quick welcome back. you're watching life from paris. a new prime minister for france but not for a few months. the interior minister takes the post. angela merkel launches her bid for a fourth term, outlining a tougher stance on immigration as she addresses her democratic party competence. pleading not guilty to a series of war crimes at the international criminal court in the hague.

france has a new prime minister, just five months away from the election. the interior minister is taking after the minister quit, announcing he wants to represent the socialist party in next years race. elliott has the details. >> france has a new prime minister. he handed in his resignation to --sident francois picarde hollande nickname the swiss army knife, he's best known for overseeing the security force's reaction to a string of jihadist attacks in

france over the past two years. he says many government roles, including budget minister and --ister of european affairs to protect, to progress, to prepare for the future, this is what i'm going to do with responsibility entrusted to me by the president. i will continue the work started by the prime minister with the principles that have guided me throughout my ministerial career . that gives me strength in hard times. >> he resigned to seek the socialist nomination for president. the resignation came four days after hollande said he would not seek another term in office. i was a happy prime minister. that's hard to say given the events we went through. happy. calm and

you are a friend and a brother. >> winning the socialist primary in january and he faces an uphill battle with at least seven other socialist candidate. is expected to win or come in second in the opening round of election on april 23. with the republican expected to beat her in the second round. >> cazaneuve is seen as a safe pair of hands. more on his career so far. >> after establishing himself as sn essential part of hollande' team,cazeneuve is finally become

the president's right hand man. he's played the role of political firefighter and head of the country's security services over the last five years. his career begin to take shape when he became a counselor in northwest france. cazeneuve quickly became known for his firm but calming influence. he andcting as and if mayor for 11 years, he came a spokesman -- he became a spokesman for françois hollande. >> the main principles are faithfulness, loyalty, and discretion. those things are more important than the roles we have been given. next up, his biggest challenge, succeeding the interior minister.

have claimed a total of 230 life. he faced criticism for his failure to stop a lorry driving into a crowd during bastille day celebrations in july. there was a controversial state of emergency that gave authorities greater powers, but he remained a trusted ally to the president. he has earned the nickname the swiss army knife. >> improving standards in education will be a priority for any incoming french government. the latest rankings, francis 27 out of 72 when it comes to teaching math, reading, and science. students in singapore came out on top of the list, but only one european country, finland, made it into the top five.

france once again shows a poor level of social mobility. french students from wealthy backgrounds consistently do much better than their poorer counterparts. i'm joined by a researcher at the pair school of economics. thanks for being with us on "france 24." france has slipped to places down the rankings in the last four years. do you have any idea why that might be? >> it has been difficult to draw strong conclusions about changes in rankings. there is a lot of measurement error. if you change your ranking one or two positions, it is often not significant. what it shows clearly is that the ranking of france is very average. it hasn't changed much over time, contrary to other countries like germany, which

has consistently improved. >> the french republican model is supposed to create equal opportunity for all in the state school system, but it turns out that if you are from a wealthy family and live in a wealthy area, you will do much better at school and someone from a poor area. why is that still such a problem in a country that prides itself on solidarity? it's thes really where most interesting. incrediblethe educational inequality in this country. it's very tough in terms of educational inequality. several factors it lane that. -- highncredibly level level of social segregation in the schools are heavily subsidized.

enrollment accounts for about 30%. on top of that you have state schools that are highly segregated and sometimes are only 100 meters apart. the socially advantaged kids on one hand and the disadvantage on the other. this is a major challenge for french educational reform to change the way students are assigned to schools, to reach a better mix. >> just talking about the rankings overall, singapore came out number one this time, china and japan both near the top as well. why is it asian countries consistently do so well in education? grexit it's often very hard to compare countries, because it's often not the entire country.

in china, it's only some parts of china. compareot really shanghai with france over all. when it comes to japan, i think in japan there is much less inequality, social inequalities in schools. and probably it's a better location of teachers. that's why the major issues in france, the fact that socially deprived schools also get the most inexperienced teachers. higher rates of absenteeism actually contributes to pre-existing inequalities. so there are many lessons to draw from the comparison of countries. one of them is the resources that students get in different schools, depending on their background. france is not doing very well on that front. >> we will have to leave it there, but thank you very much indeed.

merkel hasngela today officially launched her bid for reelection. speaking at the annual gathering of her center-right christian democratic union, she pledged to tackle public concerns on immigration and said she she admits next your selection will be difficult . her open-door refugee policy has fired up support or anti-immigration parties and has hurt her in the polls. jessica has more from berlin. jessica: angela merkel won the vote today with what for her is a relatively low 89.5% of the vote. this could be tribute to the fact that there is still criticism within her conservative ranks toward what is being called her open-door refugee policy. there is fatigue among the conservatives who are getting tired of angela merkel heading up their party for 16 years now.

there is no real viable opponent within her party at the moment. no one gets near her opinion levels in the cold and no one has her level of experience. when there are serious divisions in the german political landscape, the threat of a new and determine far right a reunited left-wing coalition forming, it's important that the conservative party is seen to be united. that is why she got rod backing today from the conservatives, no doubt with some grumbling. trusted biggery of political stability. the world is less stable and less secure as she positioned herself as the person to continue to guide germany through its problems. >> and her critics say that today's speech marked a complete

u-turn for angela merkel on immigration. is that fair? jessica: angela merkel has consistently said that she will not cap the number of migrants coming to germany. she did not say that she would in her speech, but her statement when she said that the influx of , in 2015that we saw cannot and will not happen again. it was seen as a concession that she will start to restrict the number of migrants coming to germany. she said that each asylum case will be treated individually and looked at individually, going against the far right rhetoric of the huge wave of migrants coming into germany and register. she also said that not every migrant who is registered here .ill be allowed to stay her statement in support of a burqa ban seem to be in line

with some of her more right-wing conservatives. she said it was the right humanitarian response. she also reminded germans today that the end of the second world war was just 71 years ago she said this is a blip in the span of history. indirectly reminding germans that they had a responsibility when it comes to helping people escape war and persecution. the eu's chief negotiator wants britain out of european union by october 2018. the frenchman has warned that the time for talks is running out if prime minister theresa there will be 18 months left to negotiate a new deal.

>> that was the message from the european commission's chief negotiator for brexit, insisting discussions of the u.k. would before 2018. the real negotiation time would be less than 18 months. u.k. defined the may 2017y the end of as the prime minister said she would, it is safe to say that negotiations with stop a few weeks later and an article 50 octobert be reached by 2018. >> laying out the eu's principles for negotiations, she rammed home that cherry picking was not an option, meaning the u.k. could not keep full market ofess without freedom movement. prime minister theresa may is

reluctant to say what she expects from the deal. talk about the sort of brexit it's going to be. is it hard or soft, gray or white? we want a red, white, and blue brexit. >> it depends on the british supreme court's decision. the u.k.'s exit from the eu could be unlikely keep on schedule. >> the top lieutenant of uganda's resistance army has pleaded not guilty to a series of four crimes at the hague. rangingcused of crimes from kidnapping and forced marriage to rape and murder during the rampage between 2002- 2005. elliott richardson has the story. elliott: accused of wreaking chaos as a top commander in ruthless rebel group, he says he was a victim, not a perpetrator. as a 10 euro boy, he was

abducted by gunmen on his way to school. the child soldier quickly rose to the ranks of the lord's resistance army, which was met by joseph kony and forced to fight against the ugandan government. now in his 40's, he became one of the top lieutenants. he faces war crimes, crimes against humanity including directing rape and conscription of child soldiers. he has pleaded not guilty. >> as a child he was abducted against his will. he was kept in the bush for 26 years. we have evidence that he tried to escape. he was a victim just like the children of uganda were victimized by being abducted and getting involved in a war that they never understood. x send it out -- singled out by

coney, he took command of one of the rebel groups between 2002-2005, he is thought to lead bloody campaigns in northern uganda that butchered and abducted thousands of people. wereese young children torn to pieces and thrown into the fire. >> the survivor still bear the scars of those horrific attacks. this is the first former child in court. appear more than 100,000 people have been thought to been killed across central african countries in the last two decades. u.s.ars that president-elect donald trump could be damaging relations with china before he even takes office.

his phone call with the president of taiwan and a series of aggressive tweets about chinese policy have angered beijing. exports to china jumped last month. catherine has more. catherine: china fumes as donald trump forges ahead, keeping both beijing and washington guessing about his intentions. it all started with a phone call from the president of taiwan, a serious breach of diplomatic protocol. have soughtvisors to downplay the exchange as they struggle to explain his recent actions. >> it was a courtesy call. the democratically elected president of taiwan called to congratulate the president-elect. >> all he did was receive a phone call. he is aware of what our nation's policy is. >> meanwhile, donald trump has gone on another twitter tirade, challenging china's trade and

military policies. you -- aska ask of us if it was ok to devalue their currency? to build a massive military complex in the middle of the south china's? the -- the south china sea? i don't think so. many in washington scratching their heads. >> it is unclear what the aim of the strategic effort is. i believe that to them to explain. >> beijing has hit back through state media, warning that trump will in time learn not to cross china and as a diplomatic rookie, he needs help in adapting to his new role. orersaries and allies alike finding his unpredictability unnerving, as they question whether he is carrying out plan strategies, or just acting on impulse. let's get you some business news. kate moody is with us in the

studio. starting off with fallout from the unexpected referendum results in italy. one: we are seeing turmoil the banks there, including italy's oldest bank, reportedly preparing for a government bailout. the state could take over our troubleds into the lender as early as this weekend. in an effort to bring itself in line with eu regulations, so far it is only converted about a billion euros. it is holding out hope for -basedment from a qatari fund but the referendum could put those investors off. analysts say the failure to save it could provoke a domino effect. the bank did trade firmly in the red throughout the day but rally

to close up about 1.1%. italy's banking index had his best performance since mid-july. other european indices rose by a , of about 1.25%. wall street meanwhile has been having a choppy session, although the major indices are in positive territory with the nasdaq leading gains of about .3 percent. the german government has been ordered to compensate energy companies for its decision to phase out nuclear power reactors by the year 2022. the energy policy followed the fukushima disaster in japan. >> german leader angela merkel's flip-flop on nuclear energy is

going to cost her. in a landmark deal, federal judges ruled that the government must compensate multinational companies for its decision to drop nuclear power in 2011. >> as far as the plaintiffs have made investments trusting in the continuinguraged operation of nuclear power plants between december 2010 and march 2011, it is lacking an appropriate compensation. it was anchored on angela merkel's quick reversal of position, to fully abandoning nuclear development after the fukushima nuclear disaster in march 2011. >> fukushima change my opinion on nuclear power. the use of nuclear power will be terminated by 2022. >> the explosion at the fukushima plant inspired other countries to pull out of nuclear energy development as well. switzerland and belgium will slowly phase out their reactors, and italy decided not to pursue a plan to relaunch its nuclear

program. many big players remain committed, britain, china, france, india, russia, and the united states are among those reducingt as a way of co2 emissions and dependence on fossil fuels. others like south africa and iran want to further expand their nuclear program. the german government will have to agree with companies on the amount of compensation by 2018. it could end up costing billions. other business headlines, google says next year it will buy enough renewable electricity to power all its data centers and offices around the world. they have been shifting to wind and solar power since 2010 and says it's the world's top corporate buyer of renewable energy. the british-born chief operations officer will take over next year. the toy company aims former global development.

he's led the firm that his family founded for the past decade. the new group will focus on the ground. the u.s. green court has ruled in favor of samsung in its long-running dispute with apple about design patents. the justices said that samsung could only be accused of copying components for its own smartphone designs. rather than all the phones capabilities. the decision will protect the south korean giant from having to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties by limiting its culpability. head of samsung was among the business leaders grilled by lawmakers in seoul on tuesday as part of the corruption scandal that has engulfed the government. eight firms have admitted to donating one's linked to the embattled president, who faces an impeachment hearing later this week. >> and unprecedented public grilling, executives from south korea's nine top conglomerates faced a televised question and

answer session in front of lawmakers from the country's parliament. question centered on how close the objectives of samsung and others have been with the residents confident -- comment on at the center of a corruption scandal. the vice president is currently running the company in place of his sick father and fielded many of the questions. >> first of all, we are so sorry that we are related to the scandal and i have no excuses. we will take every measure possible in order to prevent such things from happening again. >> executives are accused of handing over millions of dollars to nonprofit foundations operated by the presidents confidant in return for favors.

it was in order to carry out a controversial merger. the south korean government is an indirect shareholder and last year supported a merger of the national pension service with samsung, worth over $460 billion. the south korean president will face an impeachment vote on friday in connection with the scandal. she's been charged with coercion and attempted fraud. hsbc sparked controversy over its support for lgbt writes. part of a campaign called celebrate pride and unity, they gave a rainbow colored makeover to the two lions that guard its hong kong office. anti-gay rights groups have launched a petition against the artwork saying it was against the traditional family values. strong praise from some who say it is helping raise awareness of the need for equal rights.

they do look rather festive. >> standing out in the gray of the banking sector in general. thank you, kate moody.

ço#qñ

12/06/16 12/06/16 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> when donald trump talks about makiking the country g great ag, for many people, it was not that great and quite the opposite. amy: today, a democracy now! special. noam chomsky, harry belafonte, patti smith, danny glover, and juan gonzalez and more gathering at the historic riverside church in new york city to look back at the first 20 years of democracy