g --enie: this is france 24. spain's political crisis. they have given the catalan president until monday, saying he is ready to suspend the region's political autonomy. at least 23 dead as wildfires in california show no sign of slowing down. hundreds more are still unaccounted for in the fires

that are well on their way to becoming the deadliest in california history. palestinian group hamas says it has reached a deal with its more moderate rival, flattop -- fatah. that would put an end to the decade-long split over gaza. soon to go for-free. more on that in our business update. actressesore unleashing accusations of sexual misconduct against harvey weinstein. first, our top stories, live from paris. ♪ ♪ genie: today is spain's national holiday, but it comes at a time when national unity is a big question in spain. the prime minister has given the regional government in catalonia

eight days to drop its bid for independence. if it does not, the national government says it would take away catalonia's autonomy, , and rule thehe region itself. that comes after catalan president carlos preached among puigdemont p preached independence. the crisis has push more people into the streets of madrid for this national day. normamally, there i ia military p procession attendedy families that would like t to se .isplaysys by parachutists they take their children along. usually, it is fairly unattended, and people are taking the opportunity to boo the prime minister. we have seen none of that. a standings gotten novation.

procession took the crowd to be spanish, and the crowd seemed to have rallied to that. we have also seen surprising unity from the political parties. all the members of the political parties are there, including the austerity party, put a loss -- p odemos. a representative has been sent. that is a party that often is against military processions. a notable absence, as in other years, of the autonomous leaders of the basque region. puigdemontse carles is not there. catalonia has not sent a representative, and we are not surprised this year, given the declaration of independence, the symbolic when you mentioned, and the tension between madrid and the catalan government. genie: sarah, we are in this

limbo period, at least until mondnday. we h have any ideaea on what mit happen? sasara we don''t really. the primime minister has s saidt by m monday carles puiuigdemontt clarify y whether dececlared independence in the pararliamen. afteter that suspension, on the signed a, he declclaration of t the pro-indepependence mp's. he e foreign minister sayays does not think that has any validity because it was not voted for in the catatalan parliament. weweave also h had comments from the defense minister. shshe was a asked, given the amt of troroops in the p procession today ---- she was asked a a question. would d the spanish troops s hao intervene in the catatalan confnflict?? she said she didid not think itt would come to that, but said they are there to protect the spanish constitution. the deadline, of course,

thursday, if the m president -- the catalan president said there is independence. otherwise, article 155 will kick in. wildfires raging across california have left at least 23 dead. they have also destroyed close to 3500 homes. the blazes have been sweeping the northern part of the state for three days now. they are the deadliest in california history. rebecca rossman reports. entire areas in california have been reduced to ash, with thousands of local homes and businesses destroyed. >> that was the kitchen. this area, right here, was the living room. this whole area right here was the living room. the survivors -- some of the roof tiles you say. the fire was so intense it burned andnd melted everything o

basically being unrecognizable. rebecca: n northern california wine country has been one of the worst hit areas, with the city of santa rosa completely decimated. the fires have already burned through 686 square kilometers of rural and urban areas. with the return of strong winds pushing the flames forward, california governor jerry brown warned the worst was yet to come. governor brown: we have had big fires in the past. this is one of the biggest, most serious. it is not over. it is going to cost a lot of money. the presidident has declared a major disaster along with the other ones in texas and florida and elsewhere. this will be tens of billions. rebecca: authorities say the death toll is likely to climb as hundreds are missing. thousands have been left homeless. thousands more have been fast-moving escape fires. president donald trump has declared a major disaster in california and has approved

federal funding to help fight the fires, the deadliest the state has ever seen. rival palestinian factions hamas and fatah have reached a deal over political reconciliation. besides have been at odds since hard-line hamas took control of gaza 10 years ago. last month, hamas agreed to give up its powers in gaza to the more moderate fatah. our jerusalem correspondent has been following this closely and joins us from jerusalem. what more can you tell us? iris: we are all waiting for the press conference with the details, but what we know is this. we know this is a preliminary announcement, because they have issueson the most simple . that is how they will run gaza internally, where they will deal with border control, for example, border crossings. but the most contentious issue -- what will happen to hamas's army -- has not been resolved.

that is awaiting further talks. that means an army of 25,000 people. that is not just a militant group. that is literally an army. one is going to happen with them? fatah says they will have to dismantle. hamas says it does not want to and does not intend to. we have yet to see her for this will go, that this is a preliminary announcement made with great fanfare because it has been a decade. genie: it is true there are still many questions here, what about the plans we have heard so far, things that are more concrete? what are they, and will those succeed? thes: what we have heard at moment, dribbling out from cairo to us, is that within two weeks the border crossing at raqqa will pass from the hands of hamas to the hands of fatah. ,0,000 officials will come in working together inside gaza. within a month, at mahmoud abbas, the palestinian president, the head of fatah,

will return to gaza. he has not been there in a decade. these are signs this is a move far greater than anything we have seen so far in all the previous talks. will this actually reach real fruition? honestly, i can tell you from all the analysts i have spoken to, nobody is willing to put their hands on their hearts and say it is going to succeed this time either. genie: thank you for reporting from jerusalem. the government in kenya has banned protests in the center of three major cities, including the capital, nairobi, after protests broke out yesterday after opposition leader raila odinga said he was pulling out of the rerun of the presidential election. last month, kenya supreme court canceled an apparent victory i the incumbent, kenyatta, in the original vote in august. reporter: tear gas filled the streets of nairobi as kenya sinks deeper into political crisis.

police dispersed hundreds of protesters who came to ask for reforms, and for opposition leader raila odinga. >> next week, we are going to come from monday to monday until they are out of office, or we will not declare him president. he will not impose himself on us. genie: in the odinga stronghold city, several people were injured with clashes with police. day after odinga announced he would not participate in the rerun of presidential election scheduled october 26. the first vote gave the incumbent president a second presidential term, but it was nullified the supreme court for a series of procedural failures. has launchedent the country into uncharted waters. that ought to be expected. what we could not have expected

countries citizens divided in the desire for free and fair elections. reporter: odinga says this froms officials to begin scratch, leaving more time for reform demands to be met. saide electoral commission on wednesday that it had not received a formal notice of his withdrawal and regarded all eight original candidates as still on the slate. u.s., allegations against harvey weinstein have cost him his job and his marriage. his wife, the designer georgina chapman, released a statement saying she was separating from weinstein, the father of her young children. the avalanche of assault accusations against him are only getting worse. movie producer's alleged harassment victims include gwyneth, rosanna arquette, and french actresses.

he flirted and stared at me as if i was a piece of meat. genie: this french actress is one of the latest in hollywood to come publblic with a story of how harvey weinstein tried to sexually assault her. in an article published in the guardian on wednesday, the farther bond star recounts the first time she met weinstein, who insisted she come to his hotel room for a drink under the pretense he was considering her for a film roll. >> he had a lececherous look. he was using his power to get sex. genie: she says she remains disgusted by hollywood complacency. wasveryone knew what harvey up to, and no one did anything. it is unbelievable that he has been able to act like this for decades and keep his career. that is ononly possible e becaue has a huge amount of power. genie: similar stories have cropped up from across the u.s. actressesrom including angelina jolie and gwyneth paltrow. three women accuse weinstein of rape.

modelilippine italian even recorded an encounter as part of a 201015 police sting operation,n, made public. >> at least one minute. go to the bathroom. >> i d don't wawant to do sometg i don't wa t to do. yesterday, youou touched my breasts. >> please come a a. i i am used toto that. come in. >> you are used to that? i am not used to that. of thein light accusations, weinstein was fired from his own film studio on sunday. the academy of motion picture arts and sciences, jurgen i isis the oscars, has sasaid it will e meeting on saturday to discuss the allegations. weinstein denies sexual contact with any women. drill tocosmic fire protect the earth from floating

rocks. nasa has gone ahead with its first drill using g a real asteroid as it fleww past our plplanet. the space organization move the rock was not going to crash into the rock, -- into our planet, but wentnt ahead with the drillo mamake sure warning sysystems we functioning cocorrectly. another test using an asteroid heading harmlessly our way is planned in the next few years. at today'sa look headlines. spain marks its national holiday today, in the midst of one of the country's biggest political crises. theprime minister has given title and president until monday to clarify his position on he is ready, saying to suspend the region's political autonomy. at least 23 dead as wildfires in california show no sign of slowing down. hundreds more are still unaccounted for, and fires that are well under way to becoming the deadliest in california history. hard-line palestinian

group, hamas, says it has reached a deal with its more moderate rival, font. that would put an end to its decade-long split over gaza. news.or our business you are starting with a g growig data cheating scandal involving japan's biggest steelmaker. >> called a steal. the head of the company has apologized for fake inspections data on cars used -- are still used in cars and airplanes. trust in the company has dropped to zero. japanese conglomerate is now reporting the problem might be wider than first thought, with data falsification dating back to 2011. the president has promised to complete an internal investigation within a month and make its findings public. companies around the world, including general motors, toyota, and boeing, are checking whether their products might be affected by the fake data. kobe shares have stabilized

after plummeting for two days. in europe, a mixed picture this thursday as corporate earnings season starts. london's ftse 100 up 0.2%. down, and dax below the flat line. genie: a fourth round of nafta trade talks off to a rocky start. yuka: rocky indeed. u.s. president donald trump said ongh negotiations lie ahead the north american free trade agreement. he says that he might strike a bilateral deal with canada or with mexico if a three-way deal is not possible. donald has called nafta a job killer, a disaster. on wednesday, he added a few other words to describe how he feels about this and other u.s. trade deals. president trump: i am right now renegotiating trade deals that are so her and so one-sided, and so embarrassing for our country

that you would say, "why on earth would anybody have signed a deal like that?" trumps problem with nafta -- critics say it has sent hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs to mexico. they also say it is the reason the u.s. deficit with mexico has 60 $4 billion. to reverse the trend, the u.s. president wants to force new auto, imposing more content production in the u.s., shifting government contracts to u.s. companies, , and renegotiating nafta every five years -- demands canada and mexico believed were too tough and could jeopardize the deal. obviously, there e are prproposals we disagree with, tt these are negotiations, and we stayed in good faith on them, putting forward things we thought would benefit not just canadian w workers, but the ente

north american economy. nafta has exploded trade. it has benefited millions, including in the u.s., where manufacturers depend on canadian and mexican supplies. farmers heavily depend on the mexican market, and consumers have enjoyed lower prices thanks to the pact. business headlines -- the disgraced chairman of samsung returns to court to try to have his five-year prison sentence overturned. he was convicted in august of offering massive bribes t to the former presidedent in return for bubusiness favors. this was the first hearing by south korea's appeals court. lawyers argue that a note written by the former aid of the ousted president should not have been accepted as president. there is a deal to buy a large part of air berlin, germany second-biggest carrier that is now bankrupt.

up 81 ofne will snap air berlin's 144 aircraft and take on 3000 employees. the deal has sparked controversy, with the german government facing accusations it helped steer the process with plans to make lufthansa a dominant force in the e.u. aviation market. the owner of unique low -- uni net profit has hit an annual record. it came in at one billion dollars thanks to strong sales and a weaker yen. the retailer says sales are particularly strong at foreign outlets including in china. genie: staying with the fashion theme, gucci is going fur-free. next year, the italian fashion house says it will stop using animal for in its designs. it has paraded models and pastious mink coats in the

and line shoes with kangaroo far. the brand is joining fashion houses looking at alternatives after coming under pressure from animal rights groups and changing consumer tastes. the company says it will sell off remaining for-based products in a charity auction. genie: thank you for that look at business. now time for the press review. alison sargent joins me on set to look at what the papers are talking about today. lots of focus still on these charges against harvey weinstein that continue to grow. alison: one of the latest is ,rom french actress lea sedou known as "blue is the warmest color," and a recent bond girl. she has written an editorial describing her experience with harvey weinstein. she said it did not take her long to figure him out -- he flirted and stared at her like

she was a piece of meat. things got out of hand when he invited her to his room for a drink. she says he jumped on her and she had to physically fight him off. talks about the misogynistic culture of the film industry, which she says is based on desirable actresses. she says men need to get rid of this expectation that those desires are going to be fulfilled. genie: france is a country with its own history of sex scandals, with the media here comparing harvey weinstein to a prominent wrench politician. alison: this is dominic strikes con -- dominique strauss-kahn, dsk. he might have become the president if it were not for allegations he sexually assaulted a made in a hotel in new york a couple of years back. parisienne" is comparing the two, talking about of sex scandal at the heart

cinema. weinstein had a reputation for harassment even though no one said anything publicly. they say festival goers in can nes used to call him "the pig." you can see this drawing. weinsteining harvey for his autograph, and telling him, "you are my idol." genie: in the united states, and this has caused a political scandal as well. alison: the republicans have been gleeful about this scandal coming out, because harvey weinstein is a prominent liberal figure from the left. he donated a lot of money to hillary clinton's campaign. she said she is going to give that money to charities in light of the allegations. republicans have been accusing democrats of not being quick to denounce him. democrats point out there is hypocrisy in this, as you can see in this cartoon in "the washington post." the republican elephant is democratic donkey,

admit the movie mogul is as much a pig as the president. it seems sexual assault is the only bipartisan issue in washington, as you can see in this other campaign from "usa today." you have the wandering hands of weinstein, wiener, and clinton on the left, and roger ailes, bill o'reilly, and donald trump on the right. this is what it looks like to reach across the tile -- aisle. genie: another story related to sexual assault, this one in india. the supreme court ruled that if married men have sex with child brides, it counts as rape. alison: this is a landmark ruling in india. 18,age of consent there is which means any sex involving those under 18 is considered rape. that there had existed a loophole that if miners were married it was not considered rape. says theo stand times" court did what it should have a long time ago "-- "the hindustan

times" says the court did what it should have a long time ago. many women were married before the age of 18. genie: "the times of india" has a different take. alison: they think the age of consent is unreasonably high and should be lowered back down to 16. otherwise, they are worried this law -- this ruling -- could be used to harass teenagers who are having consensual sex with each other. many rights groups argue the real aim of this ruling yesterday was to fight against child marriages, which are still largely accepted in indian society. it is worth noting this decision came yesterday, the international day of the girl child. anotherhere was interesting decision that had to do with girls, in the u.s.. the boy scouts announce they will be accepting girls. alison: this is the latest in a series of decisions to open up and become more accepting two different people -- diversity in their ranks. they already accepted -- in the

past few years, they have welcomed gay boy scouts as well as gay boy scout leaders. not everyone is pleased about the latest decision to include girls -- notably, the girl scouts. viewers,on-american this is not the girl version of the boy scouts. this is a separate organization. they released a statement. they say girl scouts is the girl leadership expert, and they argue that the benefits of a single gender environment have been well documented by educators and other organizations serving girls. this statement does not directly mention the boy scouts, but the message is pretty clear. slate reports that this feud between the girl scouts and the boy scouts has been building for quite a while, and is at an all-time high. both organizations have seen enrollment levels going down and are looking for ways to boost membership. maybe the girl scouts should open up to boys. all about the girl scout cookies. alison sargent there, with that look at what the papers have

been saying. to get a closer look at the press review, you could check out our website. that address, france24.com. is reeling from the worst mass shooting and its history, we look at gun control laws here in france. that is in the next french connections, coming up.

generation [music playing] [maan singing g in foreign language] sami: senegal was one of the focal points of the slave trade. those that lost their freedom came here e across the oceansns, and their r music came with them. rap, rock, blues, jazz. everyththg we listen to these days had its start right here in west africa. it's not an aggerationon to say that "sound tracker" has taken a trip to the cradle of western music. [speaks foreign language] [man singing in foreign