>> what makes france and the french so unique? focus," "france 24, and france24.com. welcome. i'm molly hall. it is 1:00 p.m. in the french capital. fellowmpeo follows cabinet picks and disagrees with the president-elect on key issues, including russia. barack obama and special -- ends special immigration policy for cuba. havana welcomes the move. west wing presidential

hopefuls hold their first primary debate in france. they hope to fill the void left by outgoing president francois hollande. ♪ we begin in the united states and the latest in the trump transition. it has been a busy week of senate confirmation hearings for the president-elect's cabinet x. let specify, mike pompeo, donald trump of the nominee to head the cia. this can amid growing tensions between the president-elect and the intelligence community over russia. reporter: the new face of u.s. intelligence could be this man. mike pompeo is president-elect donald trump's pick to lead the cia.

his hearing comes amid growing tensions between the agency and the future president reagan mr. -- future president. thatompeo: i am confident we are providing powerful intelligence that shapes policy and decision-making. i'm confident that president-elect trump will not only accept that but demanded that. reporter: concerns that a pale will mend relations. trump's i reports on allegedly to russia, he calls the report "fake news." went further, saying "intelligence agencies should never have allowed fake news to leak into the public. one last shot at me. are we living in nazi germany?" james klapper reacted late on wednesday, in an effort to plate

on tensions. he rejected donald trump's claims that u.s. intelligence the document and said he was ready to serve trumps administration. people called the president-elect to "denounce the fake and fictitious report that had been illegally circulated." this is the latest episode in the ongoing war between trump and spy agencies. the president-elect has repeatedly criticized intelligence about weapons of mass distraction that led to the invasion of iraq in 2003. also questioning the findings about russia's allegedly interference with the presidential election, calling the cia "bias and incompetent." molly: trumps nominees have often disagreed with trumps position on key issues, and i affairsr international commentator douglas herbert about differences in the incoming administration. douglas: there have been a lot .f {, disagreements

perhaps not surprising, let's give the context by way of some satirical items that circulate right now in the u.s.. "the new yorker" magazine, satirical board, which had a headline that said "intel chief that trump hacked by four-year-old." "this particular twitter has a poor grasp on reality, lacks impulse control, it is potentially dangerous." that is satire. unfortunately, satire these days to a lot of people is not far from truth, and the loose grasp on reality, his tweeting, his policy pronouncements so far, there is a real sense of staging, of spectacle, reality showmanship here. now with their coming up against is the hard existence she's, the demands of real governance,

people up in the senate this week whether it is the nominee for secretary of state, for the cia, whether it is the nominee for homeland security, defense, know and we'll have to come up with viable, concrete real policies that they can govern with. in a sense, the question is -- they will be the adults in the room, and they questioned the senators are essentially as he them is -- will you stand up to donald trump if you feel that what he is saying is just not doable? it does not apply to the reality of what you can do legally or justifiably? that is what they were saying in the case of defense chief mattis, very interesting, fighting back on the iran issue, saying basically he does not love the iran deal. but basically saying look, we made a deal, america has to live up with its word, and we have to work with our allies on it. he would respect the iran deal. disagreement with trump their. he has a much more adversarial tone on vladimir putin and

donald trump, saying putin is trying to break the western alliance. mike pompeo, he is the nominee for the cia, he basically said no, we cannot torture. he is the guy who will be overseeing the agency that in the past has conducted some , as it policy illegally turns out, obama signed into a law making these practices illegal, these so-called enhanced or brutal interrogation techniques. mike pompeo saying flat-out, "i will tell donald trump we cannot do that." yes, he has modified, he has softened his stance. you still do not know quite where he stands. pompeo fighting back on that, taking an adversarial tone toward russia and putin, saying he is wary of russia's tones and intentions. secretary of state nominee rex tillerson suggesting that he does not believe climate change is a hoax, as donald trump has

suggested, a hoax perpetrated by china for commercial benefits and advantages. he takes it very seriously. molly: that was douglas herbert earlier onset. meanwhile, president barack obama has ended a special u.s. immigration policy for cubans, known as "wet food, dry food." it granted legal residency for any cuban who touched u.s. soil. cuba called it an important step forward in bilateral relations. reporter: effective immediately -- the obama administration of footaled wet foot, dry , a special immigration policy put in place in 1995, that allowed cubans fleeing the country to automatically become u.s. residents. to prevent a last-minute rush of migrants, the news came on cuban state television. >> the decision is ratified by both sides to prevent the illegal departure by sea and to

return all the people who are intercepted. reporter: for years, the castro government has been asking for repeal of a government policy dangerousnsid incited migration. to accept theal return of citizens who fled to the u.s. the united on, states will take on the task of returning illegal immigrants, and cuba will receive all cuban citizens who are detected by the u.s. authorities, trying to enter or remain illegally in the u.s. ledrter: president obama the relations in cuba, there has been an increase in migrations to the u.s. according to homeland security, more than 118,000 cubans have fled since 2012. either by votes florida or increasingly by land to mexico, with nearly 50,000 in 2016 on. this changing policy may or may not be upheld by donald trump.

the president-elect has previously come out against former relations with cuba. of i present time, a repeal wet foot, dry foot is in line with his tough immigration stance. molly: u.s. president took time out on thursday to honor his right-hand man of the past eight years. in a ceremony in front of family and friends, obama surprised his vice president, joe biden, with the country's highest civilian honor -- the presidential medal of freedom. described biden as being "the finest u.s. vice president the country has ever seen." pres. obama: joe, for your face of americans, for your love of country, and for your lifetime of service that will endure through generations, i would like to ask the military aid to join us on stage. for the final time as president,

i am pleased to award our nation's highest civilian honor, the presidential medal of freedom. [applause] molly: a clearly emotional joe biden there. here in france, there is a major power vacuum on the left now that president hollande is not seeking reelection. televisedof four primary debates was held last night, and the left-wing party is looking for a new leader for the national elections letters that for this april and may. 's" root of baba has more. reporter: françois hollande launch the debate. all were critical except for former prime minister manuel valls. mr. valls: having served the french terrifically during difficult times, especially in

the face of terrorism. reporter: putting forward his experience as the head of the government. benoit hamon defended his signature policy, the creation of a universal income for all. the measure was criticized by the majority of his competitors. >> the idea poses a big problem because it is a question of solidarity that we have built over centuries. based on the concept of the wealthy contribution to those who have less. >> when social security was created in 1945, the same as what i'm hearing now, it is unfeasible. as for arnaud montebourg, he stood firm, wanting to tackle unemployment. ontebourg: banks have

come out of it, so we will ask them to join my plan to fight unemployment. reporter: they were united online issue, being against the candidate on the right, françois de rugy. they also oppose the program to overhaul social security. candidates are set to face off each other for three more debates. the next will be held on sunday. molly: earlier, our friends policies editor joined us with more on france's left-wing candidates. debateas not a real because they essentially -- each of them, the seven of them parts of their program, and they did not really engage with each other, there were no real arguments, very few counter arguments, so they were essentially answering questions from the three journalists. they did this also because they want to present themselves as a

potential uniter of the be ofist party and may the left, and this is really a very difficult position. the one that had to fear the most from this debate is the outgoing prime minister, manual boss -- manuel valls. overall, the candidates, or to some degree, opposed to what the french president did. essentially saying he had betrayed his socialist ideals and his campaign promises, but manuel valls was able to present himself as the most presidential candidate. maybe this will help him rally support for the first round of this primary, which is scheduled for january 22. but for the run-up, if he qualifies, he will face with one candidate, he could face an anti-valls front, so we had to avoid this. that is probably why he had a very polite, some with a boring, debates. molly: someone say that.

we do have three more of these debates coming up. whoever wins, they certainly have an uphill battle in terms of the national election. marc: yes, this is probably an debatetion of why the was polite, because they are in an extremely difficult position. we saw her visiting new york, marine le pen, who is riding high in the polls. françois de rugy, who won handily, had a lot of turnout, and one debates, appoint to the ratings we had a few minutes ago, much more people watched the first debate of the conservative primary than yesterday night's debates, so this is on the right. but even on the left, you have to fairly strong and standers -- contenders. on the left, jean-luc

right, as, and on the candidate who is riding high. whoever can qualify for this primary is now pulling swift, and so it sounds like mission impossible. their hope is that there will be a high turnout, that there will be a clear winner, and that he will maybe be able to engage those two others on the left to preside the united leftist front , the presidency, which is their only hope -- and it is a thin hope -- to qualify for round two and maybe exceed to the presidential palace. but clearly there is a very long road ahead for the socialists. molly: that was marc perelman. we will take a look to the skies thomasnch astronaut, bu pasque has taken his first walk.

he and his american colleague are replacing two batteries. this will take over six hours to compete. pesquet becomes only the fourth french national to take a spacewalk. it is some of for a business update. for that, i'm joined by william hilderbrandt. we will start off with a scandal in the auto industry that could be widening. that is right, that is after the u.s. and feel chrysler of the omissions treating, the u.k. department of transport is asking for details of the investigation, and it wants them urgently. the italian american carmaker has been accused of not telling u.s. authorities about software that could allow access the soul in missions in more than 100,000 vehicles. a scandal similar to that of volkswagen last year. fiat has rejected allegations and says it is fundamentally different from volkswagen. analysts say it is unclear how similar the two cases are.

>> what we need to be clear on it is not identical to the volkswagen situation, or at least it is not yet. situation,conclusive sore is still work going on, in the case of volkswagen, it is delivered achieving. they knew they were doing it. it is not clear at all for the situation here. ofliam: meanwhile, the panic admissions cheating spreading to parents as well, the paris prosecutor launching an investigation into a car company. there is no defeat device in renault vehicles, and their engines are compliant, says the ceo. the fraud agency looked into the case last year. now, three judges will determine if there has in fact been cheating and whether to take the course to trial or not. now, both fiat and renault

shares are in the market today, fiat recovering up 3.5% after falling more than 16% yesterday. in milan, a different story for renault, that story just underway, down 2.6%. let's take a look at the wider european indices. investors waiting for company earnings out of the u.s., trading on the floor today in europe, leading gains up 8.5%, the cac. reportingmerica better-than-expected an hour ago, boosting its shares up .6%. now, iran has received its first new western-built airplane in decades. landing ina321 tehran, an official welcoming surmise symbolic of a new era. sanctions were lifted in return for the country's curbing of nuclear activity. -- run air has ordered 00

fromn has awarded planes airbus and boeing. is the first aircraft that we have delivered, and it is the first new plane that iran air can fly in many years. this is an historic moment. it is the rebuilding of iranian air transportation, and we are very proud to be the first company to be a part of it. william: meanwhile, airbus' has aan rival boeing, deal with spice jet, a deal worth $22 billion. reset,, nintendo pushes unleashing a totally revamped in brand-new console earlier today in japan. switch is a one-of-a-kind console, allowing gamers to play in a number of different ways that will be a hit. stakes are high for the japanese firm after the most recent console, wii-u, failed to

replicate the success of the original wii. nintendo earlier closing in the %.d, down 5.75 we take a closer look at what is at stake for nintendo. reporter: nintendo is hoping its latest gamble will pay off. the japanese game maker is releasing the switch in march. ,t is a hybrid video console one that connect to the tv set or can be used as a handheld device or a more interactive device, one that was popularized by the wii. around 80 games, including a new mario game, are being developed. the concept is already a hit with some users. >> it offers different ways to enjoy games. i think it is brilliant. reporter: from a business point of view, nintendo is hoping to upset sales from its previous console, the wii-u.

wii haswii -- while the sold over 600 million units, released in 2006, the wii-u has sold only 13 million. ps for players are more advanced players who play alone online. nintendo consoles come on the other hand, or for people who like to play with friends or family in one share space. reporter: nintendo's profits were up last year, aided by the wild success of the pokémon go smartphone app. part of their challenge now will be convincing third-party app makers to develop for the switch. a lack of apps is what says analyst is -- is what analysts say contributed to the downfall of the wii u. it will have to justify its hefty price tag, around 280

euros. molly: thanks for that update. it is time for the press review. i am joined by florence villeminot. hi, flo. we will focus on british papers, focusing on april former spy, linkedo -- a former spy, to the go see a regarding donald trump. florence: the "daily mail" has a very classy headline today "the the sexblamed trunk for -- britain for the trump sex storm." media,cording to british the former spy is now in hiding. let's take another look at the page of the paper, he reportedly left his home in such a hurry that he left some of the lights

on. he just left a note for his neighbor to please take care of my cat, and then he vanished. you can see on the front page here another bit of information that security forces say he actually feared for his life. saidurse, it is to be save that this does he verified were corroborated by the intelligence community yet, but the president-elect and the outgoing president were both briefs on it last week. now papers are starting to focus on what we follow for the president-elect could be. interesting was an piece in "the guardian." florence: it says it is not really matter whether not russia had anything to do with this -- what matters is the damage is done. is seriously damaged by this not seem to realize it yet. according to "the guardian," this is a no lose situation for the kremlin. the damage is done because the u.s. looks weak. you can see the title here, "with washington and chaos, this is exactly what cold war kgb agents dreamed of."

he says, "vladimir putin must be laughing, fit to bust." today, iew york times" like this quote, not "make america great again," but "made russia great again," this in 2016. can see in print disease, though, it says "sort of -- you can see in parentheses, though, it says "sort of." it also talks about the hacking scandal. molly: florence villeminot, trump tower had a special guest, staying in the united states. florence: it caused quite a stir, particularly here in france, marine le pen. she was caught on a video having a coffee in the cafeteria of trump tower. now, she did not meet the owner of the building, according to this article in "le monde," i

.e. donald trump. she met with one of the party's main contacts in new york, george lombardi, apparently close to the tea party. she certainly caused a lot of speculation and confusion. molly: certainly in the. that is the french right. meanwhile, the french left help first of four primary debate last night. florence: that is right. the general consensus in the press is that the debate was underwhelming. let's start with a business newspaper, a first debate but without much depth. it was missing some excitement, some zingers, some passion, according to "les echos," you really get the impression that they were hoping the gloves were going to come off a bit more. another saying there was no real winner in this debate, if we ine a look at the article "luke parisi on."

the first round of the primary vote is on january 22. florence: that is right, they will be very busy between now and then. two more debates will be held between now and the. first of all, it is on a very tight schedule. they do not have her in much time to do campaigning, and none of them have any money, or at least they are not spending any money compared to the conservatives, and even compared another candidate running for president. maybe the left-wing candidates are trying to distinguish themselves by not spending so much money, but in any event, they are holding very low-key meetings, nothing massive. you can see "lithic euro -- "le figaro" is talking about the challenges of a low-cost campaign. rolling his little suitcase behind him, they say remember, this guy was prime minister, so it was surreal that he was taking a train, and

also, he was traveling in second class. molly: oh, my. let's move to something completely different. rwanda as a new king. florence: let's take a look the manchester news because they have the detai8úxúaañyxñ

ruben martinez: los angeles, from the early 20th century all the way until today, is a city defined by immigrants arriving here in wave afafter wave. we're a cicity of immimigrants. it's all coming in a a human migration, a human journey, ultimately. tthat's how food gets around the world. we carry it with us in our stomachs and our bodies and in our culturere. those kinds of journeys, those kinds of migrations, are very los angelino. so, stuff starts to shift cculturally in all kinds of different ways. people start learning the language... but it's not just the immigrants that are changed. the immigrants are changiging the natives. and you can literally track a people's history and the history of a city and the