>> a nationwide cease-fire in syria. the government in damascus has agrereed to put down its weapops starting at midnight. the cease-fire is being guaranteed by both turkey and russia. moscow says it will reduce its military presence in the country. bipartisanship. three u.s. dememocratic and republican senators including john mccain are calling for sanctions against russia. president barack obama is expected to announce a series of measures in response to allegations of hacking during the u.s. presidential election.

having her day in court. a turkish novelist is appearing before a judge on charges of terrorist propaganda. she has been held for more than four months over her links to a pro-kurdish newspaper. a well-known linguistic is also on trial. those are our top stories on france 24. a nationwide cease-fire in syria. vladimimir putin a truce agreemt has been reached with turkey backed by damasascus and syria's opposition coalition. thee syriaian army announces it will put down its weapons stararting midnight. damascus says fighting will continue against the islamic state group. turkey a and russia sayay they l guarantee the cease-fire. putin announces s a reduction of russian forces in syria. beth in beirut.

what is the cease-fire going to look like especially of those groups are not included? >> nobody thinks any kind of cecease-fire in the area is goig to be easy to implement. this d does seem unpnprecedenter the scale we are lookoking at. ththe army should be layining dn its weapapons at midnighght tont and the defense minister has said it will also include 62,000 opposition fighters from around the country. which is a really large number even if you take into account that there must be a lot of confusion over who is involved in it. a big signlly quite of how much influence russian president vladimir putin has been having over the countryry n

the last year or so. it was thanks to russia thahat aleppo managed to end without further bloodshed. >> this announcement comes on the heels of another announcement by damascus that it has had military successes recently. can we make a link between them? >> definitely. when aleppo filed to the governmement two weeksks ago the syrian president bashar al-assad saidhehere was a change in the war in that victotory would be n sight. he has vowed to retake the entire country from terrorists which is the term the syrian government uses for all opposition fighters. hard to underline just how important the fall of aleppo was. their position is now relegated isrural areas and the war

definitely takining on a new character. >> thank you. calling for sanctions. three u.s. senators including john mccain demand retaliation against russia for allegedly hacking the u.s. presidential election. the obama administration is expected to make an announcement this thursday. according to a state operated russian news agency moscow says if sanctions are imposed the government would interpret it as disrupt cooperation between the countries. the foreign ministry says any new sanctions could be reversed by donald trump when he assumes office on january 20.

our international affairs editor joined us earlier onset. >> there is two levels. you have the obama administration which is set to announce a series of measures against russia later this thursday in response to russia's alleged hacking and interference in the u.s. presidential election. those measures are likely to such ascovert actions cyber operations. obviously the details of those will not be made public. there is also likely to be expanded sanctions and diplomatic censure. renewed have made of push for sanctions against russia. that has support from democrats and republicans in the senate. russia has said that any action against russian diplomats in the

u.s. would immediately bounceback on u.s. diplomats in russia. if this goes forward we could see a very classic cold war style tit-for-tat. russian foreign ministry officials said any new sanctions could be rescinded by donald trump. >> at this point what do we know about the hacking that allegedly took place? earlier this month officials from the cia told the u.s. media they had high confidence that russian hackers had attempted to hurt hillary clinton and help donald trump. a muchtrump taking friendlier line on russia than clinton did during the election campaign. u.s. intelligence officials have said they believe russian intelligence funneled hacked information to sites such as wikileaks.

thata has said repeatedly there is no evidence of any of this and the losing side in the u.s. presidential election is looking for a skate goat. -- scapegoat. hacking is a big issue for the u.s. government and many governments around the world. to roll has been trying out an executive order which was intended to counter cyber attacks from overseas. attempts tover influence the electoral system. the nature of these attacks have changed pretty quickly in the u.s. seems to be struggling somewhat to stay on top of this. is a verythe u.s. aware of attempts to destabilize it from wherever this may come from whether it is russia china or north korea. ramana turkish intellectutuals

are in court this thursday. haveelist and a linguist been charged with terror propaganda. they were editors in chief at a pro-kurdish newspaper earlier this year and have spent months in prison awaiting trial. this in the context of the ongoing crackdown following a failed coup d'etat. >> the freedom of expression in turkey. dozens gather outside the courthouse where a prominent face at and linguist life sentence on charges of engaging in terrorist propaganda. prosecutors also accuse them of being members of the outlawed kurdistan workers party and of threatening turkey's unity. they were detained in august for their work with a leading pro-kurdish newspaper. turkeyrtunately in

freedom of expression and freedom of the press are stifled. there are currently more than 100 journalists in prison. we want our colleagues to be freed today. eight other employees of the newspaper were also arrested. the turkish government accuses them of being a mouthpiece for the pkk which they consider a terrorist organization. the detention has sparked international criticism and concerns that turkey's state of emergency could spell further degradation of press freedom. for more on this story, associate professor of history and political science. thank you for joining us. we have a well-known writer and linguist in court today. why is the turkish government going after intellectuals? >> the intellelectuals became te

skate notes -- scapegoats of the regime. all thelier since 2011, intellectuals, academics, left-wing political all became enemies. all these regime persons are symbols against the regime and they have to be imprisoned. they are not the only ones. analysts are in prison. politicians are in prison. -- journalists are in prison. politicians are in prison. academics are in prison. there are 41,000 people in prison since july 2016. it has become an authoritarian regime. it does not allow any other words than supporting the government. >> do you have an example of something that they wrote or

said that could have been fodder for the regime? andhe well-known novelist defender of human rights and minority rights. armenians, muslims, women, and the kurdish issue. 2015,the election of june all people supporting the kurdish case are seen as terrorists. they wrote and supported the newspaper with proximity with the kurdish case. that's why she is seen as a member of a terrorist organization which is not the case of course. >> which do you think is resident erdogan's goal at the end of this? what is he trying to achieve? >> the first goal is to maintain in power. 2002 he keeps his

government and 2011 is controlling all the state appaparatus. to remain in power and all other political expressions are not acceptablbl today he wants to show a symbol to all intellectuals and leftists and human rights defenders that it is not good to defend these causes. they have to follow the government, follow the power to live in turkey. >> thank you for joining us, professor. is the provision that doomed the referendum in october. in the end colombia will grant amnesty to farc rebels as part of its peace deal in congress. a development the government calls historic for president juan manuel santos.

surely reports. >> colombia's parliament represents lawmakers who voted for the amnesty law. the yellow ones those who abstained. thee majority passed the law easily. with this bill courts will no longer be able to prosecute farc rebels for a series of crimes except massacres, rapes, or kidnappings. it's what the government is offering the fighters so they would lay down their web is. the key to the majority's peace plan. >> it means the path is clear for the demobilization and disarmament of farc members in the first quarter of next year. >> 7000 rebels could abandon the ranks over the next six months and the fark is meant to turn into a political party. not everyone is pleased. colombians rejected a previous peace plan in a referendum in

october due to the amnesty granted to rebels. this time voters won't have their say. the president negotiated the peace dale and his passing it in parliament. his predecessor has criticized the initiative saying it is undemocratic. >> who would have thought that santos would implement a dictatorship to impose impunity for terrorists? receceived thentos nonobel peace prize this year fr his peace effoforts. before with the rebels has raged for 52 years. it has killed more thahan 260,00 people. open for traffic. a new bridge in southwestern china is reported to be the highest in the world. stands at 565 meters high and

spans 1.34 kilometers. it cuts commuting time from four hours down to j just one. it cost 100 million euros to completete. stayay with us. ♪

>> most of these children are refugees. between the mountains in switzerland and germany lies a village. it population has been boosted by asylum-seekers. someme locals were angered by plans to relocate them here. in the end the project went through. since february the new arrivals have been houston in this former police accommodation. are visiting the department.

>> we are checking that the apartments are all clean. people live collectively here sharing facilities so we need to make sure everyone is getting along and that any problems are solved. residents live here for a minimum of six months waiting to find out if they will be able to live in france. conditions are basic but many have known worse. >> most of them were sent from calais or paris. we have a team helping each act can't -- applicant document their case explaining what they risk if they go back. please syrian kurds risk war if they go back.

they flip their farm near the southern city in 2015. >> we kept chickens. one day we went out to collect their eggs. all of a sudden a mortar landed on one of our buildings. my son and daughter were upstairs and managed to make it down. another landed and only just missed them. the injuries he sustained have left him with speech difficulties. it broke his jaw. and even his arm and ribs. the family headed for damascus than turkey and spent nine months and a camp in greece before being flown to france. the experience has left the 6-year-old traumatized. now they can rebuild.

at last we are settled. we are learning french. now we are safe and that's all we ever wanted. >> the suns are due to start school in january. the girl has begun counseling. life is interrupted by daily french lessons. a retired teacher is one of 45 volunteers here. today he is tutoring them in the basics.

>> students s throughout the ags have discovered the french language can be a tongue twister. this family from afghanistan have been here eight months. >> i'm very motivated because i need to be able to speak french. or any speak english other language and there are no other afghans here who can help me translate. i really need to learn. our daughters are in school here and they have started teaching us. >> 5-year-old miriam and 4-year-old clarissa have proof

that children learn quickly. they are enrolled at the local primary school. they can now speak french as well as their classmates. the head teacher remembers the day the sisters arrived back in march. >> they just wanted to be with the other children. everything has gone really well. the day they came it was sunny and they kept saying son over and over again. in this class there are children from overseas. it's very mixed and they all get along very well. >> school is hosting a special visitor.

free year good children are rewarded with presence and suites. learn chance for them to the traditions of a region with its own history of innovation and exile. >> and has always been a welcoming place. many people have come here in the past because it is close to the border. sometimes for good reasons and sometimes for bad. i think we can safely say that people here are welcoming by nature. >> he just left the center and has been granted asylum with his paperwork finally in order and after months of compulsory french lessons.

he is not the first person to come here seeking refuge from hardship. some villages were hostile to the idea of new arrivals like him. >> they are no trouble at all. they are really nice and they seem happy to be here. when they first told us there would be my rents here we were wary that it has all gone fine.

when they first arrived and went out to do their shopping they were the first ones to say hello. we realized there was no cause for concern. many locals tell us their initial reticence faded once the asylum-seekers arrived. the anti-immigrant front national scored more than 50% in the elections. or concerns about leaflets being handed around town. onthe last ones we had were saturday. a group of young people were distributing them. look at these slogans. this is our country. note to illegal immigrants. they say there are more migrants on the way and there has been violence and theft.

but the asylum-seekers have been here a year now and there hasn't been a single problem. in town we catch up with this family on their weekly shop. asylum applicants in france aren't allowed to work. making ends meet isn't always easy. hence the rush of food banks like this one. >> if we've got the money and we need something we go to the supermarket. they've got vegetables. everything. >> each person is allowed 25

euros but they only pay 25% of the value. >> life is about to change. they have just received permission to remain in france which means access to welfare and social services. afghanistanleaving and after several difficult months in paris. here peoplerrived welcomed us. our problems all went away. we want to stay in the area. we don't want to go far away. i hope you will find a place to live. with the help of his new

friends aziz has found a place to live right here. this is the kitchen.

jacques: everyone wants to be thin, it means beauty, success, desirability, and yeyet 60% of u us are overweweight. in the middle of an obesity crisis, the multibillion pound weight-loss business is bigger than ever. i'i'm jacques peretti, and in this series i'm going to investigate the men whwho made their fofortunes ouout of our desiree to be thin. as diets failed, i'll see how other busininesses like f fitness moved in, selling themselves as a way to lose weight. this country was opening something in the region of 400 to 500 clubs a year, and the demand was insatiable.