>> these are the headlines. a suspect is in custody linked to the fire at a paris apartment building this morning that left eight dead. police investigating whether it was started intentionally. continues to block migrants from boarding trains west out of budapest. officials say they are just ules.wing eu r 50 african union soldiers from uganda are believed to have been killed in an attack by should bother m militants. the controversial move to drill

for oil in the arctic. we hear from the boss of shell who says it is needed to meet global demand spurred the race to host the olympics heats up with los angeles now in the running. that means more competition for paris come also in hot pursuit for the games. that and more on the way. first, our top stories. here in paris, a man is being held in custody linked to the dramatic fire in paris that left eight people dead. thechildren were among victims. authorities say the five-story building has been evacuated and secured. some 15 households will need to relocate due to the damage. it took over 100 firefighters

to contain the blaze on the ground floor that spread upwards through the five-story building by the stairwell. authorities have opened a criminal investigation. we are focusing on the possibility of a criminal act nighte it was during the -- fire services intervened and then the fire caught again after the building had been secured. two of the victims through themselves from the windows. horrified residents gathered outside. the woman threw herself out of a window. there were flames and people screaming. people hanging from their windows screaming "help, help!" francois hollande has says everything is being done to get the bottom of how the fire started. it was the deadliest france has seen in the past decade.

>> next, to budapest where thousands of migrants are stranded at the train station. authorities say they are sticking to european union rules preventing migrants from leaving for germany and other richer eu countries. that comes after there was a relapse earlier this week when hundreds of migrants were allowed to buy tickets and board trains and budapest. to get a bit more on what's happening there, let's bring in andrew burn. what is the situation like at that main train station and budapest? at the the situation station remains the worst -- thousands of refugee camps at this makeshift center outside the station. they do remain locked out and there remains a police cour rridor around the building.

they say they should be love to born trades dashboard trains for germany. the hungarian government says they are sticking to the eu rules on this. no one will be allowed without a passport or visa. station is at the there is a complete lack of information or understanding. they have not been told anything beyond the fact that they cannot get on the train. they don't know if the patrol will be lifted. or they should seek other means of travel. butsituation remains calm, it's unclear how long that will remain the case when there is such a big information deficit among these frustrated and tired migrants. >> there has been so much coverage in budapest. how are the hungarian political leaders reacting to what's

happening right there outside of their maintain station? >> hungary has become a flashpoint in this european migration crisis. 50,000 migrants arrived in august alone. the government has been criticized by several european governments for having too harsh approach by building a razor wire fence at the border. with this relapse on monday, there was criticism in vienna saying budapest should be enforcing the controls more strickland. -- more strictly. they are being attacked regardless of what they do. the prime minister is going to brussels tomorrow to meet with the president of the european commission. he will be seeking greater assistance in managing the crisis. --will be seeking to argue to reject the unfair criticism for doing what they feel is

their duty to guard the eu's external borders. yemen, tows out of red cross workers were shot dead by a gunman today. were drivingens vehicles that were clearly marked with the red cross logo and they were stopped by a gunman who then opened fire. the red cross committee said it had expanded its operations in yemen after gunmen robbed the main office. at least 50 soldiers are believed to have been killed by an al qaeda affiliate in somalia. a briefing notes and by western military officials to diplomats after an attack against an african union military base yesterday. what details are you getting from our sources on the ground? duncan: the attack took

place yesterday morning in the -- in somalia. the attack was preceded by a loud explosion. that may have been a mortar being fired into the base ahead of an infantry attack. they claim to have taken control of the base and a nearby bridge. the african union is saying there was a fight for the bridge that lasted half an hour. the african union soon regained control. are quiten union tightlipped at the moment in terms of casualties. there was a briefing note sent to diplomats which said 50 soldiers have been killed. 100 are currently unaccounted for. the death toll could rise substantially from here. this is a significant attack. >> these soldiers are from uganda. you have met with ugandan troops. what is the operating

environment like there? duncan: i was in a nearby town in april. the bases are rudimentary. they have razor wire protecting them, but not much else. no concrete walls. it's easy during the nighttime to launch attacks. mortars distract the troops in the base and then the infantry can cut through razor wire to invade the bases. they are quite vulnerable. understood that there was a failure by attack helicopters to mobilize to help the troops on the ground. a lot of challenges at the moment for the african union and their remaining -- they are remaining tightlipped at the moment. former warlord nicknamed

the terminator is on trial today. he is charged with war crimes and crimes against team entity. ands a former rebel leader is facing 18 counts including alleged rape and recruiting child soldiers. he is looking forward to his day in court and plans on contesting the charges. is furthering his position on a more open and inclusive catholic church. he is set to grant all priests the power to forgive abortion as part of an extra no he is extraordinary year of mercy. it usually merits immediate next communication. only high-ranking clergy could formally forgive women who have had abortions. in latin america, reaction has been mixed. >> i think giving forgiveness for abortions is the right

thing. for illness or any other reason. suppose catholic women who feel excluded from the religious saidnity come in is to be that not all women who have had an abortion feel it is a tragedy that the pope says it is. for many, it is a solution to what can be a great personal crisis. when they are not in a position to continue with their pregnancy. >> i think it is wrong. he is supposed to defend life. he is now asking for forgiveness for women who are rejecting life that god sent us. so, i am against it. next, to guatemala where the president has been told not to leave the country. congress stripped him of his

presidential immunity. that opened the way for the president to be prosecuted in a multimillion dollar corruption scheme. luke brown explains. to go aheadrove with the pretrial proceedings against molina, president of what all appeared unanimous vote to strip guatemala's president of his immunity. even members of his own party against the head of state. he faces a far-reaching corruption scandal. byliament was greeted satisfaction from protesters. for the first time, congress has done what the people want. we all want the president to be judged.

this president has shown himself to be incompetent. >> one of allah's is suspected of involvement in a scheme -- the president is suspected of involvement in a scheme to avoid paying customs duties. the president continued to protest his innocence. you, i have not taken a cent from this fraudulent system that was robbing the guatemalan people. >> despite being banned from leaving the country, he remains in office and vows to fight. the scandal has rocked the government -- >> let's head to the u.s. where the race to host the 2024 olympics is heating up as los angeles became the latest city to join the bid.

that means more competition for paris which is also in hot pursuit of the summer games. is pinning its hopes on l.a. thinks itrnian city has what it takes to snatch the hosting privilege from european favorites. >> there is a little sad is today. that is being felt in paris and rome. their prospects for getting these olympics just went down substantially because l.a. is now in the mix. >> the olympic committee has to look to september to submit its decision to the international olympic committee. a welcome development in light of the doomed boston bid. it had been first choice but retracted its candidacy in the face of dwindling local support. angeles, we have 70 plus percent of the people who

want us to bring the olympics to los angeles. l.a. has estimated the cost of hosting the summer games at $5.8 billion. low thanks tovely l.a. having already hosted the games twice before. the u.s. is the biggest investor in the games and has vowed to put all of its weight behind the l.a. bid. whether that is enough to beat off paris, rome, hamburg and budapest will be announced in september of 2017. in peru. >> let's take a look at today's top stories on "france 24." a suspect in custody linked to the fire in a paris apartment building this morning. that left eight dead. police are investigating whether it was started intentionally. hungary continues to block migrants from boarding trains west out of budapest. officials say they are just

following eu rules. at least 50 african union soldiers from uganda are believed to left and killed in an attack by militants. time now for the day's business news with stephen carroll. stephen: we were talking about opec having the biggest rally in prices in 25 years. and theave now turned other direction. seeing the price of oil slipped back into the red yesterday and today. of theinting surveys manufacturing industry as china and the united states, the two top consumers of oil -- the over crude index down 1.5%. that is still relatively low for the price of oil. many companies have had to cut back spending.

it will press ahead with drilling in the arctic. ell will press ahead with drilling in the arctic despite growing protests. not retreating. they say their controversial arctic exploration is going well despite conditions. the president says he is looking at the long-term perspective. >> one of the most frequent questions i get, why explore the arctic now? why are you guys out there now? a lot of it is based on the question that you just asked. to build uprs the capability to do this the right way. >> companies such as bp have expended -- suspended their arctic drilling plans. for shell, the risk is worth taking.

>> a transition is required. oil will be required for a long time. >> environmental groups have been fiercely opposed to what they say is a destructive drilling operation. they have repeatedly protested shell's actions in recent years. barack obama was criticized for deciding not to block shell's drilling permit. he visited alaska for ecological conference this week. the arctic is the last great ,rontier of oil exploration containing 30% of the world's untapped gas and 13% of undiscovered oil. >> it is pretty flat in the european markets. many will be breathing a sigh of relief after the volatility we've been dealing with. oil and gas companies trading down, not being helped by the

fall in the oil price. markets come another one of those days. the shanghai composite down 4%. finished down .4%. the effect of that recent market turmoil in china still being felt. christine lagarde says the imf has been speaking to chinese authorities about monitoring their economic transition. [indiscernible] how much disruption is occurring in one market in asia can spill over to the rest of the world. uber drivers in california have been given the green light to take a class action lawsuit .gainst the car healing app

setting the stage for a high-profile battle over uber's business model. the drivers say they should be considered employees but the company says they are independent contractors. cut a couple of test 10% of its phillips -- conoco l has to cut 10% of its workforce because of dramatic downturn in the industry. lego with net profits of 500 million euros, up 31%. the company sales boosted by the weak value of the danish currency. >> i have quite a few of those lego star wars in my house at the moment. preparing a new coin to mark an important anniversary. >> queen elizabeth ii becomes

the longest-serving monarch in the country's history on the ninth of september. the mint producing a new coin that features the queen's five portraits that have been used on coins during her reign. the limited-edition coin is worth 20 pounds. >> a nice christmas gift for someone, i bet. time for the press review. taking a look at the press today. you are starting with a look at the u.k., and upcoming referendum on whether or not to stay in the european union. >> david cameron agreed to change the wording of the referendum. instead of being a yes or no question, it will -- voters will be asked whether the unionized kingdom should remain in member of the european union or leave.

it is remain or leave. why is this? electoral commission sounded the alarm against the risk of a potential bias. there is a power to the word yes. there is a subtle advantage to being on the yes side. people want to come across as being more positive than negative. some media are mocking the reworking of the referendum. look at the cartoon in the daily telegraph today. the couple at the altar and the woman says do you take this man is biased toward an i do outcome. >> focusing on president obama's visit to alaska and the region. politico says it's not just about the environment. >> they take a closer look at the subtext. it's as much cold war as global warming.

president obama announced plans to speed up the acquisition of coast guard ice breakers. caps motherng sea is a lot more traffic in the -- there is a lot more traffic in the arctic. the u.s. has fallen behind russia wants to close the icebreaker gap. the u.s. would gain influence in the region because it's facing tough competition from russia. a cartoon in the new york times. you can see obama on the alaskan visit and the guide is saying that is a russian marking its territory. >> papers are focusing on the former boss of alcatel lucent. >> french papers are calling it a jackpot, 14 million euros. that's what he is pocketing after 29 months as chief

executive of alcatel lucent. not everyone is thrilled about this. , and 10,000tch employees lost their jobs because of a redundancy plan he put in place. a lot of people are upset about the fact that he is getting this big payout as he leaves. will see if -- amf there any irregularities. have longparachutes been controversial in france. it has been particularly prickly. >> francois hollande was campaigning to be president, he said he would regulate these golden parachutes, these super bonus packages. yet another broken promise. and he isa parachute

critical of the lack of regulation for these golden parachutes. a tricky play on words. it means to continue to be cheeky. he talks about the stratospheric wages. they are on another planet. how can we bring them back down to earth? there are only two paths, according to him -- taxes or loss and it seems like the government is not taking any path. -- taxes or laws. >> that will interest worst and those of us who have been here -- they are turned to clean up our streets. -- this will interest tourists. >> the sidewalks can be littered with things that are not so pleasant. cigarette butts and dog poop.

enough with dirty paris. starting yesterday, instability agents are handing out warnings. you can get fined between 35 and 68 euros if you are caught littering. throwing out your chewing gum or cigarette butt. the aim is to change people's habits. there is a good cartoon which shows this couple, the man is leaving the house with the dog sang i'm just going out to walk the dog and the white says don't forget to take your checkbook. -- the wife says don't forget to take your checkbook. has beeneaks chief living in the ecuadorian embassy for the last three years. he has been trying to get out. an article in wired sums things up.

ecuador's plans to get him out -- it is quite outlandish. there have been a number of plots from including smuggling him out in a bad and dressing him up8úxú