anchor: hello everyone. this is "france 24." i am genie godula. the french president says he convinced donald trump to stay in syria for the long-term, emmanuel macron giving a major interview one day after france joined the u.s. and u.k. in the biggest international attack on the syrian regime since the war began seven years ago. fired fbi chief james comey calllls trump "moralllly t to be presidentnt."

that is after trump slammed comey's new book on twitter, calling him a slimeball and suggesting he should be jailed. the french parliament debating a controversial bill meant to clamp down on migrants and asylum-seekers in france. also on the way for you this hour in business, advertising giant wpp looks to an uncertain future after its founder suddenly resigns over allegations of misconduct. in the arrest of two black men sitting in a starbucks in philadelphia sports protest and pushes the coffee empire's chief to apologize. our top story live from paris.

french president emmanuel macron gave a three-hour interview sunday on live tv. he spoke a lot about france's partnership with the u.s. and u.k. in the syrian strikes. macron's first major military intervention since he took office he year ago. the french president also said he convinced donald trump to stay and fight in syria when the u.s. president was making moves to leave. 10 days agago, president trump said the u.s. wanted to leave syria, and we convinced him -- we convinced him that it was necessary to stay. in the meantime, emmanuel macron is not joining the u.s. and the u.k. in backing a human resolution that would prevent rather use of chemical weapons by the syrian regime. with more on that, here is our reporter. reporter: following a show of military force on the weekend, western powers are coming back to the table for talks, the second part in a two-pronged

strategy to derive chemical weapons from syria. france, the u.s., and the u.k. are drafting a you and resolution to investigate multiple alleged toxic gas attacks by assad's regime. they aim to establish an independent inquiry to verify the reports, during the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons 30 days to investigate whether the syrian government has fully disclosed its chemical weapons stockpiles. on the humanitarian side, this new diplomatic push calls for the safe passage of aid convoys and medical evacuations. the text also demands that a sod engage in u.n.-led peace talks and that the cease-fire resolution adopted in february should be enforced. negotiations are set to begin this monday, but for now it is unclear when the council will vote on a proposal. western diplomats say they want to allow time to build support for the measures, as russia has already used its veto 12 times

to block actions against its syrian ally. genie: also this monday, the world's watchdog is meeting to discuss the suspected toxic gas assault in syria prompted those unprecedented waves of western strikes. speaking today, the british delegation to the organization for the prohibition for chemical weapons said its inspectors have not yet been granted access to the sites of the alleged poison gas attacks in duma since their arrival in syria two days ago. russia said that visit was postponed due to those western airstrikes. next, anotheher big g story wewe cocovering out of the united states. fired fbi chief james comey is promoting his newew tell-all bok that slams donald trump. only gave an exclusive interview to geoeorge stephanopoplos sund, where he called the president "morally unfit to lead." george: is donald trtrump unfito be president?

james: yes, but not in the way i often n hear people talk about . i do not buy the stuff about him beining early stages of dementi. ththe person who s sees charlottesville and talks about it, who treats women like pieces of meat, who lies s constantly about matters big and small and insists the american people believe it -- that person is not fit to be president of the united states on moral grounds. genie: donald trump fired comey as fbi chief last year. his interview was aired hours after the president unleashed a new twitter storm suggesting comey should be put in jail, and branding him "the worst fbi irector in history by far." also in the united states, starbucks is in the limelight. the company has always billed itself as a community gathering spot with doors open to all, at that image took a hit this weekend in the midst of allegations of racial profiling. that is after two black men waiting for a friend and a

starbucks in philadelphia ended up getting arrested for trespassing. that wanted protests and a call for a boycott. reporter: this video of two black men getting arrested at a local starbucks coffee shop has sparked outrage across the u.s. the men were there to meet a friend who had not yet arrived. a store manager asked them to leave after they tried to use the restroom without making a a purchase.. then, the situation escalated when the manager called the police, accusing the amount of trespassing. for many, the video shows clear profililing,acial leaving starbucks, which bills itself as a community gathering spot, scrabbling to explain itself. company ceo kevin johnson has already apologized and called it a reprehensible incident. the company has promised a full investigation. >> the incident does not reflect the spirit of our brand. it was an unfortunate incident, and we will be sure to make it right.

>> equality now. reporter: dozens of protesters gathered at the philadelphia starbucks location, calling for the manager to be fired. whenever you have a racial profiling situation, it should be assessed, not just by managers, because that manager needs to be fired, but the police. >> the police officers really should have done something different to defuse it. they had to have a little bit of foresight, you know, for what that action would cause. not filedcharges were against the men and they were released, but the fallout from their arrest could have lasting consequences for the coffee chain. in turkey, and american pastor is on trial on terror-related charges. mr. brunson has spent the last year and a half behind bars there, accused of supporting for

gulen,tle in -- fatulah who police say was behind a failed coup in turkey. america has refused to extradite him. we will go live to ankara with correspondent just for mortimer. what can you tell us? brunson is charged with supporting the gulenists and kurdish pkk without being a member of either group. duriring his detenention of more than 18 mononths, the prpro-governmentnt press has reported that a secret witness has accused andrew brunsnson nists in hishe gule sermons. i think that is a most unlikely scenario. brunson would know very well were athe gulenisists political hot potato. the pro-government press also reported that brunson had been supporting the pkk through his

humanitarian work with syrian refugees. i know personally that the two churches in ingres. -- in a nkara, one protestant and the other roman catholic, also help the syrian refugees, and the work has nothing t to do with susupporting thehe pkk. revealinglgly, last year early gone over to exchange franson gulen, branson for hostagerunson was at diplomacy. polititician condemns this. he says turkey has no right to use brunsonon as a hostage. in terms of the law, he has not been convicted of any crime. therefore, he was an innocent person, and he was not a prisoner of war.

'ss u.s. declilined erdogan ofoffer. ste e departmentnt officials sa, we are not going down that road. but the making of the offer its self showed that turkey was more aserested in using brunson an item for trade rather than putting him in jail as a dangerous person. turkey has paid a price diplomatically for this. presidenent donald trump has raised brunson's case with erdogan at least on two occasions. in february last year, 78 members of the u.s. congress signed a letter protesting 's detention. the letter said there was no evidence to substantiate the charges against them. genie: jasper, thank you for that. jasper mortimer reporting from ankara. in france, emmanuel macron's

proposals for tougher laws on immigration are being debated in parliament today, the government saying it wants to be firm and fair on immigration. the bill is already facing tough criticism from human rights groups and within the president's party. parliaments france's starts debating tough immigration policies, emmanuel macron is facing a backlash from many within his own party. it is one of the mosost divisive issues. >> we are not sheep, blindly following. we are here to develop the rule of the law, and to vote. i have taken on this role. reporter: emmanuel macron's program prioritized immigration and learning french. this is about not allowing migrants to immigrate. new bill the accelerates the expulsion of people who do not qualify for asylum, and will reduce france's

consideration period to a maximum of six months, down from 11, while the time people can be placed in a government detention center would be increased from 45 days to 90 days. the minister of the interior says he is optimistic the law will be voted in. confidence inl the majority, who i believe will hold themselves accountable. 20orter: however, around lawmakers from micron's party are expected to abstain from the boat. to talk more about this i am joined by marie martine, from the ngo euromedrise. we heard him say the majority is going to stick together. inron does have a majority parliament with his party, republic on the move. members come from both the right and the left. you think the law will pass, given where these people are coming from? marie: it is likely it will

pass, indeed. warningsrrespective of from the human rights sector but also the consular bureau of the commission on human rights. the same from the u.n. high commissioner on refugees. us, is a very big issue to because it shows that irrespective of the voices against that piece of legislation, there is no willingness to -- not even amend, but to just decide not to go for that bill, which is infringing on human rights. genie: tell me about that. what do critics, human rights organizations like your own, or those protesting in front of parliament now -- what are the worst parts of the bill for them? marie: this bill is meant to make the right of asylum more effective. it cannot be just a matter of how speedy the procedures are. usual,blem is, as addressing the need for judicial support for asylum-seekers.

it will be restricted to the rights of asylum-seekers. there are less means to even assess their own requests when they need their rights. that will impact on the asylum officers in charge of examining those requests. that is one issue. as mentioned in your report is the resort to detention not as a last resort. it is a problem. 32france, we have had from to 45 days of detention. that has not increased the number of people return back, because they had no right to stay. the detention period is higher in countries like germany or the u.k., and these countries returned less people than france does at the moment. so what is the point of increasing the tension up to 90 days? this is a lot of time, three months behind babars. people who are not criminals. genie: how much do you think this bill is about politics? when you look at polls, 63% of

french voters think there are too many immigrants in france. marie: we are talking about less than 0.5% of the population here. there is a complete fantasy about what is going on right now in france. let's remind ourselves that the number of asylum seekers in increased in numbers compared to 2016, for instance, but this is nothing compared to other countries within the european union. the fifth or sixth economic power in the world -- are we not capable of hosting people properly, dividing proper reception conditions? this is not a matter of means. this is a matter of perception and political will. this is what we had been denouncing for many years already. genie: thank you for coming to meak to us, murray martin -- arie. the french president, staying with emmanuel macron, says he convinced donald trump to stay in syria for the long-term. emmanuel macron giving a major interview one day after france

joined the u.s. and the u.k. and the biggest international attack on the syrian regime since the war began seven years ago. another top story covering for you today, the fired fbi chief james comey cause trurump moraly unfit to be preresident, after trump slalammed comey's s new bk on twitter, going him a slimeball and suggesting he should be jailed. time for our business update. 's prime minister is in paris, here for a two day business. -- visit. he is meeting with emmanuel macron. the big subject is tried. analyst: canada's main trading partner is immediate neighbor the united states, and it is renegotiating the trilateral nafta deal with the u.s. and mexico, but also looking to expand its trading partners. last year, it signed a major free trade agreement with the european union. agreements with france are relatively small.

canada experts about 2 billion euros or 1% of its global experts. france sends him is twice as much in value to canada. manufacturing, aviation, and agriculture are sectors the sides could expand in trade. genie: next, a story that has sent shockwaves across the marketing industry. the man dubbed the king of advertising has stepped down suddenly. yuka: thahat man is martin sorrl . his sudden departure saturday has left the largest advertising npr company at a crossroads, when it is already struggling with declining revenue. he steps down after the board conducteted an investigation ino personal misconduct, though details of that program of not been disclosed. regina robinson reports. the top ofuble at wpp and allegations of personal misconduct levied against the boss himself. inegations remain shrouded mystery. the press release gave little detail. it stated that the investigation has concluded.

the allegation did not include amounts. sorrell declines the allegations. even before the investigation, the company was struggling. over the past year, shares lost a third of their value. 1, the bpp was forced to lower their long-term buffet outlook. shiftonline advertisingng toward digital players s such as google and f facebook is partlto blame, but many of the big brands are simply spending less on advertising. sir martin sorrell has become synonymous with the company he ran. some big shoes to step into. provoked -- has promoted the chairman to executive chairman. composed of multiple businesses and speculation about selloff has started. treated asl be having retired. he has earned over 230 million euros over the past five years alone and is entitled to bonus

awards, potentially over 1.5 million shares. wpp shares dropped sharply in early trading this monday and continue to be under pressure. european markets on the whole are also under pressure, the reactions to the weekend military strikes in syria appear to be fairly muted as investors expect no immediate military escalation. now more of the day's business headlines. russian aluminum maker roussell plunged in hong plans to the u.s.'s enact sanctions against moscow. the country was placed on the u.s. sanctions list last month. at less than a third of its value 10 days ago. japan's top financial officer is under fire for alleged sexual

harassment. the ministry of head of the finance ministry allegedly made lewd comments and tried to touch a female journalist at a bar, according to a magazine report. he denies the allegations. the group of female lawmakers urged the ministry to remove them if they were true. the ministry says it has found no evidence so far. the average housing price in the u.k. rose to a record high this month, to almost 300-6000 pounds 06,000 pounds. the average property price in london has fallen almost 2% over the past year. wrap up ine going to france, where rolling strikes by the rail workers are ongoing and starting to have an impact on the economy. yuka: eight is taking a toll on sectors such as tourism and retail. president emmanuel macron said last night that the french state would take over part of the multibillion-dollar debt of the national reading company, starting in 2020.

that is in another concession to unions. the finance minister admits the ongoing industrial action will likely impact the country's economic growth, but stressed it will be limited. >> yes, labor actions have an impact on growth. it is limited and we cannot quantiti it for now, but we can alreadady see it in certain sectors of t the economy, in hol reservations, travel, tourism. it is startiting to have an impact. that is why the sooner this is all over, the better. railway strikes are certainly having an impact on us here at "france 24." genie: absolutely. it is now time for our press review. laurent joins me on set. lots ofe, there is focus on emmanuel macron's marathon interview where he defended rance's action in syria

recently. dheepthika: not all of the reviews are positive, but there is one from the french language swiss paper that is pretty positive about macron's performance. they compare him to a granite rock in this article, saying he was unequivocal when he defended the strikes in syria but also his own reforms in france. the papers saying this young and resolute president never lost his cool, and on many occasions put the interviewers back in their place. genie: for many papers outside of france, international papers, there is one major take away from this interview. dheepthika: that takeaway is this comment from mccrone, "i convinced donald trump to stay in syria." you see from the british daily "the times," they are talking about it on their front page today. "the guardian" also looks at those comments. macron claiming he guided the response to the chemical attack. "the guardian" says it is unusual for a french president

to present himself as driving u.s. policy on military matters in the middle east. genie: what are international papers saying about the decision to intervene in syria? an unprecedented attack internationally. dheepthika: a lot of skepticism from the papers. reports the pentagon touts the u.s. airstrikes as setting back the chemical weapons program in syria for many years, but in its own analysis, the paper says these strikes will not weaken the syrian president, and will do very little to alter the strategy of the islamic state group. there is also criticism from the russian papers, obviously for different reasons. one says it is a continuation of war by other means, as they note -- they see it as yet another new ultimatum from the west to moscow. but we do sense in this headline a sense of indifference from the russians, as if they believe it is going to have very little impact on their actions in syria. we havenother big story

been talking about a a lot today comes ouout of indndia, where et men are facing cocourt over the alleged rape and murder of a young muslim girl in kashmir. dheepthika: those eight men are appearing before a district court, accused of a crime that shocked india and sparked nationwide protests. and the-year-old was allegedly raped and then murdered in the indian-controlled region of kashmir. it is believed the men were hindu men, and it included four police officers and a retired government official, all in an attempt to drive out her ethnic muslim community from the region. the tragedy is proving to be a political challenge for narendra modi, the indian prime minister, and his ruling handle nationalist -- hindu nationalist party, and further exasperating hindu-muslim tensions. this is from "the new indian -- "hang my daughter's

rapists," comments from the parents of the little girl to this paper. they want no leniency when it comes to punishing the perpetrators. "the times of india," another daily national newspaper, compares this to the 2012 gang rape and murder of a young thatn woman on a delhi bus sparked international outrage. -- thetors they are so editors there say laws are in place to protect women against these crimes, the justice fails time and time again to prosecute and deliver convictions. paper calls for the courts to stand up for the victims. genie: next, to the united states, where a big story comes from coffee giant starbucks. the company is facing a huge backlash over what many are calling racial profiling. dheepthika: starbucks has enforced to and are a groveling apology after two black men were

arrested and escorted out of the philadelphia story in handcuffs after they tried to use the bathroom without making any purchases. a video of their arrest his gone viral. what is the difference between montgomery in 1958 and starbucks , philadelphia, 2018? that is what this twitter user asks in this posting. one writer from the philadelphia inquirer, herself a black woman, says it is simple. starbucks must fire the employee who called 911. genie: that is a really big story out of the u.s. another lighter story -- a beyonce e headline act at the music and arts festival coachella. dheepthika: she headlined the opening weekend, what "rolling stone" hails as a triumphant return. for the first time in the festival's 19 year history, a third of the artists are women this year. blacke paid tribute to musicians.

she sang feminist anthems. she even managed a mini destiny's child reunion. some have dubbed coachella "baechella" in honor of her. ]qçç

liliey: oh, jejesus, it't's the lawyer. [laughter] you can hear people turning to each other, "hey, do you know if there's wifi here? so,o, just type--type that up. [laughteter] so, uh, before i start the stuff here, just wanted to do some thank-yoyous. takes a lot of wok to put these events together, as everybody knows. and not just for the speakers, but also max, cameron, torin, dylan, zaba, everybody that has helelped put this--put this event together and has done so for several years. [applause]