♪ to syrias. envoy issued a call to u.s. to revise syrian peace talks. in venezuela, power outages, rioting, and an economic crisis for the embattled president.

salem is in paris. his a toy or -- his attorney describes him as having the intelligence of an empty ashtray. volkswagen pledges to restore consumer trust after the scandal that rocked the carmaker. ♪ >> thank you for joining us. we begin with syria with a city of aleppo is still under attack. according to doctors without borders, the death toll stands at 38 civilians from the most recent strikes. hit say a hospital has been killing at least 14 patients and staff. the peace process is hanging by a thread. the u.n. is appealing to the

u.s. and russia to intervene at the highest level. our correspondent joins us now from geneva. envoy is you in appealing to the russians and the u.s. what can they really do to help? ton: it was an unusual move appeal publicly to two of the world's biggest leaders to president obama and vladimir putin to interview -- intervene. u.s./russia brokerage and worked very well throughout march. that gave a lot of impetus for the political negotiations going on in geneva in the second round. however, in april, and the last 10 days, cessation of havelities, the agreements

had so many violations, especially now around the city of aleppo. it is on the verge of collapse. if it occurs, it will be hard for a new round. to revive the cessation of hostilities. whether they can pull it off or not, remains to be seen. -- it appears that the u.s. secretary of state john kerry and his rush and counterpart have to get hands-on on this issue and try to revive it. they are the two principal architect that putting a lot of energy into making this thing happen and they don't want to

see it unravel. talksant a new round of sometime in may. first, he wants to get to recommit at very high levels for him to continue to call for a new round of talks. of course, we are seeing the humanitarian catastrophe on the ground. the national committee of the red cross said the city of aleppo is on the brink of a humanitarian disaster. a hospital was completely destroyed. we hope for for these peace talks if they continue? john: if they continue and they can be confident to announce a bee in may, the process will to have a transitional process. that would mean agreeing to a overseent that would

the drafting of a new constitution and a new presidential parliament reelection. that is the game plan. if that happens any time soon remains to be seen. there is a lot of uncertainty out there. nancy: thank you, john. john is reporting from geneva. donald trump's foreign-policy speech has attracted widespread criticism from members of his own party in the white house. his speech focused on sweeping statements with no mention -- with a mention to build a wall between the u.s. and mexico. kate moody has the story. [laughter] >> a promise to put america first here . donald trump outlined his plans. mr. trump: it is time to shake

the rust off of america's foreign policy. >> he spent most of the speech criticizing barack obama calling his plan a complete and total disaster. they mocked donald trump with his mispronunciation of country names. comes to this president's foreign policy, there is no denying that the united states is safer and stronger than we were when president obama took office back in january of 2009. newt gingrich describe it as a serious proposal that would nevertheless be ridiculed by washington elite. other party leaders dismissed it as a coherent and lacking details, but lindsey graham describing the remarks as pathetic in terms of understanding the threats facing the country.

hillary clinton's campaign blasted trump's proposal as reckless and dangerous. ted cruz try to shift the spotlight to his new running mate carly fiorina. businesswomen upon second largest is cleaning up after widespread rioting on wednesday. the country faces a worsening energy crisis, which is causing daily blackouts. in the capital, protesters are lining up to sign a petition to force the unpopular president from office. he is accused of driving the country to the brink of economic collapse. >> fighting over bags of flour in venezuela's second-largest city. hours earlier, dozens were looting and

wreaking havoc. >> they took everything, computer, merchandise. he read our, we can't do anything. as manynce comes venezuelans are increasingly frustrated as repeated food shortages and a worsening energy crisis, which is causing daily blackouts. president is largely being held responsible for driving the country to the brink. the opposition, which has the majority in parliament, has started collecting signatures, hoping to order a referendum to remove him from power. before 4l collect million signatures needed for the referendum to go ahead and hold the referendum and we will win it. >> and the o, thousands of people have taken to the streets.

capital, thousands of people have taken to the streets. he plans to stay in office until 2018. >> let's let them do their stuff. not that what they are doing is politically viable anyway. >> if the referendum is successful, no elections could be as early as january. back to abdeslam is face justice. been charged with terrorism offenses and is being held in a high-security facility. he has been tightlipped, but his lawyer insists he will talk. the suspect/belgian lawyer describes him as having the intelligence of an in tsa. the attorney dismissed him as a little jerk. mark thompson has more. >> europe's most wanted men now locked inside the continent's

biggest prison. awaits trial. it he was brought before the investigating judge within hours of his transfer from belgium to the french capital. the 26 are all did not speak during the hearing. authorities suspect the french plays a key role in the terrorist attacks last year. he has been placed under formal investigation for murder involving terror. >> there is a trend at the moment to say he is the only survivor of the attacks. he is responsible for everything. cafes, the colosseum, salah abdeslam has been presented as public enemy number one. >> after four months on the run, he was arrested in brussels in march. his next hearing has been set

for may 20 area he has already been indicted by belgian authorities for his involvement in a shootout near brussels, which left four police officers wounded in the days before his arrest. -- french national railway workers are striking in the reduction of workplace protection by upcoming eu regulations. train and air travel in and around paris will be restricted throughout the day. a nationwide labor protest is planned for the city. we go to our correspondent were the protest march is getting underway. can you fill us in on what is happening now? the protest is about to start. as you can see behind me. there are dozens of people in southern paris. set to walk across the river about an hour away.

protesters have their balloons up. leafletsdistributing for the proposed labor law. the protesters are -- have taken to the streets of the ninth of march. it is the fourth mass protest since march. protesters are hoping it will get even bigger today. they are hoping to build the momentum ahead of the first of may. the first of may is on sunday. it is international workers day. they are hoping that more and more french workers will turn out in the streets. they are kind to build up the pressure for the french government. they say this bill would effectively hamper their rights. they say they want social rights

to be protected. they say this bill, which the government says would make labor laws more flexible, they are saying, actually, it will get rid of employees more easily for economic reasons. they said their working hours will be increased while their salary will remain the same. these protesters are not happy with the french government and they are hoping that many more people will turn up today. young people have been protesting over the past few weeks. today, we have not seen very many youth, possibly because they are on holiday right now. we will see how it goes throughout the day. italy, he begins his battle to avoid prison. because the 2012 khrushchev

disaster off the italian coast which killed many people. here is more. he has always argued that he has been unfairly victimized by the judgment. he was convicted for killing 32 people on the ship. the conviction was manslaughter, abandoning, and causing the worst maritime disaster. argues that it is not fair and other members of the crew were also responsible and the parent company should also share some of the blame. his defense team will be saying that this conviction should be completely overturned, while the prosecutors will be saying that it should actually be increased.

they always argued that he deserved a sentence of 26 years. he will not be in the court in florence today. his lawyers said he will not be showing up because the first has technical procedures. he also want to avoid the media scrutiny. after he died on stage a concert in the ivory coast. the prime minister were among the high profile in attendance. headlines,k in our the u.n. in to serious issues a -- the u.n. issues a serious call for syria. venezuela, --

salah abdeslam him is in paris charged with terrorism. his lawyer calls him a little jerk with the intelligence of an anti-ashtray. it is time to look at today's business news. to regaingen is said customer trust and return to profit this year. both ligand last september it had manipulated 211 million cars to admit false emissions data. the conference in germany will focus on rebuilding a brand. the chief executive gave little detail on how they try to do it -- on how they will do it. the carmaker's ceo repeated

the words for those who may have missed it. more thangen is far in a crisis. aside company has set 16.2 billion euros to deal with the crisis. the revelation that it manipulated engines to pass emission tests. we know we have disappointed so many people who have placed their trust in volkswagen. we recognize our responsibility and we are doing everything in our power to regain trust. >> regain trust and bring sales backup. for 2015, volkswagen reported a -- loss of 1.60 and bureaus 1.6 billion euros. it is projecting to return to profit this year. the company has relied on its its otherwned -- hi

brands. >> we plan to invest more than 4 in higheuros in china efficient, environment-friendly vehicles. >> in 2015, volkswagen deliver nearly 10 million vehicles. it projects similar sales for 2016. in the first quarter, it reported selling 2.5 billion vehicles -- 2.5 million vehicles. they were down around three quarters of 1%. not a very happy picture on the european sharemarket. a big drop on the japanese markets earlier where the bank of japan decided not to announce put aimulus measures and negative spin on the training day in europe. that is today's business headlines.

tickets were bolstered in a jump compensate smart phone sales. they are assessing the damage caused by two earthquakes. things are looking up at deutsche bank, the german lender reported surprise profits of 200 36 million euros for the first three months of the year. down by 60% last year. better than expected. suffered bad markets at the beginning of the year. the delays in delivering the aircraft caused by engine issues would have a significant effect. shares of airbus trading down within 6%. artisans and technicians into protests to occupy several theaters in paris since the

begin. a deal is been reached to avoid cuts to the special income support. the system is facing a huge funding shortfall, but workers are resisting cuts. >> a breakthrough that has led to police german protesting workers some theaters in paris. and technicians have occupied several theaters since sunday, demonstrating against cuts to their special income support. they interrupted shows like "romeo and juliet." but the protests may be over now that unions have reached an agreement. includingt workers some, television and theater benefit from a system which supports their income when they are not working. unlike most french workers who have to work 610 hours to get four months of unemployment

benefits, independent artists have to work 507 hours to get eight months worth of unemployment benefits. while some say the system is too generous, artist say it is necessary to support french culture. putting a project together would never pay equally for how much we work. bodyance's unemployment says the independent worker system cost almost one billion euros every year. after weeks of negotiation on how to plug up the deficit, employers have set to agree their own contribution to the artists fund by 1%. the remaining 80 million euros will then be contributed by the applied tot can be the deal will have to be officially signed, and to be improved, by the state's unemployment body. one company to watch when the

market opens his facebook. they reported profits of more than $1.5 billion for the first three months of the year. theyis nearly three times earned in the same period last year. has 6.5 billion active users. another fun fact in facebook, uses are now spending time with their facebook friends and with their real friends. mark zuckerberg says we spend an average on 50 minutes a day according to a study. americans spend on average 43 minutes a day socializing with their real friends. facebook has become a priority now. >> thank you very much. stay with us. more news coming up on "france 24."

talking about the international papers. let's go to venezuela where a power crisis is turning into a political crisis for the president. >> food shortages, power outages due to that drought, and now the public is only working two days a week. it is not surprising that the anger is building and has been building for some months now against the president. you can see that in the wall street journal's front page with a photo of the protests on thursday. it led to a petition being signed calling for the president to leave his position. as the to power successor. you have seen his popularity plummet in recent months. critics would at least need 4 million signatures for any sort of process to take place. it is still a long way yet. and the economic situation is

getting worse according to some business people. >> there is a financial blog that jokingly predicted back in february that venezuela might not have the money to print its own money. that is up for me the case. venezuela is so broke, it does not have the money it needs to print more money to solve the financial crisis. the blog says it is the beginning of the end. >> with venezuela's neighbor brazil also in trouble, things are not looking good for the continent. paper is sounding the alarm bells. >> it is one of the highest selling newspapers and venezuela. there is an opinion piece penned by an opposition politician called "making progress."

he calls for more responsibility from the ruling political classes in brazil and says the only way out of this crisis that is engulfing a dozen as well a, but brazil, is for more political and economic responsibility, freedom really. he says that sets the basis of what can solve a consonant-wide crisis. democracys to be more from the institutions that are making these decisions. the americas, a lot of press rolling their eyes at donald trump osh latest comment -- donald trump's latest saying that hillary clinton is only a candidate because she is a woman. >> donald trump is fodder for the news and doesn't disappoint. has peoplecomment rolling their eyes about clinton

being a candidate because she is a woman. this is a wider, ruthless attack. he did call her weak and wicked and said she would be a "horrible president." clinton handled it quite well. cruz,osh rival, ted picked carly fiorina, a woman to be his running mate. >> don't you think some of donald trump's offensive comments might be for show. >> according to the guardian, that is the impression you will have. barbara was vice president of donald trump's companies. it gives insight to how his views have changed. she says in her article that he once said the men are better in general, but a good woman is better than 10 good men because

women have to be driven and work harder than men to compete in this masculine environment. but she says, the attitude towards women change over the years. it could be strategic in garnering the male vote.

>> my name is kennedy kagiso kalo. >> my full name is kennedy, the other name is senegal. >> kennedy malibusha. he gave me this name because he wanted me maybe to live like a king. >> my name is robert kennedy