the fewer civilians in occupied towns, the easier things will be for the military during the d occupation. -- deoccupation.

>> ukraine officials aren't givingway anything about when or where the counteroffensive may start but it is clr that in the medium-term, for it to succeed, melitopol will have to be a key target. anchor: saudi officials in humans capital sunday for talks with iran backed rebels as part of international efforts to find a settlement to humans nine year conflict -- yemen's nine year conflict. a saudi led coalition intervened , which turned into a catastrophic regional proxy war between saudi arabia and iran. france 2international affairs commentator doug herbert joined us earlier to discuss how the changing saudi arabian relationship could forge a way for peace in the future. >> there has been rapprochement

broken by china between iran and saudi arabia, which she has, promises perhaps to upend the alliances across the middle east. saudi arabia and iran have been archrivals in the region. anything that would bring them closer or reconcile them even on paper diplomatically promises to shift a lot of stuff in the region. that's obviously a big reason as to why this is happening now. the saudis are just fed up with endless war. they have launched over the past 7, 8 years of the conflict since intervening in early 2015 as the head of this coalition, over 20,000 airstrikes. what has changed on the battlefield as a result? not much. the red is conflict zones. that means fierce fighting still going on between forces allied with the saudi led coalition and

the iran aligned rebels. the blue area, including the capital of yemen, which was seized by the rebels in 2014 that precipitated the saudi led coalition intervening, it is still much if not all, much of the north country controlled by the rebels. what is the green area? i know the legend is hard to read, but the green area in the south of the country is controlled, much of a controlled by what's called the southern transitional council. it's basically a grouping that wants a separate south of yemen, they want to secede, they are allied with the uae, a saudi ally. all of this is to say it is complicated. if these talks are happening, it is promising and a good sign but it's basically because the

saudis have other fish to fry. especially on the homefront, they want to look at domestic -- the domestic front. this is a costly war and mbs wants to be done. the saudis have been sending signals the want to de-escalate what they want to scale down the military intervention and play up the political resolution flanked. anchor: that was doug herbert earlier. monday marks a quarter of a century since the signing of a historic peace deal that brought an end to decades of sectarian violence in northern ireland known as the troubles. the good friday agreement reshaped the politics but far from perfect. the power-sharing arrangement has been thrown into disarray following brexit. reporter: 25 years since the end

of the troubles, these walls still standing as an enduring symbol of divisions that continue to plague northern ireland. >> people thought there would be a berlin wall moment here, the community would take sledgehammers and knock the walls down. it never happened. reporter: built in 1968 by the british army, these walls separated the pro-ireland catholic republicans from the mostly protestant unionists during the conflict. more than 3500 people died during three decades of bloodshed. paramilitary organizations like the ira fighting against the british arranged bombings and shootings. british soldiers carried out raids and shooters -- and shot protesters. the good friday agreement in 1998 brought an end to sectarian violence and ushered in a new beginning for northern ireland.

republican tara mental -- paramilitary groups were dismantled, british troops departed and a new regional government set up with nationalists and unionists represented. >> it was an honorable compromise that contained challenges but did not diminish the deeply held political views of those present. nor does it mean the future would be easy, it was a new beginning. reporter: however, political squabbling and stalemates became routine after the accord, made worse by the uk's departure from the european union. the democratic unionist party has been vocal for 14 months over its opposition to oppose a brexit trade deal. on the anniversary of the peace deal, prime minister rishi sunak called on a restoration of government. >> while it is time to reflect on the solid progress we have made together we must also recommit to redoubling our efforts on the promise made in 1998 and the agreements that followed. reporter: he will meet u.s.

president joe biden in belfast on tuesday and will launch a major investment summit in northern ireland in september. anchor: to talk more about u.s. president joe biden's visit, let's hear from our correspondent in dublin. suitcaseull of americanh a investment. american investment is up to $1.5 billion in the last decade, the largest in northern ireland and that helps. u.s. president biden will be greeted by prime minister sunak tuesday night but he will only appear publicly a couple of hours the next day at the university of ulster for short remarks. he will not go to the building behind me because the assembly is empty because the democratic

unionists party refused to share power with the other parties despite the rules of the good friday agreement because of the brexit arrangements. they are not happy with the brexit arrangements and the so-called trade border in the irish sea between great britain and northern ireland. they see that as diminishing their british identity. until that is removed they don't want to share power with the other parties. rishi sunak has called for the dup to go back into the assembly before joe biden comes on tuesday night. i'm afraid his wishes may not be granted. anchor: it's time for a look at the days top is news -- business news. a bunch of pharmacy executives in the u.s. have sounded the alarm over a court ruling regarding medical abortions. brian: more than 300 executives

published an open letter on monday denouncing a u.s. federal court judge decision to suspend sales of the abortion pill. last week, a district court in northern texas issued a link that essentially invalidated the u.s. food and drug administration's a 23-year-old approval of the drug. in the letter, the executives, including the ceo of pfizer, accused the court of "ignoring decades of scientific evidence and legal precedent." they say the challenge to the fda's authority creates uncertainty for the entire bio industry. the biden administration has asked an appeals court to block the texas decision. the case is likely to end up at the u.s. supreme court. here is the white house press secretary. >> is also an attack on fda's authority to review and approve a wide range of safe and

effective medication for americans and could open the floodgates for other medications to be targeted and denied to people who need them. we were prepared for this outcome and as you saw him of the department of justice appealed the court's decision and is seeking a stay pending appeal. bryan: in china, tesla has signed a deal to build a new factory but it will not be producing electric vehicles. shanghai plant will produce large battery units used to stabilize electrical power grids. ceo elon musk says he wants energy storage to be as big a part of their business model as cars. we have a report. reporter: it is another major deal for elon musk as the test the ceo opens a second plant in china. the new mega pack factory will supplement the first one in california. >> the construction should start in july and begin operating in the second quarter of next year.

we are confident in the next two or three years we will cooperate with tesla to create a new industrial cluster. reporter: teslas mega pack storage system will use lithium-ion battery packs to store renewable energy for energy grids. the plant will produce 10,000 units per year with each unit able to power 3600 homes per hour. though tesla generates most of its revenue from electric cars, musk aims to grow solar energy and battery businesses. this has sparked concern in the u.s. as hyden aims to cut reliance on china for technology. the first giga factory in china is producing 1.1 million units per year. but china's committed --

competitive auto market saw a dip, leaving tesla to struggle with rising inventory and aggressive price cuts in major markets. bryan: european markets were closed for easter on monday but wall street was hard at work. u.s. indexes lost ground early in the session before rebounding to close more or less flat. investors are waiting for new u.s. inflation data midweek as a sign as to whether the federal reserve will continue hiking interest rates. the dow and s&p managing to eke out small gains, the nest egg just south of the flatline at the close. monday saw 10 come any shares on tiny -- on chinese stock markets under new rules. they hit the new boards with shares surging more than 95% on average for the day. the new regulations are aimed at streamlining ipos, allowing shares to trade without first getting regulatory approval. the cap on ipo prices and a first-day gain ceiling have both

been scrapped. china is certainly the world's top market for ipo fundraising. beijing seeking to use key private indusies in an attempt to boost economic growth. re is the head of china's top securities regulator on monday. >> this listing ceremy marks the full implementation of the reform of stock issuance registration system, which is another important milestone in the reform and development of china's capital markets. the implementation of the registration system involves the change of audit subjects, takes information disclosure as the core and requires regulatory authorities not to make a judgment o the investment value of enterprises. bryan: finally, hungarian low-cost carrierizz air has

been called the worst u.k. airliner for the second year in a row. the airline has already faced a backlash from pilot unions after a chief executive said staff should go the extra mile when tired. i prefer my airline staff to be well rested. anchor: as an avid user of wizz air, i can say i don't think i've ever had a flight take off on time. not surprised by the stats. bryan: our informal survey confirms the u.k. data. [laughter] anchor: it is time for truth or fake, our daily fact checking segment. emerald, you've been looking at a series of photos that have gone viral of a beached shark supposedly taken in the united states but it seems a bit fishy. it is not all it is cracked up to be. emerald: the pictures show what

looks to be a great white shark, which holds a place in a lot of imaginations as the shark from the jaws films. it is supposedly beached in north carolina in the outer banks. according to this facebook post that has been shared a 16,000 times since the end of march. it also says people were trying to push it back into the ocean. the photos were shared on french social media as well such as here, where people congratulated the people for trying to save the shark. officials in the area have denied a great white shark was beached around the date of the original post, at the end of march. who is telling the truth? let's have a closer look at the photos. a few details seem off. as you can see, some of the shadows or reflections on the beach seem inconsistent. you can see these people are

reflected but these come out of nowhere. you can also see some of the people's faces and hands seem distorted. these are telltale signs that they are ai generated pictures. usa today fact checkers spoke to a marine biologist that said there are too many gills slits for a great white. there is this watermark, and we searched for accounts and came across several accounts, facebook, instagram and etsy. here we have the etsy account, the creator of these photos is selling his work. you can see on this account,

they don't hide the use of artificial intelligence. this caption of a sea turtle says i use several programs to achieve the desired result. that is absent from the facebook page. the descriptions tend indicate the pictures a genuine and taken by a local photographer. as we can see here, we see surreptitiously -- see suspiciously an eagle next to an american flag and the captions and plea reads a one a million shot. and this is presented as a real storm in the outer banks. many people commenting on these pictures don't realize they are fake. anchor: this is interesting because obviously this would generate a lot of user comments. why would someone fake these particular pictures and why does it matter? emerald: that's a good question and you might think these kind

of falsified images are harmless and in many cases they are. given how realistic and persuasive they are out of context they allow two people to jump to false conclusions. some people speculating about the reason behind this shark being beached and associating it with a conspiracy theory about offshore wind projects and " sending out an electrical charge." why are these photos being created? the business reason, we saw earlier the etsy page where the creator sells works, but we spoke to another photographer in the outer banks who manages this facebook page and he told us the obx photos are known locally and when it started it was clearly satire, then it started passing the photos off as real. it would regularly delete

comments from people calling out the use of ai. this isn't the first time these spectacular photos have been the source of unfounded rumors, this one of a giant wave went viral and 2017 before being fact by local media. we contacted the obx page and got no reply, but over the easter weekend, the account changed its name and posted a series of interesting photos of jesus seemingly rising again and the easter bunny doing a spot of surfing. whether he is trolling us or has gone back to the satire roots, the account is in any case and people along the way. anchor: emerald maxwell not walking on water but feeling a lot of truth in fake to us and it shows the importance of fact checking. that is all the time we have for the news on france 24 but there

is more coming up on the half-hour. see you soon. ♪ ♪ >> france 20 your economy explained. liberté, égalité, actualité. ♪

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04/10/23 04/10/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! dueling ruling. two federal judges have handed down conflicting decisions on the abortion pill mifepristone. an antiabortion trump-appointed judge in texas halted the fda's approval of the drug while a judge in washington state orders the fda to maintain the status quo on mifepristone, which was approved by the fda 23