>> hello, life from paris on "france 24". personal attacks and mud slinging, among the two top ranked republican contenders for the u.s. presidency. ted cruz calling donald trump and a pathological liar polls for a to the critical primary in indiana, we're asking, will it make a difference? in syriaof cease fire and peace talks, the united in moscowvoy has been hoping russia can put pressure

regime to hold attacks in aleppo and there will no giving into street protests, so says france's labor a final votead of in the assembly that could come within days. thanks very much for joining us on "france 24". is lastnited states, it chance time for texas senator ted cruz in his bid to stay in race for the u.s. presidency. currently second-place onublican candidate banking beating donald trump in the latest primary vote in the state of indiana. launched a blistering attack on trump, calling him he would warning plunge america into the abyss if

president.become reporter: firing up his indiana, donald trump is counting on a win. we win, it's over. then i don'tcus -- have to worry about lying ted cruz and i don't care if he me or doesn't. i couldn't care less but i don't have to worry about lying ted cruz ever. reporter: trump is on a roll, having just won the last five primaries. for ted cruz, currently trailing trump in the polls, the hoosier into aas turned desperate last stand and his campaigning hasn't been going so well. cruz has been heckled at his events. is a better country without you. reporter: and hecklers weren't only misstep on monday. cruz's running mate, carly stage., fell off a despite having no chance of

securing the needed delegates to the party's nomination, cruz has vowed to fight on. i am in for the distance as long as we have a viable path to victory, i am competing to the end. reporter: cruz is hoping to awart trump by denying him victory in indiana and dragging out the contest until the convention. up with remaining candidate, john kasich, but their path to divide and conquer confused voters. trump is just 241 delegates away from securing the nomination. indiana is a winner-take-all majoritych means the of the 57 delegates will go to the candidate who gets the most votes. would put trump on track to wrap up the republican president.for canet's bring someone who

explain the issues surrounding the associate professor of political science in illinois. to loserump, if he were out today, even though the polls say he'll win, he does still lead, doesn't he? how big a setback would a loss be?y >> a loss today really would send a message to the republican the so-called never-trump-movement, to continue. trump is able to get all of the delegates, let's say, have a sweep in indiana, then they really may have to think about dealing with donald trump nominee andlican what to do next. right now, it looks like he may up winning the majority in indiana and ted cruz will be whichevery to get delegates he can get, if he can particular congressional districts in the state.

trump is noonald stranger to controversy but he's waded into a bit more in the days. couple of he said ted cruz's father might who had links to the man shot j.f.k., all insinuation. is it perhaps going a little bit too far? there a chance voters might stop taking him seriously? >> at this point in any usuallytial campaign, candidates start aiming their attention towards a general election strategy, if they're in the lead. right now, it really doesn't seem like donald trump is trying do that, by basically repeating rumors that have been some of hisnd by followers on various social media sites, he's basically hurting any chance he may have of those cruz supporters and ted supporting him, moving into the fall, if he were to get the nomination. seems like a weird time to really dig in this hard on something like that, something frivolous like a rumor like that.

move across tos the democratic party side where things are rather calmer. not, in fact,n, campaigning in indiana today. to nailing down this nomination. >> it's all but done. now bernie sanders and people from his campaign, they're talking about different they may take to convince super delegates to go with them, to get the nomination but i really think that that's basically an homage to all of the people who've given money and given time and support to he doesn'tn, that want to appear that he's totally out of it but they've already -- lay offstarted to workers and really dial back so i think on the democratic side slowly but surely see sanders and his top aides try to steer their supporters towards hillary clinton but really use that for leverage to ideas on to the party platform.

catherine: obviously, many now, what'sg this shaping up to be a trump vs. ultimately., there's also the question of things like who will they pick presidential running mates. can we assume that sort of thing being put into place round about right now? the scenes, the clinton campaign, in particular, experienced,re so they're probably working the phones to figure out who would be open to running with her, who supporters running into the general election. on the trump side, we've seen in the last month or so where he's brought in a number of people with some experience so they may start getting those things together. the real rub on the republican side is how quickly can they the party together and will there be anybody who tries to stage an independent run just to help candidatesgressional

christopher whitt, associate professor of political joining us. moving on to the middle east, the united states is working to trucerm the thread bare latest from u.s. secretary of state john kerry speaking. killed in government held areas of aleppo today. this justification for horrific violence that targets civilians or medical facilities responders no matter who it is, whether it's a member of opposition retaliating or the regime in its brutality against civilians which has continued for five years. catherine: which have been syria froments over the united nations special envoy could restartalks if that faltering truce can be

extended to aleppo. recent fighting in the city in the last week has killed more than 250 people. the envoy has been holding talks foreign minister hoping moscow can exert influence on the syrian regime to stop the fighting. reporter: visiting moscow ofsday with the hope reviving syria's faltering cease-fire. u.n. special envoy met with sergey lavrov a day after meeting john kerry in geneva. a sharp escalation of violence left the cease-fire in tatters and derailed peace talks he was able to announce progress. we have to be and cautious but we all hope this indication that perhaps in the few hours we'll be able to a relaunch of the

cessation of activities and whatever name we want to call it, silence or nonsilence, what the citizens want to hear is no rockets, no shelling. moreter: sergey lavrov was specific saying the so-called truce could bece extended to aleppo. translator: we are now neither the end of negotiations between the russian and american forces cease-fire in aleppo and i hope that very soon, maybe in the coming hours, this decision announced. reporter: aleppo has, until now, cease-firesfrom because the syrian regime and moscow say it is held by groups.t accused of attacking groups in syria.

tohospitals in war zones are get protection after the u.n. security council approved a resolution demanding all features conflict defend medical facennel and facilities or justice. there is international concern as attacks on medical facilities carried outng and with impunity. in aleppoity clinic the latest to be struck lie by rockets tuesday. >> a maternity clinic destroyed by rebel rockets. syrian state television broadcast images of the acility, located in government controlled area of aleppo. regime and both rebel forces has increased in recent days and staff at the were shocked their building was struck. translator: a rocket was fired and the glass shattered. the children.

it's a family hospital! reporter: outrage also on the outside. translator: the hospital is well and all its patients are pregnant women. all of the women here are pregnant. reporter: survivors were rushed to a nearby hospital. reportsre conflicting on the number of casualties. observatory for human rights said in total the attacks in the territory in aleppo. reports, rebels captured several buildings arrived.inforcements the syrian army said it was planning a response to the widespread assault. days, over 2500 have been killed in aleppo. most of those casualties have rebel-held east, including 55 in an air strike on a hospital the u.s. says was

deliberate. catherine: back in france, the toernment will not give in street protests over its controversial efforts to loosen labor laws, so said the labor minister earlier on as a landmark reform bill reached the lower house of parliament for debate. el khomri has been the focus of anger for weeks. the protests in paris again today, saying the laws erode their rights. speaking at the national the ministerier, insisted the changes would put france on the right economic path. a true productm of the political left. i, myself, have protested enough the echo inaccept the streets today. this proposal will bring us into dialogue of social and, like any innovative law, it questions, concerns. this debate has been dogged by misunderstandings, even errors.

i admit that, i regret it and thept my part of responsibility. catherine: what changes are the to pushnt hoping through? our correspondent explains. reporter: it's one of the most controversial proposals in the french government's labor that's layoffs for economic reasons. in france, apart from theresional misconduct, are three grounds to terminate a worker -- if a company is restructuring, if the company bankrupt, or if technology replaces a person's job. couldthe bill, a company also lay off staff if it sees a drop in revenue over a specific time. of nearly 5,000 amendments have been added to the initial bill both the right and left and the government has been forced tobacktrack on several ideas appease critics. one of them, taxing short-term contracts. in april, the government put forward a proposal to tax companies that hire workers on short-term contracts in a bid to

satisfy union demands to hire more permanent staff. owners have slammed the idea as yet another tax. concession from the government, capping compensation in labor courts. abandoned a compulsory cap on compensation. that cap is only a guide and courts are free to decide the payout. other proposed reforms include more negotiating power between workers and employees, for instance, the daily work limit could be extended from 10 to 12 a day if needed. m.p.'s will have two weeks to debate the proposals. catherine: the countdown is on to another general election in spain just six months after the poll failed to produce a workable government. officially sent proceedings in motion earlier on signing the decree, of spain dissolved

parliament. the voters will be asked to go 26, sixolls on june months after their last legislative elections. translator: this is the first time in our democratic era that parliament has been dissolved able towe have not been fulfill the citizen's mandate by reaching an agreement on the majority necessary to form a government. thatter: an announcement was almost apologetic given how spanish politics has been in limbo since the last election. on december 20 last, the party, in power since the poll but failed to reach majority. battered by two years of austerity and angry at corruption, voters turned to two thepolitical parties, radical left and the center forth who came charging respectively. none of the parties managed to come to an agreement. socialists tried to strike a

deal to keep the people's party to no government but avail. translator: it has not been possible and therefore we will face a repeat of the vote. it will be a repeat of the vote as a consequence of the and unwillingness of mr. iglesias to lead the change with me. reporter: in the meantime, the prime minister continues to lead caretaker government but is aable to enact any laws, stalemate likely to continue .ntil later this summer catherine: stop sporting moment, story of the futbol club leicester city getting a lot of congratulations on their first-ever english win, fans ine thailand. leicester clinched the premier league title monday night when

tottenham failed to get the give themy needed to a hope of winning. fans on the streets of bangkok, getting their team monk.lessed by a buddhist translator: the team worked so well together. many teams.eat so i'm not sure if it's because of team work or their coach but they could win and that's super perfect. championthey're the and they're a tight team. >> i can't believe that leicester, who was ranked low, the champion to be of the premier league. they could beat the big teams and manchester city manchester united. frenzyne: foxes' spreading worldwide. we're going to get an update on latest business headlines

with marcus. france potentially throwing its theer in the works for trade deal.tlantic >> the transatlantic trade and partnership, in trouble not only because of its complicated name. french president francois hollande has said he's opposed its current form as it's being negotiated between european union and the united states. he spoke hours after the trade a halt to trade negotiations was likely. he said europe had offered a lot while getting little in return from the american side after the greenpeace,l group, leaked documents from the ongoing talks on monday. the groups said they show european consumer standards could be undermined. translator: when it comes to health, food, social, cultural,

environmental standards, we will never allow those essential principles to be challenged. our agriculture, for our culture, for access toy, for public contracts, that is why, stands stage, as things now, france says no to the international trade negotiations. >> the european commission, which is negotiating this deal has ahe americans, different story. it says a ttip deal would not endanger european standards. colleague, the vice president said the e.u. economy badly needs a deal. >> i believe we are fighting very hard to protect the europe in the ttip negotiations and and we will

continue to fight for that. we have to find a way to stand we had gained for our people in europe and complete negotiations that are going to hugely benefit both us and the united states in terms of job creation, in terms of for our economies. we so much need it in a sluggish growth environment. >> the latest on this ongoing controversy. another controversial company, ariva is in hot water. aares in the company took tumble tuesday, finishing the session 7% down. it followed the company's admission on monday that some quality control reports may have a frenchified at manufacturing site. this brings into question the nuclear reactor parts that had been manufactured there and also ariva's operations. but it's far from the only facing areva. hot water.ack in

some reports may have been falsified. time thethe first company is in the middle of a controversy. in the past two financial years, in at close toe seven billion euros. decided to sell its near reactor business to utility edf for $2.5 billion. the french state, which owns 87% eager company, has been to safeguard its future and is negotiating a government-backed rescue package. areva's biggest embarrassment has been a series of delays and overruns at its plant in finland. the company is also facing losses in its investments in uranium mines as the price of commodity slides. areva has suffered a downturn in demand for nuclear energy following the fukushima nuclear disaster. the company announced

15,000 jobs up to worldwide. measures to cut cost may have come too little, too late. areva's credit rating was downgraded by standard & poor's b-plus in december, four notches below investment grade. banks were also under pressure during tuesday's trading session in europe. germany's commerce bank, for instance, were down in quarter profits. ubs, profitory at falling to just 700 million francs. u.b.s. says it was hit by market turbulence at the beginning of year. hsbc saw net profit fall by between january and march for much the same reason and blamed the result on calls extreme levels of market volatility at the start of the year in january and february. the london-based bank said first

quarter earnings fell 18% to 3.7 billion euros. let's take a look at the wired picture when -- wider picture in the european stock market today. we saw indices closing to the downside with the frankfurt dax almost 2%. way down commoditiesit, and took a beating, following a weak manufacturing survey out of china, increasing concerns that appetite for commodities like oil and minerals will weaken. down thises are also session for much of the same reason. comingnufacturing index out of china. the dow jones industrials around .75%.n it was worse earlier in the we're seeing the dow joan industrial average, a bleak

picture, because of the chinese manufacturing data, pushing investors to safe haven assets like the japanese yen. other corporate stories. shares of germany's lufthansa 5%l on tuesday, ending lower. the drop came as the carrier narrower than expected operating loss for the first quarter. would scaleid it to itspansion plans fleet this year. the airline says paris and brussels attacks have dampened travel.or european commission expects the 19 countries that use the single currency, down from a previous forecast of growth. the commission also says year,ion will be low this expected to come in at 0.2.

a row brewing between france and the c.e.o. of renault, urging think again to about his pay package. the company's board ignored the and backeds' vote ghosn's compensation, upsetting the french government, which holds 20% of shares in renault. with thatwhat happens standoff. a matter of telling renault and ghosn to think again. catherine: thanks so much, coleson. a short break, back in a couple of minutes with updates on all of our top international news stories. c

05/03/16 05/03/16 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from sarasota, florida, this is democracy now! >> what i can say with great oftainty is that the rate civilian casualties in any drone operation are far lower than the rate of civilian casualties that occur in conventional war. amy: as president obama defends drone