>> hello and welcome back to the france 24 newsroom. the ballots are being counted across iran after a subdued presidential election dominated by concerns over the economy and hard-line rule. there are four names standing hoping to be victorious, but turnout is said to below. astrazeneca and the eu claim victory after a ruling in a brussels court. the drug manufacturer is ordered to deliver 18 million doses of

its covid-19 vaccine, far less than the number demanded by the bloc. the judges strongly agree astrazeneca has violated its side contract. after joe biden slid another national holiday into the american calendar, companies have scrambled to find ways to give diastat -- their staff time off. iranians had two questions to ask themselves this friday -- which presidential candidate will i vote for, and will i bother voting at all? those who did had to a polling station had to pick between 4

names with the hardliner the favorite. the majority of polling stations have now closed, and most ballots are now being counted with the results expected around midday local time this saturday. to tell us more about the role the president plays in iranian politics. >> india's islamic republic at the top of the power structure -- within that role, his powers are limited. according to the constitution, the president also does not have a say in matters like law enforcement. that falls in the hands of the

judiciary, which is deemed a judicial body. the highest power, ayatollah khamenei. while the president on paper nominates the country's ministers of intelligence, defense, and interior, the appointments need the green light from the supreme leader. on top of that, it is iran's revolutionary guard, the country's military force, who increasingly control the economy and not the presidency. the powerful body also controls a seat vital to maintaining the islamic republic's control over society. you may wonder how much power the presidential wing has. he heads the executive branch of

the country, and while a change of president does not necessarily affect state policies, it does have some room for maneuver. at initial example of that was the initial success of the nuclear deal, under the rouhani administration, but in that case, it needed that final stamp of approval from -- you guessed it -- the supreme leader. of next, the national security council determines foreign and national security council's. that body is presided over by the president of the country. however, while the decisions must ultimately become armed by ayatollah -- must be confirmed by ayatollah khamenei. there are, of course, as always exceptions to this. the supreme leader has the final say.

you may be wondering why i only use the pronoun he when speaking about the iranian president. the reason for that is because since the establishment of the islamic republic in 1979, no woman has ever qualified to run for president. >> next, drug manufacturer astrazeneca has issued a statement this friday to make it clear it is looking forward to a renewed collaboration with the european commission to help fight the continent's coronavirus outbreak. the statement came after a court in brussels agreed with the eu the country -- the company preached the terms of its contract -- the company breached the terms of its contract. with more from brussels, here is our correspondent.

>> you could say astrazeneca has won the battle but lost the war. immediately when the ruling came out, astrazeneca put out a press release saying they won the court battle, saying that the commission was asking astrazeneca to deliver 300 million doses by the end of september, and the court only made them deliver a fraction of the on a very easy, relaxed schedule. that astrazeneca has absolutely no problem meeting. while the court did meet the request that the penalty be 10 million euros per day per dose, it is almost unthinkable astrazeneca would have to pay that because the delivery schedule is very simple. but the key thing the commission needed was the ruling that astrazeneca violated its contract.

even when the commission launched the lawsuit, it was clear astrazeneca would be phased out in the eu. the commission is looking more toward mrna vaccines like pfizer and moderna. with the eu needed was a court to recognize that astrazeneca had violated its contract with the eu, and the court undoubdly did that. the court ruled are basically very severe violation of the contract. it also did not agree with astrazeneca's excuse that it had used its bt regional -- best, reasonable efforts to meet the contract. the court said because astrazeneca would not export any doses from its facility in the u.k., the company could not possibly say it use its best reasonable efforts. at t end of the day, the

commissioner has the ability to pursue further legal action against astrazeneca based on the fact that there is now legal recognition of a contract violation. we do not know if the commission will try to take this further, but that in itself is a moral victory, which is really what it was looking for here. >> updates for you on the coronavirus outbreak here in europe, starting in france. just over 2000 or hundred new -- 24 hundred new covid-19 infections have and confirmed in the last 24-hour period with a further 50 deaths. over 1700 people are being treated in intensive care units with that figure falling by 59. with the sanitary situation

improving, the nation is gearing up for the scrapping this weekend of the overnight curfew which has been in place since september -- what since december . this friday, the dutch prime minister said the netherlands was taking a "big step" towards a life without covert measures starting june 26, including relaxing mask wearing in many places. >> it is masks off for spain. from june 26, they will no longer be compulsory outdoors. >> [speaking foreign language] >> with more than a quarter of the spanish population fully vaccinated, germany has removed parts of spain from its list of

coronavirus risk areas along with france, greece, and switzerland. norway is loosening up, too. on sunday, people will be able to gather in larger groups, and bars and restaurants will be able to stay open past midnit. some parts of europe, however, are going the other way. residents around lisbon will not be able to leave over weekends. >> [speaking foreign languag >> [speaking foreign language] >> italy, meanwhile, has imposed a five-day quarantine on travelers from britain. the same variant has driven record highs in russia.

>> antonio guterres says he will do all he can to build bridges and engage relentlessly in confidence building. he was speaking after being appointed by the 193-member united nations assembly to be the international organization's secretary general for a second five-year term which will begin the first day of january next year. the u.s. ambassador to the united nations hopes that with good terrace staying on in the job, we will see more peace, prosperity, and security -- with guterres staying in the job >> we are facing a number of dramatic fragility's -- pandemic, but also climate

change and biodiversity loss. it is clear these challenges must be addressed, bringing together our capacity to work at normal level. this is a time to stress multi-nationalism. >> americans have and somewhat surprised to find off they have an extra day off this year and in years ahead after joe biden made juneteenth the first new federal holiday in nearly two years to commemorate the end of slavery, june 18, 1865. the president said it was a day to remember the moral stain and terrible toll that slavery took on the u.s. and continues to take. >> it is the united states' 12th federal holiday, a day to mark the end of slavery, juneteenth. >> great nations do not ignore

their most painful moments. they do not ignore the moments of the past. they embrace them. they come to terms with the mistakes they made. inemembering those moments, we begin to heal and grow stronger. >> june 19, 1865, was the day the last african-americans in galveston, texas, learned that slavery had been abolished two and a half years earlier. >> for more than two years, they were intentionally kept from their reading. more than two years. -- they were intentionally kept from their freedom. then the enslaved people of texas learned the news. they learned that they were free. >> juneteenth has long been commemorated by black americans in particular, but the date has taken on renewed residents -- resonance in recent years.

making it a national holiday is symbolically important, but activists say it is just one step on the path to justice. >> let us remember we are still in the fight and the struggle and similar to the folks in texas, some of us have not yet opened our eyes to freedom. >> republican legislators push an unprecedented number of bills that civil rights activists say aim to suppress my noting but minorities -- suppress voting by minorities and control what schools teach about slavery. >> more and more people are heading off the beaten track and expanding -- exploring abandoned buildings and even entire communities and ghost towns. our bureau in rome has sent us

this report, which looks at the urban exploration trend in italy. >> olivia and marco are fans of urban exploration, an activity known as urbex. they regularly take part in expeditions to explore abandoned places like this house. >> [speaki foreign language] >> with a camera constantly on hand, they immortalize these buildings with just one goal -- to leave the place exactly as they found it. >> [speaking foreign language]

>> in italy, urbex has recently become quite an attraction. every week, thousands of visitors come to visit this abandoned town, destroyed by the napoleonic army. the tourism board of the neighboring village has decided to charge for parking. >> [speaking foreign language] >> with over 6000 ghost towns, italy has become one of thomas' favorite playgrounds. he is a professional photographer. >> [speaking foreign language] >> but beware -- this pastime

can verge on illegality. if the place is locked, it can be considered breaking and entering. in italy, you can risk up to two years in prison and a 1000 euro fine. >> time now for some business news. for that, i'm joined by catherine bennett. the eu said it would punish belarus after the country's authorities forced down a flight in may in order to arrest a journalist. eu diplomats say they have agreed on a deal. >> we are looking at quite broad economic sanctions coming from the eu at the moment. the eu said already it wants to hit the lukashenko regime in the wallet and impose sanctions that will hurt. they put forward a ban on new loans to the country. eu investors will not be able to trade stocks in belarus or by short-term bonds. eu banks cannot provide investment services, and on top

of that, there will be certain export and import restrictions, including stopping the eu from buying oil products from belarus. when many eu banks pulled out of belarus last year, austrian lenders actually increased activity, so they are said to be impacted by these sanctions as well. this is not a done deal just yet. eu foreign ministers are to meet on monday when they are likely to approve visa bans and asset freezes on some 80 television countries -- companies -- some 80 belarusian companies. food and drink exports to the eu have almost halved in the first three months of the year. trade groups say it is a sign of things to come as you can manufacturers adjust to life after brexit. >> for british producers, it could be an indication of how

post-brexit trade barriers will affect their business. exports were down 47% from 2020 in the first quarter of 2021, a loss of 4.6 billion euros. measured over two years, the decline is even greater with such exports down $.55 in the first three months of 2021 compared to the same period in 2019. it is a loss of 3 billion euros. >> the loss is a disaster to our industry and is a clear indication of losses you can manufacturers face due to trade barriers. >> according to the head of the u.k. food and drink orders association, the eu is stockpiling. >> we are continuing to battle against inconsistent interpretations of regulations

across the eu and having to wait if the time and cost involved is sustainable. >> it is the first time in decades the eu has exported more goods outside the eu than into. unsurprisingly, the effect is also being linked to the covid-19 pandemic. >> stocks on wall street are in the red. the dow jones has dropped within 500 points, closing out its worst week since october. the s&p 500 and nasdaq also saw dramatic slides. the s&p 500 ended the week down 1.3% while the nasdaq dipped almost 1%. now for some of the business headlines from around the world. the chinese company behind the video at dax -- video app tiktok saw its revenue double in 20 while its annual gross profit rose by 93 percent.

tiktok's popularity soared last year durg global lockdowns, making the company the world's most valuable startup. hsbc has agreed to sell its french retail banking operations to my money group, backed by cerberus. the deal will offload 244 bank branches, 4000 employees, and 24 billion euros in assets. it is part of the bank's overall strategy to focus on its presence in asia. still in europe, starbucks paid 3.1 million dollars in tax last year while paying 180 $3 million in dividends to its u.s. parent company, despite racking up large losses during lockdown. many say the company is not being transparent about how it reports earnings. tomorrow marks juneteenth in the

u.s., but the new federal holiday is not yet baked into corporate culture. only about 9% of companies will take the day off this year. a number of big-name companies like amazon, apple, general motors, and microsoft are commemorating the holiday, but commemorated his worry it is just lip service and it provides the companies an opportunity to commemorate the holiday without actually making major changes. >> thank you very much. today's focus report takes us to one of africa's most bustling markets. hundreds of farmers and buyers flock from all over sudan to barter and bigger over the best animals on sale. we have more on this busy bizarre -- busy bazaar.

>> the sun is barely up, and already there are hundreds of dromedary's as well as farmers and buyers who have come from all over sudan. >> market day is very important. we have, the way from darfur. it took us almt a mth to come here. >> the market is one of the largest in africa. there are no fences or pens here, so to prevent the animals from fleeing, that her legs are tied togetr. the auction begins, and it is quite a show. the men whisper prices in each other's ears, and a mediator serves us the link between mediators and buyers. there's no paperwork here. nothing is signed. wads of money are passed on from

person-to-person, and sometimes things get heated. the strong-armed bartering is part of the ritual, a game for all of those involved. >> it is a tough deal. these people are bedouins. they have come a long way and do not trust people easily. >> most of the dromedaries here are sold for their meat, especially popular in the horn of africa. sit on exports a quarter million each year. this man is a dromedary trader. it is his specialty, and he knows how to choose them. >> approximately, this is 300

kilos. you can tell from here, from here, from the neck also. this is the main three places you look at. we look at the legs also. >> not all are sold for meat, though. they can be used for transport and also for racing. in that case, prices skyrocket, up to one million euros for the biggest champions. these must belong to the bashar he greets, the best there is -- the bashari breeds. dromedaries have been part of life in sudan since forever. no meds and their caravans have crisscrossed the area for centuries. according to the stories, their lives have been intertwined for

more than 1000 years. -- more than 4000 years. >> i'm back after the break with another round of world news here on france 24. do stay with us if you can. >> the sun is shining. for our latest edition of europe now, we are in the european country reliant most heavily on tourism. where in greece looking at the health crisis, the wider economic picture, and where things stand in terms of migration. ♪

>> france 24 -- your economy explained.

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06/18/21 06/18/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from w york, this is democracy now! vice pres. harris: throughout history, juneteenth has been known by many names -- jubilee day, freedom day, liberation day, emancipation day, and today, a national holiday. i may cut the first african-american vice president kamala harris announcing

president