>> you are watching live from paris on "france 24." our top stories. a victory for common sense. activists welcomed the decision by the top court to overturn the so-called burkini ban at one french seaside town. 278 peopleth toll, are known to have lost their lives in wednesday's earthquake in central italy. hopes of finding more survivors are fading. ending. five years under siege residents are evacuated from a damascus suburb which was the birthplace of the 2011 protests against the assad regime.

good evening. the french council of state, the highest administrative court in the country, has ruled that a ban imposed on the wearing of burkinis, should be suspended. the court added that the full-length swimsuits pose no threat to public order. today's ruling which only applies to one southern frenchtown is expected to set a legal precedent for the other towns whether ban has been imposed. reporter: france's top court has had the final word on the burkini debate. it rolls the ban --ruled the ban was illegal and overturned it. the decision up also challenge from rights groups that claim

the ban violated basic remedies including freedom of religion. >> this freedom cannot be limited or taken by the town, even if there is a special context like we have now in france of here about the terrorism. it is not sufficient to limit the freedom of religion. reporter: although the ruling only applies to this town, it could soon set a precedent for the dozens of other towns that have banned burkinis. public order and safety after ex-im is attacks ---extremist attacks in france were cited as reasons but the debate took a different turn. the prime minister earlier this week argued that the islamic garment could not become tolerated in secular society because it symbolized the enslavement of women his comments sparked divisions within the government and made the question of france's national identity a hot button

issue once again. presidential elections in less than the year, critics say the issue had been hijacked by politicians for election fodder. right-wing presidential wouldate sarkozy said he impose a nationwide ban if elected. host: the burkini ban and the surrounding it -- the debate surrounding it, comes a presidential election eight months from now. he revealed deep fractures in the ranks of the socialist party and the ranks of the opposition party. nicholas sarkozy says that -- his rival says he opposes it. >> they come in a range of colors. turquoise, sky blue, navy or b lack. has beener the burkini making waves in the political arena in france. it's now one of the key issues in the upcoming presidential election.

who want to take issue with the values france is founded on, by principle we must fight back. the burkini is a provocative item of clothing and has a political message that we have to fight. angered theat has secretary of the socialist party, already concerned by the number of fines issued. >> have you seen the burkini on 30 beaches? today the republican party are using the issue for their political gain. they are using it to get ahead in the polls. reporter: it is not only the center-right. the national front has pledged to ban the veil from all public places. on publicds, transport, at work, public

sector, at university. lawould extend the 2004 only applied in schools. our party believe it's eased tension in schools and so we would apply to all public spaces. to secular values, france separates religion from public life. it was the first european country to ban the wearing of the islamic face veil in 2010. emergency dogs and crews are continuing to dig through the rubble in italy'. following the 6.2 magnitude earthquake. haveeople are now known to lost their lives in that disaster which reduced the picturesque town of amatrice to rubble. around 15 people in that town remain unaccounted for. 400 people are still being treated in hospital, many of them have sustained serious injuries are in a critical condition. luke brown is in that region.

he has more on the situation and the badly affected town -- luke: we are in a small village which is not far away from amatrice, but is typical of what has occurred over the past couple of days. as you mentioned, in his ctueresque town in italy. this particular village is one of, we were speaking to some of the volunteers, the aid operations, the indicated this was one of the most clearly visibly damaged small villages. as you can see behind me, the rubble is very apparent. multiple buildings have a collapsed here. this is a small village where a lot of people had a secondary holiday residence. that perhaps might've contribute it in many ways to the disaster scene here, because a lot of

people didn't invest quite so much money in protecting those residences against earthquakes. a high proportion of them have been destroyed. it also perhaps had played in favor of a slightly lower death toll here. 22. that is tragic and high, but out of only 40 or 50 people that were here during the earthquake itself. h season, that figure could well trouble or quadruple -- or triple. the tragic scene being played out across many of the towns and villages of this region were affected by the earthquake. italy.reporting their in the italian prime minister renzi has declared a state of emergency in the region which has enabled the release of 50 million erdogan-- 50 million e.

he has committed to improving the country's defenses against earthquakes. reporter: this is what is left of the school in amatrice. it was renovated in 2012 to make it earthquake proof, but like many other buildings around it, it collapsed on wednesday. this former teacher came as soon a she heard the news. >> i used to teach here for many years. until a year ago. i'm sorry. i can't believe it. forrter: a as the s search survivors continues, many in italy are asking whether the tragedy could have been prevented. after the 2009 earthquake in the neighboring town, italy's civil protection agency made almost 1 one billion euros available for buildings in vulnerable areas.

there is a cumbersome application process, according to critics. poor quality rejoice used for renovation -- poor quality materials used for renovation could also be to blame. the prime minister has promised 50 million euros in funds for rebuilding and has announced a new initiative to improve building standards in high risk areas and historic towns, which are currently not required to conform to anti-earthquake regulations. hours, we have two necessities. on one hand, we need to think about reconstruction. thewe must think beyond state of emergency. we must have a long-term plan, and we will do that together. reporter: italy's chief public prosecutor for most of the affected area has said he would be opening an investigation into whether anyone could be held responsible for the disaster. host: back in 2011, the

domestic suburb was one of the first places to see protest against the syrian president assad. after being held by rebel fighters from much of the past five years, residents began leaving the area as part of the deal struck with the government. many of the residents were on the brink of starvation. four years ofr grueling bombardment, president assad finally strikes a deal with rebels. but there's and lenses and tracks, evacuated rebels and residents -- in ambulances, which is eight kilometers south of the capital damascus. according to the local media, surrendermen will their weapons for their families will be given safe passage. they prefer to surrender

because they were aware of their destinies, to be killed or surrender. there are some militant groups who killed syrian people into them as hostages. of residentsroup as hostages. the will and determination of the syrian army to liberate the land and the residents from the militants led to their quick surrender and their leading. -- leaving. 4000 residents will be transported to a shelter south of the town. they enduredige food shortages and lived without any water or electricity. one united nations food delivery was allowed in during the fighting. host: it is seen as being a significant development in the battle against the islamic state. government forces have

managed to push the militants out of the town, which was considered a victory. it will take a one step closer to re-staking -- retaking the town of mosul. reporter: victory dance as soldiers celebrate the retakinga -- the three day operation was led by special forces. with the help of u.s. led coalition airstrikes, they push the islamic state group out of the strategic town. it lies 70 kilometers south of mosul, the de facto capital in iraq. humanitarian agencies warned that the upcoming battle for iraq's second-largest city in the army's final price could displace more than one million people. officials on the ground were quick to allay fears. >> civilians are in good condition. and did not record any casualties in this operation. instructions were given to civilians not to leave their homes during the operation. therefore, there was no mass

movement of displaced people during the battle, which prevented civilian casualties. reporter: around 3 million people have already been forced to flee since 2014. but the tables have turned on the militants who've lost half the talented -- half the territory they have seized. -- seiged. iraqi officials have founded retake the city within the year. host: the turkish prime minister says that a kurdish suicide bomber was behind today's attack on a checkpoint in the southeast of the country, which left dozens injured. that attack happened near a town. of smoke large plumes cover the small town in the southeast of turkey. the result of an explosive truck which struck a police

checkpoint. gutting this three-story riot police headquarters. now nothing more than a pile of rubble. turkish state run media says four have been wounded and other skilled, including civilians -- and others killed. the outlaw kurdistan workers party has claimed responsibility. authorities say they will fight back. >> we will continue our operations there till we ensure the security of our borders and the safety of our citizens' lives and property. reporter: it sits in the northwest of the turkish-syrian-iraqi triple frontier. it has seen a string of bombings targeting police and military vehicles. violence escalated in december when turkish and to the town and the two sides attacked each other. more than 600 turkey is a

security personnel and thousands of pkk militants have been killed since violence started in july, 2015. after the peace treaty broke down. human rights organizations are demanding an investigation into allegations of unlawful killings of civilians. forced displacement and widespread and local discretion -- local destruction of private property. meanwhile, president erdogan says friday's attack is only increase the country's determination to stomp out insurgency on its territories. host: the costs of around 3 euros, one of the world's largest of the world's largest suspension bridges was inaugurated in istanbul. nearly 1.5 kilometers in length, it traverses the bosporus strait used by 130

,000 cars every single day and two high-speed rail lines. that bridge will ease congestion in the commercial capital which is home to a staggering 14 million people. now, dozens of people have been arrested in bolivia after the country' deputy interior minister was beaten to deaths. he had been traveling to a town which is around 130 kilometers south of the capital in order to break the deadlock in a miner's strike. instead he was set upon by the miners. reporter: family and friends gathered to remember radolfo. the deputy interior minister was killed by striking mine workers. to the town to negotiate with the miners. he was intercepted and kidnapped. >> everything indicates that our

andster has been cowardly brutally killed. we are going through the necessary procedures to recover the body of dr. rianes from the miners. reporter: the miners have been blocking a highway since tuesday, protesters are demanding more concessions. the right to work for private companies and greater union representation. the protest turned violent after police killed two workers on wednesday. >> the public will realize this government does not want to pay attention to any group. who's going to hold them to account? morales nationalized the resources sector when he came to power in 2006.

initially a popular move, as he plug profits into welfare. in recent years, his government was dogged by accusations of cronyism and authoritarianism. host: the zimbabwean capital has seen some of the worst unrest in 20 years. ired teargas.hey f much of the anger stems from the country's dire economic situation which has triggered cash shortages and skyhigh unemployment. mogabe has led zimbabwe ever since independence from britain in 1980. now to the latest twist in the oscar pistorius legal drama. a judge has dismissed a request r prison six yea sentence be appealed. he was found guilty of killing his girlfriend on valentine's

day. the prosecution argued that the sentence was lenient and argued that oscar pistorius had been given presidential treatment. -- preferential treatment. now, firemen in norway have rescued one very unfortunate individual who managed to get stuck inside a public lavatory. the 20 year old man had been trying to retrieve a mobile phone which fell into the septic tank. the man was stuck for an hour till the fire brigade ended his ordeal. adding insult to injury, the mobile phone was never even recovered. i was just thinking it would take a hell of a lot more than a mobile phone to get me to climb down the loo. i hope he's safe and sound after that hideous ordeal. here in the studio for us to discuss all the goings on in the world of business is kate moody. let's start with a rather

dangerous breach on apple iphones. kate: a different story. apple has moved very quickly to issue a worldwide fix after a previous unknown method of hacking was discovered. a dissident and united arab emirates said his phone was targeted. when he received a text message that invited him to click on a web link. josh: a quick fix to a worrying security breach. apple released a global update for iphone users on thursday after a middle east human rights activist found he was being targeted by espionage software. alertedzen said he security researchers when he received the string of unsolicited text messages. they promised to hand over secrets about torture in uae jails if he touched the link. >> i noticed the messages immediately and basically pushed

all the alarms to me because, i've been targeted several times with spyware. josh: researchers found three falws in apples -- flaws in ap ple's code. hisyou touch the link, messages and his apps could have been instantly access by the attackers. researchers believe the hack was written by an israeli cyber war company. it's highly valued among hackers and carries a hefty price tag. >> these exploits are very expensive. we saw a similar type of exploit last year for $1 million. nso group denies any knowledge of the incident, but apple encouraging customers to update or operating systems as soon as possible. the software company has recently started a bounty

program to reward hackers who find vulnerability in their codes. >> janet yellen has voiced optimism about the state of the u.s. economy but declined to set a timeline to when the central bank may raise rates. the chief at the federal reserve said an improvement in the labor market and moderate economic growth strengthen the case for a gradual rate hike. her hawkish message as a sign rates will be raised before the end of the year. policy meetings are scheduled in september, november, and december. the commerce department released a mixed bag of economic data. the u.s. gdp had expanded at a sluggish pace of 1.1% from april -- april to june. consumer spending which makes up more than 2/3 of america's economic activity was slightly upwards.

weekly claims for unemployment benefits also dipped. the french economy ground to a halt in t second quarter. the national statistics recorded zero movement instead of the 3% expansion that had been expected. the third quarter had begun on a straight -- a slightly strongerfooting as consumer confidence is up in the months of august. the dow briefly jumped 100 points immediately after janet yellen's speech, but it has drop-down. wall street trading firmly in the red. major indices down between 02.% and .04%. european markets seized on the fed's cautiously optimistic message. -- it confirmed it reached a deal to compensate u.s. car dealers affected by the cheating scandal. japanese prime minister shinzo abe has arrived in nairobi for

the tokyo international conference on african development, which will be held for the first time in an african country this weekend. 35 heads of state are expected to attend the summit which takes place every five years. along with the chief executives of 75 major japanese companies. tokyo is trying to increase trade and investment in africa where china has already taken a firm lead. >> unlike china, japan tends to have a wide array of -- which participates. and a good mix of commercial loans. i think africa is a lot to benefit from that type of engagement. kate: the leaders of japan and kenya pledged $800 million to the global fund to fight aids, tuberculosis and malaria. other business headlines. the world's largest pension fund has reported a $52 billion loss

in the second quarter. japan's government pension investment fund had dropped because of the spike in the value of the yen following great britain's vote to leave the e.u. it insisted its long-term strategy was sound. the top executive of south korea's -- group has been found dead in a suspected suicide. the vice chairman had been scheduled to speak to prosecutors as part of an ongoing corruption investigation, including a possible slush fund and financial irregularities of the company. fifth largest conglomerate, which owns hotels, retail outlets and even a chewing gum manufacturer. syngenta, bayer and have led a new alliance of companies in india. they are trying to take a stand against new rules on crop g

rowing, which would require them to share their genetic we modified crop technology with local companies. monsanto withdrew its application to sell its cotton seeds over some concerns of its security of its intellectual property. finally, the heard of air france klm says he is against a plan to add a new tax on plane tickets to an from charlotte golf -- charles de gaulle airport. the proceeds would go towards the construction of a new express train line between the airport and -- the idea would be to cut travel time to 20 minutes. even a small additional charge could make his airline less competitive. euro extraight pay a to have that fast train to paris. host: it is about the cost of

a trolley. 1/3 the cost of a bottle of mineral water in an airport. thank you so much. with today's business update. i'll be backx

08/26/16 08/26/16 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> people are worried about what is happening in syria and want to do something often come up with the solution that the united states should bombed syria. syria is such a complicated society that bombing it is not going to clarify anything. look at libya. look at iraq. syria is already t there.. why mamake it worth? amy: the united states is backing a turkish military incursion into syria that turkey says is targeting isis-held