rebel held town in syria -- at a rebel held town in syria. russian police name is suspect following yesterday's deadly bombing in st. petersburg. the russian citizen is believed to have blown himself up between stations, killing dozens. one who wants to colonize the moon, another who wants to abolish the presidency

altogether. all 11 candidates will take part tonight in a live television debate. expected to go on for several hours. first, dozens of people, including many children and infants, have been killed following a suspected chemical attack on a rebel held town in a syrian province. according to some ngos, as many as 400 people have been left struggling to breathe. the syrian army denies it is behind the attack. the un security council will meet tomorrow to discuss its response. simon harding has the latest. >> the pictures provided by the syrian opposition purport to and an alleged gas attack civilians pouring into

hospitals. if confirmed, the suspected gas attack will be one of the deadliest in the six year civil war. the nature of the gas used in the ball mark -- bombardment remains unclear, but the observatory for human rights activists have blame the government. >> medical sources have confirmed that one of the neighborhoods was bombed with material believed to be gas. >> the syrian government has repeatedly denied carrying out chemical strikes during the war, but this is not the first time that the opposition has blamed sad for using such weapons. the government was accused of areas rockets at several of damascus, killing over 300 people. other reports claim that aleppo had been the target of gas strikes. a you enjoy investigation in 2016 concluded that nearly 1500 people had been killed and chemical attacks, mostly perpetrated by the syrian regime

, but also found that the islamic state group at use these types of weapons before. laura: i'm joined by jessica in new york. the u.n. has as always strongly condemned this attack. can we expect much more than harsh words when the security council meets tomorrow? no, but we can expect more words of condemnation, diplomat saying they are dismayed by what happened and outraged. we can expect more finger-pointing, we've become used to that during un security council meetings on syria. one ambassador saying the idea is to shine a spotlight on what happened and once again call for accountability, but it's unlikely there will be any kind of product. back on february 28, the yuan security council voted on a resolution calling for

accountability for chemical weapons attacks, which would have imposed sanctions on the assad regime for attacks carried out in syria, yet that resolution was vetoed by russia and china, so we can imagine that western diplomats will bring that up again and point the finger of blame at russia, and russia in turn will accuse them of hypocrisy. that's what western diplomats saying it's good to shine the spotlight and rally support and call for accountability and that in actual fact, even though russia pretends to not be affected by criticism, they feel that russia is not impervious when it comes to these sort of public displays of criticism of its policy. that: but the fact remains the war in syria has shown light theow impotent international community and more specifically the united nations is when it comes to protecting

citizens. -- civilians. >> absolutely, you can say it's a failure for the united nations that the war is ongoing in that such horrific attacks are being carried out. you must remember that to the united nations, is merely a reflection of its member states. the security council is the most powerful body and the five beta wielding members hold the most power. time and time again, russia has used its veto to block resolutions in order to make headway on preventing the war there and calling for accountability. you could say that it's up to those big global powers to take responsibility for not managing to bring an end to this war. thank you very jessica, reporting from new york. the attack comes as eu foreign ministers are meeting to discuss the future of postwar syria.

saying that president bashar --assad bears find mary primary responsibility for today's atrocity. >> the suspected chemical weapons attack that killed dozens in northern syria tuesday morning has drawn swift condemnation from world leaders. >> the use of chemical weapons is the worst of war crimes and whether it's responsible for that, must be held accountable. >> from a conference in brussels , the envoy saying an investigation is underway. >> we have no official or reliable confirmation. we have understood it was a chemical attack and it came from the air. what's with the un security council's to meet wednesday on the attack, the uk's urging russia and china not to block action against those responsible crime."ar

hollandew holland -- saying it bears strategic and moral responsibility. ruler's future has been a major point of contention and talk about how to resolve the conflict. administrationp signaled last week that assad's removal was no longer priority, it condemned the reprehensible attack. lawmakers including john mccain are demanding the u.n. take action against the syrian regime. laura: the russian foreign minister said any attempt to -- russian police have named a suspect, a russian citizen who was born in kyrgyzstan, 22-year-old akbarzhon dzhalilov is believed

to have blown himself up between stations, killing 14 and wounding many more. whicht a second bomb, failed to detonate, attestation. no group has yet claimed responsibility. hasussian authorities thought a suicide bomber was behind the attack. they identified him after finding his remains in one of the train carriaiages. theintelligence agency said russian citizen was a suspect. although authorities are treating the bombing as an act of terrorism, there has been no official link to islamic radicals. russia's foreign minister said it was too soon to type the attack to russia's actions in syria. he met with his counterpart in moscow. >> as for the suggestion raised by some mass media that this terror attack was revenge against russia for its policy in syria, that is cynical and

despicable. thomas: -- kurdistan remains economically dependent on russia. some obtain russian citizenship, but many remain marginalized becoming targets of islamic recruitment. across the country, russians have been named the respects to victims of monday's attack, on the first of three days of mourning. >> i believe the action was aimed at scaring people. but we should not give in to fear and i think we should be alert and react to suspicious behavior. >> we have special services that deal with this. the perpetrators cannot escape retribution. i believe that, and therefore i'm not afraid. >> investigators say they are looking into the fact that russian president vladimir putin was in st. petersburg when the

attack took place. the metro station was closed following a new bomb threat. it's another chance for undecided french voters to make up their minds just a few weeks before the next election. tonight alive television debate is taking place. all 11 candidates have been invited to take part, even though most of them have the support of less than 1% of voters. the debate, the first of its time in france, is expected to last three hours. the far right leader, marine le pen and emmanuel macron remain the front runners. this report on why french voters are having such a hard time choosing who to vote for. >> it's the same story across the country. north and south, and unprecedented chunk of french voters have no idea who to vote for, not because they are apolitical.

>> i just don't know who to vote for. maybe i will vote blank. >> who can you trust among the candidates? it's so sad. i'll almost want to vote for le pen. >> why are so many uninspired? some states because all the candidates have major flaws. macron ollanta -- macron is just and le pen has no program. they don't offer solutions to the problems. >> in january, my pension was .educed due to higher taxes i'm losing 120 euros a month. no candidate has talked about pensions. no one has promised to increase them. undecidedr, the

represent 36% of the electorate, according to surveys. that's about 50% more than the top candidates are expected to get. the undecided are likely to make all the difference, and they are the ones the 11 candidates are desperately trying to convince. not on the agenda for talks is the ongoing unrest in french guiana. it's been disrupting the takeoff of rockets from the european space center that is aced there. the government failed to end the crisis. the space center is one of the few opportunities for employment in a territory that is plagued by high crime and poverty. a rainbow and a rocket , it says it all. the small city is the proud host to a european space or. but not many of the locals feel the riches of the industry are

trickling down to them. >> we don't make a lot of money for the rockets. this is been here for years and there is still no electricity for us. >> the space center generates more than 10,000 direct and indirect jobs. but joblessness is still more than double the french average. >> i don't think they invest enough in the residence here, but in the rockets, they invest a lot. >> demonstrations led to the cancellation of the rocket launch of the end of march. o further takeoffs are planned for april. laura: funerals have been held for the missions of a huge mudslide in colombia. the government says the death toll from the disaster has reach more than 270. while there is still a shred of hope of finding survivors, rescuer workers

continued their work but it is something that cannot be rushed. >> there are a lot of branches getelements that we cannot through. some of the missing are being found, but as time ticked by, more and more of the discoveries are touched with sadness. burials have begun. ofy included that 26-year-old daisy romero. she saved one of her sons before she died, but the other one is still missing. said take my child, take care of him, don't let anything happen to him. she went to get the other one, and we know nothing more. >> president weinmann well santos has declared economic, social, and economic emergency. by doing this, he intends to speed up reconstruction efforts,

but some field to despond it to go on. >> sadly, we don't have a house anymore. what's the use of rebuilding? it is dangerous here. we have nowhere to go. >> president santos blames climate change for the hit ukraine's -- for the heavy rains that led to the mudslides. others have said deforestation left mountains in the area with few trees to stop water rushing down their bare slopes. laura: hungry has passed a new law that could force in international university out of the country. its latest contribution -- latest controversy or move by president. >> highly ranked center european university could be the first victim of the restrictive new victor orban's

government. the law requires foreign universities to have campuses in both their home country and budapest. it awards degrees accredited in both hungary and the united states. as a result, the university could be forced to move locations, stopped issuing hungarian decrees, and even change its name. grexit goes against hungary's institutionspost that don't play by the rules, which aim at undermining the locally elected government and subverting the will of the voters. >> it says it's being targeted because of its connection to george soros. the investor and philanthropist founded the institution with an $880 million endowment in 1991 to support hungary's transition out of communism. goes against the academic freedom and independence of all universities. >> though he once studied at

oxford on a scholarship from soros, he has since become highly critical of the type of liberal democratic society promoted by his former benefactor. orban has called for the rise of illiberal democracy and has clashed with the european union and angela merkel over increasingly authoritarian measures taken by his government. the oscar-winning film director roman polanski has failed in his attempt to ran into a 40-year-old rape case. pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a 13 euro girl in the united states in 1977, but he fled before he was sentenced. today he said he would return to the u.s., but only if he was spared jail. the judges have declined. runrter: a fugitive on the and authorities try to track him down. it may sound like the plot of a blockbuster film, but in the case of director roman polanski,

life has imitated art for four decades. in 1977, he pleaded guilty in the u.s. court to raping a 13-year-old girl while allegedly using drugs. but he fled to europe after serving 42 days in prison. u.s. judges issued arrest countriesut both refuse to extradite him. france, where he has also been given protection. in 2003, he was unable to attend the academy awards ceremony to receive an award for directing a world war ii film, due to the case. earlier this year in france, polanski had to step down from an honorary appointment as president of the film awards, amid widespread protest by feminist groups. he offered to return

to the u.s. if he would be given an assurance of avoiding jail, but prosecutors argued against his request, on grounds of special treatment as a celebrity. the superior court denied to his plea and said he was in contempt of court. some saying his time in a song has been sufficient punishment. laura: a giant pink diamond has broken a record for gemstone sold at auction. it's known as the pink star and beating again at $56 million. it was eventually stepped up -- snapped up for $71 million. the previous record for a jewel was at $57 million. a reminder of our top stories this hour, dozens of men, women, and children have been gassed to death in a rebel had all town in syria. the council will meet tomorrow

for a response to the latest chemical weapons attack by the regime. a suspect has been named following the deadly bombing of the metro in russia. 14 people were killed. one wants to colonize the moon, another wants to abolish the presidency altogether. the 11 candidates running for the french presidency are taking part in a live tv debate tonight and it is expected to go on for several hours. let's get the business news for you now, kate moody is with us in the studio. starting in south africa, where the new finance minister has been trying to calm fears with where the economy is headed. of upholdas pledged budget plans after the countries credit rating was slashed by s&p. it will be an uphill battle.

>> the political upheaval is dealing a further blow to south africa's economy. following the sacking of the thence minister last week, countries credit rating was cut, deeming its bonds unworthy of investment. >> the worrying feature is that they have put us on a negative outlook even now, which means we are in line to be downgraded even further, and that's what we may see in june. reporter: once seen as a vanguard of emerging economies, south africa has been struggling to deal with sluggish growth, skyhigh unemployment, and widespread poverty. economists say the downgrade, which has been expected for weeks, could trigger another recession. >> affects everyone in south africa. it really affects the average man on the street, the average makeny, enjoined to

creating jobs a lot more difficult and it means inflation will stay higher for longer. reporter: meanwhile the new finance minister had said economic change remains slow and promises to focus on supporting the private sector. the downgrade has already called plunging, with bond and banking shares taking a hit on tuesday. closingropean indices higher, the ftse 100 leading the .ains the resource sector was up 1.5 percent across-the-board in europe. on wall street, the dow jones boosted by president trump's comments earlier tuesday that he will push ahead with infrastructure spending and the regulation of the financial industry.

>> we are absolutely destroying these horrible regulations that have been placed on your heads over the last 20 and 25 years. going to do a major haircut on dodd-frank. restrictions in regulation, but not regulation that makes it impossible to the banks to loan to people that are going to create jobs. and england are laying the groundwork for a bilateral free trade deal once england is no longer part of the european union. the country's finance ministers met in delhi days after the british government triggered article 50. formal negotiations cannot take place until brexit is complete, but philip hammond said the world's fastest-growing major economy would the icky partner going forward. a key partner going forward. >> we hope to have a special relationship with the european union that will allow us to go

on trading and investing in each other's economy, but at the same time, allow us to rebuild our relationships with our partners and allies around the world. india is looking for insurance is on freedom of movement for skilled workers and students. moving on to other business deal sincea second most international sanctions were lifted. cover 37ment would planes. to be a policy test for the trump administration which is about to crack down on tehran. the german group daimler is teaming up with the supplier bosch to develop autonomous

vehicles. they hope to have cars on the street by the start of the next decade. falling short of apologizing for controversial remarks, last month saying countries that -- it's partouts calls for him to resign as head of the group. one frenchtown has built some of the world's most famous cruise ships including the record-breaking harmony of the seas. an italian rival is in talks to buy the shipyard. it kind government wants more guarantees for jobs at the site. they are considering nationalizing the company as an alternative. reporter: it's this one final

push to protect strategic french industries. the goal is to make it 100% state owned. for months, the french government has been demanding a guarantee that it will maintain jobs at the site. the negotiations of all but stalled in paris is considering temporarily nationalizing the owner of the shipyard in which the state has a 33% stake. itwe want to have temporarily nationalized while we wait for potential stakeholder that has a real industrial vision and will save the site and jobs. >> him criticize the government for making the empty threat instead of having a real strategy.

rather than by the determination and will to nationalize the shipyard and make it into a state run company. >> a blast furnace based closure. that plan never materialized, much to francois hollande's embarrassment. laura:

04/04/17 04/04/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> today's republican party i think is the most dangerous organization in human history. literally, it is racing toward destruction openly. amy: today, an hour with noam chomsky on the first 75 days of president donald trump. we will speak about the expanding u.s. wars in the middle east, china,