jackie roland reports from paris. >> reporter: franÇois hollande had hoped to use this press conferenceto keep france on the world stage. >> if france wants to continue its presence in the world, if it wants to keep control of its destiny it must imperatively find some economic strength. >> above all the president didn't want this news conference to be about his personal life, but that was the subject of the very first question towed answer. >> everyone in their private lives go through difficult times. but i believe private business is dealt with privately. so it is neitherly the time nor the moment to do so. opinion polls suggest his leamed affair has not had much impact on his popularity, but that popularity is already very low. this was the president on the defensive. defensive on the economy and defensive on his person life. this could hardly be the fresh start that he had hoped for. he has promised tocracy jobs, reduce spending and hoped to tell the french people soon whether they have a first lady. >> the governor of new jersey has apologized for a scandal that has dented his hop

. >> reporter: jackie roland is in brussels but we go to mr.ips and to bongi for an update on the situation there and the new interim president will be named on monday and will it be enough to calm the sectarian tensions we are seeing? >> it won't be enough by itself, no, but i suppose it's a start and everyone here will hope who merges from the protest and they will be discussed and voted over right now we understand and we hope it's somebody of great courage and integrity. they will have to be if they are to make a difference. but we have to be realistic about this. the state has broken down in the central african republic and not just that schools, hospitals don't visit but there is no police force, no judiciary so whatever emerges won't have the means at their disposal to reimpose law an order and to that and alleviating the humanitarian emergency has to come from the outside and the international community. >> reporter: is the violence limited to the capitol? we hear and see a lot of what is happening in bongi but is it just bongi or is th

. >> jackie roland is in brussels. >> this is a political agreement on a possible eu military intervention in the central african republic. and the important word is possible. it shows there's a political will there among eu member states but that would need to be translated into into a practical agreement, practical arrangements which would mead individual countries pledging forces. a decision on the command structure and all these various logistical structures and plus there would need to been a u.n. security council resolution authorizing a eu intervention, because the current resolution refers to the french and african. also some very practical steps involved, as we've seen in previous conferences it's easy to pledge money. it's easy to pledge troops. but actually getting things in place on the ground is a different matter. if it does go ahead, we are looking at a force of approximately 500 and the primary responsibility would be to secure the airport, to secure delivery of aid there, trying to tackle the violence in the other part of the country. >> in the meantime, politicians meetin

. >> jackie rolands live in paster, jackie, thank you. >> we will have more from europe a little bit later in the news hour, now though let's go back to david there doha. >> we will see you then. now, news out of kenya, where a big trial gets underway on wednesday. four men all ethnic somalis involvement in the tack on the west gate mall. more than 70 people were killed in that siege, the defendants have pleaded not guilty to charges of supporting a terrorist group. from nairobi. >> they had prayed for us. >> cut in the west gate maul attack, he was shot in the knee, another bullet grazed his forehead, he can't forget the shooter's face, and that of a security guard that layed dead next to him. the government he says has done nothing to help, and he doesn't believe an on going trial will give them justice. >> there has been contradictly reports. so question are knot sure we are prosecuting the right guys or it is another scheme for a cover up, which i find disturbing. >> four suspects were charged in connection with the attack. they are held at a maximum security prison where the tri

jackie roland in pai paris. >> the former prime minister ariel sharon died on saturday at the age of 85 an i've years in a coma. tom ackerman reports from jerusalem. >> reporter: the crowds came to view sharon's casket were not impressive for "n" size, 25,000, but the figures including foreign ministers and prime minister tony prayer. he said that negotiations with sharon was often difficult but grounded in one objective. >> he did not pursue peace as a dreamer, but did he dream of peace and to end the war. >> reporter: u.s. vice president joe biden said sharon had always been vigilant in protecting the jewish people but was open to compromise for israel's neighbors. >> we'll never know what the element arc of sharon's life had been had he physically be able to pursue his stated goal, but we do know this as prime minister he surprised men. >> reporter: prime minister benjamin netanyahu and ally who turned adversary took a moment to restate its agenda. >> we'll act in every way possible to prevent iran of acquiring nuclear weapons. >> reporter: recollection of sharon's human side by c

. >> jackie roland has the latest from paris. >> trying to look for positive subjects to emphasize given the whole doubt, nine days ahead of the geneva talks about what exactly will take place across that conference table. they have been stressing the possibility of a limited cease fire for example around the city of aleppo. they've also been talking about possible prisoner exchanges and also a possible agreement by the regime forces to allow the creation of humanitarian corridors. but at the same time, none of this can detract from the fact that we're still not sure who will be sitting at that table, neither on the opposition side nor representing the regime of bashar al-assad. the oirption is certainly under pressure -- opposition is certainly under pressure not to cave in not to agree to any talking formula that would allow bashar al-assad to cling on longer to power. however on the government side they're saying they'll come to the talks but not fooling under so much pressure to look for a political solution since mill tailor, things have been improving for them, they have been makin

jackie roland, aljazeera, paris. >> how any lawmaker handles a scandal can determine their political futures, and they can move on, but are the voters ready? we bring her in, she's the ceo of a management firm. welcome. >> thank you so much. it's a pleasure to be here. >> what do you think? how did governor christie handle his crisis so far? >> i think so far, he has done quite well. and i think today especially he did quite well. his trick is to countermand what people are thinking of him and saying of him that he's a bully. and he said himself, he's not a bully and he needs it show that now, and today he did a very good job of doing it. >> . >> and what about the president of france? let's talk about him. how did he do? >> this is his second time with mistresses. this is a mistress of a former mistress, and there's no privacy anymore. for nim of us, and especially for political figures such as he. and i guess he had to say what he said, but it's not totally believable. >> let's go into what you say about this. you've been involved in crisis management before. and what goes into a p

al jazeera's jackie roland explains why >> reporter: it was a last-ditch attempt to persuade the syrian opposition to talk to the assad regime. the americans with their european and arab partners argues that there can be no military victory. after three years of fighting in syria, they say the only way ahead is a negotiated solution. >> we have renewed our full support for the syrian national council at a time when the syrian people are facing majority difficulties. following an extensive discussion we have unanimously adopted this text presenting our position on the crisis on the direction in which the community must follow and which request of the geneva 2 conference take place following the expected timetable. >> the syrian political opposition is as fragmented as the armed opposition on the ground. one thing the different groups agree on is that assad leave the political scene. the most important is that assad has no future in syria. the siryn opposition is under strong and conflicting pressures. it's international partners are adamant it should take part in peace talks later this m

the case raises important questions about the limits of free speech in france and jackie roland al jazeeratro has a surprise public appearance and state television showed him at the opening of an art center in havana, the 87-year-old was seen in public 9 months ago and rarely leaves his private villa and he handed power to his brother raul six years ago. still ahead on the news hour, the brazil breathtaking view but for the wrong reasons, polluted water is causing a stench ahead of the olympics and in sports there is a goal stopper rather than goal scorer for madrid and that is coming up, your way in just a few minutes. do stay with us. ♪ >> every sunday night al jazeera america prese ♪ welcome back. fears of recreation marijuana exceeded $5 million in the state of colorado in just one week. the shops opened legally for the first time on new year's day and many stores say they are sold out of a drug which is available to anyone age 21 or older. now to brazil which is faces unwelcome attention because of water pollution in rio, the bay is too dirty for sports and we report. >> rio is one of

an alleged affair with a french actest and judy is suing the magazine who broke the story and jackie roland and another embarrassment for the president. >> yes, this speech he is making at the moment for the diplomatic core in paris is a regular, annual event in france, the whole of january really seems to be given over to the president and other senior officials, giving their new year greetings and new year wishes and two different segments of the population and ask the press earlier in the week and now it's the diplomates and army and this is just a regular thing and his speech and we can expect to be focusing very much on the kind of topics that he raised during his address to journalists and notably influencing and returning france to its place in the world and talking to diplomates he is likely to talk more about international affairs for example and france's involvement in mali and central african republic and you are quite right and it coincides with yet more revelations by this gossip magazine and i have a copy here i'm afraid, they are clearly milking it for what they can get and p

they are meeting in brussels today hoping to find a way to help restore order and al jazeera's jackie rolandrom brussels and good morning and what do we expect to come out of today's meeting? >> good morning, stephanie. we are expecting by the end of monday to have a commitment from eu officials to send european troops to the central african pepic to support the french and the peace keeping forces on the ground and, specificing to see a force that could be a few hundred to at the top about 1,000 troops and they could be in place a month from now and they would expect their their mission to last half a year and the government has to persuade their citizens that, in fact, they should be sending servicemen and women to the central african republic that not a lot of europeans have heard of and known in france but countrys in europe have not heard of the small african nation and tough to convince the electorates that this is a place that european soldiers, servicemen should be sent to. >> a volatile area with troops and aid in the country, could we expect to see a stall in violence? >> that reall