>> this is d.w. news live from berlin. victory for macron as france's highest court backs his pension reforms. the ruling clears the way for raising the minimum wage but they say the fight will go on. the 21-year-old air national guardsman is accused of sharing damaging material in an online

chat group. and beijing promises not to supply russia with weapons. and seeing the light after 500 days of darkness, we go underground with an extreme athlete from spain who spent the last year and a half in a cave in the name of science. all that and more. welcome. president macron, france's highest court upheld to raise the minimum wage from 62 to 64. the court rejected the call for a referendum. thousands of protestors gathered around the country as trade unions promise to continue to fight the changes.

the president pushed his plans through parliament without a vote triggering of nationwide protests. d.w. correspondent has more. >> decision has two parts. on the law itself, the constitution behind me ruled that the procedure that the government used to push through the reform in a fast track procedure was constitutional and ruled that the content of law was constitutional apart from some minor paragraphs that the constitutional council censored. the second part was on a referendum and the council said you cannot hold this referendum and should a formal reason because they think it would not be a reform which is required to hold this referendum. on all accounts, they went along

with what the government was asking for except for these minor paragraphs. >> this isn't over for the unions as i mentioned before, is it? >> absolutely. there are protests happening right now here in paris and other cities across the country. the unions have already said they would organize one big day of protest on the 1st of may and asking for the government to not enact the law and refrain from pushing it further from having it come into effect. the socialist party said they would bring a law into parliament that would cancel the pension reform. that is opposed to this pension reform and they will continue the fight against it. >> just tell me where this all lives the macron government. >> well, it's a bittersweet

victory and even those to start with in favor of the pension reform now feel that he has not been very delicate in his way of going about this and pushing this reform through and not listening those oppose dollars to the law and his government said we will continue what we want to do and continue to talk about other topics and planning to tour around the country and get in touch with people around the ground and will travel abroad to be a statesman and people are unlikely to forget what happened over the past few months. there will be a scar left here in france and many people have lost their trust in macron. >> in the united states, a man suspected of leaking sensitive intelligence documents has appeared in court in massachusetts. the 21-year-old is accused of

sharing information with an online chat group and embarrassing details of u.s. espionage activities. >> arrested by a team of federal agents, the suspect, an employee of the united states air force national guard is accused of leaking a trench of classified documents. led away from his home in massachusetts, he'll now face the full weight of u.s. justice. >> today, the justice departent arrested jack douglas teixeira into alleged unauthorized removal, transportation and transmission of classified national defense information. teixeira is an employee of the air force fall guard. f.b.i. guards took teixeira into custody without incident.

>> the documents reveal top secret intelligence about allies and adversaries but most concerning for u.s. officials are the classified files about the war in ukraine. u.s. defense secretary lloyd austin said his department is launching a review of intelligence access, accountability and control procedures. but u.s. president biden who is on a visit to the republic of ireland was keen to play down his worries over the potential fallout. >> are you concerned about the leak? >> i'm not concerned about the leak. i'm concerned that it happened, but not kon temperature prain yows that i'm aware of. >> while the main suspect may be in success todd, dozens more documents and their explosive content may yet come to light.

>> senior adviser with global intelligence and consultants. are you surprised that a low-ranking gentleman got access to classified documents? >> not really. if you are in a national security position anywhere in the u.s. government including, i would say the military, a security clearance -- you can't talk to any of your counterparts and exchange information if one has a clearance and the other doesn't. many people have clearance dances. >> how many people have clarencees? >> i couldn't give a number. how many men in the u.s. military, 1 1/2, two million. not all of them do. and u.s. governments has many, i couldn't give you the number.

>> talking about a lot of americans. >> it's a large government, a large country and if you are in a national security position you need it to do your job otherwise you can't talk to anybody else. >> was this part of his job chatting in this group for months undetected? >> well, no, that was on his own time. that was something he shouldn't have been sharing this kind of information in that group. you know, military people use social media, but 99.9% of them know the rules and they know what they have signed and they are obeying their training and don't do something like this. >> what does that tell you that he got away with it for such a long time? >> we have had cases in the united states before with different motivations. this is the latest motivation.

he was using it as a teaching tool. that's the first case of a major leak or major violation using it as a teaching instrument. it is a very low percentage of the u.s. military or u.s. government. as we have seen periodically this happens. >> what about the fallout? what is the most damaging revelation in these leaks so far? >> well, there may be damage. obviously, ukraine exposing some weaknesses in ukraine. the material that u.s. allies, i think u.s. allies know the u.s. is always checking what u.s. scral eyes are telling us and u.s. has global responsibilities. i don't think that is a surprise. there may be some damage in showing the degree the u.s. can penetrate such as iran and

russia and make active attempts to protect their information and there are discussions and the u.s. can still find out what they're discussing and intending to do. >> considering the wealth of information and the timeline here, can we expect more leaks to surface over time? >> that's very hard to say. i think each day, i am blaming a little bit more -- some more information is coming out. some things came out today i suppose with iran that weren't there yesterday. each day there seems to be more. it's hard to say whether we are at the end or closer to the beginning, quite frankly. i just don't know. >> director of research. thank you. >> thank you. >> now a look at some of the other stories making developments in the war in ukraine. a russian missile strike on the eastern ukrainian city has

killed eight people. more people could still be buried under the residential building. putin has signed into law plans to have a electronic draft. draft dodgers will have their driver's licenses suspended and selling assets. 15 russian diplomats have tried to recruit sources and buy advanced technology on behalf of russian intelligence services. norway's largest expulsion. moscow says it will respond. russian oil exports searched more than 8 million barrels in march, despite western sanctions. the international energy agency says russian oil revenues

tumbled 43% from a year ago. germany's prime -- primary -- prime minister has called on china's leader to help end the war in ukraine. >> german foreign minister on her inaugural visit to china. after landing on thursday and put the tough topics on the table in beijing. the war in ukraine is high on berlin's agenda and called on china to end the invasion. >> it is good that china has signaled its commitment to a solution but i have to say that i wonder so far the chinese position hasn't included a call on russia, the agressor, to stop the war. >> beijing, which sees itself as

a mediator in the conflict said it would not said weapons. >> regarding the exports of military products, china adopted an attitude and will not provide weapons and in accordance with laws and regulations. >> another key issue up for discussion, tensions between china and taiwan. days after beijing did war games, the prime minister said escalation in the strait would be a horror scenario. china said it doesn't allow any foreign intervention on the matter. but there are issues the two sides agree on, strengthening economic and trade cooperation. earlier, she turned companies. talks with china's most senior

foreign policy official are scheduled before her departure. >> she isn't the only high profile. brazil's president is on a state visit to china as well. discussed the war in ukraine with president xi and agreed negotiation is needed to end the fighting. brazil and china have refused to join sanctions to russia. has tried to position brazil as a mediator between east and west. the visit to china and naval drills off of taiwan, china is the lynch pin. i asked political scientist what it all means. >> it has been a busy time as you mentioned, seeing visitors from europe. what does it mean for beijing?

it is clearly seen next to the united states as the most important power in the world. when it comes to the war in ukraine, see putin as a belligerent. china is very close to russia. they have a strategic partnership, self-declared but the chinese have hinted that they will mediate and haven't tilted so far with russia. and they will mediate. i'm skeptical that it will happen quickly. >> they want to see some sort of deal done and negotiations and the ukrainians are not up for that, are they? >> well, i don't know that the ukrainians are not up for it. you will recall when mr. xi went to moscow, he said he would call president zelenskyy of ukraine and he was invited to come to

keef -- kyiv. he has not contacted him on the telephone. dellens ki is zell hens ki is interest todd see. and conditions are not ripe in ukraine or resolution the of the war. >> what about the position that china and taiwan are in right now? >> well, you know, the prime minister made it clear by hinting, by saying explicitly how call a.m. to us a war in taiwan would be militarily. and things are very intense. china staged a very significant military exercise which included the simulated block aid of

taiwan and no indication that the chinese are willing to say we put the use of military force off the table. and i think the chinese were very clear they would decide how they would resolve taiwan. i don't think they want to go to war but haven't taken military force off the table. >> they don't want to denounce russia's war in ukraine either. >> the chinese position is not that understood. they believe in the integrity including ukraine. and when they and exed crima, the chinaes did not recognize then and have not recognized them now. there is room that beijing has left itself should it decide to place their role in the war.

the positions of russia and china are so far apart. mr. putin's conditions for ending war is that ukraine accept the loss of four provincees that russia occupies in part. >> now a look at some of the other news making headlines around the world. u.s. supreme court has temporarily that limited access to the abortion pill. it allows the court to consider to defend the drug from a challenge from anti-abortion groups. the texas judge ordered a nationwide ban effectively pulling it from the market. u.s. lawmakers in florida have voted down. exceptions for rape, incest. six weeks into a pregnancy, many

women haven't realized they are pregnant. governor desantis has signed the bill into the law. the strongest sustained winds the country has ever recorded and category five storm on friday morning before weakening. so phares caped major damage. the european space agency has launched the probe bound for jupiter, blasted off from french gianna on a they hope to see jupiter's meuns can sustain -- moons can sustain the ice-covered surfaces. they dealt with the incident between led to a one match

suspension. he was reported he hit him in the face. and fined. he now misses the match on saturday, but his coach says the player has his fullbacking. >> first advocate of his first defender. i have known him for so long, i know the circles he moves in. he is a top professional and i know the circles as he moves in, he has never ever done anything wrong. he is pure football and he has my complete trust and still has after the mistake that he made. >> more news from the world in sports. nfl washington commanders to be sold for 6 billion. record for a north american team. follows after a congressional

investigation that dan snyder created a toxic workplace environment. tampa bay raise beat boston red sox and one of three teams to have achieved the feat in the modern era. and ukraine has banned its national sports teams that include athletes from russia and belarus. if they tried to re-intergreat to russia's invasion. imagine not knowing about the war in ukraine, that's how it's been for a spanish extreme athlete who spent the last 500 days in a cave with no contact to the outside world. scientists are learning about the effects of extreme isolation. >> after a year and a half in

total is layings under ground, he was all smiles and wobbly legs. reunited with the surface world. sunlight, fresh air and human contact. in november of 2021, the veteran explorer moved into her new home 70 meters below ground as the subject of an experiment. scientists wanted to study feats of isolation and darkness. the body's internal clock which is calibrated by sunlight. >> usually it is only one exit. but they are hostile for humans because you don't see any daylight and don't see the time going by. there are no distances.

you don't have any sometimely lie shall same sound of trickling water. >> throughout the experiment, she was committed to total isolation and told her team not to contact her for any reason, even if there was a death in her family. they monitored her sleep patterns via a device worn on her wrist and support team dropped off supplies. time lost its meaning. >> it's not like the time is passing faster or slower. >> but despite the challenges, she has called the experience excellent and said she didn't want to ebb leave her cave. the madrid-based explorer will have medical examinations and

media requests. before all that, she said the top priorities were a hot shower and meal with friends. heavy metal fans are celebrating the new releases of the year. american brand metallica and "72 seasons" takes the musicians back on a trip to their formative years. ♪ ♪ >> time haunted by the past, this line from the title track of the new album "72 seasons." and sentiment of the new release. the american heavy metal band is in a reflective mood. ♪ >> the band looks back on a

turbulent 42-year history. and came to the death of a band member. in the early 200's there was a problem with the "72 seasons" is the first release. the album's title reflects to the first 18 years or 72 seasons. still rocking after more than 40 years. ♪ ♪ >> if that doesn't get you up

and dancing. dancees and dramas in northern india have set a world record for the largest performance at a single. it is an indiningenous folk dance and quick steps and rapid hand momplets. the earliest dance dates back to 9th century sculptures. and here's a reminder of the top story we are following. france's highest court has upheld controversial government plans to raise retiring from 62 to 64. trade unions have vowed to continue the fight against the changes. and suspect at the center of massive u.s. intelligence leak has appeared in court in

massachusetts. the 21-year-old air national guardsman is accused of sharing damaging secret material in an online chat group. after a short break, i will take you through the day. stay with us for that. captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org.

>> welcome to france 24 newsroom. it is 10:00 p.m. here in paris, and these are under top headlines. fresh criticisms break out after france's highest constitution of authority approves the key element of the government's highly unpopular pension plan. it is said to be signed into law by president macron in the coming days. the u.s. airmen accused of leaking secret intelligence papers is officially charged at a court hearing in boston. 21-year-old jack teixeira faces up to 20 years in prison. at least eight people are killed

by russian shelley in ukraine. officials say more than a dozen others were wounded. thanks for being with us here on france 24. the french government's highly unpopular pension reforms have crossed the final hurdle with the constitutional court approving all the key elements. still not accepting defeat, angry protests again and erupted on friday against the law, which will rise the retirement age from 60 to -- 62 to 64.

>> one step closer to emmanuel macron's controversial pension reforms being passed into law as on friday the constitutional council gave the bill the green light, much to the displeasure of the opposition. >> more than ever, we continue the fight, and we call on the president not to enact this law because if he does, the president will no longer be able to govern this country. >> the council rejected some measures of the pension bill, but the raising of the retirement age has always been the cornerstone of the reforms. the council also rejected a request by left-wing lawmakers to allow for a referendum to cap official retirement age at 62. the opposition has tabled another event for referendum. the government says the reforms will be implemented on september 1. according to the prime minister,

there were no winners on friday. >> the constitutional counsel has ruled that the reform was in line with our constitution. the bill has reached the end of its democratic process. tonight, there are no winners and there are no losers. >> the decision follows months of nationwide protests against a vastly unpopular bill with millions of demonstrators taking to the streets of france. opinion polls show a vast majority reject the policy changes as well as the fact the government pushed the bill through parliament without a final vote. authorities have banned demonstrations in front of the country to snow -- in front of the constitutional counsel meeting. as soon as the ruling was announced, flares were lit, as well as fires. with another night of unrest ahead, in front of the capital. >> we joined now by an associate professor in french and

francophone studies at the university onottingham. thank you for being with us. workers unions and many others across france are deeply unhappy with the law they see as being railroaded through, despite its deep unpopularity. though they vowed to fight on, this is the end, or is there something they can do to try to continue to stop it? >> t next plannedayf tion is may 1, which of cours is very appropate becae that is workers day, labor day in france, and that will be ahead of the ruling of the constitutional counsel. the second petition brought by the left-wing opposition which is better worded, fits better with article 11, which is the article of the constitution that concerns referenda. labor leaders, union leaders, and leaders of the left-wing opposition have been very clear that they continue to -- that they plan to continue to try to fight the reform.

all eyes will be on the decision to be delivered on may 3. >> what about the wider political fallout? to let macron is already in his second at tunnel term. will there be further consequenc, especially for his party? i think we are already seeing the consequences. macron is going to find it difficult to get the rest of his program through parliament. he's got very few allies. i was reading the other day where nicolas sarkozy made a comment to macron, you got as many enemies as i had but very few friends. in order to get other aspects of his program through, he's going to find it very difficult. >> is there any particular vement that is gng to capitalize from this pension

fallout? irrespective of theact that it is really the left that has been trying to regain control of the resistance, the movement against macron's reform, the one person or the one party that has been really benefiting has been marine le pen. it seems that ironically, although it is the left that has really been reinvigorated by this process, on a wider level, it seems to be the far right that has gained. certainly not macron, the center, or even the traditional right-wing party. that all seems to be collapsing. >> all that is left remaining as the stroke of a pen by the french president. when the dust settles, do we see this law staying or will there be a big pusho reverse it amongst other politicians? >> it is interesting what lippin

-- le pen herself has said this evening. she seems to think of the lagos through and is an active, the way to respond would be to vote for her in 2027. obviously, the law will be formally published, and we will see what happens in the second referendum petition, but otherwise, the law is going through, although it is a profoundly unpopular law. >> thank you very much for that analysis. a 21-year-old in -- a 21-year-old u.s. national guardsmen has been officially charged for a significant leak. he first leaked the documents online in a videogame group. they soon spread.

>> suspected of orchestrating the most damaging leak of classified documents in a decade, jack teixeira was charged friday with unauthorized transmission of classified information under the espionage act. he also stands accused of the unauthorized removal of classified material and of convicted faces up to 15 years in prison. he did not enter a plea and will remain jailed until a detention hearing next week. >>his is not just about taking home documents. that is, of course, itself illegal, but this is about the transmission. both the unlawful retention and the transmission of the documents. >> jack teixeira joined the international guard in 2019 as

an i.t. specialist, a role that gave him a high level of security clearance. it is alleged he disclosed crucial information on the current military situation of troops in ukraine and other highly sensitive issues. the documents were posted in an invitation-only chat room on the messaging platform discord, which later cooperated with the fbi to help track down the suspect. >> russian shells hit eastern ukraine. slovenian's is one of the cities coveted by russian authorities. what is the latest on this attack? >> this attack against

residential buildings, several buildings were hit by surface-to-air missiles which struck a residential area. at the moment, as we are speaking, eight people died, over 20 people have been injured, and the searches are continuing for people. >> we appear to have lost that feed. we will try to get her back later on with updates on that attack in ukraine. china's foreign minister has said beijing will not sell weapons to either side in the war. they made the pledge to a news conference alongside his visiting german counterpart earlier. the statement also comes during a time of increased tensions around taiwan with hints that

europe would not stand by in the case of an invasion. >> while we understand the sensitivity of the taiwan issue, and stand firmly by our one china policy, conflicts must be resolved peacefully. a unilateral change of the status quo would not be acceptable to us as europeans. >> we heard a little earlier from ukraine before the line was cut. i believe we can go back to her for the latest on the attack. >> yes, i was mentioning eight dead. amongst them, a two-year-old baby. rescuers have managed to pull

the body from the rubble. a 14-year-old girl who was injured is receiving care right now. you have to imagine that those missiles struck residential buildings. the people still living right now in eastern ukraine are the ones who did not manage to evacuate. they are also the ones who are too sick, too old to do so or who have relatives that they refuse to leave behind, and they bear the brunt of this war. to date over the first year and a few months of the war, over 8000 civilians have died. a lot of them died under surge attacks and we are three months to the date of shelling which also hit a residential building and which killed 40 people. we fear the death toll could increase overnight as the surge continues. president volodymyr zelenskyy strongly condemned the attack. he said of russia that the

people state once again demonstrates its essence, just killing people in broad daylight , destroying all life. >> thank you for the update. eight people killed so far in that building and it could go higher as they search for survivors. after a delay caused by lightning storms, europe's ambition -- ambitious mission to jupiter has blasted off. the explorer will be taking a close look at the moons to look for evidence of microbial life. >> at the second attempt to lift off for york's msion to jupiter, the explorer set off for the european spaceport on

friday, the start of an eight-year odyssey that will explore. on friday, there were no hitches, and much jubilation at mission control in germany. >> it is an absolutely perfect launch tonight and today, and it is now the start of its journey. >> the 1.6 billion euro probe could reveal if jupiter's major moons are capable of supporting simple life. in mission that is long and arduous and expected to last into the next decade.

>> it is time now for the latest business news. i'm joined in studio by brian quinn. we heard earlier the german foreign minister is in china. also in china right now is brazilian president lula da silva. >> he is indeed. what he is doing is seeking to strengthen ties, particularly trade ties, between those nations. xi and lula focusing on trade ties as they signed a range of deals focusing on agriculture and aeronautics. china is brazil's most important trade partner, accounting for tens of billions of dollars in revenue. on thursday, lula had been in shanghai to watch the former brazilian president take the helm of the china-backed new development bank, a china -- a coalition of the bricks nations

consisting of brazil, russia, india, china, korea, and south africa. >> i would like to emphasize president lula's efforts in these meetings with companies and the government to intensify feasibility studies on re-industrializing brazil in partnership with chinese capital, which is available and which see south america as an opportunity to create a platform for its products for local markets and for exports. >> fredda brought highly anticipated earnings reports from several top u.s. banks. they are seen as a result of how the u.s. banking sector overall is faring after several failures of banks last month.

profits at america's largest lender up some 52% of the quarter. higher interest rates help bring in more cash at citigroup and wells fargo, and each also beat analyst expectations with revenues in the 21 billion dollar range. profits at wells fargo up some 35%. those results boosted bancshares on wall street. j.p. morgan chase was up around 7.5%. major indexes, though, lost ground amid investor fears of an impending slowdown. the latest data showing retail sales were down 1% in march. the dow, s&p, and the nasdaq all closing slightly in the red. meanwhile, european indexes took in the latest u.s. inflation data with some optimism. america's producer price index declined by .5% in march, leading to hopes the u.s. federal reserve might start

winding down recent interest rate hikes. next, the imf is sounding the alarm on inflation and public debt in africa. in a report issued friday, several simultaneous problems were cited. public debt across africa now seems at its highest level since the early 2000's. meanwhile, borrowing costs for the region are roughly three times higher than for developed nations. as the international community struggles to agree on new financial support, the imf steering committee failed friday to reach agreement on a communique blocked by russia over language condemning the ukraine invasion. >> i very much hope that we would take proactively steps to prevent the need from restructuring by re-profiling

debt early, by providing financial support to countries so they can step up economic activities and in this case, we would avoid a more massive debt restructuring process. >> british officials have approved ford's self-driving technology for use on a number of roadways. the tech can control speed, steering, and reagan, and while drivers can take their hands off the wheel, they have to keep their eyes on the road with the camera monitoring their eye movements to make sure. tesla began adding i-monitoring to its cars, but that has not prevented drivers from falling asleep entirely. >> i cannot wait for the day i

can just have my car driving to the south of france. >> they should go all the way. i think these half measures are just -- are just inviting disasters. just wait until it can drive itself. >> next up, we have truth or fake, our daily dose of fact checking. today, you will be debunking two fake videos, which claimed that despite having an international arrest warrant out for him, vladimir putin was in south africa just last month. >> yes, as we know, last month, the international criminal court issued the russian president vladimir putin with an international arrest warrant, accusing him of war crimes in ukraine, including claims of illegally deporting ukrainian children. since then, posts featuring two videos have reemerged on social media, claiming to show president putin traveling to south africa, essentially defying his international arrest

warrant, so let's take a look. this is one of the claims that we found here. this was pretty well seen on the internet. we can see nearly 800,000 views on facebook. the caption is very interesting. it says president putin landed in south africa yesterday, and it goes on to accuse u.s. vice president harris of being in zambia. this is very interesting. as the video itself is actually a re-upload from tiktok, we can see that the caption says that the icc failed to arrest vladimir putin, and in the video itself, we can see putin and his delegation disembarking from an airplane into south africa. the ticker as well, the logo, does attribute it to south african broadcasting corp. news, and that may have persuaded some viewers that this is a legitimate video. the second video that was claiming putin was in south

africa is also a tiktok video. it was this time, and this time it was made by a specific tiktok creator. this creator went on to superimpose his face in front of the camera here, and for the three minutes that they spoke, we seem to be having some technical issues for the screen, but essentially he really goads the international criminal court's for not doing enough, saying that putin is definitely in south africa, and it seems shocking that they are not doing enough to go and arrest him straightaway. pushing this narrative that south africa is powerless against putin, as is the icc. >> how could you confirm that these accusations are indeed fake? >> it does seem that we are having some technical issues, i'm afraid, but i will confirm that both of those videos are extremely out of context.

they are from -- the first one, for example, is from the south african broadcasting corporation, but visits from 2018 in south africa, and it was clearly visible on the strap. apologies, i'm unable to show you there, but it is from 2018 as it was from the 10th brick summit. for the second video, a little bit of digging. we can say the words welcome to africa in the background, and a reverse image search took me straight to the youtube channel of the south african government. the person that putin was shaking hands with in the video was actually president jacob zuma, and that dates the video by itself. jacob zuma has not been the leader of south africa for quite some time now, which of course dates the video back some several years. >> while the video is fake, there is indeed a summit of the bricks nations, those being

brazil, india, china, korea, and south africa. that takes place later this year which raises some questions. >> yes, it does raise some questions. south africa is hosted the summit in late august this year, and all eyes will be on president putin to see is he going to attend? normally he does attend the summit, but with an international arrest warrant out in his name, will he be going? and if he does, what consequences could come up on him? how is the situation exactly going to be handled? this is particularly interesting as south africa has decided to remain neutral. it says it refuses to condemn russia outright of the war in ukraine, and it has been criticized as well for failing to comply with the icc. they have had some trouble as south africa did not comply with the icc arrest warrant from the

former president when he traveled to johannesburg for a summit. we will have to keep an eye on that, see where that goes, i'm afraid. >> thank you for that, even despite your technical issues. we will be back in about five minutes' time. do stay here on france 24. ♪ >> from north to south africa, from bamako to nairobi, bringing you all the political, economic, and social news from africa. for a better insight into an ever-changing continent. >> across africa, presented by georja calvin-smith, at france 24 and france24.com. >> they are known for their cuisine and saying hello with a kiss. they only work 35 hours a week.

when they are not on strike, that is. how true are these cliches about france? every week, we tear apart stereotypes about france. join us for insight into french culture, to understand what makes the french so unique. >> "french connections" on france 24 and france24.com. beyond the news, a daily opportunity to go beyond the headnes and explore the news in-depth. a return to places which were in the news a long time ago. our in-depth reports on international news. "the 51%," a program about women reshaping our world. "the observers" -- meet our observers who alert us to hidden realities. "focus" -- exclusive reports by our correspondence and journalists.

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04/14/ 04/123 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> what we areitnessing is the opening salvo in a campaign by antiabortion activists to use the conservative capture of ban the courts to ba abortion nationwide. amy: the u.s. justice department has asked the supreme court to block in appeals court ruling limiting access to