and returned to receive the ambassadors from bulgaria and hungary.ricane of you representatives to these eastern european countries, the united states may very well see the last of her ministers. and office held by ben franklin, thomas jefferson and john adams. in her early days, the united states was not permitted the privilege of sending ambassadors abroad. she was too small and relatively unimportant. this is out -- philosophy is not shared by america today. for all donations, they are considered important. their investors are received in the traditional, time-honored ceremony. >> joy to the world. the lord has come. let heaven and nature sing. let heaven and nature sing. let heaven and nature sing. >> the president concluded by ushering in the christmas season with washington's annual holiday ritual. >> and tonight, even as we speak, men are fighting in a strange land. they have a world away. at time of christmas, there are signs of hope. we havenited states, made progress in human rights. in the past six years, we have in the previous hundred ye

the latest shows a shouldn't by bulgaria, unknown route to supplies for the saudis. the suffering of the people of aleppo is even more intense. rebels and the city have been defeated, and so have the countries backing them, including the u.s. and saudi arabia, and turkey. syria's war continues. jeremy bowen, bbc news. katty: the losers in the battle for aleppo are the men, women, and children. the winners are russia and iran. has announced he will nominate exxon mobil's ceo rex tillerson as secretary of state. even senators from his own party are raising concerns over his ties to russia. the president-elect met with media mogul kanye west. here is nick bryant. nick: it was as if aleppo didn't exist. instead, a brief cameo from president-elect and kanye west. recognizedmost globetrotting celebrities. in finally choosing his globetrotting chief diplomat, donald trump has gone for a much less familiar figure that his choice is rex tillerson, a texas oilman, a staunch conservative, and the chairman of exxon mobil, one of the world's largest companies. in that global role

this time i'm surrounded by slavic culture... it's bulgaria! thanks for joining us. ♪

in the baltic states, poland, romania, bulgaria, this question bulgaria, this question about the timeline for perspective in terms of how long the u.s. forces need to be present in those places. how do you think about the planning and assumptions for our present on the eastern flank, if you will, and the funding supports of them? as i understand it's in the operations budget. shouldn't this be something that overtime is put in the base budget to recognize the fact that it isn't a one-year deployment, that we are likely to be there for quite a while? >> so yes, it should go into the base budget. all of this or most of this should go into the base budget, but, of course, the folks who are here living in washington know that the oco budget doesn't count for purposes of counting money that we spend in the federal government. so how crazy is that? it's kind of an accounting situation. but if we can lift sequestration, if we can clean up some of these accounting situations that we backed into in the last however many years it's been been, 10, 15 years, tt would make for a more clean situation.

to talk to a lot of eastern european people from the former soviet union, former czechoslovakia, bulgaria, hungary, their perspective, their experiences during the cold war so that was helpful for me to understand the experience and political prisoners, going to the locations book, and research strips, met the town manager who gave me the keys to village museum, and on the porch, i went in there and it was like walking back time. this was set up to research the cold war in that village, everything from communist flags to communist party propaganda, young pioneer uniforms and symbols, secret police crests and all these things, ledgers, school ledgers, i was able to see my grandfather's writings and things like that. there was a mockup of a classroom in that little tiny museum. some of those chairs and tables which might have been used in my grandfather's classroom. i was able to go to paradise bungalow. i have been back to paradise bungalow often. i visited the town where my grandfather and his family were banished after he spoke up one too many times. that was important. going back to ber

. >> talking about a central government in brussels, we got nothing in common with people in bulgariamania, or people from wales have nothing in common with people from london. london is a lot different from the rest of the country. it's wealthier. it's way more cosmo poll tan. people complain a lot about struggling. it's really vibrant. there's citizens who have been here 10 or 15 years being victims of racial abuse. >> drinking patterns drink by the fact pubs close by midnight. as we approach last call people start doubling up. it starts to excel rate in a mad pattern. you think if we extend drinking hours it would improve behavior or make it worse. there's not a great rep tugs as far as functional drifrpging drinking. do you think that's a function of -- >> whatever. ing, long-lasting relief. it immediately neutralizes acid and only gaviscon helps keep acid down for hours. for fast-acting, long-lasting relief, try doctor-recommended gaviscon. therthere is nothing typical about making movies. i'm victoria alonso and i'm an executive producer... ...at marvel studios. we are very much

talk to anybody of eastern europeans, people from the former soviet union, former czechoslovakia, bulgaria, hungary on their perspective, their experiences during the cold war. so that was really very helpful for me to understand the experience. and then as i said, political prisoners. and then the third aspect was going to all the locations in the book. and that was probably one of the finest things for me to do because i made these research trips to everything from the little village of schwan and berg where i met that town manager who gave me the keys to the little village museum and i was able to basically said just throw the keys on the porch when you are done. i went in there and i spent, you know, it was like walking back into time. this thing was set up so you could research the cold war in that village. everything from communist flags to communist party propaganda, young pioneer uniforms and symbols, secret police, you know, crests and all these things, ledgers, school lectures. so is able to go in and see some of my grandfathers writings and things like that. and it was even a mo

. >> the long-time communist leader of bulgaria suddenly and surprisingly today announced his resignationes are more brittle than gorbachev understood and they couldn't find many gorbachevs. he tried to encourage people like him to rise to the fore in these countries. they weren't successful. >> had gorbachev decided to use force, this whole scenario would have been totally different and, furthermore, the cold war might have ended in a far different way. it might have ended with a bang and not with a whimper. >> how can one sum up what we've gone through in the last months? perhaps a concert. the conductor was leonard bernstein and they climaxed to "the ode de joy" except one word was changed, "ode to freedom." ♪ ♪ >> the playwright activist is the first noncommunist party in 41 years. >> and he his wife were executed after military court found them guilty of genocide, stealing state funds and trying to escape prosecution. >> from our point of view, there was no argument about the most remarkable story of the decade. freedom. in some cases, freedom which had been unthinkable as the decade

it's not as if these are people denied entry into cuba or bulgaria.f the australians are rejecting them, what is behind that? doesn't that indicate there may be a problem here? the fact that they are being secret about this, i think empowers congress to say unless and until you explain this, this is not going to happen. we're going to deny the funds to do this. >> i saw on twitter someone saying that australia started as a convict, a prison -- a place for brings and now they are rejecting. >> that's they know undesirables. >> leslie, winner first and loser next. >> i would say the winners this week for me were the firefighters of tennessee. those men and women are working tirelessly to put out wildfires. the losers are anyone i feel fighting the recount. if there is fraud, if there is a rigged, if there is any duplication at all, whether it's a democrat or a republican vote, i, as an american, want to know that i want every vote counted because i think more people will feel their votes count if we do that. >> jonathan, winner or loser? >> oil and gas

it happened in bulgaria. 150 firefighters raced to the scene to search for survivors. 20 buildings have also been destroyed. police say the train was carrying propane and butane. >>> the pilot of a hot air balloon that crashed in texas last july was taking medications that should have disqualified him from flying. that's according to federal investigators. the balloon crashed into power lines near lockhart, texas, killing the pilot and 15 passengers. the ntsb that pilot, alfred "skip" nichols had at least a half dozen prescription drugs, including oxycodone, in his system at the time of the crash. he also had four convictions for drunk driving and served time in prison twice. >>> high drama is playing out in a florida courtroom in the retrial of a woman who was accused of hiring a hit man to kill her husband. at the center of it all, this hidden camera video of an undercover officer trying to catch her setting up the hit. but was she the victim of a police department looking to make a big splash on tv? nbc's scott cohen has more. >> all right, counsel, you may be seated. >> reporter: it

yugoslavia, 50-50, a very 50-50, bulgaria, 25 russian, 25% less. stalin was generally going to go by that piece of paper. stalin does not support the greek civil war. he stays away. he violated in the most essential europe. that is because the americans, the british arranged a separate surrender of italy. stalin says if you has a going back to italy because you conquered italy, i will do the same thing in central europe with the countries they overrun there. so he did his own surrenders and arrangements in central europe just like we did in italy. i mention some of the things at the conference provides. the redness first made that germany would be split into four separate zones. the nasty war criminals will be hunted down, reparations, the soviet union would have any reparations. germany might be do that -- divided into six nations, that would be figured out later. big thing he the wanted, stalin committed to join the united nations and agree to enter the fight against japan after the surrender of germany. at the's them conference in july of august

european deterrence initiative and use presence, particularly in the baltic state poland, romania and bulgaria. that's a question about the timeline in terms of how long the u.s. forces need to be present in those places. how do you think about the planning of functions for our presence on the eastern flank, and the funding that supports them? as i understand actually in the operations budget. shouldn't this be something that over time put in the base budget to recognize the fact that it isn't a one-year deployment? we're likely to be there for quite a while? >> so yes, it should go into the base budget, all of this or most of this should go into the base budget but, of course, the folks who were here living in washington know that the budget doesn't count for purposes of counting money that we spent in the federal government. so how crazy is that? it's kind of an accounting situation. but if we can lick lift sequestration, if we can clean up some of these accounting situations that we have back into in the last however many years, then it would certainly make for a more clean situation. but f

bulgaria, by 1946 had become a people's party republic. part of the soviet's spehere of influence.here followed very vicious purges. nobody was safe. artists, writers were arrested on trumped up charges. post-1989 figures show that as many as 180,000 people were executed after 1945. a similar pattern in romania. a left-wing coalition was elected but of course communists held all of the key ministerial posts and other parties were quickly eliminated, for example the national peasants party was eliminated because they don't have talks with some american representatives. show trials were held. rigged election elections were held in 1946 and the communists won 70% of the vote. the terror evidence emerged that soviet labor camps and other terrible places and prisons which specialized in physical and psychological torture into the secret police developed and they were only really part of the fall of -- in 1939. stalin decided to go more slowly in hungary. he brought in someone who is one of the central figures in moscow. again, he told them they could go more slowly and hungary. he said

constrained of the commission sensitivities and the member states of that constraint but nevertheless to bulgaria or spain or the ambassador's wife. to have those leaders of the 27 states. . . >> the interest of the various other countries. and building interest in alliances. our approach to negotiation is on the premise of a few things. number one, something called the mechanical list, it's an economic premise. that other people have common interest and trade is a good thing. we have 67 billion trade deficit with the european union. so they they have an interest in that. it's not just that. beyond that that we have every intention of continuing to be good european citizen. so leaving european union doesn't mean were going to stop taking interest in european security. where european military defense. we make a huge contribution to counterterrorism. all of these interest we're interested in. i expect in the six months of next year i'm going to get. >> is there a plan within the government to make sure that these are being built up at the moment? >> yes, that is going on. >> now a question of non-

presence, particularly in the baltic states, poland, romania, bulgaria. but there's a question about the timelines, the perspective in terms of our, how long u.s. forces need to be present in those places. how do you think about the planning assumptions for our presence on the eastern flank, if you will? and the funding that supports them? as i understand it, it's really in the -- the operations budget. shouldn't this be something that, over time, is put into the base budget to recognize the fact that it isn't a one-year deployment, that we're likely to be there for -- for quite a while? >> so yes, it should go into the base budget. all of this, or most of this, should go into the base budget. but of course, the folks who are here living in washington know that the oco budget doesn't count for purposes of counting money that we spend in the federal government. so how crazy is that? it's kind of an accounting situation. but if we can live sequestration, if we can clean up some of these accounting situations that we have backed into the last however many ye

but nevertheless, i've been able to talk to ireland, spain, poland, hungary, bulgaria, finland, ministers that is and then ambassadors beyond that and there will be others. off the top of my head i can't remember them all. the prime minister sees most of the leaders of the various 27 states. and it is an important part of the negotiation. blunt got into trouble late last week for quoting malker about no plan survives contact with, he use the word the enemy. very cross about that quite rightly. the simple truths is the plan will be the plan when we start. it will be modified by the interests of the various other countries. and what -- and our building interest and alliances. remember, our approach to negotiation is on the premise, on two or three premises. number one, what somebody's called a the economic premise that other people have common interests with us, trade is a good an thing. we have an -- well, net $67 billion trade deficit with the european union. so they have an interest in all of that. it's not just that. also beyond that, we have every intention of continuing to be a good e

oyster stew, and she'd write down what they were doing, went home, made it there, and my wife's from bulgaria. check it out. >> she's your wife, so you have to. >> absolutely. finally, we had a dessert for the end of the meal. this is a black raspberry liquor. it's festive. the black raspberry with the chocolate, a great combination. >> a great way to do the party, bring in your own family recipes. >> exactly. you know, if the viewers go to your page and share their traditional recipes, that way they get their recipes out there too for everybody. >> absolutely. at wnnfans.com. we thank you so much. happy holidays. >> happy holidays. cheers. >> next time i'll try to dress up. >> i love it. >> it's flammable. you're watching "world news now." you're watching "world news now." from the moment you met you wantecomfort and protection that's why pampers swaddlers is the #1 choice of hospitals to wrap your baby in blanket-like softness so all they feel is love pampers swaddlers take delsym, the #1 12-hour uncontrolcough medicine. it helps control the impulse to cough for 12 hours. which means, you'r

european deterrence initiative and use presence, particularly in the baltic state poland, romania and bulgaria. that's a question about the timeline in terms of how long the u.s. forces need to be present in those places. how do you think about the planning of functions for our presence on the eastern flank, and the funding that supports those? as i understand actually in the operations budget. shouldn't this be something that over time put in the base budget to recognize the fact that it isn't a one-year deployment? we're likely to be there for quite a while? >> so yes, it should go into the base budget, all of this or most of this should go into the base budget but, of course, the folks who were here living in washington know that the uncle budget doesn't count for purposes of counting money that we spent in the federal government. so how crazy is that? it's kind of an accounting situation. but if we can lick lift sequestration, if we can clean up some of these accounting situations that we are back into in the last however many years it's been, 10, 15 years. then it would certainly make for

this year was so bad landed appear where she is in bulgaria.rancine: i am life from rome. paris. frankfurt. the world economic forum in dav os. in davos. strasburg. france. scotland is making noise. tom: in paris. why are you in paris? shopping? francine: plenty more exclusive interviews. tom, my traveling makes me less productive or more productive because i can concentrate on a plane? tom: the only reason we do this is to get on an airplane where it is quiet with no -- francine: thank you. we are 2 sagittarius, so this has to be the end of the show, we are not compatible. breaking news. justin,cial thanks to who put a lot of work making us smarter. thank you so much. they literally pulled an all nighter because they did not run run of francine running around europe, asia, and the rest of the world. there is a happy birthday for francine lacqua. the markets are on the move. i will do an extra for an exchange check in the next section. the yen is a total readjustment, rounded up to 119. the philippine peso touched 50 pesos per dollar four or fi

deterrence initiative and the us president, particularly in the baltic states of poland, romania, bulgaria, there's a question about this in terms of how long will the forces be present in this place? how do you think about the reigning assumption for our presence on the eastern front and the finding that supports these, as i understand it it's really not in the budget, and should this be something that overtime is put in the base budget to recognize the fact that it isn't a one-year deployment, that we are likely to be there for quite a while ? >> yes, to go into the base budget, all of this for most of his could go to the base budget but the folks who are here living in washington know that the budget doesn't count for purposes of counting money that we spend in the federal government so how do we use that? it's kind of an accounting situation but if we can list the frustration, if we can clean up some of these accounting situations we have backed into in the past however many years, 10, 15 years, then it would certainly make for a more clean situation but for now, that's the way we fund