euh the battle is going on, benghazi, and onot western libya. thirdly why an islamic group would attack a pro government islamic progovernment, and leave the other governments which is backed by the french and all othe other groups. so it is surprising. >> you suspect that isil may be claiming this when they weren't behind it? >> i would say that's most likely. it has happened in the past, when some groups proclaimed or claimed they have done some attacks and in fact, it wasn't them who had done it, and they want to say that they are that they are there and they can harm whoever is against them. >> interesting. you mentioned in the context of what you were saying before that isil does have a presence in libya regardless of whether it turns out to have been behind in particular attack tell us about what they are doing. is it running training operations. >> it is a small group in a small town, which is in extreme eastern libya. and there are around 200, 250 armed men who said that they are with isil. but the men main groups al quaida groups, or ot

it's libya dawn, which is a coalition of militia's and local councils that has power in western libya. it's libya dawn that in august took over the airport conged tripoli and kicked out the militia. the g.n.c., the former parliament was only ream posed because of libya dawn militia and local council power. if members of libya dawn and the important local councils that make it up are willing to go to geneva and to promote the talks it doesn't really matter if the g.n.c. is against it. it is an irbody that is not legitimate. it isn't even a self-declared government so by not following along with what it's prettyical patrons are saying, i think the g.n.c. will become irrelevant but the talks will go forward in geneva. >> where do sort of the international partners -- where do they fit into all of this? i mean, these talks are sponsored by the u.n., but countries like the u.k. and france and the united states and qatar and so on were involved in putting together this effort to out of the gadhafi three years ago. what role have they played? >> a huge role. essentially, libyan-only or libya

. >>> fighting is ongoing in western libya, near the air base.s belonging to the dawn of libya group are trying to secure the base. bad water has prevented forces from conducting air strikes. >>> lebanon's former prime minister has died at the age of 80. he first served between 1990 and 1992 but was forced to resign when the lebanese pound crashed. he was forced to resign for a second time after the assassination of the prime minister. >>> saudi arabia's king has been admitted to hospital for health tests. his half brother is next in line for the thrown. >>> israel's high court has rejected a petition to ban the demolition of homes belonging to palestinians. it includes the homes of two men who killed five israelis in a synagogue. >>> petro poroshenko says 2014 was the most difficult year since 1946 when world war ii ended. in the east soldiers rang in the new year on the battlefield. they have been fighting pro-russian separatists there since april. >>> meanwhile the people of lithuania have started spending their new currency. at the stroke of

it's libya down, which is a coalition of militia's and local councils that has power in western libya. it's libya dawn that in august took over the conquered tripoli and kicked out the militia. the g.n.c., the former parliament was ream posed because of libya dawn lil alicia and local council power. if members of libya dawn and the important local council that is make it up are willing to go to geneva and to promote the talks it doesn't really matter if the g.n.c. is against it. the g.n.c. is an irrelevant body not legitimate inside or outside libya. it lacks sovereignty. it isn't even a self-declared government so by not following along with what its political patrons are saying, i think the g.n.c. will become irrelevant, but the talks will go forward in geneva. libya indigenous efforts at conflict negotiation tribal reconciliation failed and that's why since tripoli was conged in august you haven't had reconciliation between libya dawn and libya dignity. the u.n. round the mission of bernadina leone has succeeded in meeting the different actors where no neutral libyan party exists t

western libya is run by an islamist regime. their self proclaimed prime minister was staying at the hotel. he might have been the target. he escaped unharmed. libya right now, well they're freer fire zones, safe havens for terrorists and other militants and militias. they represent a danger to the u.s. even if no americans were involved there today. heather: greg live from the loned or on -- london bureau thank you. jon: a woman shot to death in 1979 with no identification has been identified. she was a jane doe. her old friend solved the mystery more than 30 years later. department of justice is watching our cars. what uncle sam is now accused of doing that has critics raising privacy concerns. and we want to hear from you. should we speed up and expand the u.s. investment in weather forecasting technology in light of the failures in predicting the storm? to join the conversation, go to fox news.com. click on "america's asking." a. checking your credit score is for chumps. i have great credit. how do you know? duh. you know tho

. >>> fighting is ongoing in western libya near the airbase. lieb ya fighters are trying to secure the road between the base and the city. bad weather has prevented pro-renegade general forces from conducting air strikes, which allowed dawn of libya to advance. >>> on new year's day lithuanian lithuanians said good-bye to 2014 and their currency. politicians hope that joining the euro zone will boost the economy. it's been 24 years since they gained independent from the soviet union. we have the report. >> reporter: fireworks greeted a new year and a new currency for lithuania. the 19th european union member to join the euro club. it's the last of the three former soviet balancetic republics to do so. for its politicians, it was a moment to savor. >> translator: the euro will be our guarantee for both economic and political stability and allow us to develop quicker in the economy to create new workplaces, improve incomes. i strongly believe we will strengthen the euro family. >> reporter: the symbolism of withdrawing the first tenure row note w

there is no different between eastern libya western northern or southern. >> you but for the specialvoy talk is not enough. >> people who want war and not peace, i think it has to be very clear that after some time making a huge effort to bring many people from many different realms to the table their time is finished. and the international community and i'm in touch with the most important international regional actors and in touch with the representatives of the security council and international community for those who want war will have no more patience. this is very clear. >> libya now has rival parliaments, two armies, and scores of militias. each faction says it is the legitimate rulers. the envoy said that the process would be long an difficult but they made clear there is no option apart of libya ascending into further chaos. the question is whether thighs talks will be meaningful if they are not involved, including the armed groups whose backing is needed to avoid growing violence. >> many are concerned about the growing situation in libya. the country is at the door steps

libya. fighting rages between the forces allied to the two competing governments and heavily armed militias. a coalition of former rebel fighters from western coastal towns called libya dawn forced libyan prime minister and his internationally recognised government to debase to the eastern city of tobruk more than 750 miles away from the capital of tripoli. they nominated its own leader and formed its own administration in tripoli. the u.n. special envoy met members of the two rival departments in tripoli and tobruk. >> we will not allow the collapse of the state institutions. we need the backing of the international community, but not to violate sovereignty. >> it's like the peace talks will lead to a national unity government. dismantling militias. they are ambitious goals in a lawless country. battles for control of libya's second-largest city benghazi rages. between the army a powerful militia led by the general shura council. for more than three weeks, the largest depot, and it's connecting terminal has been shut down after libyan dawn fighters attempted to take it over. >> it ignited storage facilities. raging fires lasted a week and

that why we're seeing increasingly soft targets shopping malls and like we saw in libya hotels, where westernrists, maybe western government officials frequent. these are prime targets for trohists. embassies and consulates are a major target as we saw in benghazi two years ago but lots of times they're hard targets will with heavy security you can't do much if you're a we were tourist in mall, hotel when the jihaddists come acaling. >> the hotel is one of the fanciest in the middle east does attract a lot of western visitors and travelers, but i was thinking of a similar attack staged be terrorists a couple years ago in mumbai, it's in, again, there a mariott hotel. but what is the logic? this is where you'll find the westerners? >> number one, this where is you may very well find westerners especially at these luxury hotels. or like we saw last year in kenya, an upscale shopping mall with western tourists, number one. number two the propaganda value. a heinous horrific attack, and number three this is not an embassy or consulate. the security won't be as stringent at these soft targets. we

syria, iraq iran, turkey egypt, libya algeria, most immigration nations in western europe. afghanistan, pakistan, yemen, somalia, the philippines, indonesia and on and on. in africa the continents' largest economy nigeria is being directly threatened by the jihad. and here we have the most powerful man in the world barack obama say the problem is being caused by a few? very troubling. the truth is that extreme islam has taken deep root in the world. and is at the source of ultra violence all around the globe. that's the truth. in "new york times." the huffington post and new york media you will not hear that after a the murders in paris after we read is the following all muslims are not bad. freedom of speech is good. we must not demean muslims or create islamophobia. look we so if respect islam we should not go out and poke our finger in other people's eyes. everyone should have a right to critique islam but at least we should do it with some sense of respect. >> nowhere on the left did you hear a solution about how to combat the jihad. ever since he was elected in 2008, p

libya, several were kidnapped or abducted. officials blame a growing number of it extremists causing concern for western nations who fore the spread of i.s.i.l. france's defence minister made a surprise visit to troops in niger. multiple nation including nigeria, mallee and senegal called for intervention in libya. following a meeting with the president, the french defence minister said: continue your thought. how big of a threat is libya to its neighbours? >> well it's a growing one. it's an ever increasing one. you know one country does an example. tiny tinizia that went through a process of political elections got through it relatively unscathed. they are worried because for them the biggest security threat is a spillover from libya, to say nothing of the countries that you rightly mentioned - niger, chad. these countries are worried. you can see, i think, why the calls for intervention are growing. it also puts the united states in a tricky position because to the extent that the obama administration articulated that it would like to degrade and defeat i.s.i.s. if you have outposts proclaiming themselves in places like libya,

in libya too, tunisian journalists have been killed, so muslim journalist art in as much danger as western journalists and we should keep that in mind. >> we will be getting to that story from saudi arabia later in the program. thanks for tipping us off to that. thanks so very much. >> muslims in germany say they are wary the paris -- worried the paris attacks will inflame anti-islam sentiment here. >> the german president made an urgent appeal to the population. he said, "don't let us be divided by hate." germany's justice minister says people of different religions in germany need to get to know each other better. >> a show of solidarity between german politicians and muslims. the justice minister paid a visit to berlin's largest mosque , a symbolic visit signaling willingness for dialogue and the hope that lujan and governments will not be swayed by terrorism. >> we should be engaging in regular conversations. it is a prerequisite for keeping radical forces at bay. fears that have no basis in fact should not be allowed to grow and leverage. >> the imam here echoed those words and veheme

libya for sure. but by and large, the united states, among the western nations has carried the heaviest burden. now this -- these two dramatic attacks in paris may change that, this march may be evidence of that, but you'll forgive me if i'm not entirely confident that once the gesture is done, the policy and the implementation will actually change. >> ambassador, the absence of the president, the vice president, secretary of state, does that strike you as rather alarming for a nation that is usually at the forefront of most issues? >> well, speaking of gestures and policy, i think it's a fairly dramatic indication that the obama administration is not moved. i was stunned to hear that the even though attorney general eric in paris today for this meeting of justice and interior ministers, that he left town after that meeting and didn't participate in the march. i thought at least he would be there. but ask yourself this question, is it better or worse for obama to go to paris, join the march and then not change american policy, or for obama not even bother to go to paris and not change american

libya for sure. but by and large the united states, among the western nations has carried the heaviest burden. now this -- these two dramatic attacks in paris may change that this march may be evidence of that but you'll forgive me if i'm not entirely confident that once the gesture is done, the policy and the implementation will actually change. >> ambassador the absence of the president, the vice president, secretary of state does that strike you as rather alarming for a nation that is usually at the forefront of most issues? >> well, speaking of gestures and policy, i think it's a fairly dramatic indication that the obama administration is not moved. i was stunned to hear that the even though attorney general eric holder was in paris today for this meeting of justice and interior ministers, that he left town after that meeting and didn't participate in the march. i thought at least he would be there. but ask yourself this question is it better or worse for obama to go to paris, join the march and then not change american policy, or for obama not even bother to go to paris and not change ame

the fact that we have so many western nationals from europe and america that have gone to places like syria yemen afghanistan or libya to train and come back, isn't our bigger problem now the fact that we have the sleeper cells to deal with? >> right. >> we're fighting on ult inging on multiple fronts. >> yeah, i mean, these aren't people that weren't born people. these are radicalized citizens which means why we need the nsa. we need people to track these people because they are not foreigners. they are here. they're radicalized in prison. you know the media creates a strawman army. whenever you condemn radical islam, what they do is they say, but there are millions of peaceful muslims. so why do you say this? but did it ever occur to you that there can be both? there are peaceful muslims and there are bad ones? and every time sathat you say that, you are making it harder and harder for the peaceful muslims to actually stand up and fight the nonpeaceful ones by combining them together. they use children to kill. you cannot have a summit on tolerance to dissuade people from using children to blow things up. they use

libya is the same way pakistan the same. we're just seeing the degradation of western control in this sort of centralized government. >> welcome to the world of being in the middle of something we know nothing about. outstanding. >> i think it's more than natural and you'll see more progression that they want artificially inserting foreign troops and fighting our own wars in these divisive places. >> good to see you robert, always nice. thank you. >> thank you shep. >> some folks who smoke e-cigarettes claim they're safer than tobacco cigarettes because there's no smoke. but there's a new study halling that. research are says the vapor contains more of a cancer-causing chemical that science devices to preserve cadavers. tom brady expected to speak this afternoon about the controversial over the deflated playoff footballs, football gate? -- deflategate and websites are calling it a ball-gazi, comes off coach belichick complained he didn't know anything. >> i was shocked to learn of the news reports about the footballs. >> shocked. hey, tom what do you think about the coach putting it your way? not like the coach is filling it u

libya. the turks are trying to do that at the time. the algerians were doing that. i doubt it. i think the momentum was so grated and no western leader was willing to step in and play the part of the cold realit and disappoint these revolutionaries. it was the feeling you would have lost the arab public if you did that. chris stevens the ambassador who was killed until 22012 thought a lot about this. i knew him not well but somewhat. he wanted to have a light footprint from the country, ultimately, you know, i don't know whether he was wrong or not. but we suffered perhaps for not having followed up closely enough, and yet you know, chris didn't want a large american presence in that country. i think is very hard to say whether the u.s. could have done better buy in libya or syria or anywhere else by intervening sooner. i think it certainly is very possible we could have saved lives in syria if the u.s. and its partners had been more aggressive and more imaginative with their diplomacy but whether the u.s. could have changed the strategic picture on the ground, especially in syria where you have the iranians who feel this is a

libya. the turks are trying to do that. the algerians were proposing that. i personally doubt it. omentum was so great. no westerneader wanted to play the role of a cold realist and disappoint the revolutionaries. chris stevens, who was killed in 2012, thought a lot about this. i knew him somewhat, and he wanted to have a light footprint in the country. ultimately, i do not know whether he was wrong or not. but we suffered, perhaps for not having followed up closely enough. chris did not want a large american presence in that country. i think it is very hard to say whether the u.s. could have done better. whether in libya or syria, by intervening sooner. i think it is certainly possible that we could have saved lives in syria if the u.s. and its partners have been more aggressive and more imaginative with diplomacy. but whether the u.s. could have retained a strategic picture on the ground, especially in syria where you have the russians backing assad i doubt we could have made a big difference. >> thank you. we will revisit this obviously. the spectrum of failed states is troubling washington, because they remem

and western officials, along the lines of disarmament by south africa and libya. lesser terms will not fully protect america from the threat posed by a nuclear iran. which raises one final important point. president obama has shown no intent to change his dangerous course. to shift his policy of conciliation and peace through weakness. on the contrary, he started negotiations without congressional input and apparently intends to avoid senate ratification of any final agreement. if he ever reaches one. this would be of a peace with his amnesty decree, selective enforcement of obamacare and his swap of five taliban commanders detained at guantanamo bay for an american soldier without congressional notification. but any unilateral agreement with iran might be his worst abuse yet of his executive power and our constitutional system of checks and balances. the founders specifically required senate notification of such agreements to protect americans from rash unwise, executive action. perhaps taken more to secure a legacy than to secure america's interests. congress sh

libya's two governments. >> we insist on dialogue to prevent bloodshed. they have to reach an agreement to bring them together. there is no difference between eastern libyan, westernnorthern or southern. >> but for the envoy the conciliatory statements were not enough. those who chose not to be part of the talks are choosing war which won't be acceptable to the international community. >> the people who want war and not peace i think it has to be very clear that after sometime making a huge effort to bring many people from many different tables their time is finish. the international community i'm in touch with the most important regional actors, and in touch with the representatives of the security council and the international community for those who want war will have no more patience. this is very clear. >> since the fall of the qaddafi regime each faction says they're the legitimate rulers. the envoy said that this would be long and difficult and made clear there is no other option apart from libya ascending into further chaos. the question is whether these talks will be meaningful if all players are not involved. that means the powerfully armed groups will a

westerners because the words sound similar they think sa lam is peace. they are very wrong. it is submission to islam and nothing else. >> we can look at america france great britain, libya kenya, smolomalia, iraq, afghanistan, i can't even name all the countries, violence in the name of islam. and yet there's this denial constant nonstop denial. why? >> well, that's a very good point. i think president francois hollande is in a statement e state of denial stam with president obama. the denial driven by islamist extremism. religiously motivated violence. it is the greatest threat of our generation. we really need to rise up to the challenge. unfortunately mr. hollande clearly is not up to the task. in many ways france has become a basket case under socialist rule. and we need strong robust leadership on both sides of the atlantic. unfortunately with mr. hollande and president obama they're both politicians in a deep state of denial. this is a war that we simply have to win. we cannot win this war with policies of appeasement. >> nolan isn't the world in a state of denial? there's very few people that seem willing to just state what is an obvious truth especially on the left. i

western iraq, and syria. so they have control over the borders there. but also it has found acceptance and actually a number of groups pledged allegiance to al-baghdadi from algeria and the brigade in libyae the barka provence in eastern prove lense and benghazi and then egypt, which is a nascent group that hasn't committed any operations but we have [ inaudible ] that has been around for a number of years and committed acts of terror against israeli and egyptian security forces. >> so the significance is that people who declare them to be loyal to islamic, and so they pledge allegiance and try to expand this caliphate around the world. >> expanding territorially and establishing a provence. and we have groups that pledge add leithance from pakistan and afghanistan and who used to be part of the taliban or part of al qaeda and local factions. >> and there in lies the answers. the two leaders of the group. al-baghdadi said he is the boss of all muslims and then you have al-zawahiri. >> once he took over al-zawahiri said al-baghdadi was a soldier and of course he was ex communicated by the leadership and at this point he is a rival of al qaeda because now it is expanding not only internati

libya, from afghanistan. pakistan. it's also now coming from lone wolf attackers as well. that isis and al qaeda are trying to launch attacks in the west. this is a complex threat for western firms. the numbers they have to monitor is staggering. 5,000 surveillance in france. they've opened it because of islamic extremist tendencies. this is a huge challenge for western intelligence right now. we see this attack in paris, that a couple of brothers seem to be linked back to aqap in yemen, but then this other individual coulibaly who launched at attack in the grocery store, his sympathy seemed to be with isis. there's a coalition on the ground in france in this case it seems with two sets of individuals with different symphonies, jim. >> we want to be careful about not drawing two sharp lines between the groups. there's a lot of overlap. jim, i want to ask you this. intelligence officials have been telling me for some time that one great concern is just the proliferation of failed states, somalia somalia, yemen, elsewhere, that make brilliant training grounds, lawless training grounds for terror groups, and we saw one result of that here the kouachi brothers one, perhaps two

and western officials along the lines of south africa and libya. lesser terms will not fully protect america from the threat posed by nuclear iran. which raises one file important point. president obama has shown no intent to change his dangerous course, you shift its policy of peace through weakness. on the contrary he started negotiations with top congressional input and apparently intends to avoid ratification of any final agreement if he ever reaches one. this enron would be at peace with his amnesty decree selective enforcement of robotic air and his swap of five taliban commanders detained at guantÁnamo bay for american soldier without congressional notification. any unilateral agreement with her rant might be his worst abuse yet of his executive power in our constitutional system of checks and balances. the founders specifically requires senate notification of such agreements to protect americans for brash, unwise executive action, perhaps take in order to secure legacy than secure america's interest. congress should therefore insist that th

western tourists in 1998. it led to the deaths of four hostages. >> a libyan man facing trial has now died. u.s. forces captured him in 2013 bringing him back from libya to the u.s. he was due to go on trial next week in new york. he died from live surgery complications. the bombings of the two embassies killed 224 people, including a dozen americans. william bran november is director of the start program at the university of maryland for the study of terrorism and responses to it. he is in washington d.c. this morning. before braniff what was his role. >> in the public domain, he was an indicted conspirator in the attack. he was in communication with bin laden. >> why did it take 15 years to capture him? he evaded surveillance and dropped off the radar. in terms of why 2013, what changed, three things. one, he became a high enough priority on the high value target list for us to direct our intelligence collecting assets at him and establish a pattern of life so he could be detained. two, it became tactically viable to do so, and three the political considerations about conducting a snatch and grab operation in a sovereign country that was undergoing

libya. heather joins us. >> it's a country that we all know far too well. this news coming out of tripoli at this hour. a luxury hotel there popular with westerners is now under attack. three guards murdered in cold blood. this unfolding in tripoli. a team of masked gunmen detonating a car bomb. they murdered three guards and took hostages. police are not revealing who they are or motive at this hour but we're monitoring the situation and we'll bring you more information as soon as we get it. >>> and then brand new details just revealed back here at home about the man suspected of killing a couple just trying to buy the car of their dreams. 28-year-old man turned himself into georgia authorities and is now being questioned in the disappearance of the couple. police think he was the last person to speak to them alive. >> i'm confident that mr. townes is involved. >> not the outcome we had hoped for. obviously it's what we have to deal with. >> townes does not have a criminal past we are told. his family owns lands near where two of those bodies were found and also where bud and june's car was found. they believe that townes may have been trying to