annette: hello. let's take a look at what is making headlines. at least 44 people killed and injured.other reports in burma of a massive power struggle at the top of the country's ruling power. living in squalid conditions, but fighting to stay there. "france 24" goes to meet those threatened with eviction in the french capital.

with those extraordinary explosions in the chinese for city of tianjin -- .hinese port city of tianjin among the injured are 12 firefighters. two blasts happened in warehouse storing chemical goods, causing nearby buildings to collapse. let's talk to paul james in beijing. you are headin ing to evening there. i assume that will make it harder for those carrying out search and rescue operations. as the evening this ends and the sun goes down, the rescue operations become -- the suning descends and the

goes down, the rescue operations become more difficult. that said, we believe those in the warehouse at the time of the explosion have been accounted for. the initial death toll of 44 appears to be standing pat. chinese authorities have not been offering additional numbers at this juncture. the difference being that the is not government, a, normally accustomed to getting out a lot of information in large disasters like this and, unfortunately, b, a lot of the people who were admitted to hospital were admitted with very serious injuries. at least 30 of them are in serious or critical condition. we do anticipate the death toll will rise. it is approaching 18 hours this major blast ripped through the court -- port of tianjin. now, questions are starting to be asked about what happened.

we will see whether or not the government is whether to be more forthcoming. annette: human the extent of the disaster, what's likely to be the government -- given the extent of the disaster, what is likely to be the government's response? paul: it is hard to say. the chinese cabinet came out with a statement with the chinese president and premier saying, look, we need to get everything done to ensure this gets done in a reasonably and quick fashion, as far as the search and rescue operations are concerned. the question now will be raised about how this happened, whether or not there was negligence involved. this is a major concern for the chinese government. the chinese government is dealing with an economy that is down. a lot of people are starting to lose their jobs. anything that creates the sense of unrest here in china can be detrimental to the chinese government's, if you want to

call it, there shall i believe joie d'vivre. .here may be arrests a couple people have already been detained. there will be a lot of questions about how this happened in the days ahead. annette: paul james reporting from beijing. thank you. 44ther story, at least people have been killed in iraq after a car bomb in the jameela sadrt in severe city -- in city. another 89 people were injured in the blast. the islamic state group has claimed responsibility. staying in the region, syria's president has publicly thanked iran for supporting him in his

country's civil war. has said little about what the plan includes. he calling on other countries in the region to write terrorism -- to fight terrorism and extremism. iran's foreign minister is pushing for peace in syria but has offered few details on how to do so. his four-point plan includes a transition to democracy, similar to an early roadmap backed by the west. but he wants president bashar al-assad to stay on, though in a ceremonial role. many want assad out of office. --iranians are backing side assad, and there is really no scenario where a side can stay in power -- where assad can stay

in power. it needs to balance the interests of all the stakeholders, iran, russia, jordan, turkey, so on. the plan also calls for the withdrawal of hezbollah fighters from syria. hezbollah has provided key military support for assad's ar my. complicating matters is how to include syria's fractious opposition, comprised of numerous militias with various allegiances. >> the iranians and regional players can still have an impact on the situation, which, on the ground, is not that easy. reporter: on wednesday, a 48-hour cease-fire was declared in three towns, the result of unprecedented mediation by iran

and turkey, but fighting continued elsewhere in syria, underscoring that a lasting peace is still a long way off. amnesty international have voted in favor of adopting a policy of decriminalizing proposition -- prostitution. taken by thewas majority of 400 delegates from 70 countries. while amnesty hopes the move will help protect the human rights of sex workers, critics say the organization risks losing credibility. i'mjoin in the studio -- joined in the studio by a guest from the organization. what prompted this vote? >> prostitutes are victims of discrimination, violence, trafficking everywhere in the world. mission of amnesty

international is to protect their rights. after years of consultations around the world working on this issue, we came to the conclusion that decriminalization was the best way to defend their rights. annette: why is that the case? catherine: in many countries, prostitutes themselves are criminalized. there was a census in the movement that -- consensus in the movement that they are considered as victims, not criminals. they need to be able to defend their rights when they are raped, when they are subject to violence. in many countries, it is not the case. they have no access to the police. there was a consensus on this. the debate was more on whether we have to decriminalize other actors of the sex industry. annette: this has been met by anger by other human rights groups, who say there is no

logic behind the premise that you have to decriminalize the people doing the exploiting. there is an important proposition. amnesty international already has positions on trafficking against women. we actively fight trafficking of sexualnd children, exploitation of children, violence against women. this is already part of amnesty international's policy. the new proposal we have come up with still has to be finalized and is complementary to these other positions we have and is focused on women who -- voluntarily -- we can discuss this, but who get into prostitution because they want to. annette: was there a lot of debate? catherine: there was a lot of internal debate. the french section was very

active in this debate. we tried to influence as much as possible the position that was being elaborated. we contacted a lot of actors in france. they are not happy with the position that amnesty took. this debate led to the decision. it was a very intense, very democratic debate. still have questions, amnesty france, but the use of sex work, sex workers -- we don't think it is the best way. we could have found other terms, like people who prostitute themselves or people who live in prostitution. the term was decided by amnesty, sex workers. it only concerns people who are toove 18 and who go in prostitution by their own decision. so, it does not cover people who are victims. even if we speak of decriminalization of pimps,

that's the english word, we are not speaking of pimps who use violence. those are covered by laws that prevent violence. this has to be punished, of course. annette: we've run out of time. thank you so much. in other news, it has been reported that the head of irma's ruling -- burma's ruling party has been removed from his position. reportedlyrters have been surrounded by soldiers and police since wednesday. party sources are saying they have been prevented from leaving the building. last month, the party trying to pass a bill reducing the power of the president, but they were defeated by the pro-army block in parliament. our correspondent in bangkok has more. mann has been

removed from his position. this is seen clearly as the an internalurge or coup within the military. what this really has been seen shwe a battle between mann, seen as a reformer, against the more hardliners linked to the president. mann had announced his ambition to become the next president, but the current president has said he would like to consider taking the role back on after elections. there is a battle perhaps between the president and mann, and mann has been removed in quite romantic circumstances -- quite dramatic circumstances. lawmakers are to hold a vote this thursday to ratify the latest bailout deal.

reese and its creditors reached a deal -- greece and its creditors reached a deal after marathon talks on tuesday, but the deal must be approved by eurozone member states. athens has still been required to answer questions. some of the sex assault charges against wikileaks founder julian assange have been dropped this thursday t. two of four counts are about to expire because investigators have run out of time under statute of limitations. ecuadorian in the embassy in london since 2012 to avoid extradition. nexter charge will expire tuesday. a more serious charge could be investigated up until the year 2020. in france, they live in squalid

conditions on the edge of the french capital, but hundreds of inhabitants are fighting for their right to stay. the settlement spring up in 2008 and is now home to some 300 people, most of them roma. it is due to be cleared out at the end of august. our reporter has been to interview some of the people desperate to remain. reporter: a maze of makeshift houses of corrugated metal and plywood. this is france's oldest surviving slum, situated to the north of paris, sandwiched between a highway and railway track. around 300 people, mostly roma, live in this makeshift settlement, next to a big rubbish dump invested by rats. >> we don't have toilets. we don't have electricity. we don't have water. there are no washing machines.

there are plenty of rest. there is everything -- of rats. there is everything here. reporter: local authorities say the samaritan settlement hoses health -- poses health and safety risks and want to raze it. residents have been given until the august to leave. this 18-year-old has lived in islam for three years -- in the slum for three years. he has launched a petition to save the slum. >> i want to stay here because i have friends here. we live like a family. we have no solutions. we have no association that wants to give us money -- we association that wants to give us money, but the

mayor does not agree. reporter: the city council opposes the plan that the slum will become a permanent fixture. ngo's supporting role must have criticized -- supporting romas have criticized the lack of solutions. enormous blasts tianjinked the city of after a giant fireball destroyed the city's port area. reports in burma of a massive power structure -- struggle, shwe mann removed from his position. living in squalid conditions, but fighting to stay. 24" went torance meet residents threatened with eviction. and join in the studio -- i am joined in this duty of -- in the sutitudio by kate moody.

kate: the central bank has been trying to calm the jittery markets, saying the depreciation of the yuan won't be allowed to go as far as 10%. the central bank says that is nonsense. value of the tightly controlled yuan would be allowed to fall 1.9% on tuesday, after the bank unexpectedly announced it would change its exchange rate policy. 1.6% on wednesday. is aimedll valuation at boosting flagging chinese exports and industrial production. we look at the winners and losers of the new policy. reporter: three days of turbulence for the one -- yuan have had a domino effect on markets around the winner -- the world, with clear winners and losers. chineseest winners,

exporters. a cheaper yuan means they can afford more competitive prices on the international market. amongst the losers who have seen knock-on the effects on stock price -- knock-on effects on stock price -- pricier forurchases brands like louis vuitton and burberry. car manufacturers have been hit, too. bmw earns 19% of its revenue from china. electronics are also in the firing line. it's apple's second largest market for the iphone. raw materials were also feeling the strain. by 15% just one minute after wednesday's announcement.

china buys around half of the world's production in these metals. chinese companies with that in dollars, -- with debt in dollars have seen their debt increase. they are hoping china's gamble will soon pay off. yuan'sespite the continued plunge, it was a volatile session. ended inhai composite 1.5% positive territory. european markets have recovered from major losses on wednesday. the dax and cac 40 searching 2 -- surging 2%. they are optimistic that agreed bailout deal -- that a greek bailout deal may be finalized. there is a small glimmer of unexpected positive news about greece's economy, growing by

8.3%. 0.8%.economists -- by most economists expected it to continue shrinking. giantmputer and phone lenovo have announced a layoff of more than 3000 employees after profits were cut in half to $205 million during the second quarter. the chinese firm bought motorola last year in an effort to boost its position in the smartphone hadet, but motorola has disappointing sales, dragging overall office -- profits down. a new preboarding procedure for passengers flying with uzbekistan airways. they will weigh passengers and luggage in the departure lounge

to determine just how much weight they will add to the plane. they insisted the safety figures will not be made public. most commercial airlines alculate -- airlines use standard formula to calculate how much a plane will weigh. pay-as-you-weigh structure was instituted at similar airlines -- at samoa airlines and is still in place. annette: that is kate moody with the day's business news. let's turn now to the press review. at what isake a look making headlines in the weekly news magazines. i'm joined by flo villeminot. magazine. this

is takes a look at what is happening -- it takes a look at what is happening behind closed doors in the palace. nce: summer is in full swing in france. a lot of magazines are catering to beachgoers. takes a look at leaders what -- a look at what leaders are doing behind closed doors, from guinea to ivory coast. there is one juicy detail, something that happened in libya. this was in 2007. she used to be married to nicholas sarkozy. when she was the first lady of france, she traveled to tripoli to try to secure the release of six medics facing execution.

in this article, you can read about the trip. she was taken alone to an isolated capital -- compound --re former islamic leader former libyan leader muammar gaddafi supposedly made advances. she was very courageous, confronted gaddafi, and intimidated him into securing the release of those six medics. lots of praise, calling her a brave lady. annette: nicholas sarkozy is getting a lot of attention as the result of being on the cover magazine. his: nicholas sarkozy and wife -- annette: current wife. kate: you can see them enjoying their lovers get away -- lover'' ofaway, all sorts of photos

the wonderful vacation they took, not at all staged, of course. he spent his holiday with his two favorite women, carla, and his daughter. she is taking advantage of his father this summer, because next summer will be campaigning. he has made no secret that he has his eye on elysée palace. annette: worst kept secret in town. president francois hollande is planning to put up a tough fight. he is on the front page of "charlie hebdo." kate: with his unofficial girlfriend holding on for dear life. he is not as relaxed as sarkozy. he talks about trying to avoid crashing in 2017. charlie hebdo references on then impossible"

cover. the sequel recently hit the hebdo havingarlie a little fun. annette: and a much-anticipated sequel hitting the screens later this year. kate: that is of course "star w ars: the force awakens," scheduled to come out on december 18. fans are counting the days. you could be forgiven for forgetting some of the plot. the first movie came out in 1977, "a new hope." a lot of details. all the previous "star wars." day brings you up-to-date with where the story is, -- it brings you up-to-date with where the story is. annette: an iconic hollywood

star has graced the cover of the french version of "gq." kate: very handsome looking, steve mcqueen, the king of cool, the hollywood superstar, racecar driver, and heartbreaker, still a style icon 35 years after his death. "gq" promises to unveil all the secrets that make him unbeatable when it comes to style. on king is a feature louis xiv, louis the great, the sun king, who died 300 years ago. he was monarch for 72 years and 110 days, the longest monarch in any european country. óñó8úxúa good king?

narrator: this is grace, a business woman in kigali, rwanda. eight years ago, she was starving and unable to feed her children. many of her family had been massacred in one of the worst genocides of the late 20th century. but today, thanks to an innovative program, life is good. she earns up to $200 a month from her furniture business and employs 11 people.