anchor: it's 1:00 p.m. in the french capital. i'm charlie james, and here is what's ahead. hundreds of passengers start didisearking froroa quarantinend cruise ship inin japan. more than half of all coronavirus cases outside of china have an on board the vessel. france's president announces a crackdown on islamist separatism. emmanuel macacron ending a progm that a allows foreign countrieso frenchamams to preach in mosques. libya's u.n.-backed government suspends peace talks after rival

commander haftar stepped up attacks on the capital, striking its vital support. seaport. a spanisish potato chip brandy getting an unexpected sales boost, thanks to the movie "parasite." we will explain in our business update. ♪ ♪ we begin with the latest on the global coronavirus outbreakk. on wednesday, china confirmed about 1700 new cases, a number that indicates the rate of transmission there has started to slow down. meanwhile, iran's government has confirmed the first two cases of thee coronavirus in the country.

in japan, about 500 people who tested negative for the virus were allowed to leave the diamond princess cruise ship. a two-week ququarantine is e en, despspite failining to contain e major outbreak on boarard. another 79 cases have been discovered on the ship, bringing the total to 621 people. i spoke with journalist michael penn, who o joined us from toko. i asked him how expertsts reactd the japanese government's handling of ththis crisis. michael: the japanese government'handling of the issue e has been w widely critid by health h expertrts inside ja, why the opopposition pararties,d more impliciciy by foreieign governmentnts as well. japan has begun to release, , as you mentioned, 500 peoplele so r intoto the generalal population. and the e contention of f the japanesese government is that te

54 peoplple confirmed to h have caught the cororonavirus on boad the ship all had it two weeks ago, when the quarantine began, but most all o other experts a e saying no, a actually, t the coronavirurus has been spreadidg during thehe quarantinee period. if that is the case, thehe japanese govovernment is p proby unwise to be letting people leave the ship at this time. charli: right, not really an effective quarantine if it is spspreading g on board. michael, we have to talk about the 20 olympic games, or coming up in just a matter of m monthsn japan. how this outbreak has been handled, it must be raising concerns about this global event. michael: cerertainly. in fact, o on social mediaia japane languguage social media, there have been false rumors

about the olympics being canceled and other things like this. any of the critics of the olympics have seized on this and other evidence that it isis not headed for a g good future. but the government is planning to carry out the olympics. therere i is no c change in that policy. it is certainly dampening spirits. the run-up to thehe olympics, te excitement, and all of the campaign building up to it -- that is going to be a affected y the coronavivirus crisisis, ande will have to s see how far the issue has run its course by the time the games actually begin. charli: michael penn there from tokyo. the british government has outlined a new post brexit immigration plan. the nation will prioritize high skilled workers from around the world, using a point-based system. points will be assigned for specific skills, and applicants must speak english. radical: it is a overhaul to the u.k. immigration system.

following the brexit transition period, british government plans to end the e.u.'s free movement policy, prioritizining high skilled workers to a points-based system, with no exceptions for european citizens. it is a single, global immigration system. it does n not discrimininate one basis of what country you originate from, but focuses on skills you can briring to the u. as a a result, the numbers will come down. it is the purpose. we are not going to get into the targets at all. reporter: points will be granted based on specific skills, qualifications, salaries, and standard of english. pieces will only bee given to people who pass a certain ceiling. but business groups say there is already a shortage of labor and the new rules could lead to a deficit of staff in care, construction, and hospitality industries, which would undermine the u.k. economy. >> companies are already

investing heavily in homegrown talent across the u.k., but critical labor shohortages mean firms will still need access to overseas workers at all skill levels. reporter: a dififferent initiate will cover scientists, graduates, national health service workers, and those in the agricultural sector. the british government has said it wants to move away from what it described as cheap european labor, morning employers will need to adjust. concern over the impact of immigration was one of the main factors behind the u.k. vote to leave the e.u. emmanuel macron has announced he plans to end a system which allows foreign countries to send imams and teachers to france. this is part of a wider what he called the risk of islamist separatism. france's muslim community is the biggest in europe, and macron's had islam has no place in the country. reporter: he has decoded a

priority for back to of his presidential term. on tuesdayay, emmanuel macron announced a series of measures aiming to combat what he called separatist islamism -- a tendency which he said was leading certain french citizens hold religious laws above those of the republic. macron insisted that the measures were not about stigmatizing any religion. macron: we must put in place is not a plan against islam. that would be a profound mistake. we must fight the separatism i just described. isorter: central to the plan a move to restrict foreign countries'abilities to send imams to france. he said countries like turkey currently send 300 imams a year to france, a number imam plans to cut drastically, asking to train more imams on french soil.

he would also end the practice in which nine country send teachers different schools to teach for linkages. of those nine countries, only turkey has rejected the proposal. when we, macron will track foreign financing of mosques, citing an example backed by qatar in the city where he delivered his speech. it is home to one of 50 neighborhoods government has targeted as part of a coordinated anti-islamist strategy, officially dubbed a republican reconquest of sensitive areas. charli: staying in france, the government has announced the country's oldest nuclear complex will be shut down by the end of june. prime minister adouard philippe saidid wednesday the reactor on the border with germany will haha one of itits reactors close this weekend. it is being calalled the first phase of france's energy strategy set out by president

increaseich aims to production from renewable sources. france 34 journalist valerie decamp joins me in the studio. let's start with the timing of the announcement. why now? basically the oldest nuclear plant in france. it was commissioned in 1978 and it quickly became a symbol of france's nuclear prowess. for many people, it also came to symbolize many industry problems, at least according to environmentalists, who have been advocating for years for its closure and for france to decrease dependence on nuclear energy. there has been safety concerns over this nuclear plant during the summer. fassenheim was one of four french nuclear reactors temporarily shut down because of fears of overheating that would be quite dangerous.

fassenheiman idea that has been operating for a long time, the objective being to focus on more modern nuclear plants, but there is also thisis idea of trying to reduce france's dependence on nuclear power. it is being cacalled the f first phase of a new strategy, of a new energy strategy that was announced by french president emmanuel macron last year. on nuclearnds more energy than any other country in the world. about three quarters of its electricity comes from nuclear plants. accorording macron, to this new energy strategy, only 50% of the country's electricity will be announced in the nuclear plant by 2035. it is a still unimportant reduction for a country like france. it means another 14 nuclear reactors will be shut down.

after the first one, a lot will come in the next few years. 14 nuclear reactors by 2035 shutdown down out of 58 existing at reactors. now the question is, if france reduces its dependence on nuclear energy, what does it do to get its electricity? obviously, the objecective being to c compensate this reduction with renewables. but if the french state owned electricity company has said it is planning on boosting the use of renewables -- we don't really know if the country will be able to achieve those objectives in time, bearing in mind as well that although this may seem like a victory for environmentalists, who say that nuclear reactors and nuclear plans produce very toxic waste, nuclear power also has a very low carbon footprint compared to other types of energy -- for example, coal.

it is important to know that many have been left wondering whether this could potentially be a mistake for france, considering its climate emissions. not mean thed does risk is gone. it still has to be dismantled. dismantling a facility like this takes 20 years. why does it take so long? valerie: that is correct. that is a very long time. as you were saying, even if the nuclear reactors would stop producing energy, producing electricity in the coming months, it would take decades to handle the aftermath of its closure, and the reason it will take so long -- it is pretty straightforward. it's because nuclear energy produces a lot of highly polluting toxic waste needs to be taken care of. so there will be three main phases in this dismantling. the first one, the more important phase ofso there wille dangerous radioactive substances site.e evacuated from the

radioactive waste, radioactive fuel will be evacuated from the site. authorities, to 99% of the radioactitivity prest in the site will be eliminated after this first phase. of course, all of this will be done under very tight security, because it could be potentially very dangerous. this will take five years to complete. after they are done with five years, real dismantlement of the site will begin. all the equipment, all the machines that h have been in contact withth radioactive material will be dismantled. they will have to deal with the building housing the nuclear reactors. this will be a delicate part of this operation. they will have to make sure not to contaminate the surroundings and not to expose the people who will be working throughout this operation. there is an we know

robot that will be sent to complete this task. this robot will do is basically cut the reactor's container in pieces in order to dismantle the whole site. the final phase of this dismantling will be a cleanup operation. any radioactive particles remaining, anything, even if they donon't pose heaealth risi, theyey will haveve to be removed through the walls of the structure, and that will take another five years. udf,after all off this, france's electricity company, they cannot guarantee the site will be safe for other activities. see, ishis, i think you a huge experiment for france, because it is the first nuclear plant being dismantled in the country. it is the first time we are doing this. but what we do know is that they will generate a lot of toxic waste, massive amounts of nuclear waste, more than 7000

tons of radioactive waste, for just one reactor. as you can see, a lot of work still ahead. charli: a lot of concern in the community as well. thank you for that report. another roadblock to ending war in libya. the nations um-backed government has pulled out of peace talks in geneva, furious that rival general felicia have to's -- that rival general halifa attacked a port. in libya, a fragile truce has been repeatedly violated. reporter: scenes from tripoli haharbor just t moments after rockets rained down on the capital port. and his allies have the redline. >> we will suspend o our participation in the geneva talks until a strong position is taken against our aggressors. when t the time e cos, we will

firmlyly retaliate to those aggressions. reporter: highly explosive fuel vessel s stopped at the port hae evacuated. power stations could be disrupted as a result of the attack. as have to's eastern -- as haftar's forces were targeting infrastructure, peace talks were taking place in geneva. the latest attack is a big breach of the current cease-fire, but it is far from the first. the ununited nations remains committed to de-escalating the conflict. the two sides have seen that it is better that there is no direct interaction between them. agreement.an if i can get the agreement by what i amhat is looking for. violence has

intensified in and around tripoli since april, when haftar launched an offensive to take over the capital on the u.n. back prime minister. in a bid to curb the fighting on both sides, the european union announced on monday it would help enforce an arms embargo. charli: africa is suffering its worst plague of locusts in a quarter-century, reddening to turn into a food crisis. the insects have reached south sudan, were 60% of the population is already going hungry due to drought, flooding, and years of civil war. u.n. said the situation remains extremely alarming. learning howy are to put on protective clothing and spray pepesticides properly. around 600 kenyan army cadets will help fight the onslaught of locusts.

>> they hiked in about two weeks ago. ground spring is the recommended way of controlling them. started: the new phase after years of aerial spray. the current locust invasion is seriously threatening crop production and worsening food shortages in the region were up to 25 million people are already suffering from three consecutive years of drought and flood. several countries in the horn of africa have been hit, with south sudan becoming the latest victim as yellolow grasshoppers contine to expand their breediding grou. south sudadan and ugananda are particularly vulnerable e and underprepapared to stop the spread. >> the countries have not seen sorensen since 1961, s so it is fffficult to quilyly respond an scale much-needed conontrol efforts in order t to protect te livelihoods and the food in the hornpeople

of africa. reporter: more than 60% of the population of south sudan is facing critical lack of food after years of civil war. local authorities, as well as the united nations, have called for urgention,sking for speedy financial assistance to curb the outbreak. some experts have warned there could be 500 times more by the end of june. reporter: let's take a moment to remind you of our top stories. huhundreds of passengers start disembarking from a a quarantind crcruise ship in j japan, despie nearly 80 new cases bebeing confirmed on board. iran confirms the first two cases of the virus within its borders. t time to run the numbers, a and that means busins today with stephen carroll. more bad news8 foror the seven under 37 may e explain8 -- more bad news for the 737 may plane and boeing.

it is the ninightmare that won't and. -- end. stephen: they have found debris and fuel tanks of several that were built in the last year but not yet delivered to airlines. was is a model that stranded over a year ago. the material was discovered during maintenance. this can increase the risk of short-circuits or fires. the head of the 700 37 program at boeing telling staff at an internal memo this discovery was absolutely unacceptable. any spokesman saying they have increased inspections as a result, and this would not affefect efforts to have return thehe plane this summer. shares have risen on reports the government is considering a bailout. lynn burkeke -- bloloomberg reportining options include a massive cash injection, or merging smaller carriers into larger ones to prevent the collapse.

the vast majority of flights in china have been canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak. thesays this has shut down chchinese aviationn market, to e same size e as porortugal's. european shares are trading up, with recovering stocks like luluxury groups and mining companies contribute into a rise overalall across london, paris, and frankfururt. cases appeared to stabilize. -- to stabilize of the virus. the euros is trading at itits lowest level agagainst the dollr in three years. that is partly driven by a rise in the value of the dollar, but also weaker economic data weighing on the euros in europe. it is also trading for around 83 pence sterlrling. inin france, talks betetween the govevernment and unionons are continuiuing over contveversial pepension reforms.

politicicians examamine thousanf amendments to the bill in parliament. opposition to the reforms leledo massive transport strikes a and demonstrationsns in decembmber d january. when union has already quit talks after just one day. villashe gash -- reports. reporter: the latest projected deficicit in theheetirement t sm by 203030 according to the frenh government -- unions say the timing of this announcement was timed to exert m maximum p pres. >> there are new figures, , new measures, and now this 113 billion euros. this is the first time i am hearing this figure. reporter: most except the timing of the announcement and the new method of calculation. until nowow, the government has highlighted a deficit in 2027 if reforms are not undertaken. >> it's important to point at this i is not a deficit for just one year. it is urgent to find solutions, to find the balance. reporter: the government is

responsible for the growing deficit by limiting certain social insurance contributions, like on overtime, or by lowering dues.they have said they will not accept a proposal that sees employees contributing more to close the gap. >> our main goal is measures there is contribution. it simply employees have to pay the deficit, this will not be acceptable. reporter: the pension overhaul has triggered street protests and a long-running transport strike. opponents have accused the government of not being transparent about the proposed reforms. unions say it will rult in lower pensions for some parts of the workforce.e. ststephe the indian congnglomere reliancece iustry y id it t is assessing new u.s. sanctions on a russian oil company which supplies it with venezuelan oil. the u.s. has blacklisted a subseries -- subsidiary of resident -- of rosnet for dealing in venezuelan oil.

this makes it a criminal offense to do business with them. the trump administration is supporting opposioion leaeader n venezuela juan guaido. down its losing angeles office, and outsourcing the work to the philippines. around 80 jobs will go in the move. that comomes as the right hailig giant's losses have been mounting. the staff worked in administration for drivers andnd users. earlier this month, uber reported a $1.2 billion loss inn the last three months ofof 2019. "parasite" was a big succccess at this year's oscars, but t also brought good luck k a spanish crcrystal mamanufacture. a tin of potato chips appear in a scene in the movie, which caused a a surge in demand for e product from a company that has been in business for 88 years. reporter: an unexpected cameo has led to a surge in sales for

a spanish potato chips c compan. here is the tim. look how well you c can see it. it doesn't smell like chips, but you can see it well. reporter: the owner had no idea his chips were in a scene from the oscar-winning film, "parasite." a mystery how this tine showeded this 10 -- this made with so much affection and hope, and then the movie came eo renowned. my hope has been fulfilled. reporter: he says he wants to thank the director for all the publicity. it should not be too surprising the chips ended up in the film. south korea is one of their biggest markets, accounting for -- experts.xperts a 500 gram 10 costs the equivalent of 23 euros.

the family-run company produces each year, chips exporting to more than 20 countries. next to its newfound fame, online sales in spain have theed 150%, allowing company to hire more stataff ast ramps up production to meet the demand. comompanyoogle's parentnt has pulled out of a venture that aimed to build powergenerating kites. it was one of the moonshot projects alphabet was invesestig in since 2013.3. the boss is under pressure to reduce the cost of other bets that lost the company almost $5 billion last year. airborne developing wind turbines which would fly up to 300 meters into the air, tethered to floating buoys. the company said they would push ahead with efforts to develop

the technology without google's backing. charli: an interesting venture i had never heard about before.e. stephen: one of many strange things google invests in. charli: thank you for bringing

[birds chirping] [alalarm clock blaring]g] [alarm f fades] man: as soon as i start my sake productition, i have toe here every single day. that part i wasn't quite ready for. sake-e-making is a lot