the france closely. the france hostage situation continuing to unfold. you are watching bbc news, special coverage from here in london on what is going on at a supermarket in trebes in southern france, because an operation is still ongoing. you see on your screen two podiums in brussels where we expect to hear from the french president and the german chancellor. they are at the european union summit for leaders and we are expecting to get a statement from them in the next few minutes. but let's get the latest situation on what is going on in the south of france. andy moore has this report. shots were fired and hostages taken at the supermarket just after 11 o'clock local time. a large police operation was mounted. reports scores of officers and airborne units were sent to the scene. counterterror police are leading the operation. this shocked woman told a reporter she couldn't see inside the supermarket. she said her children were in a school about 300 metres away. earlier in the day, about 15 minutes away near carcassonne, a group of police officers out

france president. he's due to give a news conference on the situation or at least make a statement about the situation in the southwest of france in brussels where of course he's at that e.u. summit that we've been reporting on here at al-jazeera that press conference was due to begin. some twenty minutes ago now getting on for twenty minutes as you can see the no sign of it beginning as yet we will take you live to brussels as well about your own background comes out to make that statement in the meantime let's go back to paul brennan who is following developments. in southwestern france from paris paul. as we heard what phillipe the prime minister pretty quickly coming out and saying that this hostage taking seems to be an act of terror . yes he's basing that on the initial details which emerge from the first incident at caucus on where the gun man who emerged from this vehicle and threatened and then shot at the c.r.s. riot squad officers who were out on a on a jog running claiming that this gunman

obviously france, if we look at european nations, france has had a particular issue with attacks carriedf so—called iis and at the moment, we're getting reports that this individual is claiming allegiance to them. the interior ministry in france is also saying that an operation is ongoing in the supermarket. to be have any idea how many people are being held hostage? no, we don't. i've had a look at the supermarket on google earth. it's quite a large supermarket, an out—of—town supermarket surrounded bya out—of—town supermarket surrounded by a large car park, so we don't know how many people are being held hostage. it could be this is a criminal act of some sort the amanda simply claiming he is a member of crisis. but if you remember back to the batter clan attacks, i remember one of them took refuge in a supermarket. we don't know if this is confirmed to be a terrorist attack, but it is a familiar situation, where a gunman who is perhaps discovered by the police, may take refuge in a supermarket, it isa may take refuge in a supermarket, it is a tactic used by terrorists in france in the

also in france it stands for prostitutes for alcohol for cigarettes whatever compared to france everything is cheaper and you can do what you like. to focus going to. a place where you can do is you like it sounds a bit like a lawless place brothels are legal in spain but prohibited in france where clients have been handed down big fines since twenty sixteen that has made kara a kind of eldorado of sex tourism. ok if it is to change our villages image. we have great potential in that in most culture and sports organisations as with you and as the forty of us and we also have great commercial potential. which is very important. sania martinez says tougher laws are needed to bring about that change confirmed catalonian she accuses the central government in madrid of being too lax. in for this sort of the night is there could solve the problems but the spanish government boy is that there is no progress on the issue in this that image. for martinez the biggest problem is street walking and curb crawling she has learned to put up with the brothels when the paradise first opened in twenty ten c

the small town of blood is a byword for prostitution in france. but of limited numbers of problem of prostitution really bothers me maybe also because i'm a woman we must find a solution. isn't a problem not the god a i get that it. is home to what claims to be europe's biggest sex club paradise but it's only paradise from a certain male perspective. is right on the border on the first highway exit when you enter spain from france sania martinez is the mayor of this small town with the dubious reputation. is that. it's the first thing that visitors to spain see. that and that's why we're facing. we want to put a stop to the potential customer the tourists getting this first impression in. the first impression is one of the women as a commodity care as border location is also its biggest economic factor. this shopping center and tracks tens of thousands of visitors every day it's not just the six that's cheaper every year seven million visitors come to this small town with a population of just three thousand commuters vacationers bargain hunters sh

news at least two people have been killed in a hostage incident at a supermarket in the southwest of france they got a lot of reportedly pledged allegiance to islamic state and demanded the release of two thousand and fifteen paris attack suspects this alarm. president trump picks john bolton as his latest national security advisor the white house veteran known for his hawkish stance on iran and north korea and was in favor of military action against both countries. and the saw goes around being data harvesting from facebook takes another twist as it's revealed that the british defense ministry paid cambridge to analytic as per the parent company for psychological profiling of target audience it's. a very warm welcome you're watching r.t. international with me niki error and now we begin with an update on our breaking news story the french interior ministry says two people have been killed and three more wounded after a gunman took hostages in a supermarket in southwest france the interior minister has confirmed on twitter that the attacker has been killed a major counter-terrorism operatio

breaking news that a hostage situation is under way at a supermarket in southwest france the gunmen inside has pledged allegiance to eisele unconfirmed reports say one person has been shot dead. hundreds of police are now at the scene and the area has been put on lockdown. as r.t. international with me mccarran good to have you with us this hour we start with breaking news from france and number of people have been taken hostage in a supermarket by an armed man in south west of the country shots were reportedly fired earlier on the instance being treated as a terrorist. he joins us live with the latest now charlotte so what do we know about the situation right now. well in the last few minutes we've heard the police union spokesperson here in france confirming that one person has been killed in that hostage taking situation in the south of france in the town of tire just about fifteen kilometers away from the caucus on that historic town that's well known to many people we also understand that a second person was injured in that shots that were fired inside at the supermarket we don't have

in france and it was about eleven billion dollars. in our part of the debts that endeavor was divided from france was for certain point eight billion dollars and transistor then asking india to buy it or quote all those i could fix and they did it this quarter of monies that are already or they don't leave open so you're looking at the defense as the most important segment of this but i've heard talk of ship but clearly this is going beyond that they're going to start they could looking at the. bit it sort of lands you're looking at dead or ball. in iraq or india is being forced to buy the article orcus and start up more than isolation technology being given to you will be imported by india or france you're also looking at this by divine portion considered by the price of china and detroit got into the. china or. russia and i'm focused on coming together you are drawing from that he gives what india needs partners and friends need partner needs partners france it's probably the only country in the european country with a strong milita

the figure in france is 13%. if you look strictly at men and women working the same job full-time, the difference is still 9%. we are 18 years into the 21st century and this is still happening. especially given the extraordinary number of young women entering the workforce, the number keeps rising rapidly by the day. equalityctually been pay laws in france since the early 1980's. what's happened is they haven't been enforced. why does this occur? look quickly at the figures in terms of women working, the difference is close to nil. the difference is women having children and exhibiting themselves from the workforce. a multi-pronged approach in terms of dealing with this issue. it can be done by government and by companies but alongside other key important issues which also help such as looking at parental leave. >> today, the french feminist or unveiled a series of new proposals. what is the french government going to do? >> a raft of new measures were announced earlier this morning. the ones that are particularl

france's state of emergency was lifted. in place in terms of the rapidity of the authorities dealing with something like this. the earlier attacks have led to the state of emergency, the imposition of new regulations to deal with security threats. french authorities have therefore change their approach and develop their approach over time. this of course is something people now have been planning for, these sorts of incidents, and have become, we know, accustomed, because there have been several of these, dealing with this. mr macron himself, he now faces a pretty serious test. thank you very much. let's get the latest now on the situation in france — andy moore has this report. shots were fired and hostages taken at the supermarket just after 11 o'clock local time. scores of officers and airborne units were sent to the scene. counterterror police are leading the operation. this shocked woman told reporters she could not see inside the supermarket. she said her children we re supermarket. she said her children were ina supe

francs food. international gateway to the best connection self in road and rail. located in the heart of europe you are connected to the whole world. experience outstanding shopping and dining offers triallists services.

breaking news at least two people have been killed in a hostage incident at a supermarket in southwest france the gun man that reportedly pledged allegiance to islamic states. french authorities say they are treating the incident as a terror attack. and other news this hour president trump picks john bolton as his latest national security adviser a white house veterans known for his core pitch stance on iran and north korea and was in favor of military action against both countries. and the sawdust surrounding data harvesting from facebook takes another twist as it's revealed the british defense ministry paid cambridge analytical parent company for psychological profile a different target audience and. a warm welcome you're watching r.t. international with me mickey aaron now we start this hour with breaking news french national police say two people have been killed and more than a dozen wounded in a hostage incident at a supermarket in southwest france the incident is being treated as a terrorism let's get an update from our correspondent in france now charlotte do penske and charlotte what

this is so because the laws are different in spain and france yes. it is and it's obvious that this problem can only be tackled by changing criminals all. that. is punishing the clients rather than the women the way to achieve that. done a far lead hates pimps we catch up with him as he eats a light breakfast before his daily workout. while. danny is a child of the red light maybe. he has a criminal record and has served time his mother was a prostitute now he tries to keep his head above water with various odd jobs. in law that has a little my mother worked in a brothel and my father was her pimp he was the pig who got her into it he exploited her until she had two children me and my brother and then. he got a new woman my mother what did she do she left us with foster parents and travelled around europe trying to survive where did she end up drunk or out she came and brought his share and i stayed. apart from odd jobs danny also earn some money doing something he learned in jail tattooing. i did they were they put me in a cell with the yugoslav. pr

in franceing to start and the latest court hearings over the case involving two air france executives who have their ripped off after a meeting with unions. >> the two men emerged into an angry crowd with their shirts ripped open. three men were given prison sentences two years ago while a fourth was acquitted. others faced fines. the appellate lawyer claimed the sentences were based on incomplete video evidence. 2015, the 5, announcement of a restructuring plan at an air france company meeting the sense into violence. union members protest against job cuts. two executive directors are attacked, their shirts ripped away. escaping the angry crowd only by climbing offense in images seen around the world. the french prime minister at the time calling for strict justice. >> nothing can justitify such actions. these actions are the work o of thugs. >> at trial, three employees, since fired, given suspended prison sentences of three to four months for salt. a fourth -- for assault. a fourth acquitted. sentences french union offfficis have the cried as political. the executives involved have

to take on to take france.gs start in the women's tournament. mathematically the title, we decided this weekend but on this evidence, only england look capable of stopping france. having dispatched scotla nd stopping france. having dispatched scotland and ireland, the blues playing in white, never gave italy a look in. they wrapped up 22 points in the first half alone. by the time they added their eighth in stoppage time, france had already wrapped up a half—century. almost more impressively, they have only conceded three points in three games. ahead of them on points difference are england, who shone under the friday night lights. waterman scored international try number 45. not to let waterman hogged the limelight, charlotte pierce dazzled with two of her own. taking centre stage from the bench wes clark. she became the most capped prop in test rugby before waterman completed the emphatic win. when we kept it tight and dominated set piece, it gave us great front football. credit to our pack for that. scotland

have new presidents in france in france and the united states, relatively.of them are rewriting economics. give us the differences between emmanuel macron and president trump. timewas in france at the of emmanuel macron was running on his own party. no one thought he was going to win. the candidate similar to trump was ahead in the race. macron one and his party also won the parliament. -- won and his party also won the parliament. he ran on exactly the opposite platform. he ran on pro-trade. he made comments yesterday, saying the e.ui. should react strongly. he ran on a pro-trade, pro-e.u., pro-diversity and pro-equality. david: and fundamental reforms of the labor. wanted to make a lot of progress in short time -- in a short time. jane: i was in france as the previous administration tried to get labor reform through, and they did not. shut down the streets of paris at the time. macron did this, there was skepticism, but he didn't unbelievably well. -- did it unbelievably well. his paretty was in charge. unions, negotiated with and only one strongly opposed

what is security like in france because as i mentioned since two thousand and fifteen france has witnessed a whole series of attacks attacks terrorist. well we increased demand as early the security forces and also as the tools i heard you approved of previous comment about the state of emergency we know pretty bring walked into regular. so the police has a lot of tools. we reserve budgets. and also we also increase the intelligence services so we did a lot of progress of course since charley and the better. seems that even with the . speed in which the police came to the place of the supermarket is also the sign that every scene was ready in case of which was not exactly like that previously. but as you mentioned that the state of emergency was lifted in at taba last year was other more that was supported by you. or your in fact what happened is that we we moved the measure. which were the state of emergency regulation into the regular regulation in fact is just big for me it's just the same scene is just that we it's a secure larrys. the state of emergency has a regular regulation instea

we're still waiting on the france president about. to were to give a press briefing in brussels where he's attending the european union summit that press conference was begin it was due to begin getting on for an hour ago now obviously the developing situation in the cab in southwestern france meaning the president is being brought up to speed on all the details we're waiting for his statement will take that live as and when it begins here on al-jazeera in the meantime let's speak to julian throne who we spoke to by phone a while back he's a political scientist and analyst who specializes international security it. sensitizes pro university joins us now live from paris good to see you at this time julian your thoughts first of all on this this incident now we know a little bit more about what has happened and who the hostage taker might be. yes apparently at least that's what they host of state that claims but to a i say it's actually at least according to his political aims because he spoke about defunding brothers in syria and also

he ended by saying france will prevail.t was quite a nationalistic speech that focused on paying tribute to his life. claire: here with me in the studio is french politics editor marc perelman. tell me about the speech and what he had to say about islamists. >> emmanuel macron has spoken a lot since he was elected on a number of issues. he has given lengthy speeches on europe, the economy and so on. he was supposed to deliver a french secularism. he has always postponed it and he has not delivered it. speech today.he this was a eulogy. the word that was used to name the enemy were important and he used very strong word. islamists evil. he talked about barbarity. he talked about the imams of death. attacker, hishe death would put his family to shame. it would shame his family and other muslims. clearly he went two steps before than he had done in designating the enemy. we may remember that there was such a controversy in the united states, people accused then president barack obama of not naming islamist terrorism as the ene

france mourns a hero police officer who died after a supermarket shooting on nobel trump took the place of a hostage and helps bring the siege at the store to an end. and in support of the football world cup is fast approaching with germany making the finishing touches to their scored the defending champions took on spain in a hard fought friendly last night and bring you the best of the action. i'm egypt kimani welcome to the program now protests in favor of tougher restrictions on gun ownership are taking place in the u.s. tens of thousands of students are the main demonstration in the capital washington d.c. students who survived the mass shooting at the marjory stoneman douglas high school in florida are leading what's called the march for our lives rally pro-gun control rallies are due to take place in other cities in the u.s. . correspondent alex phenomena is joining us in washington so alexander this could become an even larger protest than the women's twenty seventeen what's the atmosphere like. thousands of people have already arrived here. students parents. i would say that th

collective national identity around a sports team at the olympics or the national sports team in france these kinds of things can create a nationalist symbol that crosses boundaries so nationalism doesn't have to be a bad thing but if it is narrowly defined you can only be a french person if you look or talk a certain way or if your parents were bornf there then that excludes a lot of people who were citizens of those countries and that takes us back decades or centuries and that is a dangerous direction. i'm very much in favor to build a modern national identity to define french and abroadth and inclusive why so those who have origins elsewherein be a part of the country and to be included in it. >> we have a short internet video of a man in denmark says you don't look danish. >> it is dangerous when that happens one of the things that is lost is if it happens to him or somebody else name a home in if you are born somewhere and speak the language like a native and no no other country and they say that guy is you start to feel excluded some of those are radicalized as you have far right

if you look at a country like france, 100 years ago people in france were speaking different dialects, came from poland, portugal, spain, italy, if you look at the recent presidents of france, his family came from hungry. it is a myth that we are ethnically pure nation and certainly a myth in this country. we have to be careful about saying things like importing the third world. this is always been a pluralist, diverse, multicultural country. we can have a debate about immigration and it is legitimate for people to say there needs to be limits on numbers or perhaps the speed at which people are coming and whether it is in the united states or germany, that is a legitimate debate but to say we need to be ethnically pure, we never were and we are not going to be and that is a dangerous road to go down. if you look at places where the standard of ethnic or racial purity was the dominant political idea, we are talking 1930s in germany, we know where that went. people can be proud of their identity, where their parents came from, their grandparents, that is fine but don't try to define the

so much often buses are the highlights what do france and germany want to change. all the emphasis on the sound bite we just heard was on hard work because the issues that they want to resolve are among the most difficult issues or the most divisive issues that start for example with a common asylum system in the european union something they have strife for for many years it's not working at the moment because it would implicate that you need kind some kind of system to redistribute the migrants within the european union there's a huge divide over that especially between eastern and western european countries and yet the two want to resolve as you just said until june that's going to be very difficult then the reform of the euro zone micro-loan started the discussion in fall by saying he wanted euro zone budget and he also wanted a finance minister for the euro zone something that the european union for now does not have we know that the germans are not in favor of something like that of this design so although we always have the show of unity between michel and m

they develop in new directions that france is still very much france and denmark is still very much in denmark but it's a question of accepting that you can be a danish person of african descent or a french person of middle eastern descent. there is nothing contradictory about that and so i think one of the important things is for the voters and the citizen is to call out the politicians and say that's nonsense. this isn't a threat. people might look different but they are just as french as we are. >> host: we have one minute left please make your comment. >> host: >> caller: you mentioned before this country is made up of immigrants. people see it coming from everywhere and say this is not normal and it is bad for the country. and also that you can see people being deported and getting caught by gangs, do you see similar with extreme terrorists like -- >> host: and going to cut you off i'm sorry. >> guest: people are being sent back into danger and they might be victims of these criminal gangs in the same way that refugees in europe are being sent back to war in the middle east and th

this is due to the news live from berlin and france morin's a hero police officer who dies after yesterday's supermarket shooting are now trump took the place of the last remaining hostage and helped bring a seat at a store to an end police store into the store in the small town of tape i'm sure and as this gunman killed four people and other captives others captive. and in sports offending town teams germany gear up for june the football world cup with a tough friendly against steyn we'll bring you the best of the action. i'm thank you for joining us well the police officer who offered himself as a hostage during a supermarket shooting spree in southern france has died in hospital colonel are. being hailed for saving lives he switched places with the last remaining person being held captive inside the store three others died in friday's attack. the face of a hero. trauma switch places with a hostage but kept his phone switched on so helped bring the deadly standoff at a supermarket to and from his interior minister said heroism and bravery and sacrifice would never be forgotten. the country

met with france's president. and said that france had agreed to support the. syrian rebels are denying reports of a deal for them to leave the town of duma it's the last patch of rebel controlled area in eastern gusa near the capital damascus which come under which is kind of a ferocious syrian government bombardment russia's foreign ministry is summoning ambassadors from ten countries who it accuses of taking quote unfriendly steps the move follows moscow's expulsion of over one hundred fifty diplomats including sixty americans it's part of the diplomatic dispute over the poisoning of a former russian spy and his daughter in the u.k. . a fire on board a bus in thailand has killed at least twenty migrant workers from a involved police don't yet know what caused the blaze on the bus which was carrying forty seven people to an industrial zone near bangkok we have a new president has been sworn in you when met was the last house speaker and is an ally of aung san suu kyi has previous as that ensure resigned last week sizing health problems there's the headlines t

the policies of france are. conducted in the sense that france has actually a very extensive watch list well over ten thousand people so that fact alone may not mean there are much and this person may not have been listed in the same way in another european country so this is not to say we should be complacent but we should provide some context. this listing me by itself means all that much this is clearly viewed now as a big test for the relatively new french president emmanuel macro you're talking there about a particular threat emmanuel micro today saying the threat is not external eighty's internal but break that down for me what are the particular facets of that that the french state has got to deal with. well france has been facing terrorism for the long time indeed i mean no no need on a national basis which is also from many many other countries but also from a jihadist. threat which is actually already been going on since the latest the nine hundred ninety s. so not since it's not a new. sort of many ma

police have discovered explosives and other weapons at the site of a shooting in southern france tourists have also been made in connection with the attack have the latest from our correspondent. and in sports the football world cup in spots approaching with germany putting the finishing touches on their team the defending champions took on spain in a hard fought friendly last night to bring you the best of the action. time maya shweder welcome to the program protests in favor of tighter restrictions on gun ownership are taking place across the u.s. hundreds of thousands are at the main demonstration in the capital washington d.c. called the quote march for our lives the protest was organized and led by students who survived a mass shooting at marjorie stoneman douglas high school in parkland florida similar marches were also held across the world. and one of the students from marjorie stroman douglass high school spoke at the rally in d.c. in d.c. here's what he had to say. it all comes down to a slice or ten was offered to all the politicians out there if you take money from the n.r.a.

he called him one of france's children he compared. to traditional historical heroes during the first and second world wars in tucson doc and the like and he said that he had the courage to stand up to what the president called craziness actually islamised craziness and he said to he actually addressed a message to those who could be actually seduced by islamic radicals and he said there is an alternative to that and time has shown us that it's rare to stand up for our nation that is something to fight for and of course it's just that the president the whole nation is paying tribute to left and colonel are numbered from here is more about the man and what he symbolized. he was. over that stranger and now his nation is honoring him ten a colonel i know about tram is hailed a hero by france. is one of the first officers to respond to the deadly hostage siege in trade as events unfolded at this supermarket he traded places with a female hostage who was being used as a human shield by the attacker and it wasn't just his act of self-sacrifi

france is big you heard i didn't hear out of that war well of course france is a war of course we are at war we are being attacked on our soil as you see the first attacks that this guy did they were against our our thoughts our forces of order they are attacking our country d.-a attacking our countrymen they are attacking our forces of or for forces of law and it is absolutely evident that these are acts of war and it's only if we can recognize them an act of war then we can actually probably start treating it the french people are so what do you want to see from soon lockdown again. it's not a question knocked down it's not a question of locking down routes we need to close down the side of this mosques in france that are still open and where we are preachers are still preaching hate speech is against a fringe people and against western society we need to expel radical islamists from our heart of from our home style we need to take actions against the financing of terrorism and we need to regain control of our borders it has nothing to do with shutting it down it has to do with taki

on france 24 and france24.com. >> i am the france 24 correspondent in madrid. join me live and check out my reports on france 24 and france24.com. >> sora -- sarah morris, one of 124 france 24 correspondents around the world. ♪ [tmeme music plalaying] >> wheramam i n? oh,odod kno. inin t middldl nowhe, i i gss. [musiplplayi] >> we'ret t dese x.. >> desert.. >> dertrt x. ha h ha! [musiplaying]

there is france's embassy, france's cultural center. there is also burkina faso oneonal army headquarters to two kilometers away from each other. the pictures we are seeing are shot from a distance so it is difficult to see where the plumes of smoke are coming from. very difficult to verify the information we are getting from folks on the ground saying up to five different assailants, perhaps wearing masks, came out of the vehicle, guns blazing. that vehicle was seen on fire afterwards, those men shouting in the streets, shooting at random, and headed towards the french embassy. french authorities quickly reacting, telling people to stay sheltered because they were coming under attack. there was a message posted on the french embassy's facebook page. there was a message on the website of france's foreign ministry saying there was an attack underway. burkina faso's director general of police also saying suspected islamist militants were attacking the city center without mentioning specific targets but certainly telling folks to stay out

killed as an armed eisel sympathizer hijacks a card takes hostages in a supermarket in the south of france a terrorist is eventually shot dead by police. leaders diverged over russia as the british prime minister rallies her counterparts at the poisoning of a former spy tourism a's calling for punishment but some say dialogues the way forward. and the saga surrounding data harvesting from facebook takes another twist as it's revealed the british defense ministry paid cambridge on a list of his parents' company for psychological profiling of target audience it's . a very warm welcome you're watching r.t. international with me becky aaron good to have you with us. three people have been killed in southern france after a gunman hijacks a car before taking hostages at a supermarket the attacker had pledged allegiance to islamic state and was eventually shot dead by special forces officers our correspondent in france can tell us more now charlotte a lot more details have been confirmed in the past couple of hours can you bring us up to speed please. yes that's why we know that the hostage taker

this is the debris news of live from berlin france mourns a hero police officer who died after yesterday's supermarket shooting on o.b.l. trying to keep the feet of the plays of the last remaining four staged and helped bring a siege of the store to an end police stormed the supermarket in the small town of tire where an islamist gunman killed four people and held others captive. also coming up the school shooting survivor six of them two words beneath the students from cochran florida preparing to lead a march for more gun control to the gates of the white house. and in sports the football world cup is fast approaching with germany making the finishing touches to this squad the defending champions took on spain in a hard fought frenzy last night we'll bring you the very best of the action. i'm just kamandi welcome to the program now the police man who offered himself as a hostage during a supermarket shooting spree in south of france has died in hospital. is being hailed as a hero for saving lives he switched places with the last remaining person being held captive inside the store the lo

well the policeman who offered ten self as a hostage during a supermarket shooting spree in southern france has died in hospital now colonel arnaud is being hailed for saving lives he switched places with the last remaining person being held captive inside the store three others died in friday's attack. the face of a hero colonel are nobel traumas switch places with a hostage but kept his phone switched on and so helped bring the deadly standoff at a supermarket to an end france's interior minister said well trams heroism and bravery and sacrifice would never be forgotten. the country's president emanuel praised the swift action of the police. i want to salute their engagement and their professionalism but especially their courage. particularly the courage of an officer of the gendarmerie who volunteered to take the place of a hostage. the attack took place in southwestern fronts and the town of travel. around lunch time. we went and started our shopping and after some time we heard an explosion well several explosions. so i went to see what it was about i saw a man lying on the floor and a

news live from berlin france mourns a hero police officer who died after yesterday's supermarket shooting on a belt took the place of the last remaining off stage and helped to bring a siege at a store to an end police stormed the supermarkets in the small town of ted where and islamist gunman killed four people and held others captive. also coming up the school shooting survivors sick of them two words we need to the students from auckland florida preparing to lead a march for more gun control to the gates of the white house. i'm edith kimani welcome to the program the policeman who offered himself as a hostage during a supermarket shooting spree in south of france has died in hospital. on all trauma is being hailed as a hero for saving lives he switched places with the last remaining person being held captive inside the store locals in the town of have been leaving flowers outside the police station where beltran worked three other people died in friday's attack which authorities allege was carried out by a twenty five year old moroccan born french national he was shot that. the face of

to flee france. at the center of the refugee crisis were actually what would become an aid to the refugees, the u.s. consulate. in 1940 the u.s. consulate had a staff of six. it was small, intentionally small because there were just over 100 americans in all of french morocco. they were businessmen, singer sewing machine, douglas aircraft. there were some missionaries. there was the diplomatic corps plus their children. there just weren't a lot of americans which is why, i'm going to pause for a movie reference, it's why rick in the movie "casablanca" is an incredibly extraordinary character. it would have been rare to come across an american in casablanca. but the u.s. consulate would become a point of contact for the refugees. each day, more than 200 people would line up outside the consulate, hoping to get a visa, to apply for a visa, to receive assistance. the consulate would help them book passage, they would tell them who not to book passage with because there were plenty of people looking to t

>> and tv shows, here on "france 24." >>, slow, one of the france 24 correspondence -- thomas lowe, one of the france 24 correspondents around the world. rochelle: these are the top stories we are following this hour. the world-round physicist stephen hawkins has passed away. the 76-year-old was best known for his work on black holes and relativity. we speak to an expert in quantum physics about his scientific contributions. britain calls for an urgent meeting of the human security council to update members on an investigation into a nerve agent attack on a former russian spy and his daughter. we cross to london for the latest, with benedicte. angela merkel is sworn in for her fourth term as germany's chancellor, putting an end to six months of political drift in europe's biggest economy. ♪ ♪ rochelle: first, our top story. stephen hawking, one of the sharpest minds in modern physics, has died peacefully at his home in cambridge, england, wednesday.is the world-renowned physicist was best known for his insights on black holes and relativity. history of brief time" an international bests

what we've been getting confirmation from france is interior minister john howard a little bit more details about the hostage taker we understand from the interior minister that he was a twenty six year old french moroccan who had been in the area in trade for petty theft there had been some suggestions that he was on the watch list as being somebody who was potentially radicalized but the interior minister has said that's not the case he was. known for petty theft and there were no signs of any islamic radicalization that's despite reports that the hostage taker this twenty six year old french moroccan had pledged allegiance according to reports from. that he had pledged allegiance to eisele or islamic state where we also know that we've been hearing from the french president and mind your mark on who has said in the last hour this is being treated as a terror incident which. is everything leads us to believe it is a terrorist but the police are responding in a coordinated manner. well we know that three people have been killed today in the south of france it's believed that the incidents

has a micro france to urge everyone around the table let's let's change the language that let's make it tougher then as you've said they've also agreed to recall the e.u. and bastard and what's interesting is we're hearing from european heads of government that they will look at the possibility of taking similar unilateral action in the coming days to that which britain took of expelling russian diplomats from london diplomats who the british say were intelligence operatives in plain english spies and the british have been urging e.u. partners here to take similar measures that would disrupt russia's intelligence network across europe and you might say despite breaks it britain has managed to show that the e.u. will show solidarity on this issue and is convinced by the british argument syrian rebels a nation go to have agreed to a truce in a southern part of the enclave not the area was one of three parts controlled by rebels but fighters in harasta surrendered on thursday the latest cease fire deal took place and been an. and in duma for the no one thousands of civilians continue to

france's interior minister, visiting the scene, called him a hero.o his office and his country, and that france had once again been the victim of islamist terrorism. translation: i invite all citizens to be aware of the seriousness of the terrorist threat. but also understand the strength and resilience of our people who have been attacked. tonight, police have raided the flat in carcassonne where redouane lakdim lived. one close associate has been taken into custody. this investigation, raising old unanswered questions about how to spot everyone at risk of radicalisation, and how to tackle a threat that strikes at random in every corner of france. the neighbours of strabane remembered a man who used to walk his dog up and down the street who did not seem to harbour any violent thoughts, but earlier today, president maduro said he believed the threat against france had changed. president macron said today the threat against france had changed. where once attacks were planned from iraq or syria, the risk was now what he called dangerous individuals in

is not having its own agenda because france is not there for let's say to solve million problems france you there because. they believe the security issue is is a threat to europe and to france and that if saddle keeps on becoming a dangerous zone where jihadists can regroup and spread over is it would be dangerous for them and so you see you can see president mccrone coming to mali without even still stopping over in the capital bamako going to go straight to see the french military and take care of them and say well my my problem my what my concept my concern is my is the french troops and and and security in france saw and mally and feel disenfranchised and you can never reach any solution with only these g. five every military option all these troops will be useless you we say we know terrorism is as a metric war we been saying this is also the last the latter is easy you cannot fight it with. yes and we also know that at the basis of all these there are economy problems social problems people are poor. because he's really here instead of problems in. saying that we need to eat we h

a nationwide strike in france this thursday. protests in the streets and planes trains and buses shut down over government plans for reform. more from our correspondent in a minute. former president nicolas sarkozy placed under formal investigation in one of france's most explosive political scandals and years. he denies the charges saying there is no evidence gaddafi funded his election campaign. -- facebookd head mark zuckerberg apologizes for the gwing scandal over the hijacking of personal data from millions of users. he said he will fix the problems at the social media giant. also, as the u.s. prepares to impose import tariffs on steel, we hear from french workers worried about their future in the industry. that is coming up. first, our top story live from paris. >> french president emmanuel macron is facing his first major showdown with the unions. they have called for a strike to protest his labor law reform and job cuts that would come with it. are expectedests to take place alwi a shutdown of trains and planes. all, how

>> this is france 24. these are the headlines. gives a midnight deadline to vladimir putin to explain how a nerve agent develop by the sooner union struck down a former russian double agent. that man and his dollar are still in critical condition. an explosion strikes the convoy of a palestinian prime minister as he makes a trip to gaza. no major industry -- industries -- injuries. said it hash army encircled the syrian town, 700,000 people are now under siege in the town controlled by kurdish militia. up, a brightening global economic outlook comes with warnings over a looming trade war. showop graffiti artists off their skills in costa rica. that's coming up. now, our first top stories from paris. genie: the british prime minister has openly suggested moscow was behind the attack last week on a former russian spy on british soil. she said the nerve agent used to attack the former double agent and his daughter was developed decades ago by the soviet union. she has given him until midnight tonight toto explain it. speaking that wh

at 17, he joined france's socialist party.it's been in power in lille for decades, and is renovating the area mehdi chalah grew up in. though even that, he says, won't level the playing field for its residents. >> as a teenager, it became clear how important this association was to me, because no one could help me at home. for kids whose parents are teachers, doctors, or lawyers it's a different story. and that's simply not fair. >> he went into politics and moved to paris to work as parliamentary assistant for a socialist mp. but his political aspirations were quashed during the french legislative election of 2017. the socialists were decimated, receiving less than 6% of the vote. chalah wants to convince other young people in the party that the socialists themselves were to blame for the election debacle. he believes former president francois hollande should have reacted differently after the 2015 terror attacks in paris. >> many in the banlieues wouldn't observe a minute of silence for the victims, or show respect and solid