>> this is france 24. time for 60 minutes live around the world. i'm genie godula. russian airstrikes hit syria again today. a syrian security source says they are targeting an islamist rebel coalition including an al qaeda affiliate. the u.n. raises the palestinian flag in new york for the first time ever. this as the palestinian president says he is no longer bound by previous agreements

signed with israel. and the government in afghanistan says its troops have retaken kunduz after it was captured by the taliban monday. reports from the ground say the fighting is still underway. up this hour, turbulence ahead at air france as talks between pilots and management at the airline breakdown without agreement. and new evidence suggests the tomb of queen nefertiti has been located. we will tell you where. that and more. but first our top story. ♪ genie: russia has begun carrying out airstrikes in syria just hours after the russian parliament approved the move yesterday.

speaking on the sidelines of the u.n. general assembly, the russian foreign minister was quick to reject accusations those strikes were aimed at targets other than the islamic state. there is still a lot of distrust and doubt on the part of the west. for more on this i will go to moscow with shaun walker. we have seen that russia has confirmed these strikes again today. ellis us more about what they had to say. -- tell us more about what they had to say. >> we are getting slightly mixed messages from the russians at the moment. everything that vladimir putin has said, the videos we had released from the russian defense ministry about these strikes in syria. they have made it very clear that they are only targeting islamic state. yesterday we heard some fairly strong noises from washington and paris and syrian opposition groups that this is not the case and that the strikes are taking place in areas of syria where

there is no real islamic state presence. today we have heard from vladimir putin's spokesman who seems to be saying that while in fact there may well be strikes against groups other than islamic state, that these strikes have been coordinated with the syrian government. when asked last night whether or not they were targeting the free syrian army, he said, does this thing really exist? has far as we know they have all gone over to the islamic state. it may be that russia is targeting a range of groups that it has decided have all come under the umbrella of islamic state. the western countries don't consider them to be anything like the same as the islamic terror group. genie: all this is going on in the backdrop on the war in syria.

the headu cannot be in of russian president vladimir putin, but give us an idea. what might russia's strategy be? is it really trying just to find a better way to help its allies, and bashar al-assad? >> it was the same when we were talking about the ukraine conflict and russia's goal there. so much of it does come down to , tolevel decision-making what's going on in vladimir putin said. it is very difficult to make guesses. i think that is something the russians play on. the positioning and the explanation of this whole movement in syria has deliberately been a little bit kind of opaque. n making this big speech about a call for a coalition and needing to fight isis and comparing them to nazis

and then suddenly wednesday get one the americans hour of notice and russia launches an airstrike not against isis but against other groups. so whether or not this is the start of a very long-term operation to prop up assad or whether this is more of a bargaining chip to say, this is what we can do, you need to get around the table with us if you solution ininable syria because we've got to be part of it. these are things we can guess at. i think it is something we'll have to wait and see. thank you for that. shaun walker from moscow. u.n. general assembly, history was made as the palestinian flag was raised for the first time. that symbolic move was voted in by the international body last month, but the palestinian president told the general assembly that his people now deserve full recognition and

membership to the u.n. mark thompson reports. >> around of applause in the rose garden of the u.n. as the palestinian flag is raised for the first time, adding a splash of color to a great and stormy new york sky. it's a symbolic gesture, but it is one that mahmoud abbas calls a beacon of hope. >> at this historic moment in the struggle of the palestinian people towards freedom and independence, i say to my people everywhere, raise the palestinian flag high because it is a symbol of our identity. >> neither israel nor the united states attended the ceremony. thedecisions to allow palestinian flag to fly alongside the un's 193 permanent members was taken as a general assembly vote earlier this month. >> the symbolism of rating your flag at the united nation

reflects the commitment of the palestinian authority to pursue the long-held dream of the palestinian people for their own state. used hisr, abbas general assembly speech to accuse israel of not committing to the oslo accords, giving palestinian people the right to limited self-governance. he says the palestinian authority will not remain committed to the agreements if israel continues to violate it. a message israel called deceitful, saying it encourages incitement and lawlessness in the middle east. afghan officials say the army has retaken control of most of the city of kunduz. that strategic spot in northern afghanistan was seized by the taliban on monday. the interior ministry now says an operation to take back the city is under way but that it could take days. catherine james told us more from kabul. news this morning was

announced by the government with pictures of them removing the taliban flag from the city square. they claimed they had retaken the city and so it seemed. however, there have been numerous reports of sporadic gunfire throughout parts of the city where the taliban have maintained a base so to speak or just cover in civilian homes. and there have also been reports that they have forced civilians to fight with them in some cases. so the broader battle around the actual province is expected to be ongoing for some time. genie: let's talk more about that. the fighting is not focused just on kunduz. it is throughout the province as well. >> that's right. for the taliban and to take the city itself on monday, it has been a long time coming and what fore iscoming to the

that the last up to two years, they have in establishing themselves throughout the province. even on wednesday, there was more fighting scene between the army and the taliban in other provinces that bordered kunduz. those cities have also seen fighting. the residents are concerned. thisve to realize that strategy and the power of the taliban at the moment shows that they have actually been doing quite a lot of work behind the scenes all this time. and we also have to keep in mind that the past year has been dismal for the afghan government. so you have a lot of disaffected citizens as well who are looking for a change and may very well support the taliban and join them, especially in light of this recent victory. genie: catherine james.

next to burkina faso where the interim president who was briefly ousted in a two last coup last week visited the barracks held by the soldiers. forces loyal to the coup leader had been holed up there. >> the honor of our brave national army is intact after it recovered this entire region. no more presidential security regiment to be humiliated all the time. no more arrogance and overbearing rsp. genie: in the meantime, the person behind the coup is now seeking asylum. the violence in the central african republic has called after a week of religious fighting that saw close to 40 dead. the clashes between muslims and

christians was the worst violence in months. a push thousands of people from their homes and left many wounded as well. >> there were some skirmishes this wednesday, but overall tensions subsided. eric's were lifted, some shops reopened. the president of the transition cut short her trip to the general assembly in new york. the violence between christians and muslims erected on saturday after the murder of a muslim taxi driver. more than 30 have been killed and many others wounded. >> when the violence started on saturday i wanted to fetch my father who is handicapped. but i was ambushed. i was shot in both legs. i fell, then i crawled to escape them. finally some people helped me reach the hospital. >> aid workers say many wounded people are still at home and too afraid to go out in the streets to reach the hospital. >> people have come here in the last two days are being treated

for knife wounds. they had to wait in their homes during the clashes. when there was a lull in the fighting, they came to the hospital. >> the government says the presidential poll will take place before the end of the year but many analysts believe that in the current context that deadline is unrealistic. genie: archaeologists in egypt are making the case for a rethink of the burial chamber of two common. suggests that king taught may be buried in the same tomb as queen nefertiti his stepmother. they're hoping to use sophisticated radar to uncover the mummy of one of ancient egypt's most notorious character. is egypt's most famous pharaoh. now they think to common -- tutankhamun may not be alone in his burial chamber.

-- believes the mummy of queen nefertiti herself may also be entered here. >> for a long time, i thought the tomb of touch in common -- was of a private individual. my views on this changed when i saw surface scans of the aerial chamber walls. >> the digital scans reveal the presence of two previously unseen doorways in the walls. the theory is that the chamber was originally meant for queen nefertiti, who died in the 14th century bc. atankhamun's sudden-death decade later may have seen his body rushed into an extension of the queen's mausoleum. best-known for the bust of her image discovered in 1912, but her mommy has never been found. hoping toists are carry out a sophisticated radar

scan that could potentially locate it. reeves developed his theory while working in luxor's valley of the kings. scientists hope this discovery will bring more visitors to the various site -- burial site. tourism has suffered due to political turmoil of recent years. genie: russian airstrikes hit syria again today. a security source says they are targeting an islamist rebel coalition including an al qaeda affiliate. the u.n. raises the palestinian flag in new york for the first time ever. this is the palestinian president says he is no longer bound by previous agreements signed with israel. and the government in afghanistan says its troops every taken kunduz after it was captured by the taliban monday. reports from the ground say the fighting is still underway. theot stephen carroll for

business news. you are starting with industrial strife ahead at air france. >> talks broke down between unions and management last night without agreement on new working arrangements. the company says that without a deal it will have to cut jobs. that's what the port of the parent company will be discussing in amsterdam today with another meeting about france's boss is set for tomorrow. -- strikehe airline action do over the potential job losses. >> a new cost-cutting plan that didn't take off. air france pilots and cabin crew refused a restructuring plan that would have seen them fly longer hours for the same pay. pilots were asked to work 690 hours per year on medium haul flights and 18% increase from their current work levels and 780 hours on long-haul flights, 14% more. union said the proposal amounted to a next her six weeks of work

without a salary increase that would put passengers and crew at risk. management argued the workload would be equivalent to other major european airlines. in a statement, air france said long hours of talks had failed to yield an agreement that would allow it to grow and be competitive. without a change to working conditions, it says it will be forced to spend roots and slashed jobs. the deadline kneeled, the president said the carrier had no choice but to make cuts. in today's competitive climate, air france has to take certain steps. the negotiations are difficult but they must lead to a comprehensive social dialogue about the future of the company. >> air france is trying to reverse six consecutive years of losses. it posted a net loss of 198 million euro's in 2014 including a pilot strike that cost the airline 330 million euro's. the staff has threatened more strikes next week if their demands are not met. genie: many companies are

entering the last financial period of the year but many will not be said that the last quarter is done. business world divides the year into quarters. we are now in the first quarter -- fourth quarter. july and september were not fun in the stock market. huge losses as you can see. the dow down nearly 8%. the nikkei down almost 15%. a lot of things have happened in the past few months. we had the great crisis. everything that happened on chinese stock market. companies are glad to see things moving on. it is a good start to the fourth quarter generally speaking on the european market today. all the main markets trading up. carmakers getting a boost in france. new car registrations rose by 9% in september. even folks wagon -- volkswagen's

sales went up. expect the scandal we have been reporting about to have an effect on those numbers. genie: let's go to the united states, where credit cards users are seeing some changes. >> it's good by swiping, hello dipping as card users switch to chip cards. it brings the united states into line with europe, africa, and the middle east with the vast majority of card transactions are done with a chip. there will not be a pin number introduced yet. card companies say that along with replacing millions of cards, it would simply cost too much. it has been a difficult changeover for businesses. >> they are cutting their credit cards to pieces all across the united states. it's a case of out with the old, in with something that europe has known for years. >> before we just slid them. and his shoeeau's

repair shop have gone up to speed as the old cards are being booted out. even the smallest businesses have had together hands on one of these if they want to take card payments. >> i was told that if i didn't and either lease or purchase one of these pieces of equipment, that that potential fraud issue could fall back on the merchant. >> some new users are still getting to grips with this new rather foreign system. >> i don't really know what this technology is capable of doing. people always tell us that this is going to prevent fraud. but fraud isn't prevented. >> sending out new cards to every single users did not come cheap. >> it's an economic issue. the reason we haven't seen it sooner is largely an economic issue at the end of the day. the cost and the infrastructure was relatively high. >> but does this change come too late here in america?

in the united states, many of the big chain stores have adopted new payment methods like apple pay, where you pay by mobile phone and you forgo credit cards altogether. genie: finally, you are going to talk about a record merger deal that has been approved in the united states but not for the usual reasons. >> normally when we talk about mergers it is because of the amount of money that is involved. but this has broken records because of the length of time it took to be approved. it is between m&t bank and hudson city. approval from regulators took 1129 days. that is three years and over a month. the fed says it took so long because m&t bank had to sort out internal compliance issues. i hope they have a party after three years of negotiating over a merger deal. the deed is finally done. genie: thanks so much. thanks for watching france 24.

time to take a look at what's been happening in the weekly news magazines. here to helpnce us. lots of talk about the volkswagen commission schedule. of carmaker accused equipping 11 million cars with devices to cheat on emissions tests. flo: it is being called diesel gay. itte. te. it is the long line of analyst of scandals. they are talking about the cheaters. they are looking a lot like the note yield. -- looking a lot like pinocchio. who is to blame on that scandal? is it the management? or is it the actual organizational model of these big companies? a lot of these companies have such a complicated hierarchy. responsibility is diluted and

nobody feels compelled to act. a lot of these big companies are so competitive that there is kind of a culture of silence. nobody wants to speak out because they are afraid that their head will be chopped off. here in france, the president is in the spotlight. this week the government unveiled its 2016 budget and many french papers are confused. flo: that's right. they pulled out the calculator and did all the math. we are quite confused by this budget. it seems a little bit contradictory because the government wants to reduce its deficit but it still wants to keep cutting taxes. the problem is perhaps the government is sending mixed messages because next year is a very particular year in france, the pre-election year. maybe that is why the government is being very vague about its plan. monthly focuses on the president because the clock is really ticking for him for there to be growth here in

france. is his method finally going to work? the business monthly is quite skeptical. the government is clearly counting on growth to boost the economy. putting in place reforms that it needs to recording to the magazine. genie: he is low in the opinion polls. he is losing people's confidence and get one magazine says he could indeed be reelected. flo: that's right. what if it was him again that won the election? this is a right-wing magazine. this is kind of a doomsday scenario for them. how could he possibly win for the election? they are saying he is very much like machiavelli. all of his potential rivals including his own prime minister -- he has managed to get on top of them if you will because of psychological traps. this might come as a surprise

for a man that critics call -- a delicious custard dessert, but it is not very sturdy. they say don't be full. he is very cunning. his number one trick is to come across as someone who is not very cunning. genie: he has drawn a lot of criticism for the refugee crisis. that he of people think isn't doing a very good job with the migrant crisis. this magazine takes a look at a very interesting issue -- why french people don't want to welcome these migrants. it is a hot button issue here in france. they say it is a mix of factors. islam,c anxiety, fear of and a whole debate about french identity and what all of these migrants would mean for french identity. they interviewed a woman who is the head of a very prestigious research center.

she specialized in immigration. she says what is interesting is the jobs that migrants want. they are jobs that don't interest french nationals these days. jobs in construction, restoration, working with old people. we need these migrants and their dynamic force. our future.cial for she concludes with a message for all of europe. she says a closed continent is a dead continent. thathat's interesting is many migrants are reporting that actually they aren't very attracted i france. they find france very, located terms of bureaucracy, high unemployment. and then there are rumors that french society is quite seen a phobic. -- xenophobic. --ie: one french philosopher trending on the turf of the far right. flo: that's right. he is traditionally known as being quite a leftist philosopher. he is an atheist.

famous for promoting hedonism and anarchism. but he has been grabbing headlines recently for trading on the turf of the national front, saying some controversial things about the migrant crisis. why is heñaw=>>>>>>>>7