live from the cnn center here in atlanta, i'm cyril and i'm natalie allen. welcome to our viewers in the united states. >> this is the 11th day of the 11th month and on this day 100 years ago the guns of war fell silent. >> right now in paris world leaders are coming together to mark the momentous and solemn occasion. >> as the clock approaches the 11th hour the hostilities officially ended. >> more than 8 million troops were killed in world war i and some 21 million wounded.

it was supposed to be the war to end all wars. >> cnn is covering the events around armistice day live. you just saw mr. macron greeting world leaders there. nic robertson is in paris along with caitlyn collins. >> nic, let's go with you first. we're looking at the french presidency. world leaders currently being greeted by the french president. >> reporter: yeah, they gathered here yesterday as well for a dinner hosted of course by the french president. 72 heads of state expected through this period. 98 heads of delegation and of course everyone converging on the eye term grave, if you will, of the unknown soldier. the eternal flame lit there, reignited on a daily basis. they will be gathering there for

what will be a very somber service. we will hear readings from school children and also some very poignant recollections from troops who are serving at the front line in the moments and days before the armistice was signed. one that we will hear from from a british officer really gives an indication of just how suddenly the end came on the 7th of november. he wrietsz about, you know, artillery shells and bullets flying everywhere. no real sense of this will actually end and then 9:30 in the morning this would be 100 years ago today, not far from this minute,:30 in the morning he says just received word that the war is over essentially. been given ten minutes to form up a small team to go to the -- to go to a celebration event. that was the speed with which it happened but a force as you say so many lives lost.

more than a million french troops. more than 8 million troops through all the fighting and 7 million civilians lost their lives. no time has there been a greater number of men and women under arms. 60 million under arms in europe and different forces during the war. 17 million across the world. the numbers were staggering and of course the commemoration today is to honor those who have fallen but to remember what came afterwards. it was the war to end all wars. world war ii did come afterwards but then there's global institutions that the united states diplomacy were so instrumental in building and emmanuel macron will be hosting three days of paris peace forum to talk about those issues. president trump heading back to washington missing all of that. >> those global institutions that you mentioned are very well represented at this ceremony.

the imf, the wto, the u.n., the eu. nic robertson, thank you so much. you're going to be with us over the next couple of hours to follow this live. thanks, nic. u.s. president trump as nic mentioned is in paris. >> he's already met with french paris emmanuel macron. mr. trump has a busy sunday ahead of him. after the armistice day they will meet at the palace. their spouses will meet at versaill versailles. >> mr. trump will honor americans who died in world war i. he and melania trump will head back to washington. let's bring in cnn's caitlyn collins. mr. trump will be among dozens, 80 world leaders at this commemorati commemoration, however, he did receive criticism for skipping a

trip to a u.s. military cemetery. what was the reason? >> reporter: the white house blames it on the weather. the president was supposed to take a helicopter to visit that cemetery, 50 miles outside of paris. the president could not fly in the weather yesterday. it was really cloudy and rainy as you can see as it is right now behind me, but the white house didn't provide any evens ers answers why they didn't have a backup. that was one of the main aspects of this trip. he was supposed to go pay respects to the people buried there. he and melania trump are staying at the residence. he made calls to several world leaders but he didn't detail who he spoke with. the white house didn't provide any further readout how he spent that large block of time but he will have another chance to pay his respects today. after that commemoration ceremony, he is schedule to go

to another cemetery a little bit closer to where he's staying here in paris and where over 1,000 american soldiers are buried. so he will have another chance to go and do that, but the white house didn't provide a lot of explanation for why there was no backup plan for yesterday leaving the president open to a healthy amount of criticism for some people here in europe. >> we have not seen him arrive yet here at the palace but we'll be waiting to see for that. meeting with world leaders that mr. trump had was described as testy. do we know what the contentious issues might have been? >> reporter: well, we know that between president trump and press macron there was quite a lot of tension in that relationship which is not something that we've seen from those two leaders as they've interacted. largely that started with president trump who minutes after he landed here on french soil on friday sent off that critical tweet about the french president really setting the stage for conflict for the two of them when they did hold that

bilateral meeting yesterday. we watched it on camera, and you can see between their body language, it just really portrayed the tension between them truly is despite the warm words they were saying. very little eye contact, no back slapping, none of the typical camaraderie we've seen before. and it did seem that president trump was in a sullen mood while he was here. now whether or not we see a different version of president trump today, that is largely up for question because we have not seen him since he went to that dinner last night. no public remarks from the president but he is expected to speak today so we will see what he says then. >> all right. we thank you. caitlyn collins for us in paris as well. talk to you again. fareed zakaria sat down a few hours earlier with president emmanuel macron. >> in his exclusive interview he asks about the tweet president trump sent arriving in paris criticizing macron.

>> obviously your expression about the european army irritated president trump. he tweeted something about it. do you think there's an inevitable clash here? >> no. we had a good discussion and conferred in front of the press that he was okay. >> does that mean his tweet was a mistake? >> i don't know. i'm not the one to command his tweets. i always prefer to answer questions and make my diplomacies for tweets. i think we had a very clear discussion. he is in favor of better position within nato. i agree with that. in order to have better border sharing, others do need more europe. i think it's a big mistake to be very direct with you. what i don't want to see is some european countries increasing their budget in defense in order

to buy americans and other arms materials coming from your industry. if the object is to build our autonomy. >> french president emmanuel macron speaking there with fareed zakaria. see that full interview in full about in about six hours. that's at 10:00 a.m. in new york, 3:00 p.m. in london here on cnn. >> let's get some perspective on president trump's trip to paris. we're joined by the head of the u.s. and american program in london. first of all, i want to get your take on the same topic that natalie was asking caitlyn about, the fact that donald trump missed the visit to the bella wood cemetery. what's surprising to me is not the fact that this particular president would buck protocol. he's done that before. it's also not surprising to me that he doesn't feel bound by

history, however, he is a president that advertises himself as very supportive of the military and he had an opportunity to go to a place that is a pilgrimage site for marines. >> yeah. i think it's puzzling for exactly the reasons that you say and the symbolism of the american president not turning up on this 100th year of commemoration of the armistice, the ending of the first world war is really can't be under stated. we saw that reaction across twitter and beyond over the last several hours. it is puzzling. you would imagine this american president would want to stand up and be recognized, be recognized as supporting the american military and recognizing those deaths, but for some reason it just wasn't on the cards and unfortunately that will stay with us as we look back to these commemorations. >> also as you speak we're

looking at the pictures of his chief of staff, former general john kelly, and you have to wonder the excuse that the white house gave was that there was too much rain. clearly john kelly was not prevented from going by the rain. >> yeah. president trump of course brings his frustrations and his ambivalence towards europe at a cross for these commemorations. he's also, as we know, not staying on to join other european leaders and apparently putin and erdogan all attending the inaugural paris peace forum where macron is tremendously important. >> i'm going to jump in. you said the magic word there. we're looking at the live pictures. as you said erdogan, right on cue the turkish president is up there and his wife is shaking the hand of the french first lady. let me jum in that case from

what we were discussing to -- and this is a broad question, forgive me. the state of global affairs today and here's my question. there was a very big lesson learned by europe in the world wars i and ii. if you let national interests compete too much and you don't rein them in, you get millions and millions of people killed. it would seem and europe has remembered that lesson ever since, that's why they take these so seriously, do you think donald trump threatens that? >> reporter: well, the president has pursued a line domestically and in international diplomacy too often which seeks to stoke division, whether it's division within the united states, not even nationalism, or whether it's nationalism through his american first policy abroad. we've seen this play out surprisingly and i think

distressingly to so many people. this is why today is so remarkable. we've seen him play this out with respect to america's most important allies, america's european partners, and if we go back 100 years ago, it's the beginning of the lesson which was that america and europe are far stronger when they work together than america's critical to europe's security and that european security is critical to america's doing well in the world and doing well for itself. so it's -- those lessons are -- there are many lessons that have come out of the two wars but that very important lesson of trans atlantic partnership is one that this president just simply hasn't embraced. >> leslie, good to hear from you. we'll hear a lot more from you over the next few hours. you'll be with us for the continuing coverage of the commemorations which haven't begun yet. we'll speak to you again. >> reporter: thank you. >> world leaders continue to

arrive at the palace. we'll have more coverage 16900@anniversary at the end of world war i. next hour the ceremony begins. also ahead, a town flattened to the ground as three massive fires burn in california and the flames do not seem to be stopping any time soon. we'll have the latest.

welcome back. we continue to follow world leaders being greeted by the french president emmanuel macron. you're seeing the romanian president. just before him the president of chad. some 70 plus world leaders being greeted. 100 in delegations in total arriving in paris and 30 to 40 minutes they'll be taking their seats for the commemorative event of the 100 years of the end of the first world war. we'll continue to follow it right now. we want to turn to california where large swathes of the state continues to burn. firefighters are struggling to contain the flames in the northern part of the state. at least 23 people have died in

the campfire. it's already the most destructive fire in california's history and it is still growing. >> our acreage today as of right now is at 105,000 acres, 20% contained. total personnel assigned to the fire right now is 4,050. costs to date is approximately 8,089,294. >> farther south the hill fire and the wosey fire are threatening thousands of people and property. the entire city of malibu known for its celebrity beach side homes was forced to evacuate. the damage is so widespread entire towns have been wiped out. our dan simon takes a look at what's left in paradise, california. >> reporter: this is a community of about 27,000 people and it is completely paralyzed.

it will be weeks before residents are allowed to go back in. that's to go through the rubble. who knows when people will be allowed to live here. in the meantime, this is one of the neighborhoods that has been completely decimated by the wild fire. you can see all of the houses that have gone up in flames. the one thing that's particularly striking is all the burned out vehicles. you can see this truck right here and the devastation is so widespread. that's what's so striking. there's not just a confined area. the devastation is everywhere. we're talking about homes, schools, businesses, medical facilities. you name it. the good news is the containment is going up, but the bad news is the winds are expected to pick up again. there is concern that the wind could pick up some of these embers, span the flames and you could see more destruction perhaps in neighboring communities. hopefully firefighters will continue getting the upper hand on this blaze. dan simon, cnn, paradise, california. joining us now is the president of california

professional firefighters brian wright. he joins us from chico, california, via skype. we appreciate your time. we know this is a very, very hectic time for you and for so many others fighting the fires. first i want to ask you, how do you begin to describe the devastation in the town of paradise? >> natalie, i was there earlier today and yesterday and the town of paradise is wiped out. and, you know, we see these wildland fires and we see the fires move through neighborhoods and destroy homes. this is the entire town, businesses both large and small, chain stores, the mom and pop stores and i'm really worried for the area. i'm worried for the community, that they'll rebuild, that they'll be as strong as they were. the town of paradise has been wiped out. >> i want to ask you about that. this is a mountain town surrounded by woodland. considering the fire season is

almost year round as you've told us before, can they go back? should they go back? would it be safe to build back in this area? >> you know what's interesting about this fire, it's kind of drk it interesting, it is a mountain and mountain fire, many of the mature pines, they're 100, 150 feet tall. most of them are going to survive this. this didn't necessarily burn the timber that the town has built in and around. it was almost like a ground fire that went house to thousand building to building and, yeah, some of the trees did burn, but not like you would expect. you know, the trees, they still have the needles on them, they're still green. it was a ground level fire that was driven by wind. >> i want to talk to you, brian, about president trump's initial response. he issued a condemning tweet and

i'll get you to respond. he tweeted this, there is no reason for these massive deadly and costly forest fires in california except that forest management is so poor. billions of dollars are given each year. with so many lives lost all because of gross mismanagement of the forest. remedy now or no more fed payment. what does he mean? what remedy is he talking about? >> number one, i -- he made an ignorant statement that is stupid and it was callous and he's the president of the united states so i know he has a staff and he is not well informed whatsoever. at least 60% of the forest land in california is owned by the federal government and the national forests, and i believe that this fire originated in a national forest. and he has some deranged thinking that, you know, you take care of your forests just

like you mow your lawn and you trim your trees in your backyard. it's complex. there are hundreds of thousands, millions of acres of forest land in california and the work force to do it does a hell of a job in protecting the communities. california has been in a seven year drought. our dead fuel moisture is at an all time low. combine that with the weather we're having, strong winds, low humid tis, that in itself is a recipe for disaster. >> we appreciate your comments and we're sending out a lot of support for all the men and women that are fighting these fires and trying to save lives. brian rice, thank you so much for your time. thank you. >> natalie, thank you. ivan cabrera is here with us now because we want to get the latest on the fire conditions. as he was saying, it's still not looking good. >> no. it's going to get worse, much worse. we're going back to where we started. we had a nice break but they

weren't able to get containment. i think we're going to spread the fire. take a look at the pictures here. this is pacific coast highway, folks. this is charred. do you see any vegetation left here? just unbelievable. this is basically malibu we're looking at here. scorched earth is what we're talking about, the entire landscape. this is just baron as a result of what we're talking about. these incredible fires that we're talking about shouldn't be happening this late in the season, right? we should have left the season certainly about a month ago. we're getting into now -- we're supposed to get the rain. no rain. we'll continue to get the wind, low relative humidity. i think the fire conditions today are going to be approach shus. look at this, at one point a football field was burned every .72 seconds. you can't picture that. folks on the ground have been seeing it. strong winds once again.

perhaps 60, 70-mile-an-hour winds. yes, weather patterns change but look what stays? dry fuels. that's because of drought. ongoing drought which climate change of course can be responsible for. that is waiting for the conditions, the winds and when they come you get these explosions of fires that make national news. here we are. once again north, southern california. working two major fires with the santa ana winds today. as i mention as they come down through the canyons, they funnel the wind, they warm. we're looking at 50 to 70-mile-an-hour winds. conditions are certainly not going to be good heading into the next few days. i'll leave you with all of the pictures coming out of california. we're going to continue to see that. looks like a giant tornado. no, that is the sky going black because of smoke. folks are going to have a hard time breathing even if they're nowhere near the fire. >> you can see that smoke from space. >> absolutely. satellites picking it up. incredible. from space, from the ground and it just continues here.

>> ivan, thank you. >> you're welcome. >> thanks. days after u.s. voters went to the polls for the mid term elections, florida is set to see a recount in three statewide races. >> cnn's ryan noble explains why all of the eyes are on the contest for governor and u.s. senate. >> reporter: the recount is officially underway here in florida. the secretary of state ordered it saturday afternoon after all the votes from all 67 counties were recorded in his office. in order for that recount to take place the margin of victory had to be less than half of a percent and that's exactly what we had in the governor's race, the u.s. senate race and the agriculture race. the recount is already underway and it will continue until thursday of next week. take a look at the numbers again at that time, and if any of these races fall within a quarter of a percent they'll do a second more exhaustive hand recount of over votes and under votes. that needs to be completed by the 18th of november and that's

when we should have our final idea as to who will be the next governor and the next u.s. senator from florida, i say, but because there could be a massive legal challenge that comes after that fact as both democratic and republican lawyers have descended on florida reminiscent of what we saw here 18 years ago during the 2000 presidential election. we'll take some time before they know who their next senator and next governor is. ryan noble, cnn, tallahassee, florida. back now live in paris. you see german chancellor angela merkel there arriving and having a photo made with the french president and bridgette macron as well as she arrives for the ceremony which begins in about 30 minutes from now. >> yeah. more than 70 world leaders being greeted by the french president and the french first lady right now. we saw several african heads of state and government.

we just saw the german chancellor. we'll continue to follow this live on cnn. stay with us. included for every line. this is what you get with your $40 plan at verizon. recap! with t-mobile, you get this: four lines four phones for forty bucks. with verizon, you get this... the choice just got a whole lot more obvious. get more because you deserve it. only at t-mobile.

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beyond having questions. to getting answers. "activecore, how's my network?" "all sites are green." all of which helps you do more than your customers thought possible. comcast business. beyond fast. welcome back. you're watching "cnn newsroom." i'm cyril vanier. >> i'm natalie allen. we are awaiting an armistice ceremony in paris. it was 100 years ago today that the battle fields of world war i fell silent. it was signed at 5:45 in the morning and 11:40 a.m. in paris bells rang and flags waived. >> the ceremony is expected to start in less than 30 minutes now. you are watching live pictures

of the top of the palace area. >> they're taking their seats just under this tent at the foot of the area where the ceremony is going to flakes. 70 plus world leaders expected within about 25 minutes. cnn's international world correspondent jim bidderman is joining us. what's going to happen in the next few hours? >> reporter: i think, cyril, what i think we will see is the world leaders coming up the avenue, arriving, taking their seats. then there will be a very solemn beginning to the ceremony, a kind of mournful music. yeo yeo mann will be performing

his cello, a bach piece. young people will be reading the letters about the guns falling silent. one of the things i heard you talking about earlier, cyril, how this is remembered around france. every little town, every village there will be ceremonies to mark the end of the war. there is every year, in fact. in my little village in normandy, for example, the veterans come out and they join at the monumental moore, which is the sort of monument to the dead. the monuments were erected shortly after world war i which lists the names of all of the local people who were killed in the war, and in my village they read the names off and have a

silent moment for the remembrance. i think we'll see also a moment of silence here and it was after world war i that nations gathered together to form the league of nations, something talked about before world war i. the idea that multi-lateralism might stave off future wars. that's something emmanuel macron has been very much in favor of, although we hear from the trump folks that they're not so much in favor of that in the united states. >> just looking at the line of world leaders who are welcomed by emmanuel macron just underscores, you said, the world multi-laterallism and the global concerns just underscores that the world war really was a world war. i know that sounds trite but in the sense that more than 80 countries were involved in this. that is may jort of countries at

the thiem that war took place. the majority of the countries were involved in this war. jim, you and i were both in paris when world leaders gathered and walked through the streets of paris. it was after the attacks of "charlie hebdo." very few things would gather this many world leaders under one tent. >> reporter: i can think of actually none other than the united nations general assembly and then they come in over a period of days. no, it really is significant. i should add to that, cyril, it's a terrible nightmare for the security forces. they've mobilized 10,000 security forces to manage this crowd of dignitaries. it is something you just don't ever see. and i think as you also mentioned a little earlier, cyril, it's something french president macron enjoys quite a bit because he's stage managed

this whole operation starting a year ago when he first came into office. it was one of the first things he's addressed. i think we'll see a very moving ceremony and the stress will be on multi-lateralism because that's very much something that president macron believes can solve a lot of the world problems. climate change treaty, for example, other things that the world can get together on and in fact can agree to address together. use multiple nations to support the world so i think we'll hear some of that talk in his speech today which he's scheduled to address and scheduled to make in an hour from now. >> jim bitterman, jim will be one of the people in paris who has the best views of this if you're not watching on tv. he is just down the road from where this is taking place albeit possibly a kilometer down the road. he'll be seeing some of this

from his vantage point. we'll be talking to him later. thanks. let's go now to our international diplomatic editor nick roberts who is also live for us in paris. we just heard, nic, jim talking about the multi-lateralism and that being so important to the french president. why don't you take it from there and talk to the larger issue of geo politics surrounding this gathering. >> reporter: yeah, in many ways president trump does come here as something of an outlier. if we go back to the g-7 summit in italy last summer or the g-7 summit this past summer and these have had a small core of global leaders attending them, but president trump from the summer in sicily, italy last year indicating that he was going to not endorse the paris climate change agreement, which was very important for france.

something very important to the -- that has become very important. he really -- president trump in many ways it would be hard to imagine him coming to a country whose leader does not stand a polar opposite of where president trump positions himself. somebody who wants to take down some of these global institutions. world war ii was a consequence of a failure of the ultimate peace agreement after world war i to stick. these institutions that came into play so that the world war i, there would never be such a war again. you know, president trump stands at the opposite poll to president macron. it is fitting in some ways that obviously president macron would host a global gathering of this nature.

we've heard from the white house officials saying that president trump has arrived here in a somewhat sour and testy mood. we've seen that in his body language with the french president in that bilateral meeting yesterday. president trump didn't make it out to the graves of american service men just 60 miles outside of paris. weather prohibited his attending that. president macron drove out by car to a different event to a different location. so president trump when you stand him next to president emmanuel macron does seem like a very, very different leader with a very, very different view of the world. perhaps that's something that both of them find awkward in their relationship. president emmanuel macron does in his body language really seem to try to bring president trump into the tent, if you will, into that sort of global internationalism tent. president trump will be the last of the world leaders to arrive

in the next few minutes and we understand the first to depart. of course, all of this is easy to read and put an interpretation on it, but i think there will be many people who lack at this and feel that president trump perhaps hasn't engaged in this event in the way that his host would have dearly liked to have seen him engage. >> yes. he has a lot going on back at home as well. so much on his mind, no doubt. nic robertson for us. we'll talk to you again as events get underway. thank you, nic. >> we continue to keep an eye on these pictures coming to us from central paris. we'll have more live coverage of the 100th anniversary of world war i. you're seeing the french cabinet take their seats. next hour the ceremony begins and french president macron will be speaking as well. we'll bring you all of that live.

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live pictures right now in central paris where the commemorative event marking the 100 years of the end of the first world war will be taking place. the commemoration begins in about 15 minutes. you should be seeing 70 odd world leaders and foreign dignitaries walking up at the very top and taking their seats under this tent where this ceremony will be taking place. we'll carry all of that live here on cnn. so let's talk about world war i and the end of it with kate williams. she's a lecturer at the university in london specializing in modern history. she joins us to talk about the legacy of world war i. thank you so much. we know there's also commemorations going on in london there as well as many other countries. we appreciate you coming in. the bullets started a brutal

war. the soldiers did not know what war would be like, did they? >> no. there was a definite perception that it would be over by christmas. they had no idea that it would be what it became, the great war. the world war. that it would encompass so many countries across the globe, so many soldiers. it encompassed all the empire soldiers, west indy countries and there were so many fronts not just in europe but also in africa, in asia and also in the middle east. and we do -- it's hard to estimate, but we do estimate that the final death toll was 10 million civilians and about 10 million soldiers as well with millions more wounded so it did touch lives across europe and the world. >> it started with two countries, three, four, and went on and on and on. we see here the 100 years on,

kate, as we look at the ceremony that's about to take place. what do you think is the over arching message in this somber reflection of this first world war? >> it's so important to have these commemorations to commemorate the end of world war i and they're happening across the world, you're saying, the big commemorations and the royal family are here. really, it does remind us about the sacrifice and the bravery of all of those soldiers who fought and those who are at home sacrificing, taking over the men's jobs, the women who are working and ambulance driving and everything that people did to keep the world going, to keep the country going. and i think also to remind us about the great -- the great suffering and the great horror of war and the human cost and tales and families who lost children and lost their sons. and really to make us think this should never happen again. >> i think it was the russian soldiers who first started asking, what are we doing here?

why is this happening? and then it spread to other soldiers realizing the pain and horror of war. how was europe changed after the war ended? >> well, yes, natalie, i think europe would never be the same again. it was so changed. individual lives. people had completely different life. they had lost their children. women had been in the work force when they had not been before and when men came back. the huge loss of life. there was no way that it could be the innocence it had been. it was indeli bring changed. people were vowing on this day in 1918, there was huge celebrations. every city was full of people celebrating, singing and dancing. the thought that they would be at peace now, that they would never have to go to war again and, of course, we know that wasn't the case. we've had wars throughout the 20th and 21st century and i think it really was a great change in people's lives in the great war, that europe and the

world wouldn't be the same again. it was completely reconfigured. >> we've been seeing a motorcade, two buses coming as we expect those are leaders that will be arriving here. europe did see the rise in fascism after world war i. there are fears of rise of fascism here years later. madeleine albright addressed that. what are your thoughts of europe tilting back to the right? >> when we look back to the end of world war i there was a treaty imposed upon the losers, the german forces and it was called the treaty of versailles. all countries were poor after world war i. they were all suffering. all trying to reconstruct. germany was doubly poor due to the massive payments made upon

it. this caused fascism to rise and hitler saw a defiance to world war i and saw them avenging what happened to germany. we can see the rise of fascism to the aftermath of the link of world war i. certainly it is rising again once more, but we are in a different position. we aren't as economically on our knees as they were after world war i. this is fascism rising. i think there's times like this when we look back on what fascism has done, what extreme ideaologists can do to people's lives and to change them forever and of course such death and suffering, there's a time to take a view. >> we'll talk to you again.

there is the eternal flame that cyril was just saying has not gone out -- >> since the early 1920s. it was built and installed right after world war i. the flame on the tom of the unknown soldier and that is what symbolizes the sacrifice and death of all the french soldiers who were killed in world war i. now there are other similar monuments in quite awe few other countries symbolizing all these unknown soldiers, soldiers who weren't identified. in fact, there's a story around this, too, and we'll get to this later. that will be a central part of the commemoration. we're watching live pictures from central paris. we saw two buses pull up and we are wondering, don't have the answer yet, but we're wondering and we believe they may well be the 70 heads of state and government who are going to be walking up the last stretch and

be taking their seats. now you're also seeing a convoy. one of them had an american flag on it. there is good reason to believe that the u.s. president might be in it. all right. let's bring in caitlyn collins who is covering president trump from paris. caitlyn, just give us a sense before these ceremonies, before the commemoration kicks off of the frame of mind that donald trump is in as he goes through this visit. he did not appear to be in a good mood when he arrived. >> reporter: he didn't, but that could be because of the tension between he and the french president, but there he is there. you can see his motorcade. he just drove past us on his way down to the beginning of this ceremony. it does not appear that he went to the ceremony or to the meet and greet with the other world leaders earlier this morning as you could see them all arriving

here in paris earlier today. it appears the president is coming straight from the ambassador's residence where he is staying going straight to the ceremony with first lady melania trump. the president is expected to make remarks later on today. those will be the first formal remarks of the president's trip and the first time we've heard from president trump since the beginning of that bilateral meeting with the french president emmanuel macron yesterday. you saw that lay bear with it. they said the words, they were here to strengthen their alliance and place importance on that. they agreed on several issues, a lot of mutual agreement. you can see between the way they interacted that that wasn't the case. the two of them, no warmth. they went onto the dinner last night. the president, we did not hear from him or see from him last night until this morning now that he is arriving here. as you can see, slowly making

their way up the street there. and this comes as president trump himself is facing criticism for what he didn't do yesterday here in paris. he was scheduled to go to a cemetery where american soldiers who died in world war i are buried, but the white house scrapped that trip saying that the weather was too poor for him to travel via hellicopter as he has been created in itself with the president weathering the storm despite making the 4,000 mile trip here to commemorate the end of world war i. today he is scheduled to go to another cemetery where american soldiers are also buried. that's where president trump is going to make some remarks today so we'll see what happens, if that actually does go on as scheduled. again, it is raining here in paris. similar weather to what we saw yesterday when they scrapped that trip except today president trump is scheduled to drive to that trip, not take a

helicopter. another chance for him to pay his respects. certainly the ceremony is going to start with president trump facing some krimp scity -- criticism. >> i'm saying this as we watch the live pictures of the u.s. president's car pull up to the area. these pictures from moments ago, we saw -- >> on the side of the screen try to pull up to the u.s. president's car but that person was quickly taken away. now security'sen i sha ee een - here. it always is when you have world leaders, especially when you have a u.s. president. look screen right there. that person apprehended, and she did get awfully close to the car. natalie's right. that person apprehended by french security.

there is security lining all of the area right now. that entire section had been blocked off. there's nobody walking on the sidewalk right now. it is very surprising that somebody has been able to get that close to the convoy. caitlyn, just want an early reaction from you just on the issue of security. >> that was really close. certainly something that's probably going to be a concern with the secret service. you can see just how close the president gets. that's what they call the beast in america. that's the car that president trump and likely first lady melania trump is riding in. it's not a surprise there are protesters at this event. president trump is deeply unpopular in france. he has over a 65% disapproval rating here in europe. the president has not been popular at all with world leaders. some have received criticism for

seeming too close to president trump. he has made remarks that will further that unpopularity. one that comes to mind is he's a nationalist, considers himself to be one. that is what the french president macron is trying to combat, this idea of nationalism and a populism. he is trying to warn of the dangers of that. so two very different ideologies from the world leaders on that sense. now president trump says he's a nationalist in an economic sense, he wants to put america first in that sense. that is certainly something that has made him open to this criticism. certainly you can see from the leaders there, the protesters there that that is a similar feeling here. a few months ago there were quite a number of protests, sometimes went up to thousands of people protesting in the streets of london that president trump was there.

now those weren't protestors that president trump ever saw because he was never actually right in the heart of london. they went to -- he and british prime minister theresa may held their meeting at checquers. when he does travel, he's not there in the city making stops. this is something we talked about yesterday when the president canceled that trip to that cemetery, he had roughly six or seven hours back at the ambassador's residence where he was staying where he did not partake in any activities. questions were made maine could go someplace and he stayed at his residence and did not venture out to the city to mingle with any of the people. that is certainly some of the concerns that president trump has faced when he does travel. there are often protests, people protesting him. a lot of that comes from his

mentality that he wants to put america first. we've really seen him be so disruptive on the international stage since he took office. something that his supporters back at home in america praise him for. they think that is something that was long overdue from an american leader to put america first again instead of putting global ties first. >> well, i'll tell you, french authorities will be very unhappy about this. the image we saw something they wanted to avoid. of course there's always exponentially more i think danger and attention being paid when a u.s. president is in town, but we're in a context in france where a man was recently arrested -- >> definitely. >> -- just a few days ago for -- and he was accused of having a violent act in mind. he wanted to carry this out to the french president. there's a heightened presence

here. we're almost at the top of the hour. almost 11:00 a.m. local time in paris. we're watching live pictures. if you're just joining us, here's what's happening. 70 plus world leaders gathered in central paris to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of world war i. armistice day. the moment when guns, weapons, cannons fell silent and the fighting ended after four years of war and after ten million soldiers were killed. so the world leaders being blocked. they'll take their seats under the tent for the commemoration of the 100 year anniversary. >> we will be covering it throughout this hour. many poignant occurrences will happen during this ceremony and as cyril was saying, yes, some dozens and dozens of leaders gathered here on their way right now to begin this