>> hello. welcome to live from paris. i am annette young. it's 1:00 p.m. in the f french capital. let's take a look at the headlines. brexit day has arrived. britain set to become the first ever country to leave the e.u. and will spend the next 12 months negotiating a new relationship with its european neighbors. we will be crossing shortly to speak to our correspondent in london. just hours before thatat brexit deadline, shehe'll do whatever e can toto held a new referendum scottish independence by the end of the year. the number of coronavirus cases in france jumps t to six as the

world health organization declares a global emergency. annette: but first the story dominating the headlines this friday, january 31. after 47 years, britain is set to formally exit the european union. let little will change immediately as the u.k. enters the transition period for 12 months. most e.u. rules will continue to be enforced including free movemement o p people until thed of septetember. by then they're afpfplge to rea a free trade agreement with its neighbors. prime minister boris johnson is expected to hail it as the dawn of a new era. in the mean fime the president of the european commission told reporters of her sadness as the

u.k. leaves the european bloc. >> our experience has taught us that strength does not lie in isolation but in o our uninique union. we want to have the best possible relationshihip with th united kingdomom, but it will never be as good as membership. annette: joining me now from london is benedict pavio. how is london preparing for brexit day? >> well, in a mixed way, in a divided way, in the way that i think the rest of the united kingdom indeed is marking this day. so the 31st of january and brexit day itself, the final countdown to that 2300 hours g.m.t. deadline. we have a very legally important

day, constitutionally important day and a politically important day. you've got the official way of marking it, which will bebe a cabinet meeting in the north of england, chosen by the prime minister, boris johnson, because it was the first town, first city, in the united kingdom to declare during the referendum in 2016 in favor of brexit. he will be making a speech, which in fact he has already recorded, saying this is a beginning, not an end of something. of c course, that slogan, get brexit done, it is not done tonight. it is happening. it will gett done byby the 31st december of this year after what we think will be very protracted negotiations. but very mixed celebrations, we expect much remaine, if we can still call them that, from parliament down to downing street and white hall, where the

foreign office are, but there will also be a big celebration, the official one, led by brexit party leader, for the m.e.p. there will be candlelight vigils. there will be all kinds of ways of marking it. a poll tells us that the majority of people in the united kingdom are choosing not to mark it in any special way and many people are actually either sad or happy as the day they feared or hoped would never come. annette: as you said, brexit is far from done and there is certainly a lot of work ahead in the coming months. benedicte: indeed. this is just the beginning of phase two. tonight we'll have the consummation of the divorce after a 47-year membership, at

times not always easy.y. some people within europe really considering that the u uted kingdom was never really in. it was not in the currency of the rest of the e.u., so it had a rebate. but yes, many transitions -- well, difficult negotiations in this transition. i think one of the toughest ones will be anany kind of agreementn fisheries. very small percentage e of the british h economy but t a very emotional subject for many people, not least communities who d depend on fishingng and w have been promised really a great deal and that all british waters will be sprictly british, when in fact the most -- great majority of the fish that is caught in british waters in which other european union cocountries, i including france coursese, have been able too fi, actually is exportsed and its great majority to the e.u. but there will be other issues as well, and of course, it will be interesting to see if the

e.u., the 27 other e.u. member states, stay as united as they have been in the first phase. phase two will begin tonight at midnight paris time, 11:00 p.m. london time. no chimes of big ben, much asked for, for example, by the believers. that won't happen. the hope that the government is very much -- will be reflebted in that speech tonight -- reflected in that speech tonight, trying to unify the country. i understand the government would like civil servants and the rest of the country no longer to refer to remainers and leavers, just to start that new chapter, one of opportunity and a new dawn, says the prime minister. annette: benedicte paviot, thank you. earlier this friday morning, nicholas sturgeon gave a speech outlining the new referendum on scottish independence. the minister says shshe wants t hold another referendum later in

the year, but prime minister boris johnson has already rejected that notion. sturgeon says at this stage she doesn't wish to holds an unofficial referendum similar to the one e in cat loan ya. take a listen to what she had to say. >> a new scotland given that this is happening against the wiwill of the vast majority of . that sadness will be tinged with anger. no, it would be very easy to dwelell on that, on all thatat being taken away from us. but that's not what i want do today. instead, i want to focus on something much, much h more important, hope. hope of a differentt and better future for scotltland. make n nmistake. after tonight, that future is only open to us with independence. annette: joining me now catherine norris trent.

sturgeon holding off for now declaring a wild cat referendum as we thought in catalonia. >> yeah, it was a really interesting speech because while the rhetoric of independence and continuing the battle was vope there, when you look down in the details of what she said, it's left some pro-independence supporters feeling disappointed because sturgeon said in no uncertain terms that while she would like to hold another independence referendum on scotland this year, she said it may not be possible. she wanted to do this by the book. she wanted to go down a legally group so no wild cat referendums, even saying it wasn't a good idea to hold an advisory referendum because that would open up the path to many legal challenges and consume time and energy. she said she wanted t to build consensus going forward to

getting a referendum on solid ground and t thanked h her supporters that they may have to be patient. that's not what some supporters want to hear. annette: given that mention -- many in scotland support the remainers, the mood where you are is not terribly upbeat this friday. catherine:e: no, the mood is mo of commiseration than of celebration here in e edinburgh the scottish capital, where more than 70% of voters opted to remain in the e.u. back in that referendum in 2016. people here feeling sad, disappointed, but also frustrated and angry. they say they are simply not being listened to, that they haven't voted to leave the e.u. people say they feel they're being dragged ot of europe against their will and they have voted for parties who are pro-european. that is fueling the push for independence because people saying that they feel they don't have a say anymore. they don't have any kind of input into this huge decision

for their country going forward. that is breathing new life into the call for scotland to maybe become an independent state. annette: catherine norris-trent reporting from edinburgh. thank you. moving on, there are other news here on friday. let's now go to the other big story of the day, that being the world health organization having declared the outbreak of that highly contagious coronavirus to be a global emergency. this after the number of cases increased tenfofold in just one week. the latest death toll in chchin standing at 213, with almost 9,007 peoplee infected. there are yeyet to be anany dea outside ofof china, butt americ has confirmed its first case of person to person contamination. asiann communities across europ say they've also been experiencing a high level of racial abuse since the virus spread to the continent. "france 24" went to the chinese

district in paris where the celebrations for t the new year scheduled d for sunday were cancnced. we get our report. sorry, we seem to be having a technical problem. we will come back to that shortly. palestinians in lebanon, home to one of the middle east's largest populations of palestinian refugees, has responded furiously to u.s. president donald trump's peace proposal for the region. the deal imagining a segmented palestinian state within israel's borders comprising parts of the west bank and gaza. however, the proposal was drawn up without consulting any palestinian group, many of whom have rejected it saying they won't accept anything less than the right to return to all of. our correspondent in beirut has more.

>> an independent palestinian state -- for generations of palestinian refugees who have been demanding just that for more than 70 years, the where and how of the trump administration's peace plan falls far short of the mark. 6565-year-old wass born in a refugee camp in lebanonon but insists the lan she's n never sn is still her home. >> i am furious, i am against the deal because i thought donald trump would help us go back, would make a peace deal to let us go back to palestine. we don't even know our own land. >> under the proposal, some refugees would be able to return to the newly drawn palestine. others could become citizens of surrounding arab countries. palestinians immediately rejected that idea. >> yes, , i was born in lebanon but where is our country? lebanon isn't our country. e are refugees here.

, one of a dozen camps across where palestinians refugees live. rights are severely stricted and the infrastructure is falling apart. when it rains like this, everything floods with filthy water. when the u.s. slashed funding to the relief agency 18 months ago, refugees here told me they felt abandoned by america. now the u.s. says it has a workable peace plan. these palestinians say it's one they could never accept. >> when they announced trump ace deal, everyone inside and outside the camp was shocked. how can donald trump tell another person that he doesn't own himself? now they will give us only a part of palestine and say go and

live in it. it will not be accepted. >> the trump administration says if palestinians reject this plan, they'll be screwing up a huge opportunity. but for refugees here, this deal would mean the end of a dream they were raised on and one they're not ready to relinquish quite yet. annette: staying in the region, the u. special envay -- government troops have pushed 700 people to flee towards the tush irk border. at least 10 civilians, including children, have been killed in a fresh air strike in syria, backed by russian airpower. forces have stepped up assaults since last week to try and capture the last remaining rebel-held area. here is ououstory. >> this is what remains of a it tal, only hours before

was hit. almost all medical equipment has been destroyed and a nearby residential building and bakery were also hit. some people were killed on the spot. >> i was sitting insidide the hospital when warplanes came over. i ran out of the building with another doctor. then a second wave of bombings came. i escaped but the doctotor was injured. then came a third air strike. >> witnesses and an organization for human rights said russian airplanes carried out the air strikes. in recent days, syrian government forces backed by russian airpower have stepped up a campaign to retake the last remaining rebel-held territory in the province. the e latest camame a day after president's regime announced it had captured 30 towns in the region. among them, a major center for protests when the uprising began

in 2011. it's a strategic victory as the town sits on the m-5 highway. >> it's very important that we capture the international highway that led to aleppo and connected aleppo to damascus. >> the u.s.'s special envoy to syria says that the current defense in the norththwest of t country s pusushed some 700,000 people to flee toward the tush irk border, just in the -- turkish border just in the past two days. annette: in other news u.s. senators from washington are gearing up for a key vote on whether or not to call witnesses to president trump's impeachment trial. if no witnesses are indeed called, the trial could well end abruptly with trump soon quitted. acquitted. if they are called, however, the

next phase of the trial will see democrats pushing to hear testimony from, among others, formerer national securityty adr john boltoton, whohose forthcom book appears to undermine a key part of the defense being put forward by the president's lawyers. >> for two days, democratic senators fought to bring in witnesses so they would testify in donald trump's impeachment trial. those sessions ended on a positive note for the u.s. president. republicans hold a majority of the senate, but it's slim. four moderate republicans have weighed side wg the democrats. that would many -- siding with the democrats. that would many witnesses like bolton would potentially testify about trump's actions, his alleged pressure on ukraine to investigate corruption allegations against rival joe biden and his son. but lamar alexander, one of those moderate republicans, decided to vote with his party, saying trump's actions are not an impeachable offense. susan collins said she'll vote with the democrats.

senator lisa murkowski wanted extra time to give her decision. >> i think it's important to have a well balanced statement. >> even if murkowski and senator mitt romney vote to hear witnesses, democrats and republicans could stand at 50-50. the tie which chief justice could break. if he doesn't, trump's impeachment trial would quickly end. campaigning in iowa, the u.s. president appeared confident. president trump: if they impeach the president now, it's not going to work. watch. just watch. >> democrats need 2/3 of senators to impeach the president, and that is highly unlikely. but stretching out the case could damage donald trump politically, as he runs for a second term. time now for a look at the day of business news. i am joined in the studio by

brian quinn. hello, brian. it's brexit day. you will have a look at what lies ahead in the u.k. in terms of trade as it exits the e.u. brian: t that's right. negotiations for a new comprehensive u.k.k.-e.u. trade agreement are reportedly scheduled to begin only in march, leaviving just 10 monthso strike a deal before the transition period ends. the e.u.u. takes nearly half of all british exportrts and accous for millions of jobs. so t s stakes aree high. therere are many sticking g int most of all the e.u. wants to ensure the u.k.. adhdheres to e standards. they wananted them to diverge fm e.u. regulations. here are the details. >> another will begin as the e.u. and u.k. negotiate what post-brexit trade will look like. britain wants a tariff-free quota-free deal, much like the current agreemement. afterr that, the e.u. wants

reassurarances. >> the precondition is that european a and british business contininue to compete on a leve playing f field. we will certainly not expose our company to unfair competitition. >> the slogan take back control because the level playing field means the u.k. could not lower standards to gain a competitive advantage and would have to mirror the european union on workers' rights, environmental protections, taxes, state subsidies to businesses, and not undercut the european bloc later on. london insists it won't be a rolele playernd as alwaways brussels and britainin are at odds. they insist thermumust be nono customs checkcks on the irish border where prime minister johnson says there won't be any at all. just 11 months remain before the

ind -- end of the transition period. they want a comprehensive deal signed by year end. a process that usually takes much longer. the e.u. says it won't be rushed and there is a chance t that th transition period could be extended by up to two years. bryan: the cases of coronavirus rare confirmed in the u.k. off by around 2/3 of a percent. sterling gaining ground after the bank of e england's decisio third to hoho rates stiddddy. analysts warn any faiaire in trade tatalks couould send it sharply lower. currentltly holding at justst o $1.31. for more on house brexit will affect b british businesses, we arare joinened b by jenna smart

oxford university's business school. thanks so much for being with us. with t the transition perioiod l in effect for the next 11 months, not too much changing today but a lot has changed for british businesses. what do you think is still to come? >> well, british businesses have seen quite a lot of change already. we have had some impact particularly on the automotive sector and the honda factory has closed which was partly attributable to brexit. there is likely toto be impact supply chains. the pharmaceutical and automotive sector are ones that are particularly concerned about the impact of brexit going forward. bryan: some interesting back and forth between london and brussels over how customs checks between northern ireland and the republic of ireland will be carried out. boris johnson saying not at all.

how do you see customs checks being carried out and what effect will they have on businesses on both sides of the border? janet: that's a very important question because the placing of our so-called -- something that has been one of the consequences of the deal that boris johnson signed, and so despite what he says, i am convinced there will checks. e some the checks will likely happen, going both ways, and so although some of the courts are equipped for carrying out some kind of checks, the volume of checks will be much greater because of the traffic that has been done nder e.u. regulations. businesses still aren't clear what kind of checks will be needed.

peoplele will have to be traini in order to manage the paperwowk that manany of the small businesseses that have not been accusteded to thinkiking of thememselves as exportersrs wilw have to o get trained to deal wh the new requirements that will be put in front of them. so it's going to have quite a big impact on small businesses in particular r that move their goods between northern irelanan and great britain. bryan: indeed, we will be keeping a close eye on that. janet smart, thank you veryry mh for being with us on "france 24." jajanet: thahank you. bryan: access to britain'sicich fifishing waters couould be an especiciallyrickyy matteter in those u u.k.-e.u.u. trade t tal. taking baccocontrol ofof bririts territoriaial waters was one of ththe key demands of the brerex campaign ovever fears t that nanational s sovereignty was be eroded. the e.e.u. may hit l london whet hurts s by dananding a fisherie accord in exchanange for giving the u.u.k.'s banking sector accs to the european market.

>> this is the latest brexit battleground. if london wants its banks to retain access to the market, the e.u. wants access to british fisheries. u.k. fishermen say they've been getting the short end of f the stick for years a as e.u. vesse take about sixix times more fis from u.k. waters than the british do from e.u. waters. many fishermen had hopes brexit would change things. >> there is underlying threat that we can decide once again in order to give the u.k. a better trade d deal. >> economically u.k. fishing accounts for less than .01% of u.k. economic output. its 8,000 fishermen generate just over one billion euros but for this island nation fishing

is symbolic. but britain's real moneymaker is the financial services industry. in 2018, it generated 157 billion euros, almost 7% of total economic output, and it employs over a million people. another reason for westminster to play ball, most of the fish thatat british trawlers catch i exported to the e.u. fishing is an economic lifeline for many coastal communities on the continent, including denmark and the netherlands. there was no doubt of the need for a fisheries accord. >> i hope there is going to be common ground and agreements made because if not, it's the death of french fishermen. >> brexit was supposed to be about controlling the u.k.'s bordsers but for the negotiations for f fisheriesthtt promomise may fall at the first hurdle. bryan: complicated situation. a lot of tough negotiation to come. annette:e: far from a smooth ro

ahead. that's fo sure, bryan quinn. that's it for this edition. i will be back after a short break. do stay with us on "france 24."

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