♪ host: this is "dw news." the president of france says he is done with politics. it was just on television saying he would not be in the presidential election. no surprise, because he is deeply unpopular. we go to paris to see what it means for french politics. and vladimir putin softens his rhetoric in his state of the nation address. he wants friends not enemies and is ready to work with the new

u.s. administration. and on this day, we take a look at a drug trial in south africa that could be a game changer for the curing aids. ♪ host: it is good to having with us. the french president has just announced he will not seek a second term in the presidential election next spring. he has been growing increasingly unpopular in france, but with the right wing gaining ground by the anouncement has put the left in a difficult position. the socialist party will need to choose a candidate. a candidate to stand against the far right and the conservatives.

we want to cross over to our correspondent in paris. good evening. this is, it is not a big surprise, but what reasons did he give her deciding not to run again. ? reporter: many people expected him to want to run again, so it was a big surprise. and an emotional speech tonight, he basically said it was his duty not to run again to make sure that his party, the socialist party but does not fall apart because the country was facing a strong terrorist threat and economic challenges come up also the other candidate we know that will be running. that is fillon, who would threaten the social model in france, and marine le pen will do is standing for protectionism. you said it was the biggest threat to the country, so he

thought apparently that he should not stand again for president next year to give the socialist party chance really in the election. brent: does it have a chance? reporter: according to the polls , no. whoever becomes a candidate in the primary elections will not stand a chance to get into the second round of voting, it seems like. it looks like a candidate from the republican party and marine le pen from the far right will get into the second round and face each other. brent: the picture the world has right now of france, post trump victory and post brexit, the far right, the extreme right is on a roll. when you say that the decision by prince of all lawns to not run again -- hollande is going+

to confirm what people around the world think about the situation in politics in france? reporter: it means he wants to prevent marine le pen from becoming president, he seems to think that is there is a strong socialist candidate, that candidate could maybe make it to the second round of voting. brent: is it also an admission that if he was going to run again, that would pave the way for a victory for marine le pen -- marie la pen? reporter: you cannot tell. there are different polls, but there was the theory -- they were testing the route between marine le pen and hollande in the second round of voting, that would be the only scenario where she would have become president for sure.

so that was really the case, that there was this threat and fear that she would become president. brent: thank you very much. reporter: thank you. brent: now to russia, where president vladimir putin has offense is anti-west -- shas softened his anti-west rhetoric and he says he is ready to work with the president elect of america, donald trump. our correspondents hit the streets of moscow to find out what people thought. [speaking russian] reporter: the kremlin promised it has something unexpected for putin's address, he delivered. >> the main reason we are being

called to account for our own economic woes lies in our own mistakes. russia does not invest in itself. we lack professional training and technology, these are challenges. reporter: eight did not address the elephant in the room -- you did not adjust the elephant in the room, syria. but he did talk about relations with china and india, even washington as well. >> the cooperation between russia and the u.s. to find a solution to global conflicts is imperative. reporter: the choice of donald trump publicly played a large role in what you to say. but with the muscovites say when they read the word, usa . we asked. >> they are describing america

as great, gigantic, friendship, even love. not a mention of the rekindled the cold war. vladimir putin also appeared to civic pride in leading the country out of economic crisis. >> the future of our land depends on us and to work ethic and a talent of our citizens, on their sense of responsibility and success. yes we can, together. that was his message for the russian people and the international community, including the usa. reporter: a sentiment echoed by many in the russian capital. >> despite the cold winter, russians are looking forward to warm relations with the usa. reporter: and until things thaw, vladimir putin will have to find solutions is government can

afford. brent: in the u.s., some believe russia may have manipulated the presidential election. now the u.s. state of wisconsin has begin rinun to recount vote. donald trump won that state by les ran 1% over hillary clinton. -- less than 1% over hillary clinton. the recount was requested by a green party candidate, jill stein. officials say that the recount would not probably be completed until two weeks. this is the first official recount in 16 years. now to the situation in syria. the red cross says more than 20,000 people have fled eastern aleppo as government forces push further into rebel held areas. most of those fleeing have gotten to shelters nearby, the

red cross warning thousands more are expected. the united nations have said that the parties to the syrian war have ignored the rules of war and will do anything to gain in military advantage. our next report contains images some of you may find disturbing. reporter: the noose is tightening and the city is pounded relentlessly. the video shows an elite unit in action. russia has been backing the assad regime, but now moscow is reaching out to the united nations, saying they want to help people trapped in rebel held areas. >> the russian federation announced that there are for humanitarian corridors that they want to sit down with the people to discuss how we can use these

corridors to evacuate people. reporter: the u.s. special envoy has caught on one rebel group to leave eastern aleppo on humanitarian grounds. >> our request to leave eastern aleppo on a safe passage. it will increase our leverage on insisting on an urgent -- reporter: survival is a race against time for many. food and medicine is running out and winter is approaching. brent: we want to go to the simon, who is in middle east analyst at lancaster university in the u.k.. good evening, simon. what are you hearing about the conditions on the ground now in eastern aleppo? >> it is nothing good. people are increasingly worried about what is happening and

about what the future is going to hold in the coming hours, days, they are not even thinking about weeks. they are more concerned about getting through the night, getting through the next day and so on. it is a precarious situation, dealing with survival and surviving a night free from bombs, or surviving in terms of getting access to food, keeping healthy and staying warm. a number of serious challenges. brent: a lot of challenges. we spoke earlier when it became apparent that aleppo is about to fall. it has not fallen completely. we have had a un security council meeting, but it feels like nothing has changed, just the situation is getting worse. simon: you are right. things are changing slowly and you are right to say that aleppo

is on the verge of falling. the rebels cannot hold out much longer and there is a huge asymmetry in terms of military capabilities, so they will not be able to hold eastern aleppo. all that is happening now is rebels are putting up a fight, but it is the people in the city that are paying the price, the city is destroyed. brent: ok, simon. on the story for us, thank you. and here is a look at some of the other stories making headlines. media professionals from several countries meeting and the danish capital, copenhagen, but one of the largest news conferences. at the top of the agenda, the growing problem of fake news, they are discussing how to address the issue which they say is becoming a threat to the stability of democracy. fake news and a cyber attacks the police in 10 countries have

it shut down one of the worlds biggest networks of computers used to hijack other computers. they are suspected of being used to attack online banking customers. prosecutors in germany say the police took servers and website domains and arrested suspected leaders of a criminal organization. reporter: the investigations band more than four years. german officials worked with authorities and 40 other countries to complete the crackdown. the damage caused by the global network of packers is estimated at several hundred euros. cash several hundred --several hundred million euros. some opened their in mill accounts to realize that they sent emails and they never delivered. others received a mill that

their computers had been infected. investigators describe it as the biggest raid on cybercrime networks. the computers hijacked were used to form a network to knock out other computers. there is an example. users are sent mail with an attachment. when they click on it come out the computer is infected and becomes part of a network. in this case, criminals take control of more than 50,000 computers, in germany alone. >> the difficulty with this crime is is is difficult to find the source. it is not centered anywhere. it is composed of a network of criminals who work in many parts of the world. reporter: the u.s. and germany were worst hit. so far, 16 ringleaders have been identified and four have been arrested. brent: you are watching "dw news." still to come, the expanding

child abuse scandal in british soccer. players have come forward saying that they were sexually abused in their youth. we have more on what is shaping up to be a nationwide shock. and we will have the business news. be back in 60 seconds.

♪ brent: welcome back. you are with "dw news." top stories, the french president francois hollande has announced he will not seek a second term next bring. the socialist party will now need to choose a candidate to stand against the conservatives and the far right. now we have encouraging news that could make history, medical history. a new trial for an hiv vaccine is underway in south africa. the experiment of vaccine was launched on world aids day. many people who are hiv-positive

still suffer from discrimination. the secretary-general has called for them to receive better treatment and more protection. steps have been made in treating the virus and research is ongoing around all, such as what you see here in maryland. the drugs, the trial, good leader to a cure for hiv. and a vaccine is the holy grail in the fight against hiv and aids. we want to go to our correspondent in johannesburg, south africa. good evening. this is a big day. it is difficult to overemphasize how significant this would be. it is a landmark trial. local are they where you are? reporter: people are hopeful and the volunteers that will be partaking in the trial, over

5000 south africans will do our hiv negative, that are in the trial. it had some of them have lost -- and some of them have lost a neighbor for a relative to aids. and if this is why they are hopeful and they want to participate and hope they can find the holy grail and they can help do that. brent: it is almost ironic that this story is coming from south africa. we know that this is a country most affected by the aids epidemic, hiv. but we also have a president there who wants said he can protect -- once said he could protect yourself by taking a shower. have we seen a change in the government's attitude toward hiv? reporter: we definitely have seen a change. the most devastating part was not zuma when it ces to his policy come about his

predecessor he denied there was a link between hiv and aids. and he was keen on rolling out antiviral drugs. when zuma came into power people were afraid that he would take the same course, but the policy has improved and we have seen there are good policies now for antiviral drugs mishap of the people are on them now. hardly any transitions anymore from other two child and there is more testing. so we have seen an improvement. it does not mean people are not getting infected, there are less people dine, but many more people are getting infected. brent: and at stigma of having hiv has gone down? can you say it is lower? reporter: it is lower, but is still there. research says people are still being shunned by their families and their communities, maybe by

their workplace. they cannot even get housing because of hiv aids where they are abused because of their status. that is there and it is something south africa needs to look at. people do not reveal status, so that is a starting point for them on the epidemic. brent: thank you very much. time for business news. happier -- javier is here. oil is keeping up a good mood. javier: that is right. opec cutting oil output. today, the oil prices rallied again with the futures trading above $50, but experience has shown that these agreements are fragile. here is how this one is supposed to work. reporter: when the saudi oil minister arrived in the end on wednesday, he announced he was not leaving without a deal. and they got one. starting on the first of

january, opec member states will/production by 1.2 million barrels a day. in will take the lion's share, with other countries like kuwait and iraq doing their part. >> this is a major step forward and we, with my colleagues, we think it is a historic moment to come to this agreement, which will help rebalancing the market and it will help reducing the overhang. reporter: markets reacted quickly. crude jumped up 8.5%, the biggest price surge in 10 months. analysts say that the price hike could be here to stay, along with member states that produce one third of global supply,

russia pledges to cut production. and it is possible other countries will follow. brent: and higher oil prices is bad news for car drivers. javier: and after months of debate, the eu and germany's top officials have come to an agreement over a road toll system in germany. until recently, they had argued against it in brussels, saying it discriminated against drivers. now both sides have reached a compromise. drivers are not really enthusiastic about it. reporter: the transport minister of been given the green light to implement road tolls on jiminy's -- john germany's roadways. many people are worried they will have to pay up. >> i do not think it is fair. it is different in other countries, they pay tolls, but no tax. now we will have to pay twice. >> i heard that foreigners would

only pay 2.50 to go through germany. >> when people say that the roads in austria are better than here, they will understand the told is not such a bad idea -- toll is not such a bad idea. reporter: 2.50 euros will be the cheapest price, with prices reaching 40 euros. some drivers will be exempt, only paying a vehicle tax. the government hopes to bring in five ledger million euros through the toll system every year, but many say that is optimistic. once the details are tired out, the system should be rolled out in a years time. brent: we will come with that for you when it happens. brent: soccer authorities in england are investigating whether clubs paid off the victims of sexual abuse in

return for their silence. the bubble association chief executive has said they will take action against any club found guilty of what he calls the machine the victims -- hushing the victims of scandal. some say they where --will -- they had been sexually abused. reporter: 350 people have come forward to report that they were abused by soccer coaches in their youth. the uproar and began when a former youth player in crewe alexander went public with having been sexually assaulted in the 1980's. police opened investigations and have charged a former coach with eight counts of sexual assault. barry bennell coached at several clubs and his crimes were not a secret. he was imprisoned three times in

the 1990's and has been banned for life football. but the courage of andy woodward, the first victim to speak with the press, led other victims to come forward. >> it was very prevalent when i was young. it was not so widely spoken about. it you would find sometimes, if somebody came forward, they were almost blamed for it. they would side with the adult rather than the child. reporter: the allegations turned out to be just the beginning, and abuse hotline was set of former players, that received more accusations about more youth coaches, some that worked at top-flight clubs. chelsea issued a statement saying that they said they would help investigate a man that worked as a scout in the 1970's. as the scandal spread, so did

questions about the football establishment about what they have done in the past and what they are prepared to do now? >> i think we need to commit to a full review shining the torch on what happened in the past in football. we need clear laws and rules that need to be followed. and look at evidence of the breach of those. it needs to be subject to due process, the police need to have a right place in this. when it is our time to apply the rules, we will from top to bottom, regardless of the size of the club. reporter: one man's story has been echoed by 350 others. a number that could grow. brent: there is a reminder, the top story we're following, the french president has announced he will not seek a second term

in the presidential elections next bring. the socialist party will now need to choose a candidate to stand against the conservatives and the far right. and after a break i will be back to take you through the day and we will have more on world aids day. stick around. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

♪ this week on "wealthtrack," what history has to teach us about this year's presidential election results and what they mean for the economy and markets. noted financial historian, richard silla, and leading investment strategist jason trenit are next on conseulo mack, "wealthtrack." ♪ new york life, along with main stays family of mutual funds offers investment and retirement solutions so you can help your clients keep good going. additional funding provided by: thornburg investment