♪ anchor: a a warm wewelcome comee alive frfrom paris. i'm rochelle ferguson with the latest news heaeadlines. in pakistan, the gegeneral election get underway. 30 people have been killed in a suicide bombing, dozens others injured. we bring you the very latest from our correspondent in islam abide -- inislam

islamabad. rescue workers are continuing to search for survivors. the french president emmanuel macron accepts responsibility in his handling of the national scandal involving his t top security aide. we will bring you the very latest. also coming up in the program, we have our business update. we will be looking at the turbulence ahead for ryanair, trying to slash hundreds of jobs. we have the details in our update. plus, our press review. plenty more happening here on "france 24." do stay tuned. ♪

anchor: first to pakistan, where officials say 30 people have been killed and 35 others injured in a suicide blast in the city of koetter. the incidentnt comes as ovover 0 million pakistanis vote in the aneral election after campaign overshadowed by allegations of manipulation. there was a shooting between opposing parties in a northern city. bringing the very latest is our correspondent standing by at a police station that's a polling -- aon in islam a bad polling station in islamamabad.

reporter: this seems to be a tough situation. in this constituency, it seems --e that [indiscernible] this is a tough competition. shohown that both of the parties are equally popular.

anchor: there have been questions about how much meddling has been it all of this. reporter: the pakistani military is known for its interference in politics. they've been in the center of all the election rigging scandals in the past. the younger brother of shabazz sharif has complained that the pakistan military has tried to sideline the party. there have been large crackdowns on the media here in pakistan.

a nenewspaper was stopped from publishing. that is another point. thanks so much. an attorney civil liberties specialist. it is good to have you. we heard from our correspondent it doesn't appear that the independent media has been muzzled to some extent, and the military has a hold in this. is this surprising to you? guest: if you see the pakistani political context, i totally they because the fact that tried to tie some link with india and this interconnection

between pakistan and india may be was not in the best interest of the military come as the military always play a key role in the elections. the two main focus is you need to have and the pakistani context into the elections being fair, the first context is the military trying to impose into the pakistani political context, which is the case today. you can see it any fact that you need toy -- imran hhantand that

was at the forefront in the region. the second is the minority and pakistan. i wrote my first book on the minority in pakistan. example,a problem, for is the election being fair with this community? they are not able to vote because they are classified as non-muslim, but they regard themselves as muslim. so is this election fair? i don't think so. at the same time you have the -- of a sharpie -- anchor: how much did he have to compromise to get this position in 2018? guest: i think he had to

compromise. he has to compromise with the pakistani establishment. you have to compromise with other religious leaders. you need to understand as well that there's 122 parties who ordered everything to be in the process. there's a lot of the party who are extremist groups. this is very alarming for us. you have extremist parties in the course of the election, and the external commission validated this party. but when you are the electoral commission of pakistan, what happens. it is the judicial in the forefront in the first .nstance

anchor: you test on some of the challenges. pakistan is essentially voting for a democracy, many would say a carnage democracy. whoever wins this is going to have a real tough challenge ahead for them. a lot of burden on their shoulders. talk about some of the challenges they are going to be facing. anchor: they are going to face the first and most difficult economical challenge. everyone is saying we will give well to everybody and housing and this. the thing is poverty and pakistan is an extreme problem. this will be the first thing the second thing will be education because we need good education and pakistan. educatednnot stay 40%

in pakistani people. taliban has been really present in the selection. look at what happened with the national party leader. they would need to address these three problems. ok, thanks- anchor: for your time today. syrian state media says at least 38 people have been killed in a suicide attack in the country's's south side. officials believe the islamic --te was behind, but anchor: three days of national mourning after wildfires in athens claimed at least 79 lives and sent thousands of others

fleeing. strong wind bands -- strong winds trapped many in their homes as others attended to reach the sea. officials saying the death toll is expected to rise. ruins.village is in the seaside resort town has been devastated by the historic blazaz. stunned, reeling fromom the destruction and losof ..fe reporter: on wednesday, greek firefighters posted images of missing people online, many of them from the town of monte. search inononnued to

buildings and cars next to the inferno. a separate fire was west of the capital. inhabitatas are still in shock in mati. >> no words. reporter: there is no official count of how many people are still missing. . anchor: in the words of the french president macron, he accepted was bowl -- he accepted full responsibility of the handling of a national scandal aide wasas still roughihing up demonstrators durg may day and assertions. been sinces has

placed under formal investigation, but it has sparked allegations of a government cover-up. macron has marked that no one is .bove the law emmanuel macron has come out and said it. is that going to be enough to appease his critics? reporter: that t is a good question. it is a little bit surprising macron i would say thahat could explain what hapapned duduring this.

secondly, i would say that macron has used some very crude exactlynd we don't know . is it the memberers from the opposition that they want to add some explanation? it was a good decision mr. baker .resident macron anchor: this today while, didn't it? he didn't come out and directly apologize, however you want to describe it. is this all part of a political strategy? winene, and your opinion, did it take the time it d f for thi apolology? guest: i'm not sure that macron

will apologize about what happened. situst didn't want it t to -- sit w with. he has said he will put aside all elements looking at scandalsls, represent transparency. he's not realally solve thehe political distresss between cicitizens and were e presented. -- and representatives. this is the biggest t crisis of his presidency.

ok.or:: more.ove to speak to you i'm afraid that always got time for. thank you very much for being on "france 24" today. a quick reminder of the top stories s we're following foror. oflence erupts in the middle ina suicide bombing pakistan. the grecian prime minister announced three days of national mourning after deadly fires in athens, still continuing to search for survivors. the french president emmanuel macron accepts responsibility for his handling of a national ex head ofolving his

security. time for business. and joined in the studio by stephen carroll. you are starting out with the death of the former process fee up chrysler -- former ceo of fiat chrysler. reporter: the 66-year-old died after publications from surgery. he announced he would not return to the company after that surgery. he had overseen fiat takeover of chrysler in 2009 and successfully spun off the ferrari brand into a separate company. estate of saying the best way to honor his memory was to build on his legacy as a company. next to the u.s. come over the eu commission president

will be meeting withth president trump later. reporter: the tone of the meeting has been set by president trump on twitter. he's said that terrorists are great -- he's said that tariffs are great. they will try to talk him out of ,mposing new tariffs on cars saying they should drop all barriers and subsidies. germany's car industry represents the body has welcomed these talks >> -- these talks. reporter: it is a very good thing the president of the european commission is in t the united states and holding good talks with the president. it is a matter of maintainingng free and fair trade with the u.s. we need d free and f fair trade. reporter:: the markets will be keeping a close eye on that meeting later on.

european markets trading down stein. -- down near lunchtime. anchor: we turn our attention to ryanair, which has the to cut jobs after a series of recent strikes. reporter: they've warned 300 staff a lose -- they risk the .oss of theieir j jobs in septer your brian has the story. -- peter o'brien has the story. reporter: a warning from ryanair to its pilots on strike. baylor quarter of their -- they ared deep

planning two/the dublin fleets -- planning to slash the dublin fleets. the process is being backed by french unions. >> three quarters of these pilots are self-employed, not knowing if they are working the next they are not. it to be -- 600 flights are expected to be canceled in total. further weweakening of a a compy already y having to deal with te increased prprice of fuel. repealed morenair than its core dropped in a fifth earlier. some economists say ryanair is far from the brink. >> the company has always made money.

i'm convinced it can treat his low-cost model better. reporter: it remains the most profitable in europe. reporter: back in france, more delays have been announced. the next generation nuclear reactor being built with flannel fusion. now it is going to operation into another 400 million euros. the project now runs to eight yearars, and the final cost will be three times the original budget. the government is now forced to keep it aging plant open farther. this just keeps going and going and going. anchor: we will have to wait and see. thank you very much for our business roundtable. time now for our press review. ♪

let's begin in pakistan, where a general election is underway. reporter: the front page from the pakistani papers, "there are no parties expected to get a majority, but they are nice as elections. while another pakistani daily the campaign have been motivated by violence. have died this time then from the 15 years ago. pakistani residents are voting for a democracy to shorn off its bullion's and optimism, carrying the burden of war and sacrifice ,homas -- sacrifice, failure

and will guarantee that millions of people will prevail over the votes of a selected few. anchor: in france, emmanuel macron has broken his silence on the scandal. reporter: the scandal that broke last week after macron's former bodyguard was seen manhandling a protester. macron said he accepted full responsibility, while denying that this is a state scandal. the editors there say, "finally, it is about time. this is the first step. the question remains whether it is enough to temper the political storm since that video was revealed. macron says he wants to shake up his government staff in the elysees.

anchor: the independent has lost a cam -- has launched a campaign for a new british referendum. dailies: other british are calling for a campaign for a second referendum on breaks it, the main reason being that theresa may's governance has left british politics in turmoil . you see the front page of "the independent," they feel like they are desperately trying to hold onto votes without having any sight of what breaks it means for an ordinary citizen. they explain that for reasons of sovereignty, the u.s. should vote up in -- the u.k. should vote against people should begin in the chest to call that reflect about whether they really want to go ahead with this decision, all the more so because we know more today than we did in 2016 when the vote took place. for the daily it might just be a

chance to provide more healing or legion. anchor: today marks the 40th anniversary of louise brown, the ivfst person ever born from technology. reporter: the lovely louise was called the first ever baby born from ivf technology. it marks one of the century's greatest scientific turning points that pushed the limits and of becoming what is today a commonplace reproductive measure. this article is looking ahead to what it could achieve in the three parentding babies where dna from a couple is inserted into a third-party

egg. the other step for the future is ivg. cells are taken from a person's skin or bloody, and metro market -- skin or blood, and later used. anchor: australia and new zealand sparring over their flanks. reporter: stop -- the flanks. us.rter: th stop copying they say australia should changes flag because it was too much like the new zealand one, was created first. the qe flag was addicted -- the i flag was adopted in 1902, the australian in 1988 stuart: it was first flown in 1901.

and ugly tv network mistake on these shows, the tv flagged this year. anchor: i bet that went down very badly. i can only imagine.

♪ music narrator: lima, peru, one of the driest cities on earth. a quarter of the population have no direct access to water. narrator: all over the globe water supplies are dwindling as temperatures rise and glaciers melt. as we head towards an ice-free earth, it will only get worse. everyone will be affected. lonnie thompson: it doesn't matter whether you're living in peru or the united states or china, you will be impacted by this change. narrator: but something can be done. people are already adapting to combat climate change.