quick islamic state forces are putting up a fierce resistance on iraqi troops as they close in on mosul. it's a serious battle to liberate the city, backed by u.s. airstrikes, fighting in several areas around the city including iraq's largest christian town. >> the us-led war ovover a decae

ago is into its third day. this time the enemy is not saddam hussein, but the islamic state group in their last major stronghold, muscle. -- mosul. they've artie taken a series of villages on the road into the city. successful.n very the enemy is pulling back but small groupving a behind composed of three or four persons. >> the iraq he army is attacking from the area in the south and ist kurdish peshmerga attacking from the north. the jihadists are only a few thousand, but they are well done again and their tactics are dangerous, as this general explained to "france 24."

they put these bombs everywhere, in the houses, on example onend for of the villages was 11 houses connected to each other by tunnels. >> special forces and paratroopers from a western-based coalition including the u.s., the u.k., and france, or providing support , such as bypassing on coordinates of jihadists positions. when they reach the city itself, the current plan is for only iraqi for special units to enter and conduct the house to house fighting necessary to clear the jihadists. peshmerga and shia militias are to wait on the outskirts. this is part of the u.s. brokered agreement aimed at preventing sectarian violence in

this mainly sunni muslim city. >> are report he is -- our area andis in the spoke of how there are fears of those remaining in the city. >> there's been reports that in the last 10 days alone, i thousand people have fled mosul and its outskirts to go to these camps.wded refugee hearing worried reports about what is going on in mosul. reuters has managed to speak to some residents and their being told that islamic state militants are forcing the population into strategic ill doings in order to prevent them shelled and indeed

they are using the population as human shields. they are not allowed to leave the city. if they do try and get caught, they faced torture or worse. a very worrying situation. we've seen a couple of refugee camps as we were driving here somed the city, we did see but they do appear small in comparison to the massive exodus that can unfold if the population has to flee mosul. >> regime forces in syria have pulled back from aleppo to allow rebel fighters to leave the eastern district, according to state owned media. russia says it is extending by two hours a cease-fire set to end tomorrow after eight agencies complained that eight hours is not enough to get supplies in two civilians.

it's expected to be a testing meeting with the german chancellor and the french president. syria expected to dominate talks but ukraine will also be discussed. the ukrainian president is also attending. trip sinceirst russia annexed ukraine in 2014. to the united states where millions of people are expected to tune in tonight to the third and final live television debate between presidential hopeful hillary clinton and donald trump. weeks beforethree voting day. donald trump has been badly damaged by a string of sexual assault allegations, while clinton deciding to win over the public trust after a scandal involving her use of a private

e-mail server when she was in office. as hillary clinton arrives early in las vegas to prepare for the final debate, doll trunk continues lashing out at his enemy, the media. poisons thehe media minds of the people by writing false stories. i believe they are more crooked than crooked hillary. i really do. reporter: he took a beating in the polls over remarks about women. at one president barack obama. >> when things are going badly for you and you lose and start blaming buddy l, then you don't have what it takes to be in this job. to stopadvise mr. trump whining and go make his case to try to get votes. a whopping 73% of

thought the election could be stolen from donald the votingo fraud at booths. i wonder how many rehearsals they have before they do the debate. it all seems like a reality television show to me. >> i'm just watching for the circus events i'm expecting to see. reporter: after this debate, the handed eighth will head into the home stretch with lesson three weeks left or the election. thanks very much indeed for being with us here on "france 24." does each candidate need to do, and who has the toughest job?

>> donald trump has the toughest job. change his personality after 70 years of life on this planet. he's a very temperamental, touchy, volatile personality, and the clinton campaign has successfully made his primary criteria by which to judge the two candidates. so he has to somehow calm himself down. how he behaves is in a sense more important than anything he says. >> his personality hasn't done him any harm so far. he won the republican primary and has millions of people supporting him. they don't seem to mind his personality. >> it is to separate elections. donald trumpct, the 16 other republicans in the primaries and caucuses and he did that with about 14-15,000,000 votes. to win the general election, in 50 states and the district of

colombia, he needs 65-70,000,000 vote. so does she, obviously. but the point is, donald trump has retained the support of the people who turned out in the primaries, but he hasn't been supportersand his beyond those who were inclined to like him at the beginning. that's the name of the game in a general american election, to reach out and find other people who will support you. and frankly, even before the most recent revelations, he was not gaining any ground. >> what do you make of his recent claims that the election is ranked, that -- that the election is rigged and the media is against him? doesn't it sound like someone who is already conceding defeat? someone whos like is protecting his ego against the likelihood of defeat.

i saw your introductory clip. yes, it is true that most americans, and especially most republicans, don't have a lot of faith in our electoral system, which flies against the evidence of how our elections work, which i can go into. i also want to point out that there was similar skepticism in 2008 and 2012. americans are generally distrustful of anything involving the government, and that includes the elections. so did not start with donald trump. was a lot ofre distrust back in 2000. i remember the hanging chads in florida. >> you are absolutely right. it is the memory of what happen in 2000 and the protracted results in the fact that it had to go in to courts that has deepened americans pessimism about the system. that is right. that is the main reason. that is the driver.

reporter: however much of a bad job some people might inc. donald trump is doing, is not translating into a huge positive for hillary clinton. what has gone wrong for her? >> hiller clinton is not all that popular a figure. her unfavorables are larger than her favorables. people are settling for her, and this includes people in the democratic party. are in the era here in the united states for the primary political attitude is not butort of your own party, antagonism toward the other party, and that engulfs her as well. she has been around for 30 years. she has a checkered history. she is a traditional politician at a time across the world, including in france, where there is a populist reaction against establishment politicians.

so she is not all that popular, but she is more popular than he is. we'll have to wait and see. thanks very much indeed. back here in france, authorities are preparing to re-house and relocate up to 10,000 refugees at the called -- so-called .ungle camp up in calais residents in one city are being ask if they are for or against taking an asylum seekers. some say such a vote would be unconstitutional. x protesters stormed into the town hall on wednesday. they were protesting about the local referendum proposed by the local mayor. willote set for january ask people if they approve of the idea of new migrant arrivals. many towns in france, it will be seen as incentive to house

residents from the refugee camp in calais. yet decided. >> the states represented in the area said such a referendum would be illegal and they will take the case to the regional administrative tribunal, but the local mayor would not be swayed. >> if necessary, i will explain myself personally in front of the administrative tribunal. it's simply a political problem. ask the mayor was behind the putting up of these posters all over his town. local magistrates have launched an inquiry into possible wrongdoing. frenchr: meanwhile the interior minister has been meeting with police unions after a second night of protest. police say they are being put increasingly at risk following the firebombing of a sports car suburbtorious paris

earlier this month. one of the officers is still fighting for his life in the hospital. reporter: a rare sight in france, flashing police lights and sirens on the chanson lycée. it has sparked an internal investigation. make are not here to amends. we are here to express our unhappiness. a week and a half ago, four were in an ambush in southern paris. were set on fire while the officers inside were prevented from getting out. with onebadly burned, going to intensive care. it's just another sign of a badly overstretched force struggling to cope in an increasingly dangerous environment.

>> it's getting more and more violent, more and more often. clearlyople who are trying to kill cops. we just want to do our jobs the .ight way in good conditions >> it's not the first time officers have demanded increased resources. parasol the largest protest since 1983. >> we feel we've been forgotten by france after being its heroes. there are lots of nice words that are touching and that we appreciate, but there has been little action. >> police have worked even harder, working more overtime to maintain security. the government has been recently former president nicolas sarkozy, but that year and a half need for initial training means officers are

still likely to be overstretched until new recruits become fully operational. lawmaker the brazilian who led efforts to impeach dilma rousseff has himself been impeached. he denies all the charges against him. >> he's the man responsible for orchestrating the impeachment of former brazilian president dilma rousseff. now he has been taken into custody over allegations of corruption. in issuing the warrants, the country's top anticorruption judge said he posters like -- a flight risk because of his assets abroad and his dual citizenship. he has been accused of taking millions in bribes related to as petrobras scandal as well laundering money and hiding funds and secrets with bank

accounts. while he was starting impeachment proceedings, the speaker of the lower house was being investigated and the allegations seem to have finally caught up with him. in september he was stripped of his congressional seat in the parliamentary privileges that include partial immunity from prosecution. analysts say his arrest signals that the corruption probe into petrobras is far from over. he has denied the charges against him saying this was nothing more than political payback for spearheading the impeachment. now to the latest attempt to find life on mars, the european space agency says it appears the signal from the lander cut off shortly before it landed on mars earlier today, according to scientists, which is not a good sign. this is your second attempt

after the rover beagle failed to communicate back to earth back in 2003. scientists hoping the same thing will not happen again. we have a senior research scientist who's been heavily involved with the project and he optimistic of is the outcome. >> we have good information about the attitude of entry of the probe. , we were ablery to monitor the signal direct to earth, and during this monitoring, we realized at the end of the dissent that the signal was lost, which was intriguing, but we don't know if it was because of the location of the probe. the next step was to get data from a satellite which is

orbiting just above and relaying data. , weinformation we have cannot conclude. we are worried, frankly, but we will know more very soon in the next few minutes, maybe one hour , from an american satellite orbiter which will contact the probe on the surface and tell us if it is alive. business,time for kate moody is here with us. the latest in the infamous boss napping incident at a tire factory when the boss was literally taken hostage by his employees. >> eight former goodyear employees are now appealing their jail sentences. they were charged with holding hostage in 2014 p kraut the

supporters gathered outside the court of appeals. >> a show of support for charges to be dropped. this was the scene outside the court of appeals wednesday is eight former employees of the tire company goodyear went to appeal their sentence for hostage taking. in january 2014, two managers were held against their will for 36 hours, after the company announced the closure of its 100 staff.loying while they have dropped the charges, the case pressed ahead. political desire once again to create fear for those who resist. this is one of the former goodyear employees who had charges brought against them. he along with seven others were sentenced to nine months in prison. he said he was confident the

case will be thrown out. >> the charges will be dropped, or nothing at all. when you done nothing, they can only be dropped. next you kill comes just three weeks after air france employees when on trial for ripping the shirt off the hr managers back. it's become symbols of the criminalization of industrial action. reporter: the major european indices close slightly upwards. investors are holding on for a key meeting of the european central bank late on thursday. one retailer saw shares jumped nearly 5% after reporting and acceleration in sales wrote. stocks been climbing higher since the federal reserve release its so-called beige book . it said activity had increased at a modest pace. investors look for clues about

whether the central bank will raise interest rates by the end of the year. crude has hit a more than one year. it's dropback from the highest level since july 25 teen after the u.s. said crude stockpiles had continued to drop. imports were also scaled back. officials in beijing are calling it the new normal. from double-digit expansion to more sustainable growth. calmed fearsta has and isarper slowdown assigned the economy is stabilizing. saudi arabia has turned to the global market for the first time, raising up to $17.5 saleon, a record-breaking that surpassed argentina's bond

issue earlier this year. >> saudi arabia and bonds for sale. throughout its modern history, the country depended on oil for its prosperity. the dramatic slump in prices changing this to you. in june 2014, oil stood at 100 $15 -- $115 a barrel. it has hit a low of $25 along the way. to break even, saudi arabia would need to price to be at $79. this is put a strain on public finances. the budget deficit reached a record level of $98 billion last year. gcc's why the states of the are looking elsewhere for revenue. ask for planning -- for planning purposes, i just need to adjust to a reality where income will be substantially lower than it was before 2014.

all of them in one way or another have to cut back spending over the next five years and find ways of raising revenue outside of oil. >> this has been well received by investors, but they are still waiting on opec to strike a deal that would stabilize oil prices. riyadh is weighing whether to follow the southern that with the public offering for estate oil company. it could be the largest ipo today. let other business headlines, prosecutors in south korea have indicted top members of the founding family including the 93-year-old founder and current chairman. current and former officials are charged with embezzlement and tax evasion. the investigation has plunged one of the country's business -- biggest businesses into crisis. morgan stanley is benefiting from the same surge in bond

trading for the last three months. starbucks is taking aim in china. the coffee chain plans to have thousand locations across country by 2021, double its current number. starbucks announced the promotion of belinda wong, the first-ever ceo of starbucks china. south africa's embattled finance minister has said he still has a the relationship with president, despite what some say are politically motivated charges against him. thought --will fight fraud charges against him in court next month. also upbeat against the -- about the economy. toy could cut the country junk status because of political uncertainty and slow growth. take a listen. central issuehe

we are facing. we need investment. get investment, we need confidence. to get confidence going, we need the right level of cohesion and collaboration and stability. in every sense of that word. reporter: leonardo dicaprio says he is cooperating with authorities. the actor has been accused of accepting money from a find to support his environmental charity and his 2013 film, the wolf of wall street. the allegations were the center of a massive international scheme of embezzlement and money laundering involving billions of dollars. a spokesperson said he would return any money if it was found that it did indeed come from that fund. >> thank you very much indeed,

kate moody with the business report. stay with us, more news headlines right after this.

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