♪ >> hellolo and welcome. you are tuned into "live from paris." theresesa may gives up to preset plan b too parliament. in a statement later, she is expected to announce plans. also coming up, "france 24" brings you the first in a series of exclusive reports four years to the day whehen the group sparked cicivil unrest in the

country. confirmsilitary hitting targets around the cacapital of damascus. serious as it did take place but it's our defense destroyed most of thehe missiles. french president emmanuel macron is trying to woo business leaders to invest in france. we will have more on that in our business update. stay tuned. that and plenty more. you are watching "live from paris." ♪ britain's prime minister theresa may is gearing up to present her plan b parliament this monday as s she attempts to

persuade lawmakers to support her d deal. it is thought she will outline plans to axe the irish backstop. i'm joined by our correspondent in london. theresa may due to make a statement on what happens next. arehe meantime, some m.p.'s trying to take control of whwhat is a complicated situation. >> y yes. we are 67 days away from marcrch 29, the official date on which the united kingdom is due to divorce the 27 other he remembers -- e.u. members. theresa may this afternoon will be making a statement in the house of commons. b is in fact plan her plan a with possible

tweaks. we know when she suffered the humiliating and comprehensive defeat last tuesday in the house of commons for an approval, which she clearly did d not getn the house of commons, she then announced cross party talks. we understand those are still ongoing. however, and this is a big onewever, we know she relies votes.'s legislationpass any in the house of commons, she needs those 10 votes. after briefing cabinet membebers lasast night d varirious consultations before that, she said s she's concentrating on persuading tory eers to back her andnd

saying shehe will help them get over there backstopp concernrns. either change it in some way that would allay those concerns or ditch it altltogether and she would then possibly go next week brusselse.u. members in trying to s say thihis i do hava majorityty for in parliament. back me and i can get the .ithdrawal agreement she needs that approroval from parliament or the united kingdom will crash out of the e.u. on march 29 with no deal. idea,t about the latest the altlternative to the backstp

of northern ireland? > welell, reaeally, it is vey difficult to see how she can call that off bececause it looks like the e.u. is not going to ditch that. one of the sunday papers saying theresa may was going to negotiate a special agagreement with the republicicf state,, an e.u. member and that would get over the problems of the backstop ensuring thehere is no hard borr ,etween the republic of ireland thatat will on march 29 continue to b be in e.u. member state, ad one of thehe n nations of the ud kingdom, northern irelan of ananateral talk agreement has s been categororiy denied by the irish prime mininister and by dodowning str.

what we e will watch for c carey this afternoon inn parliament is after the statement of the prime be aner, there will introduction amendment opposed. we understand two different groups of m.p.'s who want to avoid no deal, , it would seem that is a majority in parliament, one amendment would be if therere is no agreement by would be toebruary suspend article 50 and by more time for negotiationons. ensureer amendment is toto there is a vote that ensures there is no crashing out in marchh 29 with no deal. here we are 67 days away and still very unclear what will happen in the house of commons.

clearly, m.p.'s taking backk control of the brexit process in battle of wills between dowownig street and t the prime minister and her government and m.p.'s. you for keeping us up-to-date from london. the israeli army has confirmed hitting in rainy a and military targets arounund damascus. israel issued a statement hours after intercepting an incoming heightser the golan airsaid d 's our defense -- defenses destroyed most of i it before it reached its target. israelili policicy has been to neither coconfirm nor deny. fromprotects israel

further r incomingttacacks. this is a marked chanange. in israel, thehere is an upcomig electionon. some are m ming a connnnection betwtween those e things. i've heardrd from a former chihf of staff a and former defense minister point and accususing finger at nenetanyahu saying hes doing the simply because of the election.. there is no one u unlikely to tk you out of that. israelihas done it, the military cannot deny it. they have to fall into line with that and confirm. on isrsraeli radio they said ths , in a break from polititics, we will turn to syra -- or maybe it is not a break

from politics at all. >> why is s syria cararrying out these raraids? >> i t think we e are seeing an escalation on this border. there is no doubt t about that. the rainy and -- the iranian expeditionary forces s have movd intoto syria a and are g getting clcloser to isisrael. israel hasas said it wilill nott up with that. what we have seen over theast 36 hours is a rare daylight raid onon sunday. and a respononse from syriria io israel with missiles that werere intercepted and now this agagainst iranian targets inside syria. it may have to do with the fact that america's withdrawing forces from syria.

there is definitely an escalation on this border. >> it is for years to the day uthi when hutu rebels -- ho the area.k over some areas are still facing daily bombardments. once ruled bymen ancient kings and where the present-day struggle for control has brought widespread destruction. >> there were more bombardments yesterday. theyey could strike at any mome. it is very tense here. >> the powerful shia tribes rose up against the central government. for almost five years now, this area has come under almost daily bombardment.

12 times i've gone to the hospital. imagine what it is like. there are no medical supplies left in the region. >> my wife and daughter were a here in the hospital. i lost them both. they died instantly as m martyr. >> the civilian population is paying a heavy price for a a war with t the regional scope. the saudi led coalition has been carry out raids against the rebels. >> it is the situationon every daday. it is very difficult. everybody has gone. the roads are empty because e of the warar. life has vanished. >> recent weeks have supppposedy brought a u.n.-brokered cease-fire, but few here are convinced. >> is just for the tv cameras. the coalition's missileles are still falling on civilians. they neverer stop their attack. not for a minute. where theinue north

high altitude and isolation have spared a population brought to its knees by the fighting. this is a prime target for airstrikes. we meet a local militia leader who has come to show us another martyr. >> look at the little girl in the photo. she was killed in the saudi bombardments supported by the americans and israelis. , to is their strategy eliminate our younger generations. >> civil war has shattered yemen. as a proxyproxy -- struggle plays out, innocent civilians s are paying thehe pr. >> president emmanuel macron's appearbodyguard set to

monday to answer questions. he was charged over the use of passports last thursday. he is also under investigation in 2018ing protesters in a scandal that saw the president's popularity plunge. >> he is back in the hot seat. the president's former top security aid will take part in the senatorial hearing monday on using diplomatic passports after being fired last july. senators are eager to find out what happened behind the scenes over his dismissal over the summer. macron's chief of staff told senators that he had used his dramatic passport 2020 times afr he was fired. this contradicts what the former security aide said in the hearing last september.

websiteg to the online -- news website, he used his diplomatic passport to travel to several countries. the false statement could lead to perjury charges. the hearing will likely touch on the subject of communication between the bodyguard and the president. it was confirmed they exchanged text messages after he was fired. the sesenate commission was setp last year after video emerged showing him beating made a protesters. monday's hearing should help senators understand whether recent failures can down to -- came down to negligence or whether the president sought to protect his protége even after he was fired. >> tokyo court prepares to roll on his bail status after he failed to remain in japan if released. he has been in custody 64 days

as he fights charges for financial misconduct which he denies. he says he does not represent a flight risk and would not try to tamper with evidence. responsibility for the deadly attack in chad. 10 were killed and 25 others injured when al qaeda launched the assault in the north of the country. that group called the attack a reprisal for the chadian government renewing relations with israel. tell us, in terms of the group, what are their statement sayayi? last nightt came out around midnight. it was clear they said the , they succeeded in overrunning the chadian

contingent in the facility. on the other hand, they said they were held the attack. ion, they sayicat they conduct the attack deliberately on the same day the israeli prime minister visits chad which was in response to the prior visit of the president to jerusalem. response inis a favor of al qaeda that called on it to commit the x to foil -- the attacks. one last thing about the communique, it took the same title as the title of the attack committed by should bob -- nairobiob -- shabob in

a few days ago. wasw days ago, they said it also response. we see continuity in the attacks in the way they are claiming them. > caucus through how strong jihadists -- talk us through how strong jihadist grououps are in mali. >> they are able to plplan ann attack when n they wish to attak on their own timing.g. ththis is despipite the effortsf themnce to stop andnd prevent sophisticatated no one france is putting all of its weight in this region and the french army is having results. they were sucuccessful in

dedefeating many commanders on e ground. the announcement recently was that they killed a pro jihadi leader. admitted many of their leaders were killed by french troops on the spot. it is important to see today they are still able to recruit and conduct attacks on their own timing. we see the defensive position of the peacekeeping forces were ere is no peace to keep. there are peacekeeping forces but there is no peace to keep. attack the e deadliesest 4 where nine soldiers were killed.

and then there was the attack in 2016. there were attacks that targeted french troops directly and army troops all over the country. >> thank you. the african union has postponed sending a delegation to congo as the political standoff deepens over disputed presidential polls. sunday, the constitutional court cleared the winnerer of the election, announcement an announcement rejected by his opponent. after the constitutional court rejected the unprecedented request to delay the results of unionesidential election, the union is treading lightly.

name oret to officially congratulate the declared winner. the union expressed serious doubts over election results before saying it has taken note of the court d decision to uphod the win. the presidents of kenya and south africa have congratulated president-elect. >> the presidedent calls on all parties and stakeholders in the to respect the decision of the court. >> 16 other african states have also congratulated him. the e group has called on all congolese citizens to accept the outcome for a peaceful transition of power. spokeswoman encouraged all sides to avoid any action that would lead to violence. >> a quick reminder of our top story.

britain's prime minister gears up to present plan b honor .rexit deal to parliament we are kicking off with an investment summit currently taking place in france. president macron is hosting business leaders. >> it is the second editioion of the susummit. is part of the president's efforts to make france more attractive to foreign investments. executives are expected to stop by on the way to davos, switzerland. executives are starting to arrive. how important is the summit for president macron's pro-business

program? main parts of macron's presidency has been to make it easier for businesses to operate in france. the consequences of the reforms are still a work in progress which is why summits like this are so important to his presidency. he is still in the persuasion phase of trying to persuade companies to come to france. the success of the summit last year shows france is already attractive to investments. the economic minister in france says 34,000 jobs were created or maintained because of foreign investment, a new record for france. he says he expects those numbers to be maintained in 2018 and this year. brexit is one of the main themes of the event, as it was last year.

with the deadline coming up, france is trying to position itself as one of the main investment hubs for post-brexit investment in europe. last year, the summit tagline was, "france is back." can year, the question is, france keep it up and maintain momentum it has been gaining over the past few years? that is what the government is trying to show today, that it is willing to do the legwork and put in the effort to maintain the momentum. >> some success in persuading foreign investors to come to france. this is also taking place as france is grappling with the yellow vest protests at home. how are they addressing this? watching as tightrope between the -- walking a tightrope between the yellow vest protesters and businesses. he is trying to convince them france is a good place to invest.

on the other hand, he is trying to convince the yellow vest protesters he is not just a president for the rich. his solution so far has been to talk it out. that is what the national debate he launched is about. he is talking to citizens for hours about how to make france better. today, he is meeting with six executives on the sidelines of the meeting for one-on-one meetings, including the ceo's of microsoft, snapchat. he is still doing the legwork himself meeting with top to persuade them france is still an attractive place to invest. the government is trying to sell the summit as part of the solution for yellow vest protesters. they are saying more investment equals more jobs and opportunities. this summit is also moving towards making france more inclusive and providing more jobs for the french people.

however, it is still to be determined if protesters on the street will be convinced by this argument. we did see a handful of protesters earlier outside the palace oversight -- palace oversight. we will see if they listen to that message. >> thank you. there is another sign the world's number two ecoconomy is losing steam. showsal d data out today shows china's economy grgrew 6.6% in 2018, the lowest annual papace since 1990. gdp growthth in the third quartr was up 6.4%. they also revised down the figure for 2017. the latest figures show ththe , aarnment's target is 6.5% sisign of s slowing in china feg anxietety.

those figures are still pretty much within expectations. a mixed picture in europe. rising overe expectations of a modified brexit plan. the german fund plunged more than a percecent after annououng increasesed investstments in n w bran and m mketing.. stories,re business the french supermarket chain has agreed to sell 26 store sites in effort to reduce its debt. the properties are primarily located outside of paris. raise half a billion euros and comes after another agreement to sell six other markets. offered ton has surrender his passport and wear an ankle tag in effort to secure

his release on bail. he has been detained in tokyo for more than two months for alleged financial crimes. he previously wanted to leave japan and come back for trial. he is now o

[tense music] ♪ smit we live in a wod of rapid rising some embodyi v very expectct dimensions. i'm dee smith, and in thiepepisodof "a woror on the brink," we are gngng to okok at me of f e most significant threats o our wld t tod. from nlear, biogical,