>> welcome to the france 24 newsroom. i'm molly hall. our top story, breaking news out of the united states. music legend prince has died at the age of 57. widely acclaimed as one of the most the influential musicians in his era. we'll bring you all the latest in live from paris. ♪[singing] >> well, there you had just one clip from some of prince's videos that we've seen in the past. of course, there's been "little

red corvette," "purple rain," "when doves cry," those just a few of the songs. the artist was found dead at his home in minneapolis, minnesota, according to his publicist. he was 57 years old. his death comes almost one week after the singer left fans very concerned about his health when he made an emergency landing in illinois. now, it's unclear at this stage if his sudden death is related to that same illness that forced him to land his plane. he had reportedly been battling an illness for a few weeks. once again, we are waiting for official confirmation as to what caused the singer's death. now, prescrtion was an inn -- prince was an innovative songwriter whose music combined jazz, funk and disco. his hit songs also included "little red corvette." he found fame in the late 70's. over the next few decade, he became known as one of the most inventive and also eccentric forces in american pop music.

for more, let's go to phillip, who joins us from the nation's capital there. can you please walk us through, what exactly do we know in terms of the singer's health leading up to his passing today? reporter: there are few indications now, with that little bit of hand sight we have now. he had been hospitalized for the flu and indeed even cancelled two shows in atlanta, georia. but at t same time, he also held a partyat his hme in paisley park, in suburban minneapolis. that was more or less at the same time. no indications of anything serious going on. this is very much a surprise to everybody. and from what we're hearing from his publicist, that is where the official confirmation comes from, the publicist says very clearly there will be no more information at this time. the only piece of information is that precise confirmation that prince wasound dead at his

home in suburban minneapolis in the state of minneapolis, also where he had his recording studios in paisley park. fans a flocking there to pay their reects. in the meantime, while i'm in a car listening to one of the radio stations here in washington, d.c. and nationwide, who have decided to tune into songs b prince and to pay their respects, with people calling in and telling the news reade and those the radio station how sad they are of prince's passing and indeed, how they put this in a line of recent deaths of music icons, the likes of whitney houston, david bowie. it isn't all that long ago, after all, since the death of the king of pop. and now, the prince of pop i a sense has also departed. that death confirmed by prince's publicist. >> you mentioned you are, of course, in washington, d.c. tell us a bit about prince's last appearance there in the

capital. reporter: it was last year. pretty much exactly a year ago, in june, of 2015. prince had had relationship, in a sense, with president obama. he was a supporter of his. and he was called to the white house for a very, very secret concert. that was the day before or after. i don't remember entirely. before or after, a concert that prince held in downtown washington, d.c. he went to the east room of the white house, held a private concert, 500 stars and supporters and friends of the obamas. and there was an appearance there by stevie wonder as well, a very star-studded appearance that had not been made public by the white house. it was a very secretive event, very much symbolic of what prince really was like. very secretive person who changed a lot over the years, changed his name as well, after all, remember? at one point, he was just a

symbol. but the man himself leaves quite a legacy. 100 million albums sold altogether. seven grammy awards. and as we just discussed, a relationship even with the u.s. president, somebody who is respected all the way to the top, and whose music was listened to and respected in the white house. >> phillip, thank you very much, reporting from washington, d.c. this as reaction is pouring in, after the death of singer prince. for more, we're going to speak now with laura, who joins us from france music radio. laura, first just your reaction to the sad news today. reporter: i was really shocked, because prince was still playing concerts. he wasn't doing an oldies circuit. he was still a musician that was maybe not in his prime but still completely at the top of his powers. i think, like many people, i was just completely shocked.

i really wasn't ready for this one at all. >> what have we seen from the artist recently in the past few years? reporter: oh, from prince, you mean, in the past few years? well, a lot of it, as things usually are with prince, are surrounded in controversy and things promised and not given. he was kind of a master at teasing his audience. really kind of unique in that way too. he still had an air of mystery about him. when he'd come on the internet and make a couple of tweets, then erase everything. and then go back into the shadows. but what remained about prince and what he still continued to do in the last few years and what's the most important thing to remember about him was that he was a real musician's musician. he loved playing, loved going to the clubs. i was just talking to the people around me when we heard the news. more than one person had stories about just bumping into prince in the last few years, in a club, where he was there,

because they go out and listen to live music. despite the entire aura around him and how god-like he is perceived, he was also just a regular guy who had no problem going out to regular pubs. i think that's why musicians especially have real respect for prince. he just an absolute... >> laura with france music radio. thank you for joining us here on the program to talk a bit about the iconic pop star, prince, who has died today. for more on the reaction of what we're seeing, i'm joined by james creeden. james, this story, it broke a few hours ago. it was quite uncertain what was coming in, with rumors taking place on social media before the confirmation of his death came through. >> that's right. tmz first reporting it, via twitter and on their website, saying rather starkly, as we can see here, "prince dead at 57".

i'm not sure if we can see the twitter account. the headline obviously quickly reverberated around social media. a lot of people -- obviously because just one source saying this, not ready to believe this. did prince die, they ask. and you had -- what was rather confusing is there was a death investigation reported at prince's paisley park estate but no confirmation that it was indeed prince himself who had passed on. pretty quickly, our music insider has been cited by tmz, saying hearing terrible news that prince has died. that really lent credibility, for music loverrers, an upsetting claim. a.p. coming out, citing prince's publicist, saying prince died at his home. all the media picked up and were

reporting it as fact. but for the first half an hour to hour, a lot of doubts as to whether or not it was indeed the case. we're also hearing lots of reports that he did indeed have symptoms of the flu. and he was admitted to the hospital about six days ago. a lot of media also reporting on that. but, of course, now just a catalog of, you know, what he contributed to the music industry. that's what we're really seeing. >> and indeed, his career, as we heard from our correspondent, he had sold more than 100 million records. won seven grammys. of course, he's in the rock 'n' roll hall of fame. he was inducted in 2004. so, of course, his career responds quite a bit of time. and, of course, the fans, the reaction is -- >> legions of fans and indeed 2016 has been a year that has taken so many music legends. david bowie.

this is unreal that this has happened, says one response on twitter. hashtag hashtag #rip rince. one saying sleep well, prince. a lot of people really expressing their emotion and sadness for a pop icon who many related. prince cannot be f-ing dead, this one says. no way are all the legends going so young. no, no, no. prince is the reason why some of us are even alive, says one, ask your parents. i guess the romantic aspects of his music. can't stop crying. this year has been too much. that is the son of john lennon and yoko ono.

now, actually, prince's official twitter account was active just a couple of days ago. this on the 19th of april. well, depending on your time zone. he was actually giving a ball cluplug toa record store in min. that website now is actually down, molly. you can't even access it. to find out what -- you have to go on to the wikipedia page. it's a record store in minneapolis. prince giving a plug for that record store on his twitter account. that was the last tweet he published. >> thank you very much for that. as we can expect, of cour, reacti is gointocontue to come in, asnes readsof the deat ofprnce. wa,as w'v just been ntioning an iconc rtst and sing/musicia ultalented musician he pasd away todayat the age

57. the use of deat emans known athis sage. ll, let'goon to other world news. barack obama has wrapped up his visit to riyadh. he was leading with the leaders of six gulf country, including saudi arabia, qatar, and the united arab emirates. they discussed many things. overall, it was a chance for washington and regional powerhouse saudi arabia to address building tensions. reporter: a regional get together with a visit. barack obama joined six gulf states at the council meeting in riyadh, a summit to discussion solutions to the issues of regional instability and the need for political transition in syria. >> we remain united in our fight to destroy isis or daesh, which is a threat to all of us. we will make sure that our special operations forces are

interoperable and the nations will continue to increase their contributions to the fight against isil. reporter: the u.s. president had received a somewhat frosty welcome when he arrived, as the king of saudi arabia was not there to welcome him, sending instead the governor of riyadh. the low-key reception could be down to a few contentious issues between the two countries, including saudi human rights abuses, a u.s. bill that could allow victims of 9/11 to sue saudi authorities and the burgeoning friendship with tehran. they see the iranian nuclear deal as a threat to their role in the region. >> we are concerned with france's constant destabilizing in the region, it's interference in internal affairs and its support of terrorism. reporter: obama sought to reassure riyadh on thursday, underlining that the u.s. still has serious concerns regarding

iran and certain sanctions are still in place. he reiterated, however, that iran had a role to play in the region. it's a departure from previous u.s. presidents' unwavering support for saudi arabia. in a u.s. magazine, he called for the sunni kingdom to get past their differences with shiite ryan, which he -- iran, which he says have helped fuel conflicts. obama said, quote, they need to find an effective way to share the neighborhood and institute some sort of cold peace. when asked recently, isn't the u.s. friends with saudi arabia? obama tellingly replied, it's complicated. >> for more, we speak with simon, at the university of lancaster. thank you for joining us here on the program. first i'd like to ask you, do you think president obama did enough to reassure saudi arabia and the other members of the gulf cooperation council? >> well, i think he certainly

has gone some way into wheeling back a lot of the friction that was emerging over the past few weeks and months and probably even the years of his presidency. u.s.-saudi relations have been at their worst in the past 30 years, under the obama presidency and they've deteriorated rapidly in the past few months, particularly since the nuclear deal with iran. so obama's trip was as much about repairing a lot of those ties and making relations as favorable as possible for his successor as well as the final months of his presidency. so whether he's gone quite far enough to appease all of the rulers, i'm not convinced as yet. but he's certainly made all the right noises. >> we do know that riyadh is fearful or concerned, if you will, that the united states is gradually turning its back on the region. do you perceive that as being true? >> i think there's a lot of concern about the region, particularly under obama. and for riyadh, the u.s. is a

really integral actor in terms of the persian gulf security. the saudi arabia, the u.s., it's seen as a guarantor of regional security. syria is a substantial threat for the saudis, who have long relied on the u.s. to maintain security against their longstanding rival across the gulf, this state of iran. any kind of pivot away from the region will be seen as a serious threat to riyadh. >> this shift that we've seen in saudi-washington relations, right now putting the focus on the u.s. president, but is it more a reflection of perhaps a wider feeling in the united states? >> think tre are a number of issuest play ere. ere are seriousconcns with rerd to thglobal economy concns that e reliae on l fromthe gulf and fro sadi arabia in articular,uge amounts of oil come from saudi and even more comes from the gulf. and there's a concern about how

reliant the u.s. economy is on this oil. we see an increase in u.s. markets, particularly so with regard to fracking. now, there are other concerns about security and concerns about the complicity of saudi arabia within terrorism and violent extremism broadly. there are also conspiracy theories and suggestions that saudi arabia has been complicit in a range of different actions, culminating perhaps in this desire to have the 28 pages of the 9/11 report made public. this was historically a classified document and has caused all kinds of suspicions and suggestions that this highlights saudi com complicityn some way, shape or form. of course, this is classified. we don't know what this is. but it starts to breed a trepidation about the type of relationship the u.s. has with saudi. you've got some serious fractious issues at play. >> thank you for joining us on the program. next, syrian peace talks have

stalled. but international relief efforts have intensified. aid groups launched their largest assistance, and it comes a day after the u.n. evacuated hundreds of residents from several besieged towns. our oliver has more on what's been described as the largest operation of its kind in the five-year conflict. reporter: rastan was among the first towns to rise up against the syrian regime. since 2012 it hs been surroued by pro-government forces. now they are getting through to those remaining residents trapped amird the -- amid the ruins. behind me, you see the -- they are lining up in the co convoy. today we are bringing very much needed humanitarian assistance and aid. reporter: further south, close to the lebanese border, several

hundred residents were allowed to leave besieged towns. among the towns evacuated we zabadani, also madaya. rebel towns that have become emblematic of the suffering of the civilian population. evacuees recounted times of hardship and famine. >> it was catastrophic. >> one of my children died because there were no yringes to treat his diabetes. some of my children became swollen from eating the soup. reporter: 500 people in total are to be moved by the united states from four towns. zabadani, madaya and also fuaa and kafraya, loyal to the regime and which have been surrounded for months by islamist rebels. >> next, a rebel de delegation m yemen has arrived in kuwait. is group is there for u.n.

sponsored peace talks. the negotiations were pushed back after the rebels failed to show up. they said it was in protest against what they described as saudi violations of a 10-day cease-fire. next, migrant crossings in the sea have decreased, according to nato's secretary general. he said the drop in numbers was good news but he warned that smugglers could quickly change routes. migrants arriving on greek islands from the turkish coast now face deportation back to turkey unless they successfully apply for asylum. reporter: nato's naval backup in the aegean sea, reinforced with solidarity. they say a collective effort is making a difference in curbing the migrant crisis. >> we are seeing a significant reduction in the numbers. but i think it's important not

to end this activity too early, because we still see that the smugglersmugglers are trying tot people over the aegean sea and also we are to be prepared, that if we leave, not only can they return, the high numbers of people trying to cross the aegean sea in an illegal and dangerous way. reporter: while numbers are falling on one front, there are concerns it's all smoke and mirrors, with smugglers able to reroute at will. will survivors are among the lucky ones, able to set their feet to old ground again. for others, less fortunate, the journey ended at sea. hundreds of migrants are expected to be stretched across the port in body bag, s the italian navy ramps up operations off the libyan coach.

survivors recounted the horror of witnessing what is said to be the deadliest sinking of the current migrant crisis, after they collided with a large cargo ship that had gone to its aid. they took more than 500 lives with it. once salvaged, it too will be towed to this port. >> just a reminder of our top story out of the united states. music legend prince has died at the age of 57. and now his hits include "purple rain" and "kiss." he was found unresponsive today, this at his minnesota home. he was later declared dead. his publicist announced the news just a few hours ago, after rumors began to spread quite quickly on social media. we'll bring you the latest on that a little later on in the program. but it is time now for a look at the latest business news. for that, i'm joined in the studio by marcus. what have you got for us? >> we're going to start with the

european central bank. it has wrapped up a two-day policy setting meeting in franc. this time around, the meeting was closely watched after criticism from germany that they are essentially making the wrong choices for the central bank. its president is sticking to its guns. last month, they cut interest rates to record lows while also stepping up the stimulus program they introduced last year. the idea was and is to boost inflation. but the german finance minister has said it doesn't benefit the german economy. let's listen to draghi's response. >> let me say, first thing, we have a mandate. we have a mandate to pursue price stability for the whole of the eurozone, not only for germany. this mandate is established by the treaty, by the european law.

we obey the law. not the politicians, because we are independent, as stated by the law. >> okay. let's take a look at the european market reaction to the e.c.b. it was a mixed result at the end of the european trading day. london finished in the red. teuro lost steam against the american dollar. and shares finished 22% higher, as a takeover battle for the french high street name is brewing. they have raised their bid, at more than one billion european . >> the risk is heating up with the boosting of bids in a matter of hours. on one hand, there's the south african retail group. through its french furniture

retailer, it's now bidding 160 pence a share. it tops the offer made minutes earlier by the electronic group. both firms are seeking to get bigger in a market under pressure from online retailers like amazon.com. but why are they so strategic? for one, it operates 400 outlets in france, belgium and the netherlands. that's not all. >> the strength of it is that it is a strong brand with a strong appeal. the unites like it, mainly because of its custom service. they are successful also because of all the outlets throughout france. reporter: buying it would continue a european takeover spree which started in 2011 wth the purcse of the french furniture chain. the deal, however, seems even more vital. it could triple its number of

stores and offer the french company the diversification it's looking for. the rapid fire rival bid is one of many traded between both companies since the start of the takeover battle over a year ago. >> let's bring you up-to-date with another kleessly watched -- closely watched story. nearly half a million volkswagen customers will be given the option to sell back their vehicles to the german car maker, part of an agreement with the u.s. justice department, as vw tries to draw a line under the emissions scandal. they admitted they had rigged engines to cheat on an emissions test. 11 millions vehicles were affected worldwide. we still don't know what's going to happen to the other millions of customers out there when it comes to volkswagen and the diesel emissions scandal. >> thank you very much. now, you're watching france 24. we're going to take a quick break but our coverage of the death of music legend prince

continues. do stay with us. ♪[music] ♪ tonight i'm going to pabq

04/21/16 04/21/16 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from denver, colorado, and new york this is democracy now! five years probation, plus 800 hours of community service. >> this is not justice. my family is going to continue to