♪ you are watatching france 24. it is time for 60 minutes live around the world. the u.n. says it is preparing for the worst in northeast syria after the u.s. started pulling back its forces from turkish border areas, opening the way for a threatened military invasion. chaos as a result of sunday's parliamentary vote. exit polls say moderate islamist party is in first place, but with just 17% of the vote. . a second whistleblower on ukraine has stepped forward,

this one reportedly with firsthand knowledge of donald trump's controversial dealings with the country. the white house still insisting the president did nothing wrong. also coming up for you this hour, facebook's goal to reconfigured the global financial system with its new cryptocurrency libre hits another bump in the world. can libra rise above? we will take a look in our business update. can you can can? the famousus dancers of the moun rouge can. ththey took to the street to celebrate the famous paris nightspot. first, our topop story come alie from paris. ♪ >> u.s. forces in northern syria have started pulling out from

areas along the turkish border. a small number of u.s. troops were deployed to try to avert a confrontation between turkey and syria's kurds. turkey has pressed the u.s., saying it was to clear the border to protect itself from kurdish fighters. kurdishays syria's groups are an offshoot of the militants who carried out attacks in turkey for years. >> it is the moment syria's kurdish forces have been dreading -- u.s. troops are leaving syria's north border. the u.s. has long stayed here to protect kurdish fighters once key allies in the war on the islamic state group. since the islamic state organization has been officially defeated, president donald trump warned u.s. troops will leave, even though turkey has threatened to attack the kurds, which president erdogan sees as a threat.

sunday night, the white house confirmed it is abandoning the region. turkey will soon move forward with its planned operation into northern syria, united states forces having defeated the eyes his caliphate will no longer be in the immediate area. >> u.s. defense officials tried to block the withdrawal, offering turkey a plan to create a common safe zones on the erdogan,ut president exasperated by washington's failure to act, has sent troops to the border at the u.s. chose not t to stand in his way. we finished our preparations, completed our operation plans, and gave the necessary orders. erdogan sees kurdish forces as an offshoot of group's kurdish insurgent . now a spokesperson for the

syrian democratic forces says this was a stab in the back and a surprise. the deputy director of the center for syrian studies at the university of saint andrew joins us live from london. thanks for taking the time to speak with us. this is a stunning change in u.s. foreign policy, not least because the u.s.-backed kurdish forces have been america's most reliable partners in syria. tell us momore about that. >> yes. it should not be really a surprise because we have heard about t this over possibibly a r and a h half. president t trump has implied he is willing to do this. the kurds were caught by surprise. they quieted down and now it is back. anyoned be a mistake for to feel they can trust a cohesive principal american

policy in the region. there e is none. it fluctuates and it has a lot to do with whatever particular security interest may be at stake at a particular moment. to build upon this, the idea that you can have a region that is protected and possibly create a state has proven to be a significant mistake. >> we are talking about 1000 american troops who are already pulling out from the region. what kind d of effect will this have on the ground? large extent the presence of american troops is symbolic. it is not so much how many there are. it is the idea that they are there and because they are there there are limitations on what others can do. turkey cannot advance on an area that has 20 american soldiers, let alone a thousand. when they withdraw, they are giving the green light.

-- thisn light creates notion of a safe zone is ancient. it is eight years old. we have been n hearing about tueyey wanting tcreaeate a safee zone for refugees. back.also trying to push in the eyes of turkey, to have kurdrds on the border and on the othersf f the border, thihis creates a security problem. they might come together and revolt of the borders of turkey as we e know it. this is how the turkish geopolitical prism of how to see this is playing out. there isis so much at wowork. what i is really ironic c is tht lost in this story is the basic element of syrians. where do syrians fit into this?

aey seem to be nothing but footnote here. we are talkingng about turkeyy o sovereign syrian territory. we are talking about americans giving them the green light. kurds are feeling stabbed in the back and disappointeted. one hahas to almost remind him r herself that we are talkining abouout syria. and one wonders where syrians fit into this scenario. >> w where do thsysyrianfifit i? , no one seemsly to be focused on that. no one seems to be focused on the idea of here we are, eight years later, and we are yet to systematiccohesive, process of political transition. we have spent two or three years agreeing on a constitutional committee. -- we still have this agreement on this mandate.

the reelection is coming up. here we are. --what point do the syrian does the syrian story, which is supposed to be the foundation for all the stories, become the true attention of the international community? this is what is lost in translation, so to speak. now we find ourselves consumed with a mutation of a mutation. notwithstanding that it will have a humanitarian fight and all these mutations will. concernedve to be with all the civilians that will be caught up in these border conflicts. >> thank youou for taking the te to speak witith us. the deputy director for the center for syrian studies at the university of st. andrew.

next t to geneva, where there is political chaos as a result of sunday's parliamentary vote showing no clear winner. the moderate islamist party and mediarty of the detained mogul had earlier claimed victory. both h have also ruled out workg -- coalitionion that contains the other. predicted that the election would be a slap in the face for more established parties. is that what happened? >> it is a mixed bag. it was a slap in the face for two established parties. it was certainly a c crucial and dominant political force here and in the firstst few years afr the resolutution o of 2011. both parties d d badly accccordg

to an independent polling company, a privatete polling company.y. ththis is not a government exixt poll. that result should be coming this w wednesday from the electn commission. this polling company was accurate in the first round of the presidential electn, s so we can be preretty safe and using their results. nahdhaha as theng e en party that came out on top. on the f face of it, it didid no othther given how the parties s did. if you look k at their share of the vote, it has been s shrinki. they have e been losing supports over the lasast 8.5 years. -- asasht lose as much as many as 30 seats in ththe new paparliament. if they comparare themselves to their r own prevevious scores, s not a good situation. ennahdha a as thougugh they wile

ablele to form the next governmt or at l least be part of the net coalition. that is p probably the key thing for the party leadership at this point. >> this vote comes in the midst of a presidential election with a second round coming up this weekend. has the focus shifted to that? there has been a lot of focus on the presidential election even during the parliamentary election because there is so much drama surrounding the presidential election. people are wondering w what actuallyf nabil karoui winsns. he is behind bars. would he be allowed to take his oath of office from prison, i in which cacase he would get immunity? with that immunity - -- with tht immunity, he wouould be able to walk out of prisonon and go to e presidential palace this is all hypothetical, but people are wondering what is going to happen. his rival from the first round

-- these are the two men in the runoff. campaignid he will not in thihis second round. he says because he is concerned about the quality of .pportunities essentially, he wants to look genenerous and not campaign whie maybe karoui cannot campaign. some people have said they y dot move,ncerity of his noticing thatt h he did not reay campaiaign in the first round of the e presidenal e election anyway. supportrterscally his that did thehe campaigning, paparticularlyly on social medi. there is only a 3% diffeference betwtween these men. it is tight. anything could h happen n next sunday. there w will be a meeting betwen the political l party isis to to form a majority y in parliliame.

really a l lot more e twists i s political drama coming up. and iraq, antigovernment protest have been going on for over a week. 15 people were killed in a neighborhood in eastern baghdad, bringing the total to 110 debt. people have poured into the streets to demand an end to corruption and an improvement in social services. gunshots to disperse protesters, still defiant, refusing to leave the streets of baghdad, despite a 17 point so-called recovery plan announced by iraqi authorities. the anger has not been eased. fofor six days, demands of beeen the same -- economic reforms and the resignation of the government they accuse of corruption. sunday, several demonstrators were shot and killed by police forces. in all, since last week, more than 100 people have died in the violence and several thousand

were wounded. >> we are demonstrating peacefully. what do they want from us? why are they killing us? >> this young man says he wants concrete measures from the government to fight unemployment, which affects one out of four young people in iraq. the government this week attempted to respond, announcing a pension allowance for young people who do not have jobs. accused of using unnecessary force against protesters, the authorities blame a small group they say has infiltrated their ranks. there were no clashes between the security forces and the demonstrators who are our brothers. there were some malicious people who attacked the victims on the side of the secret he forces. >> iraqi officials are trying to ease tensions by creating a list of victims considered martyrs, a decision that could allow

families of the victims to receive compensation. >> in washington, a second whistleblower on ukraine has stepped forward. this one reportedly with firsthand knowledge of donald trump's controversial dealings with that country. democrats say the u.s. president's attempt to get the ukraine president to investigate former vice president joe biden and his son are an impeachable offense. the white house is insisting the president did nothing wrong. here is our washington correspondent. so far, we have little infoformation regardrding who tt second whistleblower iss comee about theirr lawyer has sasaid t person is a member of f the intelligigence committee and thy have spoken to the inspector general of the intelelligence community, even though theyey he yet to file a former complaint with that inspector general. most i importantly, ththe lawyer says this second whistleblower, unlike the first one, actually has firsthand knowledge of that

phone call between donald trtrup and the ukrainian president. this has forced the republicans to shift their defensive strategy after focusing on discrediting the first whistleblower because t that fit whistleblower did not haveve firsthand knowledge of the call. this time, they are saying the second whistleblower does not matter because the information is already available to the pupublic and there is nothing there. in the words of the white house press secretary, it does not change the fact that the president has done nothing wrong. the message for the republicans is therere is nothing to see he. but enough for the u.s. president to lash out at the second whistleblower over the weekend, accusing that person of "c"coming in from the deep stat" france, this monday

sees the opening of the first trial to stem from the so-called karachi affair. six men stand accused of paying a legal kickbacks as part -- illegal take backs as part of a summary deal, a scheme to fund the failed presidential bid. >> to fully understand the karachi affair, we need to go back to 1993. the prime minister and his then defense minister were in charge of france's arm sales. gcn -- dcn wanted to secure a submarine deal with pakistan. hiredp matters, the dcn lobbyist groups to handle kickbacks. that was legal, but here is the rub. those payments are estimated to have been worth almost 2 million

eueuros and allegedly came backo france in so-called retro commissions. cache the paris criminal court find as was used to failed presidential bid. that wld be e illegal. -- who put a stop to alll secret arms deal payments. questions about those alleged retro commissions only resurfaced years later following a 2002 bombing in karachi that killed 11 engineerers. the trial that opens this monday focuses on the financial aspects to the so-called karachi affair. former, among them associates, stand accused of misuse of public funds. the former prime minister and his defense minister will stand trial at a later date. the court is set to try special -- sitting and former members of

government. >> the moulin rouge has just celebrated its 130th birthday. that cabaret venue is synonymous with the excesses of the -- and france and still popular with tourists flocking to be bedazzled by feathers, sequins, and the cancan. ♪ red,rving up a riot of white, and blue, dancers at paris's moulin rouge spilled out onto the streets to mark the 130th birthday of the infamous venue, video -- video -- a night replete with ostrich feathers. is the moulinis rouge. >> we come from italy just for the moulin rouge's anniversary. we are happy to be here at the show has been magnificent. >> immortalized in thehe paintis and postersrs, the m moulin n re

has become a byword for the glamour and excesses of the late 19th century. it also came to be known as the home of the cancan, and erotically charged dance that still has the power -- the venue sells 600,000 a tickets -- 600,000 tickets a year, with many flocking to catch a glimpse of that iconic red windmill. while some question the ethics of a show in which it appears only the men get to keep their clothes on, there is no denying the moulin rouge still knows how to put on a show. today's business news. incomingover an economic slow down weighing on industries around the world. how are banks adjusting? >> many banks have been struggling to adjust to falling intererest rates, certainty, and the u.s.-china trade war. according to a report by the -- planningmes,

another 10,000 job codes as part of a major cost-cutting drive. the report comes weeks after the chief executive stepped dowown d announced the axing of 4000 posts. a market analyst from hong kong speculate on which drugs could be at risk. the higher payroll people -- i think they-- would like to maintain the sales quarter. the back office would be the first one to go. there is not much to goo now. that is why y the higher up peoe are now on the knife. facebook has been struggling to getet his cptptocurrencncy se off the grground. you have been lookoking at libra's latest r roadblos. facacebook inititially sosold a

as the evolution of paypapal, tt would let usesers buy or sell wh zeroro fees. for -- facebobook is leavining e associationn developing the currency. setbtbacks havave raised fears t libra could be delayed or canceled. >> libra has hit another block in the road after paypal said it was pulling out of the cryptocurrencycy development. paypal said -- >> we remain supportive of libra's aspirations and look forward to continue dialogue on ways to work together in the future. >> facebook hopes to launch the digital currency, which it says will reconfigure the world of finance in june 2020. recently, progress appears to have stalled. last mononth, french and german finance ministers they would block libra's operation in europe, citing regulatory bids. at the time, libra's managing director spoke.

>> the service is not up and running. it is basically a project and ww arare working on that projojecth regulators to ensure we are having the proper frameworks before starting anythihing. >> in response to paypal's withdrawal, the libra association was bullish. >> we are better off knowing about this lack of commitment now rather than later. >> with paypal out of the picture, the project has 28 partners, including uber and spotify. paypal's decision is unlikely to completely grind development to a halt, but it does pose another worrying break to progress for the currency's remaining developers. >> next, trade talks between the u.s. and china are set to resume later this week. how are the financial markets taking that? >> we a are seeing cacautious optimism from investors desespie reports suggesting china i is narrowowing the scope of any tre deal with united states. european indices were trading up despite a negative open.

was up about .5%. shares rebounded from a negative open, with investors responding positively to news of more potentntial job cuts. orders german factory dropping for a second month running, raising fears a recession is near. in asia, closing just above the flat line. tokyo is negative. >> here in europe, we are dealing with a major threat to one of the most beloved industries -- cheese. >> swiwiss cheese, parmesan, provolone -- thehe list goeses . eueuroan charges -- chcheeses ae the target of an import tariff in t the united states.s. ththey are set to come into efft and it h has sent cheese imports into a buying frenzy. americans currently make

serious chatter from selling eu cheeses. jobs aresand -- 20,000 supported by the train and in total u.s. companies make $3.5 billion annually on the back of it. those days could soon be over. last week, donald trump slept 25% tariffs on cheese and other eu produducts, something that is beginning to great on importers. >> we are american companies that employ american people and pay american taxes and that is something i think is lost in the current administration, that you are not just penalizing europe. workernalizing the u.s. and companies. couldsays the tariffs slice the value of u.s. imports of eu cheeses by 30% while increasing prices across the country. some cheeses could melt in the market completely. the number of importers are now purchasing cheeses with longer

shelf lives and others have been forced to stockpile. >> i have a stockpile of cheese to make sure i'm able to maintain inventory and sales. the cases are filled to the top. expected to come into force by october 18, the crisis for u.s. cheese importers is set to mature. >> we will wrap up with a look at the travel industry. travel companies have been getting slack from huge carbon footprints, but one millionaire is taxing himself. company takes 30,000 tourists from the u.s. to europe every year. to offset the carbon emissions from those plane trips, he announced on twitter he would donate $1 million to climate projects e every year, what he s calling a self-imposed carbon tax. that figure: -- comes from the bydit recommended

carbonfootprint.com. he urged governments to make this carbon tax mandatory for all companies. until then, he is taking matters into his own hands. the next half hour, a closer