genie: this is france 24. time for 60 around the world. i'm genie godula. these are the headlines. peace talks on syria get back undertime for 60 around the world. way today in geneva. with continuing violence on the ground and political deadlock even the u.n. envoy behind the talks says hope for a breakthrough is slim. a slap in the face for lgbt activists. the trump administration revokes a landmark move from barack

obama letting transgender students use the bathroom of their choice at school. the chief of staff for the french far right presidential candidate marine le pen placed formal investigation. she has been bought down by allegations she used you funds to pay her aids in france. peugeotch carmaker reveals bumper results. will it spend its cash on its rival? david go a makes music history more than a year after his death. he and george michael or honored at the brit awards. for startup story live from paris. -- first ever top story live from paris.

hour top story live from paris. are being held today in geneva. hope of a breakthrough is virtually nonexistent. the u.n. envoy says the best he can hope for is just more momentum. >> mi expecting a breakthrough? no, i'm not expecting a breakthrough. i am determined for keeping a very attractive momentum. us ands a rush between the spoilers. the spoilers want to keep momentum. fewave to outpace those with the momentum on the political track. i think we can aim at that. john is covering this story in geneva.

he joins us live. what is happening so far today? >> this morning the special chiefmet with the negotiator for the syrian government for about an hour. afterwards he met with the .pposition delegation that took an hour or so. this afternoon diplomatic planningell me he is to hold a plenary meeting with the international support group nations participating. that's the major regional powers that have sponsored these rounds of talks and the various resolutions. he is looking for international support as he said in his opening press conference yesterday.

confidence of a breakthrough. he is looking for support from the international community to make sure they are on track. hoping to gethe that support and what does he want other nations to do? >> it's a very delicate dish we are losing you. i can't hear you. he wants to make sure things don't fall apart. he needs to navigate political governance, a new constitution and elections down the road. these are very sensitive issues in their very divergent points of view from the syrian government want to maintain as much power and the opposition want to see a lot of this power diluted and ideally put in their

position for mr. bashar al-assad to leave the post. are sensitive issues and the geopolitics have changed on the ground. there's a lot of pressure everywhere to find middle ground. that won't be easy. he's hoping all the various sponsors of these talks keep him on track and keep the sides from falling apart. they very delicate act. backed by the turkish military say they have taken full control of the northern syrian town, taking it back from the islamic state group. ther weeks deadly fighting turkey backed force launched a military operation in august to drive militants away from the syrian border region and prevent a kurdish militia from taking territory in the area. troops in iraq say they have taken back the airport of mosul just hours after they launched

an offensive on the islamic state group. militiasighters and are taking fight in the campaign. the militants still control the western half of mosul after taking the entire city in 2014 along with large parts of northern and western iraq. they lost the eastern part over a month ago. the end of the caliphate set up by the islamic state group. a closer look at just why mosul is so important. since october 17 the troops and militias have been fighting the islamic state organization. mosul fell under irs control in 2014. many say it fell without a fight. the truth is more complex. u.s. military invaded

iraq in 2003 american officials purged the iraqi state of bath party members still loyal to saddam hussein. the u.s. armed forces faced fierce resistance spearheaded by al qaeda in iraq. the leader in coming the invasion's nemesis. after he was killed in 2006 as loyal supporters formed the nucleus of what would become the islamic state organization. at the same time the prime minister continued to purge the iraqi security services of his adversaries, a move that alienated large numbers of iraqis in sunni areas like most of -- most of -- mosul. it represents the islamic

state's power base. the loss of either would be a huge loss to a terrorist organization. rex tillerson is in mexico for a two-day state visit. he's holding a series of top-level meetings including with the president. those talks will include several hot button issues. more on the chilly welcome from mexico. for fencemending mission rex tillerson. he will have his work cut out for him as relations between mexico and the u.s. have limited since donald trump entered the oval office. to implementcision a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration including deporting people to mexico who crossed the border illegally even if they are not mexican citizens as the government seeing red. i want to say clearly and

emphatically that the government of mexico and the mexican people do not have to accept provisions that one government wants to impose on the other. mexican authorities are still fuming over trumps plans to build a wall along the shared order and made x ago pay for it. trump-pence threatened to tax the remittances of u.s. based mexicans as one way of funding the wall. theas also bound to rip up nafta free trade agreement and possibly tax mexican exports to the u.s.. tillerson will be joined by homeland security secretary john kelly as diplomats work to reassure their mexican allies. both sides will be discussing ways to curb crossed order migration and drug trafficking. to beare likely contentious. mexico's chief diplomat has warned that his government is ready to take their grievances to international organizations

to defend the rights of citizens abroad. the trump administration has revoked landmark legislation letting transgender students use the bathroom of their choice in schools. the guidelines were part of a signature initiative from barack obama. more on that move that is already sparking protests. >> transgender and civil rights activists gathered outside the white house to make their voices heard after the trump administration revoked guidelines wednesday on how to accommodate transgender students in public schools with single-sex bathrooms. >> not even the government can defeat a community so full of life, color, diversity and love. last may barack obama issued nationwide guidelines on what is being called the bathroom debate read the education department

schools to let transgender students use the restrooms of their chosen gender. >> i have made it clear that he is a firm believer in states rights and certain issues like this are not that does -- best adult with at the federal level. a civil and gender lights are federal issue. they feel it's the government's job to protect all individuals regardless of their gender. >> we believe this is a terrible message the trump administration is sending some of the most vulnerable young people in our country today. decided tonistration revoke the guidelines. when the supreme court hears a pending case on the issue. genie: the presidential candidate got a vague boost to his campaign. he got the backing of another

centrist candidate. he has run three unsuccessful bids for the president before. he has a strong following here in france. he threw his support time the former investment back her saying the partnership was required to counter the threat posed by the national front. national front later marine le pen is still bogged down by a at the over fake jobs european parliament. her chief of staff has been put under formal investigation. shoes contained detained by police for questioning. investigators are leading a probe into the misuse of the funds to pay parliamentary assistants. she denounced it as political maneuvering. brian quinn has the details. the fake jobs scandal surrounding the french nationality things. marine le pen's chief of staff

placed under formal investigation for breach of trust after being detained for questioning by french anticorruption police. her bodyguard also detained for questioning was later released without charge. thessue allegations that front defrauded the european parliament of around 340,000 euros. staffers money to pay in france while claiming it was for parliamentary assistants. le pen said the administration is timed to hurt her chances in the upcoming elections. >> the courts should not the imposing themselves onto the situation. they should not disrupt the campaign for an investigation that can be done later or could have been wrapped up already. the presidential campaign is a fundamental democratic moment for our country. >> the formal investigation comes two days after the front

headquarters were raided by police as part of the probe. europe's anti-fraud offices le pen admitted someone was given a fake job to compensate for earnings or expenses she was owed. she now denies any wrongdoing and has refused the president's demand-- the parliaments to reimburse the funds. they will start docking her expense allowances . dutch next month. last night was a big one for british music lovers. the annual rate awards handed out prizes. the knights take winner was one of the most countries most missed musicians. its british music's biggest night. what better way to honor one of the nations brightest stars? the award for album of the year

and british male solo artist went to the king, david bowie. the rock legend died in january last year just days before his last musical offering hit the record shops. his son except the accolades on his behalf. always been there supporting people who think they are a little bit weird or a little bit strange. a little bit different. he has always been there for them. namedttish songstress was best female british solo artist while the british group award went to 1975. there was stiff competition from the likes of radiohead and bastille. the catchy shout out to my ex both won and their international solo categories.

hometown girl adele picked up a special gong for her mammoth record sales. >> thank you so much for this award. you have all been amazing this past year. i have had the best time. >> there was also time for chris martin to offer his own tribute to one of the nations other popular heroes, george michael, who passed away on christmas day. genie: time for business news with stephen carroll. we are starting with the latest results from the french carmaker peugeot. they almost doubled net profits last year to one point 7 billion euros. the earnings were boosted by cost-cutting, price increases and sales. it's an impressive turnaround for the carmaker that needed a government cash injection in

2014. the company is pushing ahead with talks to buy the opel brand from general motors. alexander hirst has more. psa is ready to let the good times roll. rescued from the verge of bankruptcy by the french government in 2014 europe's third-largest automaker nearly doubled its profit last year. it is issuing its first dividend in seven years. can pull a similar turnaround with the german car brand opel which has lost billions since 2000. part of general motors european division. >> we believe there is opportunity to create a european car champion. resulting from the combination of a french company and a german company without forgetting our u.k. friends. which could be just

weeks away would make psa europe's second-largest auto manufacturer after book volkswagen. it could result in savings for the company. some of that may come from cutting jobs. vauxhall employ 30,000 people mainly in germany and the u.k.. they recently met with theresa may and angela merkel. they say they will keep a promise to keep jobs in germany until 2019. jobs are a key point for the french government as well which owns 14% of psa. genie: worries over the election in france have been causing jitters on financial markets. >> new figures show that business confidence in february remains a study in france despite of peoples in the presidential race. a separate survey saying activity in the private sector

was at its highest in three years. investors have been dumping french government bonds but their losing streak ended yesterday. genie: what is inhabiting on the markets today? >> european shares trading a little bit mixed. peugeot shares are down 1.7% in paris despite the bump and results. they had started the day. investors changing their minds as the day went on. french telecoms firm orange says plans are on track to launch a bank in french and the first half of this year. be able to use its 3000 branches around the country. orange reported a return to revenue growth in 2016.

of the barclays almost tripled in 2016. pretax profits reached almost 3.8 billion euros thanks to its sale of its african business and other assets. shares of barclays are up 2% in london. shares of an australian airline months the last six because of lower fares and increased competition the carrier is facing. it has slashed costs and jobs in recent years. investors were pleased that shares in sydney were up 5%. genie: sweden's government has a bit of a strange problem. people are paying too much tax. a the swedish government had budget surplus of almost nine billion euros last year almost half of which due to tax overpayment. it now has to reimburse more than 4 billion euros to companies and individuals who pay too much tax on purpose. this is a problem created i

negative interest rates. savers are earning practically nothing for keeping their money in the bank. those who pay too much to the government burn a minimum of half a percent in interest. people are earning more from overpaying their taxmen from saving at a bank. genie: thank you for that look at the business news today. time for the press review. we have allison sergeant with us on the set. france there is a lot of focus on this new centrist alliance between the presidential candidates in france. >> that's right. one of them ended weeks of suspense yesterday when he announced he would not be running. he has become a texture on the french political ain't. he has run in three elections.

he is giving all of his support to emmanuel macron. the are hoping to run over middle kingdom. they arerist union hoping is going to be all powerful. this paper is wondering is two really better than one? they say this is a marriage of convenience and it is not really about passion. this was sort of a sacrifice he was not wanting to make. centristey are both independence. it seems they didn't always get along. >> they had often criticized each other. we have a list of a few of these singers. i pulled out one of them. he is saying i don't see myself in the ideas that mac run incarnates. 's social politics are close to

what nicolas sarkozy defended in 2007. is bad newsalliance for several other french presidential candidates including the left and the right. right wing paper seems pretty saddened by this alliance. presenthe chose to francois hollande over nicolas sarkozy. it an alliance of two weaknesses and that he is trying to run after influence he no longer has. them sendingshows in an elevator. hop is nicolas sarkozy. it's a nod to his new job on the board of directors at a hotel. in mexico rex tillerson is in town and arrived to a

chilly welcome. >> this comes a day after the u.s. government released new immigration guidelines that are a huge source of tension with mexico. the visit is taking place under quite high security. the washington post reports the american delegation received a chilly reception. measures thatn has been the most upset is that the u.s. will send immigrants back to mexico to await proceedings even if they aren't mexican. this is an attack on their sovereignty. the foreign minister said they don't have to accept them. inie: women in the army turkey now have the right to wear headscarves as part of their uniform. >> this is a very controversial position in turkey. controversial

subject for decades. the government lifted the ban on the headscarves in universities. last year they made it legal for the police to wear headscarves. of thee quite critical choice to lift the ban in the army. our arabic colleague pulled out this article that says lifting the band the turkish president is dealing a big blow to secularism in turkey. is turkish army specifically considered to be the guardian of turkish secularism. this paper says the next sample of how president erdogan is making the country more and more islamic. genie: do you like pineapple on your pizza? i do. the president of iceland does not. he told a high school class that he would like to been pineapple pizza and his comments sparked an international outcry. icelandic media has started

calling it pineapple pizza gave. president's approval ratings have remained quite high. it here only discovered in france. thank you for that look at the press review. thanks for watching. you can get a closer look at the press review at france 24.com. next half hour, paris goes down on the farm with the annual -- more on the massive farm show coming up in the next french connection.

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