from paris" with me, catherine nicholson. new calls for mercy or rate at badawi, asy for raif he is awarded the sakharov priz e. a promise of revenge in pakistan, the prime minister vowing to track down the taliban attackers who killed 150 people at a special our school a year ago today -- at official are -- at a peshawar school a year ago

today. "e seventh installment of the star wars" franchise hits movie theaters in france today. first, our top story, the head of the year in parliament has made -- the european parliament has made a new of your or a new appealade a new o for a saudi blogger to be released. raif badawi a sentence to 1000 lashes -- raif badawi is and 10ed to 1000 lashes years in prison. badawi could not make it

in person, but the jailed saudi blogger was there in person. his wife made the trip to accept the prize on his behalf, a prize recognizing badawi's fight for freedom of thought. >> raif is not a criminal or he is a freethinker, a free spirit -- raif is not a criminal. he is a free thinker. a free spirit. out clearly, and that is what angered religious leaders throughout the arab world. >> badawi was arrested in 2012 and entrance -- sentence to 10 years in prison -- and sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1000 lashes. the call for pardon was reiterated by the president of the european parliament.

on behalf of all of us, i would once again call on the king to grant mercy to raif but always -- raif badawi. >> the 31-year-old blogger was reportedly transferred to a new isolated prison last week. in protest, badwi has -- badawi has since gone on a hunger strike. catherine: austrian authorities have today revealed they arrested two men several days ago, both suspected of being linked to the killings of 130 people on november 13. the pair were tracked down at a migrant shelter in salzburg. the prosecutor says the pair arrived in europe from the middle east. he is so far refusing to give any more details, saying doing so would jeopardize the inquiry.

i can confirm that, last weekend, two people were arrested in salzburg. they had traveled to austria from the middle east. they were arrested at a migrant shelter in salzburg because of suspicion of involvement in a terrorist group. at the moment, the two accused are in custody. during a criminal investigation, possible links to the attack in paris are being analyzed. the american defense secretary is in baghdad today, asked carter, to discuss the -- ash carter, to discuss the possibility of the u.s. sending more military personnel and air support. the u.s. is hoping to intensify operations against i.s., but there is some resistance to more

american military intervention. currently, there are 3500 american troops on iraqi soil. in libya, there is still no peace deal between the country cost two rival governments -- country's two rival governments. a deal has been viewed today. the deadline has been pushed back 24 hours. libya has one currently recognized international government. there is another government that took over after fighting last year. let's find out a little more about the negotiations and the our reporter in cairo. it seems the deal is close. what kind of solution do we think is on the table right now? reporter: well, certainly, there will be a deal signed tomorrow between the faction of the gnc,

which is the parliament in parliament --he the internationally recognized parliament in the east of the country. however, this deal is not supported -- it no longer has clear support within either of the houses. this is what we saw yesterday, when the heads of the two in anments met unprecedented and controversial move that was celebrated in the press, including the international press, and also by people who -- by libyan citizens who gathered last night in the center of tripoli, celebrating this encounter. however, many criticized it, because it is seen as a move to undermine the ongoing unp stocks -- u.n. peace talks. tomorrow, we will see -- most

probably see the signing of a deal that has been in creation for the past 14 months. probably a see recognized the parliament signing on to it, but not the gnc. the main part of the agreement is to set up a government of national unity, and this government is meant -- will have to take seats in the capital in order to control national resources, and this is very unlikely given the current power relations. obtainthe u.n. does not -- does not manage to bring in the factions in the western region, this government will not be able to take office. catherine: the obvious question

then, even though this has taken such a long time to get to this point of having any deal at all -- we can ask what the point would be of getting such a deal that neither of them wholeheartedly support. wouldn't it be better to spend time getting one they do agree on, or does the united nations simply feel the situation in libya is too dangerous currently? reporter: this is the problem. there has been a lot of international pressure recently. we saw this in rome, when a number of countries gathered to discuss the libyan crisis, and there were strong statements kerry, who said that there was no -- that the international community would not accept any longer the chaos in libya allows the islamic state group to spread. and so it seems that the

international community is willing to press ahead with this deal that is going to be signed tomorrow. at the same time, there are some doubts that this agreement will have sufficient support within libya. and i think the gamble right now is that the u.n. is hoping that more stakeholders in libya will join the process after the signing. once the process has imposed itself -- the reason the signing is going to take place tomorrow, it has been pushed so strongly because there is a rival dialogue process that was launched a few weeks ago and that culminated with this meeting yesterday. catherine: just very briefly, i wanted to ask if it is possible to gauge how much faith ordinary libyans have in the peace

process. ordinary libyans want the civil war to stop. clashes,e sick of the of seeing militias fighting in their neighborhoods. definitely, there is strong public support for any kind of peace deal, even if people are frustrated with the u.n. process , which has been dragging on, i think there is going to seaport for a nationally -- to be support for a national unity government. the issue is not so much popular support. the issue is the security arrangement, preparing the grounds for this government to actually take office in the capital. anchor: that you so much for bringing us your insights, valerie stocker.

it is one year to the day since pakistan's deadliest massacre, the killing of 134 children and 17 adults at a school in pet awar by-- in pesh taliban militants. the country's prime minister promised in his words to take revenge for every drop of the victims' blood. reporter: remembering those who were lost in pakistan's worst ever attack. survivors, family, military, and political leaders attended an emotional ceremony. students held images of their fallen friends. teachers spoke of each of them. >the attack hard and public .pinion against extremism this year has seen the fewest deaths due to extremism since 2007. >> ♪

god willing, the day is not far away when terrorism will be completely eliminated. each and every part of pakistan will become a peaceful place. those who are trying to extinguish the candle of knowledge and spread darkness will be wiped out and every town, city, and village in pakistan will be illuminated with the knowledge of education. in england, two survivors of the massacre attended the ceremony organized by malala yousafzai, who herself survived a taliban attack in 2012. >> i went through a horrible incident in my life where i myself was shot. this was the day that really made me cry. the stories of all of the mothers and the children were tragic. you just imagine for a second, what was the crime of these

children? they just wanted to go to school. they just wanted to learn. and they were killed for no reason. every child has a right to live, and that right was denied. pakistan, the center 16th has been declared a national day of education, as it is the most powerful weapon -- in pakistan, december 16 has been declared a national day of education as it is the most powerful weapon against extremism. catherine: protesters are calling for jacob zuma to step down after he triggered economic his respectedking finance minister. zuma must go! reporter: his term expires in 2019, but thousands of south africans took to the streets to say president jacob zuma must go. >> we need a new leader who actually knows what being a president is about, who can't

fulfill his presidential obligations, because what zuma is doing is not right. >> south africa does not belong to zuma. -- decidede desired to fire a respected finance minister last week and replaced him with an unknown who is seen as a political yes man. fire -- when a zuma fired him last week, it was not the act of a stupid president. it was an act of somebody who knew exactly what he had to do to cover up corruption. reporter: the merry-go-round of ministers was just the latest blow to an economy that is facing sluggish growth. president zuma has survived several corruption scandals and it is -- and is unlikely to step down because of the protests.

the turmoil could put the ruling party -- could hurt the ruling party in may's municipal elections. catherine: the film that is widely expected to become the world's biggest grossing ever is now out here in france. we are, of course, talking about the new "star wars" movie, "the force awakens." this is the seventh installment in the legendary franchise. thousands of cinema goers have been seeing the dark side today as they stayed up all night to be the first to clap their eyes on it. ine "star wars" lovers flew all the way from the u.s. to get one up on their countrymen to day. a story that could hardly be more different than "star wars," a documentary about yitzhak rabin, who was assassinated 20 years ago this november.

reporter: before a tel aviv crowd, yitzhak rabin was making his last speech. leaving the stage, he was shot in the back by an orthodox jew. [gunfire] shock.nt left israel in now, 20 years on, an israeli drive -- director has taken on the prime minister's assassination. >> the mix of news items, the real truth, and the reconstruction of certain scenes is magnificent. and the content is something new, too, and exceptional. and coming from an israeli, it is wonderful. reporter: he even managed to get hold of transcriptions from the inquest into the assassination. me,hat we say, the actors,

in the role of the driver, what i say is word for word what is said during the commission, only it was us, because the commission wasn't filmed. orthodox, far right wing jew, rabin's assassin was fiercely opposed to the oslo peace accord. the directors careful to show an opposition leader -- >> i think he made a very cynical move. he has his responsibility, and i think he should start owning it. maybe he could buy a ticket to see the movie. reporter: the film has already seen release in israel where, despite a tense political climate, it was well received. catherine: time to move on now with some business news with kate moody. hi, catherine.

catherine: the federal reserve has raised its interest rate. ate: for the first time since means the, which american economy is approaching a return to normal conditions. it is an end to an extraordinary seven-year period. the fed brought the rate down to t in a move toen get the economy moving. to 0.25% to 0% 0.25% to 0.5% does not sound like much, but we expect to see a series of gradual increases over the next year. janet yellen says the bank wants to avoid an abrupt tightening and will continue to adapt to economic conditions. >> the importance of our initial

increase in the target range for the federal funds rate should not be overstated. increase, theay's stance of monetary policy remains accommodative, thereby supporting further improvement in labor market conditions and a return to 2% inflation. as we indicated in our statement, the committee expects that economic conditions will involve in a manner that will in ant -- will evolve manner that will warrant only gradual increases in the federal funds rate. had beenck markets moving upwards in anticipation of that announcement. stocks have picked up still further, trading up a little over 1% there for each of the major indices. the dollar also gaining in the last few minutes. for more on this, we can cross to our correspondent in new york. you have been following the reaction on wall street. stocks have turned upwards, but

perhaps not as sharply as some might have expected. reporter: that's right, we haven't really seen skyrocketing here on wall street, and i think that's because investors were expecting this move. the fed has always said it would signal the move well in advance to avoid turmoil on the stock markets, and that is what it has done. most investors were expecting this would be the day when the rate hike would come, and indeed it has happened, so the markets largely pricing this in. there would have been more turmoil if the fed had not raised rates today. that would have introduced more uncertainty on the markets. investors very much expecting this. kate: what kind of effect is this likely to have on american consumers and markets going ahead? well, i think it is unlikely to have a big, immediate impact for consumers. as you mentioned, this is largely a symbolic rate hike. it doesn't make a huge difference to people's

pocketbooks. overall, it is good news for savers. they will start to see a bit more return on their money. less good news for people with any kind of debt or companies or individuals who are looking to borrow money in 2016, who might have to be aware that interest rates are going up. it's unlikely that banks will pass on this rate increase straightaway. they may have some time to adjust to that. saying, really, this is still a historically low level, but it is a sign of things to come. it is no accident that analysts here are calling this liftoff, because it does signal the start of more rate increases, potentially up to four over the course of 2016, and that will start to have an impact on ordinary americans' while it. -- ordinary americans' wallets. kate: what about overseas? this might not be good news for some emerging markets. reporter: that's right, it's

good news for american savers and goodness because it shows the american economy is doing better, but not necessarily good news for emerging markets. while interest rates were so low in the u.s., many investors sent money overseas, places like turkey, south africa, malaysia, indonesia, but those kinds of markets have already been suffering problems over the last few months or so anyway, particularly in terms of their currency strength and rising debt levels. we will see a flight of capital out of those economies. it's likely the u.s. is seen as a safer bet. growth rates have been revised upwards as well by the fed as part of this announcement. it's possible investors will start to move their money back to the u.s. that could lead to a bit of stampede out of emerging markets. the question is whether they are prepared to deal with it, whether their central banks have enough reserve capital so that the sudden outflow does not

cause destabilization in those economies. kate: thank you for joining us from new york with that latest reaction on the u.s. federal reserve raising of interest rates. switching gears now, workers at a smart car factory in northeast france has finally agreed to abandon the hallowed 35-hour working week. the company has agreed not to cut any jobs for the next five years. they say it will make the plants more competitive and prevent jobs from being moved abroad. reporter: the 35-hour working week is going up for these employees. it's part of an effort to make the factory more competitive and keep the plant in france. although 90% of workers voted in favor of the changes, many -- >> for the most part, people signed, including me. >> we were all scared. i think that is the same wherever you work. you don't really have a guarantee, but you have to trust. i've been here since the beginning. we have known works.

-- worse. reporter: the 35-hour workweek has been law in france for many years. many companies already use loopholes to get around it. the workers will now work 39 hours per week, but only be paid for 37. car bosses have guaranteed no job cuts for the next five years. >> we have committed to keeping the factory open until 2020. reporter: the plant employs 800 workers and benefits 2000 other people in the area, including employees at cafés, hotels, and other small businesses. e:rning to some -- kat turning to some of the day's other stories. sectortic shift for the that has long been dominated by state-owned pemex.

production is expected to increase to 77,000 barrels per day. in the u.s., meanwhile, lawmakers are expected to lift a onr-decade-old ban exporting crude oil later this week. ending the embargo could further reduce oil prices for businesses and consumers, and give u.s. allies alternative suppliers to russia and opec. brazil's credit has been downgraded to junk status by fitch. this is due to deeper than expected recession. online sites allowing consumers consumersems to other is causing a fundamental shift, often described as the sharing economy. france will introduce regulations next year, meaning

users and renters will have to declare their income. >> in the past few years, rental websites have become a common way for people to earn extra cash. on december 11, french authorities passed -- a bill to make sure users declare their additional income with the authorities. she runs out of room in the south of france. since the summer, she has made 1000 euros. >> i needed some extra bit of revenue. i'm a job seeker. if i have to declare it, it's not going to be worth renting out. reporter: other countries have been struggling with how to regulate the rise of the so-called sharing economy. this has often meant tweaking current laws. george osborne declared his support for the rise of these new businesses. next year, u.k. residents will

only have to pay tax if the amount exceeds 10,000 euros. in france, websites will have to send each user a personalized summary of their rentals each year so they can declare it on theiró

♪ amy: from pacifica this is democracy now! >> donald is great at one minors but he is a chaos candidate and he would be a chaos president. he would not be the commander-in-chief we need to keep our country safe. >> mr. trump. [cheers and applause] >>