e way forward on the future of ukraine. the u.s. has yet to rule out military support to kiev. dominique strauss-kahn takes the stand. a blow to the minister of india as an upstart anticorruption party wins a local state election in a landslide. the value of the swiss franc is hurting big companies.

it has left many people unable to pay their home loans in eastern europe. we hear from those most affected in romania. a ruling in the case of two families whose babies were switched at birth 20 years ago. they has been awarded nearly 2 million euros in compensation and france. more on the psychological impact later. first, top stories. first, german chancellor angela merkel has stopped in the u.s. and canada for top-level talks on ukraine. u.s. president barack obama has yet to rule out sending weapons to help ukraine.

there has been renewed fighting around the eastern ukrainian town of debeltseve as rebels push to seize it before talks in minsk. sean in moscow. the only thing the russians seem to have agreed to is to keep talking. what is the likelihood anything concrete will come from tomorrow? >> we've had a lot of talk before. all the way back to the cease-fire in minsk. there was a lot of hope that the fighting was finally over. it never really held. in the last few weeks we have seen an escalation into something approaching all-out war. on the ground at the moment there is intense fighting as the rebels advance to take over the town of debeltseve. we heard of a ukrainian advance further south. perhaps in a perverse way that

gives us some hope both sides are expecting that after today a line will be frozen so they need to take as much as they can. at the same time, being realistic, there are so many unsolved issues in terms of what each side wants, even if we see a temporary cease-fire in men's, turning that into a lasting political settlement that all sides are happy with is going to be a real challenge. genie: what if washington decides to supply weapons to kiev? what kind of reaction with that prompt from russia? shaun: two schools of thought. we are seeing that in a debate over whether or not to send arms to ukraine. one set of people, angela merkel and many europeans are in the camp saying if you arm the ukrainians that is going to force the russians to double down. you are going to see a proxy war.

the russians care about this more than the last so we have to avoid a military solution or it will escalate. the other side of things especially republicans and even some democrats in the u.s., they say the only thing vladimir putin respects is forced. we need to increase the cost russian soldiers going home in body bags is going to stop putin. it is difficult to call. people are not really sure whether this will stop the russians or whether it would redouble their energies. genie: shot-blocker -- shaun a walker in moscow. vladimir putin will be in minsk tomorrow but now he is in egypt. boko haram militants have launched attacks near that native nigeria. they found a border town in niger killing five people. and launched attacks in neighboring cameroon,

kidnapping a bus full of passengers to boko haram boko haram has killed thousands and kidnapped hundreds in a bid to impose rule in the region. questions to who is the mastermind behind the group. it is thought to be a man named abubakr shekau. forces have claims to have killed him already and little is known about the man. >> debeltseve, is -- abubakar shekau, is this him? forces have claimed to kill the leader but him or someone claiming to be hand has resurfaced. the group is becoming increasingly radical under his leadership. launching attacks in nigeria and more recently over its borders.

when oklahoma and abducted 200 school closed -- when boko haram abducted 200 school girls, it was shekau who appeared on video threatening to sell them into slavery. getting in line with the islamic state organization. declaring a regional caliphate months after abu bakr al bagdahdhi did the same in iraq. they currently control the northeast of nigeria. they appear to have given shekau confidence despite moves to create a regional forced to take on boko haram, the islamist leaders poured on scorn. he vowed to take whatever came their way, saying his group never grows up to fight africa

but the whole world. genie: in france, dominique strauss-kahn taking the stand overcharges he is linked to a prostitution ring. the former head of the imf is one of 14 people on trial. strauss-kahn has three days to give his version of events in the hope of convincing judges he did not know his partners were prostitutes brought in by friends. the man who was once thought to be the next french president. an abrupt welcome at the courthouse. 3 topless women from femen rushed to his car, screaming insults before they were pulled off at the police. more on his day in court. >> he has not appeared at the trial in lille since it opened at the beginning of last week. now, dominique strauss-kahn has 3 days to convince judges he was unaware that his sexual partners were prostitutes being paid for by his friends. along with 13 other businessman

and a former police chief, dsk is charged with aiding and assisting the prostitution of 7 women. a charge that can get you 10 years in prison in france. strauss-kahn says he is simply a libertine, not a pimp. one of the organizers of the sex parties backeed this up. >> i think that is the case. he did not want to make him feel that, he said they were secretaries for his company. he never said they were prostitutes. >> two former prostitutes have testified the former imf boss knew why they were there. anti-prostitution campaigners a great. -- agree. >> we will see everything next three days during strauss-kahn's

questioning whether it is credible that a former imf director general, a qualified professor and finance minister of could be lacking in the lucidity to thinking that all these women were only there because of his power of seduction. >> now 4 years since strauss-kahn settled out of court with a new york hotel worker who accused him of attended rape. genie: in the latest from the trial, dominique strauss-kahn denied both knowing the women were prostitutes as well as what he called wild activity, adding that the sex parties he did go to were rare. in france there has been a ruling in the incredible case of the two families whose babies were switched at birth 20 years ago. they have been awarded nearly 2 million euros in compensation. the court ordered the clinic at the center of the next up in the riviera town of cannes to pay

that amount. six times less than what the families call for. the mixup happened when a nurse switched the girls who were in an incubator for jaundice. the father of one of the families had doubts but it was not until he did a dna test 10 years later that the story came to light. we will be talking more about that with a psychologist here on france 24. stay tuned. nnow to hong kong, a housewife and mother of two risks up to seven years in jail after she was found guilty of abusing her maid. a hong kong court handed down the verdict over a year after law wan-tung was arrested for abuse. the maid escaped to indonesia last year. [shouting] >> arriving at court, demanding justice. the indonesian maid who was starved and beaten by her hong

kong employer. it did not take long for the hong kong court to return its verdict. she was happy with the result. >> thank you. [indiscernible] >> she says the case sparked outrage when she posted photos of injuries she sustained from her employee to her face, legs and hands covered in scads and lacerations. reminders of her abuse. indonesia's president at the time called it torture. the woman responsible kept in the profile at court. law wan-tung was found guilty of 18 of the 20 charges laid against her from previous bodily harm to criminal intimidation could the court heard how law wan-tung jammed a vacuum cleaner tube in erwiana sulistyaningsih's mouth and

threatened to kill her relatives. she failed to pay wages and refused her time off. for hong kong, home to some three hundred thousand for domestic helpers, be verdict sent a clear message. >> the message should be brought home that if you live in a society where you are fortunate enough to be able to employ domestic helpers, they will still protect you by the law. >> law has been ordered to pay over $6,000 to erwiana sulistyaningsih. she will be sentenced later this month after psychological testing. genie: in india, narendra modi hit with a blow after an anticorruption party won the state election in delhi. by a landslide. >> celebrating a landslide victory. supporters of the aam aadmi party or common man party, have much to cheer about. their antiestablishment party

lodged just over two years ago and crushed the ruling bjp party in the indian capital. >> i think -- they are going to write a chapter in the history of politics. for common people. >> standing for us. it is our duty to support him. >> the head of the party, arvind kejriwal is a former tax inspector. the self-proclaimed anarchist campaigned on anticorruption policies. the delhi results are a major upset to prime minister narendra modi. he has enjoyed high ratings since his own landslide victory in national elections last year. the loss could be a setback for his bjp party as they try to push their reforms. after his bjp candidate conceded modi tweeted congratulations, spoke to arvind kejriwal, congratulated him on the win. he assured the support in the development of delhi.

delhi is a small state the bjp's loss could help their chance -- could hurt their chances in another state later this year. the party is banking on state elections to gain seats in the national parliament/ genie: world leaders say diplomacy is the way forward on ukraine. the u.s. has yet to completely rule out military support to kiev. disgraced imf chief dominique strauss-kahn takes the stand in a bid to convince judges he was not at the core of a prostitution ring. a blow to the prime minister of india as a party wins a local state election in a landslide. time for a look at the day's business news. let's start talking about the swiss franc causing problems for a few people and companies.

>> not least of which is ubs which reports today. it is cutting its earnings forecast because of the strong value of this was bank -- this was frank, which soared 20% last month you ubs saw profits rise 13%. warning over potential litigation sent shares down today in trading in zurich. down 3%. not just companies that are suffering. money in poland, hungary and romania take out swiss franc mortgages in an effort to take advantage of low interest rates. the stronger franc has left many unable to make payments. >> it seemed like a good idea how the time. lured by low interest rates homeowners were encouraged to take out mortgages in swiss francs. buyers across europe, especially

eastern europe, are facing skyrocketing payments after switzerland unpegged its currency from the europe. this family has seen their equity wiped out and are struggling to pay the interest. i have thought about it and i think i am about to lose the house. id -- i do not have any other options. 740 francs means 3,000 romanian lei. >> the bank is considering a loan extension. >> the national bank asking to assist clients and do what they can to help on a case-by-case basis. >> in hungary, nearly half of all households took out swiss franc mortgages. the hungarian government ordered

lenders to convert loans into hungarian forints the move and post losses on the banks and was heavily criticized by the banking sector. poland and romania are still debating what to do. they rolled out a hungarian solution for now. genie: let's talk about greece. getting an inkling of what the government might propose. >> leaders are not optimistic about a greek deal. finance ministers will meet in brussels and this is the idea we have got of the proposals greece will be putting on the table. a bridging loan to keep greece afloat until september. the government wants to scrap a third of the reforms, replacing with 10 reforms from the oecd. greece once a smaller budget

surplus that they have currently committed to and they want some form of debt relief, most likely in the form that finance minister yanis varoufakis proposed. angela merkel said she would wait and see. >> the three institutions of the troika the ecb the eu commission, and the imf have a great on programs. these are the basis of any discussion we have. i've always said i will wait for greece to compensate sustainable -- to come with a sustainable proposal and then we will talk. >> let's start in athens, a more optimistic day on the markets compared to the fall we have seen. the athens ase up today.

bankshares recouping some losses after the huge files in recent days. worries over greece as well as ukraine waiting on the markets. london ftse 100 in the red. among the shares is the bank hsbc down for a second date in the wake of the swiss revelations that the bank helped wealthy clients evade taxes. investors worrying about new investigations from the u.s. or the u.k. we will have to wait and see what developments come out of that. genie: the falling price of oil has been moving the market. a rebound seems to be on the way. >> we've seen the oil price creep up after the massive fall we have seen over the past six months of 50%. almost $58 on the brent crude index. the international energy agency says it's cuts as well as the reduction in drilling is

spurring the rebound and prices. it says the u.s. will continue to be the top source of oil supply growth until 2020. that will not be good news for opec, they like to keep dominance in this area. genie: speaking of dominance the geniuses behind the kim kardashian app have another hit. >> a company has signed a deal with katy perry to create a game based on her image. it is a five-year deal. the company already had success with its kim kardashian ap whaich allows users to experience kim kardashian's lifestyle almost $73 million in the last few months. people are really in the idea of a mobile app based around a celebrity. not sure what they are going to do with katy perry. i am hoping it involves the sharks from the super bowl.

genie: i like the golden lion, too. thank you. time for press review. ♪ let's start with the focus from around the world. papers following up on what has been called the swiss lea ks. >> i have pulled an article from the independent. the headline sums up what papers are wondering, is the hsbc leak a global scandal or a storm in a swiss teacup? lots of international papers suggest it is a global scandal. figures are breathtaking. according to the documents leaked in le monde, between 2006 and 2070 swiss branch of hsbc helped clients conceal 180 billion euros from tax

authorities. the guardian has been one of a dozen media outlets to be publishing these details. it will continue to publish them through the week. calling it the biggest banking leak in history. a zoom on the front page, the guardian is focusing on a man named stephen green. he was the boss of hsbc from 2006-2010. during the period covered by the leak. the front page says this is stephen green. the bank boss made a minister by david cameron eight months after the authorities were told about wrongdoing on his watch. genie: the guardian has a profile of stephen green, who emerged from the financial crisis with a reputation as a banker. >> very interesting reputation. in the guardian they talk about the boss, the banker. minister priest. stephen green is an ordained church of england minister. the article describes how he

encouraged his image as an ethical banker. in 2009 he published a book called good value reflections on money morality and an uncertain world. he says business leaders should not just behave legally but ethically. going beyond what you can get away with. the guardian's all this means g -- green is going to have awkward questions. genie: guardian focuses on hillary clinton. >> another focus in the guardian. according to the files the charity that is run by hillary clinton and her family received as much as $81 million from 7 wealthy individuals or clients at the controversial swiss branch of hsbc. one of these wealthy donors is

getting a lot of attention. that is the british businessman richard. there is one photo of him and bill clinton getting a lot of attention. you can read about it in the daily mail. you can see them at a fundraiser here. richard paid $1 million to the clinton foundation, bill clinton dressed up as a russian general. this photo is getting a lot of attention. and a lot of papers are saying this is embarrassing for hillary clinton. rumor has it that she has her eyes on the presidential election in the u.s.. genie: in france, focusing on the fight against tax havens. >> e 180 billion euros in the swiss case are actually just a drop in the ocean. you can see here they are focusing on the global level. the figures are dizzying. we are talking about 20 trillion

euros allegedly hidden from tax authorities across the world. a global level. points out that since the 2008 economic crisis there has been a movement to standardize laws against tax evasion. it says we have, some way but there is a lot to be done. genie: another big story, the former imf chief dominique strauss kahn testifying over his alleged role in a prostitution ring. >> getting a lot of attention. this paper likens today to an oral exam for strauss-kahn. he's accused of instigating parties where he allegedly knew that prostitutes wew. that is -- prostitutes were. that is what he will be answering today. he could face 10 years in prison. there is an article by a

political commentator who says whether orc

e is one of the world's most acclaimed musicians. a man comfortable in his mastery of standard classics american bluegrass, and traditional chinese tunes. and as we'll see, a musician who has inspired a new philosophy of education worldwide. i'm mike walter in los angeles. let's take it "full frame."