>> these are the headlines. the eu is still playing hardball with greece over its bailout. the greek prime minister goes to moscow for a high-profile trip with a vladimir putin. a white u.s. police man is charged with murder over the death of a black and. that is after amateur video shows the officer shooting the man in the back eight times as he is running away. and a bitter family feud at the heart of the french far right. current leader marine le pen tries to distance herself from her hard-line father and founder of the national front.

also coming up for you this hour, you need to spend it to make it. we will have details of the french government's plan to have businesses invest in themselves. and former british prime minister tony blair weighs in on the upcoming edition election -- british election. he has hard words for david cameron and his lands for a referendum on leaving the eu if his conservative party retains power. genie: the european union is still coming down hard on greece for its bailout program but greek prime minister alexis tsipras appears to be trying a new strategy. he is in moscow for a high-profile visit with russian president vladimir putin.

let's bring in chief for never robert person -- chief foreign editor robert persons. robert: it certainly seems to enter into a good just before tsipras left for moscow, he said that it was going nowhere. he called upon sanctions against russia and there have been numerous statements which have suggested that greece wants to change its policy towards the eu. so there is an element of that in it. in a way come i suppose this is greece poking the finger are truly in the gemini because relations have been so sour between the two of them. we have alternatives here. if things don't work out with the eu there are other people who might be prepared to help out. i think it is misguided thinking if he really does think that

because he has to seriously think about the conditions in the russian economy at the moment. moscow is extremely reluctant to pour money in greece or anywhere else. russia's own economy is shrinking in the region of 3.8% this year. so whatever alexis tsipras has to say that they come i don't think there's any chance at all that russia wants to bail out the greek economy. there are other areas agricultural ties between the two countries, where things might pick up. when the eu intersections pressure countered with sanctions of its own -- russia countered with sanctions of its own. but beyond that, perhaps a reduction of the gas price degrees, there is -- gas price to increase, there's

little rusher with you at this stage. genie: anything with regard to the eu and changing its image? rob: absolutely. putin's policy anywhere tends to be opportunistic. one can detect when he could do with the european union, to widen cracks where fishers of started to appear. he went to budapest not that long ago. with cyprus as well, the cypriot president was in moscow very recently. he was offered an extension to a loan on much more favorable terms that had hitherto been available. the policies to enter a trojan horse into brussels, to use the greeks and the cypriots and the hungarians to persuade the european union to back off on sanctions. genie: chief foreign editor rob parsons.

next to the united states, where a white south carolina police officer has been charged with the murder just hours after a dramatic amateur video came out reportedly showing him shooting a black man who was running away from him in the back. the officer initially said he fired in self-defense after the man tried to take his stun gun. more on the new video that tells a very different story. reporter: eight shots in the back. and that is not all. officer michael slager is then seen dropping something. cuffing walter scott's lifeless body. he has been charged with murder and his lawyer dropped him as a client. he faces life in prison and even the death penalty. the mayor of north charleston, south carolina, made the announcement. >> when you are wrong, you are wrong, and if you make a bad

decision, don't care if you are behind the shield or just a citizen on the street. you have to live by that decision. reporter: the incident took place on saturday where walter scott was told over for a broken tail light. for his family the video is the only reason the officer was and let off the hook. >> what if there was no video? what if there was no witness, or hero as i call him, to come forward? this wouldn't have happened. the initial report stated something totally different. the officer said mr. scott attacked him and took the taser and tried to use it on him. but somebody was watching. reporter: this shooting as to an already tense climate in the u.s. over the use of excessive force by police. after months of protests over white officers going unpunished for killing unarmed black man. genie: let's come back to

france, where a new family feud has exploded tween the leader of the french far right party, the national front, and her father. jean marie le pen is the founder of the extreme right wing movement but his stance has been more hardline than his daughter, marine le pen, who is carrying the extreme right party. father and daughter clashed a week ago after the senior le pen defended his past comments defending nazi gas chambers as "a detail of history." he insists he will run a regional election this year, propping his daughter to openly oppose him. let's bring in our french politics editor. have significant is that how significant is it? visit a family feud or something more? mark: it is both. a family feud, but if you'd about the values of the national front. jean marie le pen is the president of honor for life.

he is the founder and he likes to speak out. in recent months he has been propagating, specially talking on very sensitive issues about jews in the holocaust and gas chambers. he just gave an interview to a far right publication that is coming out on this day in which he criticizes the fact that the parties distancing itself from his beliefs on such issues. uses the word "traitor," saying "you are never betrayed as much as by her family." this morning marine le pen fired a statement saying he is taking parties hostage and this cannot be tolerated and he will not run for regional elections in the southeast region of france, where the party stands a good chance of winning. genie: macrc it is no surprise

that marine le pen has been trying to move the party more to the center since she took over four years ago. is this another move trying to cut loose her father to get to the middle ground? marc: absolutely. this is a very important moment because she has thought about this. it had been brewing. some people around her had been telling her, you should get rid of your father. she is attached to him, but she didn't dare to do so. because of his recent comments on the fact that he reaffirms them saying those who are not supporting the are traitors, she says sadly, he is taking the party hostage and i have to take that measure. i will not allow him to run for those regional elections. we will have to see his reaction and whether his knees -- niece, who is slated to replace him will accept the position. obviously, this is not looking good for the party.

but they certainly decided to have this fight now just after a fairly successful local election and still six months away from the next elections, where people might have forgotten about this nasty family feud. genie: thanks for that marc. next for you know, the u.s. says al qaeda is taking advantage of the current chaos in yemen to make gains on the ground. shiite rebels in yemen are making their way through the country and have already forced the president to flee. a coalition led by saudi arabia has been fighting back with airstrikes, with logistical help from the u.s. but in the meantime, the civilian death toll on the ground is rising. close to 550 has been killed in the past two weeks. dozens of them children. a closer look now. please be advised from some of the pictures in this report might be upsetting. reporter: flattened to the ground. this house some 70 kilometers

from sun was pounded by saudi airstrikes, killing several members of the family inside. the semi-that operation to push back the advance of houthi -- saudi-led operation to push back the advance of houthi rebels has civilians in the crossfire. children are victims. >> their children were in the position of my child, what would the response be? look at how awful our situation is right now. our children are burned like this and we are homeless. >> many of the cases today come from the to radical saudi airstrikes. there are -- they are 70-80% fatal. reporter: the red cross is due to send several tons of medical supplies. it has launched an appeal for aid. >> the humanitarian situation is

catastrophic and it is even worse for hospitals. bodies are sometimes left abandoned in the streets. reporter: the uss said it will expedite weapons deliveries and coordinate intelligence with the saudis. the offensive, which began on march 26, is targeting houthi positions all around the country after the militiamen overran sanaa, forcing president hadi to flee last month. genie: the islamic state group is continuing its advance through the yarmouk refugee camp in syria. that mean the palestinian camp sits just outside the capital, damascus. heavy street battles have broken out between the i.s. and fighters opposed to syrian president bashar al-assad. the fighting has added another layer of misery for the thousands of residents inside the camp, many of whom are lacking basic food, medicine and water. there is more from one "france 24" observer living inside. >> lots of people are staying at

home. families who live on the frontlines have fled further into the center of the camp, trying to escape the fighting and the shelling. others have left for other villages near the camp. they are fleeing the barrel bombs dropped by the regime helicopters, often after midnight. nowhere is safe anymore in yarmouk. shells and other missiles bombard the camp around us. the bombing doesn't focus on specific areas. people do what they can to eat to go to nearby villages and buy food in very limited oddities, just to be able -- very limited quantities and just to be able to have some to eat that day. people have no stocks of food left because the cap has been under siege for a long time. genie: let's take a look at our headlines. as the eu is still playing hardball with the greece over its bailout, the greek prime minister goes to moscow for a high-profile trip with vladimir

putin. a white u.s. police man is charged with murder over the death of a black man. amateur video seems to show the officer shooting a man in the back eight times as he is running away. and a bitter family feud at the heart of the french far right. current leader marine le pen to distance herself from her hard-line father and founder of the national front. time now for the day's business news. let's start in france from where the government has unveiled a new plan to push the economy. stephen: the idea is to encourage companies to spend more and make more. governments have tax incentives and financing help for french industry to invest in itself. they hope it will create much-needed growth and jobs. let's see what the prime minister has to say about the plan. pm vallis: we are making life

easier for businesses. in order to accelerate the economic recovery, we need to get rid of all the roadblocks and use all the tools at our disposal. investment is essential. stephen: our reporter is that the presidential palace when the plan was announced by the prime minister earlier. thanks for joining us. can you explain how this plan will work? reporter: essentially, it is a massive plan from the french government. they are going to give 2.5 billion euros in tax rebates over the next five years. investment in france is pretty flat while exports are up and consumer spending is up. in addition to the big tax rebates, companies will be allowed to write down 140% of the investments they make between now and next year. in addition to that, the public investment bank will see its funds go from 6 billion euros.

the ideas that they can enable these countries to upgrade machinery. some of the smaller firms will start hiring people again. the investment could lead to two economic activity and implement as well. -- employment as well. stephen: this is the latest in a string of pro-business policies from the socialist government in france. is there a sign that it is helping the economy? william: a lot of the reforms that the socialist government is putting in place, they might not see results until the medium-term. they are asking private companies to have confidence indent and invest today. we mentioned that investment is flat. this is a time when france is the second largest economy in the euro zone. we look at neighboring germany. they are investing less but having better returns. the question will be simply manuel valls wants french

companies to have confidence. he says the government has done its job to put in reforms. now the company sent to do their responsibility and their part and start hiring. stephen: all right, thank you. next, we're going to a mega merger in the oil industry. royal dutch shell has agreed to buy bg group in a deal worth the $70 billion. it is the biggest deal in the industry in over a decade and comes as companies try to cut forecasts as the price of crude tumbles. more on this, let's go to london and speak to the chief market analyst at cmc markets. thanks for joining us. this is an awful lot of money. what is in it for child? -- shell? michael: three words, liquefied natural gas. shell is in a bit of a restructuring program.

it has been offloading since the beginning of last year. a number of nonperforming assets. can't get away from the fact that the falling oil prices really corroded its capacity to generate profits, corroded its margins. in an acquiring bg group it is looking to diversify into what is probably going to be much cleaner fuel for the future. bg group is a world leader in liquefied natural gas. notwithstanding the fact that bg group has had significant problems of its own over the past 12 months. share prices are down quite significantly. the ceo of shell saw an opportunity it couldn't pass up. stephen: should we have seen this deal coming, given that oil prices have gone so low? michael: i certainly think so. there is insignificant chatter that some of the bigger oil companies may be looking to acquire some new assets were

distressed assets, if you like. if you look at the oil and grass -- gas sector over the past 12 months, bg group has been a significant underperformer in that sector. there is been talk that potentially bp could be an acquisition target. these mergers are not unknown in the oil and gas sector. in the 1990's, exxon mobil emerge with mobile. bp itself emerged with amoco. at the end of 1998, that exxon mobil merger was $73 billion. maybe this morning's actions by shell could be the catalyst for further acquisitions not only in the oil and gas sector but also possibly in the mining sector, because the mining sector, like the oil and gas sector, has been a significant underperformer over the last 14 to 18 months. stephen: very briefly, we've

seen a lot of deals in the last few days. shell and bg group. what is your next bet on what is behind this trend, do you think? michael: i certainly think the mining sector might be worth a look. glencore was talking about potential mergers. i don't think that is going to happen. if you look at the mining sector , there are been significant declines. potentially we could see php starting to look around for maybe some acquisitions over the course of the next few months. certainly plenty of cash around. interest rates are low. given the lack of margins because of low oil prices companies are under pressure from their shareholders to actually make nice returns. i think the acquisitions should

be the way forward to do that. stephen: we will coach you at sammy have a big deal. michael hewson, thanks for joining us. very quickly before we go, let's look at what is happening in the markets. midpoint of trading day. that deal helping to lift the london ftse 100. less optimistic picture in paris and record. genie: time now for the press review. genie: we focus on what papers are saying around the world. lots of papers are still focusing on the victims of last week's brutal attack in recep kenya -- garissa, kenya. reporter: absolutely, and last night the ceremony was held in nairobi to remember the victims of that al-shabaab attack. "the guardian" is reporting how

many people have taken to social media to commemorate those who died, humanizing them by sharing their stories also lots of them are using #147notjustanumber. 147 was the number of victims. now it is 148, but this is the number that is stuck in the media. and also #theyhavenames. they are honoring the victims by sharing photos and stories of them. this 1, 21 years old, and you can see one of the details is that her dream was to be a teacher. there are so many of these tweets and each one takes a powerful portrait of loss. genie: such a tragic story. and nigerian cartoonist also paid tribute as well. florence: he pays to be to the victims and also lashes out against certain indifference

that he sees in the international community. you can see a drawing of an islamist scratching his head saying "if you break a statue, the whole planet reacts. if you massacre 147 students nobody cares." this is a reference to the outcry over the islamic state group destroying artifacts in iraq. other papers focusing on the indifference they see from the international community. there is an article that focuses on that today that says that here in france, the kenya attack was barely a top story in many news channels. it was quickly overshadowed by other news. it is hard not to compare what happened in the wake of the "charlie hebdo" attacks in january. at that time the whole world took to the streets to pay tribute to the victims. you can see the headline here "are kenyans condemned to die in indifference?" genie: let's go to the united

states, where there is a lot of focus on a white south carolina police officer who is charged with murder after amateur video appears showing him shooting a man in the back. florence: it is getting a lot of attention. this is about the 33-year-old police officer michael slager charged with murder after video emerged allegedly showing him shooting a 50-year-old unarmed black man named walter scott. several papers are focusing on how this incident comes in the wake of several other in in the united states. this is an article in "the daily beast" talking about that could several instances of what lies -- white police officers using force against unarmed black men could we saw that with michael brown and eric garner. what is different in this case is that the police officer was really charged with a crime, murder in this case. but you can see the headline, it talks about how walter scott's killing is every black man's

that you're about white cops and very much proof that there needs to be a national debate about police brutality in the united states. genie: let's go back to france. many people talking about the suicide of a former french politician. florence: lots of emotion in the french media today. he wasn't necessarily very well done by the general public, but he was the mayor of a big city in france for almost 20 years and he was a respected elected official, and his death has sent a shockwave through the french political class. you can see it this front page talking about the tragic death. he was found yesterday after failing to show up at the start of the trial for complicity in the misappropriation of public funds. he has always claimed his innocence in this affair and said that he had been manipulated, and he reportedly left behind a suicide note wiki announced this is the met -- where he denounced the

systematic hunting down of politicians. and the editorial today is outraged about his "tragic unfair death," and it lashes out about what he calls "the inhumanity of the judicial machinery can grind a man up to a pulp." this paper talking about "the cynical attitude in the press and also shared by the general public." that is the attitude "that suggests that all politicians are more or lessñ?ñ?ñ?ñ?ñ?ñ?ñ?8ú