we neeeed to protectct it. >> join us at down-to-earth where we explore the relationship between humans and our planet. we are here to ask the tougugh questions. >> on from stormy for - -- on france 24 and france24.com. >> the news does not wait. at france 24, we will make sense

of world events with the best international coverage e 24 hous a day, no matter what. france 24. with you everywhere, all the time. >> an analysis from france 24. these arthe headlilines. the french aid worker has been freed, held since 2016.6. she is on the way from where she had been held by the local al qaeda group. we will be charting her experience and getting a reacaction. cities have been put on alert.

a reaction after a record 19,000 new infections yesterday and a further 18,000 today. armenia is accusing us or by jean -- azerbaijan for heavy fighting, hundreds have been killed. this is live from paris. ♪ >> thank you ver much -- very much for being with us.s. let's get the very latest on the situation. mohamed, good evening. tell us what you know for sure. >> what we know for sure is that

it is confirmed that sophie has been released from the people who werere detained them. ththey took off on the road in a militry p -- military plan. afafter a longg wait with -- the plan took off. they confirmed that she was --[indiscernible] the people are waiting. >> in aid worker, -- an aid worker, tell us about thehe locl politician. >> a political leader, he was

kidnapped in the north of mali when he was there f for electio. [indiscernible] that's why it is an important leader in mali. he is known for his integrity. that's why -- all political parts, diplomats from mali, abroad, stay tuned. and the freedom -- >> we appreciate you clarifying things for us here. lifted when he was campaigning,

but sophie's experience has been far m more longer. she has been there since 2016. do we know why she was kidnapped in the first place? >> sophie was kidnapped nearr te north of mali. the nororth of mali is not secu. it is not safe. 's not advised to be in that place, to stay in that place when you are a w westerner. so she was kidnapped and so, they kidnanapped her bececause y want to make exchange from the detained prisoner.

and also, theyy want to make money so they can finance t ther activities.. she was walking so she was -- also waiting for her freedom. >> thank you very much indeed for bringing us clarification on that. mohammed telling us about the dangers of being up there, clearly something we have been reporting on at length in the presence of terrorist groups around there, and so the two

released, some two other hostages, italians, on their way back and fortunate to be so. there has been a prisoner exchange a as a part of thisis t raises questions about the payment of ransoms or the like of in france. >> sophie settled in mali 2 20 years ago to help children. the doctor -- on october 24, 20 16, she was abducted by gunmen. a group ideally close to al qaeda claimed responsibility for that attack six months later.

the president said that france was working hard to free her. >> [speaking foreign language] while hinting that the country will not give in to the terrorist threats of ransom. >> [speaking foreign language] >> at the time, petronin's family said that the government was not doing enough for her release. the family said it hahad proved she was getting her medications duriring her captivity. in aprpril 2020, authorities shared also developments for the family, proved showing that the doctor was still alive after two

years of uncertainty. >> the son of sophie petronin is there. he has been awaiting his mother's arrival. now it seems that acaccording to our correspondent, it is the best place to tell us this that sophie petronin is on her way back. atat her side is soumaila cissea political figure kidnapped some six months ago. clearly, his campaign there was about political change. it appears that in that time, he fell upon the same ones who had held sophie petronin. now, he is on his way back. let's take a look at him.

>> he wass kidnapped, a stronghold for his union and the democracy party in the timbuktu engine of mali. -- region of mali. as he ventured into an area where armed group were. >> [speaking foreign language] 70-year-old soumaila cisse was on the campaign trail when he was captured. he came second in presidential elections. protests led to the army taking power in a c coup last august, demonstrating for cisse's re lease. suspicions lie with the jihadist organization. many hostages have been taken in

mali since the start of unrest in 2012. >> soumaila cisse along with sophie petronin on their way back as we are speaking here and now our correspondent is standing by for more. we will bring him in as soon as we get it. in case you are just joining us, the latest news coming from mali is that ththese hostages heleld there over a varying period of time, sophie petronin, an aid worker in the north of m mi, an unsafe place to be. she had been there since 1996 since she had doubt -- moved

out. she had been malnourished and sick. she was helping people in that region. they thought they could profit by taking her. she has been held since that time and we have reports she may not be in the best of health, but we are waiting to get a full check on that. soumaila cisse, and opposition figure -- an opposition figure was campaigning and was kidnapped six months ago. two other hostages have been released as well. italian citizens, and we will bring you more on them. sophie petronin and soumaila cisse when we get it. let's move on. armenia is accusing azerbaijan

-- it is known as a cathedral that suffered internal and external damage. there had been two weeks of heavy fighting. hundreds have been killed. there is no exact figure on casualties. we know from these images that a lot of civilians are being caught in the crossfire. that's get some analysis. a researcher -- thank you for joining us. the antipathy between azerbaijan and armenia may seem to be over the region, but i assume there is more background to this. >> chair..

thank you for having me on your program.m. i i was affffiliatedd with h gee ststudies. the conflict goes baback at leat 100 yearsrs, o or as the scholos agree e upon it, i it started wh ththe nagorno-karabakhh regionnd there were some movements among the armenians to right the histororical injustice they thought they suffered a a transfer nagornono-karabakh to armenia proroperty. that dididn't h happen. it was demogographically a

majojority armenian popululatio. that did not happenn and as your audience m may now, -- know, te issues of natationalities were s uppressed because the soviet union, any talk of nationalism was --[indiscernible] -- and introduce elements of freedom of speech, which allowed armenians in nagorno-karabakh to ask the soviet centraral govevernment to redress the historicical injnjustice and ren nagorno-karababakh to ththe sovt armeninian republic.

in 1988, the demonstrators lolobbied for the s soviet centl government to write this historical injustice. azererbaijan would n not have ee of it. in february of 1988, there were armenians in a suburb that was economically depressss, and by some aspects, 26 armenians were killed. there were armenian recriminations, azerbaijan people were removed from their

homes and armenia. mobs descended upon armenian families and individuals in the capital, killing 120 people, whereupon the soviet government -- >> we have to leave it there. best leave you to that. part of his research and we will get back to the issue. there is a long history of issues between the armenians and azerbaijanis. over the issue of nagornrno-karabakh.

in washington, the possibility of more stimulus -- >> everyone seems to agree they need more stimulus, but it remains unclear. it changes from hour to hour after president trump called off bipartisan negotiations, but then he backtracked, possibly before the election. now this thursday, he says, a really good chance of reaching a deal with the democrats. nancy pelosi meanwhile dashed hopes for the airline industry, which is going through major layoffs this week. the congresswoman said that she would not support a stand-alone bill without a broader package that helps small businesses and households. >> we are happy to review that bill and what it will look like as part of a bigger bill, if there is a bigger bill. but there is no stint alone bill. >> the number of new

applications for unemploymentt benefits r remainedanalysts exp. at above -- they were significantly higher, most come with the summer hike -- spike in hiring. additional unemployment benefits and an unemployment check, the overall unemployment rate went down to 7.9% in september. or the tens of thousands laid off over the last week at u unid and american airlines. on the day's trading, wall street gave up some earlier, stronger gains after pelosi's comments.

u.s. investors have been tuned in the ins and outs in washington. it outperformed after data showed that german exports had risen. the french government is expanding its financial support for businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic. a so-called solidarity front had beenen opened to hospitality and event sectors. it will be extended to include others who were struggling, including booksellers and photographers. it means over to an attorney 5000 businesses will be eligible to receive up to 10,000 euros a month. covering all, not just 85%, of workers salaries. >> [speaking foreign language]

>> a french court has told google that it must begin talks with news organizations about payments.. the competition adored he said that it must negotiate for families showing their material. >> iis the latest turn in a long-running dispute between google and french armenian groups. a court ruled that google must open negegotiations with publishers in france about paying it to use their content. the e ruling compels the c couro sit t with publishers and d news agencicies to compensate them under the so-called neighboring right, and try to revamp copyright rules. the neighboring right allows can -- show snippets of their

stories. >> [speaking foreign language] >> google had argued it should not have to pay because news companies benefit when the millions of readers sent to their websites. but after thursday's ruling, the tech giants saiaid in a s statet that its priority is to reach an agreement with wrench publishers and press agencies and it will reveal the court decision. many news outlets have long criticized g google for failingo give t them a cut of the millios it aches from ads displayed alongside search results.. facing growing pressure inteteationally, googles -- google's parent company announced it would develop a platform to highlight their recording. >> a story that we will be

hearing much m more about. >> emma james joinsns us. starting to look at the latest here in france, maximum alert as the covid-19 infection rates continue to rise. >> yes, joining the likes of paris, already on maximum alert. at surrounding areas announced earlier tonight. the new measures will not come into play until saturday, so there are a few days still for people to enjoy going to bars in that area. gyms will also be closed. therere will be a limit on guess at weddings. university classes are being lowered to limit the spread at that age group.

other maximum alert areas could happen on monday. each french person can make a difference. we need to be vigilant at every point during our daily lives. that is really the big challenge, especially when it comes to younger people. maximum alert, there wawas a pay where 150 people attended, a room just 60 meters squared. there were not supposed to be that any people there. that is still an awful lot in a place where the virus is circulating widely. what is interesting to see is that even if the students are not taking i it that seriouslyl, the authorities are. those who arrange this coup could face prosecution and there is an investigation underway about whether or not they are endangering the lives of others.

another tweet has the details of how exactly bad that situation is there. and what is necessary to make the grade a maximum alert. 306 cases per 100,000 of population in that area. the mayor of lyon is saying that paris should but out, they can handle things. it is a mixed bag of reactions to this because the government feels -- people feel the government is going way too far, some saying it is not going aree not read -- is not going far enough. -- we saw the protest in marseille where they feel they should n not be ruled by paris. it is interesting that plenty of people in france think that the government is going far, saying

what are we waiting for, how many deaeaths? some saying they would welcome another lockdown if he could stop these numbers from rising. >> 19,000 yesterday. 18,000 today. dividing some people, but some -- most seem to be for some kind of action. let's talk about the situation in the united states. the vice presidential discussion from last night, kamala harris and mimike pence -- >> there was 19 -- 90 minutes of action, but a fly things. for two minutes, mike pence has a fly sitting on top of his head.

the guardian saying, pretty fly for a white guy. this fly upstaged him. lots of jokes out there. we are also seeing a lot of jokes about what flies are attracted to. this one made me laugh, i could not stand by and listen to his lies any longer. we have lots of fake accounts being set up in the name of the fly. 25,000 followers already since last night. this is one of my favorites from him. i moved on him like a fly when you are an insect, i thickly remember those words coming out of donald trump with regards to something else. joe biden quick out of the blocks, pitching five dollars to help this campapaign -- >> a flyswatteter.

thank you. thanks to kate for business as ever. still to come come alive from paris -- stilqéaawc÷é÷é÷éddddd" 0

10/08/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! periscope the american people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country. vice pres. pence: what i want the to know, from the very first day, president donald trump has put the help of america first. by two plexigl