♪ >> hello and welcome to live from paris. 1:00 p.m. in the french capital. let's look at what is making headlines this hour. spanish prosecutors say they will be seeking charges over sedition and invnvestment over carles puigdemont. latest in a few minutes. the kenyan electoral commission says it will not hold a view run

of voting pay this as the nation waits for the official presidential results. the french state will begin their summing up against the two alleged -- we will be talking to our reporter, who is on the scene, covering that. our top story, the spanish government says that carles puigdemont could be jailed in regiont in the n's decoration of independence. this coming after thousands took

to the streets to call for spanish unity. in the last half, spanish prosecutors say they will be seeking charges of rebellion, sedition, and embezzlement against carles puigdemont and his cabinet officials. let's speak to correspondent sarah morris. the state prosecutor having given a press conference, what was said? >> that is right. the chief prosecutor said that carlos lee want -- carlos puigdemont and his cabinet and face who helped could sedition, rebellion, and embezzlement charges. the rebellion charges particularly serious, because they carry a prison sentence of 30 years. mr. masters as a fair decision and actions throughout the last two years, they have caused an thattutional crisis culminated in the unilateral

declaration of independence at the catalan parliament. he has called for carlos puigdemont to testify. there will be two courts dealing with those charges, depending on whether the members who were accused have legal protection or not. this act members of the government will -- in the sacked members of the government will go to the spanish high court. the speaker of the catalan parliament still has a certain degree of legal section as a member of parliament, although, as we know, the spanish government has actually dissolved that parliament and called elections for december 21. >> at this point, do we have any idea of carlos puigdemont's whereabouts? has been asking that question. i am actually outside the government parliament here. that would be where carlos puigdemont's office was to we have not seen him go into the

building. there are side entrances. but no one has seen him go into the building. sources closest to the ex-president have been quoted in spanish media saying he has not actually turned up for the office. we had down earlier this morning, because he sent out a photograph of the government palace on instagram, and the implication, of course, was he had defied the order of my trade gone in for a normal day of work -- the order of madrid and gone in for a normal day of work. >> just how successful is madr id? handover hashe been successful at the moment. the catalan police following orders, and we have not seen any difficulty in stopping ministers and handling order in madrd. adrid.nk you -- m >> thank you.

the kenyan el toro commission announced they will not hold a rerun of voting in a number of opposition strongholds. this as the country awaits the official presidential results, expected to be released in the next hour or so. bloodshed is growing after violent battles between ethnic groups. let's take a listen to what an a la tour old commission officer -- elect oral commission officer had to say earlier. in act three of the election act -- the election shall not be affected by voting in the electoral where the election was put forward. advice for thes

announcement of the results, a declaration will be at 3:30 p.m. today. >> to washington now. the investigation into russian interference in last year's presidential election in the u.s. has heated up with reports that one person has been charged. however, it is not clear what the charges are about whom they are targeting. this as trop and the white house insists there is no collusion between his presidential campaign and moscow. >> washington is holding its breath amid expectations that the pressure investigation may soon lead to its very first arrest. friday, a federal grand jury approved the first charges in a probe led by special counsel robert mueller. as of yet, there is no indication as to who may be indicted and what the specific charges may be. firedhe weekend, trump off a series of tweets about russia.

however, he urged investigators to focus on his former democratic rival, hillary clinton. as democrats are using this a witchhunt for evil politics. there is so much killed by mocrats anand clinton, , t the facts are pouring out. do something. >> t trump's lawyer says these tweets are unrelated to the activities of special counsel robert mueller. u.s. intelligence agencies concluded i in general are that russia had tried to influence the election to benefit trump. the current department of justice investigation aims to conclude if there was collusion between moscow and the trop campaign. the president has repeatedly could size the investigation and deflected allegations away from him and towards hillary clinton. >> in new york -- here in france, the lawyer for the french state has finished the arguments against mohamed merah.

brother abdelkader merah is accused of stealing is good involved in the attack. he is also accused of giving merah a weapon. what do we expected here from the prosecution this afternoon? the hearings have been going on now for the last four weeks. the trial is beginning to draw to a close. from the state prosecutor, we expect her to make her closing arguments this monday afternoon and make her request for recommendations to the judge as to what punishment she believes he should hand down to abdelkad er merah. and the prosecution lawyers for the civil party, the victims' families, have been

trying to portray abdelkader oneh as the director, lawyer saying he was the head of the operation, while his younger brother, mohamed merah, was the on that carried it out. sameed merah's lawyer is as here in france. his job is to discredit that portrayal of his client. he says his client was not a religious fanatic, and that there is not enough material evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt that his client was an accomplice. >> what arguments have been outlined so far from either side in this crucial case? this morning, we heard the closing arguments from those civil party lawyers. one of them said something that was quite interesting. he said it was like an impressionist painting, when you get up close. you cannot really work out what is going on.

but when you step back, look at the facts and the guild becomes visible. what he was trying to say was that abdelkader merah did everything he could to try to cover his tracks and hide any involvement in the operation. he says that is something that abdelkader merah, to a certain that, been able to do quite well. for instance, the brothers met several times before a and durig the days that mohamed merah carried out the attacks in an nearby to loose -- toulouse. the brothers met, but there were no phone records that showed that happened, despite the fact the brothers live 38 kilometers away from each other. that was evidence of abdelkader merah's attempt to cover his tracks. we will hear tomorrow the closing arguments from abdelkader merah's lawyer. we expect the jerry to meet on

thursday -- the jerry to me on thursday -- the jury to meet th ursday. -- french newspapers reported that a woman filed a complaint professorprominent for allegations of rape in 2009. this follows another woman saying that she was assaulted by him in 2012. >> he kissed me forcefully and immediately. i admit that i let that happen. a few seconds later, he literally jumped on me, like an animal. breathe. have time to i was underneath him. i immediately said, "no, this is moving too fast, please stop." the more i said no, the angrier he got. so he hit me. then, he strangled me, for a few seconds, i was gasping for

breath. i really thought i was going to die. then, he raped me. i was sure that if i cap -- kept pushing him away, he would kill me. terry gou ramadan have been denied those allegations. and he reports say prime minister theresa may will sack cabinet ministers if they are proven guilty of sexual harassment. this as a growing list of mp's accused of sexual harassment reportedly being circulated. asked toister may was -- stigate women in saudi arabia have just been granted the right to view live sporting events at stadiums. it is a small step in the right direction for the ultraconservative kingdom, renowned for its rigid

interpretations of islamic law. >> in saudi arabia, women are banned from playing sports. but the government has now decided that they will be allowed to attend events. the ultraconservative kingdom announced that they will let women into certain sports stadiums in the country after having made an exception on the last national holiday. starting the preparation of three stadiums to be ready to accommodate families from early 2018. besaudi women will only allowed in these three stadiums and will still need the authorization of the male relatives to attend matches. this comes after women were granted the right to drive last vote and the right to three years ago by the crown prinince, who is seeeen as a reformer. >> we want to go back to modernism, tolerance, openness

to the world and other religions. >> although "reformer" is a relative term when it comes to women's rights in saudi arabia. they still need permission from a man to open a bank account, apply for a passport, or undergo surgery. reminder of what is making news this hour -- spanish prosecutors say they will be seeking charges of rebellion, citation, and embezzlement against ousted catalan leader carlos puigdemont antares cabinet officials. the canyon electoral commission says they will not hold a rerun of voting in a number of opposition strongholds. the as the country awaits official presidential results, expected to be released this afternoon. lawyers for the french state begin their summing up in the case against two alleges a couple says of mohamed merah. accompbul says of -- lices of mohamed merah.

we begin input arrigo, where a lucrative contract to rebuild the electricity system has been canceled in frederico -- puerto rico. rico's government is ending a $300 million contract. company has only two permanent empmployees and no experience with a job of such magnitude. it does, however, share a hometown and personal and actions with the u.s. secretary of the interior, ryan zinke. in one of its financial backers to trumped thousands and other republicans. whwhefish says they are disappointed. that there was nothing illegal about it. here is the head of the island's power company. >> our contract is being

evaluated, and our procedures are being evaluated. i have been called by their united states congress to answer questions in person. we are called the carss we are sure everything was done according to procedure and the law. >> time for a check on the markets. the european indexes mixed the investors looking ahead to see who will be donald trump's picked for the next chair of the federal reserve. , liketocks doing well amazon and alphabet. the ftse 100 down one quarter of a percent. 1%.fang for docs up 1/10 of a bright spot is the ibex index in madrid. a weekend poll showed support catalan's independent

is weakening. revenue -- profits rose up to $4.1 billion on a revenue boost. the company credits a corporate overhaul in that winning more asia business for the jump. fittendo says its net pro is up. strong orders for its switch hybrid gaming console and new game releases help it -- helped it. full-yearpped its physical forecast 89 present. fromet agreed to by assets bankrupt air berlin. it would take over air berlin landing spots as well as leases airbus -- airf berlin's airbus jets.

seeking millions of dollars as a struggles with an economic scandal. product specifications had been falsified across a wide range of its products. the company lost roughly 1.5 million -- $1.5 billion in market value. finally, halloween is nearly upon us. in the land of brexit, looks like a holiday built on here is back from the dead -- on fear is back from the dead. >> for this costume shop, halloween is the season to be happy. staff say annual sales are booming things to halloween's growing popularity in the u.k. >> it has gotten bigger since i have been working here. and i have been working here 18 years on and off. beever thought it could busier, but it literally got busier and busier. >> the british will spend 320

million pounds, or 360 million euros, on halloween. that is up 3.2% compared to last year. in the last week of october, exceededel's turnover 364,000 euros, with millennials said to be the biggest spenders. 60% of that demographic slashed out on halloween. for some, dressing up is a way to escape a bleak world. >> it is not looking great in the world right now, but this is a chance to have fun. >> trick-or-treating this year will not just be a strain on the wallet. angel's expects 200,000 visitors with queues up to one hour during peak periods. >> what would be your ideal halloween costume? >> as an american, i appreciate the hybrid and topical ones.

donald trump combined with pennywise, the clown from "it." rather frightening. >> good to know. update fromday's the business desk. time for the press review. having spent most of the morning breaking down the major stories no surprise here, a log of reaction from the pro-unity demonstrations in barcelona. >> there are a lot of differing opinions. let's look at the front page of "el mundo," which has a bit of a sarcastic headline. ,nother paper, a catalog paper

which is not necessarily close to the independence movement, claims they will definitely vote in december. december's regional elections called by madrid. it is the latest in the standoff between the kettle on leader, carlos puigdemont, and roughly -- rajoy. there a iconic images, no doubt. now a catalan paper is urging people to go out and vote in the snap regional elections. but its a catalan paper is close to the independent movement. go out and vote, because for them, not being present would condemn the independence movement to be semi-clandestine . a is a different story from spanish daily. the paper rejoices at how many

people turned out for the pro-unity marches in barcelona yesterday. the paper says never again will the independence movement -- the political process of independence be usurped. yesterday showed the desire for independence is not unanimous among catalan. >> "le parisien" is looking at against aations prominent islamic intellectual. there has been a lot of focus on this. >> it is on the front page of "le parisien" -- the vice tightens. the paper says that testimony paints a picture of "true predators." in fact, one of the alleged victims has given an interview moree parisien," a form

office woman. she says she was allegedly raped in a parisian hotel in 2012. this after he allegedly reprimanded her for no longer wearing the islamic headscarf and wearing makeup. she says the twitter movement against sexual harassment gave out.he courage to speak onetaying on that topic, story trading is that the story whot after kevin spacey, has apologized for sexually assaulting a child after some 30 years ago. >> this is pretty shocking. kevin spacey, of "house of nots," he says he does actually remember the encounter, but he has apologized to the actor, who says that spacey made sexual advances towards him 30

years ago. the actor spoke to buzz feed about the trauma, saying it was the recent #metoo twitter movement that encouraged him to speak out about his own encounters with sexual abuse. on twitter, you see support for anthony rapp. sarcastically that in the process, kevin spacey came out as homosexual. there is also a chatter at the moment for him to comment during -- come out during this scandal. >> a photograph of a woman who was cycling nearby when donald trump's motorcade passed became viral. this is when he was on his way to virginia -- his virginia golf club. >> he was actually on his way out when the woman flipped the

bird twice. it was captured for posterity. vulgarst" says this gesture is a somewhat historical right of passage. threwqi reporter famously his issues, the ultimate insult, at president george w. bush. >> in paris, a new type of cafe is hitting france, and it is proven to be a hit. "cafe" kind of goes hand in hand. now, the anti-cafe is allowing you to do the same thing without having the guild of not reordering. the idea is you can have coffee, nonalcoholic beverages -- the catch is you pay five euros an hour. you are charged with how much time you spend in the cafe.

it seems to be a hit, because they are opening their ninth half a in france. you can squat in this cafe all day long without the pressure of reordering. the concept is kind of catching on to other sectors as well. gyms, even some hotels allow individuals needing a couple of hours privacy during the day to rent a room. --it is an interesting image thanks for that. if you want to look at the stories we had been discussing here, you can also head to our website, that of course being france24.com. that is it for this edition. andll be back for more news headlines after a short break. please they with us here on france 24. ---- please stayay with us heren france 24.

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