t the king of saudi arabia had died, a number of foreign leaders gathered for a funeral service and burial. the late king was wrapped in a simple shroud and was then placed in an unmarked grave, signifying that all people, even kings, are equal in death.

>> a simple burial in an unmarked grave -- this is the final resting place of king abdullah of saudi arabia, one of the richest men in history. local custom believes ostentatious signals of mourning to be a sin. saudi arabia's newly crowned king wasted no time and announcing a successor. >> the ruling decrees came one after another, not only making changes in the cabinet, but also and most importantly of pointing the new error apparent to the heir apparent. i was not surprised that he was appointed. i was surprised by the speed in which this was done. that indicates to me that the ruling family wants to make sure that there is no crisis, no succession crisis for the

foreseeable future. >> at 79 years old famine -- salman is the seventh ruler of saudi arabia. he is one of the royal sub clan, known as hard-working fundamentalist leaders. many predict he will continue in the footsteps of his half-brother. days before his mother's death, he addressed the council for the first time, speaking of unprecedented challenges facing the kingdom, including conflict in iraq and yemen as well as falling oil prices. those low prices lead to the biggest deficits in saudi arabia in history at over 3 billion euros in 2014. >> from beijing to washington to the swiss outs, leaders from across the globe have been paying tribute to the late king abdullah of saudi arabia, who ruled almost exactly one decade.

>> a mild reformer back home and an ally of the west -- that's how dozens of world leaders and diplomats have described king abdullah the day after his death. many are clustered at the swiss ski resort davos for the world economic forum. the head of the arab league when it adopted the so-called abdullah plan, when it attempted to propose relations between israel and arab states. >> to stand up and to introduce a peace process for the middle east. >> the white house praised the late king for his efforts to

wring better relations between his country, the world's biggest oil exporter and the u.s. india's prime minister said on twitter and important voice had been lost, but as the tributes came in, amnesty international pointed to the saudi arabia and regime's dismal human rights record. >> the saudi arabia and regime seems insensitive to human rights and human dignity. watch nutley, they are also protected by many western countries because -- unfortunately, they are protected by any western countries because they have oil and they have allies in the fight against terrorism. in fact, by doing many of the thing saudi arabia does, you are breeding terrorism, not fighting it. >> the shia and sunni powers in the middle east do not always see eye to eye, but the iran -- iran's foreign ministers expected to go to riyadh for an official ceremony on saturday. >> a french aid worker who was kidnapped in the central french

african republic has been released. the minister gave no further details about her release but thank the authorities particularly the city's archbishop the capital, for helping secure her release. for roughly a year, the central african republic has been embroiled in sectarian violence between christians and muslims. allowing on from the resignation of the country's president, yeldon is drifting deeper into political limbo. president stepped down on thursday following the takeover of large areas of his country including the capital, but shia muslim rebels. -- by shia muslim rebels. >> a day after the president announced his resignation, yemen slipped deeper into political chaos. worried residents in the capital picked up friday's paper with headlines asking who the president was. houthi rebels surrounded the

president's home this week, rendering him a virtual prisoner. >> frankly, the situation we are currently living in a state of fear and horror. >> the country is in a political vacuum. we urge authorities to hold a national meeting which includes all the political groups in yemen with the aim of forming a military counsel so the country does not slip into chaos. >> the current instability in yemen has also fueled concerns far away in washington. the u.s. relied on the president's cooperation to conduct drone strikes on the yemeni branch of al qaeda. a political analyst at a group used the situation to further expand in yemen process. >> al qaeda could grow, and they flourish in areas that see instability, that see total chaos. >> the president's sudden resignation has cut the country off guard. yemen's parliament is scheduled to meet on sunday. they will decide to either wrist

-- accept or reject his decision. >> authorities in lebanon -- reporters say that fighting broke out earlier today between the army and gunmen close to the country's eastern frontier with syria. speaking off the record, when security officials said that nine militants and three soldiers have been killed in the firefight. not immediately clear if the militants along to any of the syria-based jihadist groups. staying in lebanon, hundreds of protesters took to the streets of the northern city of tripoli earlier on today to protest against french satirical magazine charlie hebdo, which depicted as satirical picture of the prophet mohammed in its latest issue. government forces fired warning shots and tear gas to disperse those crowds, which chanted, "down with charlie." pakistan and iran also saw large protests.

when a victory jihadist gunmen who carried out the attacks in paris are earlier on this month was to be buried at a conservatory around 20 kilometers south of the french capital. his country of origin was mali, but they refused to accept his body. he killed a policewoman and for hostages between the seventh and ninth of january before being shot dead in a standoff with police. he has been buried in an unmarked grave to prevent it from becoming a side of pilgrimage for extremist. officials in tokyo say they are still working to secure the release of two japanese hostages cope being held by the islamic state organization. the men were captured in syria last year. on tuesday, the militant group says that a ransom of 200 million u.s. dollars was not paid within 72 hours, both men would be killed. >> a mother's plea as the deadline to pay ransom for her

journalist son passes. >> please, japan, save my son's life. people of the islamic state, kenji is not your enemy. please please him. >> with no immediate word from the hostage takers, the status remains unknown. the country stresses it will not back to terrorism, though it's not clear if the country creed to pay the jihadist the $200 million ransom -- if the country agreed to pay. >> our policy remains that we will not yield to terrorism. and we will work together with the related nations in our fight against terrorism. >> according to the islamic state group, a statement

regarding the two men will soon be released. >> france's top court ruled earlier on today that a franco moroccan man convicted for conspiring to commit acts of terror can be stripped of his french nationality. the case paved the way for more people with jihadist ties to have their citizenship taken away from them. the policy has triggered considerable debate here in france. >> a ruling that is likely to have a greater impact as france ups its fight against terrorism. france's constitutional counsel has upheld a government decision to strip a franco moroccan man of his french citizenship. he became a french citizen in 2003. 10 years later, he was convicted and sentenced to seven years in jail on terror-related charges. in may--- in may 2014, the government stripped him of his passport.

under the law, dual nationals could have their citizenship revoked if convicted of terror acts. this is only possible within the first teen years of receiving french nationality or in the first 15 years after a terror conviction. revoking a person's citizenship is extremely rare and rants, and the law has only been applied eight times in the past 17 years. men will likely now be extradited to morocco where he risks being handed a longer sentence. >> despite diplomatic efforts to end the violence there are fresh signs of a major rebel offensive looming in the east of ukraine. pro-russian rebels announced a short while ago they are going with a multipronged offensive against kiev government troops. officials say there has been a surge in russian backed rebels in the area as well as an increase in the amount of equipment being sent there. we go to the region for the latest. >> at the moment, the rebels

control about a third of the territory of the region. i'm in the part north of donetsk that is still controlled by kiev . today, the vet to retake all of the area of the region that the separatists and even the entirety of the donetsk region. they have already started. certainly, they started pummeling with their artillery ukrainian positions just to the north and west of the air force which the ukrainians had to abandon. when village in particular is reportedly suffering heavy bombardment. we can pretty much confirmed that the bombardment continued very intensely today. there were rumors, particularly being spread by pro-russian twitterverse that the pro-russian forces had made

advances into the ukrainian territory of various other points, sometimes quite impressive advances he and proclaimed, but we have not been able to confirm those. but certainly there is an atmosphere of tension and apprehension among ordinary residence here and the ukrainian military and police and the part of the region controlled by ukraine. >> reporting there from the east of ukraine. high-definition photographs taken by the european rosetta space probe have revealed fresh details about particles found on the surface of comets. scientists say the new data show the comets harbor some of the building blocks of life. it's that the some of them are basically frozen leftovers from the formation of a planet more than 4 billion years ago. let's listen to some expert views on what the significance is of these discoveries. >> we don't really know how the worked but now we're starting

to understand. we know there are lots of things in common is getting off like dust, gases, and water vapor and though substances are most likely leaving the, on a regular basis. >> there you go. something about that you did not know until now. let's get a recap of our top stories -- laid to rest. leaders gather in saudi arabia for the burial of king abdullah. the country's new king calls for unity. yemen faces a dangerous power vacuum after the country's president is forced to step down. and no end in sight -- rebels in eastern ukraine turn their backs on a piece deal with kiev, sparking rush concerns of a major offense at -- fresh concern of a major offenseive. let's begin with what is very much a top news story -- the election set to take place this weekend increased. >> yes, the big story inside

greece and outside greece, trying to figure out what investors and markets will do in the outcome to this election. the standoff could be triggered with the european union and imf lenders and push the country close to bankruptcy or an exit from the eurozone. in the run up to the polls greeks have been anticipating a dramatic change in the school policy. >> with an eye on victory in the polls over the last two years the party has moved away from their hard left rhetoric adopting a more conciliatory stance on europe yet, sticking to one major message -- austerity must end. they want brussels to renegotiate greek debt with a view to canceling a large part of it. but they also say they will raise the minimum wage from 586 to 750 one euros per month

provide energy and food coupons to 300,000 households, and raise the tax-free income threshold from 5000 to 12,000 euros per year. for some analysts, there are doubts the party will gain enough seats to govern. >> it's mainly a question of if the leadership will be able to deal also with other voices within the party itself and if these parties will be able to form an agenda with other coalition partners. >> whoever takes the helm, the next greek government faces considerable challenges. it will have to push on with reforms, tackle week growth, and secure the next loan from the troika. >> were trying to make do with a third of the money we are used to, and we are happy with that because they made us become accustomed to having nothing.

>> with over a quarter of greeks hit by unemployment, many are getting by with close to nothing. >> the death of saudi arabia's king also being felt in the financial world, and a lot of questions as to which direction the country will go moving forward. 90% of its budget is saudi arabia. oil prices saw a slight increase as markets were betting there might be a change in strategy. the saudi prince tried to convey a message of stability, which saw prices pare their earlier gains. markus karlsson is in davos. >> in 2014 it is the highest in

the last 30 years. one of very big with. second it demands growth because of the slowing growth economy in china. weak economic growth in europe. we have seen the collapse of oil prices. i should tell you that we in's -- we expect the investment in oil is going to decline this year 15%, which is very high of the previous year, which would push the production down and lower oil prices means lower government prices, and this will push the up, and thereby expect towards the end of this year there will be upward pressure on the prices.

so these prices may well move upward towards the end of this year. >> when you say they will move upward, to what kind of levels? will they return to where they were before, above $100 a barrel? >> i would not be surprised. but definitely, the current prices of $45 or so is not a sustainable level with the production of oil in most parts of the world. >> what do you think the new normal will be in terms of prices looking ahead? >> by law, i cannot give you a number, but i can tell you many places in the world, seeing this price level, it's not sustainable. >> lower energy prices also making their effect on wall street. u.s. stocks are mainly down due to economic data and poor earnings. the dow jones down .5% as the s&p 500 down a little over .3%.

nasdaq trading up. donald's reporting a decline in quarterly sales -- mcdonald's reporting a decline in quarterly sales. meanwhile, the euro continued its fall against the greenback today, sliding to an 11-year low. it's now trading at $1.12, down about 1%. this is after the ecb announcement of more than one trillion euro stimulus plan to be launched beginning in march. earlier, the u.s. treasury secretary on friday had said that a stronger u.s. dollar is not only good for americans but with the rest of the world. it's an interesting strategy because as we move forward, we are seeing some of these central banks invest in a lower currency. >> thank you very much indeed for that. time for us to turn our eye to what is happening online. web news is up next on "france 24."

>> hello there, and welcome to the web news. coming up on today show, facebook is cracking down on viral hoaxes. the movie "american sniper" sparks controversy. in a statement posted to its official blog on tuesday, they's book announced plans to crack down on false or misleading stories. the decision comes after a growing number of requests from social networkers who were that up with seeing their newsfeed inundated with bogus stories or links to hoaxes and scams. so the company will between getting its newsfeed software and says it will be giving users the option to strike things as a also new story via a drop-down

menu on each post. if a lot of ace bookers -- if a lot of ace book -- facebookers market, it will not be removed entirely but a warning will appear in forming uses it may contain false information. facebook's move to attack the spread of misinformation has been warmly received online. web users have been saying it was high time the social network took steps to combat this type of content. many have pointed out that given the rate at which false information appears on the site, there's a lot of work ahead. released in the u.s. in january 15 the film "american sniper" took in over $100 million at the box office in one weekend and continues to draw strong

audiences, but a movie based on the autobiography of u.s. soldier chris kyle, who was deployed to iraq, has sparked lively debate with some users condemning the blockbuster's the pension of war. it has been slammed by critics as pro-war propaganda, outrageously glorifying the u.s. army. detractors say the movie glosses over certain questions raised during the iraq war and accusations of unethical conduct on the battlefield upset some u.s. soldiers. it is described by many as racist and cowardly. in a lot of scenes, the film's protagonist is shown killing unarmed civilians. some on social networks say he is nothing more than a bloodthirsty killer. bradley cooper, who plays the main character, has responded in an interview with "the daily

beast," rejecting the accusations and says "american sniper" focuses on a soldier struggling with the emotional impact of killing and is in no way seeking to legitimize the war in iraq. german web users have been posting after a photo emerged online showing the head of germany's anti-immigration and so-called anti-islamization movement pegida posing with hitler-style hair and mustache. the image has sparked mass outrage. he has announced to be stepping down from his political responsibilities. the wright brothers made the very first successful flight and a cell-propelled heavier than air aircraft in 1983. this info graphic available on the bbc website boasted the greatest turning points in aviation.

the first commercial airline flight in 1918. the document also looks at more recent development like the creation of the first military unmanned aircraft 20 years ago. r&b girl group tlc is reaching out to web users for help in funding their and final album -- their fifth and final album. the ladies were very popular back in the 1990's and have since encountered all kinds of disappointment, losing their record label along the way. the project has been hugely popular. they raised $150,000 in just a few days already smashing the target.

a compilation of the most spectacular moments shared with web users during 2014. a close look at this video.

m pacifica this is democracy now! >> there is no president, there is no vice president, there is no prime minister, there is no. what is your take on the situation realizing this is just happening? >> correct, just happen. we've seen the report. our team is seeking confirmation of all of the reports. we continue to support a peaceful transition. >> of people on