france 24 watching live around the world. these are the headlines -- a turnaround for the french president. he says he is dropping plans to add a clause of the constitution that would restrict convict or ed terrorirists of their natitionality. the e u.n. calls on the woworl's richest nanations to step up to the plate and except their share ofof the 5 million syrian refugs forced out of their country by the war.

and the biggest political party in brazil walks out of the president's ruling coalition. that will make it tougher for the president to survive mounting pressure to impeach her. also coming up, the end of an era and thousands of jobs at risk in the u.k. as a steel giant starts wrapping up its operations there. we will look at what's left for the industry during our business update. and sleeping with sharks for real -- the holiday that offers you a chance to go underwater sleeping at the aquarium. first our top story live from paris -- the french president, francois

hollande says he is dropping plans to change the french constitution. the most controversial among those measures would have stripped convicted terrorists of their french nationality. the plans were put in motion after the terror attacks in paris last november that left 130 people dead. here is the president speaking earlier today. my state today for months on at the national assembly and the senate have not been able to agree on a text. given the everything circumstances we are living through which are so serious to avoid division. i have decided, following meetings with the leaders of the national assembly and the senate, to end the constitutional debate. today, our french politics editor was on the set and told us more.

rewind three days after the terrorist attacks, he talks to both chambers of parliament and announces to the surprise of hisyone including constituency that he would change the constitution and add this notion to strip citizenship for convicted terrorists. since then, there has been a major controversy with lots of debates in both chambers of parliament to define who would be stripped of citizenship. first, it was to be dual nationals. his own party was against it. then there was a proposition that it would be for all french nationals. the right was against it so basically, after weeks and weeks decidede, the president this needs to stop and there will be no majority for the viewers for constitutional reform. of both chambers of

parliament and he did the math and knew he would not reach this and there was a stalemate. said he deeply regrets it and it's something that was not needed in the times of the fight against terrorism and of national unity and he basically laid the blame to the position conservatives saying they blocked everything. we are at war with terrorism he said. he said the threat was as high as it's ever been. nevertheless, this is a major political setback for the president. >> what is the issue here? is this a victory for civil rights or the opposition? >> it's mainly a defeat for the president. as i said, he initially put this without on the menu really consulting anyone. he thought this would be something nice because this was initially a proposal coming from the right. the presidentor

to show that he is taking into account some of the proposals of the other camp. this turned out to be a major blunder with four months of debate and only one thing is true -- after the attacks, his polls really improved. he was seen as someone who handled the aftermath of the attack in a decent and constructive way. now there are record lows. these and other debates pulled him down because this has been seen not as a symbol but as a political maneuver that backfired and he is the only one to blame. it does not mean that it will benefit the right or even the far right but really, this has tarnished his image. having a president come out in front of the french and concede defeat, he will say that the opposition is to blame but nevertheless, he blinked and that is never a good sign if you

want to be a president and even more so, if you want to run again next year. also, france announced it is ending its military operation in central african republic. the operation has s been underwy for the e past three years thats now due to stop before the end of 2016. the french defefense minister sd that the operation successfully brought calm back to the region. years,he space of two with a reduced that perfrfectly adaptable forcece, the french ay has been able to complete all the objectives it was assigned and is r ready to hand over to e u.n. and european union missions and the central african republic. i can confirm the end of operations at the end of 2016. migrantocus on the

crisis and 5 million refugees have been forced out of syria already running from a war that is now in its sixth year. the vast majority of people who have letter living in countries on the syrian border. a new report is calling on wealthy nations to step up and do their part. the u.n. refugee agency is hosting a conference in geneva today were countries around the world will be asked to pledge resettlement places for syrian refugees. here is more from the u.n. secretary-general. >> we are here to address the biggest refugee and displacement crisis of our time. exceptional and support from the member states. an exponentialon increase in global slump -- solidarity. we go live to geneva where

the conference is taking place. what more can you tell us? >> the u.n. secretary-general sent out a messagege of vererdat sharing and had just come from visiting jordan and lebanon. they have 1.5 million syrian refugees between them. has 3.7ing turkey million. he was saying share the burdenn in terms of resettlement of refugees to rich countries and other countries that can take them and to give more assistance to the regional countries. the u.n. high commissioner said the target is to have 480,000 resettled, 10% of the most needy syrian refugees in dire straits to be allocated around the world. eu migration commissioner spoke a few moments ago and said relocated55 have been

from jordan, lebanon, and turkey to 11 member states and more on the way. there is a push to do more but the question is -- the flow will not stop and it was stressed there is a big need to cut down on the smuggling rings operating out of the middle east and throughohout europe and otherr coununtries. in that sense, it was interesting that the deputy prime minister of turkey mentioned that since the eu /turkey agreement kicked into force, the number of people coming from turkey to the aegean islands in greece has dramatically dropped in the 10 days. it was only 400 each day. it's a dramatic drop. their objective is to have more lelegal pathways for people noto take these risky routes and have legal channels to go through countries.

get any more details on which countries exactly are meant to do what with how many people and who they are supposed to take in? >> there is meant to be burden sharing around the world are you only 179,000 refugees have been resettled. from the european perspective,e, the priority will be on syrian refugees arriving on the greek islands to be resettled or arriving in europe. irregular migrants would be sent back but thehe point is to shar. canada, the u.s., and australia and other countries that have resources. the point is not that poor countries have a huge refugee population. ethiopia which is a pooror couny in s sub-saharan afrfrica posts 800,000 refugees who have fled neighboring competent africa so there are poor countries doing their r fair share. ththe envoy of jordan said the

country is at right point and the resources of hosting more than 600,000 refugees are stretching infrastructure, public health and education. it's a question of burden sharing and the message will continue in the summit in may and i high-level summit in new york one day before the general assembly in november. they are trying to nudge people to be more generous globally. >> thank you for that. there is more bad news for the brazilian president delmer rousseff. the largest governing party left her coalition which could be a fatal blow as it leaves her scrambling for votes. it could speed up impeachment proceedings against her. she is already finding accusations of budget fraud. meeting lasted a few

minutes on the vote was unanimous. party meant to quick the government which means the biggest coalition partner is in opposition. >> in this historic meeting for the pmzb, the party is breaking with the president's government. the move could speed up impeachment proceedings against , she is facing several accusations on manipulate and state accounts to cover up the size of the crisis in the brazilian economy. if she is impeached, the leader of the pmdb would take over as interim president. the worker parties putting on a brave face. i think this comes at a good time.

it gives the president an excellent opportunity [indiscernible] kahmer was scheduled to fill in for roussef but this week's conference, they canceled the trip. >> another political clash could be on the horizon in venezuela. the parliament led by the opposition has approved an amnesty bill for political prisoners. that is a move opposed by the president. the measure demands the release of some 80 political prisoners and hundreds more persecuted and exiled due to their opposition to the leftist government, a government that has been in power for the past 17 years. the opposition says the law is laying the foundation for national reconciliation but the president says it will only benefit criminals and terrorists. something completely different

-- if you ever had nightmares watching any of the jaws films, the story is not for you. and the aquarium of paris are offering competition winners a chance to spend a night underwater sleeping in a tank full of sharks. if you are planning a trip to paris and looking for somewhere unusual to stay, this unique bedroom might be for you. in 3 million liters of shark infested waters in the capital aquarium, it is the top prize a new competition run by air bnb. you get a private tour of the center and this is what's up or grabs for the lucky few. they can spend a night in the murky depths. >> they will be able to feed the baby sharks. and after that, they will have dinner. then they will go into the tank for the night. sharks ofook at 35 six different species.

eligible to win, the two guests have to be over 18 and must collectively weigh less than 190 kilograms to climb in and out of the underwater tank. ing of the event is trying to change the perception of sharks being mindless killers. >> we can show people that you can swim with sharks and nothing bad happens. also that we need to protect the sharks because they are crucial for the ecosystem. >> the bedroom won't stay at its current state for too long after the last guest check out. it will be transformed into a hub for scientists and marine barlett -- biologists. it looks like fun, scary but fun. you are watching france 24 -- a turnaround for the french

president. he says he is dropping plans to add a clause of the constitution that would strip convicted terrorists of the french nationality. the u.n. calalls on the world's richest natitions to step up to the plate and accept their share of the 5 million syrian refugees forced out of their country by the war. the biggest political party in brazil walks out of the president's ruling coalition and makes it tougher now for the president to survive mounting pressure to impeach her. it's time for business. we will start with an announcement that will put thousands of jobs at risk. still companies planning on selling its board of operations. they rejected with a described as an unaffordable turnaround plan. it's the uk's largest steel plant and union workers had traveled to mumbai to lobby to save their jobs and they have already shed hundreds of

positions including over a thousand in january and the remaining 15,000 poison the u.k. could be at risk as it tries to further stem heavy losses. >> this is not the end of the fight. this is the start of the fight. this steel plant can make money. there is a workforce in their second to none. >> this was almost regarded as a life vote. they seemed invincible. it seemed like a safe haven. you can't imagine anybody losing the capacity to make steel. >> we hope to speak to an analyst who will give us more perspective on that story. for now, we will check in with the markets. the steel shares jumped 7% on the indian stock exchange. in europe, investors are focused on the indication the u.s. federal reserve will take a more cautious route than previously expected in raising interest rates.

investors have been worried about a more immediate raise after seeing quite a rally through the wednesday session. we will go back to our top story, it the announcement that kappa steel will close its u.k. operations. fish,l speak to peter from a consulting firm on the steel industry. thank you for joining us. it has been months of speculation about the future of tassa and its reddish plans. where does this leave the steel industry in the u.k.? >> it puts it in a difficult position. announcement has come as i think it'sise still a difficult situation. i don't know exactly how they would make it work.

i don't seem to have the details are you i know the principle but the details seem to be lacking. iswith this announcement, there a future for the steel industry? future, if is a to put up prepared the money to satisfy tata steel, obviously not. >> we have talked about too many chinese exports coming out at a cheap price and that has been one of the things that has been destabilizing the industry. is it that simple? there must have been other factors. i think the chinese situation is certainly the principal one. the chinese were exporting steel .

at very low prices and certainly prices that were -- that couldn't be met in the u.k. but things are changing slightly. this is one of the reasons why i am quite surprised that tata steel made this decision. things are changing. in the last few weeks, the chinese have stopped exporting at their low prices. surprised that it is moving this fast. >> we have heard a call from a local community and unions for the british government to do more to protect the industry against external cup attention. with trade matters like this, it's more the european union that calls the shots. s. do you think the eu could or should have done more to protect the steel industry? opinion, they should ,ave looked at this earlier

when it first started. people like me who watch the industry could see the fact that notexport prices were possible for any steel company in the world to compete with those low export prices. you could say that the european union should have done something. one of the things i can say is that the united states government and other governments were much quicker and more speedy to react then the eu government was or the eu authority. thanks so much for your insight. thank you so much. it's time for the press review.

time to take a look at what's been grabbing headlines around the world. a lot of focus on that war of words between the fbi and apple after this week, the justice department said it finally found a way to unlock an iphone without help from the tech giant. >> it's the latest twist in this arm wrestling match between apple and the fbi. on monday, the fbi said it was dropping legal action to force apple to help it cracked into the iphone of the gun men involved in the san bernadino mass shooting. it turns out the fbi did not need apple's help. you can read about it in the new york times. it has put apple in a tricky situation. apple has a vested interest in protecting the security and privacy of its customers. now that the f ei has shown it can crack into iphones, can they

do it again? the new york times says the new apple challenge is to learn how the fbi cracked into the phone and try to fix the flaw. >> the whole thing is quite mysterious but it seems the fbi did call in a third-party to help. >> rumors are flying. there is interesting article in the daily beast. did the fbi unleash a hacker army on apple? it quotes the director of the who says lotsey, of folks have come to us with potential ideas as to how to crack into the phone. the report that the knight in shining armor the fbi might have been an israeli company named celebrate. just last week, celebrate signed a more than $15 million contract with the fbi. the other detail is that one of celebrates other clients is apple. >> let's go back to france where

they are focusing on the major demonstrations and strikes scheduled across the country tomorrow against the planned labor law reform. >> the communist papers calling on people to take to the streets tomorrow. this is their front page. everybody take to the streets against this change to the labor code in france. the planned reform is -- was andented to mp's yesterday the government tried to water down the reform to make it acceptable for workers. they accuse the government of trying to trick people and pretend to make concessions. to quote the editorial, the prima nestor has not changed the core of the bill and that is what's outrageous and backwards. >> demonstrations are very common in france. what's interesting is that many student unions have drawn -- a joint forces with the labor unions. >> high school in college students a they are concerned about what the reform will mean for their future. many say they are concerned about job and security down the

line. despite the uncertainty, young people have hope in france. this is an interesting poll carried out by the catholic paper in france. young people are confident. of people feel confident and serene about the year to come and 56 percent of them feel confident about the next 10 years. >> let's move on to the hijacking yesterday of an egypt airplane on a short flight within egypt which was diverse to cyprus. >> thankfully, the story ended well that has raised concern about security. this is the front page of the wall street journal. the hijacking renews concerns about airport security particularly in egypt because this comes months after a jet was downed after departing from their airport. the egyptian papers are concerned about the situation there is an article i pulled out

from an ejection paper that says this is not what egypt needed. -- from an ejection paper that says this is not -- from an egyptian paper that says this is not needed right now. >> they say the hijacker was psychologically unstable and reportedly wearing a fake suicide belt. >> it's a very mysterious situation. reports that the hijacker took control of the flight using a bomb made of phone cases. initiallyies say he asked to speak to his cypriot ex-wife and made incoherent demands. you can read about in the guardian which talks about the bizarre saga. it has led to some mocking in the press. they put out a cartoon. you can see this airplane and authorities saying what are your demands and the hijacker saying i want a coke.

the last incident that is grabbed attention as the photo taken during the hijacking. you can see it here. it appears to be a selfie taken by a young man during the hijacking. he has been identified as a

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host: thanks. [applause] come on out, everyone. [cheers and applause] i guess first of all, could we hear that last poem again? that was amazing. well, thanks, everyone for being here, and i want to thank the organizers for giving me the honor to chair this panel.