three astronauts will take off from cap extend for a mission at the international space station. among them, a former air france pilot who will be leaving the earth's orbit for the first time. they're heading for the expedition of a lifetime to the international's pay station. nasa astronaut peggy whitson, a cosmonaut, and frenchman thomas

pesquet from the european space agency gave their last press conference from behind a glass window before they embark on the proxima mission named for the closest star to the sun. two of the members have already undertaken missions on the iss, but for 38-year-old thomas pesquet, it will be his first time there. >> i still can't believe it. i really need to be sitting in the spacecraft and feel the vibrations of takeoff, and see the earth getting smaller and smaller. and then it will hit me. reporter: pesquet's journey has been seven years in the making, as he told "france 24" earlier this year. >> we did some survival trainings, to survive by ourselves in case we have to wait for the rescue party for a couple days. reporter: this will also be a particularly special mission for peggy whitson. she will become the first woman to command the space station

twice. the trio will orbit earth for 2 days inside the spacecraft before finally stopping on the iss on saturday. there they will join three other astronauts. the group will conduct hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science, and earth science above the iss laboratory. they return to earth next spring. anchor: i'm joined by the director of the to lose -- toulose space center. i mention you are excited about this launch that will be happening in about 20 minutes time. what is significant about this mission? very important for the

international space station. very important for the anchor: what will thomas pesquet and the rest of his team be doing aboard the iss? but will they be doing once they are at the iss? anchor: all the crew. what is behind this mission? what will they be there to do? [inaudible] >> at the end of the ignition we will have to check his body is in good shape. it's very important for this kind of fusion to prepare along

the mission if you want to go further from here. anchor: he's never left the earth's orbit before. how must he be feeling right now? what are the risks associated with a takeoff? in a few seconds you have a lot of thrust. exciting.t's minutes, he has a very high velocity of 8 kilometers per second. that duringy like 48 hours.

let's sayckups, it's a lot in a few seconds. that is critical for all the devices involved in this period. anchor: it is a big day for european space travel. thank you very much indeed. as you head there, europe launched 4 navigation satellites into space today. french guiana a little after 10:00 a.m. local time and now successfully installed 23,000 kilometers above the earth. [counting] >> it was the eighth launch of

galileo's satellite. thursday's operation was different. speeding up its efforts to put in place its own navigation system, europe launched on its rocket not one, not two, but fou r satellites. with them europe will have 18 galileo satellites in orbit trait only six more and its navigation system would be complete. the rockets show drop its boosters and 69 kilometers into the sky. releases, revealing the satellite at the front of the rocket. an altitude of about 23,000 kilometers, the satellites will be deployed 2x2. they are programmed to maneuver themselves to their final destination. >> galileo is the flagship program.

us more than just some activity in space together. it is a service we bring to the society, to industry as well as to individual citizens. >> this is how the network would look with its 24 satellites in europe. -- orbit. an alternative for the american gps, which the eu currently depends upon. european astronauts say they also expect their system to be quicker and more precise. anchor: here in france, the former president and two former prime minister's are competing to represent the center-right in next tuesday's election. juppe is favored to beat the other candidates, including former president nicolas sarkozy. reporter: hours before the french right path third and final debate, technicians complete their last preparations

in the studio. seven podiums have been set up for the seven candidates. six men, one woman. each one will try to convince voters his program is the best. but who exactly is eligible to vote? anyone on france's electoral list per to post a ballot, voters don't have to belong to write or center parties, but they have to sign a statement saying they share their values. pollsters believe 6 million people are likely to participate. >> is not practical. i'm still have a trading whether to go or not. >> of course i will vote. that is every citizen's duty. it's very important. footing material already arrived at the thousands of polling stations were the primary will be held. each box contains -- >> electoral lists, ballot papers for all 7 candidates, and everything we need for the office. reporter: center and right

parties have rented 10,228 hall s and schools for their first ever primary. every voter will pay 2 euros. 58,000 french nationals living abroad have registered to vote online. to avoid vote rigging or contested results, every candidate will have a representative in each polling station. after the first round of voting on sunday, the runoff will be held on november 27. u.s. president barack obama has urged his successor donald trump to stand up to russia. speaking alongside german chancellor angela merkel in berlin today, obama said washington and moscow had very different ideas on issues like ukraine and syria. he called on track to be firm when russia deviated from u.s. values -- trump to be firm when russia deviated from u.s. values. president obama: i don't expect the president-elect will follow exactly our blueprint or our approach.

he does notis that simply take a realpolitik approach and suggest that if we just cut some deals with russia, even if it hurts people or even if it violates international norms or even if it leaves smaller countries vulnerable, or inates long-term problems regions like syria, that we just do whatever is convenient at the time. anchor: japan's prime minister will be the first foreign leader to meet donald trump. will hold informal talks with the republican president-elect in new york. aides say they help the meeting will reassure japan about washington's commitment to their alliance. hoping to build trust and work together for prosperity and peace. japan's prime minister took off from this airport in tokyo on wednesday, bound for new york.

the first world leader to meet the new president-elect of the united states. to holdl very honored top-level meetings with the u.s. president-elect donald trump before any other world leader. i'd like to have a good discussion with him about each of our dreams for the future. trump's team say he hopes to use the meeting to reassure japan about his commitment to the alliance between the two nations when he becomes president in january. during his campaign, trump ripped into one of america's closest allies. among other derogatory remarks, he said if the u.s. was attacked, all japan would do is quote, sit home and watch television. while trump's pre-election rhetoric has since softened, there are still sore spots to iron out. firstly on the issue of security. trump said he would like to pull thousands of u.s. troops out of

japan unless tokyo cough up more to post them. in trade, trump pledged to block a key component of barack obama's so-called pivot to asia, a 12 nation transpacific partnership, ideal missions oh of a -- shinzo abe has championed. trump's concerns about china are chiefly about trade and the economy. while shinzo abe is worried .bout china's aggressive stance anchor: the man who told a congressional hearing that the u.s. -- nsa did not intentionally spy on people has stepped down. he has served as u.s. director of national intelligence for 6 years. his resignation was expected but is likely to put additional pressure on president-elect donald trump to appoint his team. we have more from washington. reporter: the letter of resignation submitted by the director of national intelligence, james klapper, is

not a surprise. he had been signaling to staff and those working with and around him his intention to leave his post at the end of this administration. however, the timing of this is a strong signal being sent out to the incoming administration, that of president-elect donald that itnd the fact needs to move expeditiously on naming replacements within the intelligence community, james clapper insisted in a hearing, a house hearing on intelligence matters, that in his 50 years of career, he's never seen bigger challenges than the ones that his country, the u.s., is currently confronted with. on the politics side of things when asked about whether or not director comey made a mistake by calling for a reopening of the fbi case into hillary clinton's

e-mails in the course of the campaign that james clapper brought full support to a man whose job he also oversees at the top u.s. intelligence officials, i have no basis for questioning the integrity of director comey. those were james clapper's words. anchor: hillary clinton has spoken publicly for the first time since losing the election to donald trump last week. the democrats said defeat made her want to curl up and never go out of the house again. today she urged her supporters to continue fighting for what they believe in. know over the past week a lot of people have asked themselves whether america is a country we thought it was. the divisions laid bare by the selection run deep. but please, listen to me when i say that. america is worth it. our children are worth it.

believe in our country, fight for our values, and never, ever give up. anchor: it is one month since iraqi forces launched an offensive to retake mosul from the islamic state group. troops are driving -- out of the eastern part of the city while the allies are advancing on the western town. wounded civilians continue to stream out to the east of mosul. dozens of wounded came to this field hospital after a mortar hit the area where they were gathered. children were among the wounded and deceased. islamic state group used explosive devices and mortars. we saw a lot of loaded civilians and in a sense children. three children were killed.

there were two elderly and two women among 30 voted civilians. we were able to stabilize some and transfer them to hospital. reporter: among the injured, one infant. medics did what they could to give him treatment for wounds to his eyes. civilians have paid a heavy price in the third month in the although noosul casualty figures have been released. the u.n. says as the fighting advances into densely populated parts of the city, it is increasingly worried about the ability of civilians to reach safety and assistance. anchor: south korea's parliament passed a law to allow a special theecutor to investigate president, accused of allowing a close friend to manipulate state affairs and she is under stiff pressure to resign. it's the sound may mark the end of park geun-hye's

presidential career. south korea's opposition control of parliament overwhelmingly approved a bill to prove the countries -- the president's involvement in the country's biggest corruption scandal in decades. the lawmakers also voted for a no holds barred independent investigation into the matter which centers on the president's friendship with the daughter of a leader. arrested earlier this month for abuse of power and fraud. the 60-year-old is accused of using her ties to the president to coerce --out of millions of dollars for her own personal gain. she's also suspected of interfering with government decisions on policy and staff. didlevised apology by park little to win over the public.

instead, hundreds of thousands of koreans rallied in seoul to demand her resignation. the president's term ends in february 2018. unless she resigns in the coming will become south korea's first sitting president to be interrogated in a criminal case. anchor: time for a quick reminder of our headlines. in a couple of minutes, airline pilot thomas pesquet will be the first frenchman to go to space in nearly a decade. he's is one of three astronauts on board the russian soyuz. the battle to lead the french right is heating up. ahead of this weekend's primary vote, all seven candidates will be taking part in a live tv debate tonight. is currently leading in the polls. toldpresident barack obama donald trump today that he must

stand up to russia. speaking from berlin on his final foreign tour, obama says he hopes his successor would defend american values. let's bring you these live pictures coming to us from the cosmodrome in cap extent. -- kaazakhstan. this is the russian soyuz rocket that will be taking off. he will be carrying three astronauts, including a frenchman, up to the international space station. under 30 seconds, he said. will be the first frenchman in space in 8 years. the engine is igniting, the launch command issued. the engines will fire, ramping up. liftoff. peggy whitson, oleg novitsky and

thomas pesquet rocketing towards the international space station. the rocket lighting up the night skies. all initial performance calls indicate everything nominal or normal. 930,000 pounds, single core engine. for stage measuring 68 feet in length and 24 feet in diameter. it will burn liquid fuel for the first two minutes and six seconds of the flight. everything continuing to look steady, straight as an arrow for the soyuz as it continues to rocket off, launched on time. anchor: and there it goes, the russian soyuz rocket. zakhstan onf from ka

its way to the international space station. on board 3 astronauts, among them frenchman thomas pesquet from the european space agency. he said earlier today that he wouldn't really believe it was happening until he saw the earth getting smaller behind him, and that is exactly what he will be seeing right now, as the three of them make their way to the international space station. also on board, nasa astronaut peggy whitson and cosmonaut oleg wnovitsky. thomas pesquet is himself a former air france pilot. there they go. kate, a word on this. a pretty expensive operation. and very impressive expensive. we don't have very many exact figures about what this kind of mission costs space -- costs. space agencies tend to play that

close to the belt. russia's space agency charges quite a lot of money for other space agencies to send astronauts up on those russian soyuz rockets. nasa pays about $70 million per seat. that american astronaut going up there, that's how much her ticket costs. know that price is likely to increase overall, about 3% of nasa's budget is eventually going to be funneled almost directly to russia in the coming years. the u.s. retired its own space shuttle program back in 2011. it planned to rely more on commercial space exploration companies, projects like the ones we've seen developing with spacex and boeing. those have been taking longer than expected to get off the ground. astronautsropean will be dependent on russia for a while longer. anchor: off it goes. $70 million for one ticket.

let's talk about america's central bank. janet yellen is mulling changing the interest rate following donald trump selection. >> also a lot of money at stake for american central bank. janet yellowed -- janet yellen saying the central bank is increasingly confident about the strength of the american economy and a rate hike could be quote, appropriate relatively soon. that is her strongest hand to date -- hint to date. she said it would be dangerous to wait too long because i could force the bank to have to move too quickly in the future. this judgment recognize the progress in the labor markets has continued, and that economic from thehas picked up modest days seen in the first half of this year. inflation, will still below the committee's 2% objective, has increased somewhat since earlier this year. >> to have also been questions about yellen's future.

president-elect donald trump has indicated he's not quite a fan of yellen. yellen told lawmakers she does plan to serve out her entire term and remain in office until at least january 2018. those comments contributed to a rally on global stock markets this thursday. major indices closing up in europe trad. the dax lighting behind a little bit. we have seen the tao crossing back and forth across the flatline, just about in positive territory this hour. it broke its seven-day winning streak on wednesday. two weeks to go into the formal opec summit gets underway, something we have been building up to ever since the group reached a limit area agreement to scale back oil production when they met in september. agreeember 30, opec could to more concrete details about which countries will cut back and by how much. in the meantime, energy ministers are discussing their

plans on the sidelines of a gas producer summit in dhoa, while venezuela has been among the most vocal, pushing for a cutback. president madura says opec countries are ready to reach a forceful agreement on cutting output. the general secretary since members are indeed working on a deal. therefore, the dialogue and the consultation that have been ongoing, in order to bring this market into balance. anchor: the world's largest retailer has reported an eighth consecutive quarter of sales growth in the u.s.. walmart said its profit fell 8%, hurt in part by lower food prices. walmart investing heavily in its online presence and e-commerce sales rose about 20%.

french authorities have blocked or linkedin, which has about 6 million members across the country. the court found the company guilty of violating storage laws which require information about russian citizens to be stored on russian web servers. samsun beginningg to feel the impact of its mass recall of phones that tended to explode. an industry group says the korean giant has seen a drop in its smartphone market share. the biggest drop in samsung's history. overall samsung sales fell 14% in the third quarter. pretty costly mistake, the galaxy note 7's that tend to blow up as they are getting charged. >> one of the costliest mistakes in history, isn't it? >> is going to work out that way, i think. anchor: thank you very much. stay with us.

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11/17/16 11/17/16 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from marrakesh, morocco, at the united nations climate summit, this is democracy now! mr. sanders: we wilill not be involved in n the e expansiononf bigotry, of racism, sexexism, homophobia. and in thahat regard, i cacall n mr. t trump toto resend d the appointment that he made of mr. bannon. amy: in his first major