>> its people are leaving in droves and undermining chances of development. france 24t more on and france24.com. you for joining us. i am molly hall. aid workers say that desperate help is needed for those still in the rebel held enclave of ghououta. sanctions on moscow for election-meddling., also blaming russia for an nerve agent attack

on british soil. and thousands march in brazil to protest the execution-style murder of an outspoken critic of police brutality. we begin in syria. this is where aid agencies are working on a response to the masses flowing out of deceased towns. thursday was the anniversary of the deadly war and it was the single largest exodus on the fronts. hundred thousand civilians fled in the aspirin regioion and the capital, ghouta. on the situation on the

ground, we go to our regional correspondent. tell us more about the situation on the grounds this friday in terms of people fleeing the towns. you mentioned the syrian army has managed to three the areaa into sections. ththe mass exodus came out of a town in the southern island of those three islalands that were controlled, if you will, near the capital of damascus. we have seen about 2 20 people so-calledff thosese corridor's. it is worth knowing that the u.n. does not acknowledge these -- corr -- cora doors idors, per se.

time thatt the first the syrian government has done this kind of mass movement. we have seen this in aleppo and other areas throughout the count -- throughout the country in fact. can go tohere people the shelters and there they have the opportunity to "reconcile" with the syrian government and lay down their arms. or they will be taken to a province in the northwest of the country under the sway of mostly jihad groups. said, yout being mentioned these are steps that people can take, but really tell us more about the journey these people are taking to reach safety. this is a situation where people streets and alleyways have become war zones. it is that simple. we are talking about massive

compartment by the syrian government and the russian government as well. we're talking about mortar, artillery, the whole shebang. and of course, rebels are also firing back. you have snipers, shooting, chaoaos. and thee problem is people assue it is easy to walk a few miles out of a war zone, but the fact death fallinging at you at any point in time whether it is by bullet, shell, mortar, barrel bomb, any. ath these people, this is gauntlet and a deadly one. i think we will see far more casualties before this is over. molly: that being said, when do we expect this to be ovever? when do we expect the end of the offensive by the regime? reporter: it brings to mind what

happened in aleppo a little over a year ago. we saw the rebels hold on for quite some time before the siege went into a really massive government.by the it really is just a matter of a few days at this point. parts of then some enclave largely devoid of .ighting f for the last few days we are talking about probably three or four more days before we see a a masassive capitulatin because people have had enough. there is no way out. that is what it amends to. molly: thank you for that. washington has imposed sanctions on russian individuals, as the biggest step that the u.s. is

taken against russia since donald trump took office. it does not focus on oligarchs vladimir putin, and that has parties,ng, from both that it does not go far enough. reporter: after dragggging his feet foror months, the tripp adadministraration is finanally decided to sanction rusussia. it is an ongoing effort to impose move comes despise the president's repeated denial that russia tried to manipulate the election in his favor. washshington says that these are thee strongest measures yet taken. think from the actions we

have seen, we will be tough on russia until they change their behavior. reporter: those blacklisted, russia's military agencies as well as the st. research agency, the notorious troll form. people on the list will have assets frozen and will no longer be able to travel to the u.s. do business with american companies. theington also blames kremlin for a series of coordinated attacks going back to the ears. muska says it is prepared to respond with appropriate measures. up, they growt more thing in sweden for the first ever meeting between the u.s. president and the north korean leader.

sweden is not a member of the nato military alliance and it has been mentioned as a potential location for a possible face to face meeting between donald trump and kim jong-un. in spain, clashes broke out in madrid. -- it is said that he died trying to escape from police who are cracking down on a illegal sales. reporter: a of chaos in madrid. broken windows, clashes with security forces in the streets of the spanish capital. the riots erupted after a 35-year-old senegalese man died of a heart a attack while trying to escape a crackdown on street vendors. police on top of them.

they were trying to give him cpr. if they had let my friend he could have helped. but they pushed him away. reporter: on that long, firemen were putting out small fires and flash bank grenades echoed through the streets. madrid expressed condolences onn twitter. friends and relatives left messages as a tribute to the deceased. >> he was a good guy. he did not deserer this. he t tried to get his papers the times and they rejected him every time. peopler: more than 2000

arrived in spain making it the busiest in your. expecting to hear from the chief prosecutor to hear whether he will reinstate corruption charges against former president jacob zuma. zuma was forced to resign last month. -- 173s when hundred 73 charges dating back to the late 1990's. they were filed, but then dropped shortly before zuma ran for president in 2009. south africa's highest court reinstated the charges in 2013. in brazil, there have been vigils held for marielle franco in what is being called a political assassination. spanish]ing in

reporter: these demonstrators have taken to the streets in remembrance of malarial franco, an outspoken critic of police violence who was murdered on wednesday. she was a victim of the violence she tirelessly worked to end. >> we are not going to allow this to continue. marielle is here. marielle is here. woman, ana black activist who had firsthand experience with the violence that had ravaged the area. she grew up in a complex of slums in northern rio where the militias were inn control of the streets. but she became a leading voice against police violence and scored the fifth highest vote count in 2015. politicalrs expect a

assassination. >> the characteristics are those of an assassination. inadmissible.tely reporter: the councilwoman felt that comes weeks after the federal government gave thehe all security options in rio, a move that frank award could produce violence. >> that is whyhy we decreed the to endy interventntion ththis rampant banditry with criminals in the city. reporter: t the u.n. and amnesty international have called for an immediate investigation into franco's murder. next, a major pedestrian bridge in miami,

florida has collapsed. several cars remain trapped. it was put to a stress test just before it broke down. this friday marks 40 years since a cuddy of the emerald coast. it released thousands of tons of waste into the sea that settled on the french coastline. worster: it was the environmental disaster of its time. 40 years to the day, the shipwrecked off the coast of brittany. 270,000 tons of oil spilleded io the sea. 400 kilometers of the french coastline hit. local scandalized. a disaster. it is shameful. the government should be doing something. it is shameful.

230 thousand tons of animal carcasses are collected. they sued the polluter, setting the president for the polluter pays principle, but the atrocity is still painful for locals. grim, liquid horror. you can't imagine it today with the white sand. the smell was unbearable. it stayed with you. since the tragedy, supertankers have announced -- supertankers are forbidden to operate coast -- close to the coast. molly: you're watching france 24 . a reminder of the headlines we're following. asass exit is out of ghouta

advances. regime the u.s. slapped sanctions on moscow for electoral meddling and cyber attacks. it also joins western allies in blaming russia for a nerve agent attack on british soil. time now for a business update. i am joined by anka. we start with bad news for rail travelers in france. >> april 3, it will be harder to train.und by there will be sleeping strikes and drastic measures were taken in response to the french thernment's plan to reform state owned operator. reporter: if you are planning a spring getaway and france, your holiday could be spoiled by travel chaos.

that is because there have been a series of crippling strikes planned. there will be a walkout for two days every five e over three months. the reason for the strikes is opposition to the plan to ,verall the state run operator boxing staff perks, and no more jobs for life. it management says it is a case of reform or die. maintaining the status quo would be simply fatal. reporter: the changes come at a time when the minister is trying to shake up the country's economy. warns t that they will not back down until the reforms are ditched. many governments have e tried ad

failed to take on the rail unions in the past. the 1995 strikes paralyzed the entire country. there's get public support for such a response sysystem. two and four french people believe that industrial action is unjustified. anca: escalating trade tensions between the u.s., china, and europe. london's ftse gained .16%, slightly above the flat line. trading upax was about a third of a percent. siemens wentrm itsic today, searching in debut on the frankfurt stock exchange, jumping up more than 6%.

let's take a look at other business news we are follolowing this hour. nike announced the s surprise to part or ofof one of its totop executives. trevor edwards was considered a potentiaial successor f for the. he is stepepping down in august. meanwhile, management says they received complaints about inappropriate workplace behavior. i heart radio filed for bankruptcy. they own rendered 50 radio u.s..ns across the despite the bankruptcy, the company says it will operate business as usual. it is the end of an era for hong kong's richest man. he annouounced he is stepping dn as the chairman of his flagship knowledge.

his companies from internet companies to supermarket chains and his worth is estimated at $36 billion. he told reporters he has been working a lolong time -- too lo. >> in the future, i will act as the senior consultant of the group. at the same time, i will put all of my efforts into the foundation for all work, especially focusing on health care and education. anca: and finally for me, snapchat's parent company facing more problems as another company -- celebrity has come out against the app. kylie jenenner criticized the update. rihanna is accusing the app of shaming domestic violence

victims. this is in response to an ad asking people whether they would rather slap rihanna or punch chris brown. snapchat said the ad was posted in error and has been removed. shares in the company dropped 500% in first day trading. molly: thank you for that look at business news. time now for our press review. i am joined by solange. hi, solange. solange: hi, molly. a good deal of the coverage is the growing rift over the moscow issue. solange: yes, the cold war is not over.

boris johnson thanks them for joining in on the british condemnation of russia. there is a cartoon -- ec vladimir putin -- you see europer putin kicking and the u.s. off the dance floor. you will notice under his book, the flags of syria and the ukraine. molly: what abouout the brbritih papers? solange: generally the same tune. here is the catchy headline -- putin as pariah. there is a but. foul.are people calling among them opposition leader jeremy corbyn. he is getting a lot of heat. he warned against mccarthyite intolerance of dissent. corbyn came out in support of theresa may's decision to expel the mess, but he says that

written should wait for the results of the criminal investigation before condemning moscow. molly: what are missing from russian media? yes, the hispanic times saying that there was a rush to judgment. they say that three's a may is doing this for political reasons. this paper says that theresa may is not hitting putin where ertz. it argues that may really wants to be an effective leader in sanctioning putin. essence, downing street needs to go after the money that --sians are investing in investing in london if they really want to go after putin and the inner circle. molly: let's go to the united states. there is the conversation between trump and just injured

of making headlines. yes, the post got their audio of the president posting about a meeting he had with judo. in it, you essentially admits he had no idea what use talking about. to be specific, he tells the story of their meeting on trade deficits. on the tape he says, nice guy, good-looking comes in and says, donald we have no trade deficit, to which trump says, wrong, just, we do. this is the interesting thing -- trump says to his donors, i didn't even know. i add no idea. i just said "you're wrong." naturally, trump creating a lot of hubbub in the press. that he isublic says someone that is proud of

blurring the line but when truth and lies and this shows the depth of his pathology. molly: houses being received in canada? solange: well, they are having a field day. they say there is one person who stands to benefit from the recording, and that is justin trudeau. they say this is the perfect time for the premise or to get back his golden boy image back internationally. what is wrong with his image echo it t took a beating during his visit to india where he and his family were widely criticized for wearing saris. molly: from golden boy image to actual gold. some has fallen out of the sky. solange: yes, in siberia, , a cargo, lost its precious

specifically printed $68 million of gold, platinum, and precious diamonds. interrupted from the belly of the plane as it gained altitude. an extensiveegun search and they say they have recovered all of it. molly: perhaps one or two do. you never know the exact amount. for more, head to our website, france24.com/inthepress. alright, that is a look at the latest headlines in the written press. we will take a quick break. the news continues here on france 24. we crossed to sweden. there's the possibility the country could play a role in a possible face to face meeting between donald trump and north korean leader kim jong on. -- kim jong-un. that's after the break. >> reporters presented by marco in.

thane people live on less one euro a day. high corruption. for many, leaving seems the only has begunut germany to expel economic migrants from kosovo. only qualified students can hope for reentry. ins people are leaving droves and undermining the chances of development. on france 24 and france24.com. >> i am the france 24 correspondent in madrid. join me live and check out my reports on france 24 and france24.com. >> sora -- sarah morris, one of 124 france 24 correspondents around the world. ♪

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