france 24 >> you are watching live from parisfrance 24,. i'm catherine nicholson. it's the beginning of the end for the islamic state group, so iraqi foreign minister. they predicted that the group will be defeated entirely in 2016. and an apology to south korean sex slaves during world war ii. this is being hailed as an

historic deal. and david cameron chores flooded northern england. and a surge of home of calls for think the flood defenses. first though, 2016 will be the year the islamic state group is finally defeated, so says a rat's prime minister on the day his military and announced to the recapture of the city of ramadi. has held the city since may. our correspondent tells us how the iraqis one. city thatramadi, a has been in the hands of the islamic state more than half a year.

>> ramadi has been liberated. we have defended our dignity and our lands. iraqi troops recaptured the government compound on sunday, flushing out the islamic state group fighters and suicide bombers who had been lying in wait. the operation to recapture month's, andlast backing from u.s.-led airstrikes helped pin down the islamist fighters. two areas were hit on sunday, wounding approximately a dozen militants. the city is the capital of the province,largest anbar. some parts of ramadi had appeared to be completely destroyed in the fighting and the iraqi's army job is not done believeshe military that over 300 explosive devices

have been planted by the islamic state group. once they are cleared, the government has set its sights on reclaiming mosul. it is the islamic state felt most prized asset in the country. >> over 100 syrian anti-regime fighters have gone into lebanon as part of a united nations-backed truce. they are being evacuated to turkey. it's part of the ongoing efforts to breach the -- to reach the local cease-fire. reporter: security between turkey and lebanon as a landmark transfer deal gets underway. the international red cross is overseeing the operation.

the force is the source of heavy fighting for years. in exchange, they are taken to the turkish border. that is why the united nations, the deal was brokered with iran and turkey. it is one of a series of cease-fires reached in recent months. hundreds of rebels and their families left opposition held , to bolsters government control of the city. efforts of been taking -- picking up place. to start are set negotiations in january. the plan says nothing about president bashar al-assad's future, but aims to hold elections in 18 months. the syrian journalist

has been laid to rest. he is been making a documentary critical of the islamic state group and was due to fly to france with his family for asylum. so far, there has been no comment on his killing from turkish authorities. across to asia now, it is being billed as an historic right and historic wrong, an apology for sex lives taken during world war ii. women were forced to work in military-run brothels. a handful of the victims are still alive to benefit from the compensation offer. of relations between japan and south korea as tokyo makes a heartfelt apology

for the crimes of the past. prime minister shinzo abe made a formal apology for the wartime practice of taking consort women, or sexual slaves, and historic and groundbreaking step to feel old wounds. >> i hope this will be an opportunity for japan and south korea to join forces and clear the path toward that new era. we cannot let our children, our grandchildren, and children of generations to come bear the fate of apologizing continuously. this new agreement involves the creation of a joint fund which will be managed by south korea. japan provided an initial apology in 1993, but without assuming the same level of responsibility. korea have spent

decades campaigning for a more complete apology. they say it is an important step toward rehabilitating the reputation and dignity of these women. >> to repair the honor and dignity of these comfort women, i think it is important that japan carries out these measures immediately and faithful according to what the two countries have agreed upon. tom, the recent developments are too little, too late -- for some, the recent developments are too little, too late. >> we are not satisfied. reporter: animosity over the question of comfort women has been a bone of contention between the two country since 1965, and has prevented japan and south korea from

cooperating on certain security issues. on one ofw details the most controversial times in recent french history of been unlocked. previously classified documents of the vichy regime that collaborated with the nazi during world war ii are now open to the public. it looks of the unlawful prosecution of members of the french resistance movement. reporters without borders has lashed out at beijing after they said they would no longer allow a french journalist to remain in the country. beijing is accusing her of flagrantly championing acts of terrorism. she criticized policies to a muslim minority group. >> she has been reporting in china for six years, but she's getting ready to leave.

>> do not apology. just leave. reporter: the french journalist has been denied a visa, which means she must leave by the end of the week. the reason -- a magazine article published at the end of november following the terror attacks in paris. in her report, dated november championed the slaughter of innocents, igniting fear of the chinese community. it's an accusation that she flatly denies. never supported terrorism in my article. i spoke about terrorist actions, but not to say they were good. gatheir's article said that chinese support for paris

had an old terrier motive. -- an ulterior motive. they have seen multiple debbie attacks in the past two years. journalist the first forced to leave the country since the expulsion in 2012 of a correspondent from al jazeera. anchor: britain's prime minister has waited into a storm of criticism as severe flooding hits parts of northern england. david cameron paying a visit to the city of york earlier today. the sandbags and offered to help after heavy rains caused local rivers to overflow. nine severe flood warnings are in place across northern england, indicating a life-threatening risk. the government is increasingly coming under fire for inadequate flood defenses around the country, as mark johnson reports. reporter: emergency crews attempt to reach those left

stranded by the rising water levels. almost a month of storms of broken riverbanks and forced hundreds of people to evacuate their homes. some 500 soldiers have been deal with the unprecedented flooding in lancashire and northern england. 1000 more remain on standby. more rain is forecast for later in the week. over 25 flood warnings have been issued for england and wales. critics have called for a complete rethink of the country's defenses. prime minister david cameron says future plans will be reviewed. prime minister cameron: after any one of these events, it makes sense to sit down, workout are we doing this in the right way? do we need to do more? we will ask all of those questions. downing street says

emergency assistance is available for homeowners and businesses affected. ave been00 homes h flooded and leads alone. the government was previously flood was aa major catastrophe waiting to happen. the damage could exceed two billion euros. you to the's take top world news stories we are following. in several south american countries, flooding has forced many to flee their homes. compounded by summer heat and mosquitoes as the summer sets in. many more are also impacted in argentina, uruguay, and southern brazil. and rains in the u.s. midwest after unusually harsh storms.

nine tornadoes have swept through north texas, destroying as many as 1450 homes, according to officials. thousands of drivers are being forced to leave their cars at in milan.lan as -- a six-hour daytime ban will be reduced on tuesday and wednesday. has their owne limits on vehicles for later this week. spain's far left party refusing to join forces with any other party in the wake of the country's inconclusive general election. fell short of a majority. came in third, but its leader says he will not play kingmaker.

now two weekends of mass protests in poland have failed to stop controversial changes to the law in the country's highest court. just late and would allow the country to push ahead with reforms that have been promised, but members of the opposition say it is a threat to democracy in poland, claims it backed by some european union leader. our correspondent is in warsaw. can you tell us what exactly does this new legislation change? timeter: for the first since the end of communism 26 years ago, poland is governed by a single party. they have an absolute majority. the third arm of the legislative tribunal, as it is known here, is the body, but actually polices these decisions. that is a body which has been affected by this amendment, not

only an amendment that forces it to rule with a two thirds majority, but imposes five new judges -- those five new judges having been appointed by the ruling party and therefore considered partial to that party. great many polish people are deeply concerned their country's democracy is being undermined or even that this could be a power grab. stand now that the changes have been approved by the president? .lex: it's difficult to say the civic platform says it is questioning the costa to chanel government move, but how do you challenge that, when the tribunal that would look at the street a huge civic and

movement has risen up, called the committee for democracy. i was speaking to his figurehead earlier. she says they will continue to demonstrate in the streets. we can expect large demonstrations in the future. they are also calling for international condemnation. the government has taken little heat of international condemnation. anchor: thank you very much, ith, reporting for us from warsaw. the first national polls after gw's of instability and violence after two years of instability and violence. they are working with french troops and local the gertie forces to make sure that this vote does not dissented to more violence.deadly

our correspondents report from the central african republic. u.n. peacekeepers on patrol. they have been stepping up security ahead of coming elections, manning roadblocks in volatile areas. until recently, this was a no go zone. >> this checkpoint is a very sensitive area. there are muslim and christian neighborhoods. they used to shoot at each other here. extra security measures to stop anyone disturbing the vote. given what happened during the referendum. deadly violence march the referendum in the central african republic in mid-december. marred theiolence referendum in the central african republic in

mid-december. they say that they will make not that this poll is assaulted. .> we have three things we have checkpoints and we have patrols. these men are working with the u.n. troops to prevent attacks from groups opposed to the election process. anyone looking for trouble comes into this neighborhood, we told the u.n., we are handing them over. is being security stepped up in the most sensitive areas of the capital, making sure -- but making sure the elections come off and rural areas will be a real challenge. that was our correspondent reporting on these developments this week. the world's highest honor for

the dog diesel will receive the dicken medal. this after nomination from the english "sun" newspaper. pastjust coming up ,20 9:00 here in paris. it is the beginning of the end of the islamic state group, so says the iraqi prime minister. iraqi forces seized the city of ramadi back from the militant group. they predict that the group will be defeated entirely in 2016. southagrees to compensate korean women taken as sex slaves during world war ii. and britain's prime minister is waiting into criticism as he tours flooded towns in northern new england. questions are raised over the government funding for flood defenses.

the top business headlines with markus karlsson. hi there. there, catherine. anchor: let's start with the oil prices in saudi arabia. yes, brent crude is near and 11-year low once more. and one of the major producers unveiling dramatic spending cuts, saudi arabia cutting subsidies on things like fuel and water. this as the government forecasts and $11 billion deficit next year. our correspondent has more. saudi arabia is looking at the biggest audit deficit as revenue slump. badthis deficit is not as

as some feared. some had feared a gap of 20%. the news was announced on monday. >> the estimated revenues on spending are as follows -- we 513.8te revenues to be at billion reals and are projected spending will be -- that makes for a shortfall of some $87 billion. to thee vulnerable fluctuation of oil prices. they control how much they pump, that not how much. there star export is lower than $40 a barrel. state revenues have been affected. to trim belts,

cutting back on spending and energy subsidies that sweeten saudis household bills. there's also talk of a government sales tax. opportunitys as an for saudi arabia to diversify its economy. here's another oil producer under pressure. the russian ruble has fallen to its lowest level against the u.s. dollar in a year. than 72ar but you more rubles during monday's trading. the russian economy and the ruble has been hit by lower crude prices and western sanctions over the crisis in the ukraine. since mid-2015, the ruble has lost or than 40% of its value against the u.s. greenback. we are going to take a look at in theck markets, and united states, we've seen shares coming under pressure, although

we've seen the dow jones industrial average come off its session lows a few hours ago, currently trading at about . 2% down. oil pricesaders -- weighed on stocks as well. on this side of the atlantic, the ftse in london was closed cause of the bank holiday monday. atd news for british traders least. other stories we're watching for you. shares in china's telecom dropped earlier. this follows news that its chairman is being investigated for alleged disciplinary violations. speculation that he has been drawn into an anticorruption trial. that he wasreported taken away by authorities. presidentt -- chinese xi jinping has pledged to take

on corruption and that campaign seems to be growing in scope. >> he is preparing. so, i assume he does not want to arrest to many senior people and government. that is why the focus of the anticorruption campaign has moved to the business sector, arrest will not affect so much unity within the communist party or the government. atkus: all right, let's look more stories for you in china. an international shipping country with price fixing. $43 million demanded from the firm. a signalis seen as that china is continuing in investigations globally. says is capital

expenditures are likely to be smaller next year than in 2015. this falls after the ignition scandal and which volkswagen admitted they had cheated to pass test. and air france -- the union has called on flight attendants and ground staff to walk-off on january 28. they are taking action against a plan to slash jobs. to we are going to turn out the retail sector. stores around europe and elsewhere are ringing up whether they are among the winners or losers in the lead up to christmas. we will look at one sector where one type of shock seems to be among the winners. this is a growing phenomenon in france at least -- pop-up stores. designers can share the cost to exhibit their goods.

our correspondent has more. reporter: popping up in high streets all over the world for a few days, only to disappear once again. here in the french town of the limouge, items for the festive season. > it's a good way to find it's a made family -- >> good way to find locally made products without having to seek them out. >> you share the cost of renting a shop and divvy up our time because it allows us to get work done while taking turns to set up the shop. reporter: and strength in numbers has paid off grid for the otherwise unbeatable price of 150 euros a month, their produce is for sale on the high street and many are happy to spend their money here. to havekes sense

business here, to help other people make a living. camp in oldtting up deserted businesses, pop-up shops can at least temporarily breathed new life into placesgo

12/28/15 12/28/15 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> 30 seconds. i cannot believe this amount of damage was done and probably 30 seconds, but it felt like a lifetime. it did. i'm a teacher and we had kids in this neighborhood and the houses are gone. amy: tornadoes from mississippi to michigan. blizzards in new mexico, texas, and oklahoma.