♪ >> welcome to the france 24 newsroom. it is 1:30 p.m. in the french capital. thank you for joining us from wherever you are. take a look at the headlines. nia counts down to a controversial independence referendum. the vote will go ahead, despite efforts to block it. a deadly stamp -- stampede at a mumbai train station leads to 22 people that as people took

shelter from rain. wewe crosseded to our regigional correspopondent for anan update. and for most deadly rohingya crackdown forces half a million berm a's deadly rohingya crackdown forces half of million people to leave bangladesh. ♪ we begin in catalonia. this is where authorities are standing to buy and. they say sunday's independence referendum will go ahead. madrid's government considers it a legal and is doing all they can to block it, including deploying 10,000 offers to -- officers to the region to block ballots and arrest local officials facilitating the vote. i am joined here by our international affairs editor.

things are very uncertain as to how this will unfold on sunday. we have caps on officials -- atalan officials holding press conference moments ago. what will come out of it? by the viceheld president of the region and a foreign affairs official, and a top government spokesman as well. toit was really a platform blast the spanish government once again and really to turn up the heat on madrid. that was the main purpose of this press conference. it was really a platform for -- them to criticize madrid and sound like the reasonable side in this conflict, saying that this is about democracy rather than about independence it's self. so that is one thing that all the officials kept emphasizing. it is about whether the people can express themselves freely rather than voting for

independence or not. so they said -- they repeated up forey were still negotiation. again, implicitly, that madrid is the one being intransigent. and also noting that this is something not completely exceptional, but the 53 referendums on self-determination have been held around the world in the last 25 years. that is something that the foreign affairs chief came back to in this press conference, trying to downplay the idea that catalan is some kind of exceptional situation in the world. molly: any possible details on how the actual vote will take place? armand: there were some details. 2315 pollingt stations have been planned, and the total number of fifth officials -- of officials to beage these stations would

7002 hundred 35. so very specific figures there, 7235. very specific figures there, and the voting will happen between 9:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., which makes it sound like it is a very orderly vote, which it cannot be , because 10,000 officers from the central government in spain have been sent to block this vote. we have also noted that websites where voters are supposed to register to find out where they are going to vote, which ballot box to go to, those have been shut down as well by the spanish authorities. so it is certainly not going to be as smooth in practice as it was made to sound in this press conference. molly: all right, thank you very much. while the pro-movement has been , itemely vocal in catalan

has been organizing regular protests. polls are suggesting that only abouout half of catalonians want independence. the area, one of the richest regions in europe, has concerns it would be isolated if they were separated from spain. in this suburb of barcelona, the spanish flag is probably on display -- probably on display. most residents moved here in search of work. like this man's parents. he believes that catalonia should stay united in spain. spain, so it of feel spanish. this referendum is illegal and unconstitutional. there is no reason for it. carlos feels that the independence movement is creating a crisis in spain. the independence movement is dividing the country. our region is fighting against spain when only part of the

population supports the referendum. bakery where carlos works, he is not the only one against the referendum. >> i do not want to cut ties with my country. it is the result of generations of hard work. we defended it and build it together, now the independence to divide it to become richer by abandoning the ever region -- other region. >> catalonia is the most popular -- prosperous region in spain. some, it sends too much money to spain. mployer,carlos' e leaving spain would be bad for the economy. >> we risk losing access to support -- important markets. half of our economy is built on exports. 50% to spain and 20% to the rest of europe. we would suffer from a loss of capital investment. >> after seizing more than 10

million battle paper -- ballot officials,arresting madrid has done everything it can to stop the vote. molly: in india, there has been a at least impede in mumbai. at least 22 people were killed. this as a crush occurred on equestrian bridge between two rape rape -- between two -- pedestrian bridge between two railway stations. what more can you tell us? tragedy down in mumbaiai earlier this morning ththe incident o occurred at 100 a.m. local time. so rush hour in mumbai, when millions of passengers are trying to get to work. the incident itself occurred on a bridge that can next to the city's fairly important railway stations. the fact that it was raining, of course, worsened the situation is hundreds of passengers were

in these stations seeking shelter from the rain. there are heart-wrenching visuals on indian television, showing a crush of bodies on this bridge as people try to get on and o off. at the same time, people can be seen jumping off, loud screams can be heard from passengers trying to extricate themselves run the stampede. visuals after the incident t shw bodies just scattered all over the ground, many not moving atat all. locals and passengers can be seen carrying these bodies off the stairs of this bridge. some real anger down in mumbai right now. there are proteststs outside soe of the r railway stations. the prime minister has tweeted his condolences and the railway minister says he will monitor the situation, but as one angry eyewitness said, this was a disaster waiting to happen. molly: you mentioned that of course this is such a tragedy. how common is this type of accident? unfortunately, fairly common.

this incident has shone a spotlight on how old and insufficient mumbai's transport structures are. it is s not sufficientnt for the city's 20 millionesidents, but more broadly, india has one of the largest raililway systems sn the world, 23 million people use it d daily. but on average, people have not been killed -- people are killed falling off overcrowded trains every year. they have called it indiaia's annual massacre. three rail safety act -- real safety accidents that involved -- rail safety accidents that involve fatalities are v very common. the government has been investing over $100 million over the next five years, but many are asking if that was enough. most of this infrastructure has been built over 100 years ago in

colonial times by the british. molly: thank you very much. next, the united nations chief has urged burma's leaders to stop the nightmare faced by the rohingya minority group. more than half a million people have fled the military crackdown that the united nations has called "ethnic cleansing." scoresle have drowned, more are feared dead. this when a boat carrying families capsized off bangladesh. the un security council met to discuss the crisis. call on thee to myanmar authorities to take three immediate steps. first, and military operations, second, allow and access huhumanitarian support, and thi, allow the safe, dignified return of refugees to their area of origins. they: our reporter is near

border of bangladesh. she joined us with more on thee didiplomaticesespons >> the diplomatic way still seems to be as blocked as ever, as you mentioned, on thursday. the un security council held a meeting, the first one, in fact, on burma since 2009. in that meeting, the representative denied all deadly operations that are ongoing in the state. meanwhile, the u.s. representative nikki haley called on individuals from the thermese military involved in deadly campaign to be prosecuted. she also called on the community to call an arms embargo on the country. it must be noted that today the only country that continues to israel,pons to burma is a close ally of the united states. guterres of antonio

are particularly strong, as he is a man who understands the difficulties on the ground and is talking about. his words are very strong, however on the side of berman, i i said before -- burma, as said before, there is a radio silence. no word from the country's de facto leader, and in fact on thursday, an internationalal diplomatic team was meant to visit the state for the first time since the august 25 attack and the deadly crackdown since then. however, that team, once they arrived at the airport, were blocked by burmese authorities, who went back on their word, problemsrong weather for not sendgg them there. we do nott know w exactly what s going onon as a plomomatic solution has not proved to be working. molly: as you just mentioned in

this latest crisis, it began in august, the end of august. and people are still arriving in the region you are in. what are they telling you? >> there are rumorors right now that the burmese army is actually cracking down on different parts of the state right now, sending other rowing guy that had not been affected rohingya fleeing across the border. half of the rohingya population of the state has fled the country, which is an enormous figure. they are joining about 400,000 other people. that crossing is not very long, but is extremely dangerous, especially given the weather here, the monsoon season is continuing. on thursday, we were in the area

of the island in the middle of the river that separates bangladesh from burma, technically in bangladesh. we have refugees leaving at night, crossing at night to the island and making their way to safety in bangladesh. however, because of the monsoons the weather conditions are very rough. as you said in your introduction, a boat capsized with about 130 people on board. the u.n. is now saying 60 people have been confirmed dead from that disaster. that disaster is one of many, unfortunately, this is something almostppens to -- here every day, and despite efforts to reduce the number of refugees, like bangladesh recording -- closing the border on august 23, the crisis is ongoing. molly: next, russia is under pressure over its alleged meddling in the u.s. election. congressional investigators are

examining the spread of false news stories across social media during the campaign. facebook has revealed that some 3000 ads were blocked by groups with likely ties to russia. and now it is twitter's turned to show its findings -- turn to show its findings. >> this u.s. senator is not happy with twitter, after the social media platform presented their use of russian operatives on the site to sway the election. the presentation they made today was deeply disappointing. closed-door session, twitter said it found around 200 counseling to russian groups trying to influence the presidential election. -- accounts to russian groups trying to influence the residential election. -- presidential election. for this democratic senatoror fm virginia, this is not scratatchg the surface. >> it shows an unwillingness to

take this threat seriously or a complete lack of [indiscernible] >> the senate committee says they need more answers. they have invited tech giants like facebook, google, and twitter to testify in washington on the ability of social media to sway opinions after the election after thousands of accounts were linked to russian groups. thousandsve there are of twitter accounts, or bots, used to spread misinformation. there is even more junk news found in swing states. >> they serve as a megaphone, entities,imize fringe and on it goes. >> getting to the bottom of how many counts -- accounts have spread misinformation may be difficult for twitter. the site allows viewers to

register anonymously, and critics say it is particularly easy for extremist groups to use as able mourn. rn.ly: next -- as a bullhon molly: one of the 20th century's most influential designers passed away in 2008. here is the story. take a peeko into yves saint laurent's legendary workshop. for the new director, this is much more than a fashion exam. -- museum. >> this is an artist workshop, because we have access to the creator's space and studio. we are o opening up memories in ththe building, which can be fet in the place, the objects, and ththvoices of f those who work here. centers on the

fashion icon's workspace within e 19th century mansion that housed the official you say laurent tellier -- yves saint telier. a in other rooms, some of his most famous pieces are displayed, ine this mondrian dress made 1965, or hisis signature or safi jackets and tax egos, which came to symbolize the male whichpation -- tuxedos, came to symbolize female emancipation in 1960. >> it changed views on women's roles, homosexual rights, and through the lens of the fashion he was also very revolutionary. >> the project to open the neasman -- open the museum was led by the designers partner of 50 years before his death. molly: time for a business

update, we will start off with the head of volkswagen sticking a new hit from the diesel scandal. >> another blow to volkswagen. the german carmaker said they will set aside $2.5 billion back itsbuy retrofitteted diesel cars from u.s. customers. the buyback program as part of a settlement with authorities over its admissions scandal. this is proving to be far more time-consuming. the dieselgate scandal has already cost them over 5 billion euros. molly: european stock -- european stocks appear to be on the best track for the year, banks have been one long -- among the biggest gainers for september. a weakened euro has taken some

pressure off of stocks, especially the dax in germany. molly: the eu digital summit here, a wide range of issues, including the tax crackdown. >> president macron wants to persuade other eu leaders to back his position on new taxation laws. they want companies like google and amazon to pay taxes based on revenue in an eu company -- country. about one dozen members support the plan, but smaller nations are not convinced. the summit is also drawing the host country estonia. the tiny country with a population of 1.3 million is digitallymost advanced societies in the world, especially in the government sector. ♪ >> it may not seem like it, but

estonia is by far the most modern european country when it comes to it ministrations. are online, like paying taxes and setting up your business. for this family, all paperwork is digitized. >> this is a paperwork for a company. we do not have any. >> everything is online. no more bills scattered around the house, no payslips and insurance papers, or tax forms. to find these online, the mother of this family uses her national identity card, protected by two personal codes. this comes on drivers licenses, tax files, and health ininsuran. this all-digital system has

significantly reduced the number of civil servants, with 28 public workers for just over one million citizens. the lowest rate -- onone of the lowest rateses in europe. >> we still have agents because not everyone is able to take care of their business digitally, because they do not have a computer or do not know how to do it. we need officials to handle the more constipated cases that need to be discussed. these measures help save a stack of paper rououghly the height of the eiffel tower every month, and has reduced public spending by 2% of gdp. headlines,ss england's governor mark connie is trying to raise b business rates. his comments on bbc radio, as the latest economic debate shows britain's economy growing at its slowest pace since 2013, and a housing crisis in london falling for the first time in eight years.

theh korea has become latest country to crack down on digital currencies. according to reports, the watchdog sfs has banned initial point offerings -- coin offerings, or icos. china declared the mechanism in legal earlier this month. -- illegal earlier this month. the head ofill meet the london transport system next tuesday. the ride is trying to regain its -- ridesharing company is trying to regain its license to operate. it expires tomorrow, citing a lack of corporate responsibility. and we are shining a spot on nurseries, or kindergartens, quite a headache for morning -- many working parents, but it is difficult in mongolia. >> a baby boom there is pushing

the public education systetem ta breaking point, and parents have to win a lottery to get a spot. this has increased by 60%. the government has not built many new schools since the end of the cold war. teachers are also set up with overcrowded classrooms. they are set to strike twice this month. molly: thank you for our look at the business news. we appreciated. the eiffel tower welcomed its first visitor in 1889, and in since, 300nse, -- million people have climbed france's iron lady. visisited paidst monument in the world, and on thursday, the eiffel tower celebrated another milestone, marking the hundred million visitors. >> it is just awesome. >> so romantic. it is beautififul, warm, friend.

sophisticated. we love it. it is a happy e event. million, it is magical, and this tower is magical. don't you think so? >> some 1500 partygoers were given free entry to the soiree, complete with a drum set, dj -- ♪ -- ad eight romantic romantic flute trio at the summit. the 320 fouour meter tower w was originallyly designed to last oy 2020 years. 120 eight years later, not onony is the eiffel tower ststill standing, but continuing to captivate some 7 million visitors from around the world every year. molly: we will take a short

break, but we will be back with the headlines and the day's top news. stay with us. you are watching france 24. ♪

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