tv France 24 LINKTV May 22, 2023 3:30pm-4:01pm PDT
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anchor: welcome to live from paris. these are the main headlines. a cease-fire has been declared in sudan ahead -- and head of this, a message broadcast from the rss leader saying he will retreat until the end of the army's coup. we speak with our correspondent to see if this has a chance of holding. russia blames ukraine for an attack but ukraine says it is russian melissa -- militia behind the incursion.
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russia is evacuating civilians from the area. turkeys incumbent president gets the backing of another candidate but he is third in the first round vote. that sets enough -- sets him up well for the third round voting. this is live from paris. ♪ thank you very much for being with us. sudan has declared a cease-fire just 15 minutes ago. other cease-fires have been ignored so we wait to see how this will last. it has been signed by both sides and mediated by the united states. fighting erected --erupted in sudan between the current government and military forces.
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around 1000 people have been killed in more than five weeks of violence set of plunged the already poverty-stricken country into deeper humanitarian crisis. or than a million people uprooted, including in excess of 250,000 who fled sudan across borders, creating regional fallout. our correspondent monitoring the situation joins us live. what is the latest you can tell us on the situation? i hope you can hear me. the question to you is this, what is the latest you can tell us the situation? ok, clearly we have lost the link to our correspondent and we
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will get back to him as soon as we can to bring you the latest on that situation in sudan, the latest cease-fire declared some 15 minutes ago, signed by both and negotiated by the u.s. will it last is the question. we will get you the latest on another major world story, what is happening in ukraine. there are conflicting claims of what is been -- has been taken place on the russian side of the border. these people are purporting to be a russian militia seeking to release pressure from vladimir putin. let's get back to this attack. this is one of the video statements that has been online,
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claiming to liberate russia from putin's grip. >> the authorities in kyiv deny the fall of bakhmut. we have to keep in mind they are two different fronts in bakhmut. there is the city center and that is as good as gone in terms of infrastructure, there is nothing left. and in terms of who has seized it, mostly in the hands of the mercenaries from warner. -- wagner. you can verify that when you are here. soldiers talking about what is happening on the ground. when the ukrainian government says bakhmut hasn't fallen into the hands of russia, they are not entirely wrong. the outskirts of the city and
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all around the city, there have been advances made by the ukrainian army and consequential advances by the army, some even said there was a chance, room for the army to encircle the mercenaries from wagner. even after 10 months of intense battle and all of these deaths, joe biden said over the weekend during the g7 it is believed over 100,000 russian soldiers were dead or injured in bakhmut, even after all of that, the armies are still fighting and the argument of kyiv in continuing the battle for bakhmut even if it has been leveled was specifically to inflict maximum damage to the russian aggressor. anchor: our correspondent from
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kyiv. let's get broader analysis and bring in a former u.k. intelligence officer. pleasure to have you on the program. i'm interested to start on your take on the border. >> if i had to guess, i would say this liberty of russia union, which claims to have entered a couple of villages near the border, may not be unconnected with ukrainian forces in some way. i've never heard of them before. but it represents a major embarrassment for russia, rather like the strike on the airbase late last year, which is the heaviest defended russian airbase, attacked by the ukrainian drone.
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this is sovereign territory compromised by what seems to be some form of rebel group or gang. if russia can't defend its villages on the border, russians may be asking what can they defend. anchor: is this further example of the disintegration of the unity within russia in terms of how the war is approached? because we've had in previous weeks statement from the wagner leader saying he was blaming the ministry of defense for a lack of material coming to his mercenaries, and obviously reopen in his criticism. frank: i would not necessarily link those things. clearly russia is not having a favorable time of it and wagner is being rendered ineffective by the casualties in bakhmut. this is a relatively small action on the border and it will be dealt with in due course. a rather brave one i think.
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but i don't think we can link it to closely with the fight in bakhmut. anchor: let's talk about bakhmut . we hear that wagner has taken the city. what is your sense is happening? has ukraine had the last word on bakhmut? frank: no, there is still fighting. ukraine is making ground on the flanks. what that could mean is russians get caught in the bucket rather than the ukrainians. it has been a give and take. in fairness it is a battle fought on ukrainian terms. the ukrainian general decided to make a stand and put pressure on the russians and they have done. i don't think it is been forced
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out, it is electing not to fight anymore on these grounds. they have imposed the casualties they need to and bakhmut yet hold. i suspect it won't for much longer but i don't think they can counted as ukrainian defeat. anchor: another switch of angle, lots to cover. jenny broke taking lots of -- dnipro taking lots of hits overnight. i imagine kyiv will make the counteroffensive count because it is important to the right kind of impact. frank: the ukrainians i think are keen to stress the next few days is this counteroffensive is unlikely to be decisive or one great blow where after which we can all go home by christmas. what it is likely to be is a series of operations.
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we might not even know it is starting. it may have started already. we shouldn't expect one great sweeping operation as we saw in kharkiv. this will be more gradual and grinding, i suspect. i hope not that i suspect that is how it will be. anchor: frank, thank you for your analysis. we are watching for developments from that situation in ukraine on the ground and diplomatically. we will bring you develop and says we get them. let's return to sudan, the truth declared about 25 minutes ago. negotiated and signed by both sides and negotiated by the united states. other truces have not held. what chance this one? let's bring in our correspondent following the situation, joining us live from nairobi.
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what can you tell us about the situation? reporter: i can tell you my contacts did not report any gunshots since the beginning of this cease fire at 9:45 local time but it is still early to say a cease-fire is implemented. among the civilians, many do not believe it will hold. they say the fighting has been so violent in the previous days and hours that they do not believe the army and rebel forces can stop fighting. they say they heard many bombardments this afternoon and they could see fighter jets in the sky. that forces memories are still coming into neighborhoods and rating houses and raping women. -- raping women.
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even if they both assigned a commitment, it seems both the army and rapid support forces are not trying to protect civilians at all for the moment. let's also mention the situation in another city where it is worse. the last three days, they have been fighting in the cities. very intense fighting. in another city, a few killer maters -- kilometers from the border, hundreds of people, civilians killed the past few days according to local authorities. they are surrounding the city and it is impossible for civilians to escape and millions of people are in these affected areas. anchor: it sounds like in spite
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of the fact that the truce has been signed and agreed to some 25 minutes ago, things are going from bad to worse. what is your sense about where the situation goes from here? reporter: to move forward, the cease-fire needs to hold. that's the first step. it will be difficult. many local sources do not believe it can hold. but they hope. it's the first time the rapid support forces and military met in person to sign a cease-fire and it's the first time since the beginning of the war on april 15 that they have invited other countries to monitor the cease-fire, the u.s. and saudi arabia. if it holds, they will negotiate
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for an extension of the cease fire to bring more humanitarian assistance into sudan. but they will not speak about peace at the moment. the army and rapid support forces have said several times it is too early to speak about peace. the head of the army and rapid support forces know that it is a question of life or death. they both say they can win the war and that if you win the war you have a chance to remain in power. it's impossible to imagine the army or rapid support forces will be willing to sign any peace agreement the next days or weeks. but first let's wait and see if this first cease fire will be implemented after six previous attempts. anchor: thank you for bringing us that analysis of the situation. our correspondent in africa. working his contacts to find out the situation on the ground in sudan.
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word over the wire service talking about clashes in the capital minutes after the start of the cease fire. also another city reporting problems. we are watching for developments on the situation. the third-place contender in the turkish presidential election has formally endorsed erdogan in the runoff election. he emerges as a kingmaker as erdogan secured a first-round victory. reporter: the endorsement won't make a big difference by itself
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because his supporters were expected to vote for erdogan anyway. however, when they do vote for erdogan on sunday, their votes are expected to push them over 50%. may 14, first round, erdogan got 49.5% of the vote. that is just half a percent short of 50%. the third place opponent is much closer to erdogan. so on sunday, his voters will give erdogan what he needs to win. anchor: that's for much of the headlines. the cease fire declared in sudan , a message broadcast from the rss leader saying he will not retreat until he ends the armies coup. there are gunshots still heard
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in cities. russia blamed ukraine for the attack on a border city. a russian militia says it is behind the incursion. russia is evacuating citizens from the border with ukraine. and as you heard, turkiye's incumbent president getting a boost after finishing -- after the first round vote. time for business. facebook owner metta slept with a record fine in europe for mishandling personal data. >> ireland's data protection commissioner handed a fine of 1.2 billion euros to meta for violating the data privacy laws. it sets laws for companies that take personal data outside the eu. in addition to the fine, they ordered meta to stop
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transmitting data to the u.s. within five months. we have a report. reporter: a record fine for meta as the tech giant was hit with a 1.2 billion euro penalty monday for violating the eu privacy laws. it is the biggest such fine since the introduction of these laws in 2018. nearly double amazon's penalty two years ago for data protection violations. meta accused of mishandling data protection -- data between the eu and u.s. the irish watchdog has given the company five months to stop sending european user data to the u.s.. the media from responded with a statement on monday. "this decision is flawed,
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unjustified and sets a dangerous precedent for the countless other companies transferring data between the eu and u.s." there is currently no deal on eu and u.s. data transfers. >> we expect this framework to be fully functional by the summer, it will guarantee stability and legal certainty both to support businesses and also guarantee strict protection of the private lives of citizens. reporter: meta will have six months to erase the data of all european users transferred, which some experts say could cause a bigger attic than the fine. -- headache than the fine. yuka: with just 10 days left until the u.s. could run out of money to pay its bills,
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president biden and house speaker kevin mccarthy about to resume talks. republican lawmakers are recommending deep spending cuts on social spending programs and climate initiatives in exchange for temporarily increasing the debt ceiling from the current amount. president biden has agreed to some spending cuts but also says republicans must make a compromise. earlier monday, mccarthy said negotiations were on the right path. let's take a listen. >> what we have to do here is get the spending addiction to stop, it has customers painted the american people. inflation, the pendency on china. we could pull money back that has just sat there, grow the economy by making us energy independent. there are some things we could do. yuka: another look at the markets. wall street finished the day on a mixed note with the downtown
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for 10th of a percent. the s&p flat and the nasdaq rising half a percent with tesla closing up almost 5%. shares in chevron dropped after the covey said it would buy pdc energy, a producer of shale gas, for $7.6 billion. they say this would increase reserves by 10% as it aims to boost production in the u.s. after the war in ukraine rattled the global energy sector. that's it for business. anchor: thank you. time for truth or fake. catalina is by the big board. claims the ukrainian president purchased luxury villas using western aid money, military aid money -- truth or fake? catalina: that's right, president zelenskyy recently ended a european tour aimed to replenish ukraine's arms
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deliveries as they prepare for a counteroffensive against russia. on the sidelines of this visit, accounts on social media have been sharing this video showing three luxury properties allegedly owned by president zelenskyy and purchased with western aid money following the war in ukraine. one example of these claims originally in french, this user says what does zelenskyy spend our money on? zelenskyy owns luxury real estate did we will look at the residences in question. the properties one by one. we have the images right here. the first residents allegedly in crimea, that reportedly cost zelenskyy $25 million. second there is this villa in italy at a cost of about 20 million euros and the third
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claim is this villa in england that the ukrainian president allegedly bought at a cost of 27 million pounds. all allegedly financed by the money zelenskyy received from his western allies according to the claims. anchor: so, do these villas, mansions, big houses, belong to volodymyr zelenskyy? catalina: let's begin with the first property, the alleged castle in crimea allegedly worth $25 million. we found this article in reuters from may 2019 where we learned that president zelenskyy's wife bought a penthouse in this apartment complex in crimea in 2013, before the annexation of
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crimea by russia in 2014. this property is no secret, it appears in zelinski's tax return from 2021. it also specifies the property is a 130 square meter apartment. according to ukrainian media it actually cost about 100 -- $160,000. an apartment that may soon no longer belong to the presidential couple after the leader of crimea declared the apartment was going to be given to people in need in effort to nationalize objects that bring "income to the enemy." anchor: what about the villa in italy my price tag 20 million euros -- truth or face? catalina: we found information on this property in italy that allegedly cost zelenskyy 20
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million euros according to the claims. in particular we found this article from march 2019 published by ukrainian investigative media where they revealed this 15 room villa does indeed belong to the ukrainian president. that according to the president's tax returns from 2019. sil and purchased this villa in 2015, 413 square meters. long before the current russian invasion of ukraine. contrary to the claims, it was not worth 20 million, it was an exaggerated price. it cost about 3.8 million euros according to ukrainian investigative media. anchor: so zelinski bought that a lot earlier than alleged and
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not worth what was quoted. and you have to remember he was a successful showbiz entertainer before he became president. let's go on to the final one, the mansion in england. catalina: yes, this mansion in england that according to the claims cost resident zelinski 27 million pounds. we found images of this mansion in russian media that claims british media published zelinski gave his wife this mansion in hartfield north of london at a value of 14 million euros. we found no other publication that could back up these claims in this russian news article. what we found was the active listing of this mansion called more manner.
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real estate companies listing a price of about $12 million. regarding the second claim that president zelenskyy embezzled $400 million in aid, this allegation can be found in several russian media, here is one claiming that president zelenskyy embezzled $400 million from washington to buy these mansions. claims that although are not entirely false are lacking proof and verification and propelled by russian propaganda aimed at discrediting president zelenskyy's relationship with his western allies. anchor: with every big lie there is a grain of truth that keeps people guessing. in the last, they even misspelled hartfield.
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thank you, catalina. and think you for the business. and thank you for watching wherever you are. more to come live from paris. ♪ >> the world is ever-changing. the news doesn't wait. >> france 24 gives a global perspective that an intelligent viewer wants to have before they understand the issues of the day. >> that's why we will always be there to make sense of world events. >> [speaking french] >> [speaking french] >> for the best international coverage 24 hours a day no matter what, france 24 is with you everywhere. all the time. >> liberté, égalité, actualité.
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