♪ >> this is "france 24". former international football weah is being sworn in as the new president of liberia. the u.s. government shutdown continues ahead of a senate vote at noon they could get things running. thousands of federal workers are forced to stay home.

guards strike across the country. the latest in the government showdown over staff levels and violence they say is spiraling out of control. also coming up, 82% of all wealth generated last year went to the richest 1% while the poorest half of the global population saw no increase. as the world economic forum kicks off in devils, we will look at the latest report on inequality in business. three billboards outside ebix, missouri" wins big. more on that in our top stories.

this monday, football star george weah will be sworn in as president of liberia after rushing to a sweeping victory last year. he grew up in a slum in monrovia before starting an international career, playing for milan. our reporter went to his childhood home to retrace his roots. thehe sprawling slum on edge of liberia's capital city. it is here that incoming resident george way a was raised. -- weah was raised. nephew now sleeps in the president's former bedroom. >> anything is possible. do not ever look down on yourself. >> his start in life was far from easy. and his knew his father

mother left him here as a baby to be raised by his grandmother and extended family. streets withte the his friends. his aunt remembers him as outgoing. streets withthe his friends. his aunt remembers him as outgoing. >> many friends he used to have. >> today, the children in the slums have better opportunities. he funded a new school in his neighborhood. his friends were surprised when he told them he was seeking the presidency. >> we were shocked. we were good for nothing children. who knew at that time? this is the pitch where he

used to train as a teenager before heading abroad to begin a glittering career in international football. it is coming here they you get a sense of his journey from the poorest slums to the highest office in the land where it -- land. america is waking up to eight new day of government shutdown with thousands of employees not going to work today. that shutdown began midnight friday after republicans and democrats were unable to make a deal on the budget. the senate is expected to try to restore federal funding, with a vote later today. we have the story. >> they're getting closer but still no deal, despite i partisan negotiations lasting late into the evening, senate and democrats failed to vote on a temporary spending bill that would end the shutdown. >> we've had several

conversations but we have yet to reach a path forward. >> the stalemate began on friday. democrats opposed president deport moves to dreamers. bipartisan efforts throughout the weekend have so far failed but republicans struck a hopeful tone. >> the shutdown should stop today. vote thaton have a will allow us to do that. let's step back from the brink. let's stop victimizing the american people and get back to work on their behalf. >> they intend to rally the support by noon on monday, the new deadline for a vote.

then, government employees deemed essential will keep working -- people like the army, and health care professionals. like the irs,, parts of the department of labor, will remain closed. >> u.s. vice president mike pence is sitting down with the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and while he was warmly welcomed by leaders in israel, , he was snubbed b by te palestinians. outrage over president trump's declaration of jerusalem as the capital of israel prompted this. by a honorce was met guard that signifies the warm thetionship between administration and benjamin

netanyahu's administration. what we've heard is it is an honor that the vice president is here. dawn of a newthe era in peacemaking in the middle east. level meetingest since the announcncement by dond trump that he recognizes jerusalem as the capital of israel. on his way here, mike pence went to egypt and jordan, who do not think that was a good move and thead to reassure them that u.s. would guarantee the status quo with respect to religion in jerusalem. been at there had n not final decision as to the borders of jerusalem. none of that will be said to the palestinians directly. it is a question of what this meeting is for. in the past, when vice presidents came, they usually came when there was a glitch in

negotiations and it needed to be smooth over. and is not the case here so, perhaps what we are seeing andome evangelical pressure the vice president simply wants to reconfirm the good relations. u.s. vice president is continuing his trip to israel right now with a speech he is delivering to the israeli parliament in jerusalem. has begun a new military operation in northern syria, just as much of the fighting has been drawing to a close. the military is targeting kurdish militia, known as the ypg. it is fighting back. it launched several rockets that landed on turkish cities. we have more. troops were joined by free syrian army fighters as they continued therefore should -- push -- the push against ypg

fighters. the offensive began sunday morning with a persian's north -- with east of afrin incursions into the northwest and east of afrin. a series of ground strikes cleared the way for troops to make their way over ththe border on saturday. ypg fighters responded by firing rockets into turkey. in a northern syrian town, hundreds took to the streets to protest as what they see as illegitimate aggression by ankara. the turks used rubber bullets to disperse protesters. this is a national struggle. we will crush anyone who opposes

our struggle. turkey says s the ypg militia is part of a pro-independence kurdish momovement, whicich is considered a terrorist organization. the ypg is also a ally of the international coalition fighting the islamic state group in syria, leading countries to voice concerns over turkey's aggression. france condemned the attack and called for a security council meeting to discuss the crisis in the u.s., one of the ypg's main backers, urged turkey to show restraint but that turkey's security concerns were legitimate. thee have the latest on crisis in catalonia. the speaker of the parliament has just named carl's puigdemont to be the leader of parliament.

he is in the cell outside spain -- he is in exile outside spain. we have the details. catalonia's pro-independent speaker announced one candidate to lead the region. puigdemont. insists he could govern remotely from exile in brussels. this is an option that is out of the question. said to speak at a conference in denmark. it is the first time he is leaving belgium since he fled their three months ago. the spanish government says he can move freely, for now. to legalsubject procedure inside spain. outside of it, his movements are free within the european union. the state prosecution service

has asked the supreme court to reactivate a international arrest warrant. >> here in france, prison guards pushing for better safety and poorr wages are protesting working conditions. on sunday, two prison guards were hospitalized after being assaulted by ama. -- eight inmate. te.an inma >> we will not give up. they say the justice ministry proposal sent last week falls far short of addressing the poor conditions. they are set to meet with union leaders in a a push to end the crisis. >> this time, we are going to get what we w want.

we will not rest. we will add more pressure. >> they -- the nationwide strikes were sparked by attacks this month. president macron has promised an overhaul of the system. french guards have long complained of poor pay, insufficient staffing, and increasing in danger met by prisoners under the sway of islamic extremism. we are at one of the prisons affected by this strike. give us some details on what is happening. this is the second week of unrest in the french prisons across the country. the blockade that had started here this morning has been lifted.

prison guards have gone back to their job but they are unrelenting when it comes to their demands. they demand weight -- wage raises, and more guards in general. we are at the largest prison in europe. 150 guards to watch more than 4000 prisoners. there are multiple incidents in the past few weeks, leading to guards being injured, have taken place in prisons across the country, leading to this movement of unrest. another problem guards are facing is the radicalization of certain inmates. over 500 radicalized inmates in jail across france and in some cases, , they are allowed to mix with other prisoners and that is another reason why guards are asking for safety improvements. >> leaders from prison unions are meeting with the french justice miminister right now.

what could come out of that? >> that is right. with nicoleting belloubet in the next few minutes. working hardt is to defuse the situation. offered a deal to unions, saying they would add 1100 new guard jobs over the next four years. french unions, at the time, said no. keep in mind that president macron made a promise saying he wanted to increase the capacity over his term. just last week, a a government spokesperson said that would only be reached over two terms. you would imagine why unions are skeptical going into this. >> thank you. women's rights were in focus at awards last night in los

angeles. it was marked by women's empowerment. those awards were the latest in ahead of thesons, oscar awards that come out tomorrow. gary oldman one best actor in -- won best actor in "darkest hour." there going to tell us latest in the government shutdown. what kind of impact could this have? >> this is the 18th time the u.s. government has shut down since 1976 and the last time, in 2013, it lasted 16 days.

that lost revenue could amount to billions of dollars. productivity may also be hampered. >> what kind of effect is this happening on the markets? >> the u.s. dollar is weakening against the euro and the british pound. the board,s across as you can see. all major markets trading in the green. sanofi fellrugmaker 3% after they announced a bioverativ. some traders see the deal as too expensive. this also might affect president trump's trip to devils. diagnosed -- davos.

>> he is planning to speak at the world economic forum. meanwhile, oxfam is calling on world leaders to crack down on tax evasion. there is a gap tween the rich and poor that is widening even further. we have this report. --re is a call to oxfam's there is a call to arms in oxfam's inequality report this year. the total wealth created was captured by the top 1% and the bottom 50% of the world got nothing. says wealth inequality

is growing and the figures are staggering. the increase in wealth for billionaires was $762 billion. that is enough to end extreme poverty worldwide, not just once but seven times. oxfam is calling for a crackdown on tax havens and date narrowing of the gender pay gap. -- a knowing of the gender pay gap. this womanan is a taxi driver in egypt. .> egypt is unfair it judges women and says they cannot work in a man's profession. egegypt is currerently ranked dn the bottttom 10 of t the 144 countries in the gender pay gap study. charts differences in pay between men and women.

>> macron is on an offensive ahead of the -- a charm offensive and head the doubless memeeting. meeting.of the davos several firms will use the conference to announce a major investment in france, including toyota, which is spending money to enlarge its factory. is also announcing a new artificial intelligence facility. amazon is opening up a new physical store and introducing a new concept of how to do your grocery shopping. >> customers need to scan a special app when they go inin te store and then get t the producs and leleave with tm.m. cameras and sensors keep track

of items taken from the shelves or returned to them. the purchases are billed to the client's credit card. amazon claims it has created the world's most advanced shopping technology. >> that was a look at the business news. look at the main news stories around the world. lots of focus on the government shutdown. firsts coincides with the anniversary of donald trump's first year in office. to spend theay anniversary. both democrats and republicans blaming each other. chuck schumer has said -- "negotiating with trump is like negotiating with jell-o."

democratsame both the and republicans for the shutdown. >> that is from the "new york ," saying this is about dreamers, children who are brought illegally to the u.s. and spend their whole life there. are worried more about that backlash from their core base about appearing not to be rigid enough when it comes to immigration. >> one paper is asking where the president has been. post" isashington asking where he has been. he is keeping a low profile but is itching to get involved. he kept out of the public eye and only emerged to tweak

occasionally. -- tweet occasionally. a erraticent is dealmaker who can unexpectedly overturn negotiations so a sleeping president is at her for the whole shutdown situation. that is from one newspaper. he did tweet out one picture of president trump hard at work. the u.s. president did make a phone call, with a picture of amd death. -- a empty desk. >> let's go to germany, where the social democratic party has agreed to pursue talks. that is the name of that coalition -- it is political slang for the grand coalition

the tween spd and the cdu party. the vote was extremely close. it will be remembered as a moment in german politics. it saved germany from having to go back to the polls which would have been a disaster for the country. it is a statement on the waning popularity of angela merkel. >> how has the german press been reacting? >> they have been pretty critical -- one paper says -- the general feeling that the other party averted what could have been a disaster -- the spd .eader won but not convincingly one tabloid went further and said this is a total loss for sc career.

the party leader finds himself weakened after the congress and his career as leader is uncertain. only a few days away from the games in south korea. a popstar made a visit to south korea. >> she is not just any popstar. she is the leader of the north korean spice girls. they have been dubbed that. -- she was hand-picked by president kim jong-un. they are rumored to have had an affair dating to their teens and it only broke up because kim jong-un's father ordered them to stop. >> a paper is reporting that adolescence does not and until you are 24. 'express is reporting these

findings. according to researchers, puberty begins around 10 and ian ends around 24. a number of factors contribute -- a better standard of living and young people choosing to continue their studies. researchers noted that while people can vote at 18, the brain continues to form until 20 and some people do not get their wisdom teeth until 25. worry ift 23, do not you do not havave your life together. closer look ata that press review on our website. we're going to take a quick break. we'll be back in a few minutes with our top stories. do not go away.

gar alperovitz: a place to begin. why in the world does anyone wonder about, is there an america beyond capitalism? the person who createded davos, the gathering of the most powerful corporate capitalist structures in the entire world, this year opened the conference saying, "he thought capitalism may well be over." same message as occupy.