We report on how refugees who fled to neighboring pakistan are trying to rebuild their lives. Thank you very much for being with us. Donald trump is accused of trying to corrupt the results of the u. S. President ial election. The state of georgia has brought the formal accusation against trump, who refused to accept his defeat in 2020. There are now 13 charges against him including election meddling and racketeering. 18 others have also been charged, including trumps lawyer, rudolph giuliani. Trumps facing a serious charge sheet, is not he . Tell us more about what he is accused of this time. Yes, this is also about trying to overturn the 2020 president ial election. Trump is charged with fraud, with perjury, and intimidating election workers. Being part of an entire criminal conspiracy. It is actually described as a criminal organization involving him and his allies. Really quite extraordinary, 18 charged under this case under racketeering. This a statute involving organized there is a statute involving organized crime and mob bosses and so on. Normally that would lead to some kind of conviction to some kind of prison sentence, which would also be completely unprecedented for a former president of the united states. There were three other add this to the three other legal indictments, you have a total 19 counts, any of which could result in a prison sentence. Will this affect his standing for that election . First of all, what is surprising is of course that none of his none of this seems to damage him politically within the republican political party. Trump just said the other day every time i get indicted, i go up in the polls. If i get one more indictment, i will win the election. From what we know the past few years, you would not necessarily bet against that, but in terms of logistics, we could be facing a very straight scenario of a candidate shuffling between a court room one day, a Campaign Rally the next. Its going to be a big drain on his time and resources. We have seen reports about how much money this is consuming in terms of legal fees. It is hard to fight a campaign that way. There could be multiple trials, but of course, trump is a master of playing for time, so i think he will try to read try to secure the republican nomination at least before he steps into a courtroom. We could see this very unusual, this never before seen scenario of the candidate up for president ial election in november and then in a courtroom fighting to stay out of prison. Thank you very much for joining us from washington. Next, russia has carried out a series of fatal airstrikes on ukraine. Three people were killed. It is the latest Deadly Strike on the west of the country, which has seen an uptick in air attacks. A barrage of at least three dozen muscles missiles also tore through live through lviv. It is mostly the west of the country that has been hit in this new attack last night. It was a general air raid alert and an attack that affected different regions in the country. You mentioned there has been considerable damage to buildings. You have mentioned those windows broken. Even more seriously people have been injured. Debris from a missile fell through a kindergarten. Three people died in a city located really close to the border with the european union. The city of dnieper has also been impacted. An industrial site. A Business Center has been hit there, and a bit later today in the afternoon, it was the city of caps on that was shelled the city of kherson that was shelled. That has become a daily occurrence in ukraine where there is not only fighting on the ground in the east and the southern part of the country, there is also civilians who bear the brunt of that war with daily missile or drone strikes by russian forces. What is the reaction from president zelenskyy . President zelenskyy was not in kyiv today. He is visiting the frontline. He is very close to where intense fighting is ongoing. After having been to donetsk yesterday, he visited troops in the zaporizhzhia region. It is one of the hotspots of the counteroffensive, where Ukrainian Forces could apply maximum pressure on russian troops, so it is quite significant the president of the country would take such risks to go so close to the front line, but even the difficulties also encountered by this counteroffensive because we know that russian lines of defense have been building up for years. It is also important for the president to be close to the women and men fighting on the front line. He went there also to listen to what had to be improved. He mentioned equipment, more ammunition, the importance of bringing drugs to ukrainian soldiers because they could be a game changer in that counteroffensive. This was the visit of president zelenskyy continuing today on the frontline. The taliban says the ban on girls being educated will not change replying to questions from journalists on the second anniversary of the seizure of power in kabul and the allied pullout in afghanistan. This has become a hidden process. Teachers face severe punishment if caught by the extremists while many afghans have fled to neighboring pakistan. Our islamabad correspondent sent this. [chanting in another language ] far from couple, they continue to protest far from couple far from kabul. Wherever we are in the world, we should raise our voice against this cruel group. The afghan sisters are living under tyranny thats punishing the people and especially the women. Living in afghanistan is like living in an open jail. They remove women from the society. They do not accept our values. Do not recognize taliban taliban are terrorists they are calling on the International Community not to recognize the taliban, and they are asking for the International Community to keep the silence, especially for africans living in pakistan or living under very tough conditions. Unfortunately, the muslim families are here right now. We want their rights as humans. Since the taliban took power, an estimated 600,000 afghans have fled. Almost none of them have received refugee status. U. S. President joe biden says he and his wife will visit hawaii has soonest possible. He said he did not want to get in the way of relief efforts. The death toll now stands at 99 people in the wake of these devastating fires. The search continues in the area destroyed on maui. The town of lahaina has been wiped out. Crews are using search talks and have scoured about 25 of the area affected. The governor is asking for patients and space to do the search properly as authorities are overwhelmed with requests to visit the burned area this is people who live there, whose homes are there testing to see if anything of their former life remains. U. S. Marines land on maui, joining the national guard, coast guard, and u. S. Army corps of engineers as Recovery Efforts continue. In the historic seaside town of lahaina, nearly every building is destroyed. Entire neighborhoods now nothing but rubble and ash. As volunteers work to provide basic necessities, survivors are struggling to process the aftermath of the u. S. s deadliest wildfire in more than a century. I was devastated. I consider myself a strong leader, but it broke me. This is what keeps me going, helping people. A lot of us are at that stage. Officials on the island say as of monday, only a quarter of the disaster zone had been fully searched the bodies. The death toll is expected to rise. Hundreds are believed still missing. Many residents have expressed frustration at an apparent lack of official disaster preparedness. Warning sirens failed to sound as the fire bore down on the town with road closures trapping drivers as they tried to flee and fire hydrants running out of water. Nothing would make us more pleased if we couldnt go back in time and have a lot more protection from sirens. We will do all we can to get more water. Investigations are currently underway into the cause and response to the fire. High wind and drought worsened by Climate Change along with the rapid spread of flammable invasive grasses have made wildfires a growing concern on maui in recent years. 500 hectares of land in the south of france have been destroyed by fire. 2000 campers had to be moved to safety as fire crews on the ground and airborne thought to control the blaze. The french environment minister said Climate Change and exacerbated conditions of drought fed the fire. It has been confirmed no residents nor tourists were injured. It is the middle of the night and tourists carrying suitcases are making their way back to the campsite having fled hours earlier. They told us we could go back. We are the first campsite to be able to come back. But not everyone was so lucky. One of the four campsites partially burned will have to stay close for now. About 2000 people, tourists and residents, had to sleep in shelters open for the night. I just wanted to get out of here, with all that smoke, the blazes, it was stressful. The fires started here just after 5 00 and quickly spread over hundreds of acres. A violent fire fueled by drought and wind reaching 80 kilometers per hour, complicating the firemens work. Some residents tried to extend which the fires on their own. Im protecting my house as much as i can. We have been watering the bushes for a while because everything that flies burns. More than 600 50 firemen were mobilized. Some came from neighboring countries. They were supported through the night by three firefighting aircraft and three helicopters. 20 firemen were injured, but for now, the fires have been contained. Damage extensive, but the blaze now under control. For more news, do stay with us. You are watching france 24. Hello and welcome to the show. Today on encore, the first black woman to win the prestigious booker prize. Her work has been translated into 41 languages and is now an International Best value. It was her eighth book. The first a collection of poems published in 1994 called island of abraham. The britishnigerian writer and activists other works are coming up in other languages. Her 2008 book is out in french. Hello. Welcome to the show. It is your first time in paris for 20 years. It is. When i arrived, i thought i had not gone to paris for a while and i looked it up and it was 20 years. A lot has changed since then. And it is a gorgeous city. You are here to talk about a book you wrote before the booker, before the black lives Matter Movement movement. Lawn roots is the fantastically imaginative blonde roots is the fantastically imaginative reversal of the transatlantic slave trade. I think it is a very challenging book because i reverse the history as we know it. Instead of africans being enslaved, europeans are enslaved. It is very provocative. It is very satirical. There is a lot of humor in it. When it was published, it went down really well politically, so it will be interesting to see what happens with it in france. I have no idea. Your project has been to explore the the African Diaspora from different angles. Your aim was to create 1000 black female characters. His doubt is that really how lacking you felt literature was in black female representation . I was desperate at that stage. I thought, when have i put that many black women in a single novel, it will start to make up for the imbalance where we are not really visible in british literature. Even today, it is getting better, but we are still not that visible. And of course, 1000 black women in a single novel is a ridiculous idea. It would be 100,000 pages. Then i settled on a 100 which i thought was much more manageable, and eventually it was 12. You when the booker at the age of 60. You said that black women in their 50s and 60s are artists, novelists, actors, poets, are finally gaining the recognition they deserve from tv series we are all loving and addicted to. Some people balk at these milestones, but you think it is important to celebrate them. Why . Absolutely. I think we are living in a very a just where if you dont achieve things when you are very young, people think you are past it and you will never get there. What i think about winning the booker at 60, having started in the early 1980s, i think about the actress playing lady done for your lady danbury in bridgerton, whom i know from the 1980s, it is incredible to think that society has shifted so much after literally decades upon decades upon decades, we are suddenly reaching a point where we are becoming incredibly wellknown, and only because we never gave up. How has that changed your life, the booker prize . On the one hand, my life is the same. Same husband, same friends, same home, same job, but on the other hand, my career has just gone through the roof. It has been the most incredible experience, and im continuing to celebrate it because, as you said, 41 languages. And you have a readership of over one Million People and to be afforded the kind of status that i did not have before but wanted. It is so good to be taken seriously as a writer. You said there has never been a better time in britain for authors of color, for women of color, and to get published. From my point of view come the past years same very chaotic with brexit, multiple changing prime minister. What has the impact been on art and culture . It is a bit of a mess, as you say, is not it . Basically, the arts is always struggling financially, especially the subsidized arts, so you have the commercial arts, which does not really rely on public subsidy, and then you have subsidized arts, and certain governments are not always favorable to the subsidized arts. Theater has really struggled through covid. Performance arts have struggled through brexit and eu laws. It is not so easy for people to come in to work in britain. It is not so easy for artists to work in europe and so on, but in light of all that, certainly in terms of the ethnicity of writers in particular and also people in theater and film, i think we are having a bit of a resurgence, which i really welcome. It has been 10 years since the black lives Matter Movement started. Your work is part of that movement. I have always felt a sense of responsibility, but at the same time i always claimed my individuality, so i have always been part of the wider communities to which i belong. Definitely the black community. As an activist, i have initiated projects to develop. It is not a new thing for me. It is just now i have a bigger platform and my voice is amplified, but at the same time, i also claim my individuality so i write the things i want to. Last year, you published your memoir. It is out in french as well this month. You talk about your origin story and how you came to be where you are today, growing up with a black father, white mother, and both parents political activists. Tell us how much influence that had on you. I think it was my sort of foundation, really, as somebody went into theater originally and also writing, that i came from a family where if you believed society was not fair, that it was unjust, that it was unequal, that you did something about it. My parents went to demonstrations. My mother was a teacher but also a trade union rep. My father was a shop steward who was a label counselor. It was very much part of the fabric of my childhood, though as a child, its just normal, so i did not think about it then. Its only later in life that i think about the fact that i became a writer who wanted to write stories about the African Diaspora because it was not there, so it is the same kind of principle. You want to see a change in a society, so you start to make that change yourself. You dont wait for anyone else to do it for you. Growing up, did you experience racism, growing up with a black dad and white mom . Yes, it was growing up in the dark ages before there was even the racially quality act. Our house used to be attacked by local news. It was kind of normalized. My father was at the front line of hardcore racism. My experience was more subtle because i was, you know, britishborn, mixed race, but it was very much part of the society that i was growing up in, and you were invisible in that society because black people were not represented around you at all. This is long before the woman king film came out and Wakanda Forever where you see these take us black females dominating the stage in these global blockbusters. In the 1960s, 19 70s, 1980s, very few black people became models or television or published books. It is a very different world today. So progress is being made . Definitely. Quick to discuss how motivation has allowed you to overcome several challenges in your life and achieve your career goals. Do you still have affirmations you say even now . Absolutely. What are you manifesting for now . I dont really talk about what im manifesting. I was a little tired before i came on here, so i did a visualization for energy so that when im here i can give 100 , but i use creative visualizations, manifestations, affirmations all the time all kinds of things, things that i want, from daily things in my life to improved relationships. How did you learn how to do that . America. What was the actual affirmation you said . And affirmation is passionate, positive, personal, present tense, so i wrote affirmations about having won the booker, not that i wanted to win it. That was in 1997. My second book was published and it was not even eligible for the booker and i had those affirmations, and what i won it, i remember those affirmations and dug them out, and suddenly, people were listening to me about this, and they were like maybe theres something in it, but i dont think i dont want to because of anything magical happening. I think it was because an affirmation is just creating a positive mindset for yourself, going for what you want, being the voice you want to the desk you want to be in theater or literature in my case. Thats what the affirmation did for me, and also somehow thinking i was entitled to win the booker prize. The stars aligned and eventually i did, but i did not win because some magic spell . Er. It is much more complicated than that. Congratulations. We always end our show with our guests cultural pick of the moment. What have you chosen . Quickly the lehman trilogy. It is this incredible play about the brothers who founded lehman, which was intrinsic in the stock market crash of 2008 and 2009, and it travels back to the 19th century, and it is about how they built this bank, and it is just a brilliant piece of theater. We are going to leave you with a glimpse of the play on londons west and west end. Thank you so much. It has been a pleasure to have you. Blonde roots is out in french this february. Your father, founder of the day, and you want to turn it into a club of financiers. The bank is open to everyone. The world is outside of the market. Quite the reverse. The world is the market. Well, i have a problem with it. They are known for their cuisine and saying hello with a kiss. They only work 35 days a week when they are not on strike, that is. Every week, florence tears apart stereotypes. Join us for insight into french culture and Current Events to understand what makes the french so unique. French connections on france 24 and france24. Com. 08 15 23 08 15 23 [captioning made possible by democracy now ] amy from new york, this is democracy now today, based on information developed by an investigation, Fulton County grand jury returned a true bill of indictment. Charging 19 individuals with violations of georgia law arising from a