♪ anchor: hello and welcome back to the france 24 newsroom. at use of latest headlines 1:00 p.m. paris time. it's back to the brexit meeting room for the u.k. in the eu as an eighth round of divorce talks gets underway in london. britain's cheap -- chief trade negotiator says progress needs to be made and brussels must show more realism. we will get the latest from our correspondent dave keating. the ukrainian authorities say

the belarusian movement has been detained by authorities at the border after maria kolesnikova avoided a false sticks portion from her homeland. inin is a first country weststern eurorope to register r 500,000 covid-19 infections. the virus is still circulating across the continent. we will be taking you to stockholm where arere reporter s been that taking a closer look at how sweden has been handling this health emergency. ♪ first for you this morning, by kidnapping people in broad daylight, the president is

showing weakness and fear. ,hat's what maria kolesnikova the main opposition candidate in belarus maria kolesnikova has said after the abduction of one of her fellow activists. has been held at the ukrainian border with officials and key of saying she is resisted an attempt to forcibly support her. i spoke with our correspondent in the ukraine. had to sayt they about the opposition reaction in belarus to the latest developments. the lawyeyer in the only member of the council of the opposition that is still in minsk and at liberty. post on a long pace -- facebook. he said why would he push her out of the car they were trying to louvre dollars altogether. why are there people in the back of t t car if ththere only three

people in the car. she -- he picks up other holes. hasaid maria kolesnikova said she was determined to remain in belarus, despite pressure from the authorities. he is pleased with the outcome of what happened today. now, maria kolesnikova is in detention at the hand of belarusian authoritieses rather than just missing as she was yesterday. the authorities will find it hard to legally justify detaining her for long. it shouldn't be a crime to be pushed out of a car by your friends as you are trying to cross the bororder. this is happenining in the contt of a crackdown of the opposition that is taking the form of multiple d detentions s of opposition figures. there have been very little niceties. the prominent envnvironmental activist has been a detention for a a few days.

her flat was searched today. they are lookingng for pretext o keep her in detention. the editor of one of the waspendent news papers searched today. her dadahter was arrested. these are some examples among others. anchor: the u.n. has called for an independent russian investigation into the poisoning of the kremlin critic alexey navalny. he has come out of his medically induced coma where he is being looked after in berlin. it is far too early to guess or estimate what his long-term damage from that poisoning could be. is pressing for more realism from the eu as an eighth round of discussions about the future trade relationship between brussels and london gets underway today.

the u.k. governments chief negotiator david frost has stressed the two sides can no longer afford to go over well trodden grounund and that progrs needs to be made. some diplomats have accused the u.k. of plain brexit chicken, saying westminster is threatening to collapse the process by trying to cajole the eu into compromising. this is after the u.k. suggested it could undermine the exit agreememt on lest free tried terms are grgroup -- trade terms are agreed to. we can bring in our correspondent who is following this and brussels. there is a lot to discuss. what are the main sticking popoints looking ahead this wee? there is the kind of nitty-grit tacactical dedetails. ththe biggest issue e is fisher. who can fish wear, quotas, this

kind of thing. block..really not the ththey could finind the compmime if thehey need to. the bigg issue is the heaeadlint the overarching one, the refusal to align with some rules in exexchange for having taririff e access to the eu market. the eu says that's a prerequisite for any european country to have access to the market. they have to align with eu rules. otherwise, they could undercut deregulating labor while having access to the market. companies could base themselves in the you -- u.k.. the u.k. says you can't do that, it would defeat the whole purpose of brexit. david frost said you could have a relationship like a client to the you -- you. we have good standards. we are goingo o regulatete them. trust isis in short order becaue of the controversial move the u. made this week, that they

will cancel what they promised to do in the w withdrawal t trey last year when i it comes to northern irelaland. northern ireland would be part of the eu customs area and they would have checks between northern ireland and the rest of the u.k.. if it was just up to the tetechnical problemsms like fisheries, they would have thihs solved. thisis is a big ideological iss. it looks unlikely to be resolved. anchor: what would a no deal brexit mean itit, if no agreemet is reached? it's important to point out there are going to be big changes at the end of the year, no matter what. name only.he eu in until december 31, we've had this transit -- transition. they have had to follow eu law. that ends december 31. they hope that they can agree to a free trade deal that would cushion the blow.

it would make that exit from the single market easier because they would negotiate no tariffs on certain goods. if they can't agree on a free trade deal, it will make the transition in just 113 days really abrupt. economists say that coupled with the economic crisis of the coronavirus, this could cause a cataclysmic event for the u.k. and possibly all of your. it's a scary scenario. both sides say they want to avoid it. right now, this impasse over the level playing field issue with regulatory alignment seems unbridgeable. maybe the fear over the extreme nature of what could happen at the end of this year will make them find some kind of compromise here. that would involve the u.k. accepting some alignment with the eu. right now, boris johnson is ruling that out in any way. anchor: our correspondent and

brussels, thank you very much. the world health organization has said governments need to be better prepared for any future pandemic. he urged them to invest more in public health. the came as spain became first western european country to register over half a million covid-19 infections. other parts of europe are battling to prevent a second wave or further lockdowns. fromnt our reporter north paris to stockholm to see how sweden has been handling its outbreak in recent months. she tells us this from there. reporter: sweden has followoweda very different path than mostst otother countries s since the beginning of t the pandemic.c. whilile swedes have been advised ,o carry out social distancing there was no real lockdown like

we've seen in france and other countries in europe. restaurants, even gymnasiums were kept open throughout the pandemic. at first controversial becacause sweden saw a much higr death toll than its nordic neighbors, especially in care homes with the elderly and very sick. the death toll w was a around 10 times higher peper capita then n norway and finland. months, we've been seeing a drop in the number of daily cases. arelatest figures we have just 63 infections. that is lower than they've experienced now in norway. people are starting to ask if thisis lack of a lockdown was te best solution after all. thehebeen meeting peoplple on strereets of s stockholmlm to st they thihink about sweden's

handling of the pandemic. is considering sweden. i'm not too bothered by the way they have handled it. i think it's quite all right. i'm not worried. you are going to get it in one way or another. i have actually had it. i i have the antibibodies. >> it was bold i think. sweden was unlucky with the elderly people. two people died of the corona. i think i also got it at that place. >> i have mixed feelings. it bothers me that so many people in restaurants. it's hard to know. what's the right thing to do? i'm not sure.

it seems like cases are going down. it seemsms like we came ouout oe otheher side ananit's s going qe well. poll, 6 63% a recent ofof swedes said they have coconfidencece in the e public h authoritity handling g the coronanavirus. ththe strarategy was extremelyly different. all theno means by population. there are groups of swedish people who have come out to prototest against ththe lackf a lockdown. they are calling on authorities to enforce the wearing of face masks. that is very different than what other countries experience. was kathryn reporting from sweden. it is wildfire season in california with blazes across the golden state.. ththey have blackened 2 million acres of land. the forest service announced the threat of further destruction is

so great that it's closing all eight national forests in the southern half of california. the raceith the u.s., to the white house is narrowing with less than 60 days to go before the u.s. takes its nt president. on the labor day holiday, the republican and democrat candidates but the economy back in the spotlight after focusing on law and order in racial discrimination. joe biden has pledged to be the ststrongest labor president in u.s. history. donald trump said his rival would destroy the economy should he be elected. the economy is known to be key to winning the white house. that's what candidates traditionally address on labor day in the final stretch of the campaign. in the selection, everything is a bit more complicated.

tied toomy is closely several other issues, starting with the pandemic. inking to union leaders pennsylvania, joe biden sasaid president trumump's handling of the crisis puts america on its knees. >> know other country in the world let covid spiral out ofof control. donald trump ignored the warnings, prepared d -- failed o prepare. in, he stillhs doesn't have a plan.n. reporter: the u.s. president who hoped good economic resolve would help them get reelected said joe biden would crush the economy. for the china viruses to shut down the entire economy. he's going to rely on somebody to shut it down. he would be laying off millions of workers. reporter: at the peak of the crisis, 22 million people lost

their jobs. about half have been rehired. the economic recovery figures have never been so crucialal. when tested and produced massively, the v vaccine c could busisiness to be reopened completely. donald t trump said it could be available before the election. quiet you could have a very big surprise coming up. reporter: joe biden said this could be an empty election promise. anchor: the coronavirus has managed to tangle itself and the wheels of the tour de france cycle race. the director christian prudhomme has tested positive for covid-19. he will leave the competition for a week to go into quarantine. bicyclistsaining have been cleared to continue the race. the so blue for their world cup final showdown

in moscow, france anand croatia are going head-to-head once again. second game,that here is brian quinn. reporter: as france meets croatia for the nations league play tuesday night, the atmosphere will be quite different than that of the 2018 world cup final that saw them face-off in moscow. the pandemic means no fans will be in the stands, changing rosters means the teams will be quite different. [speaking foreign language] reporter: one major difference will be the absence of the star who was sent home after he tested positive for coronavirus monday. he scored france's lone goal in its victory over sweden in round one.

aside from the subdued ambience, the virus has meant disruptions in training and matches that have left players in less than top form. croatia which lost to portugal in round one said they are in na rebubuilding year. >> [speaking foreign language] reporter: tuesday's match kicks off at 8:45 p.m., paris time. anchor: it's time for a recap of main world headlines. it's back to the brexit meeting room for the u.k. and the eu. it's the eighth roround of divoe talks that gets underway in london. saysin's trarade negotiator progress needs to be made and brussels must show realism. a leading light of the belarusian opposition has been detained at the border after maria kolesnikova successfully

prevented an apparent forced expulsion from her homeland. chiefn. human rights urges moscow to either carry out or cooperate with a full and independent investigation into the poisoning of alexey navalny. the putin critic has been removed from a medically induced coma at a berlin hospital. it's time now for some business news with stephen carroll who joins us in the studio. we are starting in france with the impact of the coronavirus on the country's economy. reporter: thihis is coming from the statistics office. the spike from july and september r won't t be as bigigs originally expected. after t the slump of 14% % betwn april and june, the economy will bounce back by 17% in this quarter.

it's less than they forecast. that will be followed by very little growth in the last three-month severe. overall, the french economy will finished 2020 9% smaller than when it started. in restrictions related to the pandemic, they are hurting sectors like aviation. they expect the unemployment rate in france to reach 9.5% by the end of the year. is coming despite encouraging figures on the consumer spendining. , consumers did loloosen the pursese strings dug the summmmer holidays.s. it's not clear how long that might last. >> amid cloudy skies comes good news. the receipts jumped in august 2 700 million euros. that's an indication that consumer spending has s snapped back to normal after suffering a

huge drop during the national lockdown. augustst is the peak of the sumr holiday season. businesses are up 30%. >> [speaking foreign language] >> spending has been bested by holidaymakers for a disappointing spring. >> [speaking foreign language] >> along with the holiday spending, people spend more time at home. items like laptops and furniture have had a boost. it's a vital bit ofof good news for an economy that t has been n ththe doldrums. >> [speaking foreign language]

>> not all industries are enjoying the summer boost. the culture, air travel sectors are feeling the pinch. when the holiday turn has faded, the shopping spree could drop as the coronavirus is kept in check. ananchor: look at what's happeng on the stock market eject -- makes. the training day has gone on, technology firms see the rise in that s sector. on the currerency market, we are keeping an eye on the british pound as those brexit negotiations take place. the pound is weaker against the dollar, down 0.8%. this is due to fears that a trade deal might not be reached in time. when things go badadly in negotiations, ththe pound weaken that is nono exception today.

investing 7 7 is billion euros in hydrogen as a fuel source. the money will go to finding greenener ways of producing g te fuel and developing new uses for it, including planes. >> filliling u up the tank could become a high-tech and low omissions if the government plan to boost hydrogen succeeds. >> [speaking foreign language] >> the government will invest over 7 billion euros into the next decade for hydrogen consumption.

they are developing a hydrogen powered trucks and encouraging it in agriculture. the plan will reduce the emissions by 6 million tons of carbon per year. it's a key way to achieve carbon neutrality i 2050. this delivery van has already made the switch. it is greener. >> [speaking foreign language] >> several towns are using hydrogen powered public transport. trains are due to come a disservice. a majors set to be challenge as most of the hydrogen in use comes from fossil fuels, they want too switch to o greener memethods of production. anchor: the foreign minister r s called on countries to stop bullying tech giants. he unveiled a new chinese initiative to o address data security issues.

thee accusations are being made against technology firms by a certain country and referred to the program of the united states last month. 30 countries have joined the americans, which excludes chinese companies from telecom networks. the chinese government has been in stricict compliance. a move to working from m home inspired b by the pandemic is having an impact on demand for office space. google has scrapped plans for more massive offices in dublin. they were l leaving 19,000 squae meters of office space in a new development. they have changed their mind. the company has t told people ty can work from home until at least the middle of 2021. they employ y 8000 peoeople in e irish h pital. a very didifferent point of v vw coming from netflix. reed hastings has been talking to the wall street journal and

says his workforce will be back in the office as soon they can be vaccinated. debating ideas is more difficult when people are working from home. he said he doesn't see anany posisitive of not beenen able tt together in person, particularly internationally. he's been impressed by sacrcrifices. netflix was one of the big owners of the pandemic as they had record subscriptions. anchor:: thank you. thank you very much. it is time for a quick break. i am back in just a few moments with some more world news. stay tuned france 24. -- two france 24. to frae 24.

>> fake news. job is to24, our provide you with information that has been verified. we check sources and facts. we sort what i is true f from wt is fake. verify videos circulating online. if they are fake, we let you know and tell you how we spotted them. viral stories to shake out the truth from the trash. day, we scour social networks to find f fake newews t migration. news based on, facts. >> [speaking foreign l language] >> the lasememperor ofof ethiopa

considered the black messiah died in 1975. he left a deep impression on his country. >> [speaking foreign language] >> if he was the inspiration itind the african union, regularly pays amash to him, he left the darker legacy. >> [speaking foreign language] >> between his supporters a and those who fear the return of an autocratic regime, his legacy remains divisive. empire revisited -- france 24.nd

♪ ♪

[drums beating rhythmically] men: hey! man: for more than 4 decades, papua new guinea was my home base to cover s some incredible stories from natural disasters, to political coups and cicivil wars. sean dorney on manus island for abc news. i even got to captain the national rugby league team. announcer: sean dorney sends a long pass... and it's a try for papua new guinea. [cheering] sean: now, i'm living back in australia and facing my toughest assignment yet-- trying to beat a deadly disease. but while i stitill can,'