adist in the beheading video is confirmed to be a frenchman. the news has shocked the public. plans for more jewish settlements in the west bank sparked palestinian anger in a region already on the edge. the head of the company that operated south korea's ill-fated ferry is sentenced to 10 years in prison after his manslaughter conviction over the disaster that left more than 300 dead.

also coming up, a first in french medicine. doctors successfully operate on the spine of a fetus still in the womb. more on that operation to help the baby's spina bifida just five months into her mother's he -- her mother's pregnant scy. find out what has made the great phenomena such -- the grapes such a phenomena around the world in business. i am here in paris. in france, the news that the second one frenchman was among the executioners in that brutal islamic state video has come as a shock. the second man has been identified as 22-year-old

mickael though santos -- mickael dos santos. it is a reminder to the french that violent extremism can attract people from all walks of life. >> authorities have confirmed him has 22-year-old -- him as 22-year-old mikckael dos santos. the young man thought to have joined the islamic state organization sometime around 2013. he lived with his parents in this building in a parisian suburb and was a quiet boy according to his neighbors. >> when he passed, he nodded his head and said hello very quietly. that's it. i once asked him in the street. i think he was going to the mosque -- i once passed him in

the street. i think he was going to the mosque. >> we were converted together. he converted before me. we follow the same course at the mosque but, at the same time he followed the wrong path. at the same time, i stopped hanging out with him. >> though santos -- dos santos regularly expresses his ideas on social networks, where he leaves violent, anti-french posts. >> he was radicalized, trained in weapons, ultraviolent. we see that when -- in what he writes on social networks. >> it -- >> in another video released

wednesday, three more young fighters are seen asking in french for all french muslims to come join them or to commit attacks in france. in that short video, the three armed fighters are seen burning their passports in front of the camera. >>next israel has approved the construction of almost 80 new settlements in the west bank and is likely to prompt more palestinian anger at a time of renewed violence in jerusalem. an attack on a synagogue earlier this week left for rabbis d -- four rabbis dead. the approval for the homes comes under ongoing disapproval from the u.n. >> israel has improved -- approved the construction of 80 new homes -- 78 newborns in the west bank -- israel has approved the construction of 78 new homes in the west bank. for palestinians, this new

development is yet another obstacle to the peace process. >> of course we ask israel to stop all activities of settlements. all of this is not helping to make peace in this land. >> meanwhile, israel demolished the home of the palestinian man responsible for a deadly attack at a jerusalem train station last month. and -- benjamin netanyahu praised the effectiveness of this policy. >> this morning, we demolished the home of a terrorist. this is a significant and important step. there will be more home demolitions. there will be many more steps. we have nothing against the residents of east jerusalem, but we will not tolerate attacks on our citizens. >> these decisions, after weeks

of excavating violence, -- these decisions come after weeks of escalating violence. tuesday was israel's deadliest attack since 2008. israel hopes these policies will act as a deterrent to further violence. many see them as genuine obstacles to peace process in the region. >> tigre now, where the u.n. says close to 1000 people -- to the ukraine now, where the u.n. says close to 1000 people have been killed since september and the number of displaced people has nearly doubled, soaring to 466,000. for more on the worsening humanitarian situation on the ground, let's bring in our ukraine correspondent, gulliver cragg. 1000 killed in two months, do those figures seem crop -- seem plausible to you? >> the human report itself says that is probably a conservative estimate in particular because

it is hard to know how many russian soldiers and russian citizens have been killed, because russia continues to deny that it has soldiers at all in the territory of eastern ukraine, despite numerous reports in russia of hundreds of body bags going back to russia from ukraine both regular soldiers, probably, and russian citizens, who either volunteered or accepted a cash payment to join in. there probably is a conservative estimate. the figures show that the number of civilians being killed is higher than the number of military personnel. as for the displaced persons, i think it is a case of more and more people registering, rather than leaving the area. they are everywhere. they are in the west of the country. there are a lot of people from

donetsk. >> the osce says one of its convoys near the rebel stronghold of donetsk was shot at on wednesday. what more do we know about that incident in which side might have been shooting at that convoy? >> he says they couldn't say for sure which side, but it was shot at in ukrainian-held territory in a village southeast of donetsk. both sides have been accusing the other of firing. the osce has been complaining about the separatists injuring their movements, -- separatists hindering their movements as they try to monitor the cease-fire. >> thank you for that, gulliver cragg, reporting from ukraine. now to the united states where for president barack obama immigration is a key issue.

later this thursday, he is set to address the american public laying out a plan to fix what he calls the broken laws stranding millions of undocumented workers. that executive action would sidestep congress and could provoke one of the must pitched -- the most pitched artisan -- partisan fights since president obama took office. >> everyone agrees that our immigration system is broken. unfortunately, washington has allowed the problems fester for too long. what i'm going to be laying out is the things that i can do with my lawful authority as president to make the system work better, even as i continue to work with congress and encourage them to get a bipartisan, comprehensive bill that could solve the entire problem. next now that -- >> now, the head of the company that operated south korea's ill-fated ferry was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he was convicted of manslaughter over the disaster that killed more than 300 people.

kate moody reports. >> more than seven months after the ferry sank, the tragedy is still raw. the district court has been assigning blame for the accident which killed over 300 people mostly teenagers, on a school trip. officials say the crew members were negligent and the ferry had an overloaded cargo hold and storage facilities. they were accused of improperly altering the vessel to take on more cargo and passengers. 15 crew members have been given jail time, with the captain receiving a 36-year sentence. on thursday, the court sentenced the president of the company to 10 years in jail for criminal negligence. last month, he apologized to the victims' families, but said he was merely an employee, and that responsibility was his boss'

who was found dead in june. there has been public outrage at the ferry operator and the government's unsuccessful rescue operation. they have launched a new safety ministry to improve the response to future disasters. >> taking a lesson from a painful accident, the safety ministry should greatly step up anti-disaster capabilities. the ministry should show a completely different image by doubling its capacity to control and manage disaster situations. >> the government stopped its underwater searches of the wreckage site last week. 295 bodies have been recovered nine victims remain missing. >> meanwhile, new satellite imagery over north korea seems to show it may be firing up a facility for processing weapon grade -- weapons grade plutonium. that comes after pyongyang threatened the fourth nuclear

test in response to the u.n. confrontation over its human rights record. i'm joined by a research fellow specializing in the nonproliferation and disarmament of weapons of mass destruction. think you for joining us. how likely is it that north korea is gearing up for a new nuclear test? >> is quite possible. -- it is quite possible. it's almost a tradition. it is some sort of bargaining chip. blackmail, even. at this moment, they are quite angry at the united nations on the human rights. they could use the program to show to the world that they don't accept it and they want concessions. they don't want to be sent to national -- international criminal court in the hague, for example. it's quite possible. >> do the koreans have the capabilities to launch an

intercontinental ballistic missile? is that what this test is? >> i don't think they have that kind of missiles. even more, they seem not to be able to build a nuclear warhead for their missiles. i think they need a lot more testing first with nuclear weapons and with missiles also. so from that perspective, they are not a risk at the moment for the broader international community. the risk is mainly for south korea. seoul is only 62 meters from the border of north korea so even with a crude weapon, a very crude, simple missile, they can hit that already. that is not there in at all. they don't -- that is not their aim at all. they use this as a bargaining chip.

they only test when they think they could get concessions from the international community, from the united dates, maybe china, russia -- the united states, maybe china, russia. so, i think this is merely a political threat, rather than a military threat at the moment. >> thank you for taking the time to speak to us. you are watching "france 24." a second islamic state militants seen in the gruesome beheading video is said to be a french citizen. he was among the executioners. that has shocked the french public. plans for more jewish settlements in the west bank spark new palestinian anger in a region that is already on the edge. and the head of the company that operated south korea's ill-fated

ferry is sentenced to 10 years in prison. that is for his manslaughter conviction over the disaster that left more than 300 dead. time now to take a look at what weekly news magazines have been saying around the world. hi. let's start with the growing rift between israel and the west. >> let's take a look at the front page, they talk about israel and the west, the breakup. we saw an out for of emotion -- an outpour of emotion following the deadly synagogue attack. they say this is in a context where israel appears more and more at loggerheads with the west. it pulls together a bunch of articles, especially from the israeli press, that highlight this. the israeli paper focuses on the relationship between israel and the united dates -- united states on a friendship that once seemed to be written in stone

and now appears on the rocks according to that paper. "the financial times" says things are even worse with europe, where several parliaments have voiced their support for the existence of a palestinian state. they wonder what went wrong. critics in the west blame israel's continued occupation of palestinian territory. conservative israelis blame the rise of anti-semitism in western countries. there is a rift between israel and the west. >> "der spiegel" is taking a look at westerners who go to fight alongside these groups in israel -- in iraq and syria. several european nationals have been confirmed to appear in that brutal beheading video that was released last weekend. >> "der spiegel" takes a look at

what it calls "the cult of jihad." it does happen in afghanistan and bosnia and chechnya, but the scale of what is happening in syria and iraq is unprecedented. never has a jihad attracted so many volunteers. guesstimate is that since the beginning of the conflict in syria, an estimated 15,000 foreign fighters from 80 foreign countries have joined the ranks of various islamist groups and about 2000 of those are believed to be from western countries. "der spiegel" wonders what draws these young westerners to fight jihad in syria and iraq. it asks specialists to draw a profile of these westerners. they seem to have some similarities. they often are isolated, solitary, lone wolves, who become self radicalized by the internet. >> let's come back to france with the french edition of "vanity fair."

it lists its ranking of the 50 most influential french people in the world. the winner might come as a surprise to some. >> the winner is christine lagarde, the most influential french person in the world. there you can see her on the front page of "vanity fair, the french edition." the head of the imf holds the reigns of the finance world in her hands and that makes her one of the most powerful people among not only in france but in the world. they wonder if she could use this influence in french politics. could she be the first female french president? you can see the front page of "vanity fair" asks the question. what if it were her? and last year, the band daft punk won. >> number four on the list is a frenchman that has gotten a lot of attention economist spaghetti -- thomas diggity -- t

homas piketty. >> they call him the>> international guru who is conquering the world. they are gushing about his book. it focuses on wealth and income inequality in the u.s. and europe. capital has been translated into 32 languages. it has drawn praise from world leaders and from everyday citizens. who could have imagined that nearly 700 -- a nearly 700 page book on the economy by a french economist would sell nearly one million copies across the world? and his book is reportedly selling like hot cakes in china. it gives a worldwide second wind to a value that is very important in france. >> a word on michael schumacher.

>> he is on the front page of -- happier days with his wife. you can see them talking about the fact that his family gives him the will to live. he came out of his coma in june but it is a long road to recovery. he is reportedly paralyzed and has problems with memory and speech. his wife and children are staying strong for him throughout his recovery. to and on a lighter note -- to end on a lighter note, the focus on london this week. surprising for this conservative magazine. they have a 37-stage -- 37-page special on london. it made me want to hop on the euro start for a weekend -- the eurostar for a weekend.

>> thank you so much. next up, business. stephen carroll is here with us now for business. let's start with the latest on legal challenges to the eu's cap on bonus payments to workers. >> the european court of justice's lead advisor has rejected the challenge. it isn't binding, but it could be taken into account by the court in making it decision on the case -- making its decision on the case. it was rejected on all six different grounds. the u.k.'s argument is that a breach is an individual's right to privacy. plenty of economic news for the markets. not much of a good. european markets are trading down in general after the survey showed that growth in the euro zone was at its slowest pace in

16 months. showing just slight expansion in november. the survey shows that france is a weak point in the 18-member bloc. the cac 40 is down more than 1% in trading today. >> there is this discussion the faulty airbags. >> at least five bags have been linked to you, -- to takata. 17 million vehicles could be affected by the issue, the majority of them in the united states. representatives from the company will be joined by the affected carmakers and the u.s. road safety authority to answer questions from the senators later, including issues like whether more extensive recalls are needed in the united states. >> it's an issue which affects 17 million car owners worldwide

the majority of those in the united states, where safety authorities are demanding any vehicles fitted with air bags made by japanese manufacturer takata be recalled by carmakers. among them, ford, bmw, chrysler and honda. the authorities say they will use legal powers to force a wider recall if manufacturers don't act quickly. >> it is clear that the vehicles need to be recalled. it is a big wake-up message to both takata -- in both takata and aegean ignition switches -- and the gm ignition switche s, that you really do have to be a strong enforcement agency. >> they could propel shrapnel into the car. previous recalls have been limited to vehicle is being driven in humid climate. authorities believe it is now a national issue. at least five deaths are already thought to have been caused as a result of the faulty airbags.

>> let's move on with a look at some of the other stories. a report by the u.s. senate, who criticize 3 wall st banks and their influence over commodity markets, including oil coal, and aluminum. they had invested so much in the area that they could sway consumer prices. the banks are expected to rebut the claims in an issue -- a hearing on the issue later. mozilla will part ways with google. the move will help yahoo! to build its market share in the u.s. where it currently only account for 10% of internet searches. and a streaming music service is set to become a fixture on all iphones and ipods. it could be a big boost to beats

music in the sector. >> finally, it is a special day here in france, especially for one mother. >> it is the day the new batch of wine is released. we have some pictures from last night's gathering for the uncorking of that first batch of wine. it is the brainchild of one man who began the tradition in the 1960's. it has since become a global event. 40% of the product is exported. japan is the biggest market, with almost 8 million bottles sold their last year, followed by the u.s. at 1.8 million. let's listen to some of the opinions. >> the beaujolais is delicious. it is really good. you have to come for it.

>> the line is this year very nice -- the wine is this year very nice. >> people don't only