"> welcome to the "france 24 newsroom. i am molly hall. the headlines -- the eu holds its last summit of the year. the ongoing margaret crisis -- the ongoing migrant crisis and impossible exit from the union tops the talks. vladimir putin holds his annual press conference. he says the move into syria will continue until a political conference starts. a mistrial is cleared -- is

oflared in a baltimore trial the police officer accused of killing freddie gray. also coming up, janet yellen's gift to the markets and investors rejoice as america raises interest rates for the first time in a decade. a look at the latest on that without business editor, stephen carroll. -- with our business editor, stephen carroll. molly: those are the top stories this hour. thanks for joining us. russian president vladimir putin is holding his annual end of the year press conference. he has been addressing a range of issues from the russian economy to ukraine, even the world of sports. speaking earlier from moscow, he spoke on the syrian conflict,

saying russia will continue its military operations in the country until the syrian people begin the political profits -- the political process. he also touched on operations with turkey, saying that he sees no possibility overcoming the diplomatic strain under current turkish leadership. we will have more from moscow later on in the program. now looking for new ways to handle the ongoing migrant crisis. e.u. leaders are meeting in brussels for a key summit which happens to be the final gathering of the year. new proposals on the migrant situation are expected to be discussed, including plans to directly resettle syrian migrants from turkey, despite the frigid temperatures, scores of people still desperately trying to make the dangerous trip from turkey to greece in order to reach the e.u.. the greek prime minister has visited new migrant centers, expecting to be open soon.

>> getting to grips with europe's migrant crisis. that was alexis tsipras' message on wednesday. the greek prime minister visited the sites of several migrant registration centers due to open soon. that is part of athens trying to greet the refugees arriving on greek shores. is ups it is other -- it to other european states to keep their commitments. alexis tsipras: there is a decision to wreak locate -- to relocate 66,000 migrants, especially to central and northern countries. however, until now these relocations have not proceeded, with the exception of a few, less than 100. a distribution plan agreed upon in september is only falling into place and still faces fierce opposition from

several european nations. the german chancellor has called on e.u. members repeatedly to help relocate the refugees. will succeed alone in dealing with the migrant crisis or fighting against its origins pretty no single country will guarantee peace and prosperity. new plan isrkel's to take syrian refugees directly from turkey as part of the deal moreankara to prevent asylum-seekers from heading to greece. the e.u. has similar deals with lebanon and jordan. the united nations security council will hold its first ever meeting of finance ministers. the gathering will focus on the money supply of the islamic state group. ministers will discuss a draft resolution aimed at ramping up sanctions against the group and cutting off its revenue. now there is concern about the arise -- the rise of the islamic state group in libya. it is has -- it has been part to

years since the fall of mo mark and off he come and security has fallen to dangerous levels. -- of mo mark gadhafi -- of muammar gaddafi. security has fallen to dangerous levels. the than one month after deadly paris attacks, the hunt goes on for the only surviving attacker. belgian's justice minister has revealed that police may have missed an opportunity to arrest him two days after the attack. our correspondent has more. >> europe's most wanted man slipping through the fingers of belgian police. authorities say they waited to search a house in brussels on the 15th of november, where terror suspect salah abdeslam was thought to be hiding. two days after the attacks in paris, belgian police received credible information that he was staying in this house in his home district. were on standby,

but please had to wait until the next morning to storm the house. belgium's justice minister said night raids were illegal in his country. >> we were told they had reason to believe that salah abdeslam was in the house, but a ban on police raids carried out between 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. did not help us to find him at that time. bans all police carrying out searches between 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. except for fires and obvious offenses. did belgian authorities miss a chance to arrest salah abdeslam? local media say it is very likely, suggesting police found evidence he had been in the house. this is likely to put belgian authorities under the spotlight again as the handling of

homegrown extremism has been criticized in recent weeks. molly: let's head back to the russian capital, where vladimir putin is holding his end of the year press conference. vladimir putin is touching upon a range of issues from the domestic and international fronts. we heard him touch upon syria, saying that russia's military operations in the country will continue until the country begins a political process. tell us more about this. thomas: that is right. he said the military actions will continue. he said a diplomatic process is clearly, in his words, the only way syria can reach some kind of post-conflict state, where it eventually is stable. he said that john kerry, the u.s. secretary of state, coming to moscow two days ago shows proof to him that the u.s. and russia can work together in syria, that they share a similar

vision on the country. he spelled out what he sees as a way to push the fledgling peace process forward for a stable syria, but they need a draft constitution drawn up. and then finally, elections should happen, at which point he said the syrians alone should decide on the future of bashar al-assad. just briefly, because it is quite important, we had comments from turkey as well. he said the downing of the russian jet on the syrian border with turkey as a hostile acts, that russia is not the type of country that would run away from computation -- from confrontation. that is why he said missiles are in the area and new planes are running sorties in the area as well. positive notes on syria -- slightly harsher when it comes

to turkey and relations with the turkish republic. molly: in terms of the domestic front, vladimir putin spoke on the economy. the russian economy has been struggling. he said it bottomed out that it is on the upswing. thomas: well, yes, and it is critical what he said, that this time last year he said that the russian economy would need two years to recover. we are now a year into that. analysts are saying that the russian economy is at a worse point now than it was a year ago. people here are really feeling the brunt of that. there was one question that was asked about pensions. a journalist who works in one of the far-flung regions of russia asked him directly, how do we expect pensioners to live on the equivalent of 100 euros a month? vladimir putin did not have a precise answer for her, but he has blamed external actions for russia's economic problems. he said oil and gas prices are

weighing on the russian economy. proposing -- lowe reporting from the russian capital. fortical woes continue brazil's leader. you popular head of state has been trying to block a process which has been marred by allegations of corruption and political maneuvering. brazil's supreme court met wednesday to decide on a case that could lead to president rousseff's impeachment. one of the judges has already thethe proceedings -- said proceedings are legitimate. the present president stands accused by conservatives of breaking the law in managing last year's budget. but he and his commission were told to freeze their work to freeze their works his mother over suspicions the impeachment process was politically

motivated. he himself has been accused of taking millions of dollars in bribes. single did not find a consistent reason to interrupt my mandate. if they have any evidence -- against me, that is what i call a two third >> people took to the streets to show support for president rousseff. >> we are here to demonstrate against the coup as we do not believe a person as corrupt as edward o kenya can -- eduardo cuna can disrupt a person who has shown her commitment to the brazilian people, especially to workers. >> her popularity has plummeted in recent months. the impeachment process she is

facing is not the only reason. her name has been mentioned in a corruption scandal involving the ,tate owned oil giant petrobras. she has also been processed for fightilure to unemployment. u.s. city of baltimore is waking up after a tense but calm night. a maryland court declared a mistrial in the case of the first police officer charged in the death of freddie gray, who died after being injured in a police van. his death sparked riots across the city of police brutality over minority groups. our correspondent has more. >> scuffles outside the -- thouse as police pushed a mistrial for william porter, the first police officer charged in the death of freddie gray read the city's mayor as well as gray's family, called for calm.

>> all of us, if we believe in justice must have respect for the outcome of the judicial process. >> family is not angry. no one else should be angry. this is just a temporary bump on the road to justice. it happens. the first of six police officers charged over the death of freddie gray. the 25-year-old black man died in the hospital a week after his arrest. he had broken his neck while being transported in the police van. the young black officer was accused of putting gray in the van without seed bellingham -- without seatbelt thing -- him.ut seatbelting after three days of deliberation, the jury of 12 people, seven of them black, were deadlocked on all charges. >> i am not surprised. the state put on a compelling case. the defense did something it had

not to -- it did not have to do. it was like the battle of two heavyweights, and that the end of the day, the jury could not reach a unanimous decision. >> what do we want? >> justice! >> protests continued into the night but remained calm. the death of freddie gray sparked riots in baltimore. molly: looking for new ways to handle the ongoing migrant crisis, e.u. leaders are meeting in brussels for a key summit. new proposals are respected to be discussed, including plans to directly resettle syrian migrants from turkey. for more, let's bring in our correspondent from brussels. this is the last e.u. summative 2015. will the e.u. managed to get a grip on the migration crisis? >> open fortunately not, mali. expect a lot of repetition today. and a sensation of, didn't i

hear that before? we will see the council president and the commission president blaming member states for not implementing more, especially when it comes to the relocation package, relocating 160,000 refugees in the next two years. 212 have hear only been relocated. cameron is also there in brussels, but migration is not only only thing -- is not the only thing on his mind. where are we now on these talks? meabh: for the first time ever, he will be speaking during dinner. the sports reform is the most contention because it's based to curbing -- the first one is the most contentious because it is based on curbing the incoming

migrants. molly: thank you very much for that update. it is time for the business update. i am joined in the studio by stephen carroll. the markets are having a very good day. this is after the decision by the federal reserve area tell us more. stephen: we could say the janet yellen is the santa claus of the stock market today. there are significant gains on european shares after the rate rise. frankfurt is leaving the gains, up over 3%. paris seeing a healthy rise of 2.5% of gains in london. thanks in general across europe are seeing gains. stand to gain if they can charge higher interest rates on loans, so they can make more business, so business in the united states is improved, too. it was a this is and was nearly a decade in the making. raising interest rates from close to 02 between .25% and

.5%. it is a small increase but is expected to be the first of several rises in the coming year. sign yellen says it is a that the american economy is recovering. janet yellen: this action marks the end of an extraordinary seven-year period during which the federal funds rate was held near zero to support the recovery of the economy from the worst financial crisis in recession -- and recession since the great depression. it also recognizes the considerable progress that has been made toward restoring jobs, raising incomes, and easing the economic hardship of millions of americans. stephen: one of the side effects we have seen is a strengthening of the u.s. dollar. let's look at trading against the euro this lunchtime in europe. one euro buying you just over one dollar.

down about one cent from this time yesterday. the contrasting policies at central banks in the eurozone and the united states has caused those currencies to move closer in value in recent months. earlier i asked craig, a senior market analyst, if they were likely to get to parity. >> i do not anticipate parity in the next six months or so, simply because i think what we see right now in euro-dollar has a couple of more interest rate hikes priced in. about 1.7 -- 1.375%. 1.09%.rading just below we will have to see a significant change in ecb monetary policy being far stronger as a policy stimulus in order to see the parity levels reach that. i do not think the fed alone will drive it to these levels. stephen: the u.s. economy might be recovering well, but in france many are wondering why

they are not seeing the same kind of upturn. growth rates were higher at the start of the year, but a range rf factors have seen consume spending fall and their concerns about the coming months. >> a weak euro, low oil prices, and high interest rates. many factors have conspired to make this a disappointing end of the year for the french economy. the latest data shows household consumption down, falling production and industry flatlining employment figures. the first quarter results were promising, which showed the economy have expended by .7%. but it turned out to be a false start at a difficult year for french business. this parisian company manufactures industrial -- it is the first time they will finish the year in the red. >> a catastrophic start to the year, a difficult holiday period in december, the expected recovery that did not happen.

the effect of paris helped. we feel we are getting some long-awaited contracts. meanslowdown in china french exports there dropped. exports have risen to his percent, -- imports have risen by 6%. cheaper imports. there is less investment, which is down by 7%. >> new investments or jobs mean taking risks. there is an uncertainty about how to get out of the crisis. >> french businesses say that uncertainty is likely to last well into the first quarter of 2016. stephen: finally from me, a court in brazil has ordered a messaging service to be blocked for two days per they did not follow a court order to cooperate with a criminal investigation in brazil. it is estimated 90% of mobile users use whatsapp.

outage,irst hour of the 1.5 million brazilians had signed up to a rival service. people are feeling cut off. >> thank you very much for a look at the day's business news. time now for the press review. it is time to take a look at what is grabbing headlines in the weekly news magazines. i am joined by florence villeminot. we are going to go over ongoing reaction of the e.u. vote that's a place in france per flo: quite a nailbiting end. in the end, the national party did not read -- did not win a single region. it was a one-shot for mainstream political parties, but the key question is, will this change anything? there is definitely a call for change in the press. one group is calling for a

novelty in french politics, perhaps a facelift of french politics are today you can at least he see -- at least see a little check popping out of the french flag. they expressed their rejection of france's mainstream political party. it encourages french politicians to answer this desire for change coming from french voters. to take into consideration their real concerns. molly: because we are seeing many warnings. perhaps it will be business as usual. that's right. did they get the message? it seems like so far the socialists and the opposition party are slipping back into their bad habits. bad, it seems like history could repeat itself in the next big election. that is the 2017 presidential election. you can see it on the front page here. 2017have likened that election to a one-armed bandit

in casinos. sarkozy, it says same players play again. it does not seem that overhaul of and politics a lot of voters have been calling for. in terms of nicholas sarkozy, it appears to be an uphill battle. here, there might not be a clear winner in the regional elections, but there is a clear loser. "he is the real loser of those regional elections." this week was marked by internal fighting, i guess you could call it. sarkozy gotten rid of the number two politician in the party. he kicked her off the leadership board because she openly before in the lead up to the regional election. he is facing some problems from his former allies, and then there are these rivals within the party.

they have made it clear that they want to run for president. they want to represent in the presidential election. so he isre facing -- facing trouble within his party. the editorial is quite long but it is worth the read. it says, "when a woman has lived with a man for quite a long time, she hesitates before leaving him because even if the passion is gone, there is still habit." that is perhaps why francois hollande could be reelected. if she ends up leaving a man and she insists -- and he says -- and he insists on trying her back -- on trying to get her back and keeps going, she asked yourself, how could i have ever been with this man? pen,: for marine le despite her loss, she is not rattled and is confident about her chances for the presidency.

flo: in the next presidential election, you can see her here looking a little battered. she has lost her teeth in the regional election. but she is still saying altogether in 2017. molly: as the year draws to an end, several magazines are looking at what drive -- at what lies ahead. looks wayer edition ahead to 2040. this is the 25th anniversary edition of this magazine, so they take a look at the future. what will the world look like in 2040? look at little closer into the immediate future, and it looks at what the year is going to give us in africa. going to look like in the african continent? it focuses particularly on the situation in tunisia. this week, of course, marks the fifth year anniversary of the beginning of the arab spring, and according to this, the five series -- five years later, the

country is facing difficulty with the rise of terrorism, the struggling economy, and the political landscape is very divided. despite all this, tunisia has succeeded in its democratic transition, and at least the country is now free. molly: we also have "the economist," putting out a special holiday issue. flo: it is a special christmas double issue, and i must say it looks like a pretty fun read. you have articles about the inside of the minds of animals. the surprising story of america selfie, which is a painting. this is the painting of a chinese train because the economist focuses on a new international train line that is going to go between china and luxembourg. it is 11,000 kilometers long. it is going to go through kazakhstan, azerbaijan, armenia, turkey, bulgaria, serbia, hungary, austria, germany, and finally, luxembourg. molly: how long will that take?

it will take a long time. flo: a long time, and you might need some things to read. -- if so, this is a good read for the holiday season. this man here, his name is