molly: welcome to the "france 24 ." newsroom. i am molly hall. traces of explosives and fingerprints -- belgian authorities reached -- release the findings of a december raid on a brussels apartment. it is the latest development in an investigation to the november 13 paris attacks. a man wielding a meat cleaver and a fake suicide vest is shot dead in paris. his identity remains unclear.

a humanitarian aid -- humanitarian aid will reach several besieged cities in syria. tens of thousands of people are dying from starvation. molly: we start with news out of brussels and the ongoing investigation into the november 13 paris attacks. releasedls have been concerning a december raid in the capital. authorities found traces of explosives, handmade belts, and the fingerprints of salah abdeslam in a brussels apartment. we spoke with our correspondent for the latest earlier. fingerprintson of of salah abdeslam, who was born in belgium. they also found suicide belts

and plastic bottles and traces of acetone peroxide, a substance used in a number of terrorist attacks, used in the one on november 13 in paris. new information suggests that apartment on the third floor in brussels was rented to the man whose false identity -- they believe he is the nine people they have in custody. the head prosecutor at the moment has not released details of his name. these latest revelations could suggest that the explosives used in the paris attacks were made in brussels, and that salah abdeslam had been using that location as a hideout for a number of weeks. we know already that salah abdeslam was driven by two friends here to brussels when out inacks were carried

paris. and a friend of salah abdeslam took him to this district of brussels to starbucks where they had coffee and a discussion for some 60 menswear salah abdeslam informed him about the attacks, that his brother had blown himself up. this new information is coming out today, confirming what francois molins said after the attacks, -- what francois hollande said after the attacks. are seeing us why we the release of this information now. >> a very good question because if there was a bomb making knowhop, you would like to earlier. 120 thousandr people living in this district, , very multicultural district just five minutes from where we often speak to you here in brussels. police have been under serious pressure in the last few weeks with a number of false alarms.

anniversary the one since the raid that was carried out last year where police foiled an attack that was supposed to be carried out on members of the police service. the are really tense and prosecutor has been tightlipped, revealing very little to the media for fear that the suspects could be aware of the information and plan. salah abdeslam is still on the run. there is an international arrest warrant out for him, and citizens are frustrated with the lack of competency coming from the police service and the fact that their new year's eve party was canceled with the fireworks display. it is very tense in brussels. meanwhile, here in the french capital the investigation continues into yesterday's deadly incident outside a police station in the north of the city. a man wearing a fake explosive vest and wielding a butcher knife was shot dead by police as he entered the building.

authorities are trying to establish whether he represented a significant threat or was acting alone without support. authorities have not confirmed his identity. >> establishing the true identity of this man, shot dead after trying to attack a paris police station, is complicated for french authorities. initial information reveals that while unknown to intelligence services, he was known to police. his fingerprints show he was convicted for theft in 2013 in the south of france. he declared his identity back in 1995a moroccan born in kazakh. this was never verified, and now thisrosecutor has revealed identity is contradicted. >> it should be noted that this identity is contradicted by a document that forms the basis of the anti-terror dossier, a document found on his body baring his handwriting. andescribes him as muslim

is note is given, but he moroccan. like the identity he declared in the south of france. person, aund on his mobile phone with a german sim card. to the leader of our bank daddy -- of al bagh dadi. into ad to force his way police station in northern paris, wielding a meat cleaver and shouting "god is great" in arabic. after several mornings, he was shot dead by police. a bomb detecting robot was used to check his body after wires were seen coming out of his jacket. it was fake. molly: the syrian government has agreed to allow humanitarian aid into three besieged towns. it follows reports of people

dying from starvation. the group doctors without borders says 23 patients have died. the victims include six babies under the age of 1. the united nations has warned that 42,000 people in my dire -- daya are in danger of -- craig williams has more. >> this footage posted on social media claims to show a woman in to eat.ooking leaves activists uploaded this video of a starving child. m the emergence of images like this put pressure on the syrian regime to allow aid to reach the area. on thursday the u.n. said the aid deliveryproved adaya.

"france 24" spoke to the icrc. aid to syria is a very lengthy operation. ablee really hoping to be asdeliver the following days this aid is very much needed. -- a deal in september was supposed to allow aid in. but only one delivery was made, and that was in october. 23 patients, including six babies it was supporting in my daya, have died in the last

five weeks. molly: syria's civil war has waged for nearly five years. it has proven a breeding ground for the islamic state p recruits are coming from many places around the world, and in france some 600 people are thought to have traveled to syria to join i.s. over one third of those are women. joining us now to discuss this trend is an expert who specializes in this movement. we have seen an increase in the number of women leaving france to join i.s. or other jihadist movements in syria. what do you make of this trend we are seeing? >> this number confirms a trend which is true for women and for men. we saw that in 2015 women and men from france and from other western countries joined the islamic state, and the numbers are still increasing despite the coalition's efforts and the ongoing war in syria and iraq.

those numbers confirm the trend, which is ongoing since mostly 2013 today. that being said, what role are we seeing women play in all of this in terms of the jihadi faction? wassim: women have really a very important role, so it is wrong to think that they are just cooking in the kitchen or there to make children. an educational role either in schools or on the medical level. we see many women acting in the medical fields, either for islamic state or other jihadi groups. to take an example, we know that hamas, the palestinian faction, .any women are working if i may say so, they are preparing the next generation of jihadi's.

they are building a new model of society. any model of society, women are needed. so they have a very important role, and to go back to a western woman who joined them, in a way, a western woman who joins jihadi factions are there for ideology reasons. so we have to take that into consideration and we should not minimize the role of women because they have a very important role. they had a key role in any jihadi faction today. molly: thank you very much for that. next, moving on, in yemen the country's civil war has prompted an ongoing humanitarian crisis. fighting has waged since march of last year. more than 5000 people have been killed, over 30,000 injured. over 2 million have fled their even in search of safety, hospitals affected.

the international committee of the red cross says there have been more than 100 attacks on paris health care facilities since the conflict began. are not the safe places than they used to be. we have incidences where hospitals have been targeted, patients have been injured, staff have been killed. drugs, medication, medical kept fromave been crossing front lines to hospitals, which desperately need the supplies. molly: after being banned from football for eight years, michel platini has dropped out of the fifa presidency race. he will need to spend time clearing his name and dealing with the legal troubles in front of him. he says never say never and he may run again in 20 years. josh vardey has more. josh: struggling under accusations of conflict of interest and abuse of power, michel platini admits that the timing was not good. i have certain legal

procedures in front of me which stop me from being able to apply. i think it is reasonable to start here and dedicate the time in front of me to clearing my name from these accusations. ethics committee has suspended him for eight years from all football related activities due to a controversial 1.8 million euros received from sepp blatter in 2011 for a job completed over one decade before. he says he cannot see why it may be a problem. >> there was nothing wrong in saying i was promised work in in 2008. i did what any other employee in the world would do. michel platini says he believes the turnaround at the top is all that is needed to save fifa. >> i do not think it will take much to save fifa. it is a system, and we have to change the system. the u.n. secretary general is

-- uefa secretary-general is up for the role. molly: france 24's julia kim is here to tell us all about football. >> it is the most prestigious title of his career. 26-year-old was named african footballer of the year. he was the top scorer with 18 goals and 17 matches to his name. the panthers is currently the best forward. last four title the years in a row by seven votes. competition from a guardian player to become the first player to win the award. from that country. >> i am proud because they are

great players who i admire a lot. i know that i have what it takes to be here again next year, but that will take work and lots of sacrifice. the ceremony, held in the nigerian capital, also rewarded a 23-year-old cameroonian who best femalein the footballer title. coach of the year -- the frenchman led his team to victory in 2015. molly: it is 15 minutes past 1:00 p.m. in the french capital. traces of explosives and figure prints -- belgian authorities released the findings of a december raid on a brussels apartment. an investigation into the december 13 -- the november 13 paris attacks. an attempt assault on police with a man wielding a meat

cleaver and fake suicide vest is shot dead. his identity remains unclear. humanitarian aid will reach several besieged cities in syria. the bashar al-assad regime is allowing aid after tens of thousands risk dying of starvation. it is time for the business update. i am joined in the studio by kate moody. we are going to start off with turmoil that we have seen on the markets coming from china. kate: what has happened on fridays beijing authorities have decided to stop using the most controversial element of this -- the idea was to take a pause in trading if shares move more than 5% and cut off the day's trading altogether if it moved more than 7%. that was used for the first time this week twice on both monday and thursday, but it seems to have sparked panic instead of calm. scrapping the system has gone

some way to restoring investor confidence, but long-term challenges remain. i think it is psychological. you are under pressure to sell when the stock falls or rises 5%. if it goes or falls more than 5%, you're under pressure. the markets-term, are feeling selling pressure because the fundamentals have not changed. kate: that move saw asian positive,ving back to and the shanghai comp was a close up about 2%. it is down 10% for the week. worst showing since the crash in july. the dax and ftse are trading both to the line, and there is

new data showing production in novemberl by .9% in after rising slightly in october. turning to some of the day's other business headlines -- saudi arabia is considering making some shares of its company, saudi air and co-, for the first time error. that for the first time ever. some economists think it is the most valuable company in the world, worth trillions of dollars. selling 5% of its shares could help the saudi government balance its budget and deal with the collapsing global oil prices. winl dutch shell is set to the support of most shareholders for its $51 billion takeover bid for the bg group. senior executives are holding a final round of meetings with tough investors ahead of the crucial vote on the deal later this month. says the oil giant merger would be profitable even if oil prices averaged $50 a barrel for two years.

there were 12 year lows near $33 this week. many shareholders expressed skepticism about the merger. apple is diving into the world of artificial intelligence. it purchased the motion, a startup -- it purchased emotion, a startup. it could help advertisers assess reactions to their ads. and at least to the las vegas consumer electronics show, underway. thousands of gadgets are on display, and robots are taking center stage. >> one of the biggest attractions at the -- is the companion robot. intelligent and more humanoid than ever. >> this idea is that he becomes almost a part of the family. it can detect fires or burglaries and send you a message. >> wake up.

>> we have applications for children. we can play hide and seek or teach them mass. -- teach them math. the robot can help them by ensuring that can remind them to take medication. or provide cognitive stimulation. >> another hot trend was connected health, and this device has a small meal inside that draws a little bit of blood. this machine analyzes your metabolism, and the results are sent directly to your smart phone. >> i can see the type of exercise that is best suited to my metabolism, and which one has been most effective. you can lose it -- you can use it to lose weight quickly and efficiently because you can find out specifically which physical activity works best for you. wasnother start up here france with 140 attack startups, making france the second most

represented country in the show behind the united states. kate: the new star wars monopoly game has been forced to wake up to allegations of sexism. there are four pieces all modeled on male characters. luke skywalker, darth vader, fin , and kylo ren. 11 fans have been tweeting, where is rey? the most effective complaint came from an eight-year-old girl . she pointed out that without "the force awakens" rey, the dark side would have won. a new version of the game includes rey, and anyone who bought an earlier set can request their own figurine. molly: interesting stuff. anybody who saw the movie, she

is a pivotal force of the movie. interesting she did not make it into the first cut of the game. the next generation is looking on. thank you very much for that business news. it is time now for our press review. studioined here in the by our correspondent who is looking at headlines. off withing to start the events we saw take place in paris on the attempted attack on a police station in the north of paris. >> dallas on the front page of "the wall street journal," with the heading, "paris is still on edge." there is a close shot of the individual who was gunned down in the police station. you see that same photo in the british newspaper as well, in an article that was running on the front page of their online version. clearly the foreign press is preoccupied with what seems to be an ongoing security threat. molly: i am sure the french

newspaper is penning an unusual ly emotional editorial. >> he said the same. the attacker had suicide like gestures, and reminded us, as if it were necessary, that fewer risk is but an idle dream. you get that sense of fatigue, sadness. it certainly is what many perceive is the feeling after what seems like you have another person, another would be attack, another attack thwarted. molly: we have "the economist" looking at how france has changed since the january attacks. >> the heading on this article, i find it very interesting, using words to suggest that there was a france before charlie, one after. the one before was more carefree and fun-loving, and the one now is preoccupied with security, national security and so forth.

the british magazine comes back on the controversial measures that francois hollande will be debating in february. notably stripping terrorists of their french nationality. -- isrospect has caused unlikely to deter suicide bombers, and what his knees he -- and what is needed to be done is better policing. molly: severe cases of starvation and malnutrition, some leading to use -- some leading to severe death. the photos of starting children in syria. the washington post has been running this article on the front page of its online version. they cite doctors without borders as saying the residence of madaya, the town taken in by this famine, have been forced to eat insects and cats to survive. 23 people have died of

starvation since december. that is just over a month. some rural parts of the city have not even seen food since last october. some very shocking scenes coming out of that city. an article in "the independent," the unlikely alliance in the west. >> that alliances with citalopram -- with the taliban. they are now turning to an unorthodox alliance with citalopram. liban.h the ta they are now i guess an ally. it is certainly the case with certain countries like russia and china, russia in particular who fought a bloody war against the mujahedin, is now turning to to train fighters

and then coming back to russia to commit local terrorist attacks. molly: we will end with the story of the hungarian human rights lawyer under hot water for her latest photo series. >> is a cultural protest or is it just ignorance? i think this hungarian human rights lawyer has crossed the line. she is skating that line. whois a human rights lawyer transposed her face on to faces of african tribal women for a photo shoot. this is her face in each of these photos, but she says she wanted to raise awareness about the plight of these endangered african tribes. "blackface"say that is patronizing and plain racist. that is the reaction we have seen. an interesting article regrouping all of these critiques, and i am going to quote a woman who says you can practically feel the ignorance

washing over you like those fire hoses they turned on black protesters in the good old days. so let's say she has taken down her photo series since then. it spawned a host of jokes, and even yo8úxú

>> the weight of the world is shifting in ways that will surprise and perhaps even shock you. not so long ago, in many of the world's poorer countries, hunger was the headline health concern. estimates put the number of malnourished at 700 million, and obese mainly in rich countries at 100 million.