genie: welcome to live from paris on france 24. i'm genie godula. here at the top stories. the situation still tends in symbolic boy with the military holding president robert mugabe under house arrest. south africa has sent an envoy to try and discuss -- defuse the crisis. the saudi foreign minister says it is up to the resigned lebanese prime minister to decide when he's going back to his home country. earlier thised

month and many say he is still being held against his will. the supreme court in cambodia dissolved the country's main opposition. the head of that court is a member of the prime minister's ruling party. up in business, we will take a look at how donald trump's victory speech about business deals in asia was waterd by an awkward break. and we'll take a closer look at the most expensive piece of art ever sold at auction. more on that on the way. first, our top story live from paris. ♪ we will start first in zimbabwe, where things are tense . the military is still holding longtime leader robert mugabe under house arrest. the african union says the move

has all the elements of a coup, but the military has said it is just cracking down on "criminals." it is a power struggle over who might replace the 90-year-old president. calm a day after the military took control to go after what it calls criminals around the president. [inaudible] it's business as usual. we are still very much fine. >> uncertainty is the order of the day despite holding present robert mugabe and his wife under house arrest. the military has done little to prevent light from going on and urged people to continue going to work.

mugabe set off a political crisis when he sacked his vice president, emmerson mnangagwa, last week, seemingly clearing the way for his wife gracemugabl crisis when he sacked his vice to take his place. despite consolidating her own power with mugabe's youth wing, she's not popular with many zimbabweans for her lavish spending. and the head of the youth wing walked back criticism he made of the mililitary days before. >> please accept my apologies on behalf of the youth league and myself. we are young people. we are still going up. we learn from our mistakes. from this mistake we have learned a lot. >> the zimbabwean opposition has called zanu-pf and unsustainable system and groups have insisted mugabe stepped down. it's not clear exactly what the military has in store for him. for now it begs the question if the world's oldest head of state may finally see an end to his 37 years of rule. genie: for the latest on the situation in harare, let's bring

in oliver matthews. have we heard anything more today from robert mugabe himself or anything about any kind negotiations that might be underway? no, we have had very little detail but a lot of speculation. on the one hand we have heard the president mugabe is refusing to step down and insisting t tht the army agree that what they have done is illegal. he has always maintained that he can only be removed by his party . on the other hand we are getting reports that he is going to stsp down and h hand overowower to hs ex vice president, emmerson mnangagwa. and that he's planning a transitional government that could include the main opposition leader. and the vice president who was expelled from zanu-pf in very similar circumstances to mnangagwa back in 2014.

we have also heard that president mugabe's roman catholic priest, a close friend and confidant of mugabe, is involved in negotiations for some sort of a settlement. in the meantime we are expecting a press conference today. and maybe a statement on what's going on. the militaryto takeover. he only got bacack into thehe country fromom south africica we he has b been receivingg mededil treatment. we think he might confirm whether or not he would agree to some kind of deal with whoever takes over from mugabe. genie: you are in harare. what is the feeling like on the streets? does it feel as if a coup has actually taken place? units are still on the

streets. but otherwise things feel normal. supermarkets are stocked and busy. there is traffic on the roads. it also seems to be calm in other cities around the country. the u.k. and the u.s. embassies have both issued warnings again today saying the political situation remains uncertain and have urged nationals to exercise caution.n. the u.s. embassy has said it is deeply concerned about the military action. they have also been unverified video circulating on social said to be the damaged homes of three of the cabinet ministers who were reportedly rounded up by the military and detained on tuesday night. these are ministers who were close to grace mugabe. the footage shows in one case bloodstains in the house of one of the ministers.

from at was reportedly security guard who was shot. and there are bullet holes and shattered windows and broken doors. you've got this contrast between a semblance of peace on the streets but also these very dramatic pictures that are circulating on social media. genie: oliver matthews reporting from harare in zimbabwe. in afghanistan, a suicide bomb blast that went off near a gathering of supporters of an influential regional leader in kabul. it is not clear if the politician himself was at the meeting at the time of the blast. we know at least nine people were killed and many more were hurt in the attack that has been claimed by the islamic state group. saudi arabia's foreign minister has rejected accusations his country is holding the lebanese prime minister against his will. , who resigned

earlier this month, is free to leave when he wants. many say hariri was being held in s saudi arabia against his will. the foreign minister m made thoe cocomments tododay alongside his french couounterpart to try anad sort out thehe crisis. saad hariri announced his resignation from saudi arabia and has not been back to lebanon since. he has accepted an invitation from france to come to paris in the next few days. the lebanese president has said ont hariri willll be in paris saturday before finally heading back to beirut. hariri, who i will be seeing a bit later, has been invited to france with his family by president macron. they will come to france when they want and as soon as they want and they will be welcomed as friends. >> the prime minister is living

in saudi arabia in complete freedom. he has handed in his resignation. as far as his return to lebanon is concerned, that is up to him. many analysts say the crisis in lebanon is just a proxy war between saudi arabia and iran that backs hezbollah. our chief foreign editor, robert parsons, told us more. >> has a lot has never made any secret of the fact that it gets a lot of it supplies and training from iran. ideology is closely linked with the iranian government. it has become its proxy in the middle east. it fought alongside iranian revolutionary guards in syria. it supported the syrian government in the conflict that is ongoing in syria. the suspicion remains that iran hezbollahnue to use

as a proxy come particularly now as iran is in a much strengthened position following the conflicts in iraq and syria. it wants to establish a lasting corridor between itself and the mediterranean. iranis not a moment when is going to say, ok, we think the situation has gone too far in lebanon. hezbollah has become too strong. on the contrary, iran is extremely happy for hezbollah to be in the position of strength it is at the moment and will continue to support hezbollah's efforts to strengthen itself. as a proxy come particularly now as iran is in aparticularly in o israel. you, we see the french foreign minister. lebanon is a former french colony. france has invited the hariri family. does france have a real role to play here? can they truly help in any way? >> i think france does have a role to play. in facilitating dialogue. when it comes to real hard-core

politics in lebanon however, there are really two players. iran on the one hand and saudi arabia on the other. the big fear of course and this is what france is trying to prevent is lebanon will simply become a proxy for the conflict between iran and saudi arabia. if france can do something by talking to both the iranians and the saudi's and engaging with those in lebanon as well, perhaps persuading hariri to go back, of course france has a role to play. everybody at the moment is in search of someone, a diplomatic player who c c facilitatate conversation. at the moment we are very far from it. genie: robert parsons speaking to me earlier today. in cambodia, the supreme court has dissolved the country's main opposition party and band more than 100 of its politicians for the next five years.

that ruling has been blasted by rights groups that call it the death of the nation's democracy. the government had asked the court to dissolve the cambodia national rescue party that was the only opposition party that had a fighting chance of breaking the authoritarian prime minister's 32 year grip on power. the cambodian prime minister himself says elections will still take place as normal next year. a regional correspondent explains. the court'sre decision, authorities hahad deployeded forces around ththe s to block accccess to the s supre court.t. made it very cleaear the o oosition wowould be didissolved. the leader of f the opposititio, the cnrp, is already behind bars on charges of treason and espionage. the opopposition is accusedd of trying to overthrow the government and that's why it is being g dissolved. sen has always

said he has been the man for peace and stability. he has been cracking down on opposition, ngos and independent media outlets. o serissacac contenders in the ming electiononin july. the supreme urt's decisiono dissve the oositio pty is a serious blow to democracy in cambodia and f for all those who support a multiparty system in cambodia. greece is marking a day of national mourning after flash floods in athens left at least 14 people dead. roads in and around the capital turned into rivers of mud, sweeping away cars and buildings. the torrents crashed into the city, flipping over cars and trucks, ravaging homes and turning roads into rivers of mud. , only floodwater receded

chaos and destruction remained. the, not a soon on river. it brought absolute destruction. a biblical catastrophe. >> a few hours later, residents began to return to their homes only to find everything covered in mud and debris. >> the bathroom, the bedroom. everything was swept away. the closet, the bed. everything. this has never happened in all the years i've been here and i've lived here my whole life. the flooding came after a severe overnight storm rocked the athens region. the great capital and several nearby towns were hit, that it was mandra that bore the brunt of the destruction. several people were killed in the flash floods and the death toll is expected to rise as rescue operations are under way. prime minister alexis tsipras called for a day of national mourning to be held on thursday.

>> i want to express my deep sadness and my sincere condolences to the families of the victims. we will stand by them with all the means we have at our disposal. >> firefighters and rescue services in the wider athens area remain on high alert as more torrential rain and floods are expected on thursday. genie: a painting believed to be by leonardo da vinci has been sold at auction in new york for $450 million. the sale at christie's broke the record for the highest price ever paid for a single piece of art. salvator mundi has been hailed as the last and the lost da vinci. it's one of fewer t than 20 da vinci paintings in existence and there are still murmurs that it might not even be a real da vinci after all. alex jennings has more. >> salvator mundi selling here at christie's, $400 million. here's the bidid and the piece s sold.

>> 18 minutes of frenzied bidding is all it took. >> 120, not yours. million dollars with taxes at christie's auction house in new york. a record-breaking art sale. until now the highest price ever paid for a piece of art was $300 million. salvatorda vinci's mundi or savior of the world has beenen dated back k to the year0 anisis the last da v vci paintiting in the hands of a private collector. fewer than 20 paiings in existence, there have b been -- around its origins. it was sold for $60, believed to have been painted by one of da vinci's followers. say past --to lackeded glamour or pumpmp. -- the russian alien there. -- the russian billionaire --

sold for was first $60. that is certainly a good investment. time for our business update. you are going to start in sin ball boy -- zimbabwe. the leader who has been in power for almost four decades has been widely criticized for bringing zimbabwe's economy to its knees. >> it was once known as africa's breadbasket because it is rich in natural resources and has all-around weather conditions seasonable for farming. robert mugabe's economic reforms , particularly the decision to confiscate farmland owned by white people, ruined the farm sector. the nation with the wealth of natural resources and high levels of poverty and natural debt t -- national debt.

for 2011t estimate suggests that as much as 72.3% of the population lives below the national poverty line. this would mean around 10 million people in the country are suffering and the gdp per $1009 inood at only 2016. there are fears the zimbabwean economy could return to the bad old days of 10 years ago. inflation is on the rise again. in the crisis of 2007 and 2008, it could take billions of zimbabwean dollars just to buy a loaf of bread. 1 100 reached 23,000,000,000% in 2000 eight. at one point prices were doubling every single day. zimbabwean people suffered the most and there was a widespread famine. the economy mostly switched to using the u.s. dollar, which proved to stabilize the monetary situation for a while. now there is a shortage of u.s.

dollars and inflation is rising again. for the 93-year-old robert mugabe, his iron grip on zimbabwe may be loosening. the economic situation might not go away with him. genie: new data shows overseas investment has fallen sharply in china. outbounds direct investment has dropped almost 41% in the first 10 months of this year compared with the same period last year. overseas invesestment hasas faln sharply since the government implemented strict controls of capital l aving the e country. beijing g wants toto limit investment on property, hotels, sports clubs and entertainment. genie: how are the markets doing today? >> global markets rebounding this thursday. here in europe, shares recovered ground today. breaking a seven-day decline. gkn after shares of

the man appointed as the next ceo steps down before taking the job. unemployment in france rose slightly in the third quarter of this year. the jobless rate was at 9.4% in metropolitan france and 9.7% in overseas territories included. president eminem macron has placed labor reforms at the core ofof his policicy to tacklee unemployment by making hiring and firing easier. angola's president has sacked his predececsor's s daughter ass head of the state oil company. it is -- she is africa's richest wowoman with an estimated persol fortune of 2.8 billion euro's. -- surprise move is seen as clear out the legacy of the controversial former president. errytruction of a new mega f has started in western france. the ship is built by an italian

company. it canone meters long, carry 80,000 people. it will be the largest passenger ferry in europe. genie: you've got some news about u.s. president donald trump, who had some problems with a dry mouth recently. >> he made a speech praising himself for the success of his 12 day tour of asia. it's not what he said but how he repeatedly reached for water during the speech that caused people's attentions -- caught people's attention. >> japanese companies have announced investments in the united states worth more than $8 billion. 17,000 jobs. thank you. they don't have water. that's ok. what? u.s. media showed this

awkward moment over and over, particularly because trump himself mocked his rival marco rubio for drinking water on screen during the presidential campaign, calling him a choke artist. in a tweet, he offered some advice to the president. genie: thank you for that. it's now time for our press review. >> many papers focusing on the crisis in zimbabwe with this takeover and the unexpected ousting of robert mugabe. very unexpected. it's making the front pages of a lot of papers today. let's look at a south african paper. on their front page, they say it's over, grace. a message to grace mugabe who

was widely believed to have been groomed by robert mugabe to take over. the guardian says, four decades that mugabe ruled and he ruled like a medieval monarch using corruption and coalition to stay in power. amidst the confusion, zimbabwe's capital is calm but tense. genie: what happens next? >> this is what the mail and guardian is asking. there has never been an independent zimbabwe without mugabe as its head and many people in zimbabwe have never known anything else but him. even if his arch emesis -- nemesis emmerson mnangagwa becomes president, he won't be a departure from the status quo. the mail and guardian reminds us that he was mugabe's enforcer in chief for a long time and he did oversee the 1983 massacres that killed over 20,000 people.

boris foreign secretary has also published an article in the british daily, the telegraph, in which he says there is a path ahead that offers hope. johnson says zimbabwe has the opportunity to forge a new future if politicians there sees the opportunity. genie: let's move on to rugby with friends when its bid to host the 2023 world cup. >> france is jubilant. the french sports paper says it's a return of the french flair. france has become the world champion of hosting candidacies. this rugby bid comes to months after the olympic bid for 2024 which was a success. france will host the riders cup golf tournament in 2018 and the women's football world cup in 2019. a cost foromes at two other contenders, ireland and south africa. >> that's right. a lot of heartbreak in ireland

and south africa. south africa were widely believed to have been the unofficial winners of that bid. for the irish examiner, the outcome has undermined the sports credibility and integrity. rugby officials boast of the transparency of the process, yet the boat was done in secret. old boys network's and political favors are the currency that sports still bids in. the other losing contender, ireland, it's a real shame because ireland would have at least thrown a world cup party so entertaining it would have blown the doors off almost any other sporting event. if not for anything but the party we could have had in ireland. rugby's integrity is a big loser. dosh appears to have trumped everything else. the climate change conference is going on in germany and scientists have issued another warning that is

really, really dire. >> i feel like every time it gets even more dire. get isbsite engad reporting 15,000 scientists have penned a letter. it comes 25 years after the first letter penned by a group of scientists warning of the effects that things like pollution and global warming was doing to the environment. 25 years later they have reissued that letter explaining that it is even more dire than ever before and soon it will be too late to shift course away from our failing trajectory. , thenot yet too late scientists say. they have outlined thinks we can do like creating more nature reserves and putting economic policies in place to change the way we consume. genie: let's end with people magazine's sexiest man alive. that's more than raising eyebrows. >> usually it should raise

heartbeats. blake shelton is people's sexiest man alive. for the daily beast, he has come under fire in the past for homophobic live for,

then? ? to go to wor muusi [music playing, dogowowling