to this new world order france has an interest in a multi-polar world i think france has an interest in a strong and growing russia right now however i'm also pro serb because i think that the serbians are great people of the balkans and because there is a traditional link between france and serbia today the dominant ideology is so delusional that it's almost as strange to say i am french who cares first and foremost for the interests of the french in france this is almost regarded as fascist because national preference is for britain and france which is unheard of. pressure actions are coming up soon what do you think will be the results especially at the final round who do you think a to catechize that will be running for it at the end. with the french elections we can clearly see today that the french system that was developed by do goal and the fifth republic is being destroyed to make way for an american system so you have the incumbent nicolas sarkozy on the right. and then you have the primary election in the left wing political parties it's like the republicans and democrats

who is the right man for today's france? >> nicolas sarkozy signing autographs in northern france on the sidelines of his new year's address. sarkozy is defending the cuts he has made during his time in office. >> and in view of the last three years, everyone recognizes the cuts were unavoidable. the goal is always the same. fewer positions with more efficiency. >> his socialist party challenger has seized upon traditional symbols of the political left. once it was the largest industrial hub in france. he promises more jobs, and for that, he is willing to take on more debt is necessary. >> we need more growth. we need steel production, environmental projects, the energy projects. otherwise, there will be unrest. >> francois hollande championed the 35-hour workweek as one of his party's crucial achievements. president sarkozy has blamed it for the country's sluggish economy. voters show that francois hollande is in the lead while sarkozy continues to lose ground. his flagging popularity is the result of cost-cutting and raisi

war has not yet been declared between britain and france. yet, there is fighting in north america that's already begun. the british government makes the decision to send twoeg

france's prized aaa credit rating could be about to be cut according to a senior eurozone source the speculation that standard and poor's might downgrade the country's status has sent world markets plunging after an optimistic start to the year let's now get more on this latest development from michael's point a senior who's in brussels so what will this downgrade bode for france and the euro zone if indeed it is true. well if indeed it is true the short answer to that is confidence investor confidence is the first thing that will be affected and then you'll have a downward spiral from then on based on those reports what we're seeing is a possible downgrade by one notch of france's credit rating as well as austria germany the netherlands finland and luxembourg will keep their current standing now france in particular has been closely watching especially since it's played a very big role in the bailouts for greece or portugal and also it leaves through the european central bank making it's a banking system financial system very very vulnerable and it had got warnings from s. and p. fo

france is in a crisis.hat people who have union responsibility and the government talk to see what needs to be done in order to fight against this cancer which is unemployment. everyone gave their opinion. of course we do not agree on everything. how could that be? we have talked freely. we agreed on emergency measures. within 10 days, with the prime minister and the government, we are going to take decisions that are even more important. i would like to explain the context. first, to those who said, let's not do anything because the presidential election is coming. i knew it was coming up. i can count up to five, you know? i am not talking about what comes after that. i had been elected for five years. if we could only take decisions when there is no election, we would take decisions. we have elections every year. let's not touch retirement because we have regional elections. let's not talk about regional reforms because we have municipal elections. let's not talk about universities, we have county electio

we can no longer believe in the masquerade of the political left and right for a long time here in france unlike anglo-saxon countries even germany and the united states there was a real alternative in french politics meaning there was the communist party and there was the whole movement of economic liberalism there was real political diversity in france which would gradually the so-called left eventually gravitated towards economic liberalism and the right the only differences between the left and right were small variations in their positions on ethics and society the best example is right now we have francois hollande a nicolas sarkozy and there's no real opposition between left and right it doesn't exist they're all roughly economic liberals libertarians for france the first step of visible liberalism is the european union there are those who submitted to the e.u. which means the end of borders free movement of goods and capital ideology of right and left the ideology of nation this is the dominant ideology in france shared by left and right the difference is only a static with wealth

this after france lost its treasured aaa rating. that in turn, some economists say could undermine the a aa rating of the total esfs. one country as well that's hitting the headlines, one country that will ill afford any more bailout troubles is here on the southern and eastern fringes of europe. it is, of course, greece, andrew. >>> nina, downgrading italy and spain won't inspire confidence in a year when euro zone governments need to refinance more than a trillion dollars worth of debt but the situation is more urgent in athens where talks on a deal to write down the value of greek bonds have stalled in a dispute over the interest rate on those bonds. that raises the likelihood of a greek default and subsequent exit from a greek zone. persuading cash-strapped banks to accept what would effectively be a bigger writedown based on lower interest or coupon as it's known is not proving easy. debt repayment in march but if not agreement in the next few days could miss that end default. >>> andrew, let's have a look at how the european m

and formally in europe france and britain went to war against each other in 1756. by that time, as we'll see, their colonies in north america and their forces in north america were already joined in conflict so to understand the french and indian war as it's traditionally called in american u.s. history and also the seven years war, one has to put it in a very broad perspective of north american history and even european history of course and looking beyond europe to the competition between empires, especially france and britain in various corners of the globe. the war would be fought in north america where it began. it was joined in europe on a large scale and involved nations such as russia, austria, prussia as well as france and britain. and of course it was fought in the caribbean as well, which was a major theater of conflict during the war. toward the end of the war spain would join on the side of france complicating the matter still. well, today our focus will mainly be on the conflict in north america. and, of course, that was the land of native peoples and

the markets are indicating otherwise a slew of credit rating downgrade has rocked europe depriving france and austria of their prized aaa grades and slashing the scores of seven other nations to the latest hit back at standard and poor's the agency behind the move calling the decision incomprehensible. has more on the wider implications. this comes at a time when optimism was just about going up when it comes to the euro zone with some positive data coming out first week of two thousand and twelve well clearly a new such as this would again dampen investor confidence and stall that process now this downgrade of france was not entirely unexpected i mean s. and p. had given it warnings the last year and even a lot of the analysts we've been talking to had said that a french downgrade was imminent so now that it has actually happened still the markets reacted negatively to all of this is happening because of france's role in the bailouts is one of the reasons in the role in the bailouts of greece of italy through the european central bank as well as of portugal so it has left the financial s

france, portugal, spain had a there is downgraded by two notches. portugal is now categorized in the junk status, which means it is as bad as greece. those that have lent to portugal now face of defaults and serious losses. france has been downgraded by one notch and a number of other countries, nine in total. what i found really extraordinary is that this affected all of the members of the eurozone. only one has a stable outlook. some will say that this is simply a statement of the obvious, that they have a financial crisis. it might exacerbate that crisis because it might make it harder for some of these countries, in particular portugal. i think one has to be worried about the fact that the economy is contracting so far. the other thing about today, friday the 13th is the talks between greece's creditors and the greek government broke down. that raises the risk of a default by greece. many people have probably said to you, we expected this default. actually, as and when it comes, it will do significant damage because the eurozone has still not pu

strips france of its top-notch credit rating. killed 77 people must face a new test to determine if he is sane. while burma releases hundreds of political prisoners, including prominent opposition activists. well, european leaders are scrambling this evening to respond to france losing its triple a rating. president sarkozy is holding crisis talks right now, and the german finance minister has issued a statement saying the judgment of ratings agencies should not be given too much weight. capitals await confirmation, the french finance ministry has confirmed that s&p has stripped it of its credit rating, knocking it down to aa-plus. the downgrade creates renewed doubt about the eurozone's ability to fight a financial crisis, but the french ministry has insisted that it will be deciding on its future, and not private agencies. >> the rumor, traders in paris off guard. the downgrade is a clear signal that the crisis in it the eurozone is far from being resolved. even though its economy has been sluggish over the past few years, fran

war has not yet been declared between britain and france. and yet, there is fighting in north america that's already begun. the british government makes the decision to send two regiments of troops totally nearly 2,000 men to north america to join in the conflict there. even though britain and france are not yet at war in europe, but the british government is thinking that north america is sufficiently important thart we have

in 1713, after war between britain and france. france surrendered acadia to the british. the british will remain that problem, nova scotia. the french were still in the region. first of all, most of the colonies, the great, great majority in acadia were french. second of all, the french retained according to the peace treaty, this island. it's hard to see it's an island on the map. there's a narrow channel between it and the rest of the nova scotia or acadia. the french did retain this island and this island off the coast of acadia. besides that, this region was also part of french canada. 1713, going back to an earlier french british car after all this was an era of french british conflict. the seven years war that we talk about today is the culmination of this really in the colonial period. the colonies there were french. whap do the british say to the french then? they basically wanted them to remove. they wanted the french colonies out if they could effect that. then they would bring in british colonists, prosubstantiates a protestants and remove the fremplg capital,

the rating agencies do not control the politics of france. we do. >> sarkozy gathered together his topic visor's. what this will mean is an increase in french of borrowing costs. they have to raise 290 billion euros to pay off old debt. the french government already has to pay 2.1% to bar a. that figure could increase. >> borrowing costs will rise. that is bad for france. >> but the downgrade also weakens the fire path of the eurozone's main bailout fund, which affects the credibility of the nations that packet. there were demonstrations outside the agency is in paris, calling the downgrade a declaration of war against france. >> is a very big blow to sarkozy, to his party. when hundred days from the elections, it is very bad news. >> as well as france, italy, a key country significantly downgraded tonight. austria lost its aaa rating. other european countries are set to be downgraded. the downgrade in paris was not the only bad news for the eurozone. key talks to reduce the brick debt burden have run to difficulties -- the greek debt burden

sarkozy even suggested the possibility of prince going -- of france going it alone.e called the tax a timely and necessary solution and said it should be introduced soon. if the eurozone does not move fast enough, france wouldld go ahead and set an example angela merkel andnd sarkozy were in agagreemt the private sector bond holders must s sharen reducing gris''s debt burden and urged athens to do more. >> in our opion, the second greek rescue package, including the restructuring, must be implemented quickly. otherwise, it will not be possible to pay out the next charge to greece. >> the nt eu summit is scheduled for the end of january. once again, germany and france will be going into the talks united on key issues. >> so does germany's new support for a financial trends action attacks mean that berlin has come around to the french view on this issue? -- for a financial transaction tax mean the berlin has come around to the french view on >> no, it is not. germany has strongly supported the financial transaction tax for quite some time but germany has been doing thi

france's debt is set to reach 90% of its output this year. they have to raise 290 billion euros to pay off old debt. the french government already has to pay 3.1% to borrow. that figure could increase. >> potentially in the future, french borrowing costs could rise, which is bad for france and the eurozone because france finances the rescue package. >> president sarkozy and chancellor merkel, it downgrades their firepower as the main bailout fund, which is linked to the credibility of the nations that back it. there was a protest tonight outside of the ratings agency's office in paris, calling the decision a declaration of war against france, but most people say the downgrade has the potential to damage president sarkozy. >> this is a very big blow to president sarkozy, his party, and 100 days from the elections, it is very bad news. >> italy, a key country, was also significantly downgraded tonight. spain also saw its crowding -- credit rating cut, and austria lost its aaa rating. the downgrade discussed at the palace tonight and in other af

and france. his bodyguards weren't with him, but i know if they were with him, he would have been alive for awhile and enjoyed his victory. but there's a big story, assassination, they got some books and i got my name in some books, and the assassination, but i didn't know nothing about it. he liked to go hunting. they were taking him hunting. so well you didn't see the picture. you got to see the picture. the cadillac had a gi truck and it hit the front end and there wasn't a piece of glass broken. he got hit in the head, we don't know. two guys rode in the back, and they were trying to figure it out but it won't come up, i guess not. they assassinated him. so now he is buried in luxemburg. they buried him right in the center of the cemetery. so i got a picture they sent me. they dug him up and put him in the front on the left-hand side, if you ever go to the cemetery in luxembourg, he is on the left-hand side with a big monument there. every time people see him, they say, where is george patton

and france, his bodyguards weren't with him. but i know if they were with him, he would have been alive for a while and enjoyed his victory. there was a big story, assassination. i've got my name in some books and all this about assassination, but i didn't know nothing about it. he liked to go hunting. they were taking him hunting. you didn't see the picture. you've got to see the picture. a g.i. truck, it just hit the front end. there wasn't a piece of glass that was broken, but he got hit in the back of the head. there were two guys riding in the back. they're trying to figure this out. but it will never come up, i guess. they assassinated him. so now he's buried in luxembourg. they buried him in the cemetery right in the center. so i got a picture they sent me. they dug him up and they put him in the front on the left-hand side. if you ever go to the cemetery in luxembourg, he's on the left-hand side. there's a big monument there. every time people used to go up to see him. where's george patton buried? now it's right there.

germany and france meet again looking for ways to world cracks in the euro zone germany's already thrown billions at saving the euro it's no surprise that it wants more control over the rest of the pack which is why berlin players are pushing to build a so-called fiscal compact meant to take the reins over so over and budgets but it's an idea that's not going down well on germany streets especially if there is a threat that germany can gain certain positions and influence in the e.u. and it may not really have any right to be doing this germany over the money but it gives the government gets power more. more power for. years as it's bad i think there's a danger the so-called robin hood tax is another proposed measure it will charge the financial institutions for every money movie meet with him to sterilize the markets however with more gloomy economic news over the euro zone's joblessness and feeling the chill seals some analysts warn if introduced the new tax meet only makes struggling countries even more dependent on france and germany is money there's no doubt germany remains the indu

i used to live in france. a long time ago, i spoke some french. >> spoke some french. >> i have a ph.d. in european history. i can do some in spanish, french and german. don't overthink this. it's supposed to be humorous, funny. it's closer to the "tonight" show. this is not a pbs documentary. it was just done to be funny. >> today in virginia, you were trying to get on the ballot there. got turned down. your campaign manager said this was kind of like a pearl harbor. went and appealed it, the judge turned you down again. how big of a problem is this? are you dead set on getting that ballot? will it crush you to not get on it? >> you have to accept reality and if that's the last word, it's the last word. it's unfortunate because it means the voters of virginia have been denied five candidacies that should be on there. it's the only state we've had that kind of problem and i think we're now on 25 or 30 ballots around country. we're going to keep going. just means i have to ultimately, coming out of south caroli

most of the troops from france in afghanistan are there only as trainers.icolas sarkozy said he would consider an early withdrawal of all french units. this comes a day after six marines were killed in a helicopter crash. from kabul, we have this report. >> in some of the most dangerous areas in northern afghanistan, a french troops fight the taliban. alongside them, the afghan army. they fight together and live together in close quarters. shoulder to shoulder is the slogan. after friday's killing, how much longer will the french stand alongside the afghan army? this evening in kabul, authorities revealed what happened. the french were conducting a training session. they were unarmed. an afghan officer opened fire, killing four and injuring 16. the french government says these were not combat deaths, but murders. this is the second such attack on french forces in the last few weeks. these killings are becoming more common. dozens of foreign soldiers have died when a afghans they served with turn on them. the administration denies there is a pattern to the a

france successfully managed to borrow fresh money on the money markets. news which contributed to the optimism at the exchange here at the beginning of the week. just like the news that the european central bank bought government bonds in the course of last week worth nearly 3.8 billion euros, three times more than during the previous week. orthodox monetary politicians might not like to hear this, but still, the ecb supports the markets this way. it supports banks and governmens. >> let's get a closer look at the trade in europe. stocks are closing the u.s. for public holiday. in frankfurt, the dax closed the day in positive territory, 1.25% higher. the euro stoxx 50 also had a positive day. the euro gaining ground against the dollar, but the general trend is lower. $1.2664. the german carmakers volkswagen and bmw say they are recalling more than half a million vehicles due to technical problems. vw announced a recall of more than 300,000 cars with diesel engines the models produced cents to dozen i could have possible problems due to cracks in the fuel

i used to live in france. a long time ago, i spoke some french. >> spoke some french. >> i have a ph.d. in european history. i can do some in spanish, french and german. don't overthink this. it's supposed to be humorous, funny. it's closer to the "tonight" show. this is not a pbs documentary. it was just done to be funny. >> today in virginia, you were trying to get on the ballot there. got turned down. your campaign manager said this was kind of like a pearl harbor. went and appealed it, the judge turned you down again. how big of a problem is this? are you dead set on getting that ballot? will it crush you to not get on it? >> you have to accept reality and if that's the last word, it's the last word. it's unfortunate because it means the voters of virginia have been denied five candidacies that should be on there. it's the only state we've had that kind of problem and i think we're now on 25 or 30 ballots around country. we're going to keep going. just means i have to ultimately, coming out of south caroli

economy and the other question marks over france of the qana me but that doesn't equate to a french sovereign debt default like you had in russia in one nine hundred ninety eight or various latin american countries in the eighty's so argentina so it's it is a far cry from anything close to a danger of a sovereign debt default that french economy is going into a mild recession or is already in one how much damage can they said downgrade do for france now. very little as i see it i've talked with people today who said it's virtually water off a duck's back because it was so widely anticipated in the markets from the prior announcements by s. and p. s. unclear as standard and poor's has played a rather blatant and aggressive role in this whole unraveling of the european euro crisis and its december little nine so people here are beginning to get used to it and if any one of those is in the end it's going to be the credibility of institutions like standard and poor's and moody's who will seem to politically what you think fitch and moody's didn't go along with has done great. well i thi

in the harbor in france. a lady was coming around washing your clothes and she used to wash my clothes. we waited everyday for them to come back, nice clean fresh clothes. so on the way home, i could only cash in $360, they gave me for that bag of money i had. so i cashed over with the german money. i got $360 in the post office. so i had this money. i said, what am i going to do with it. so i gave to this lady, she had two kids. she kissed my hands. like i gave her a million dollars. i gave her all the money i had. >> oh. this will kill you. we were in france, we stayed there for three months. we were getting ready for bastone and battle of the bulge. we were there for three months, we stayed there. we stayed in a place in a wine barrel factory where they made the wooden barrels for wine, wine barrels. and all women, no men. all women working. so they found a place we could stay. we had first platoon system and the officers and two houses and a bungalow. so we slept in the houses and officers slept in the bu

it's an amazing, amazing tale. >>> when we come back, france, the country of france is not happy todayit has nothing to do with the old, you know, thing going on between mitt and newt. all because so many people wanted to visit us... in louisiana. they came to see us in florida... nice try, they came to hang out with us in alabama... once folks heard mississippi had the welcome sign out, they couldn't wait to get here. this year was great but next year's gonna be even better. and anyone who knows the gulf knows that winter is primetime fun time. the sun's out and the water's beautiful. you can go deep sea fishing for amberjack, grouper and mackerel. our golf courses are open. our bed and breakfast have special rates. and migrating waterfowl from all over make this a bird watcher's paradise. so if you missed it earlier this year, come on down. if you've already been here come on back... to mississippi... florida... louisiana... alabama. the gulf's america's get-a-way spot no matter where you go. so come on down and help make 2012 an even better year for tourism on the gulf. brought to y

i love france. you know who else loves france?ounding fathers these guys claim to love so much. if it wasn't for france, we would not be here. i am going to france, but i will wrap it up. again, i don't like the disease. >> could never speak french because it seems to me they make weird sounds that don't come out of my mouth. >> i think is it sexy. i think it makes romney more attractive. >> a woman would say the french language is sexy. >> you don't think it is sexy when a female speaks french? >> i don't think it is sexy when mitt romney speaks french. i mean, it is kind of french. >> i remember saying that in eighth grade. >> that means i need a pill. >> it means i love marshall patan. >> when are you doing after le show? >> all right, on that note let's move on. from making up a flaw to breaking the law. does reducing time increase crime 1234* the mayor of la puente, california blames a spike of off fen -- offenses to cut the inmate population. sexual assault roups 300% and assaults with weapons are up 150% since the realignme