molly: welcome to the "france 24" newsroom. here's a look at the headlines we are following. francois fillon's seeking the presidential bid. the conservative candidate is refusing to budge. a campaign spokesperson is the latest to call it quits. jeff sessions removes himself from campaign investigations. top lawyer is under pressure for speaking with the russian ambassador twice during the campaign.

an art collector and philanthropist, spencer hayes, has died at the age of 80. the american businessman donated his extensive art collection, with hundreds of millions of dollars. we begin with the political hemorrhage that is continuing for francois fillon's campaign. the chief spokesperson has responded -- has resigned. elysees has the been rocked by financial scandal. he faces questions for paying his family for nonexistent work. sections within his -- factions within his political party are growing. we have the latest on his resignation.

not a prominent politician, but he is organizing the primary in which francois fillon won handily four months ago, now seeming like ages ago. he is the latest and probably not the last for francois fillon because since the news that he is being summoned by a judge on march 15 and will be -- maybe this can still be changed but investigational for the allegations against his wife and children, who were as parliamentary assistance but did not do much work. , is hurting him, and some are saying that his campaign is dead. -- thealling for a major

pure is piling on, including from people very close to the man he defeated in this primary. i mentioned earlier, alain juppe, who has signaled to his aides -- he has not spoken yet -- but that he is ready to take the mantle and replace francois be, but only if francois fillon asks him to do so. there are ongoing negotiations now, phone calls from everyone to everyone right now in the conservative camp to try to see with the best option is. those are crucial hours. molly: let's cross to the united states, where jeff sessions has recused himself from all campaign investigations. the u.s. tossed top lawyer says he will stay out of any probe into alleged russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. he maintains he did nothing long by that he did nothing wrong by

failing to disclose that he met last year with the russian ambassador. president trump has slammed those demands, calling them a total of rich -- calling them a total witchhunt. general jeffney sessions says he will not be involved in any probe into alleged ties between russia and the trump campaign. >> i have decided to recuse myself from any existing or future investigation of any matter relating in any way to the campaign. >> it came after revelations that sessions met with the russian ambassador twice last year while he was still an advisor to the trump campaign. during his confirmation hearing in january, sessions said he had no b communications with the russians, but the former senator slightly altered that statement on thursday, acknowledging that a meeting did take place. >> i should have slowed down and said i did meet one russian official a couple of times. fails to calm

angry democrats. one of them is house minority leader nancy pelosi, who has also accused him of lying under has and meanwhile, sessions been asked to recuse -- to have been recused -- has been asked to recuse himself. in a series of tweets, trump accused the democrats of overplaying their hand, describing the stringer recently -- the strings a of recent leaks to the press as a witchhunt. mike pence is accused of using a private email account for matters of state. he used a private account to at times discuss sensitive matters

and homeland security issues. he says the account was also hacked last summer. emails frombtained the public record. he used a state and personal email account, saying he fully applied that she fully complied with state law. germany's ambassador has been summoned over a rally man. the turkish justin -- the turkish justice minister, in a town of gag and now. city officials blocked the rally, sing the hall was not enough. afterall was evacuated receiving a bomb threat. the city mayor said he put them there was not connected to the rally ban, but that no direct links have been established and no bomb was found. an event where the turkish economy minister was set to speak sunday was also blocked.

jessica saltz joins us from berlin. jessica, this is really the latest in an ongoing spat between the two countries. walk us through. how has turkey reacted? town in well, after the the city -- and the city of cologne refused to host politicians, it riled the turkish government, the foreign minister of turkey, who accused germany of trying to undermine turkey and affect the outcome of the coming constitutional referendum because these planned rallies by turkish politicians in germany as well as a rally held by the prime minister of turkey, are seen as a way of drumming up support among 1.4 million turks who are eligible to vote in the upcoming referendum. encouraging them to vote yes. however, many germans and german

politicians have been very ,ritical of the referendum seeing it as a way for erdogan to consolidate his autocratic power. erdogan has a lot of support in germany. 60% of the turks voted in the 2014 turkish elections in support of the erdogan. so germany remains an important stop on any campaign trail for members of erdogan's government in turkey, and this is making germans very uncomfortable. erdogan's is clamping down on freedom of speech and freedom of the press, as widely reported in germany, drumming up support on turkish soil. that makes germans feel very uncomfortable. molly: what are we hearing from german officials? well, germany's justice germany's's justice minister canceled his trip to germany after his rally here was

canceled. letter, part of which was published in a magazine today, accusing turkey of trying to dismantle the constitutional law. it was also very critical of the recent a waste -- the recent arrest of a german detained in turkey. this among public outcry in turkey. turkey has been said to be willing to adhere to becoming part of the european union. he also said that turkey and germany should remain close friends, but of course relations remain very frayed at the moment. of course, this comes at a time when many are heavily reliant on to maintain the controversial refugee deal

struck between germany and turkey. there are elections coming up this year, and the relations between ankara and berlin are very strained molly:. -- are very strained. in april, turks will decide whether or not to transform the country's political system into an executive presidency. turkey's pro-kurdish party has launched its no-vote campaign. president erdogan says a reform will stabilize the country, but his critics argue it will tighten his grip on power. >> the beginning of the end of turkish democracy. that is what the country's opposition says is at risk in the april 2016 referendum, power fore boost of erdogan will occur. a no vote is being urged. >> of course we will say no.

emergency, ate of republic of fear, how can one create a constitution that will embrace all of turkey? >> erdogan's up its say a win for the president will avoid turkey becoming a one-pretty state. inaccuses them of being league with kurdish militants. is in power with that much authority, regardless of how democratic turkey is, i believe in the end, he or she will get out of control. >> emergency rule was declared after two attempts last summer. erdogan's backers say that the militant attacks makes the reform essential. if a referendum goes his way, erdogan will have the authority to a ministers and to vote in parliament. that changes

remove checks and balances on state institutions in turkey's extremely fragile democracy. at least 40,000 people have been jailed under the state of emergency. erdogan has also presided over one of the largest crackdowns on freedom of the press in recent years. molly: we cross to iraq, islamic state is on estate group fighters have pushed back in mosul. an iraqi officer says jihadists staged a result -- staged an assault. attempts to take the western half of the city have prompted scores of millions to leave it as many as 4000 people are trying to leave today. there is concern militants are hiding among the displaced. gallagher fenwick reports from northern iraq. gallagher: the progression of

coalition troops has slowed down because of several different factors. that coalition's aircraft was not able to fly because of gray skies, which also prevent drones from operating in monitoring movements of the jihadists. rain has made the fields too muddy, and that has costs for some of the coalition's heaviest vehicles and equipment to get on down in -- to get bogged down in certain points. there's also a surprising somewhat new factor, counterattacks from the islamic state organization that have at times cost iraqi soldiers -- that have a time caught iraqi off guard. they continue to fight in such fashion despite middling numbers and weaponry. the task of conquering the entire city, including downtown mosul, looks increasingly like a very complex terrorist one.

throughe units take us some of the neighborhoods, which they say they have neutralized. what we witnessed on the ground is that sniper fire and artillery rounds continue to make navigation to those areas .ery dangerous meanwhile, civilians continue to flee. molly: that was governor fenwick -- that was gallagher fenwick reporting from northern iraq. spencer hayes has died at the age of 80. the american businessman had an extensive art collection worth hundreds of millions of dollars. just last year, he donated that collection to the musees door 'orsay. >> less than a year ago, spencer his wife were at the p the american couple had

donated 600 works of art to musee d'orsay. to as the biggest donation museum since world war ii. these are works that will soon call the impressionist museum home. a special wing is being created for the request. st october, francois about it.poke >> we thought we had lost them forever. that areof art testament to the love of france and his art. a colorful businessman and oklahoma native, spencer hays came from a modest background. he called himself a salesman. his passion was art. he began building art collection in 1970 he was 80 years old when

he passed away. molly: it is 15 minutes past the hour in the french capital. -- we are 15 minutes to the top of the hour in the french capital. brian, we are going to start off with the latest from snapchat. they had a blockbuster ipo yesterday. residents of snaps adopted hometown venice beach, california, are worried that is their neighborhood that might be disappearing next. the company now valued at $28 billion after the ipo has offices spread out around venice. some of the griever's say snap is pressing out local businesses and breaking local zoning laws to use residential space for offices. they are put back at what is becoming known as silicon beach. >> that trend has been growing like a cancer here. just reading all the nursing -- just meeting all the nooks and crannies, affecting the artists

community. the officetay within type buildings, that would be one thing. but they are not. >> the stakes are high for nintendo as they release the latest gaming console. the nintendo switch is a hybrid of a home plug-in console. to reverse a trend of falling revenue. nintendo hopes to move to laying units in its first month. a chanceg the cold for to get their hands on the newest nintendo gaming console, the nintendo switch went on sale early friday morning and supply was limited. electronic store in tokyo had only 300 units available for its first day of sale. some traveled long distances to make sure they were among the first to try the new toys. excited.ery

i came from korea to buy this. gambleswitch is a big for nintendo, which faced slumping sales following the failure of the black console, the wii u. the company is looking to turn its luck around with the new gaming system, a blend of a traditional home console and applicable device. a hat tip to nintendo products -- nintendo products. >> some people would say nintendo is trying to appeal to killing two birds with one stone and that they could land in the middle, and not really catch any of the topics because they are not amplifying either of the targets >> the stakes are high for the switch to be a hit. nintendo sales have been falling for years, and are steep

competition -- and have steep competition from microsoft and sony. >> european shares are sobering up after recent record highs. investors are looking ahead to a probable rate hike of the u.s. federal reserve for the ftse 100 is down a quarter of a percent. is up. over .1.s just down psa is closing in on a deal to acquire european general motors subsidiary opel. the two countries are hoping to announce a deal on monday. if completed, the merger would create europe's's second-largest car company. caterpillar has had their headquarters created by u.s. -- has had their headquarters raided by u.s. federal agents. of an ongoing tax investigation involving a subsidiary in switzerland.

caterpillar shares fell over 4% on that news. japan has returned to inflation for the first time in -- for the first time since 2015. consumer prices just over .1% in january, but energy prices were up over 9%. japan has struggled with deflation for nearly two decades. -- givingtral-bank the central bank of japan a hope that it may hit its overall 2% inflation budget. today, ain business rather expensive typography lesson. you may remember earlier this week when the outage of amazon's cloud services unit knocked out traffic to a significant portion of the internet. amazon has tracked down the cause and they say it is human error, specifically a typo. apparently an employee at the company's northern virginia data center miss typed a command to take a few terminals off-line.

and ariggered a wave, cost that costs $150 million. amazon is implementing its new safeguards to prevent a repeat. ,e are not here to judge personally as an american who types on a french keyboard now. i could have been much more serverthan that in that room. molly: and those type of things happen. thank you for the business update. it is time now for our "press review." in the studio by florence villeminot for a look at what is grabbing international headlines p and we are going to start off with france. majoris fillon is facing calls, pressure to step down. flo: there are lots of calls going for one of his rivals to step in in his place, alain

juppe, the man who lost out to francois fillon in the conservative primary. "u can see on the front page, alain juppe is getting ready." at first alain juppe said he did not want to replace francois fillon. you can take a look inside. he might be the plan b or the savior for the conservative party. the time of false modesty is this paper.ing to he told allies and friends he is ready to come if francois fillon steps down. molly: many newspapers are saying it is just a matter of time. you can see alain juppe in the top half of an hourglass, looking down at francois fillon as the sand trickles down. it looks like fillon is about to be buried in the sand. alain juppe is looking down and

going?" how is it it is a little bit of a play on words. of this the front page paper, a reference to the recent oscar fiasco, the award that went to the wrong person. -- to the role who wrong film. maybeuy is saying, well, you did not win that oscar. on the and blow it says "alain juppe -- on the headline it says "alain juppe." molly: there is a lot of focus on emmanuel macron, who is in the spotlight as he finally unveiled his program after a bit of time. flo: finally. that is the key word. "liberation"ere, is not so impressed with his program. they pick it apart.

akron has said time -- macron has said over and over again -- fillon is saying on the contrary. he is saying it is new ideas, but macron says there are recycled ideas as well. there's really something for everyone. it really is a balancing act. -- it seems like he is trying to please everyone. if we look at how they come up, his program, you can see it this way. molly: you see the foreign press thing a lot of attention. flo: this is a cartoon by a lebanese cartoonist. this is a reference to the far right leader, marine le pen. she recently lost her e.u. parliamentary immunity for tweeting some gruesome photos of isis atrocities, essentially, so you can see her getting a swift kick in the rear and from a

european star. and the economist as well. very interesting analysis. they say that we are gearing up for the next french revolution, so it is a big deal. the upcoming election will decide the very future of europe. molly: very interesting stuff. we will cross to the united states, where america passed top lawyer, jeff sessions, is facing increased pressure as it has been revealed that he was in contact with the russian ambassador during the campaign. sessionsn see jeff with his pants on fire, liar, liar, as the progression goes. the trump-russia connections that you can see sessions here. he is saying, "sure there is smoke, but is there fire? this congress what he said when he asked russian officials.

his answer was no. i have not heard that for quite some time. -- molly: i have not heard of her quite some time. ?lo: who is sergey kislyak an article in "the daily beast," questions are swirling around the russian ambassador. is he a spymaster? a topeports say he is recruiter. others say he is a topical met. whoever he is, he has vladimir putin's here. a tie in in the guardian state advisors and american officials on the right. they are calling it a web of ties. there is a lot of uncertainty. a lot of these are unknown officials, and a lot of people want to know exactly what that connection is. molly: staying with concerned about russia -- with concerns ready tosia, sweden is reinstate its draft or both men

and women. flo: this might sound archaic, but it has not gone away for that long. why in the world is sweden bringing the draft back? there are a number of reasons. number one, there are vxúúñ

♪ >> in this episode, kim stringfellow's project documents -- documenting the diverse communities of the mojave desert. >> my practice isll