and and and and ." you are watching "france 24 is responsible for the revelations opened in luxembourg. with men face charges leaking thousands of documents that show the huge tax break given by luxembourg to some of the world possible companies. the world remembers chernobyl. 30 years on from the world

possible worst nuclear disaster, a memorial is held for those who lost their lives. and for the 86 fans who died in disaster.in britain's worst ever sporting disaster. also coming up, a french company is chosen from one of the world's biggest ever defense contracts, delivering 12 submarines to the australian navy. we will have all of that in our update. it was the biggest leak of its kind until the panama papers. thousands of documents leaked a year and a half ago that appeared to show luxembourg had conspired with multinational

companies. today the men responsible are standing trial. the trial opened earlier on during the day. civil rights groups and media groups are saying the whistleblowers should be protected rather than prosecuted. >> these of the documents at the heart of the scandal. 28,000 confidential pages, which lists more than 500 tax agreements between multinationals and the tax administration in luxembourg. giants like apple, ikea, and obtained tax rulings that allow them to pay tax rates as low as 1%. the three frenchmen who leaked the documents revealing the sweetheart deals are going on trial. the main suspect is a former employee of pwc. he is facing charges of theft of confidential chart -- touch it documentsonfidential

and money laundering. he and the two of the men face up to 10 years in prison and fined more than one million euros. anticorruption agencies say the charges are outrageous. >> corruption and abuse of power around the world, exposing the secrets of the luxembourg government contributed to global companies. for this reason, he deserves to be celebrated and not prosecuted. >> the government says he is not protected by luxembourg pot whistleblower law as the practices were legal. an online petition has received 125,000 signatures. the case is embarrassing for the former prime minister of .uxembourg, jean-claude juncker he has to the european commission, which says it wants to make tax issues a priority. tax evasion costs europe one trillion euros per year. melissa: one of the men standing

trial is a french journalist who worked with the whistleblowers. he works for a french agency am a which specializes in investigative journalism. i spoke to his director and asked him why whistleblowers were so important. thehistleblowers are almost only tool societies have against a superpower that some corporations have become, that they even belong to states anymore. exist from onen country to another and a judicial system. the tools to create a counter power, arew kind of very few. so whistleblowers are the ones who are inside the system and are able to blow the whistle and inform the public. it is very dangerous.

you have to know that more or less every whistleblower will have his life changed forever because of his act. i think we desperately need a law to protect them. i know one is being judged now in luxembourg, very afraid to be sentenced to a heavy fine. i think he will never go to jail, but to be sentenced to a heavy fine and spend the rest of his life paying for this fine, that is like a terror weapon above his head. it is very difficult to go through with that. the trial is now underway in luxembourg. we will continue to follow it throughout the day. a group affiliated to al qaeda claimed response ability for the killing last night of a bangladeshi gay rights activist and his friend, the latest in a string of civil activists and other minorities in the south asian nation.

they identified themselves as an islam fighters, a branch of al qaeda on the subcontinent. it was 13 years ago today that an explosion ripped through one of the reactors of the chernobyl -- 30 years ago today that i'm explosion ripped through one of the reactors of the chernobyl nuclear plant. it remains the world's ever nuclear disaster. -- the world's worst ever nuclear disaster. our correspondent has been taking a look back at the tragedy. in theolls of the bell streets at exactly 1:23 a.m., the moment when the world's worst nuclear disaster hit chernobyl, about 50 kilometers from here. residents and workers laid wreaths. protective gear

to pay homage to their colleagues. those guys whof were with me and are no longer here. i am mourning them. >> every year it seems like the disaster was yesterday. i still want to come here because to me these people are not dead. >> on the night of april 20 6, 1986, reactor number four at the chernobyl site exploded, then melted down during a safety check. the accident was caused by human error but also a defect in the soviet reactor. for 10 days, radioactive waste .pilled into the atmosphere a 30 kilometer protection zone was set up around the powerplant that still exists today. 116,000 people were forced to evacuate in 1986, and a further 230,000 left for homes in the following years three at the time ukraine was part of the soviet union, and moscow initially tried to hide the accident. the public were only alerted two

days later by sweden. three take eggs on -- three decades on, systems have been recognized but the united nations suggested in 2005 that up to 4000 people died in 1986 or the following years. today at the site of chernobyl, engineers are building an arch over the damaged reactor. they are hoping a leak-tight barrier will bury the radioactive waste for at least the next century. story,: for more on the i am joined by the senior researcher for the foundation of strategic research, and especially -- and a specialist in nuclear issues. we are looking back at chernobyl 30 years on per what are the lessons that should have been learned? >> sure. i think there are two main lessons that should have been learned. the first one is that we have to remind ourselves of the fact that it was, firstly, a safety

issue, and just a safety issue. not a global nuclear issue. , but it catastrophe , as also be understood historical event. --m things like the collapse in the u.s. at that time, people had faith in soviets, in the project, as well as in technology, modern technology. catastrophe of april 1986 sounded like a collapse of , andology and communism the faith of the people. wellhis is particularly

book by an author who won the nobel prize in literature in 2015 when her book chernobyl."s of when the government of the ussr chernobyl accident of and the effects of the accident , the people,ally the very witnesses, the victims did not -- could not believe it was a lie. they really could not because they did not want to believe it was a big lie. and it sounded for them like a betrayal, something huge.

and five years later, the whole communist block collapsed. so it was also a symbol of the the political system and the trust in technology as a whole. this is, i think, a good lesson , in anothers today to. melissa: here in france, new plug power holds a hugely important that nuclear power holds -- nuclear power holds a hugely important place, some say too important. do we face safety issues in france? >> safety is paramount. , 80% of our 70% electricity comes from nuclear power plants. 19 power8 reactors in

plants all over the country. so it is paramount, and it should be pegida -- it should be paramount. i would say that to the major extent of it, it is paramount, and safety has never been the national and nuclear authorities. thethat being said, accident in march of 2011 was a wake-up call for everyone in europe, including france. and then the european coalition urged -- requested everyone to have those stress tests in all the nuclear power plants. and so they were conducted in france, in all the nuclear parks measures were decided and

put in place in 2012. midterm solutions by 2020, and for afterm solutions 2020 and 2030. -- so thesequences of consequences, i would say, have been well understood in france. , as far asphilosophy new fear safety is concerned, is still the same. it is based on four principles. first, the responsibility -- then the independents of the authority of control, the authority of nuclear safety. then the in-depth defense, which is a multilayered defense of all nuclear power plants. and then the regular feedback. four pillars of

nuclear safety are still the same. but maybe there has been an improvement by what happens. melissa: thank you very much indeed, a look at the nuclear issue, 30 years on from chernobyl, even as the world thembers what remains world's worst nuclear tragedy. fans who died in a soccer stadium collapse were unlawfully killed. -- by a soccer stadium stampede were unlawfully killed. the deadly crush at the match back in 1989 -- lucy felder is our correspondent, and she joins us now. thank you very much indeed for

joining us. we just heard david cameron express himself on this. it is a long overdue justice for the families of the victims. tell us a little bit about what the verdict found today. lucy: the verdict found that this was the case of unlawful killing, and as you said, crucially, the fans themselves did not contribute to the inaster that killed 96 fans 1989, 37 of them teenagers, one a 10-year-old boy who was killed that day. what happened was that it used -- too many people were allowed into one of the pens, and at least 96 people were killed in the crush. the jury found today that design --ors in the stadium policing errors and ambulance service errors -- all led to the

death of these people, and the of caring the duty for 54,000 people in the stadium and they had breached that care. as for the fans themselves, their behavior had not ventured with it. part of the most crucial part for families today. melissa: it has been a long fight for justice, as we were reminded by the british minister there. they have been fighting for the names of the people they loved all these years. lucy: that is seen as necessary. the police were responsible for policing the stadium, and they initially alleged that the fans were drunk, that they did not have tickets, and therefore contributed to overwhelming the stadium. as you mentioned, earlier inquests returned a verdict of accidental death. that was overturned, and the families can i last see victory. they have been very keen to show that the fans themselves did not cause this disaster, but it was policing errors.

as they left the court today, after a 27-year-old battle, they -- thisto the liverpool arduous battlee, for them. today it is met with joy and relief and jubilation. live fromucy fielder, london, thank you very much indeed. to the united states, where polls have began to open in five states -- connecticut, delaware, maryland, pennsylvania, and rhode island. side, hillarytic clinton is looking for a knockout blow against bernie sanders. donald trump is fighting the forces against him. we will move on now to the business headlines. thanks for much for joining us. ,e are having a look, stephen at the news, specifically that won-- a french company has

a very important business from australia. stephen: it is one of the biggest event contracts awarded ns,a french company, dc going into exclusive -- to exclusively build submarines for industrial you. they will be built in australia, the french defense minister says it will create thousands of jobs in french -- and france, too. ns has french company dc scored a major contract, beating competitors in japan and germany. the $34 billion -- the 34 billion euro deal will see barracuda subs in australia in a contract spanning five decades. >> the recommendation of our competitive evaluation was unequivocal.

that the french offer represented the capabilities best able to meet australia pass unique needs. -- to meet australia upon unique australia's big needs. >> the japanese bid, the longest front runner, was released last week over its apparent unwillingness to build in australia. says the subs will be built in adelaide in southern australia, sustaining 2800 jobs. it is a major win for the french defense industry, creating up to 4000 jobs created in france. this is a great victory for french industry. for the french naval construction sector. it represents thousands of jobs. these jobs and the working bulk

place order will take where french submarines are made. has exclusive negotiating rights was one of the most exclusive defense contracts, due sometime after australia's general election. melissa: how is it going down on the markets? stephen: talus owns 35% of it. its shares are up today in paris, but the rival court did not windows contracts. they are down 2% in germany. jumped byhartered's 10%, despite a slumping profits in the first quarter. i can tell you paris and frank for it, a short time ago, were trading in the red. melissa: we look now to mitsubishi motors, which has failed field tests. that it it has reported

is reporting full consumption data for some of its cars. some 600,000 vehicles, now mitsubishi says the rating dates back to 1991, which means the number would be much higher. shares in the company plummeted a further 10% on the news. it is a scandal. >> i sincerely apologize to our customers. who purchased our cars based on the wrong fuel mileage data. i have no word. i am sorry. stephen: the german airline left anza has canceled almost 100 flights because of the strike by air stored that by airport staff. by airporttrike staff. it is part of a pay dispute.

bp has seen underlying profits slump by 80% in the first three months of the year, largely due to oil prices. it is at the third lowest level in 12 years on the brett crude -- on the brent crude index in january. they are the first of several major oil companies reporting this week. melissa: pershing is associated with chocolate, but that might be about to change. is associated with chocolate, but that might be about to change. stephen: as americans become more health conscious, they will look at new markets. hershey boughtr the beef jerky brand crave last year, telling "the wall street journal," that they were also looking at things like veggie bars. a far cry from chocolate. melissa: those on the business headlines. thank you. it is time for a look now -- edward is making headlines in the international press. -- at what is making headlines in the original press.

floors 11 oh joins me now. we are -- florence villeminot joins me now. wielding at chernobyl, the nuclear disaster. flo: a huge story across the world. let's start with search avella, which looks at the fact that a lot needs to be done to secure the area around chernobyl. you can see here these global donors pledging more money for nuclear safety, still a lot of hazardous radioactive material. the voice of america says 30 years later chernobyl is still risky. the effects of the worst nuclear accident in history, according to "the voice of america" are still being felt in the area, but also many parts of europe as well. later, you can still see some of the effects across the country. look at this article. chernobyl is still not over. there are still radioactive traces present here. you can see this map of where

they are. melissa: "the telegraph" reports a team of scientists are investigating the effects of the disaster on wildlife. flo: it was quite surprising. 30 years after the disaster, wildlife is flourishing in the radioactive wasteland, according to this article. notice the zone. it has become an improbable sanctuary, a wildlife preserve for many animals. you have wild boar, wolves, elk, a deer. it begs the question, was the world's worst nuclear disaster less damaging for the world's ecosystem than the rest of mankind? it seems to have been negative impact on animal life, but in the absence of humans, the stress of radioactive contamination is more manageable for wildlife. therea: here in france, is yet another strike, more chaos for people expecting trouble on france's railways. it is just a few weeks after

there was a great deal of chaos. flo: lots of focus on the french papers. one talked about how rail workers are fighting their muscles, are on the defensive. network national rail is opening up to international competition following any you ruling. you can read more about those details. the essences that they want to harmonize working conditions between fnc s workers paid by the state and those who work for private companies. what will change for staff -- there is a graphic here that shows some of the changes. it will not be a major overhaul, but still some significant changes. for instance, the official rest period will go from 14 hours minimum to 13 hours minimum, and staff will only know their schedules the day they are working and not a couple of days ahead. the idea is to make the system more flexible and competitive, but as you can imagine, workers

want to hold onto their perks because here in france railroad workers have a reputation for having a pretty sweet deal when it comes to working contracts. they work on average less than 35 hours a week and retire at about 55, so they want to hold onto these advantages and hold more strikes. are we going to expect worse strikes to come? s has threatened to stage more strikes for the football cup. you can read more about it here. i could certainly upset a lot of fans and authorities, who are very much worried about this prospect. melissa: more chaos here, of course, for those of us in france. paris match focusing on the

death of the country's first gay rights magazine. flo: you can read more about it in papers in bangladesh. quite a horrible story here. details, onen the of his friends was hacked to

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announcer: this is a production of china central television america. may lee: cardiovascular diseases are the number-one cause of death worldwide, leading to nearly 1/3 of all global deaths each year. this week, a look at a massive global health challenge that can be prevented. i'm may lee in for mike walter in los angeles. let's take it "full frame." [theme music playing] male singe ♪ o hoo ooh, woo hoo ooh, woo hoo ♪