>> a comeback. you're watching live from paris, -- welcome back. you're watching, live from paris, "france 24."\ this is the worst violence to rock syria since the conflict began. thousands of migrants take protest to parliament. they want to be recognized as refugees. mired in debt, social unrest, in a -- and a rise

extremism, greece [indiscernible] those are the headlines. we begin with the latest fighting in syria. the conflict there has taken another grisly turn. dozens of people have been killed in violence between rebel fighters with links to al qaeda. hundreds have been killed in recent days. now the much feared group [indiscernible] as lost control of its headquarters in the city of aleppo. >> amateur footage posted online and reportedly filmed by syrian rebels. they say they've gained control of this base, a former children's hospital, until now in the hands of al qaeda linked militants. these pictures are impossible to verify. they show prisoners allegedly

executed by members of a jihadist group. >> we have conquered the headquarters. we have found around 70 dead, including journalists and soldiers from the free syrian army. their killers claimed to be muslims, but they don't represent islam. >> it is unclear what happened to these fighters. according to the syrian observatory for human rights nearly 300 people had been killed since friday in this rebel feud. rebels have a common goal -- basharthe syrian leader, al-assad, yet they have different ways of achieving that goal. this group is composed largely of foreign fighters who allegedly beheaded and richer there rivals, -- and torture their rivals. they want to implement sharia law across the entire region. in a statement released on tuesday, they warned the opposition. to crush them

rebels totally and kill the conspiracy at birth. on in severalges parts of northern syria, namely in the only provincial capital not controlled by the regime. a i'm joined on the line by research fellow at the henry jackson society. thanks for being with us here on "france 24." it would appear the chaos in syria and also iraq has helped al qaeda become stronger than ever. is that a fair assessment? >> absolutely. not just in syria and iraq, but the middleaths of east and north africa. al qaeda has taken advantage of areas where the government does not have significant amounts of control. and iraq and syria are both prime examples of this, conflicts that have allowed groups to become stronger.

>> inside syria right now, there are rival offshoot of al qaeda shoveling for supremacy. where does this leave the secular opposition there, particularly with those international peace talks due to take place at the end of the month? >> it really complicates things for the secular opposition for obvious reasons. governments are extremely wary of arming them, of engaging with them, because there is so little being able toot get the extremist groups, al qaeda linked groups -- not empowering and arming them. the presence of al qaeda in syria has prolonged this conflict and competent it it. -- and complicated it. >> it looks as though the real winners in the conflict at the moment are al qaeda, but also president bashar al-assad, who

has been saying all along that he is fighting terrorists. >> this is the great fear, that assad will be able to portray the al qaeda presence as being the entirety of the opposition and try to solicit western support by saying, we are fighting the same people in syria as you are in afghanistan, pakistan. this would be a gross oversimplification. there is an al qaeda presence, but it is by no means the only presence. while al qaeda has made gains from this war, i think we need to be very careful not to oversimplify and not allow the assad narrative to be the dominant one here. >> would you say the situation as it is now is the result of a failure of the international community to act in syria? given what's going on now in iraq, where there was a western intervention several years ago. >> i don't think the

international community has [indiscernible] there has been a lot of uncertainty. a greatit boils down to deal of uncertainty from the american government's point of view about what its goals are, what it wants to achieve, and the red lines it will accept. and there is a significant amount of human suffering. well over 100,000. there is no real sign of ending. it has been one of those sad occasions where the international community has been unable to formulate any kind of plan to stop the suffering. >> robin simcox, thank you very much for joining us. the u.n. is warning of a critical humanitarian situation in iraq as thousands of families fear -- flee fighting in the city of fallujah. al qaeda linked fighters seized

the city a couple days ago. sunni militants and tribesmen nearby the fallujah and areas last week. >> al qaeda linked militants are continuing the fight for fallujah, despite failing to localhe siege, the tribesmen have come out to protest against military intervention. maliki -- nouri al-maliki has vowed to eradicate al qaeda . [speaking foreign language] >> i call upon all those who have been taking part to return to reason. -- open a new chapter to settle their cases. >> this morning -- this comes

ahead of what he says will be a major assault against sunni fighters who have taken control of fallujah and parts of the and bar -- the and bar provincial -- the anbar provincial capital. footage, provided by the iraq he defense military -- the iraqi defense military, is set an attack inow which 25 militants were killed. for those who remain, basic commodities are hard to come by. >> the price of gasoline is 50,000 iraqi dinars. all of this because of al- maliki. and fathers are left behind to take up arms as the battle draws into its second week. >> thousands of african migrants -- toed to resume soon

jerusalem to take their protests directly to israeli lawmakers. 10,000 people took part. it is the fourth straight day of unrest. they are demanding that illegal immigrants being granted refugee refugee- be granted status. >> 90 buses have been prepared to carry these thousands of migrants from tel aviv to jerusalem, where about 10,000 of in front of parliament. the numbers coming from the israeli police. they have picketed this very powerful symbol that speaks to pretty much every israeli out there, the parliament. the migrants representing the crowd of sudanese and eritreans who enter the country illegally were hoping to get inside to talk with some lawmakers and make their cases. that was prevented after another

deputy, one who sits on the asked the party, speaker of parliament to bar entry to those migrants while she -- they were prevented from entering. >> how much hope is there for protesters? the government has said it is determined to send anyone without papers back to their country of origin. >> and that remains the case for the moment. illegal immigration -- it has become one of the priorities to deal with this. white sternly so. so.uite sternly trying to deport as many migrants as possible. building up a barrier. granting absolutely no refugee or asylum seeker status to any , which is historically what they are asking for. very tough words coming from the israeli officials, who generally

refer to these african migrants as illegal in full traders -- in full traders -- illegal infiltrators. >> they have suffered major public unrest. there has been a rise of support for far right extremism. it has not stopped the country from taking the helm of the 28 member bloc. athens as greece takes on the six-month presidency. it is clear that now is not the time for greece to let up on the tough austerity program that has brought the country so much pain . >> while the sky is clearing, there are still some clouds on the horizon. the situation is still [indiscernible] . we do not want to slow down the pace of reform. use that greek determination to finally agree to a fiscal package. take forward tax and public

retirement reform. open up product and service markets. >> our correspondent is joining us live. it is quite a tough position for greek politician to take. they are very much endorse the eu institutions by taking on the presidency. people areow angry about the injustice -- what they see as the injustice of these bailout measures. >> absolutely. as far as greeks are concerned, the skies are always liked and clear here. that's very much the message they want to send to europe. this is a read -- beleaguered reputation. minister and former finance minister of the country was quick to tell his european counterparts and reporters who were flown in from brussels yesterday for this massive

strong offensive that greece is up to the task. it will be able to glide through this european presidency that is set to last for six months. the big question here is greece will use this presidency as a way to renegotiate, if you like, some sort of relief from its mounting debt piles. yet european officials seem to dismiss all such ideas. we heard that earlier today from german officials, who are saying relief.uts and no such let's see how greece and european officials negotiate through this, especially crucial months in greece as the mayoral, municipal, and european parliamentary elections are just around the corner. >> greece is a country in pain am a wracked by unemployment -- in pain, asked by unemployment

-- wracked by unemployment. >> i think greeks are far more pay theiron ways to taxes, ways to make ends meet, and finding a job. you mentioned unemployment. greeks have europe's highest unemployment rate. some 70 five percent of unemployed people no longer receive any benefits from the state and they have to rely on of unemployed people no longer receive any benefits from the state and they have to rely on family or just on charity. greeks are trying to focus on keeping this social net together as a country. it is crumbling apart. the government promises it will manage [indiscernible] for this year. as far as greeks and their everyday lives are concerned, they are most focused on

surviving. >> perhaps they are finally turning the page. let's hope so. skiing schumacher was off course but was not traveling at an excessive speed when he had an accident last month. he remains in a medically induced coma. the impact of his crash split his helmet in two. doctors say that is what saved his life. >> no problems with his skis or .ith slope markers according to french investigators, michael schumacher well that he was skiing off a grooved trail before his accident -- michael schumacher well that he was skiing off a grooved trail before his accident. there is no evidence that he wanted to ski at an excessive speed. at one point, he

[indiscernible] metersmacher landed 9 outside of the marked trail, falling facedown on a rock. he was on a family holiday at the french alps resort. he is a skilled skier. hisfrench police chief says pace does not necessarily -- did not necessarily cause the accident. was skiingmacher beyond the signs marking the boundary, in an area that was not safe, that was not marked, a raw, dangerous mountain zone. schumacher remains in a critical condition, in a medically induced coma. doctors say the impact of the crash split his helmet in two. had he not worn it, he would have died on the spot. markets that the labor in the eurozone is finally turning the corner. tell us if it's true.

a unemployment remains at record high in the eurozone, but there are signs that the labor market is stabilizing. jobless rates came in at 12.1% in november. the rates held steady in comparison to october. large differences remain between different eurozone countries, germany and austria. the picture is completely different in more southern countries. in italy, unemployment is still rising. in greece, it is above 27%. the hope is that the unemployment rate will start heading lower as it has plateaued. the head of the european commission says europe is dealing with its problems one by one. josé manuel barroso spoke in athens as greece assumed their rotating eu presidency. >> while we cannot say that the [indiscernible] is behind us because we have an

a high level of unemployment, and we still have problems with financing the economy, there is still a proble financialence, coherence in the euro area. the reality is we are solving, one by one, the different problems. >> the private sector in the united states added 238,000 jobs in december according to the report from adp. this is fueling hopes that american unemployment will head lower as we get the official data on friday. that is not doing a lot of wonders for the american stock markets. they are mixed this session. the dow jones industrial average 0.5%.n about in europe, the indices closed below the flat line. we got higher-than-expected retail sales in november.

but it failed to bring a boost to stocks. it didn't fall by much, just marginally. shares in tobacco companies weighed on the ftse of london, just as china signals it may be and smoking in public places -- it may ban smoking in public places. it is the world's largest tobacco consumer. that is why the tobacco shares came under pressure in london. we will head off to bangladesh next. the opposition there is crying foul after the ruling party won sunday's national election. there was unrest in the lead up to the poll. the textile industry says it is paying the price. >> bangladesh's garment industry is almost -- is second only to china's, though in recent months it has been crippled by political unrest. ping costs have tripled and

supply chains have been hit by strikes. these factories make garments for brands like walmart and ralph lorenz. >> the customers are really concerned -- and ralph loren. >> the customers are really concerned. can we deliver the goods on time? >> bangladesh's garment industry employs 5 million workers. union workers say another 30 million people depend on it, from truck drivers to canteen owners. 80% of thecounts for country's exports and has been typically spared from the country's unrest. ordersctories save their have been cut nearly in half in the past three months, the worst drop in the past two decades. >> if there are less orders, it will affect many. the unemployment rate will be high. >> it has all ready cost test out companies -- cost textile

companies billions. they could look to bangladesh's competitors, like india, vietnam, and cambodia. >> a few more stories to tell you about. india's technology sector is attracting renewed interest from outside its borders. the social networking site, facebook, has bought an indian stock. it develops tools to help assess how mobile apps functions. it is the first indian start-up to be bought by facebook. ford's g.m. may being in the running to -- maybe in the running to become the next head of microsoft. alan mulally is credited with turning -- returning the american carmaker to profitability. ford shares are up and microsoft shares are down on this news. who is going to take over microsoft after steve ballmer?

at least we know it is not going to be alan mulally. back to you with the rest of the news. >> big shoes to fill. we will take a short break. we will leave you with the best of the web over the past 24 hours. it is time for "web news." >> hello and welcome to today's where we look at some of the stories making the online headlines. african migrants and ongoing protests in israel. china's leaders urged to share more transparency. ke to be at's li colorblind person behind the wheel. thousands of african migrants have gone on strike in tel aviv, israel, for the third day in a row. began onur strike

sunday as a protest against israel's new open-ended law adopted last month that allowed asylum-seekers and refugees to be jailed and held without trial up to a year. >> yes for asylum! >> three days of unprecedented protests in israel. as we can see from these amateur pictures, tens of thousands of migrants gathered in tel aviv on sunday. on monday, they broke off into groups to protest at the german, british, and swedish embassies allengethers, to ch lawmakers over difficulties facing asylum-seekers in israel. members of the freedom for refugees facebook group are calling on israel to stop their systematic arrests of asylum- seekers and refugees and to stop treating them like criminals.

he is a man of his word. one year ago, the law professor posted of that -- posted a bet china wouldg require officials nationwide to declare their assets. he promised to [indiscernible] he lost the wager. footage filmed by his wife and doing the rounds on chinese social networks, he spent eight hours last week crawling around a lake. countless facebook users have honored him for keeping his bet. one message being widely shared calls on president xi jinping to make an example by disclosing his assets. players in civil society

have been campaigning for some months now for the implementation of an asset disclosure system for political officials. but apart from a few pilot program sets it on a local have gonese deals unheeded. several anticorruption activists have been sent to jail. of activists were arrested last year after posting an open letter online and organizing a rally in beijing calling on the country's leaders to disclose their assets. charged with disturbing public order, they are awaiting trial and could be facing up to five years in prison. >> web users in the united arab emirates and visiting tourists post videos and photos under the hashtag, promoting the state and explaining what they like about it. the online campaign was organized by the tourism board.

they want to showcase the beauty, unique identity, and true culture ofa7guc

01/08/14 01/08/14 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! i had a short crowbar. i put it in there and yanked that sucker. at one point, i heard a noise inside the office. i'm like, are they in there waiting for me? basically said to myself, there's only one way to find out. i'm going in. >> one of the great mysteries of the vietnam war europe has been solved.