o be closing in on the town of hot sec a -- of hasakeh. if captured, it would be yet another capital to fall into jihadist hands. we cross to our regional correspondent, adam platz, who joins me from beirut.

adam, walk us through what we know at this point. adam: just within the last few minutes, we have been in contact with a kurdish general on the front lines in the city of hasakeh. the islamic state group has been able to get into the southern parts of the city, around the fringe, so they are in the city proper. kurdish fighters control the north of the city still. government forces are fighting in the south, and he tells us according to his accounts, some of the government forces have been fleeing that -- fleeing their positions. what we knew before, as many as 160 people have been killed in the last five days including 71 regime soldiers, 78 isis fighters, and 43 islamic state group fighters and members of their families who were killed in bombings south of the city, south of the fighting itself.

there are many thousands of people who fled the city displacing from the south to the north, others leaving the entire area and moving across into turkey where syrian officials speak anonymously and say at least 3000 people have crossed over into turkey. even with the imminent threats of the islamic state group at the doors of hasakeh iranian forces, and the syrian army, are not cooperating on the front lines together, still sticking to their own parts of town. molly: that being said, if indeed the city does fall to the extremist group, it would be yet another setback for both the syrian regime and the us-led coalition in terms of preventing isis from gaining ground. adam: absolutely. this would be the second

provincial capital that has fallen to the islamic state group. the first being rocca -- raka, in the north of syria. but then in the northwest, the newly formed army of conquest, forms this year, a coalition of islamist opposition rebel fighters, fighting groups have also taken the capital city. altogether, if the city were to fall, the opposition now holds three out of 14 provincial capitals. and ineffectively government forces are now looking increasingly -- are now increasingly restricted to the far western areas of syria, with very little presence in eastern areas. but it is the west, the most populated area of syria, with the largest cities. even that area is increasingly under threat. a city like homs is west of helm

era, which of course the islamic -- of palm era -- of palmyra. molly: adam pletts recording -- reporting from beirut. from petro poroshenko after a surge of violence in eastern ukraine, at least 26 were killed. one of the worst outbreaks of violence since the february cease-fire was signed. with more, here is our correspondent. >> the fragile truth in minsk -- minsk seems closer than ever to collapsing. with talk to the cease-fire agreement giving way to that of military offensives. >> the cease-fire has already been violated because they are showing at us, and we cannot

just sit here in trenches. we can only go forward and forward and forward. i am not the only one saying this. everyone is talking about this. >> wawrinka is on the -- marinka -- both sides blame each other for starting. resting on the road to the town come ukrainian soldiers say the rebels struck first. an opinion shared by the osce. they are tracking large troop movements in the area. >> if i understand things right, the separatists have amassed their troops and tried to find weak spots in our defense. today, they hit marinka. they do not have sufficient forces like they did. the situation of the front is different now. >> the ukrainian side is resting

-- is missing advances. the ukrainians -- molly: now to a major hacking in washington. the u.s. government has admitted the personal data of at least 4 million federal employees was accessed i hackers. the breach is suspected of coming from china, but beijing embassy in beijing's embassy in washington denies that. haxie meyers-belkin has the details. haixie: a data hack at the heart of the u.s. government. the personal information of 4 million current and former federal workers has been compromised in the latest of a series of information breaches in the country. first detected in april, it was confirmed by investigators the following month. two federal entities were targeted specifically, the office of personnel management and the department of the

interior. the office of personnel management is the human resources arm of the federal government area they conduct background checks and security clearances. according to its website, the opm conducts more than 90% of such investigations. it is feared the stolen information could be used to impersonate or blackmail federal employees with access to sensitive information. "the washington post" is reporting that u.s. officials are pointing the figure at hackers in china, and one private security firm is linking the opm intrusion to the same chinese cyber espionage group that hacked the health insurance giant anthem earlier this year. a spokesperson at the chinese embassy in washington has dismissed the accusations as irresponsible and counterproductive. molly: nigerian authorities say at least 31 people died in thursday possible last in the northeast. an explosion ripped through a

busy market in the town of eula, and 38 people are being -- in the town of yola, and 38 people are being treated for injuries. yola has suffered attacks in the past. however, it has recently been spared violence. ghana will observe three days of mourning starting monday after over 150 people were killed during a gas station explosion in the capital. officials say flooding carried fuel into a nearby fire that led to the disaster, and poor infrastructure is being blamed for the high number of casualties. the country's president says he will boost funding for rebuilding in the capital. here is our correspondent with more. >> charred remains are all that is left after a deadly fire destroyed this filling station. dozens of people had sought shelter there as well as nearby shops to escape the torrential

rains and flooding that paralyzed akra. investigators say floodwaters carried fuel from the station to a nearby fire at a truck terminal, triggering the explosion that also set alight nearby buildings. >> it was able to run from the filling station and they fought the fire from there. >> officials say the flooding hampered rescue efforts. many bodies were burned beyond recognition. ghana president described the loss of life as catastrophic and almost unprecedented. he has announced three days of national mourning to begin on monday. he is also vowing to take tough measures to stop people building on waterways, which appear to have been a factor in this disaster. molly: in china, the sunken cruise ship has been turned up

right on the yanks to river -- on the yantgzte river. the doomed vessel went down in stormy weather on monday night of this week. there is mounting frustration among the relatives of the missing over a lack of information. they are demanding the government release the names of those who survived and who died. the official death toll stands at 103. now here in france, and ian the of life case is making -- and end of life is making headlines. vincent lambert has been in a vegetative state since 2008, and his wife says he would not have wanted to have been kept alive on machines. his parents oppose him being removed, and in light of the ruling, his mother has vowed to continue fighting for her son. our correspondent has the story. >> brain-damaged and confined to

a hospital bed for the last seven years, 38-year-old frenchman vincent lambert has been kept alive by machines since a car accident in 2008. his wife wants to switch off life support, saying it is what he would want. the european court of human rights agrees. in a landmark ruling, it said such a decision does not violate human rights laws in europe. >> there is no relief. there is no joy to express. he is an expression of one of us and we he would like -- we would like his wish to be fulfilled. >> lambert's parents have been staunchly opposed to end the his life support for years. they say their son is not dying. >> it is like a death sentence for my son.

we are here to take care of him and we will continue to do so. we are shocked and saddened by this court decision, but we will continue to fight day and night if we have to. >> in 2014, doctors and his nephews decided to take them off life support. lambert's parents took the case to france's supreme administrative court, but it will against them, at which point they asked the european human rights court to intervene. vincent lambert has become the symbol for france's debate for the right to end of life. doctors sedate patients until they die under terminal sedation. molly: terry collins, the former captain of new zealand's all lack -- all-black rugby team has died. he and his wife are killed in a car crash, colliding with a bus in the early hours of friday.

their two-month old daughter was airlifted in the hospital where she is currently in critical condition. two new revelations of wheeling and dealing. it is a payout to ireland. the irish football association was paid 5 million euros to drop legal proceedings against what it saw as a bad referee call in a qualifying match. >> the english-speaking press called him "le cheat." his team crushed ireland's footballing dreams. the irish football association had been planning legal action against fifa over the controversial failure to qualify now fifa, under fire for more sites, is openly admitting they paid the irish football

association for its silence. it was fai chief executive john delaney who brought the situation to light thursday. he says the deal was struck after an acrimonious meeting with fifa's outgoing president, sepp blatter. >> it is a very good agreement for fai, a very legitimate agreement for fai. you have put a figure out there and fair play deal was a payment to the association not to proceed. >> 5 million euros, according to irish media. the cash initially took the form of a loan, which fifa admits was paid to put an end to -- when they did not qualify, the so-called loan was written off. molly: let's get a check of the headlines. islamic state militants enter the town of has a k.

-- of hasakeh. europe's human rights court upholds france's decision to take a vegetative man off life support. the case has divided a family and ignited fierce debate here in the country. a cyber attack on the u.s. government, the personal data of millions of federal workers hacked. some point the finger at china. beijing calls the suggestion irresponsible. it is time for a look at the day's business news. i am joined in the newsroom by kate moody. you are going to start out with greece, asking for more time to pay its debt. kate: about $3 million -- 300 million euros was supposed to be paid this friday. greece has yet to reach a deal with its european creditors to unlock more than 7 billion euros of badly needed bailouts funds.

the greek government found what you might call a loophole in the system and said that instead of making four individual payments to the imf this month, it will bundle them together and pay one lump some, a little over 1.5 billion euros, at the end of june. ibid. more breathing room as athens returns to the negotiating table. alexis tsipras will be briefing greek parliament on the status of those negotiations this friday. key sticking point between the two sides include pensions civil service, and tax reforms. the europe group meanwhile suggests any reform from athens must be financially sound. weighing on the global markets, we are seeing across the board in europe as athens delays the key debt payment. the athens stock exchange taking the biggest hit, sliding 4.5% midway through the trading day. investors are increasingly anxious to see that a deal is done to ease the financial --

the country's financial woes and most important, keep it in the eurozone. major indices are down a little over 4.1%. a u.s. jobs report will be released friday, which may write a clue as to when the federal reserve will raise key interest rate. vienna is also in focus this friday as it hosts a meeting of the opec oil producers cartel for 12 members are expected to leave their output unchanged despite global oversupply. iran is hoping to get the green light to start pumping as much as group -- to start pumping as much as one million barrels a day. global oil prices have been cut in half since last summer, since rebounding. at its last meeting in november opec decided to leave its official production target at 30 million barrels per day. we'll prices slumped further in

-- oil prices slumped further in the immediate aftermath of that decision. >> we have to evaluate. from november 2014 until now. will be -- what will be the effect on the market? >> let's take a brief look at the other business headlines of the day. the world's second-largest largest mobile operator, vodafone, has confirmed it isn't -- it is in talks with liberty global for an exchange of selected assets. it is suggested they may be looking at tieups on a country by country basis. lloyds banking group has been fined a record 117 million pounds 116 -- 160 million euros. saying that customers were treated unfairly on payment

protection insurance from march 2012 to may 2013. we seem to have a little technical error there. i was reading the wrong story to go with those pictures. we will end up with the american crowdfunding platform, kickstarter, which has gone global. it is promoting french project on its website. growing numbers of french entrepreneurs are gre joining the crowdfunding phase. >> she dreamt of going into business for herself. she designs womenswear based on what women actually want. >> all my designs are inspired by the needs of real women, who all have different psychological profiles and body types. it is a new way of thinking about clothing because the starting point is the woman herself. >> marie is hoping that funding

can come from people worldwide. >> with kickstarter starting in france i thought it was a chance for free publicity. i do not have the budget for that sort of thing, and being the first french project on their site is a real help. >> philip has the aim of raising the final funds he needs for an animated movie version of a comic strip about a holocaust survivor's son. >> we were not exactly like the other families. >> you still have that telephone number on your arm, dad. haven't you washed properly? >> around 8.5 million people are aware of kick starter. the launch is underway in europe, and we hope people in the u.s. canada, asia, will be interested in what they are doing here. >> the number of french crowdfunding websites has doubled over the last year.

perhaps they will get a boost with the arrival of an established player. kate: that is it for this business roundup. molly: it is time now for the press review. it is time now for a look at this week's magazines. i am joined in the studio by florence. flo: the fifa scandal continues to rock the media. you can see sepp blatter, and they are categorical about the whole thing -- corrupt. sepp blatter has said that he is going to step down, or really, a surprising move from him since he was just reelected president of fifa. what changed his mind? a lot of papers have been focusing on an article in "the new york times" saying the fbi investigation into fifa corruption has now extended to sepp blatter personally.

this week has been peppered with all sorts of shock confessions. whistleblower chuck glaser said he received bribes for votes to host the 2010 world cup. molly: it really does seem that each day does bring a new bit of negative news, but there is some positive hope for fifa. flo: there is, and it is women's soccer. the women's world cup is kicking off in canada. you can see this is a women's magazine, a feminist magazine in france, saying that women are going to make us love soccer again. causette takes a close look at the teams and players for the women's world cup. women's football still has a long way of going in terms of

coverage, and even respect from fifa. sepp blatter himself angered a lot of women's soccer players when he said female players should wear tighter shorts to boost the game. even more recently, fifa came under fire for the world cup in canada, because women are essentially going to be playing on artificial turf, something a lot of women players say would never have happened to men's teams. molly: maybe men should wear tighter shorts on the field. you never know. it could boost numbers as well. let's move on to a magazine getting a lot of attention this week, and this is the u.s. version of "vanity fair." flo: "call me caitlyn," the photo of bruce jenner as caitly n. formerly bruce jenner, caitlin jenner, is embracing her role as

a public figure. it is an interesting article because she says it is impossible to forget that this is a very personal struggle for her. caitlin jenner has drawn a lot of praise to having the courage to come out on the cover of "vanity fair" and speak out about transgendered issues. while we are talking but courage, let's take a look at the front page of "time" magazine. you can see an lgbt activist in uganda. the whole issue talk about out in africa, how lgbt activists are trying to push forward gay rights essentially in a homophobic environment in africa. if you are interested, check out "time" magazine. molly: and the focus on the power of the brain. k: did you know that your brain -- kate: did you know that your brain is a wonderful prodigy? especially yours, mali. you can check it all out in l'

express. you can see that beautiful image of our brains. i do not know if they are colorful in real life. one discovery is that our brains are constantly regenerating themselves. the magazine also explores the fascinating world of consciousness. it takes 300 milliseconds for our brains to be conscious of something. this is a very promising time for medical advances, but it raises delicate ethical issues -- for instance, how far should we go in terms of modifying our brain cells? talking about brain cells, if you are interested in a debate about marijuana, check out national geographic this month. they take a closer look at marijuana, the superdrug. very interesting issue about the science behind marijuana, what are the medical benefits of marijuana. a very interesting issue especially with the debate on whether not -- whether or not to legalize marijuana in many parts of the world.

molly: thank you all for joining us. for more from flo, you can log on