>> this is france 24 broadcasting live around the world. these are the headlines. the car blast in turkey's up to 37 deaths. more were hurt in a busy square, the latest in a busy string of deadly attacks. the ivory coast is in attack after al qaeda gunmen storm a popular beach resort.

16 people, mostly tourists, are shot dead in the unprecedented attack. and angela merkel says she is committed to her open-door refugee policy despite take wins for anti-immigration parties in regional elections there. also coming up for you, the french government prepares to water down controversial reforms of the labor laws. we have the details in the business update. and a new step in the quest for life on mars. first, our top story. >> funerals are underway for some of the victims for sunday's suicide blast. the death toll is up to 37 dead

and 120 more were hurt in an explosion in a busy transport hub in the capital. the blast came less than a month after a similar attack killed 29 people just streets away. for more on the situation in ankara, let's bring in our correspondent. there has been no claim of responsibility that security officials are saying one of the perpetrators could be a female member of the pkk. what do we know about that? >> yes, just to put you in the picture. the bombing took place at 6:40 five yesterday evening, a few meters behind that, a few meters down the road here in central ankara. the pkk has not claimed responsibility, the state is saying that one of the bombers in the bomb car was a woman from a northeastern city who would

have turned 24 this year but she had joined pkk in 2013. i think we must treat this allegation cautiously, because last time on the bombing here in february, the state got the bombers identity and group wrong. was the pkk,f it this is a new departure for that group, since it has reached for guns in july of last year. in the past nine months, the pkk has killed civilians but not as the intended target. almost invariably, the intended target for the attacks since july last year have been either the turkish police or the turkish army. and in one case, the pkk command apologized for killing civilians. last night's the tax down here,

there was a series of bus stops and buses were stopping to pick up passengers when the bomber exploded their car. that was directly aimed at civilians. as was said today, this formed a new native kind of terrorism. add -- if it proves to this willttack, then definitely hurt the reputation and the standing of the pro-kurdish party in parliament. which is the second-biggest opposition party in parliament. people feel they are linked to the pkk and that they should be able to curb the pkk's attack more than it has been able to do so. >> what about security measures there? after last month's attack, the

government promised a new plan to protect the people of ankara and turkey. was the plan never put in place? >> one presumes it was. obviously security forces don't tell you what they are doing what they had nearly four weeks to do so and last night, it shows that the plan has had little success. also, today, the turkish air force has bombed pkk positions in northern iraq and the police have arrested 53 suspected pkk detainees and was members. i think these moves will be seen with a lot of cynicism. why weren't these sites attacked earlier? >> thank you for that. next, now to another devastating attack on the ivory coast. , close to 37 people

were killed in an attack that has been claimed by a group linked to al qaeda. it was also behind attacks in mali, all former french colonies. but for the first time, they have attacked this far west on the african continent. we take a look at the group's influence in the region. >> november 20, 2000 13, gunmen drive into the radisson blu hotel and take 170 people hostage. two months later on january 16, a deadly hostage situation this time at the splendid hotel. two acts of terror, killing nearly 60 people, both claimed by groups linked to the al qaeda and both targeted establishments

where foreigners were staying. the attacks there are striking similarities to sunday's terror in a beachside resort on the every coast, also claimed. it is the first attack to reach the ivory coast, suggesting that they may be expanding the perimeter. >> acting in this region in a global alliance and in an anti-western alliance. attacking in ivory coast is attacking france and that is attacking the west. >> may formed in 2007, uniting like jerian militant groups. by -- the groups was led they raised funds for the group through a lucrative cigarette smuggling trade and hostagetaking in the sahara desert between algeria and mali.

ehis extremist is one of th most wanted men in the world. he has a $5 million bounty on his head and has reportedly been killed multiple times, most recently in u.s. airstrikes in libya last june. he has reportedly refused to join. it's the just deep rivalry between the groups. for more, let's bring in our correspondent. what is the feeling like there, one day after the unprecedented attack on the ivory coast? morning,ow, this people and children went to the beach. some of them poor lighting candles and others were here to pick up their belongings that they had left on the beach when they fled in a hurry.

things are much more quiet now in this area as the police force is now clearing beach. there is a to mining operation going on as people are asked to move away. police found at least six grenades that the terrorists left on the beach and there are about to be detonated by a special task force to secure the area. >> are there any new leads in the investigation? >> the investigators still have to figure out why there were six terrorists identified by the military here, whereas, ikea is -- al qaeda's african branch is talking about the three men. was this attack, the organization is sending a clear message. they can strike, even in a country like ivory coast where no terrorist attack has ever taken place until yesterday.

>> thank you for that. reporting live from the site of the attack yesterday in ivory coast. next, now talks on ending the civil war in syria are back on today in geneva. the negotiations come on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the conflict there. going into the talks this morning, the mediator called them a militant of truth. and inoing these talks, the next round, we will see no notice of willingness to negotiate, which we hope is not going to be the case. obviously, we will do what we want to do and we have done. we will bring the issue back to those who have influence. ,nd that is russia, usa cochairs of the i.s. sg and to the security council. the alternative, some people

call it plan b. available>> flocking to a new anti-immigration party. today, angela merkel is said to be determined to keep her refugee policy on course despite losses at the polls. >> a big show of support for the party that rejects angela merkel's open door migrant policy.

>> just six months ago, they were calling at only 5% in the state. they have capitalized on widespread anger. it is the catastrophic policies of chancellor merkel which clearly open people's eyes. this is the only reason why we succeed in entering into an all-state parliament with double-digit percentage figures. we even became instantly the second strongest party. >> exit polls show her losing in two states. the social democrats will hold onto power and the green has emerged on top. the loss of the christian democrats in the states is a big blow for angela merkel. they hope to stem the tide of

migrants into europe by having other countries share the burden. >> there has been a new step in the quest for life on mars. europe and russia have launched a spacecraft in a joint mission to bring humans one step closer to flying to the red planet. >> is there life on mars? it is a puzzle that has perplexed us for years but one that space agencies hope they are one step closer to answering soon. collaboration blasted off on board this rocket from the cosmodrome in kazakhstan on monday. 496 million kilometer journey is started. >> mars has become very interesting, scientifically, because it has been proven to have a geological history which

dates back hundreds of millions of years. it is a past that is similar to earth. it had water on the surface but not anymore. a more dense atmosphere but not anymore. something has dramatically changed which means it is extremely interesting. three days before it reaches the red planet this october, it will split into two. they will enter the mars atmosphere, coasting for the dissent before increasing the speed to 21,000 kilometers an hour. then it will send back data on its landing for use in future missions as well as information on the planets dust. meanwhile, it will orbit 400 miles above the surface and it will act as a telecoms platform

to identify gases and analyze the atmospheric chemistry. >> let's take a look at some of the other top stories on france 24. the death toll in turkey is up to 37, 125 more people were hurt in that car bomb in a big easy -- in a busy square in ankara. ivory coast is in mourning after al qaeda gunmen slammed a popular beach resort. 16 people, mostly tourists, were shot dead. says she ismerkel committed to her open-door refugee policy, despite take wins for and i'm a gratian recent elections. big wins for anti-immigration parties in recent elections.

>> the prime minister is set to meet unions and employers in a short time, where he is said to revise a plan. it will give union demands on several issues, including the changes proposed for making it easier for companies to fire workers. a changes, and more protests are expected. protests, nationwide the president and advisers worked all weekend to tweak the controversial labor reform, which aims to make hiring and firing more flexible. in the new text, employees who tribunalr story to a will be lifted. and a planned 10 hour day for apprentices will be scrapped in favor of an eight hour day. will these changes be deep enough to satisfy the unions and student groups to see workers

rights being chipped away? >> there is still time for them to do something positive. if not, we will obviously have lots of difficulties in the coming weeks. >> what we're coming for is the withdrawal of the government's text so we can take some time to discuss the realities for small and large companies. that way we can agree on something that is well constructed. >> employers groups say they won't be backing the reforms if they are watered down. >> e-government is backtracking and there is no momentum for reform. we don't want it. >> the final text is set to be put through for approval on march 24. a new day of strikes and protests has been called for the end of the month. >> now to egypt where the central bank is taking dramatic steps to prop up the economy. >> that is right.

they have adopted a flexible exchange rate for the currency to help the current shortage of foreigners which egypt is experiencing which has made it difficult to pay for imports. they were up over 6% a short time ago. >> talk to us about the markets? >> in europe, a pretty good start on this monday. german markets are leading the games today, over 1%. this is the positive effect from the ecb announcement for more stimulus last week. banks are leading the gains across european markets. the price of oil is falling back from some of the gains that we saw in the past couple of days. back down below $40 a barrel. more business headlines for you next. a chinese insurance agency has

bought a chain of american luxury hotels. it has 16 hotels, including san diego's coronado. it is the biggest u.s. property market purchased by a chinese company ever. the chief executive in one of ireland's failed banks will appear in court in dublin following the extradition from the united states. he faces 33 criminal charges over his time at the helm of the anglo irish bank. he cost them 34 billion euros and was a major factor in them taking a bailout in 2010. the royal bank of scotland is cutting advisor jobs in its insurance divisions. this comes after the net loss. it is part of the organization that will see customers get investment tips. just to wrap up, and unusual boom in book sales.

>> yes. coloring books for grown-ups have exploded. sales jumped from one million to 12 million. the number of books being published rose to 2000 books. some of the bestsellers include dinosaurs with jobs which feature dinosaurs as the driving instructors and the like. and you can also color in your favorite donald trump or hillary clinton according to your political preferences. >> a donor if there is a color that is the color of donald trump skin. thank you so much. it is time for the press review. we have nicholas with us here to take a look at the papers today. >> we are going to look at the violence from sunday, of course there were two countries hit. first, ivory coast. and then we had ankara.

-- togo to the children the belgian paper. the hub this headline that translates as "bloody sunday. "om a lot of papers are covering in parallel. in the ivory coast we know that the al qaeda went on a rampage on a beach. the information is on the front page of an ivory coast paper. and that paper is actually saying not bloody sunday that black sunday. the attackers going on the beach and actually singling out individuals, one of the papers is saying that one child was saying a muslim prayer and was spared and another child was killed.

obviously all of the gruesome detail. let's go to the ankara coverage. this time, i want to choose the independent paper. not focusing slowly -- solely on the incident itself but the blockage of twitter and social media accounts and the aftermath. they blocked social media to say that they wanted to swap -- to prevent the swapping of images online. of course, independence point it is to dot that with the move from the president of turkey to crack down on media. paper was taken over last week by the government. and now i journalist has tweeted saying it was to be expected that there would be a demand to block facebook and twitter after the explosion and that the move

is counterproductive. it is not the way to handle the situation at all. >> let's move on to germany where papers are reporting on the slap in the face for angela merkel. >> let's turn to one of the big circulation papers. say that it is a hard day for angela merkel and the leader of the social democratic party. they were losing ground as the far right alternative gained ground. they are antiforeigner and anti-immigrant. politico has the analysis, saying that what we have here is a historic debacle for angela merkel. she has for the refugee creek -- refugee greek crisis and she seemed invincible but now the race is on to succeed her in the role of chancellor. it is comments that this opinion

in the german press that it agrees with is that angela merkel will have to live with the accusation that she has allowed the alternative for the far right party to a stop which itself to be far right party of her as we see parties gaining ground here in europe. >> you have been looking at papers in the united states where the presidential campaign is in full swing. >> this is about the scuffling and the uproar about the violent trumps in campaigning as goes around the country. usa today says that donald trump's message that he doesn't condone violence but he is warning bernie sanders supporters and he says he will send his supporters over to his camp. of course, the contrast here as

we switch over to another paper to the l.a. times, which has this headline, saying that donald trump's endorsement of violence has reached a new level. so you couldn't get more contrasting headlines. and the l.a. times says donald trump alone has opened the endorsed retaliation against people who disrupt his rallies. the code i'm going to read to you is that -- although he urges people in the crowd to be gentle with protesters, often he doesn't. in las vegas he told the crowd about a protester that he would like to punch in the face. and so the press in the united states are really picking up on this contradictory and maverick personality. and the violence that he swirls now, particularly that moves around him with the campaign. >> and you have one more article from the new york times? >> if you want to have some

juicy quotes, go to the new york times. we have donald trump's epic neediness -- the quote is, everything about his campaign can be termed -- can be explained in terms of substance abuse. he is addicted to attention and goes to greater lengths in terms of reckless statements. and it references again to las vegas where he says he would like to punch a protester. the new york times piece says no way. you have to be carefully measured in your language and the only measure that he has is more. that is all he knows. so of course we will be looking at that throughout the week. >> thank you so much for the look at today's propers -- today's papers. the annual french language week is now underway. more on french speakers in spain on the way.

stay tuned.

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>> hello. i'm john cleese. i think we all know that music, aside from the pure pleasure of it, sometimes has a transcendent power. what is called "sacred music" seems universally to be a form of prayer. so, settle back, take a long deep breath as we join our host, phil cousineau, on this musical, soul-rendering episode of "global spirit," the first internal travel series. >> tonight, we are proud to