>> welcome to france 24. i'm molly hall. these are the headlines. crunch time for david cameron as he tries to secure his eu reform bill in brussels in preparation for the so-called brexit summit. a deadly attacking ankara. suicides linked the bombing to syrian kurdish fighters. the group's leader denies responsibility.

medical charity calls for an independent investigation into a deadly attack on one of its locations in northern syria. we will speak with the international president. france going to make it easier to fire workers? the latest government plans. panic in one australian town. we will have more live from paris. ♪ molly: eu leaders are meeting today for what promises to be two days of intense talks.

if a deal is reached to keep britain in the eu blog, david cameron will campaign for the u.k. to stay in the union ahead of the country's recommended -- referendum. eu commission president sounded optimistic. >> i'm quite confident that you will have a deal. -- we will have a deal. we have more from brussels, where the summit is taking place. how do things look? quite confusing. we just had the commission president whose personality is

all over the eu u.k. draft deal. he sounded quite optimistic and confident that a deal would be struck in the next two days. eu --st last night, the president said there was absolutely no guarantees that a deal could be struck. he said there were still huge differences that had to be overcome. he spent his time this week visiting a number of eu capitals trying to convince heads of state to overcome those differences and listen to the arguments of others in order to come up with a deal. he said a defeat would be disastrous for the eu and the u.k. and a gift who want to divide the european union. an 18 page draft and conclusion document is floating around the case. it was put together by diplomats over the last few months. there are still a lot of gaps.

a war room of lawyers will be on call to work out those contentious technical difficulties. molly: what are the odds that a deal will come through? >> i expect a lot of drama coming from brussels. in the end, many are saying that a deal will be struck. they will need to put a deal on the table that looks like a win for the heads of states and david cameron said he can get the backing he needs. i have just seen a very interesting analysis done by the european council on foreign relations. they put together a scoreboard. none of the eu members want to

see the u.k. leave. takesill do everything it to make sure a deal is struck. for that report as the brexit summit gets underway. next wednesday's deadly bombing turkish capital. 28 people were killed when a car bomb targeted the military in ankara. a syrian national was linked to syrian kurdish initial -- militias carried out the bombing. the leader of the group has denied involvement and has warned ankara against retaliating with ground action. a blast heard across the city. emergency services rushed to the scene to recover the injured and dead. passersby helped clear the route

to allow ambulances through. cctv footage caught the moments on camera. authorities believe a car packed with explosives parked by a convoy of military buses. hour at a busy junction less than 500 meters from parliament and close to military headquarters. >> this attack was not only bus, at military on the but carried out in an atrocious way without honor. way treacherous and petty against our holy nature -- nation. >> no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the turkish government has pointed the finger at the ypg. ankara increased shelling kurdish fighters while also peoplea campaign against

seeking kurdish autonomy. is part of ambing series of attacks. more than 100 people were killed in a double suicide bombing at the kurdish peace rally in the capital in october. the turkish government accused the islamic state of carrying out both attacks. molly: trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered several besieged areas in syria on wednesday. it is part of a plan to deliver help to trapped residents. they are the first deliveries since world powers agreed to cause fighting in some areas -- fighting in some areas. the deadlocks conflict shows no signs of letting up. the cessation of hostilities has not gone into effect. mss has called

for a an investigation into a strike on a hospital. it was struck west of aleppo on monday. more, joann from doctors without borders. f is gathering accounts from witnesses. what are they telling you about the air raid? >> what they had seen and heard. there was an attack at 9:00 on monday. there were missiles that struck our hospital. and then another strike happened.

patients were transferred from the hospital. and the place they were transferred was attacked as well in our later. this is what we call the sequential serial type of airstrike. it seemed targeted. we are very concerned about this trend. molly: at least 50 civilians were killed. what more can you tell us about why? -- why you thought you were targeted? theecause of the precision, reach of the blast, the repeated attack. it was very precise the second time.

we don't have the certainty about it. molly: are the accounts leading any indication as to whether it was the syrian government or russian? >> we do not have the full certainty about this. the group that is most predominantly active in the region is the syrian government and their coalition. molly: did you give your location to the syrian government? towe have been trying discuss with the government from the beginning of the conflict. we have not been granted permission to work there. so we do not have a dialogue with them. what is it that you hope

next to achieve out of this? first and foremost, we need to stop the attacks going on right now in civilian populations. something must cave in. something needs to happen. most thing the beyond investigation is to stop the attack on civilians to ensure that people can flee and that aid can go to the area. that's the priority for the time being. thank you for joining us on the program. next, voting is underway in uganda. this presidential election is seen as the toughest challenge yet for the country's on time ruler, gary museveni.

he features seven opponents. there were long delays before polls could open. duncan woodside is in the capital following the vote. he reports from one district, where ballot boxes were only delivered after midday. >> paul's work supposed to open -- polls were supposed to open paulan cap paula -- cam kampala, but ballot boxes were not delivered until late. people here have been waiting since early morning. up voting materials turned very late. people waited for at least five and a half hours.

they are hoping they can cast their ballots ahead of the deadline, which is 4:00 local time. harry panic has swept across parts of one australian town. homes have been inundated with the fast-moving tumbleweed. more on the prickly invader. >> harry panic has set in. while it might sound like the , inise of a harder b-movie this rural town it is a very real problem. people here are no strangers to the evocatively named tumbleweed , but this time around, it is getting silly. chairsave a table and and probably a few plants. >> i spent eight hours yesterday cleaning up the tumbleweed. and this is what i've got today.

>> before the planned started arriving -- the fuzzy plant started arriving in december. some are blaming local farmers for not cutting the grass. the weed flourishes in hotter drier months. this bout of panic will not be ending anytime soon. business editor is having a panic. first a check of headlines. it is crunch time for david cameron as he tries to secure his eu reform deal in brussels in preparation for the so-called brexit referendum. several arrests are made over the deadly attack in ankara. to attack has been linked syrian kurdish fighters come up with the group's leader denies responsibility. medical charity calls for an independent investigation into a deadly attack on one of its locations in northern syria.

time for business update with stephen carroll. we have a gloomy forecast for the global economy. panic, but certainly lots of estimates and. a paris-based think tank has warned that urgent action is needed to boost global growth. it has downgraded the growth forecast to 3% this year for the global economy. it expects lower growth for all of the g-7 nations including the u.s. and france. it is recommended that austerity policies should be eased in favor of more public investments. the government is working on its own plans to boost growth. they include tinkering with france's notoriously strong protection of workers. government staff can only be fired in france in very limited circumstances.

strictrs claimed the rules are preventing them from hiring new staff. new working papers are being discussed by the government. they could see more changes coming down the line. of the moste high-profile factory closures in france in recent memory. 2013orkers were let go in due to economic difficulties. two years later, the firings were not justified and it is a situation the government is trying to change. a working paper is making the rounds of the mineral -- ministry of finance to make it easier to fire staff. there are real and serious causes to fire someone and it would event us from being dragged before the labor board. employees can be shown the door if the company faces bankruptcy or technological changes. a firm can also let go of staff

if it needs to restructure in order to save its business. but a new addition could prove groundbreaking. proof a company has seen sales or turnover decline for a defined period. unions in france are already preparing for a fight. >> it's to respond to an old argument or if they say if you want us to hire, help us to fire. we have heard they're going to fire, not if they are going to hire. the european commission has frequently voiced concern over the rigidity of labor laws in france. the government is eager to push through the reforms provided it gets workers unions on its side. the bill is expected to be discussed by the cabinets in early march. oilhen: the price of showing more gains today. the brent crude index up after output levels

could be freeze. at thisrading down point. there are gains in paris mainly being driven by company results. in venezuela, oil prices are set to rise for the first time -- gas prices are set to rise for the first time in 20 years, about $.53. gas prices are a touchy subject in the country. they remain among the lowest in the world. low oil prices helps the air france klm group make its first annual profit in years.

air france has implemented a huge cost-cutting program and got rid of 1000 jobs this year. pretax profits at -- hotels despite heryear earnings from hotels in france fallen more than 6% in the last three months of the year. europe's largest hotel group said the losses were made up for by significant gains in earnings in spain and italy. disappointing results from nestle. profits fell by more than expected. bywas hit in africa and asia a food safety scare. and an indian company has launched what it is calling the world's cheapest smartphone. it will cost around three euro s. it is the latest in the company's range of android

phones priced under 50 euros. their phones come mostly from china. molly: time for our press review. i'm joined by claire williams for a look at what is grabbing headlines around the world. a crunch time summit taking place in brussels. is looking to secure a deal for eu reform. claire: that's right. it's a big day for david cameron. want is or you don't what this headline says. it's actually a play on the title of a well-known pop song from the 1970's. it likens the british sick

song -- you are always hot and cold with me, but if you want to leave me, that's ok. according to this paper, britain is playing games and if it wants to leave the eu, it should do so. molly: this paper says it is keen to wave goodbye. claire: they published a few editorials today. this one says that parents would actually benefit if the u.k. would leave the european union because london would no longer be the financial center. paris could swoop in. molly: what are we hearing from the british press? hasre: the guardian says it

exclusive access to a leaked document sent to eu leaders this morning ahead of the meeting. it says this document clearly shows the gap between what cameron wants and what the eu wants. he says the gap is widening. inside the documents are lots of square brackets. that is never a good sign in international negotiations. that means issues that have not been agreed on. big ones, eastern european countries are not happy about cameron's demand to reduce welfare payments to migrants when they first arrive in the eu. cameron backing down on that demand would mean he would lose face in the u.k. molly: he will face tough questions back in london next week. claire: and there's a very

interesting cartoon in the independent this week. it shows cameron looking over his shoulder at a figure that looks a lot like the mayor of london, and he looks a little bit frightened. the mayor has not yet said how he will vote, but his vote counts. he's a big wake in the ig inrvative -- big w the conservative party. he's this lurking presence behind cameron on judgment day. now we are going to cross to the united states. apple is in a showdown with the u.s. government. claire: apple is ready to go to court with the fbi. a federal judge ordered apple to help the fbi unlock the iphone ,hat belonged to syed farook one of the killers in the san bernardino killings.

iphones use encrypted technology, meaning only the user can access data on their own device. apple says it cannot decrypt data from apple devices. and in any case, it doesn't want to. they say criminals and terrorists could decrypt it, too. molly: they say they are protecting their customers. it has its own interest as well. claire: it certainly does. apple's noble stand against the fbi is also great business. companies have a lot of work to do to make up for the fallout after edward snowden's revelations. he revealed that the fbi had backdoors in many companies to

access encrypted data. apple is also thinking about its bottom line. molly: you have a story about a french rapper in trouble. claire: yes. five feminist associations have taken him to court to his songs include lines like, as if it's my fault all women are i couldtes and, woman, make you have a baby and break your nose at the same time. they feel they have a strong case against him and we are expecting a verdict later today. molly: thank you very much. stay with us. we will have more headlines coming up shortly on france 24.

♪

oyçyj4j8j8j8j

>> this next panel is--it's-- i think it's really important to me because it's so rare to find honesty in the environmental movement. not many people are willing to confront the reality of the situation we face. i think that's really understandable because that's a hard reality to face. but it's my belief that only by truthfully looking at the situation and moving through the process of grief can we come to a place of action. so with that said, i want to introduce our panelists. this is guy mcpherson. he's a professor emeritus from theniversitof arizona. >> [applause]