>> you are watching france 24. time now for 60 minutes live from around the world. here are the headlines from paris. protesters in hong kong up their demands. they want the region's top officials to resign, saying they are not going anywhere until china grasps real democracy. jihadist militants from the islamic state group closed in on a key town on the border of syria and turkey, despite continuing airstrikes on the international coalition. and a major flood hits some 60 cities across the south of france, including the historic

town of montpellier. ♪ also coming up this hour, turning 50. we will take a closer look at the argentinian comic and her creator. also, sports coming up. but first for you, tens of thousands of protesters are in hong kong. they have now upped their demand, saying they want beijing to answer their calls for democratic reform before a deadline tomorrow, china's national day. leaders of the occupy central movements are they want the current executive leadership of hong kong to step down. anger over beijing moving to vet

new candidates is what kicked off the protest in the first place. paul james is our correspondent. tomorrow marks the 61st anniversary of the founding of communist party rule in china basically china's national holiday. protesters have made it clear they are not going anywhere. what is the response of beijing likely to be today ahead of that holiday? >> right now, the response from beijing has been relatively muted. the authorities here have kept a fairly low profile so far, saying only that they feel that the occupation movement in hong kong is illegal, and that they support the administration in hong kong in the steps that they've taken so far. within the last couple of hours the chief executive of hong kong has issued a statement saying that beijing will not be backing down on its previous plans to move forward with its form of what they call universal

suffrage, which is their plan for what they want to see as elections in 2017. this has not drawn a response yet from organizers within the occupy movement themselves. the likely expectation moving forward for this evening is that we will see the protests continue. the question, of course, is what is going to happen as far as the authorities in hong kong are concerned. do they take the steps like they did on sunday, in which we saw teargas being fire? that was a different set of scenarios in that protesters became quite angry and actually attacked police lines. that is when authorities in hong kong, that is what they say precipitated them to fire off teargas, leading to a number of injuries including two officers. since those protests, it has been peaceful and maintained that way. but the larger question is what

is going to happen this evening. tomorrow is the national day holiday. not only here on the mainland, but also in hong kong. that is when the pla soldiers are due to come out and start their marching not only here but in hong kong as well. but so far, things have been peaceful. -- >> so far, things have been peaceful. it is speculation, but how far would china be prepared to go? >> that is a tough question to answer. the pla soldiers, people's liberation army, which has a garrison in hong kong and has maintained that ga china in 1997. they have maintained a presence there. you normally go out and march during the national day of event. it is part of the national pride to get the army out there and do the sorts of things. whether or not they go back to and beyond that, we have to remember that the holiday here on the mainland runs for

seven days. it's what we call a golden week here in china. in hong kong, the holidays only for one day. which means there is still a work day and part of the work week left after the national holiday is over. we will see how much the authorities in hong kong are willing to tolerate that. above and beyond that, we do not know how far beijing is willing to go. hong kong is a major economic hub and a world economic hub and one that is very vital to china's economy. that is one thing that the authorities in beijing do not want to disrupt. on the other hand, they also want to maintain their hold and their overall sense of control over what hong kong is, which they feel is an inherent part of china. >> thank you for that, paul. paul james reporting from beijing. hong kong was handed back from the u.k. to china in 1997. since then, it has had a special

status within china that allows it freedoms like public protest or a capitalistic economy that are not allowed elsewhere in the country. sean hawkins takes a look at the terms of that agreement. >> the union jack or place by the chinese flag after over 150 years under british rule. in july, 1997, hong kong was formally -- formally handed over to beijing. and so, hong kong became chinese territory. but with a difference. kong missednist beijing promised to maintain the capitalist economy. unlike in mainland china pro-democracy demonstrations here are tolerated. and the tiananmen square massacre can be openly commemorated. in 2007, china promised that hong kong residents could vote directly for their territories leader in the 2017 election, a

print this -- a position previously appointed by beijing officials. >> the timetable for universal suffrage has been set. hong kong is entering a most important chapter in its constitutional history. >> but now after several years of pro-democracy protests, activists are crying foul. beijing confirmed in august that hong kong's chief executive would be elected by universal suffrage, but a committee will decide first which candidates are allowed to run. an announcement that caused hundreds of thousands of people to take to the streets demanding their civil liberties. >> time for another developing news story here on france 24. jihadist militants from the islamic state group are now moving in on a key city on the turkish-syrian border. they are now the closest they have ever come to that strategic syrian town of kabani and as

they continue to fire the town -- pound the town, many are desperate to fight back. here is more on what is keeping them from getting across. >> these turkish troops are now confronted with two major challenges. they have basically been spent the last couple of hours trying to run after these kurdish activists who are striving to make their way across the border into syria. the other major challenge these troops are now facing is that of incoming fire. we are clearly hearing huge glass on the turkish side. that means there are projectiles coming from syria and landing on the side of the border. >> a shell lands more than one kilometer inside turkish territory. taoops immediately deployed at the border with syria. the country from which the projectiles originated. a kurdish politician arrives and

is handing -- handed teases of explosive ordnance. to be proof of turkey's involvement in the battle next-door. >> this has turkish riding on it, which means it comes from turkey. who fired it? if it was given to isis then it was isis who launched it. >> soon interrupted by another blast. the fighters of the islamist -- islamic state organization have just fired a new round at the town. kurdish activists quickly decide to head to the border, but are stopped by police and soldiers. >> these turkish troops have received orders to no longer standby, but to start acting in order to push the kurdish protesters back as far away from the border with syria as possible.

>> reporting there from the border of turkey and syria. on top of the threat of the islamic state group, iraq is faced with the challenge of dealing with thousands of refugees and internally displaced persons or idp's. the situation is critical as thousands of families flee the jihadist group and local areas are already overwhelmed with refugees from syria. but this is the biggest refugee camp in iraq. six 2000 syrians live here. it has been -- 60,000 syrians live here. it has been full since the start of the year. this is close to the syrian and turkish border. it is needed to house the thousands of iraqis fleeing the islamist state onslaught. >> the number is even more than

500,000. >> dramatic as the situation in the camp, the majority of displaced persons in the regional capital. 138,000 of them have found homes in local schools. that includes these children and their families. around 300 people are crammed together in this school. they arrived in august, forced from their by the islamist -- islamic state organization. >> 23 people from five different families live in this room. we want to leave as soon as there are cap spaces for us. we want our children to go to school. we live in a school, but we want them to go to school. >> 40% of the schools in the area are being used to house refugees. the influx has put pressure on the local authorities. they want more aid from the united nations.

>> we need the new camps to be finished soon. the only way to free up the schools is by building new camps. >> new camps, though, are only a short-term solution. the shift of refugees from syria to iraq is a massive change that has put a strain on the local economy as well as the residents. >> we have been hit with a run of bad weather. major flooding has struck some 60 cities across the south including the historic town of montpellier. water and cars have been left on the side of the street. on monday night, not everyone was able to return home after the river burst its banks. >> yet to turn around and drive very slowly against the flow of traffic. >> heavy rainfall since midday on monday left authorities concerned enough about the risk of flash flooding that they put

out the red alert in several parts of the french riviera. if the maximum warning. at the airport, all flights were canceled, leaving travelers stranded. >> we thought we would be able to go to our hotel but there are not any taxi to take us because the roads are blocked. >> 1800 people were forced to sleep in the train sfood and survival wickets were handed out. according to weather forecasters, the situation is set to get better this tuesday. >> search efforts for over 20 victims still lost following the ball keno eruption in japan have been called off. hundreds of military -- follow volcano eruption in japan have been called off. hundreds of military were held back dueother steam explosion. the volcano erupted without warning on saturday, leaving at least 36 dead. time now for france

24. protesters in hong kong up their demands. they want the regions top officials to resign, saying they are not going anywhere until china grants real democracy. jihadist militants from the islamic state group close in on a key town on the border of syria and turkey, despite continuing airstrikes from the international coalition. and major flooding hits some 60 cities across the south of france, including the historic town of montpellier. time now to take a look at today's business news. apple is faci scrutiny over its tax affairs. >> the european commission has laid out its case over the legal aid given to the technology giant by the irish government. it may not comply with international standards, and this is part of an investigation started earlier this year into

multinational organizations and how they are being taxed in different eu member states. they want a decision from dublin before making a decision on the matter. we will go to shamus coppery. thanks for joining us. looking through the details we got from the commission today. what is at the heart of their investigation? >> the investigation is a transfer price -- pricing agreement that was put in place in 1991. what transfer pricing does is allocate process between different operations at the same company. apple has operations right around the world and each of those operations have to have a certain amount allocated to them. one question here is whether the right amount was allocated to the irish operations. it is not looking at the overall taxation, but specifically at the amount of profit declared in ireland and tax in ireland.

i suppose they could be accused of being a very favorable location for companies to declare profit. what the european commission is arguing is that too little profit was located in ireland and that ireland should have charged apple more tax for profit earned elsewhere, but the amount of profits was too small. it does seem surprising that a lower tax environment would have a lower amount of profit declared. that is essentially what is being looked at. >> if this argument is ultimately upheld against apple and against ireland, what does it mean for them? >> in the overall scheme of things for a company that is currently the size of apple, the amount in question is relatively small. the issue is related to the amount of costs incurred in

ireland for the amount of staff year and the amount of capital costs incurred. apple, as you know him is a massively profitable company but more of that comes from designing products that people are willing to pay 200 to 500 euros per purchase. if the final judgment is adverse, that -- then they may be required to pay a back tax, but a relatively small amount. the profit it generates in ireland is relatively small in the overall apple scheme of things. they might be stung with a retrospective tax bill, but i could not see it running into more than the low millions. >> thank you. >> let's come back to france where the government has been given some stark economic figures to digest. >> that is right. for the first time, the debt has passed the 2 trillion euros mark. it increased over 95% in gdp.

the budget deficit would be 4.4% of gdp this year, higher than had been expected. this news comes as ministers are preparing to discuss next year's budget at a meeting on wednesday, creating jobs and growth being the two priorities that the government has highlighted. back is two things. first of all, growth is negligible. there is no recession, but there is no wind. it is just flat. it is not easy to do business in a flat context. the second negative, contrary force, is the collective psychology of the french people today. which is not favorable to

investment. >> what those countries that companies need to create jobs is indeed a fiscal environment -- which is not favorable to investment. what the companies need to create jobs is a fiscal environment that is favorable. they need simple laws. they need work atny. for example, most will need to be convinced that france is a merchant country at the heart of its society. not at the borders. >> to take a look at the markets. >> in hong kong, following the markets there in the wake of the protest. the hang seng trading over 1% at the close.

at its lowest level in three months. there seem to be fears that fewer tourists may come to the territory as a result of the protests. a quick look at how things are shaping up in europe, generally positive across the european markets. this is after news that inflation in the eurozone dropped to 0.3% in september. >> other business stories you are >> a quick word on airbus. its new eight 350 long-haul jet has been given the green light in the european union. the a-350 against boeing. >> and netflix is back in the news. but the subscription service launched earlier -- >> the subscription service launched earlier in france this year will have its first sequel. crouching tiger, hidden dragon

will be revealed in 2015. >> stephen carol, thank you so much. time now for the press review. >> we will start off by taking a look at how pap let's start by looking at the front page of the wall street journal today. it says that the hong kong rallies grow after clashes. yesterday, we saw tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters were continuing to block streets. they want beijing to give hong kong a free vote leader. this is something beijing has rejected so far, and this has led to unrest and clashes with the police. >> the police have drawn criticism for using tear gas and batons on protesters. >> absolutely. i pulled out a cartoon from the south china post earlier today. the doctor says "you appear to have shot yourself in the foot with the tear gas."

and the police officer agrees you're not wrong dr.. there are also photos on the front page of different protests. lots of them have used umbrellas and it has led to the protest being called the umbrella revolution. the guardian is very critical of beijing, saying the chinese cannot say that they were not warned. this is a crisis that could have easily been avoided come according to the guardian, which applauds the student demonstrators and their admirable commitment to democracy. their demands are not excessive, according to the guardian. these democratic forces are led by realists realize they need beijing. and speaking of beijing, i pulled out a very interesting article from the new york times today that points out that beijing is in a tricky situation. it has limited tools for dealing with the unrest in hong kong.

the president needs to find a solution that on the one hand keeps hong kong stable, but that doesn't start copycat calls for change in mainland china. according to this article for now, his toolbox seems to be rather empty of instruments that could lead to a long-term solution. >> how are the papers in mainland china reacting to all of this? >> it's interesting to see the difference. china daily focuses on the economic impact of all of this. this is the headline. protesters are disrupting life in hong kong and depressing the stock. we see in the hang seng, the main stark market has taken a tumble in the last couple of days. -- stock market has taken a tumble in the last couple of days. and one editorial is very harsh about the protest. it calls the chaos and illegal. it is rattling napoli fat -- financial markets, but disrupting the city's social order. it says here, it is high time to

let reason prevail over the recklessness of what he calls these political extremists, who according to china daily are not democratic at all. >> let's come back to france. the papers are focused on the historic win of two seats in the french senate. >> this is the first time in the party's history that they will have two senators. according to the left-leaning paper, they because they benefited from support outside the national front. you can see your the headline says "when the right votes for the national front." these are mainly locally elected officials. these two senators got the support of more than 400 of these, who are not card-carrying members. they are from other right-leaning parties. according to them, this is proof that the line between the right

and the extreme right is very porous. flex another paper talks about this saying that a lot of this has to do -- >> another paper talks about this, saying that a lot of this has to do with the fact that the national front has changed. >> you can see your it likens this to a butterfly that has shed its skin. this editorial points out something funny, and that is that the leader of the party recently said that france would get rid of the senate. she said there is an inflation of elected officials and she said she does not see the purpose of keeping the senate. she might not to the purpose but she certainly sees the use of having senators. but the fact that -- because s

' mystic whose poetry outsold all other poets in the united states for over a decade? when unesco declared 2007 as "the

year of jalaluddin rumi," they rightfully recognized his contribution as an advocate of interfaith tolerance and respect. they described rumi as "one of the great humanists philosophers, and poets who belong to humanity in its entirety." the u.n. recognized that the spiritual evolution and, quite possibly, the survival of our very world is directly tied to the ideas that lie at the heart of rumi's poetry. so let us now join our