>> here are the headlines. funerals underway for some of the 141 people killed in the taliban attack on a school in pakistan. most of the victims were children. and eu court rules that palestinian group hamas must be removed from the terror blacklist, however it still considered -- it is still considered a terrorist group. this as parliament backs a palestinian state in principle. and the white house prepares to slap new sanctions on russia but says there are no guarantees it will promote any change over ukraine.

also coming up this hour in business, we will see how russian can tumors are dealing with a plunging value of their current as retailers raise prices, or in the case of apple iphones and ipads, pull their products. and in the run-up to round two of the presidential vote in tunisia, one is mining in the election for comedic polls. ♪ img got gillette in paris. first, in pakistan, the funerals of many of the victims of the attack on the school have already taken place. at least 141 were killed when taliban gunmen stormed the school in cash or -- in peshawar . most of the victims were children.

>> by nightfall on tuesday dozens of grief stricken mourners buried their relatives. at least 140 schoolchildren and teachers killed in a brazen taliban ambush on a school in peshawar in northern pakistan. this father buried his 16-year-old son. the last time he sign was the night before. >> the family use the -- usually talked to them about what time he would come home. he got a bullet writing is just and another bullet hit his hand. i'm sorry, i cannot talk anymore about it. >> the taliban says the attack was revenge for army operations against it fighters in northern words -- northern waziristan. but they are demanding answers as to how they managed to get into the building. >> they were the future of pakistan. they were students.

the government should have given them proper security, because as far as i know, the school was getting reckless. >> tuesday morning, gunmen stormed the school. nearly 500 students from age 10-20 were inside. >> they entered the school from the rear of the school. and then they came in and entered the auditorium where all of children were taking exams and they started shooting them. >> tuesday evening after special forces entered the school, it ended. if lasted at least seven hours killing all of the gunman. the pakistani president has announced three days of mourning" a top court has ruled that the islamic militant group -- has announced three days of mourning. >> a top court has ruled that

the islamic militant group hamas will be taken off of the terror blacklist. however, its assets will remain frozen. the court said its conclusions were derived from the internet and the media. it did stress it still considers hamas to be a terrorist group. here is more from jerusalem on both israeli and palestinian reaction. >> many be -- many officials are celebrating to make holiday victory and a triumph for those who support liberation from all forms of colonialism. those are some of the words we been hearing. those are some of the leaders from hamas's political bureau. some say this is a lifting of injustice. and some of the hamas leaders they are probably dreaming of a hezbollah type scenario. they do have contact with the political wing of hezbollah

which is the organization very much present in lebanon. however, the europeans do not have any contact with hezbollah. some of those officials are probably hoping the europeans will make that same kind of distinction between is political wing and armed factions. but it's acidly not getting a vote at this point by eu -- but it is absolutely not getting a vote at this point by eu officials. >> palestinians are saying they're going ahead with their bit bid for statehood, no matter what. this is after palestinian officials said u.s. secretary of state john kerry threatens the u.s. would use its veto power in a un security council vote today . that is on a resolution that would set a deadline two years from now for the end of the israeli occupation. >> neither side is budging.

palestinians say john kerry warned the u.s. would veto its bid for statehood, but they are not backing down. the secretary of state tried to convince the palestinians not to rush ahead with a draft resolution, putting a two-year deadline for a full with really -- full israeli withdrawal. >> right now, we are trying to have a constructive conversation for everybody in order to find the best way to go forward, in order to create the climate, the atmosphere, a political state if you will, to be able to go back and resolve is politically. >> also holding talks in paris. france is trying to rally international support for its own resolution that it's a two-year deadline for peace talks, but not for israeli withdrawal. european diplomats are looking

for the palestinians to drop their own. only one can go before the full security council. they warned against an imposed solution. >> there is a time to have a palestinian state. i think it would be better to trigger it, and not by an imposition. >> french diplomats hope that the palestinians can be dissuaded that persuaded to get behind more moderate text. >> in strasburg, the european parliament has backed other palestinian state, "in principle pick." let's bring in kristof. what executives that mean, in principle, and how many people

will that mean for the resolution? >> here in strasburg, and overwhelming majority of mep cost decided to back that -- overwhelming majority of mep's decided to back that resolution, 480 total. an overwhelming majority. it is important that i read out the most important bits in that resolution. it says that the european parliament supports in principle recognition of palestinian statehood and the two state solution and believes these should go hand-in-hand with the development of peace talks. as you can hear, this resolution is a bit of a compromise. some complain that it has been watered down too many times. originally the left, and particularly the green, they are urging all never states to recognize a palestinian state. right now, with no conditions.

but as you can see, there has been a lot of political lobbying and the center-right european people's party, which is by far the largest party in the parliament, along with a liberal, they sought to add another element, which is that this recognition must come while talks are underway with israel. which is not the case at the moment. as i said, they want to add the element, that negotiating with israel is also important. a bit of a watered down among -- a bit watered down, but still strong sentiment coming from the european parliament. >> reflects what we have seen in several parliament in europe, who have already passed at least symbolic resolutions in favor of recognizing the palestinian state. it does seem as though there are two political men muslims -- political momentum's, even though it is a bit watered down, as you say. >> yes, i agree with you. a very strong signal, for instance, a couple of months ago

a strong signal coming from sweden where the government formally recognize the palestinian state. a number of national -- nationalities including ireland and spain endorsed nonbinding resolutions. there is political momentum underway in europe. there is certainly a growing impatience with these stalled peace talks, and i should say growing frustration to say the least with the right-wing policies of benjamin netanyahu back in israel. this creates, and momentum, as you say -- this creates momentum, as you say. it is important that sweden recognize the palestinian state. >> thank you, kristof. let's turn our attention to russia, where president barack obama is said to have slept new

economic sanctions. he credits the sanctions with the credit crisis where the ruble is in freefall. the white house says there are no guarantees that russia's current economic worries and an economy that could worsen will force vladimir putin to pull back on ukraine. the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov struck a defiant note saying that russia will be able to weather the current crisis. >> it is geopolitics. some people think that sanctions are a sign of weakness, a sign of irritation, which is not the best for the politician. but i can assure you that russia will not only survived, but come out stronger out of this. we have been in what -- much worse situations in our history and every time we are getting out of the six much stronger. >> sergei lavrov interviewed by our mark perlman.

it is an important special day for pope francis today. he is turning 78. thousands of tango dancers have turned out to celebrate the post-birthday. they are in c peters square at the -- st. peter's square at the moment. tell us more about this unusual birthday celebration for the pope. >> exactly, you have this group of dancers who are learning tango -- or practicing tango, and they decided at first it would be small. and then a thought, ok, we will get together and perform something from -- for the pope. he said in an interview that he really likes tango. they thought they would do this as a present for the pontiff. that initiative went viral, and

we have thousands today gathered at thing peters square in order to do this very special performance for pope francis on his 78 birthday. >> tell us more about how pope francis is being seen there in rome. it did seem at first like he was being loved by the people. where is it at the moment? >> in italy, he is very much the left. he may be from argentina, but he is loved here in italy. today is wednesday, the day of the general audience. today, we also remember what he has done in the last year with his or -- with his push to reform the finances of the vatican, and also adjusting the child sexual scandal when he issued an apology, and just today, announcing new members of

the commission for child protection. and he traveled to the middle east, to turkey, and korea stop and he is expecting -- and korea. he is expected to be traveling to sri lanka as well. >> thank you for that report from st. peter's square. you are watching france 24. let's take a look at the headlines. the european parliament has voted to recognize a palestinian state in principle. this as an eu court rules that palestinian group hamas must be removed from the terrorism blacklist, saying however it still continues to see it as a terror group. funerals are underway for the 141 people killed on a taliban attack on a school in pakistan. most of the victims were children. and the white house prepares to slap new sanctions on russia. but it is saying there are no guarantees that will provoke any policy change on ukraine.

time now to take a look at what has been grabbing headlines around the world. let's start with the pakistani press and how it is reacting to the tragic massacre by the taliban in cash or -- peshawar yesterday. >> absolutely the deadliest attack in pakistani history according to many pakistani papers. the tragedy with eyewitness accounts, just to read the first sentence, it says they began the day in their school uniforms and ended in burial shrouds. at title there is talking about "pakistan's school of sorrow." one sentence in particular really struck me in this article and it says that outrages and easy emotion in pakistan, and after a decade of terrorist attacks, almost a habit -- outrage is an easy emotion in

pakistan and after a decade of terrorist attacks, almost a habit. when the tears dry, little changes. and another article talks about "for our children" this day is when of the worst in history. and according to the nation, not just terrorist but everybody from the wider population to the civil and military leadership who have not done enough to fight the taliban, or who had been -- or even at times i sympathize with them, everyone is responsible for the barbarity that our children are subject to full to >> barbarity is definitely -- are subject to. >> the barbarity's deadly the topic in many papers. >> a lebanese newspaper talks about monsters and horror in peshawar with his striking image of women mourning their children. the independent focuses on is very striking front page and

they talk about "in god's name" and they focus on the fact that the taliban were shouting "god is great" while they were killing these children. the washington post said his bloody attack was to derail modest, but real progress by the government. it says here putting pressure on extreme is in pakistan is more important than ever. and an editorial is also very critical of the taliban. the french paper says, what kind of human being? what kind of ideology echoed who can consider it fair and legitimate to ask pack a school and kill over 130 kids in cold blood? it also has harsh words for the pakistani government. it says that pakistan has played with the fire of terrorism for too long to pretend to be surprised when it gets burned. and this editorial says that the taliban are actually a creation

of the pakistani secret service, the isi, with the complicity of the cia to drive the soviets out of kabul several decades ago and now the beast has bitten hand that fed it in defying islamabad. >> it is a truly tragic story. another story in the press today about the freefall of the ruble. >> absolutely, and let's start with flight. it's not very poetic here. it says "russia is so screwed" and it looks like russia is in for a long and cold winter. slate says that part of it is due to the fall in oil prices but a lot of it has to do with the unprecedented european and u.s. sanctions against moscow for annexing crimea. the wall street journal says this is the perfect time to continue sanctioning vladimir putin and it encourages obama to hit him while he's down.

there's a business paper here in france that reports on how russians are reacting to this economic crisis. and actually, they are taking things in stride with a little bit of dark humor because after all, is not their first economic crisis. many have lost their savings and other economic crises. many have taken to social media to joke about their predicament. one such instance says, i just stepped out for a cigarette and the ruble lost four points. and someone answered and said well, you better stop smoking. >> a serious academic study that is a funny cartoon. >> you can read about it today in the independent. it says that cartoon violence is a far worse thing. this is research from ucla and the university of ottawa. it is published in the medical journal and says that cartoons are much more violent than films for adults. research study films released between 1937 and 2013 and

researchers say they are rife with death and instruction hotbeds of horror and mayhem. they say cartoon characters are twice as likely to be killed off than in horror films. just for instance, bambi's mother. i know that was traumatic for me. and tarzan's parents escaped a burning ship only to be killed by a rogue leopard once they were safely on the ground. >> i think the death of bambi's mother traumatized a lot of us. thank you for watching france 24. time now for business. we have stephen here with us to tell us about business news today. let's start with russia's currency crisis. >> another interesting day on the currency markets. yesterday, we saw the ruble plunging by 11%, despite an interest rate hike by the central bank. today, the finance ministry in moscow announced it was using its foreign currency reserves to try to boost the ruble.

it does seem to be having some effect on the market. we seen a slight rise in trading against the dollar. it is well off the 80 ruble level that it did to yesterday. the currency is undervalued, but the country does have the resources to support it, russian leaders are saying. there are fears over further price hikes. some foreign retailers have raised prices and others have stopped selling goods over the currency crisis. >> with the currency in freefall, some russians are becoming increasingly worried about rising prices and possible shortages. >> we were caught off guard. it is all because our politicians held -- started again they should not have started. and unfortunately, it's the people that for the consequences, as usual. >> others are going on a spending spree. big budget purchases like cars

and home appliances are going fast. >> i have bought many electrical appliances, like washing machine for the cost me 30,000 rubles the other day. now it has already gone up to 38,000. >> zero -- foreign exchange euros are busy trying to cash in on the ruble collapse. and western sanctions in ukraine have also taken a toll. it's also because the russian president embargoed european products in retaliation. >> that has gone up by 150%. it's worth its weight in gold. >> pricing in the ruble has become too risky. apple has closed its online store. doors are shut at these luxury fashion shops in moscow. there signed sibley say "due to

technical problems. >> for more on this, let's be to jasper, the market analyst at cnc. thanks for joining us. today, we have heard the central bank and the finance ministry is trying to prop up the ruble. what effect is that having on the markets? >> so far, we have seen the ruble appreciate against the u.s. dollar, and as mentioned coming off that record high of 80 rubles to the u.s. dollar. it does seem the central bank intervening in the market, as well as comments that russia would not to introduce capital controls, is generally seen as good for the free market approach to the situation. that was taken well as well. even though they might spend some currency outflows in the short-term, longer-term, it's not good for the viability of the economy.

>> is only a very slight uptick in those figures today. are we going to see the ruble recover further, do you think? >> the one benefit that russia has over the 1998 crisis, in which we some much larger swings, much larger depreciation relative to decline is that it has a lot larger foreign-currency reserves. it does have the capability of intervening to a massive tune that it did not really happy for. that is definitely a major factor in the market -- a major factor, and the market has not played into it so far, because they chose to keep the ruble in more fully the floating currency -- more freely floating currency. but if they are going to take this approach, this does limit how far it can go. >> what about the stock market? any effect from the changing value of the ruble?

>> european markets are recovering of it, just because obviously countries particularly germany, have massive trade with russia. europe relies on its energy imports. even though prices are coming down, it is generally a good for consumers. you don't want to see major trader partners -- trading partners in trouble. it will affect your business. it is a knock-on affect. we saw the stock market -- the effectiveness awkward is trading because of the russian crisis in the first place. >> and is there a connection to oil prices? it looked to be under $60 per barrel the last time i looked. you might have more recent figures. will we not see the ruble recover until we see prices go up? >> it is a direct correlation. there have been sanctions on the russian economy, which is why

russia is feeling the pain against some other oil exporting nations. but yes, it is tied to the price of oil. prices have stabilized some, and that has h