grim milestone in covid-19 as the global death toll passes by hundred thousand. there are now more than 10 million coronavirus cases around the world. the death toll passes 500,000. butverdict was due today, it now looks like the whole corruption trial could be forced to start again. thanks for joining us on "france 24." green parties in france got big wins in municipal elections. for the first time ever, there will now be environmentalist mayors in major cities like

lyon. he and the paris mayor got reelected. we have more on what kind of effect this green wave could have on french president emmanuel macron. >> municipal elections are often a chance for voters to voice their discontent with presidents. although turnout was historically low at about 40%, those who did cast ballots on sunday sent a clear message to emmanuel macron. his centrist party was badly defeated while the greens won major battles across the country. macron, bright spot foror he was elected in the northern port. the prime minister, who could leave office, also talked about

the environment. [speaking french] reporter: the french president has sometimes failed to take environmental l policies that coululd displease i investors ad .ther segments of society all that could change monday when he meets with the citizens convention which he set up, a group of people selected randomly to suggest environmental policies. a green shift may help macron we gain support among leftist voters disillusioned by his policies. macron have famously pleaded for the environment. >> make our planet great again. reporter: he has two years left on his first term to cononvince voteters he really meantnt it.

president is french sticking w with the greeeen thig today by s speaking to a citizes climate conference held at the palace. here's what he had to say earlier. >> [speaking french] anchor: our environment editor is at the e presidential palalae now where the conference was taking place earlier. tell us more about what the french president had to say. reporter: it was exceptional timing, these responses to the climatate convention.

the president was not only talking to the 250 citizens but also the french public as a whole coming off the back of the green wave of poll results yesterday. he went to links to admit errors had been made in the past without consultation of the public and it was a mistake he made, and this time it would be different. of the 149 measures put forward in the report, the president said he was ready to take on board 146 that will be presented as a package of loss to t the assesembled between now and the end of summer. however, there were some sticking points. one was the fact there was a controversial mission of withing the speed limit

the president choosing to put it on hold. he was afraid the whole package of measures would be defined by this one measure. he does not want to introduce a tax on dividends. was a loticking point to introduce a change in terms of environmental rights. he does not want to change the preamble to the constitution but was ready to accept a change to article one to include climate change in article one. he is willing to take it to a referendum if needed. point is thatking destruction of nature becomes a mincrime. he wants to see this taken up at an international level and will lobby for it to be recognized.

at a french level, he wants it to be studied further. he cannot just give a green light to that straightaway. anchor: tell us more about what parts of the report were approved. what exactly is the citizens convention on the climate? measures 146 of the were given the green light. he used the words in french, "let's go." some are talking about food waste, limiting publicity for products that have high emissions. another measure is online in terms of cutting consumption. every time you purchase an online item, there will be a question that comes up, do you really need this? the president was totally in favor of these measures, keeping in mind these come from 150 ordinary citizens.

they have been selected randomly. the age from 16 to 80 years old. there were school children and retired tradespeople. these changes came not from technocrats but from people saying and living the effects of climate change every day. for most of these measures, the president is going to see them put into a package of laws and presented to the assembly. anchor:: t thank you. also in france, there has been a new twist in the corruption trial of the former prime minister. the verdict was due to come out today. but it now looks at the whole trial might be forced to startrt over. she is covering this for us and it joins us now. what is going on? we were meant to get a verdict today. that is not likely to happen. that does not look likely to happen. reporter: unexpected twist in

the huge trial which has been attracting a great deal of attention because it centers on the former french prime minister who was at one stage the front runner in the 2017 presidential election. all of that was blown apart when it came out in the media allegations he had been paying his wife for a fake job. that brought down his presidential bid. the french justice system launched an investigation rapidly resulting in the trial. we were due to get the verdict in the trial. prosecutors are called for him to get as much as a five-year prison term and 375,000 euros fine. we may not get a verdict at all. theune 10, a former head of prosecution service for financial crimes said in front of parliament that she had come

under a great deal of pressure to swiftly prosecute this case. that has created a lot of waves. a has always said this was political trial about ending his presidential bid. now his lawyers are calling for the whole trial to be reopened. we do not know if the judges will go with that or give their verdict. in that case, hihis lawyers said they will definitely appeal. anchor: that is interesting. he has always claimed this is political. let's say it does turn out to be just that. how would they investigate? what repercussions would that have? reporter: all of these huge questions going back to the last presidential election in france. we have already had senior right-wing politicians saying the results of that election which brought emmanuel macron to power is an all in void -- null and void.

real questions about what this frerench elections. he was leading many polls in january and these allegations came to light. his annoyed many of supporters on the right was the speed with whihich this case cae to court. they said the french justice system is usually very sluggish. in this case, it just took a matter of months. in march, he was placed under formal investigation, ending his presidential bid and career. wouldestions about what h hav have happened. we will have to wait and see what the judges decide today. anchor: thanks for staying on top of that for us. leak have been two milestones in coronavirus. the death toll has passed 500,000 around the world.

ththe number of cases worldwide has reached 10 million. daily infections are escalating, like in brazil. that is also the case in the united states with texas, california, and florida particularly hard hit. reporter: as the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise rapidly in many southern states, an unexpecected recommendation from vice president mike pence during a press conference in texas on sunday. vice president pence: i want t o encourage everyone to wear a mask in the infected areas. where you cannot maintain social distancing, , wearing a mask isa good idea. we know, from experience,e, it wiwill slow w the spread of the coronavirus. is ater: the guidance stark departure from what has been the official white house doctrine, that the threat of the coronavirus is not as odd it is me to be end states should be encouraging -- bad as it is made

out to be and states should be reopenining. donald trump has been criticized for refusing to wear a mask even in close proximity to other people. this comes after a dramatic rise in the cases and deaths in several sunbelt states. that is due not only to more tests being carried out. ofsome areas, more than /14 the tests are coming back -- 1/4 of the tester coming back positive. some countieies are closing, including los angeless county, home to more than 10 milillion people. it seems this will soon be a diststant mememory as many c cis close their businesess added the busy fourtrth of july weeeend -- ahead of the busy fourth of july weend. >> we are putting our doctors and nurses at risk with more cases. everyone must follow the rules. reporter: more than 500,000

people have now died from covid-19 across the globe, 1/4 of those in the united states. anchor: the state of mississippi to remove the confederate battle emblem from its state flag. mississippi is the last of the 50 states to c cap the symbol of segregation on its flag. the design was adopted more than a century ago by white supremacist legislators in the aftermath of the civil war. reporter: this is the state flag of mississippi, but only for a few more months. on monday, the house and senate voted to remove the confederate symbol from the state flag, more than a century after white supremacist legislators adopted the design. the work was the result of a coalition of democrats and republicans after increasising pressure in recent weeks. lawmakers say their state needss a flagag that unites rather than

divides. >> do you want to be on the right side of history? i am proud of the vote i cast here today and i'm proud of the other 80 individuals who came alongside to cast that same vote. reporter: almost four in 10 reresidents of m mississippi are afcann american.n. but oppositionon to changing the flag has been fierce in the past. in 2001, voters chose to keep the flag. since then, a number of cities and universities have taken it down. but the political efforts to change it have failed until now. the next step will be for a commission to design a new flag without the confederate symbol but with the words, "in god we trust." voters will be asked to approve the new design in the november election. this is the latest in a series of changes to sweep the united states as the country begins to acknowledge its racist past. earlier this month, workers removed a a statue of jejeffersn

davis and kentucky after a partisan v vote. davis was the president of the confederate states during the civil war. anchor: a lot more to come on "frarance 24." do stay with us. we will be back in 15 minutes with more of your headlines. ♪ anchor: welcome to the "france 24" interview. our guest today is a senior associate with the german institute for international and security affairs. he is the author of a very timely book called "libya's fragmentation," and he joins us from berlin. thank you for being with us today. >> thanks for inviting me. anchor: as your book said, libya is more divided than ever. the west of the country, inincluding the capitatal of tripoli, is controlled by forces allied with the government of

national a accord recognized by the united nations. the east is a stronghold of the general who enjoys the support of the united arab emirates, egypt, among others. after besieging eee for a year, he is now forced to withdraw after turkey intervened in both .amps are facing off about to partition? >> i t think for t the first tin of the coconflict at ththe last 10 0 years, tre i is realal risk that thing willl ultitimately move toward partition, but we are not there yet. isht now, the acute riskk that the conflict will take a new turn with potential

intervention by egypt, which would mean the conflict is the book coululroxy war evolve into open confrontation between differentt states in libya itself. there is also the possibility this will become a frozen conflict and that could eventually lead to partition. we are talking about medium-term scenarios. anchor: you mentioned egypt. if theesident said that were moving, this would cross a redline and force egypt to intervene. confrontationn with turkey directly. how serious is it?

is thihis just talk or could t s happen? >> i think the risk o of esescalation of confrontntations there. i think we would do well to take his threats seriously because right now, we are in a situauatn where there is a l lot o uncertainty on both sides in turkey a and egypt a about how serious these threats of escalation are. there is uncertainty aboutut to what e extent the other side is willing to c cmit militatary assets, t to what extent it woud be a able to sustatain escalatin financially but also p politicay with regegard to its local constituenen it sufferers losse. turkey y are, and playing a game of chicken.

theyey are trying to test how fr the other side is willing to go. uncertainty, that game involves the risk of escalation. anchor: were you surprised by turkey's decisive and open intervention backing the government of national record? besiegedall that hee the capital tripoli for a year and many peoplple thought t he d gain conontrol. suddenenly, things have turned around totally. >> yes. i think a lot of people were surprprised. i think he was also surprprisedy the interventntion of the scale d opopen intntervention. campaign, the entntire welld control of tripoli

supported openly by the uae, russia, and egypt. intervention to aa different level l by intervening locally. i know at the time, very few people in western government expected this kind of intervention by turkekey. i think ththe extent t to whichs has shifted the balance of power has surprised a lot of people. anchor: right. i want to go back to the fact that there is no international mediation effort. the u.n. spepecial envoy divisin is empty now. they left a month ago. europeaneveryone, countries, t the u.s., sayayinge need a political solution, but there is no negotiation at the international level. how can you expect a political solution in that situation?

well, it is a actually quitite m meaningfufule a u.n.-led prorocess or even a meaningfulul political process t all happen under the current circumststances because othe one hand we e have russia and turkey who have acquired unprecedented influence e and will want to ext this influence over any negotiations, but at the same time, a sustainable settlement is probably not in turkey's or russia's interest because it could threaten their influence and military presence. there are other states who want to prevent a russian-turkish arrangement in libya from happenining.

the u.s., france, the uae, egypt, and o others who might wt to support the u.n.n.-like procs u.n.-led prorocess against turkey and russia. i can't imagine how either of the two could succeed. a situatition that leads to paralysis and prolonging of the conflict. anchor: france officially recognizes the government. however, it has alsoso and ited the other side has led to a vivid war of words with turkey in recent days. what you make of france's attitude? politicallys been

aligned with the united arab emirates supporting him for years now. for a long time, the french policy toward the conflict in give the warchest to see if he could win. clear thisit becameme war would be very protracted and cause a lot of destruction, this was the french policy. and now, this war that the french government wanteded and toppported has given rise ununprecedented foreign intervrvention in libib and threenens too desestabilizeze te situation, the region, eveven momore. instead of reviewing the policies that produced such disasters r results, the french government persists and tries to

isolate e turkey internationally while at the same time remaining the iraqi intervention, the russian interventionon in libya. it is hard to take the french criticism m of turkey's role seseriously given all we know about france over the last year or so. anchor: you mentioned russia. there's a lot of talk about the private security company intervening. you mentioned the uae. how much do they intervene? obviously, turkey is not hiding it. what about them? uae have been them from the bennining with c combat drones d russian-produced air defense systems. russia started deploying

mercenaries in tripoli from septptember of lt t year onward. these were very important in turning the balae of powerer back then. most recently, a month ago, russia deployed fighter jets to support them. it has not used them extensively yet, but they are there in central libya r ready to be u u. emiratesia and the play a decisive role i in proppg him up at the moment.t. his line their support, of defense in central libya would fall immediately. anchor: do you think he still has a chance? many people have said he d did t succeeeed militatarily so theres power for him to stay in except in n his eastern stronghold.

>> i think what we are seeg right noww is on b both sides of alliancncest we had of conveninience. he led a coalition o of forces o hoped to assssume power with him in tripoli. tensisions o onw both sides including in the east. expect a f frozen conflict that continues at a low level with a continuing threat of escalation in central libya woulbebe in haftar's favor. he cannot lead his coalition t o a settlelement. he would lose his influence in eastern libya if a settlement were too happen. thank you veryy much for

your time, and thank you for watching this interview. stay tuned to more news here on "france 24." ♪

woman: the most significant intelligence to date on islamic state. man: a vast cache of information about tens of thousands of i.s. fighters. man 2: absolute gold mine of information of enormous significance. woman: a huge blow to islamic state's operations. [echoes] ramsay: i'm stuart ramsay in turkey, and this is "hotspots." tonight, we're going to take you behind the scenes of the world's biggest and hardest-hitting stories. we uncover a terror group's secrets... man: to have that kind of information is just, i would say, unprecedented. ramsay: we report on america's epidemic of mass school shootings... man 3: there had been shootings in schools in america, but