genie: this is france 24. thanks for joining us. time for 60 minutes life around the world. i'm genie godula. these are the headlines. russia's biggest opposition leader find for taking part in massive anticorruption protests sunday. hundreds more were detained along with him. details coming up. syria that'll to get closer to the islamic state stronghold just hours

after recapturing an airbase nearby. toationwide strike due paralyze french guiana today. it is over high crime and poor social services. also coming up, how does one market the brexit? a lot of companies are going with slogans like "made in england." and paris is blooming. the french capital is growing with city gardeners thanks to .he success of a new law genie for startup story live from paris. ♪ irst, our top story live from paris. ♪ genie: russian opposition leader was in court this morning after being arrested along with hundreds of others in mass protests on sunday.

tens of thousands of people took to the streets across russia in the biggest show of defiance in years. most of the anger is aimed at the russian prime minister, dmitry medvedev. we are getting the sentencing coming out of that it courtroom -- that courtroom. what can you tell us? >> that's a 20,000 ruble fine. that one specifically is for organizing and unsanctioned .eeting that's about 320 euros. we learned this morning that he's going to face a secondary charge and that hearing starts now virtually as soon as the first one is finished. which is about him disobeying police orders.

an administrative charge. it could be up to 15 days in prison. had a official response for the first time from the kremlin since those mass protests and mass arrests yesterday. the spokesperson for vladimir said it was irresponsible for the organizers to put on that unsanctioned protest. he said that he put lives in danger and he promised money to those who turned up. genie: these were truly the biggest protest since the last presidential election five years ago. ?ow big could this movement the could this really be the beginning of some kind of change in russia? >> it's a very difficult thing to say. response really say in is talk about what i saw

yesterday and how it seemed given the people i was speaking to and the anger the like of which i haven't seen in moscow in the years i have been here. part of it is the number of young people that have turne up . 16, 17-year-olds. that is certainly very interesting. this anticorruption foundation has very successfully used interactivethe fast-moving videos to appeal to young people. a lot of the young people who turned out today were not out in protest in 2011 and 2012. they got 100,000 people to them. this is a new generation of people protesting. the older generation didn't even know that it was on. this information is and for the most part about the protests.

it's not going by facebook. it's going by whatsapp. it's going by telegrams. it would be very difficult at this point to get a handle on whether this is a flash in the to build to going something else as we move toward the presidential elections. genie: thank you, thomas low reporting from moscow. french guiana is facing a massive nationwide strike today that prompted the french government to send in an emergency mission. residents in that french territory said france has forgotten them and as the protests grow, one organization is standing at the center of the movement. it's called the 500 brothers. alexander hirst takes a closer look. all black, they wear masks and only travel in groups.

the 500l himself brothers and their mission is to fight violence and organized crime. it's dangerous they say and thus the need for anonymity. the spokesman is one of the only to show his face. a former police officer who says the group is not a militia. it to be aant militia, we would be armed. we wouldn't go to see the authorities. responsibleyoung fathers, sons and brothers who took the initiative to do this risky work. one of the incidents that sparked the movement happened last month when an adolescent was murdered for a golden necklace. the crime rate in guiana is far higher than in metropolitan france and is one of the reasons why protests have erupted. membership in the group is going -- growing. their activities have disrupted a recent meeting with the

minister for sustainable development. we are so determined. face'm speaking with my uncovered. we are 500 brothers. we are against violence. elected officials say they understand the concerns yet caution respect for democratic institutions. the 500 brothers say are the -- they arentatives the real representatives of the people. on sunday syrian kurdish forces retook the base that sits just west of rocco. akha. forcesby little these are scratching their way with at least two so far. democratic forces took this

airbase over the weekend. week on wednesday they airlifted some of their forces to that location. anyone isirst time aware of that the u.s. has airlifted syrian democratic forces in any large numbers to a location. it is the first time they have crossed the euphrates river anywhere in the vicinity of r akha itself. the airbase is 40 kilometers west. it has been held by islamic state group since 2014. they carried out in massacre when they captured it for the first time from syrian government forces and killed 160 plus of their soldiers, executing some of them and placing their heads on spikes in the city.

something of a notorious history because of that. it gives the syrian democratic forces the possibility to start andng south of the river finishing the encirclement of that town which is already pretty much entirely surrounded to the north with the closest approach of syrian democratic forces only about five to 10 kilometers outside on the north side of the river. the u.s. backed militias are treading very carefully near a dam on the euphrates river. what are the risks and the fears? it is still held by islamic state group. taking it back is going to be that much more difficult because

of the concerns of causing damage to it. over the weekend the islamic state group claiming it had been damaged. they walked that back telling people they should not flee the area. operational and we are hearing the same kind of warnings that we heard in the past about mosul dam. the syrian democratic forces will have to tread carefully in any assault in this area to make sure they are not damaged by fighting or to provoke a sabotaged by the islamic state group. fightingyou would have thought t would be unlikely simply because it would cause large-scale flooding in the areas. genie: thank you, adam.

to the iraqi city of mosul. there are conflicting accounts over an explosion that caused dozens of civilian deaths. the iraqi military says 61 bodies were recovered from a destroyed building that the islamic state group had booby-trapped. spoke ofeports hundreds of victims with the u.s. coalition admitting it had shelled the area previously. >> scenes of destruction in western mosul. the iraqi army said sunday it recovered 61 bodies from collapsed buildings. baghdad blamed the incident on the islamic state group, saying a car bomb had been found at the site and there were no signs of damage caused by airstrikes. a version of events that conflicted with earlier reports. both the iraqi military forces and the u.s. led coalition have acknowledged

there was an airstrike and there are possibly hundreds of casualties. we are waiting for the results of the investigation. >> residents started burying their dead over the weekend. many of those who witnessed the was shelled. area >> how could they have used so much artillery on civilian locations? before the battle began they assured us it would be an easy battle. that's why people didn't leave their houses. they felt safe. they didn't know they would be shelled. what happened on march 17 remains unclear and the u.s. led coalition has opened an investigation into the matter. the incident has highlighted the complexity of fighting in western mosul, where militants hide among over half a million civilians still trapped inside the city. trouble for's more

the ousted president of south korea. prosecutors say they want to issue an arrest warrant for her over the corruption allegations that triggered the huge political scandal that pushed her from power. 14secutors grilled her for hours last week over suspicion that she colluded with her confidant in order to extort businesses. park refused to undergo a direct inquiry during her presidency but lost her immunity when she was impeached. steprrest is the next before she can be formally charged. a cyclone in australia has fromd thousands of people their homes. it is the worst to hit australia in six years. 30,000 people in queensland have been told to leave. it is the biggest evacuation in over 40 years.

airlines said they had canceled several life to and from the region scheduled for today and tomorrow. but come back to paris. a law wasago introduced encouraging parisians to become city gardeners. 1500 growing permits have been introduced since then. >> it may still be early days in the spring season. yet these parisians have already begun tending to their gardens. residents law was introduced encouraging parisians to become city gardeners. have been growing flowers and vegetables on the sidewalk in the southeast of the french capital. community-based initiative has allowed the city dwellers to spruce up their neighborhood and renew with nature. on the moment,ed on your task and you forget everything else. working the soil. it's the best therapy i know.

city of paris began granting growing permits in 2015. flowersvegetables and are planted on the sidewalks of the capital. >> we provide those who ask with soil and with seeds. and we also offer free gardening classes. over 1500 permits have been delivered since the start of the program. an initiative to help the city go green but also to create public spaces where neighbors can interact with each other. >> it really fosters a sense of community. people who didn't know each other met at these events and are now working together to make the project a success. >> hundreds of french eddies may soon adopt -- cities may soon adopt the concept. french authorities hope it will encounter a similar success and

that the project will bloom from a passing trend into a true urban revolution. we're going to talk about is this news. the big news is brexit. day beforen the last theresa may is set to trigger article 50 and british companies are still trying to figure out how to make brexit work for them. marketing products as made in england in the hopes it will interest buyers. >> british companies are betting made in england will help them prosper even if the u.k. moves forward with brexit plans. this brand agree. >> from what i've heard, people were reluctant to buy the product if it does not have made in england. we have had things made in different countries abroad.

the more prestigious products are made here. >> about 27% of the british economy relies on exports of goods and services. almost half of all exports head to the eu. according to a report commissioned by barclays, great britain is generally seen as a quality supplier, which means customers in new and emerging markets are willing to pay as much as 7% more for british products. brand experts say companies can turn brexit into a business opportunity. think consumers go back very strongly to the perception of product being very high-quality, very reliable. there is a confidence and what value -- in what value those products will deliver. the british government is

banking on that as well. creating the exporting is great website, helping british firms connect with overseas buyers and online retailers. in kuwait, oil producers met over the weekend. >> a group of the world's top oil producers agreed to limit supply for the first half of the year. a joint committee of ministers agreed to review the deal. let's listen to the oil minister speaking on sunday. we agreed to ask the other countries for greater respect for the deal next month. to give more importance to the agreement. reduced shipping to the united states and europe and we will reduce it further because

our interests are greater in the countries of eastern asia than in the united states and europe. genie: how are the european markets trading? >> we're seeing a lot of hesitation in response to donald trump's health bill failing to pass congress. european markets are struggling to recover from a tough open. this first failure of the -- uberration may be has suspended its driverless car program after one of its self driving vehicles crashed in arizona on friday. willriverless operations be stopped pending an ongoing investigation. has slapped sanctions on 15

u.s. companies it said frequently violate human rights and support terrorism. the u.s. imposed its own sanctions slapped sanctions on . the sanctions are largely symbolic, as the company's have no clear ties to iran. the u.k. is taking on whatsapp. after the westminster attacker ,as found to have used the app the u.k. home secretary emerged the app to make its data available to intelligence services. from: you've got some news environmentalists in new zealand that is quite upsetting. >> new zealand's government has approved for millions of liters of water to be extracted from glacial lakes in the southern alps as part of a marketing scheme. the lakes and questioned our unesco world heritage sites -- in question are unesco world heritage sites.

thank you for that. time now for the press review. with the papers are saying today. turkish citizens living abroad have started voting in a controversial referendum on constitutional change. >> it's going to be a really tight race according to pollsters. pollsters say it is the -- and not -- net and neck -- neck and neck. genie: french guiana is an overseas territory in south

america calling for a massive general strike. >> we rarely talk about french guiana. let's start with a local paper. they are talking about the power struggle taking place with this strike. interestingery article which sums things up. for weeks now locals have been protesting against a variety of issues. insecurity, a struggling local economy, rising poverty. unemployment is 22%. the population is fed up and that's why they are striking today. genie: many papers are torn over the root causes. >> let's take a look at the communist paper. they say french guiana has become a powder keg because the territory feels completely abandoned by the french state. locals feel left behind. this article quotes one local

that says the country is highly militarized in strategic areas. that's where you're going to see a lot of police. the rest of the country is completely unsafe. this paper says the railroad of the problem is violence. this article starts by quoting the homicide rate which is one murder a week. it's actually the biggest murder rate in france in terms of territory. the territory has seen a proliferation of gang violence and mafia groups linked to gold trafficking and drug trafficking. genie: becoming a hot topic in the presidential campaign here in france. who people still don't know to vote for. >> half of french voters don't know who they want to vote for. it is unprecedented in a french election. there are undecided for a wide range of reasons.

-- they are undecided for a wide range of reasons. some people are just disappointed in the candidate their party has chosen. some people are just disenchanted with politics in general. this article interviews many of these undecided voters. there was one quote i liked from a sarkozy supporter. he is really upset by this election. he says none of the candidates stick out. i refuse to get rid of one bozo to replace them with a super b o ozo. genieozo. health-care bill was withdrawn without a vote in congress last week. >> lots of hand rubbing going on with left-wing papers who were very much in favor of keeping the affordable care act. this is the editorial of the guardian.

saying this is a welcome failure for a damaging plan. very critical of donald trump and of the gop. the new york times also focusing on the gop and says it is essentially going through a major existential crisis. this has really exploded onto the national scene. everyone is seeing it happening. there's a major blame game happening. people are wondering if the republican party going to be able to do what it has on its agenda? could this be the republican party's waterloo moment? that's what you see in a cartoon in the columbia daily tribune. elephantee this representing the republican party. health reform would be obama's waterloo. we should have been more

specific on who was going to play the part of napoleon. genie: thank you for watching france 24. for a closer look at the press review you can always check out our website. coming up after the break, john legend helps sing happy birthday to disneyland paris. more on the 50th anniversary celebration coming up. ♪

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