>> you are watching "live from paris." these are our top stories. countdown to the election. three months to go to until the french presidential race. party leaders kick off their campaign. during a frenzied weekend of rallies. standing trial, 40,000 people gather in barcelona, and the former catalonian president is accused of civil disobedience. .nd another royal milestone

65 years on the throne, queen elizabeth becomes the first british monarch ever to celebrate a sapphire jubilee. hello. we are going to begin in france, whether it is full steam ahead for the country's politicians, with elections looming in three months. the presidential hopefuls have had a frenzied weekend. amongst them, far right leader marine le pen, whose supporters gathered on sunday. correspondent has this report. >> putting france first, that is the cornerstone of marine le pen's campaign strategy.

hoping to ride the populism right to the elysees as she launches her bid for the presidency. >> i am the people's candidate for france. >> she is propelling herself as a candidate among crooked politicians, but she has also been embroiled in scandal, accused of paying her party euros that she confiscated. her antiestablishment resident -- rhetoric is in stark comparison with donald trump, particularly with them focusing on a perceived threat from muslim immigrants. she is not speaking to the core foreigners having links with radical islamist groups. she wants to close mosques under similar suspicion and is

opposing a strict migration cap as well. the frencho modify relationship with e.u. she wants to substitute the yield, that for the euro, with a possible departure from the e.u. altogether. she said any proposed frexit would be highly controlled, unlike brexit, where there was no plan. >> i will announce the referendum in the first six months come on whether to stay or leave the e.u. i would engage with our partners to renegotiate determine our contract. with a terrible europe system. is dealing fillon with fallout from a scandal involving allegedly fictitious jobs for his family members. brown -- manuel

macron has rallied in recent weeks. the second round still appears up for grabs. tom: that was the latest from the far right of the political spectrum. on the far left, the presidential hopeful held a rally yesterday. he managed to appear in two places at the same time. the 55-year-old used a hologram of himself both in paris and lyon. lambastehe location to the -- up to you to choose. you are choosing in a crucial time. we have already lost 10 years. the 21st century has begun. we continue to operate with intellectual mechanisms and political elites, trained in a stubbornly obsolete mold. we must bring them out quickly and quietly but as soon as

possible. the mainstream conservative presidential hopeful, francois fillon, is due to take to the airwaves later today to launch a counterattack after several days of difficulty. some people want him to drop out of the race altogether, from his own party. claire, you are going to be covering the event this afternoon. what might we expect to hear from him? claire: francois fillon is a fighter. there is no indication as yet that he might pull out of the race. areeems that his party thoroughly behind him. we might get a bit of a mea culpa in terms of he may provide a few more details on what penelope fillon did while he was

in the parliamentary system. some idea that she was payday generous salary. .t was a generous salary perhaps he might get a few more details on what they did and maybe he will step back in terms of how much the salary was generous. but he is going on with it. there is no indication he will pull out of the race. because he has already said that she has always said i have not done anything wrong. and that what i did was legal and family members can be employed. wife and children, they are employed at the moment by various different mp's. he did not do anything illegal. what would be illegal is if they did not do any work. the french people are becoming more becoming -- are becoming

more troubled that the politicians are using money in this way. did they do any work? second of all, if he did employ them, it was a generous salary and perhaps that is not moral in the eyes of the french people. tom: not everybody likes the idea of employing family members. you said he is not giving any signs at this stage of giving up, but some people want him to. they want him to stand down because he is ruining party chances. what would happen in a situation like that? claire: the party does not have a solid plan b at the moment. that seems to be because they are basing a lot of their calculations on a poll that came out this weekend. 64% of supporters of the republican party do want francois fillon to stay on.

some within the party want him to step aside in favor of alain juppe. justob as president is not in the party that he needs to persuade people. he also needs to get the french people on his side. various different polls have come out saying that two thirds of french people want him to step out of the race and no longer run for president. .t is all very well he has the rest of the french public to persuade, too. tom: thank you very much indeed for that. we will of course be hearing more from claire this afternoon as she covers the event with francois fillon speaking, at about 4:00 p.m. paris time. in other news, it a police officer in a paris suburb has been charged with the rape of a young man who was left severely injured by the shocking

incident, which has sparked. in the area. riot police had to be deployed. catherine viette tells us more. catherine: in this amateur video shot thursday night by an eyewitness, four police officers can bebeeen beating up a youngng man with a truncheon. the man was accused of injuring a 22 and-year-old -- a 22-year-old in the video. residents pointed out bloodstains at the site of the attack. >> there are traces of his blood. here on the back, that is where they brutalized him. there are no cameras here. >> after his arrest, the young man was taken to the hospital, where he was operated on for injuries in the rectal area. he is still hospitalized. >> he is in a dreadful physical

state. i have a hard time saying more than five minutes -- staying more than five minutes in his hospital room. i think any mother today would be terrified to find her son in such a state. >> a police union representative defended his colleague's actions. they start to get out of hand, no video shows that our colleagues deliberately violated the person. we're talking about accidental acts and nonviolent acts. >> the young man's attorney says that it is unacceptable. >> they say he was resisting arrest. that is the police union representative's version. it is completely indecent. it is a serious matter that needs answers. ,> as news of what happened some bus stops were vandalized.

the town mayor has called for calm. tom: 40,000 protesters are reported to hit the streets in barcelona. organizing an in independence referendum in 2014, despite the fact that it has been battled by spain's constitutional court. feeling isparatist expected today in spain. our correspondent has more. >> after he insists he did the tur mashing -- arche says he did the right thing. fighting an independence referendum in 2014. >> it is obvious that i was the one that made the decision, and that is why i must assume the

responsibility. i do so with pleasure. all of the responsibility from a political point of view, but not from it criminal point of view because we are convinced we are not guilty, that we did not create any regularity or commit a crime. be banned fromn the public for 10 years by a vote. he argues he was defending the right to freedom of expression to catiline. half of the eligible voters took part. a majority of catiline wants to have their say. and the government will have a binding referendum in september. the spanish government is threatening drastic measures to takinge vote, including control of the regional police.

tom: today is the international day of zero-tolerance for female genital mutilation, and action aimed at bringing an end to the practice. according to the united nations, some 200 million girls and women have been object -- have been subjected to it. our correspondent tells us more. communities it is considered a rite of passage. in others, it is a prerequisite for marriage. for those with a custom, it is nothing short of torture. >> i was so traumatized that day. pain by passing urine. i was never told what happened to me. >> female genital mutilation, moving the practice of externalall of female

genitalia. an estimated 200 million girls have been thought to have undergone it. ran away to escape circumcision. doug: i could not have stayed at home, because if i had, my parents would have pestered me as to why i refused to undergo the cut. >> there are no medical benefits but many risks. it can cause chronic plane -- chronic pain, infection, and even death. fgm today is considered a human rights violation. there are moves to abolish it. it is banned in many countries, but the tradition persists. more than 3 million girls are believed to be at risk. after ago, a baby died

convocations after her great grandmother performed the ritual. tom: if you have never heard of a sapphire jubilee, you are not alone. it does not happen very often. queen elizabeth has become the first monarch ever to ever reach the sapphire milestone, meaning she has been on the throne for 65 years. this would be a royal gun salute taking place a short while ago in the center of the bridge capital. a portrait by the british photographer david bailey was also included. given to her by her father, who died this very day in 1952. time for a check of the top business news stories william hilderbrandt joins me now. let's start with some data coming out of the world's second-biggest economy. william: countries in china's service sector are hiring workers at the fastest pace in a year and a half.

the sector's all orders pick up for january, and growth looks set to continue. aging has been trying to rebalance the economy toward has been-- beijing trying to rebalance the economy toward services. all of the data is based on vey.y's private sur a slight decrease from december, but let's remind you that anything above 50 indicates expansion. anything below, contraction. european markets are digesting that data as well as donald trump's policies and company earnings. despite new car registrations climbing in europe, 9.5% in january, auto stocks are down today. only the ftse is in the green, .17%. the frankfurt dax is in the red. basic research among the best performing stocks among europe.

asian industries -- asian indices are above the green. japan's nikkei giving up some gains after wages fell for december. the cosby are also saying they are finishing up. top tech companies in the u.s. have filed a legal brief against the travel ban imposed by president donald trump. some business leaders fear that further immigration changes are on the way. republicans are key to reform a work visa that is most important to silicon valley in one of its biggest news of talent, india. our correspondent has more. move toands of indians the u.s. every year to pursue a masters degree and work in the tech industry. but the practice could be about to change after the white house hinted it was planning on reforming the h-1b these of program. like many others, he used to dream of a cushy job in silicon valley.

he has now begun to rethink his plans. but --s planning to go, it is really a shame not to go. >> the u.s. issues 85,000 h-1b visas per year, 71% of which go to indian workers. the program, which helps fill and engineering skill gap, has benefited the light -- benefit samsungikes of this worker. this includes a proposal to increase the minimum salary threshold to $130,000 a year. the change would force indian tech titans who currently employed around 4 million people to rethink their u.s. oriented business models and look for

andr opportunities, canada, europe. there are also concerns about 's impact on the u.s. economy. faced with a shortage of skilled workers, american companies could start shipping these jobs overseas. tom: time -- the day'sr a look at business headlines. toyota saw a net profit drop. the japanese carmaker says its full-year profits will be better than expected. that is due to an outlook that the yen should weekend. overcapacity contributed to a rare setback for ryanair, europe's biggest low-cost airline. the dublin-based cubby said sales for the quarter barely rose. european airline earnings have a glut ofured by

seats for sale that has pushed ticket prices lower. lg has admitted its new premium priced 5k monitor experiences performance issues when placed wi-fi will -- near a router, reportedly flickering or shutting off. lg said february models should operate correctly. finally, a little bit of mobile mischief. it was super bowl sunday, meaning companies spent billions of dollars trying to outdo each other for the most touching and the most entertaining spot. t-mobile may have well won the hottest ad, using its rival verizon as the but of a joke bdsm seem as the seen in "50 shades of grey," with a comedian. >> verizon phone. every time you go over your data limit, you can punish it.

>> i like saving money. howait until you see confusing and painful the bill is. paying is fine if you're into that sort of thing. they said they were into bdsm, bigger coverage map, devastating speed, and massive capacity. i do not even know what to say. tom: thank you very much for that. will hilderbrandt with today post business news. up next, it is the "press review." welcome back. time for a check of what is making headlines around the world. us.ks for joining let's begin with romania. he has been a week of protests with a lot of anger at plans to ease corruption laws. that brought hundreds of thousands of people out into the

streets. "the guardian" said it is a huge victory for people who want to influence politics for the better, and they sent a clear message to their leaders. romanians want change, transparency, and accountability. >> so it has been described as a victory for the people. why haven't protesters packed up and gone home? doug: the bill will now be put to parliament. crucially, they no longer trust the left-wing government. -- the protesters wanted him to step down. the leader of the party to go to prison. he is currently facing charges andefrauding the state directly benefited. is: the travel ban, as it

being dubbed in the united states, has created a lot of media attention and lots of discussion. of course now, there is a battle going on between president down from and the judge who issued the restraining order. said, trump tweeted and "you call him a so-called judge? " how is the press digesting that? >> today's article in "the guardian" could not be more critical. the british paper argues that trump's criticism of judges and the justice system should not be seen as yet another attack against the elites. "the guardian" reminds us that previous presidents have been critical of the supreme court, but it is a big jump from attacking the authority and legitimacy of a sitting judge. the newspaper says that trump is "hastening in a collapse of respect for established institutions." >> supposing he decided to

reinstate that ban anyway. is that something that is likely to happen? askse washington post's the same question. what if the post decided that -- what if he did not recognize this -- trump's adherence to so-called 30. post writes that given his admiration for authoritarian leaders like vladimir putin, that could be a possibility. however, if he went down that road, trump could reach impeachment by the house of representatives, the guarantors of the u.s. constitution. tom: back here in france, throughout the weekend, french politics were very much on the front pages. very le pen has launched her presidential campaign. let me say it is going to be a race in the second round of the presidential race in three months now. but you heard the centrist candidate.

>> francois fillon has fallen into third place. the socialist president, benoit hamon, has been struggling with his party. that is according to "live opinion." they focus their attacks on each other. marine le pen of hating faces that do not look like hers. >> these two candidates you have spoken about are trying to position themselves as being different from the rest of the political class, the sort of anti-system. what does that actually even mean? what is the system they are talking about? >> it is quite confusing. take a look at this cartoon with ," with this quote,

"hell is others." it means that the system depends on what you define as the system . for marine le pen, the system is made of global cooperations and banks, migrants and radical islamists. for france for micron, is the political elite, traditions and parties. >> lets amd on a sporting note. victory by cameron, which is one very few people expected. tribune"e cameron calls it an astounding victory. they say they are once again on the top of the football food chain. there is a very interesting article as well on cameroon's coach. he is a former football player from belgium, and he was met with quite a lot of skepticism when he was appointed last year.

the cameroon press was particularly critical, saying he was too old and inexperience. now he is seen as a national hero, something that someone who was able to tame the indomitable lions aqéaooo/

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