genie: this is "france 24." aroundr 60 minutes live the world. i'm genie godula. over 3000 syrians is activated from the last rebel held area of aleppo after days of delays. many more wounded are still waiting to get out. the u.s. electoral college is set to officially formalized donald trump's win, but not without protest against the president-elect and the electoral system itself. the head of the international monetary fund is due to get her verdict today in a case linked to her time as france's finance minister. christine lagarde is accused of negligence over a huge payout to

a french business tycoon. also coming up this hour, apple and ireland are teaming up to fight the european commission. we will tell you why in business. we will look back at the long and glamorous career of shasha zsa gabor, who passed away at 99 years old. first, our top story, live from paris. genie: first, to syria, where over 4000 people have now been evacuated from the rebel enclave in aleppo. convoys have been crossing the -- of the rebel held territory in northern syria.

thousands are still trapped inside the stronghold. for more on the situation, let's go live to adam pletts, who joins us from beirut. first of all, start with the evacuations today. what has been happening with those? adam: it started late last night when the first convoys were able makinge, some 350 people given to opposition territory. they were being held for some 16 hours and government territory. thatwing that evacuation following that, the evacuations seem to be running more smoothly. some 4500 people last night, including the first convoy of some 350 to 500 people. that total includes the 1000 fighters and their families. they are now saying that since thursday, the first day when evacuations took place, the total of 13,000 people had been

evacuated from eastern aleppo, including 4000 fighters. this resumption following three days of pause in which deals renegotiated, has come becausehe resumption, oppositionld by forces, they're carrying 500 people that had really been the bottleneck. as long as we could see these reciprocal evacuations continuing to take place, eastern aleppo evacuations should run smoothly also. genie: it has -- genie: it has been a week since the area was taken back from the rebels. the reality of the victory for the syrian regime is settling. what does this mean for the rest of syria and the rest of this war?

is there any chance opposition fighters could still win the war? adam: the battle of aleppo is effectively over for at least a week. they are saying we should maybe not consider it completely over until the 40,000 people still in eastern aleppo who want to be evacuated, until they have been able to leave. as we have seen over the last few days, there is plenty to go wrong. but yes, the government forces are now in charge of the vast majority of that population of the country. the area of it lived, we have seen statements from the u.n. over the last week or so saying they are concerned aleppo mightle in just turn their attentions now to the west, trying to take back the it lit profits -- the idlib

province. of the end ofck the aleppo war -- on top of that, you also have the islamic state group controlling large swaths of land in the east of syria. they just recently to back paul myra -- palmyra town from government forces. back is in no way close to an end. --n with the victorious bashar al-assad himself has recognized that on a number of occasions. meantime, the u.n. security council is due to vote today on putting u.n. observers into aleppo to oversee the rest of the evacuations or it syria's ally, russia, had originally threatened to veto a first draft on the resolution introduced by

france, but after four hours of closed-dork negotiations, -- of closed-door negotiations, russia has -- >> this resolution, if confirmed, will be by definition a starting point but in a very important beginning. there is a common wish to stop aleppo from turning into a new shrub anita -- into a new srebrenica. genie: also today in the united states, the electoral college is due to officially elect donald trump president. this final stage of the voting process is usually just a formality, but in this year's election, with hillary clinton winning a significant margin of the popular vote, millions have signed a petition urging the electoral college not to vote for trump. protest and the

electoral college system itself. following an election in which the hillary clinton gained 2.8 million more votes than donald trump yet still lost the lighthouse -- lost the white house to him, the electoral college has come under focus. >> i do nothing my rights have been heard. i believe the electoral college has to be revised. the electoral college does not represent the people. >> the electoral system is broken. i think it is ridiculous. >> in the u.s., the people think they elect the president. 538 electors vote the way their states voted. electors are not bound to vote for the candidate of their constituents' choice. since november 8, nearly 5 million people have signed a

petition urging the electoral college members not to vote for donald trump. >> it is unlikely that they will because the people selected to be electors are party loyalists from each party. so each candidate puts together a list of people. >> civil rights groups are calling for systemic reform, saying the current system leaves candidates to focus only on the states where they can pick the balance. dr. florida, ohio, pennsylvania, north carolina, where the candidates spent over half their campaign time in just four states out of 50. that is the real broken part of the system, that there is not a national election, there is this weird swing state election. that happens all the time. >> originally considered a tyranny, event against donald trump --

it is widely expected donald trump will get the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency this monday. they will not be counted until january 6 by congress, and the president-elect will take the oath on january 20. genie: the head of the international monetary fund is due to get her verdict today in the case linked to her time as france's finance minister. that is christine lagarde, who is on trial in a special french court for cases involving ministers and she is accused of negligence involving a huge payout to a french business tycoon eight years ago. chris moore is covering this story from the paris courthouse where the trial is taking place. he joins us from there. chris, this is a very complex case. --k through the acquisitions talk through the accusations against christine lagarde. crisco and all centers really on the 400 million euro payment --

chris: it all centers really on paymentmillion euro that was made in 2008. the story goes back a whole lot further, all the way to the he was sent to enter france juan mitterrand's government. mitterrand'scois government. it is our government since then has been that he was shortchanged on that particular deal. it was later sold at a higher value. when the payment was finally made, he said he felt vindicated. two problems for him and madame lagardere are the fact that with the status of the payment, by the time it was made in 2008, that payment came out of public and courts subsequently

ruled against it, forcing him to pay the money back and declare himself financially ruin. madame lagarde's argument is that this was out of her hands, that she merely signed off on it. but the allegation that she signed off on it a little bit too fast and too willingly. it should be pointed out that prosecutors have said there is no real case against matt and my guar -- against madame lagarde. beforeg for her to wait she learns her fate. the verdict is set for about 3:00 p.m. local time in paris, about two hours' time. genie: christine lagarde is a big name in france. there is a third big name also linked into what is just another massive financial scandal at the heart of the government.

chris: the financial scandal involving a lot of high-profile and long serving business figures here in france. lagarde, a former synchronized swimming champion who went on to become a corporate lawyer and finance minister in europe. he went on to make millions buying up field companies. back in the 1990's, he threw his weight behind france juan mitterrand, but by 2007 he was supporting nicolas sarkozy, the forwho just lost his bid the presidency again in 2017. a lot of speculation as to when .he payment was ushered through

prosecutors say from the start there is no real case for madame lagarde. for that.nks that is chris moore, reporting from paris. now to the democratic republic of congo, where joseph kabila's mandate officially ends today. he has refused to hold an election to determine a successor. thomas reports now. thomas: it is very quiet today there is way less traffic than usual, and people to see -- people seem to stay on the side of the road, observing. the police and the army have been deployed. the situation remains calm, but one incident has been blunted by the police and the -- has been blocked by the police and army. it has been impossible for journalists to get inside the

university and to get a grasp of what was going on and why the university was being blocked the way was part from this, he is having an ordinary day, and a spokesman declared the situation is tough all over the country. nicolonhat is thomas reporting from the dnc. the loss of the original it girl, zsa zsa gabor -- she died at age 99, missing her 100th birthday by just two months. catherine clifford looks at her life. catherine: josh uggla bore led a led a-- zsa zsa gabor long, diamond studded life. she went from beauty queen to millionaire's wife two minor film actress, appearing in over 70 films, including the likes of "public enemy number one" and

"the naked gun." but it was her own celebrity character the made her a household name, a fame she maintained throughout her entire life as a tv personality. "you have no idea how many phone calls i get each day -- television shows, films, i am writing a book. you have no idea how much i work. there is no other person in the world who works this much, not even a u.s. president." over the years she made her way through nine husbands. wonderfuls -- it is a exercise if you want to strengthen your legs. >> she was landed in jail for three dales that for three days when she slapped a police officer who pulled her over in her rolls-royce. calling everyone darling because she said she could not remember their names, she was famous for

one-liners on tv shows. she says i am a great housekeeper -- "i divorce men and i keep their houses." >> she would come out with real good things and clever things which the whole of the u.s. would relish. she became a real icon. -- zsa zsan gabor gabor was seen as the first it girl, famous simply for being famous. genie: 4500 more syrians aleppo after days of delays. many more wounded are still waiting to get out. the u.s. electoral college gets set to officially formalize donald trump's win, but not without protest against both the president elect the electoral system itself. and china chokes under toxic smog. 23 cities across the country have issued red alerts for pollution with forecasters saying the worst is yet to come.

time now for our business news with delon of desousa -- you are starting with apple and ireland teaming up to take on brussels. >> this comes four months after the tech giant was slapped with a 13 billion euro back tax order. apple was ordered to pay the amount by e.u. competition authorities for reporting its european profits through ireland. ireland is expected to argue that it is perfectly legal to levy less tax on profits than s.her apple calls it a convenient target. ireland are gearing up to appeal any you commission ruling requiring the company to pay 13 billion euros in back taxes. the tech giant says it has been singled out because it is a convenient target. apple's european headquarters are located in ireland, where

the standard rate of corporate tax is 12.5%. in august, the commission said ireland had enabled the company to pay substantially less taxes than other businesses, in effect paying less than 1%. is not inestigation the apple corporation as such. it is apple international and apple operation europe. that is where the figures are in ,ome years 0.005% of tax rates which are accurate. , which are accurate. >> in a strongly worded message, ireland's finance minister rejected the e.u.'s findings. >> ireland did not give favorable tax treatment to apple pretty full amount of tax was paid, and no state aid was provided. ireland does not do deals with taxpayers. >> even if apple loses its appeal, the tax bill should not be a problem for the iphone maker, which saw a net profit of

50 billion euros in the last financial year. multinationalonly targeted for securing favorable tax deals in the european union. last year the commission told the netherlands to recover as much as 30 billion euros starbucks, while luxembourg was ordered to clawback a similar amount from fiat. genie: tour the markets showing up today? >> here in paris, trading is down .2%. ftse inains on the london, but the dax is completely flat at this hour. let's look at some of the other stories we are tracking next. iran has finalized an agreement to acquire 100 airbus aircraft. it is expected to take place as early as next month. the dale -- the deal will be between narrow and wide-body planes. british petroleum has signed a $2.2 billion deal restoring its share in an onshore oil block in a dobby.

this will give the emirates -- dabi.ue dobby -- in abu management at british airways are eager to avoid a planned cabin crews strike. unions called for a walk out on christmas day and boxing day over a dispute in pay. be meeting with a trade union to avoid a strike. genie: the french defense minister is in australia, where he will sign what is called the contract of the century. >> that's right. he is in the country to sign a multibillion euro deal for 12 state-of-the-art submarines. officials in france expect a 3000 to 4000 group of direct and indirect jobs. the french submarines will power the largest defense procurement in australia's history. >> the future submarine program

is the largest french procurement program in french history, and is one of the most complex. the minister's visit to australia demonstrates the long-term commitment of the french government that the highest levels. to delivering australia's futures. genie: thank you so much for that look at today's business news. it is time for the press review. we have dheepthika laurent with us today. u.s. of the papers in the are talking about donald trump who today will officially be elected president of the united states printed ticket so -- did ticket so -- isdealer tour college planning to elect donald trump. liberation calls it a formality

unless the improbable happens and those voices of dissent that we have been hearing refused trump's election. sayswashington post" republican electors have been calls not to vote for him. genie: there is a dispute with china from last week over a drone. a stolen drone. you might remember that china drone from.s. underwater. the wall street journal says it shows that china's behavior is intended to intimidate its neighbors and establish hegemony in east asia. genie: donald trump seems to have put his foot in it a bit by reacting. dheepthika: it was a tweet that he posted online.

in this tweet, he called it an unprecedented act, clearly misspelled. this is not how you spell unprecedented. it has prompted much scorn from the chinese press. there is an editorial today saying, "trump is not behaving as a president who will become master of the white house, bearing no sense for how to lead a superpower. they cannot help but mock him over that flagrant spelling error. genie: let's focus on the situation in aleppo and the evacuations that have been interrupted for almost a week with the u.n. finally reaching a deal. talks were after closed over the weekend, the u.n. has reached a deal that will be put to a vote this monday. in theory, it would allow u.n. observers on the ground to oversee the process the new york times says that would happen after confrontations between existing parties. they could be rejected by those on the ground in aleppo, but nevertheless it is still -- genie: the arab language press

is scathing about the operation in general. at theika: let's look lebanese paper that said the deal signed to allow the evacuation of aleppo residence is at a breaking point after we saw that convoys of buses were set alight. the lack of respect over the cease-fire means that the fighting will inevitably resume. the london-based paper is looking ahead, saying after aleppo, the next big battle could be duma, the city on the outskirts of damascus. genie: poland, the ruling party has been accused of putting the country on the road to autocracy. >> it is also known in poland as the pif party, trying on friday to restrict access to parliamentary proceedings, effectively seen as a threat to the freedom of press in the country.

critics say it is the government trying to solidify power. the crisis intensified after a weekend of antigovernment protests. today the president of the highest constitutional court in poland ends his term. as a parting gift, he lashed out at the government, accusing them of trying to make changes to the const that would effectively limit accountability. genie: what has the polish press said about this? dheepthika: they are pretty critical as well. let's take a look at the front page of the polish newspaper -- "politicians, what are you doing? if you destroy the government, you destroy poland." this is called "the biggest crisis of our democracy since 2015." genie: a christmas fight and australia. what happened? dheepthika: this melbourne woman found a tiger

snake wrapped around her christmas tree. there it is. you can see it beautifully camouflage with her tinsel decorations. it is one of the most poisonous snakes and australia, and she or -- the snake capture people are having seizures as the idea snakes in the house, but she was pretty cool about it all. genie: it makes me think twice before i go home to my christmas tree. dheepthika laurent. thanks to you for watching. you can take a look at our france24.com. coming up in the next half-hour comedy french nonprofit that is helping prisoners escape through literature. because a new page of history gets written every day.

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announcer: 2007, and little samba kuli bali is on his way to make medical history. he's one of the first children to take part in a trial for a new vaccine against deadly meningitis. marie: many countrtries in sub saharan africa have called for these vaccines because of this dreadful and devastating disease which is called epidemic meningitis which was