easy to miniaturize, and that is important to the north koreans. they need to compress the material down to a small package and fifth them on the nose of a ballistic missile. for those two reasons, this is a worrisome development. can we read anything into the reasons behind the test or the particular timing? knowetty much everybody i around the world has been taken pretty much by surprise. activity carried out at the test site, there was no announcement or no diplomatic reason. there is no internal political need. they might be trying to focus attention abroad. can makeconclusion we is that this was a test conducted for military and should digit needs. -- and strategic needs. genie: thank you. next to washington, where a obamay emotional barack announced new executive measures to tighten the sale of guns. the president had tears coming down his face as he talked about the ongoing gun violence in america, including the mass shooting of 20 first-graders at sandy hook elementary school. obama said he was forced to use his presidential powers in the face of a stubborn congress. gun control is a divisive issue in the u.s., and it is front and center in the presidential campaign. republican contenders were quick to slam the president's new measures. to signtrump: he wants executive orders all the time. it is no good, no fair, and they are not going to screw around with the second amendment. >> if there is an issue, he ought to go to congress to force consensus to make it happen. he does not have this power. the best way to do it is to allow states to decide what kind of gun control laws that they have. marco rubio: i am going to the every onee and repeal of his unconstitutional executive orders. so the executive order that he issued today that undermined the executive -- the second amendment, on my first day it is gone. genie: france 24's washington correspondent philip crowther has more. 20-year-olds,ese it is the very first time. they are excited, a little bit nervous. this is on the day the u.s. president announced new gun control measures. that would not dampen the enthusiasm here. >> a lot of fun. very good. it is a safe and fun hobby when you follow the rules. range has been jampacked all day. shooting remains very popular, here in the united states, and sales next-door in the shop are going very well indeed, especially after the latest announcement from president obama. >> someone tells you you cannot have something -- >> they are going to wake up and go look for it because they do not want to be told they cannot have that gun or that iphone or whatever. so when people in d.c. talk more change and laws, they perk up i'll amwait a minute, going to buy a gun to month. maybe i will go buy it now. barack obama wants every gun sale in the country to be preceded by a background check. they would have to answer questions like the ones ryan faces here. >> if i have any priors, and i have fugitive, have i been mentally -- >> i think it is a good thing. i did not watch the whole thing, but action definitely should be taken but in the right way. not interfering with the second amendment. constitutional right to own a weapon remains untouchable. republicans now say obama has gone to bank far. far.want -- has gone too they want the court to overturn the executive action. genie: the self-styled arms miller chef is still holed up in a u.s. federal wildlife refuge and -- in oregon. ammon bundy took over the refuge in protest at the jailing of two local ranchers a convicted of arson. he says his group will hold its ground on its asked to leave by local residents. diplomats from the saudi arabian embassy in iran have arrived back in riyadh. arabia severed ties with iran sunday after protesters stormed the embassy in iran. that was after a top shiite cleric was put to death in saudi arabia. as claire williams explains, with tensions escalating, there is concern that peace talks for syria could be derailed. plane carrying -- with the kingdom having cut relations with iran, these diplomats are back in riyadh. saudi arabia says they are no longer safe from the iranian capital after protesters stormed its embassy there. >> what we saw was total destruction. they destroyed things in the embassy. then we went through three days of horror until finally, thank god, we arrived back here at the airport. angry iranian protesters charged into the embassy in tehran. 46 of the men were put to death in saudi arabia. tensions between the two biggest powers in the region hinged on peace talks for syria. in a bid to keep the talk contract, the u.n.-syria envoy held talks with the saudi foreign minister. >> we discussed the next steps to securing and end to the conflict of syria. is kingdom of saudi arabia committed to future talks. he will also meet with iran's foreign minister. the u.n. hopes to bring the syrian government and opposition officials together to direct -- for direct talks in geneva by the end of the month. genie: france this week's marking the one-year anniversary of the attack on charlie hebdo. daysople killed in three of violence last january. the magazine itself is known for its vulgar humor. and that spirit is evident in a commemorative edition today. the cover shows the kalashnikov and "the killer is still on the run." the editor and cartoonist for this week's cover has been speaking to french radio and was asked how the magazine has coped after the terrorist attack on its former headquarters. we have had to deal with a lot over the last year, rebuilding a publication slashed into a thousand pieces. that was extremely difficult to we had to create an 18. -- a new team. we had a lot to do with, and it was not easy. german police have given the all clear after a suspicious object was found during a routine security check at the entrance to chancellor angela merkel's office. also in germany last night, some 300 people gathered in front of the cathedral in cologne, calling for more respect for women. that is after a german report that there were dozens of apparently coordinated sexual assaults against women in that city new year's eve. attacks the police say are blamed on groups of men described as arab or north african looking. chancellor merkel has called for a thorough investigation into what she called the repugnant attacks, although her supporters are warning against exporting -- exploitingtext the situation to attack migrants. the conservative right wing government has already canceled programs by journalists not to its liking. and it has some support from its electorate. oliver farry has more. it is the latest charges of the polish government, the country last public television service in the crosshairs. upon being appointed to government in november, the culture minister set the tone. >> the station has been turning out propaganda for years. that is over now. : parliament soon followed. the head of the country's right was consideredam to bank critical. it has already been canceled. too critical. it has already been canceled. democracy is in danger, say critics of the government. protesters have taken to the streets on several locations in protest. in his homeeaking near warsaw, he can count on support online but is nonetheless concerned for the future. there are serious threats to democracy. it is like loosening the wheels on a car. , butar can still drive there is no protection and something serious can happen at any time. oliver: but not all polls agree. >> i think we are going in the right direction. >> the government was democratically elected and has the right to introduce whatever law it wants to. government offers no justification for its actions. genie: french composer and conductor pierre boulez has died. his family issued a statement, saying the 90-year-old passed away at his home in the german town of boston baden. bodden -- ofbotton baden-baden. plays] genie: pierre boulez there, conducting in paris. he also led the new york philharmonic and the bbc symphony orchestra in the 1970's. he died yesterday at age 90. time for business news with stephen carroll. you are starting with the price of oil, which is tumbling again. stephen: it is that an 11 year low again on the brink crude index. the international benchmark for oil. the price of oil just over $35 a barrel a couple of moments ago. that is now down more than 3% on of day, 8% since the start this week. oil had started the week up after tensions escalated between saudi arabia and iran, but etrketing lists -- mark analysts say oil will stay low because of oil been kept in the market. genie: what effect is that having on the stock market? stephen: stocks are down. we have seen falls across the london, paris, and frankfurt exchanges. it is good news for consumers but bad news for can -- for oil companies. story aboutave a twitter, and the possibility we might be able to say more in tweets. stephen: the company is trying to attract new users for its platform. its executive was being looked at after report considered that would extend the limited 10,000 characters. 3% on wall street mark thompson has the details. most these are some of the famous tweets since the social media platform began. apart from being on twitter, there is one thing they all have in common. they are all under 140 characters long. something they might not share with possible messages in the future. twitter cofounder jack dorsey's confirmed speculation that they could raise the character limit in the future. said what if that text was actually text? text that can be searched, text that can be highlighted? that is more utility and more power. it comes after tech website recode reported the news back in september. they believe the new limits could come into effect by the end of the first quarter. the project, dubbed the on 140, is part of twitter's attempt to revitalize youth growth in engagement. it slowed last year despite beating revenue estimates. 4 million new users signed up in the last three months of 2015, it's slowest growth today. in total, the platform is used by 307 million people worldwide. but the reaction by bottom line and in the markets has not been positive. towards the share -- the shares dropped almost 3% on the news while users share their own concerns. using twitter's trademark 140 character limit. -- e: stephen: china has banned a -- the ban was introduced during last year's stockmarket crash. it he was due to lapse this friday. we sawgravated a selloff monday when trading on chinese markets had to be suspended because they fell by so much. investors -- china -- it was a good day for the chinese technology company. there -- there economy jumped 70%. to wrap up, there has been relief of airline passengers as the character reversed a strange decision about baggage. travelers on told tuesday that they should fly without checking bags, and the reason was because there were strong headwinds and the extra weight might mean the plane would not have enough fuel to reach their destination. you might imagine the move attracted pretty widespread criticism. one and a line analyst called it ludicrous. -- one airline analyst called it ludicrous. that is the first time i have overheard that went. stephen carroll, do not bring your bags. it is time now for the press review. florence villeminot is with us on the set to take a look at today's papers. lots of focus today on charlie hebdo, the french satirical magazine that was the side of the heart of the harmful attacks one year ago this week. -- that was the site at the heart of the harmful attacks one year ago this week. flo: one year later, the assassin is still on the run. who is the assassin? you can see it here. it is god, and you can see the bloodstains here. this is proof that one year later, charlie hebdo is very much true to itself and being very provocative with this cover . this cover was drawn by a cartoonist for charlie hebdo who was wounded during the attack on january 7. he became editor of "charlie hebdo" is the former editor was killed on january 7. he has a scathing editorial in hebdo," in "charlie defense of secularism, this very french value, the pillar of the republic, as many people call it. stateat the center of the religion. he lashes out against all religious fanatics of all religions really, and the quote -- that is the quote from his te editorial. later, charlie hebdo is still alive and kicking, but not everybody is thrilled about that. can read about that in the business paper here in france. it comes back on the fact that this front page for the commemorative issue, has really sparked a controversy, not surprisingly against -- not surprisingly among many religious leaders. the president of the french faith council said he felt hurt by a provocative cover. -- they had the french wonder if this is the kind of controversy france needs right now. they said it is with two initially mean and malicious. interestingly enough, the vice president of the peace, an isrella group that associated with a copy, says that it is critical to the dna of charlie hebdo. genie: let's go to washington, where president obama was moved to tears visibly yesterday on tv as he announced new steps aimed at curbing gun violence. flo: let's take a look at the front page of "the wall street journal," which has a photo of that speech. moved to tears, obama takes action on guns. there is an extreme close-up of those tears rolling down his face on the front page of "the independent." you can see they are talking about obama's tears while the gun lobbies are cheering. genie: it is so interesting, even here in the newsroom people have been divided about whether or not it was appropriate for the president to be so emotional. flo: some people loved it. among them, the daily beast. they said his speech is one for the ages, especially after he toobeen seen as being cerebral and not emotional. other people are kind of rolling their eyes at the tears, wondering how sincere they are, the crocodile tears, as we are seeing from the u.s. president. this is a belgian paper that says a lot of people were surprised by obama's tears. it turns out, obama cries about once a year, perhaps even more than once a year. they actually have a funny photo exhibit of obama's tears in this paper from when he was actually campaigning to be president in 2008. he cried about the fact that he had just lost his grandmother. we talked a lot about this back in 2008. more recently, there was a media buzz about the fact that he cried adam aretha franklin concert. he said that he just could not exists "you make me feel like a natural woman." -- could just not resist, "you make me feel like a natural woman." you can see that essentially 2016 has gotten off to a potentially explosive start in the middle east. this is represented by a bomb that is about to explode. in "the new york times," there is a funny cartoon by a swiss cartoonist depicting the fact that people outside the middle east, particularly in the united states, to not understand what is going on between the regional powers. you can see a couple of couch potatoes looking at tv, wondering who they should support here. are we post shiite or pro-sunni? genie: there is a lot of shock in germany over reports that dozens of women were sexually assaulted and robbed at new year's eve celebrations in cologne. flo: it is really the top story in the german media. you can get all the details in "the frankfurter." at least 60 women filed complaints about being assaulted or robbed on new year's eve. it was buried in reports that one woman was raped and the assault took place in front of the city pug iconic train station, just outside the cathedral of the city, a very hot spot for tourists. according to authorities, between 500 and 1000 drunk and aggressive men are believed to be behind the assault. police say they were largely or essentiallyca the arab world. authorities have warned people not to jump to conclusions, but it comes in a particular context in germany. there has been a huge influx of migrants, and a lot of people fear this could bolster anti-refugee sentiment. what is interesting is cologne is a city that has been quite welcoming to refugees. there is a veryawúwóóóóó >> i wonder if you'd believe this, as a solution to the aboriginal problem? herd the worst of the aborigines into one area, and put a chemical in their water that sent them sterile. in time, there'd be none of them left. well, that solution has been put forward by none other than one of the premier's closest friends, west australian mining magnate, lang hancock. >> those that have been assimilated into, you know, earning a good living or earning wages amongst the civilized areas that have been accepted into society, and they have accepted society, and can handle society, i'd leave them well alone. the ones that are no good to themselves,