hollande arrives in washington solo. relationship with his long-time partner now former first lady blew up after a tabloid printed pibts of hollande with julie gaye. the daef a french politician having an affair is not new, president nicolas sarkozy announced he was divorcing his wife before visiting for a state dinner. famously said, quote, there have been women i have loved a lot as discreetly as possible. meelting his secret daughter, she and long-time mistress stood together over his coffin at his funeral. hollande campaign has promised to avoid drama in his office and instead has been dogged by it. >> this is a very sensitive subject for you. do you think your private life has made france an international joke? are you still having an affair with julia gaye? >> with this visit hollande has the opportunity to change some of the headlines, at least temporarily. lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown and decorate six world war ii veterans tomorrow. silicon valley to try to drum up business for france, meetings with th

and also president hollande will go to silicon valley.nd the past french president to come for a state visit spoke to a joint session of congress in the house chamber. president hollande choosing not to do that. a little confusion about where that decision came from. so putting all of that aside, yes, not everyone gets to come to one of these. not everyone is invited obviously. this is the sixth of the obama administration close allies, like the uk, south korea, mexico, india, the bergening economic power, perhaps most infamously that party known for the party crashers and the subsequent security breach there that had so many people concerned it generate sod many headlines, but just to tie it all together, the symbolism of a state visit, and there is a great deal of symbolism, obviously. we talked about the marching on the south lawn. the president of brazil was invited to come here for a state dinner to strength the ties between the united states brazil. she canceled because it was revealed that the nsa had been conducting surveillance i

but hollande supported the strategy. three. africa. french troops are on the ground in countries like mali and the central african republic, fighting islamists and backed by u.s. intelligence and airlift support. four. trade ties. as part of the eu, the european union, france is negotiating with the u.s. on a trans- atlantic trade deal. if this deal would come to fruition, it would establish the largest free trade zone in the world, as the president of the european commission tells us, calling it a, quote/unquote, game changer. while he was in town, he visited monticello, home of the u.s.'s third president and author of the declaration of independence, the multitalented thomas jefferson. and on tuesday night, president hollande received the treatment royal. he was without his longtime partner and without his latest squeeze, the french actress. >> question. what is driving this between president's hollande and obama? >> both of them want a deal in foreign policy. obama, because he's pretty much blocked here in d.c. but hollande, he's ab

is technically insolvent the french economy is insolvent and france on the well francois hollande is impotent well they actually one of those banks sent basically an emotional damage letter to michelle block of global economic analysis stuff blogspot dot com. the ironic thing of course being that he's an american taxpayer and american u.s. fed bailed out all those banks right when they had erectile disfunction but they were bailed out by american monetary by agra and now francois hollande is taking full advantage by chasing skirt all over town in his little moment well francoise hollande was in silicon valley just this past last week he could have gone down to los angeles and gone down to conrad murray and collected on these debts that the courts awarded these victims of the michael jackson death star no porno film you know los angeles is the porno capital of the world francois hollande and can't get up a new french movie stunt for us while being coddled by mistresses all over the country all over the world definitely would pay buck fifty to see that so he was a he wasn't silicon val

doesn't call the people of france might because you know there's a headline that reads francois hollande approval rating says new anti record. so apparently seventy nine percent of the french people hate. those beautiful music. but their revolution of course is being televised you see a lot of their days of rage all over the news but i want to look at some other b. movie sort of headlines in the headlines in the past few weeks and some of them one of them the first one comes from france itself michael jackson fan sued for emotional damage suffered from his death and somehow when about a buck fifty each so there was a case brought in the courts in france by the michael jackson community and the court ruled that five of the plaintiffs two from france two from switzerland and one from belgium had proven emotional suffering from jackson's death as far as i know this is the first time in the world that the notion of emotional damage in connection with the pop star has been recognized their lawyer a man you well know said. so they want to but fifty each which i guess have been about enough for

citizens. >> how is hollande seen in the u.s. -- the u.s.?>> he has garnered a lot of respect on security issues. the nature of the relationship is not as warm and personal as some others in the past. it is very pragmatic and operational. both sides seem to be looking at her they gain benefit from each collaboration together. it works well. sides seem to be looking at how they gain benefit from each collaboration together. >> it is stock full of ceremonial events. tomorrow they will open up with the arrival ceremony. be all the glory up until the state dinner. are heavilytings weighted on outreach to the business community. he wants to focus on the economy. he seems to be dropping hints that as much as he can sell the reputation of france as trying to move forward economically, as a place for american investors to change their mind -- to come home with as many taglines around the word innovation as possible. obama wants to stand up and show he has a partner that is active in the world on security issues. it is not only us out there. that is e

president hollande. >> translator: mr. president, dear barack.eive me today as you have done the day after my election. with the same sincerity, with the same respect, and with the same friendship of france, you didn't know me back then. i knew you. there was a major difference there. between us. because your election had been welcome in france, beyond any political views, for it was proof that america was moving forward once more. america was able to make something possible, to make progress possible. when you received me here, it was in camp david. let's forget about the tie. as you can see, i'm wearing a tie today. but you welcomed me at a time that was challenging for europe, because what was at stake was the very existence of the eurozo eurozone. was the eurozone going to be able to come out of this doubt that prevailed on the eurozone and on financial markets and your call for solidarity and growth was heard and was extremely useful back then. since then, since this meeting in camp david, europe has come out of its financial crisis. it now

is taking full advantage by chasing skirt all over town in his little moment well francoise hollande was in silicon valley just this past last week he could have gone down to los angeles and gone down to conrad murray and collected on these debts that the courts awarded these victims of the michael jackson death star no porno film you know los angeles is the porno capital of the world francois hollande and can't get up a new french movie star in france while being coddled by mr says all over the country all over the world definitely would pay buck fifty to see that so he was a he wasn't silicon valley and you know that all the silicon valley bosses are really upset about the peasants in san francisco who are upset about their large you know how well they're doing so and there were you know like one of those private equity firm guys was saying that it was like kristallnacht being there so i thought another thing that. could have brought them. there for those people that are angry in san francisco is something that has been imported here boss napping reached the u.k. three lap dancers

hollande is a social democrat. obama is a social democrat. they both like foreign policy that has teeth to it in going after islamists. so the two have kind of come together on this and the timing was right for hollande to come now because he's trying to escape this domestic scandal where he had an affair and it's blown up in his face in france and coming to the united states, the french public regard fltion their own domestic political situation, obama is pretty popular there. if you want to make references back it to old europe and donald rumsfeld complaining in the post-9/11 years about how france and germany would not support american military adventurism, obama has ended that. obama in the last five years got the united states out of iraq. the french are happy about that. it's a safe bet for hollande domestically to come to washington and be seen as close to this intellectually, ground breaking, forward thinking american president. the extent to which it trumps germany's relationship with the united states, i don't think so. . >> i think

it is day three of francois hollande's visit to the united states, the first by french president in 18 years. today he will highlight the national security dimension. , theop story this newshour syrian regime and syrian opposition are at the same table today, according to the united nations. this is a first this month in the second round of talks in geneva, and the session that began earlier this morning is being chaired by joint u.n.-arab league envoy lakhdar brahimi. the opposition warms that they will not return if no progress is made this week. on the ground in this area, it workers are trying to get more civilians out of homs after the truce there was extended until tomorrow. civilians were given safe passage out of the war-ravaged city, bringing the total number to someone thousand 200. our international affairs correspondent will this more -- told us more. >> it is perhaps significant this is happening on the second day of the talks. it didn't happen yesterday, on monday, when this round open. the 2 sides have been in the same room several times. that in itself is not a huge eve

francois hollande has understood that.ing what he can to restore the credibility of the growth of thee economy. the situation is clearly not good. publicizing and making it public that france wants to be part of the game and to experience wealth again. iscan i ask you -- he traveling with a large entourage of business people. what are they going to get out of this? the president's relationship will be a difficult one with tech giants like google and twitter. there are a lot of businessmen who are able to communicate with these companies. what can we expect from that relationship? not know the concrete discussions the president will have with the google office, i think the goal is for us to as a destination for investment and for business. second, for the president to learn what it takes to create globalironment to lure leaders. i am thinking about speed, things thatst, the have made silicon valley very successful and that we need to replicate in france. >> thank you so much, ceo of isai from paris. >> let's continue the co

after the stop in washington francois hollande is going to california. he will be hosting a lunch for the heads of silicon valley giants like google and facebook. hollande is hoping to get tech companies to invest in france but he also has some tough warnings to deliver. french president may be , but itrm offensive comes at a tricky time. just days before hollande's visit to silicon valley, google faced humiliation in france. it was ordered to publish on its website a large notice saying it had been fined 150,000 euros for violating the country's privacy laws. the internet watchdog rebuked google about not coming clean over what it did with personal data it collected. while the fine with insignificant compared to profits, the notice marked an embarrassing first for google, bowing to authorities admitting wrongdoing. byarately, the firm was hit a far bigger financial sanction, one billion euros in unpaid taxes. the french government is also reportedly going after other big tech firms like facebook and linkedin for dodging taxes. last week, president holla

it's one of the things i think that president hollande and obama are doing, while many people look at the so called special relationship as being the british and united states, they are reminding people that the original special relationship of the united states was with france. and france has been with us more often than many other allies. >> even if obama wanted to go in a new direction, steve, how willing are allies to join and step up the pressure on syria? >> i think after the first chemical weapons deal there was no doubt at that point in my mind as you and i discussed before, we walked away from the insurgency and civil war on the ground and notion of trying to help regime change happen there. but now syria has gone soft on chemical weapons and russia has been using the olympics as kind of cloud cover to remove the global attention on the chemical weapons deal. so assad is really gaming this. and i think it's going to be hard for the united states to automatically bring everybody back into a marshall position to try to compel syria to go a different thing. it's a real mess. and

holland has been misloading the victim into believeing that if he kept sending money that offender holland to an attorney, to a ficticious attorney, defender holland would be able to get out of prison. that's not going to happen. >> he has no money or anything. he can't function right. i don't have no money now. so that means i have do without hygiene, without laundry bags. i have to do without everything. >> coming up. >> go on back to my cell, man. >> ronnie tye gets bad fuse about his upcoming prison wedding. >> right now, i'm trying to figure out if i'm going to explode or not. >> and an annualtated nick knox faces a disciplinary board. >> and that their homeowners insurance protects them. . will everyone step if right now. >> the relationship between staff and offenders is probably what makes this place special. it has a maximum security setting. a lot of them are here for a long time. it's a more mature little of relationship. we literally have inmates that have been here for 30 years or more the entire career of some of our staff. they came in here together. >> what's up, old guy, h

but now under obama and hollande former policy interests are lining up once again.is was franÇois hollande in timbuktu a year ago after french troops pushed back al-qaeda al-qaeda-linked rebels. the war or terror, started by the united states, was now pursued by hollande, he has been a key ally. >> he has been an ally for obama, the french have fought deeper ties, north africa, french-speaking west africa, mali, iran, where the french never cut diplomatic relations. >> hollande and the president has worked side by side putting pressure on the syrian government for peace talks. >> american comedians have jokingly referred to the french as cheesy, but the relationship between the countries has changed. when airstrikes against syria looked emanant last year it was the americans not the french who got cold feet first. >> trust has shakenned about i spying scandal but france does not seem to have been as badly effected as germany. there have been no reports of president hollande's phone being tapped. >> we never got real satisfy toe answers that politics is politics, and

in honor of french president francois hollande.eted hollande monday and whisked him off to virginia where they toured monticello, the estate of thomas jefferson. >> i thought this was an appropriate way to start a state visit because what is signifies is the incredible history between the united states and france. >> reporter: today, the focus turns to issues of importance to both nations including syria and iran's nuclear program. president hollande made the trip to washington alone following his headline-making breakup with long time girlfriend valerie. the couple broke off after tabloid reports of an affair between hollande and a french actress. the question is, who will be sitting next to him at tonight's dinner at the white house. anita mcbride, laura bush's chief state said terrible arrangements are not a worry. >> there's tremendous flexibility at the white house and they're able to respond to changes rather quickly. >> reporter: former president sarkozy also attended a dinner stag after shortly after announcing divorce from

steve holland. >> the secretary of as -- transportation. >> ms. belmont goldman, mr. drew . [inaudible conversations] >> mr. and mrs. joseph plunged. >> the hon. stay feet -- stacy abrams. [inaudible conversations] >> ms. julia murray's dreyfus. >> mr. job and a live line and emily the vine. >> mr. lobbied months. >> the governor of tennessee. >> mrs. barbara schmidt and mr. richard schmidt. >> mr. brando kaplan. >> mr. kerry simon. [inaudible conversations] >> mr. and mrs. randall stevenson. >> the honorable elijah cummings , dr. maya cummings. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> this is joanna cole and mr. peter god one. [inaudible conversations] one .. >> this is good. [inaudible conversations] thank you. [inaudible conversations] ms. karine lynn and mr. john luddy. mr. mark to the locally and ms. elizabeth strickland. the honorable todd stern and ms. jennifer klein. mr. and mrs. caleb ballou. mr. andrew tobias, ms. marie brenner. the honorable edward randall royce and mrs. royce. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversati

. >>> president obama is set to meet with french president franÇois hollande in just a few hours.climate change along with other topics will be at the top of their agenda. we take a look at the complex relationship. >> a familiar landmark in an unfamiliar location. it's often forthen that the statute of liberty is one of a pair, a gift to the americans from france, which helped them win their independence. the old aalliance between the u.s. and france has had it's ups and downs over the years, but now under obama and hollande foreign policy interests are lining up once again. this was franÇois hollande in timbuktu a year two after french troops pushed back al-qaeda linked rebels. the war on terror conceived by the united states is now being pursued by france, which makes hollande a key ally. >> he is very important for obama in areas where french have deeper ties, historic ties, maybe better intelligence in northern africa, french speaking west africa, mali, iran, where the french have never stopped ct diplomatic relations. >> reporter: they have worked side by side. they put dipl

francois hollande ask traveling to the u.s. an official french visit. >>> another obstacle for prisoner kenneth bae, a prisoner for more than a year. taken back discuss bae has been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. after this massive bill, federal safety officials saying the accident could have been prevented. he said the bill did not meet standards. >>> well, if you tbild it they will come. in china they did just that, building 5,000 new movie theaters and the film industry is taking note. >> this is what happens when word gets out, when the hollywood stars but hollywood is so last year, china's charging ahead of this year, staying the festivity full of promise. there are three chinese movies in competition of the top prize alone, the golden bear. nine films are screening here. this is a country and an industry that really means business. you realize how huge if chinese labor industry is, especially compared to, say, hollywood, you take a huge, 2012 in 60 countries worldwide, that took just under 120 million u.s. dollars w

perhaps hollande is going to be more difficult with u.s. companies.now that he's traveling tomorrow to the west coast. he's going to meet the leaders of facebook, amazon, google and all these companies are under pressure in france because of their fiscal optimization policy. and i'm not sure that is going to be that easy for hollande on the west coast that it was so far with obama for the first day of the state visit. and also, you know, that tonight there is a dinner at the white house. this morning we were looking at the menu. i'm not sure it will help hollande for his diet because it's going to be very rich. >> hawaiian chocolate ganache. don't worry, i've memorized it. thanks for that. charles cob of the french men foundation joins us on the found now and charles, can i ask you, behind closed doors, as stephane was mentioning there, we've got the nsa snooping scandal to deal with, we have the tax optimization strategies and the likes of google. what kind of talk to you expect about those two issues? >> well, i suspect they're going to be discussed

president barack obama held the dinner in honour of francis hollande. francis hollande honoured world war ii veterans. he held a joint conference. francis hollande heads to silicon valley and will meet with tech leaders. >> a victory for the democratically controlled house of representatives, voting to raise the debt ceiling. it passed with no additions. the senate could vote on the measure as soon as tomorrow. another round of snow and ice sweeping across the south-east and tomorrow. officials warned residents of a danger ahead of time that left the city of atlanta. 100 million people, 16-00 flights have been cancelled. more to cox. >> rebecca is following the path of the storm. >> especially as the storm is moving towards atlanta. we have gotten rain in georgia right now. it is being reported as rain, and one reporting site having a mix of snow in that. the ice storm warnings are in effect, greatly in georgia and south carolina. as the storm is moving in, we have had a changeover of snow. the storm is rapidly moving eastwards. the set up of the storm

stock market. >> continuing this discussion, michael holland.king about use of cash. >> our twitter question of the day, is bitcoin biting the dust? tweet us at @bsurveillance. streaming on your tablet, your phone, and bloomberg.com. >> we will be right back, talking about the airlines and the weather. ♪ >> good morning. "bloomberg surveillance," monday morning. janet yellen tomorrow across all of bloomberg television and radio. 10:00 a.m., that will be something. gellen and chairman hensarlin of the house financial services committee. adam johnson and olivia sterns, let's look at a data check. stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities up -5. 10 year yield 266. american west texas intermediate, we were over 100, 9 9.42 now. >> jetblue might have figured out the secret sauce. they have one of the worst on-time records, only 73% of flights are on time. it only has 1/10 of complaints of bigger airlines. why are consumers cutting them a break? justin is from bloomberg businessweek and focuses on airlines. what are they doing? >> one of the things we ha

learned holland broke safety rules.kes it easier for complaints to go up the chain of command and starts using the video for training purposes. but the emotional scars still hurt. >> i can't imagine, you know, my daughter witnessing, you know, her father crash. >> i still have nightmares about to this day. i never got to speak with him that morning, and i never got to say good-bye. >> oh, my god. no! >> oh, my god. >>> coming up, a sting to catch a slasher. >> we decided at that moment that we needed to get some cameras up. >> and the camera as eyewitness. >> it helped that everything was caught on camera. the jury, everybody could see what actually occurred. >> when "caught on camera: proof" continues. we're gonna be late. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ oh, are we early? [ male announcer ] commute your way with the bold, all-new nissan rogue. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] imagine this cute blob is metamucil. and this park is the inside of your body. see, the special psyllium fiber in metamucil actually gels to trap some carbs to help maintain h

[laughter] the french president francois hollande is arriving.arack obama does not like these state dinners. >> reagan had 35. barack obama has had 6. first of all, they are complex social engagements and he gets tired at the end of the night. also, it is trouble from the salahis, the chinese, and another level of complication. the white house wanted this to be about syria, iran, trade negotiations with europe. this is this sort of distraction that obama does not like. he likes his tight group of friends. this is uncomfortable for him. >> anyway, thank you very much. coming up, we preview the state dinner and bloomberg view columnists debate immigration. ♪ >> welcome back. we will get to margaret carlson and ramesh ponnuru in a moment, but first talking about the visit of french president francois hollande coming to the united states, sans companion, after the scandal with his actress girlfriend. the french are more tolerant of those things. >> he's not married. he had given a semi-official status to the previous girlfriend and it's pretty clear

president hollande loves his wife. so did thomas jefferson. >> reporter: they had a chance to talk about jefferson, the first founding friend. he was responsible for the louisiana purchase. the president of france joked he's not asking for returns to which president barack obama quipped that it was a good bargain. very interesting to see that. also interesting to see how the white house is framing this as we're watching these events unfold on the south lawn. yesterday they held a conference call with reporters. there was a dig at the bush administration talking about the french u.s. relationship, harkening back to when the bush administration referred to france as old europe. one official said on the conference call we've come a long way from freedom fries. we sure have. >> i don't think that term will be brought up at the state dinner. let's listen for a bit, jim. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states and mrs. michelle obama. ♪ ♪ >> all right. what a beautiful spectacle. the two men are going to

. >> french president francis hollande travels to silicon valley. why he find himself in familiar company, thousands of miles away from paris. >> this has nothing to do with racism. the people of fremont, i haven't detected racial tension. >> a nebraska town passes a law preventing undocument immigrants from renting apartments. >> welcome back, a live look at a snowy washington d.c. the nation's capital expecting up to 8 inches of snow and ice. the federal government shut down on thursday. that storm heading towards new york city and new england. stay with al jazeera for further updates on the storm. >> a man has been executed in florida for murdering a 9-year-old boy two decades ago. a controversial drug cocktail was suicide to execute juan carlos suarvez. before the execution his attorneys requested a stay, claiming the sedative was ipp effective and would violate his clients rights. florida's supreme court rejected the plea. the state has executed four men with the same drug cocktail. >> voters in a small nebraska town approved a controversial la

president hollande was asked about it. said the mutual trust between france and the united states has been restored. >> that's a good moment at the white house. just ahead on al jazeera america, the growing popularity of digital currency bit coin, and what's being done to regulate it, and what happens when you ask if your country would have been better off losing world war ii. this russian tv station found out. >> digital currencies have surged in popularity since bitcoin was launched five years ago. but there are few regulations covering the crypto currencies. but as kimberly hallic reports, that could change. >> there is a change taking place. the money changing hands here isn't dollars but instead an online digital currency. this is the satoshi square named after the mysterious satoshis in nagamoto. this is where people can buy and sell their digital cash. >> it can be stored online where nobody else can reach it. >> bitcoins along with variations have risen in popularity with digital cash buyers and sellers interact di

francois hollande's three-day visit to the u.s.egins today. >> for the first state visit by a french leader in 18 years, what is on the agenda for hollande's meeting with president obama? let's try to find out. we are joined by a professor from the american university in paris. sounds like a good person to talk to. good morning. we are in a situation where domestically, hollande is very unpopular. he is trying to reinvent himself as being pro-business. when he goes to the united states, what is he going to want to achieve? bring a newto center of innovation here to france to try to take advantage of french high-tech capabilities and tremendous knowledge in engineering and other high-tech matters. he is going out to silicon valley to talk to the giants there, to see what he can try to arrange here in france. the problem is, he is already demanding some $1 billion in taxes from google, which he says google owes, something like $225 million from amazon. he has a bit of a contradiction. plus the taxes on millionaires. he has a bit of a

and the behind the scenes look at last nights state dinner for french president francois hollande. president obama signs an executive order raising the federal minimum wage. >> to our viewers in the united states and those of you around the world, welcome. we have full coverage of the stocks and stories making headlines. julianna goldman has more on the white house state dinner. michael mckee has highlights of his exclusive interview with st. louis fed president james bullard. michael is with me in studio. this was a wide-ranging interview that you had today with mr. bullard. what are some of the highlights? >> he sees much better growth this year than many other people. three percent or better. he says the on implement rate could come down to 6.3% -- six percent by the end of the year. the fed has a conundrum. they anticipated 6.5% two years from now, and that was the threshold to talk about raising interest rates. what happens if you hit six percent well before that? that was a question that stephanie and i asked. >> we should wrap this up today. so i hope we can vote on this and

hollande was greeted by a military honor guard.later said that they agree on most issues, including efforts to prevent iran from developing a nuclear bomb. mr. obama announced he will travel to france for the 70th anniversary of d-day in june. tonight, there will be a state dinner at the white house with a menu ranging from caviar to cotton candy, but senior white house correspondent bill plante says the food will not be the first thing on anyone's mind. >> welcome to the united states, bienvenue, mes amis. >> reporter: a french welcome for president hollande this morning, and if the white house had its way, you wouldn't have any idea that the love life of france's president complicated the plans for tonight's state dinner. the revelation several weeks ago of hollande's affair with a french actress led to a breakup with his partner, france's unofficial first lady. the white house had to toss out more than 300 engraved dinner invitations bearing both of their names. another anxiety-provoking question-- would hollande bring a date? n

president hollande arrived here after a three-day visit to washington, d.c. he got here this morning and spoke in front of a crowded hall. this is the first official trip of a french president in 30 years. part of his mission is to whew tech companies, to invest more in france and to woo the companies. before this was a three-day visit to washington, d.c. including state dinner hosted by the obamas. planning for that event got hairy because he was suddenly appearing solo after splitting with his girlfriend a few months back. that meant alterations in the seating arrangements. for hollande's plan for the rest of the day here in san francisco, he is going to have lunch with silicon valley ceos. then meeting with some french businesspeople working here in tech, at 4:00 a discussion on the environment and economics, and at 6:00, he will be meeting with the bay area's french community at hilton union square. the last state visit by a french president was in 1996 when jacques chirac met with president clinton. so it's been an exciting event thus far and only the be

hollande's personal life. his breakup means he comes so lo -- solo. there will be no first lady to words of the white house with michelle obama. the relationship after tabloid reports that he was having an affair. he is trying to put the scandal behind him. doesdenly single president present oracle challenges for the state dinner. the most formal gala, . invitations had to be redone and seating arrangements had to be changed. >> it is easier for seating both the president and first lady as you could have the spouses seated on one side of the president and first lady. >> unlike previous occasions, the iconic photograph won't be quite as iconic. even though there may be awkward moments, it is not expected to detract of issues of substance. they have been highlighting the countries mutual friendship. president obama sees france is an important foreign-policy partner. hollande hopes the visit strengthens the view that france remains a global power. >> you are watching "bbc world news america." the bbc goes undercover to catch on -- international students

. >> reporter: captain stacy holland and his team from the texas department of public safety are trying to stop drug smugglers from crossing from mexico into the u.s. >> right there, right there. one guy's gotten out. >> reporter: they are also trying to stop the violence of a full-scale drug war from spilling north. >> are there parts of this border that you would be basically lawless or run by the cartels? >> absolutely. >> reporter: smack in the middle of this 21st century version of the wild west, two young americans, david hartley and tiffany young, just teenagers when they fell in love. >> we started dating in '98. the summer of '98, and dated for quite a while before we got engaged in 2001 and married in 2002. >> what took so long? >> we were 18. >> reporter: they wound up here, in the mexican border town of reynosa, jut south of mcallen. he was a district manager for an oil company. >> it was a blessing to us and our marriage. yeah. we were -- that's where we truly grew as a couple and had adventures. >> reporter: when the hartley's first arrive here this peaceful town was a per

the french leader francis hollande has been talking to the u.s. president on a voist to washington. tom ackerman reports. >> the french president received a white house welcome with all the trimmings, in contrast to the frosty relations 10 years ago when france refused to join the u.s. in inviting iraq. >> the logistical and intelligence support of the french military was placed by francis hollande, inshoring up mali. >> translation: the operation was sucks cessful because -- successful because a decision was made and americans took part and europeans helped as well as americans. >> obama and francis hollande gave themselves credit in uniting to pressure ice syria, but concedes that the bashar al-assad has not fulfilled commitments. the u.s. expressed frustration with syria's resistance to a transitional government. only a political solution could end the fighting. >> obama finessed a reporter who asked if france replaced britain. >> i have two daughters. they are both gorgeous and wonderful. and i would never choose between them. and that is how i feel about my outstanding european

hollande without his plus-one. he split up with his partner over claims that he had an affair with a french actress. at least this relationship is going strong. the nations share many common bonds. >> right now, we don't think that there is a military solution for the problem. but the situation is fluid and we continue to explore every possible avenue to solve this problem. heart of the chemical weapons stockpile has been destroyed but we have not found a political solution. we need to support the opposition. to stop itsran nuclear program is another issue the two nations agree on. sanctions are still in place. >> there are still possibilities to get in sooner rather than later if and when there is an actual agreement to be had. i can tell you that they do so at their own peril right now because we will come down on them like a ton of bricks. leaderss clear the two are heading in the same direction on a range of issues. u.s. anger at france's refusal to back the war was so strong that the french cuisine was even ta

as holland go so low, state dinner plans adjusted. french people care the story as much as the u.s. papers seem to care? guest: french media reported a lot on the story. the thing is, france views these issues as a little more realistic than u.s. papers. they tend to be more of a private matter. that said, in this case, there is a lot of entrustment. -- thent hollande economy is not doing well. bit event really played a and character. it did not help. yes, it is relevant for the french. host: our phone lines are open if you want to talk about u.s.- french relationships with the deputy chief editor of afp. he is joining us for our last segment of washington journal. republicans (202) 737-0002. democrats (202) 737-0001. .ndependents (202) 628-0205 outside of the u.s., (202) 628-0184. the french president not having a date to this dinner. here's another headline from the washington post. the main guest is by himself. no dancing. a few bits about what is actually on the menu tonight. about the guest list. mary j. blige is set to perform f

. >> great honehonor to welcome b holland. it is always a pleasure. and this level of partnership across so many areas would have been unimaginable even a decade ago, but it's a testament and e him for taking the work forward. >> dana milbank, thanks for being with us. it was called an i'm sorry say the dinner referring to the fact that france had backed the president's initial plan for direct strikes into syria and then the president decided to go through congress and those plans were eventually scuttled leaving france in kind of an awkward position. you were in the room today during their press conference. is this sort of an i'm sorry state visit all together? >> all is for given. it was down right mushy there. the french papiper said there w an affair with beyonce. but the president does seem to have a lover affair with france. he can't get enough of it. and why not. he's found another leader who is significantly less popular thachb he is. in fact president obama has like triple the popularity in france that their own presi

greet french president hollande is her life coverage of the state visit continues. [background sounds] [background sounds] [background sounds] ♪ ♪ ♪ >> and so the guest of honor has arrived. french president francois hollande greeted by the president of first lady from the north entrance of the white house. this is the seventh state dinner or official visit for the obama administration the first of the second term and later we will take you to the south on pavilion. it has turned into a springlike display of french culture and flowers and arts. but first we will take a look inside the state dinner as part of our coverage here on c-span2's. we will tell you what it's like to be invited to one of these exclusives upstairs and get some background on the role of first lady's over the years and we will have a conversation with former white house social secretary giuliana smoot who served in the obama administration. as we continue to look at the scene from the portico entrance of the white house we want to begin with the perspective of james fallows from atlantic magazin

president francois hollande will be here today at city hall. mayor ed lee and lieutenant governor gavin newsom will have lunch with him and local business leaders. oscar pistorius has reached a settlement over an alleged 2009 assault case. he was arrested and accused of causing an injury to cassidy taylor-memmory at a party at his house after slamming a door. staylor-memmory did settle in this case.but otherdetails have not been confirmed. pistorius' lawyers are also in negotiations with the family of his slain girlfriend over an out-of- court settlement ahead of almond. a good that comes in 25 flavors. from whole natural to wasabi and soy sauce. and once good gets going, there's no stopping it. get your good going. blue diamond. snack nut of the u.s. ski team. 424 is the time. here was the spoiler's alert. spoiler alert! shaun white failed in his attempt to win gold in the halfpipe for the third straight olympics after hitting his first two jumps - his third one didn't go to well. cox have white's snoboard hit the edge of the halfpipe - and wh

but the trip has been complicated by recent revelations about hollande's personal life. here's jeff pegues. >> reporter: steeped in tradition an pageantry a white house state dinner takes months of planning from a 300 person guest list to the food. but this tuesday the most complicated issue may be the elephant in the room, the scandal swirling around french president francois hollande. just last month his complicated love life generated headlines when he and his long time partner and first lady split following revelations of a secret two year affair with a french actress. anita mcbride, chief of staff for first lady laura bush understands the situation is delicate. >> it's always nice and certainly easier for seating both the president and first lady's tables if you could have the spouses, you know, seated on one side of the president and first lady. >> reporter: hollande will not be the first french president to appear solo at the white house. in 2007 during the george w. bush administration then- president nicolas sarkozy arrived having just announced his divorce. whi