john kerry joked today that he had big heels to fill as the new secretary of state. president obama's second major nominee to face a confirmation hearing was another national

. >> what's fascinating is when they announced the trio of nominations, john kerry at state, chuck hagel at defense and john brennan for cia, i remember being on the show and saying i think hagel will be the most controversial and brennan may well be the least controversial, brennan or kerry. i think -- i still don't think his nomination is imperiled. i would say you have it right. what you are now going to have in his confirmation hearing is an extended conversation about drone strikes, how we use them, how should we use them, how should congress be consulted, should the american public be -- it's going to be sort of a broader thematic discussion. and look, the fact is the white house -- if the white house would have preferred mikeis cough break the news two weeks after john brennan rather than three days before his confirmation hearing, absolutely. >> that pesky mikeis cough. you never know when he'll break the stories. susan page, ron widen is the leader of the rebellious group on the senate intelligence committee, not the chair, dianne feinstein who we'll be talking to tomorrow. but

still continues to threaten war with iran and it's unclear whether john kerry's what john kerry's wall will be as secretary of state supporting or stopping the war he likes to present himself as this. war politician but he's the same politician who voted to authorize the use back invasion was no evidence at hand that iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction so john kerry has a mixed record and certainly big challenges ahead a lot from washington go to john thanks very much indeed. well coming up a little later in the program dissolving the mystery the artistic director of moscow's world famous bolshoi ballet heads to germany for specialist treatment after saying he knows who's behind the violent acid attack on two weeks ago that just ahead on r.t. . there are twelve cities in the united states in which half of the people with hiv aids lives within a year. to two percent of. those with aids this is a problem that frankly is substantially preventable it was like the big elephant in the room and nobody wanted to talk about there were really good public health campaigns people really foc

all right well today marks john kerry's first official day as the sixty eighth secretary of state and perhaps not a moment too soon topping secretary kerry's agenda is a push to restart the peace talks between the israeli and the path the israelis and palestinians and in the more immediate future he plans to address the volatile situation in egypt and also the one in northern africa his appointment comes amid dropping u.s. approval ratings in the middle east something hillary clinton addressed last week. some of the success is that being attributed to you is the mending fix in you know it's the it's relation with have been mostly more yet the statistics going to dictate that if you look at the pew set this it shows that actually you're favoritism in comparison the bush administration is lower and in countries like turkey usually than and other places so what is going wrong does that mean that america's then in the in the in the word is on the receive in that space to just being afflicted i think it's fair to say that the united states for the last decade has not been viewed favorably

still continues to threaten war with iran and it's unclear whether john kerry's what john kerry's wall will be as a secretary of state in supporting or stopping the war he likes to present himself as this. war politician but he's the same politician who voted to authorize the rack invasion was no evidence that iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction so john kerry has a mixed record and certainly big challenges ahead live from washington go to john thanks very much different. well coming up a little later in the program dissolving the mystery the artistic director of moscow's world famous bolshoi ballet heads to germany for specialist treatment after saying he knows who's behind a violent acid attack on two weeks ago that just ahead on r.t. . there are twelve cities in the united states in which half of the people with hiv aids lives within a year of a diagnosis of. over sixty two percent of. us with this is a problem that frankly is substantially preventable it was like the big elephant in the room and nobody wanted to talk about they were really good public health campaigns if peop

america's new secretary of state john kerry is checking the box a with key allies in europe on his first tour abroad and we'll look at what his mission with partners there could be all about. the. syrian rebels release a video which they say shows a government helicopter being shot down with a missile that the regime says it's ready to talk to all sides of the opposition even doe's who are armed and fighting. and afghan drugs amid a russian vegetables drug control officer sees almost two hundred kilos of heroin hidden in sacks with radishes at a market near moscow. good evening we've got news and analysis live from our moscow headquarters of course you're watching r t with me lucy catherine of well on to our top story voting has ended in italy where a disillusioned public has been choosing its parliament early results show the center left coalition is leading with the main surprise of the selection the party led by a former comedian who's also doing well now for more on the outcome let's turn to our tease arena who is live for us in rome arena great to see you vote counting is underway h

john kerry, a big change from hillary clinton.o much in policy, but in sort of direction, stature, coming from the senate more so than from the political world. he has come from a world of foreign policy. will the white house be running the show? >> the secretary of state is superbly well qualified. he spent nearly 29 years in the senate. always a member of the foreign relations committee. he has been a life-long student of foreign affairs after living with his parents in germany after the second world war. he is remarkably well connected to international leaders, and just knows these issues front wards and backwards. i think he is well prepared. you notice, andrea, that he called two sets of leaders over the weekend. many middle east leaders and also asian leaders. he is focused on those two regions. that's where he is going to be test veried early on. >> other secretaries of state have tried to engage much more verying russly, many of the, than hillary clinton did, in the northeast diploma as where i. she, of course, had the cha

and america on his visit to london john kerry has been testing the ground for u.s. foreign policy on the first leg of his tour of kerry has chosen to meet with traditional american allies in europe such as the leaders of britain germany and france before heading on to the middle east well let's talk now to jeremy corbyn he is a british labor party politician and a member of parliament sir thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us here it looks like john kerry's visit hasn't been too taxing so far i do want to play you a short soundbite of how he described ties between the u.s. and the u k. there is a reason why we call this special relationship or as. prime minister cameron wrote really a partnership of the heart what do you think this alliance is based on a partnership of the heart when i think historically it's based on u.s. support for britain in the first world war in very large loans. more than anything a military alliance made through nato and the substantial us bases in britain the idea that some kind of special relationship when it comes to trade

plus america's new top diplomats john kerry sets off on a marathon foreign tour his first as a secretary of state we're going to speak with a foreign policy expert john humphrys to talk about what can be expected say with us coming up after the break. you know sometimes you see this story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else here's some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm trying hard to be the big. issue. going to take three. three. three. three. three. three bars. for your media. free media r t v dot com. you're watching r t i'm lucy catherine of well syrian rebels have received a new batch of heavy weaponry from outside sponsors across the jordanian border in order to fight president assad that's according to arab and rebel officials this comes as fledgling efforts to promote peace talks in the syrian conflict appear to have stalled now the main opposition group syria's national coalition announced that it is pulling out of the upcoming international talks aimed at helping to end the bloodshed the g

to john kerry to come back and tell him that after his meeting in rome so you'll have also saying that both he and the secretary of state expressed a huge desire to see peace in the middle eastern country now peter of course said the syrian issue isn't the only one that's been dividing foreign policy between the u.s. and russia talk a little bit more about some of the issues that the two countries haven't seen eye to eye on as of late. well this hasn't been the best of times for us russian relations and there was plenty of things to talk about one of the other major issues that was touched on was a ban on the adoption of russian children by american families now this came into place after the death of a three year old boy originally from russia while he was in the chaos of an american family he became the latest in a line of russian youngsters to lose their lives while being looked after in the united states john kerry expressed his deep regret at the death of the boy and said that a full investigation was underway into what led to him dying he also promised for all that much more info

we heard john kerry in your report just they're talking about jobs, jobs, jobs. there appears to be a great deal of economic pressure on both sides of the atlantic driving some motivation toward a possible free trade deal, but again, there were other foreign policy issues, including afghanistan and, particularly, syria on the agenda. >> what about this free trade deal? >> there is talk right now of actually getting negotiations going formally sometime this coming summer. within two years, that is the time frame they are talking about, officials right now, of having some sort of deal in place, but there are huge hurdles on the way. there's been talk of a free- trade agreement for a long time. many people thought it would be dead. it appears to be revived with great economic pressure to get it going. >> thank you very much for that. >> last year, the white house announced a big strategic shift, what it calls it pivot to asia, as a response to the rise of china. >> the implications in europe for just as profound. many feared it was just as much a pivot away from old

i think what john kerry is doing is the right thing. he's getting his feet wet and fact finding on the ground. he is touching base with our major allies in europe, with turkey, and then iffing into the middle east. i think his assessment on the position of assad is critical is assad willing to accept some negotiations to leave the country? is assad going to depart for the alaawhite areas and have a concentrated domain there? what is likely to happen in syria is important. i'm not one that is for giving heavy arms to -- in the middle of what is effectively a civil war because i suspect those arms will crop up another day and could well kill americans, and that worries me a great deal. i have a great deal of faith in secretary kerry. he is skilled. he is effective. he's got the standing. in my view, he is the best of the united states. sfoo let me ask you about a couple of other foreign policy challenges. china during the last couple of days we've seen this report last week. very well regarded confirmed report that has actually traced chi

. >> and the secretary of state john kerry is about to leave for his first trip to foreign capitals. we'll preview the challenges that await him with former defense secretary william cohen and talk about hagel. and, later, britain's ambassador to the united states am. >> plus, monday join us live from london. we'll take the show on the road with secretary kerry. that's monday at 1:00 eastern only on andrea mitchell reports. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] what's the point of an epa estimated 42 miles per gallon if the miles aren't interesting? the lexus ct hybrid. this is the pursuit of perfection. [ angry gibberish ] [ justin ] mulligan sir. mulligan. take a mulligan. i took something for my sinuses, but i still have this cough. [ male announcer ] truth is, a lot of sinus products don't treat cough. they don't? [ male announcer ] nope, but alka seltzer plus severe sinus does it treats your worst sinus symptoms, plus that annoying cough. [ angry gibberish ] [ fake coughs ] sorry that was my fault sir. [ male announcer ] alka seltzer plus severe sinus. [ breathes deeply ] ♪ oh, what a relief i

sfwlimplt john kerry will be sworn in later today. he will inherit a long list including the threat of a nuclear iran. joining me is a scholar with the endowment for national peace. aem a davidson, the senior editor with the new yorker making sfwleen. thank you both. thank you very much. just as john kerry is heading to the state department, he is being sworn in privately this afternoon as hillary clinton exits, and she's going to be speaking at around 2:30, and we'll have that, of course, all live. he has apparently told "the boston globe" in a farewell interview as he went around massachusetts visiting points of his public career, he has told "the boston globe" that president obama offered hem a job a week before susan rice withdrew. this is a different timeline. david, what does this tell us about the doings of washington? we know that she first got herself into difficulty the second week of september after the benghazi attack on those five talk shows that blew p the following week when she was called to the hill, and then she was

all of his former colleagues from his side of the aisle who were perfectly happy to swift vote john kerry and then vote for him -- i think there were only three dissenting votes. and here they have somebody who they agree with far more than they agree with john kerry on foreign policy, and they just trashed him. >> does chuck hagel have the know-how to handle the bureaucracy like the pentagon? >> before the recess, he was unsteady with his answers and grasp of the facts. later in afternoon, the third round of hearings, after he was more sure-footed, does he have the capacity? i think so, if you listen to the exchanges with center came from maine talking about the management of the defense department, issues there. a much more competent answer. >> what about this jewish lobby business? he apologized for using that phrase, but listen to this exchange with lindsey graham. >> name one person who is intimidated by the israeli lobby in the u.s. senate. >> the use of intimidation -- i should have used influence. >> he could not name one person publicly. this is gamesmanship of the first order. y

then, john kerry is the new secretary of state. or the pressure has really taken a toll on hillary clinton. [laughter] and my guest paola antonelli is a curator at the museum of modern art. i'll ask her to exit through the gift shop. [laughter] it's chuck hagel's first day as secretary of defense. tomorrow we start the two-month confirmation process for his second day of work. [laughter] this is "the colbert report." captioning sponsored by comedy central ( theme song playing ) ( cheers and applause ) thank you, ladies and gentlemen. thank you so much. [cheers and applause] [crowd chanting stephen] [cheers and applause] welcome to the report, good to have you with us. please, sit down. [cheers and applause] folks, we have to do the show. [cheers and applause] folks -- [cheers and applause] if you watch this program, and i certainly hope that you do, you know that if nothing else i'm a company man. and i could not be prouder that this show is a profitmaking tsunami for my parent company viacom. [laughter] make no mistake, i am the r

with john kerry being sworn in as the new u.s. secretary of state last week the white house may have been hoping for some favorable coverage of its diplomatic efforts but you have to pay to play a role in the foreign service of. capitol hill what is going to check on all. representing the united states in western europe and a small chance of serving in say central asia or sub-saharan africa donors and advisers involved in the diplomatic selection process the competition this year has been so tight that those who have raised less than a million dollars are for the most part on likely to be considered this monday was john kerry's first working day as secretary of state these are challenging times for u.s. foreign service u.s. embassies have come under attack in a number of muslim countries just within the last year the u.s. ambassador to libya was killed in september. shortly after the u.s. helped carry out regime change there is a sense of denial in washington that this rage against the americans in the muslim world has something t

even before his plane took off from joint base andrews, secretary of state john kerry encountered turbulence on his first overseas mission. he had aides on three couldn't alberto couldn't -- continents working the phones. after the -- the secretary warned diplomats they could be affected by the sequester. kerry dialed the president of the syrian opposition council and encouraged him to return to the bargaining table at rome. state department officials won't confirm the meeting is back on but we understand the appeal was successful. the sir ran rebels want the u.s. to help them in their bloody two-year uprising against bashar al-assad. the war has claimed more than 70,000 lives. secretary of state john kerry says the u.s. has new ideas about how to change the thinking on the ground but a washington wants to see a political transition. >> all this comes a day ahead of new talks between western powers and iran over iran's nuclear program. >> the first new talks since june between iran and the p5 plus 1, referring to the five states that sit on the u.n. security council, including the united sta

continues to -- john kerry embarked on his first overseas voyage as secretary of state. stination choice didn't come from the white house playbook. some white house officials wanted him to follow in clinton's foot steps bay making his maiden overseas trip a tour of asia, according to two people close to the situation. instead kerry insist odd a ten-day trip that starts in london. that raised a few eyebrows, says one state department adviser about kerry's decision. in london yesterday kerry poured on his trademark diplomatic harm to show that the special relationship was alive and well. >> it's no accident for sure that this is the first stop on my trip as secretary of state. i came here many, many years ago as a young child, managed to get lost in london zoo. i want to thank somebody for find meg. >> his diplomatic chops were put to the test when he had to privately promise syrian opposition leaders more nonmilitary aid to end their threatened boycott of an international friends of syria meeting. kerry will attend that in rome later this week in london the secretary said

her successor, senator john kerry, will be sworn in later today.ough day on capitol hill for president obama's defense secretary nominee chuck hagel. during his confirmation hearings, he faced intense grilling from republicans. >> were you correct or incorrect and you said that the surge would be the most dangerous part policy blunder in this country since vietnam? yes or no? >> my preference -- >> are you evading the question? >> republicans repeatedly questioned him about a study that he co-authored to call for an 80% cut in u.s. nuclear weapons. he has most democrats on this side. a confirmation vote for him next week. it could be a difficult weekend for thousands of metro riders. orange line trains will not be running between the federal centers southwest and cheverly. trains will not be running between federal center southwest and benning road. ben austen o'clock tonight until closing on sunday. shuttle buses will be available. -- blue line trains will not be running. red line trains will single track between farragut north and did sherri. gre

secretary of state john kerry promising aid in return for just getting them to. play good cop bad cop with the run juggling sanctions and rewards in a bid to close the islamic republic into abandoning nuclear enrichment. and ungovernable only the center left coalition claims away first in victory in the lower house but all important senate result is still too close to call as the last votes are counted. and the round the world this isn't she was me thanks for joining us. the new u.s. secretary of state's fast assignment has seen him give in to pressure from the sea were in opposition he pledged more aid in return for the rebels agreeing to talk john kerry along with his work as counterpart william hague has made concessions in order to draw in the sewer a national coalition to the upcoming friends of syria me saying the group initially refused to go to the gathering of its global supporters accusing them of not doing enough to overthrow the assad regime about guys i mean it's now believe international supporters are being blackmailed by the group they helped crea

secretary of state john kerry has signaled washington's readiness to support the syrian rebels ahead of thursday's so-called friends of syria meeting in rome live now to brussels and political analyst alex corbell drives joins us live i should say john kerry is vowing to not leave syrian rebels so to say dane going in the wind as he put it pledging more support how far do you think it will go how much support. well quite fluently i mean everyone wants to stop the killing in syria it's clear the question is is the rebels the right way to achieve this goal and clearly i think that it's not and for three reasons the first reason is a. position to the syrian regime is really divided you have the n.c.c. you have the. if and see. if they say so one of them wants to share power with the regime and the other one doesn't want the solution the third one the second one you have the misting brotherhood would like to turkey to intervene you would let us be syrian because we don't vote we mr carville if i might interrupt you just because mostly to asia is so complicated and we have a bit of a dela

secretary of state john kerry promising aid in return for just getting them to talk . grinding to hold the euro zone's fears of a deadlocked italian government could become reality with early election results pointing to hug parliament. once world powers play good cop bad cold weather run juggling sanctions and group walls in a bid to cause the islamic republic into abandoning nuclear enrichment. international news and comment live this is the with me hello and welcome to the program. the new u.s. secretary of state's first assignment has seen him give in to pressure from the sea were in opposition he pledged to more aid in return for the rebels agreeing to talk john kerry along with his british counterpart william hague has made concessions in order to drive the syrian national coalition to the upcoming friends of see where the group initially refused to go to the gathering of its global supporters accusing them of not doing enough to overthrow the assad regime of i. feel that western powers are being blackmailed by the group they helped create. both countries pledged

this trip. >> he's characterizing this first trip more broadly, as a listening tour. >> reporter: john kerryfootsteps of hillary clinton, who had sky-high popularity around the world. >> nobody's the rock star hillary clinton is. >> reporter: but kerry, who is a boy, lived in berlin, brings his own credentials. as chairman of the foreign senate relations committee, he got to know many world leaders. he served as barack obama's personal enjoy to pakistan and afghanistan. madeleine albright says despite clinton's global following, kerry is ready the take the lead as america's top diplomat. >> i've known him a very, very long time. and someone who comes from being chairman of the foreign relations committee, he's clearly dealt with all the issues and understands their background, their depth. >> reporter: and so, it is billed as a listening trip. and that means, to be diplomatically safe. not to break any new ground. not to make any mistakes. but hatching plots -- or hatching plans in washington is one thing. but the reality on the ground in the middle east, in syria, is certainly another, john

secretary of state john kerry promising aid in return for just getting them to talk . while powers play good cop bad cop with a run junking sanctions on who was in a bid to coax the islamic republic into a binding nuclear enrichment. grinding to hold the eurozone as fears of a deadlocked italian government could become reality with all the election results pointing to hug parliament. hello and welcome to twenty following years live from moscow. my story now. the new u.s. secretary of state's first assignment has seen him give in to pressure from d.c. where an opposition has pledged more aid in return for the rebels agreeing to talk john kerry along with his british counterpart william hague has made concessions in order to drag the syrian national coalition to the upcoming friends of syria mean seeing the group initially refused to go to the gathering of its global supporters accusing them of not doing enough to eye with where they are sort of reaching some analysts now that the western powers are being blackmailed by the group they helped create. both countries. so no

was addressing journalists he said that he had assurances from john kerry that when the secretary of state meets with leading syrian opposition figures in rome on thursday that he would be insisting that there would be immediate talks talks as soon as possible between both sides in the conflict now this is a potentially huge move there has been deadlock really over how to solve the crisis in syria for a long time now with the united states on the opposition saying that assad to step down as president it would now seem that that is missing a softening of not opinion well this hasn't been the best of times for us russian relations one of the other major issues that was touched on was a ban on the adoption of russian children by american families now a three year old boy originally from russia while he was in the k. of an american family he became the latest in a line of russian youngsters to lose their lives while being looked after in the united states saying that during his meeting with john kerry the secretary of state admitted that there were problems when it came to the care of ru

secretary of state john kerry has signaled washington's readiness to support the syrian rebels ahead of thursday's so-called friends of syria meeting in rome live now to dr ali mohamad editor in chief of the syria tribune online magazine thank you for being with us john kerry says this time will be different he's pledging more support to syrian rebels how much aid. the real question should be home which he has listened to what more can the u.s. and its allies give to the rebels they are giving them a home you mean every country and they are giving them free passes to live from neighboring countries they're giving them even though the u.s. but look at approx he's already you know proxies they are giving them. all kinds of explosives and i'm willing to go to that mission what more can you offer. why don't you try to answer that for us what do you think kerry means by more support than what i think mr kerry is trying to prepare the coalition for the next step which should be they all now if he thinks that by giving them more even more political ignition and promising their support will

secretary of state john kerry promising aid in return for just getting them to talk . on world powers play good cop bad cop with the wrong juggling sanctions and woods in a bid to coax the islamic republic into abandoning a new plan which. you saw in russia under wrong but while this is all she was me your leadership of iowa hello and welcome to the program so it is a waking up today to deadlocks political system after a big force parliamentary election with all domestic shots counted not a single political group has enough support to take the reins of the debt ridden nation and let's not go to seize every night in rome now for more irina very nice to see years so the vote count is all but complete so what's the picture that. well the first thing we can say at this point is that it seems like civil is back with a vengeance he's just a ship that won't sink a man of some political experts have called a political corpse just a couple of months ago has made this tremendous comeback he is actually seems to be holding a really good share of seats in the senate but again he i

obviously, it's not john kerry. the guy you are looking for is the one who is up this week. on thursday of this week, president obama's nominee to head the cia, john brennan, will face the senate intelligence committee for his confirmation hearing as the director of central intelligence. one of the very first thing president obama did you might remember when he first became president at the start of his first term in 2009 was that he dropped the bush administration's torture policy. remember, he did that right away. he issued an executive order two davis taking office to doubly, triply extra ban torture in the united states. at the start of that first term, newly elected president obama also wanted to nominate john brennan to be the head of the cia. but he didn't end up putting him forward. john brennan ended up taking his name out of contention for that nomination because of opposition to him being chosen. and the opposition centered on the fact that john brennan had been deputy executive director of the cia during the bush days. during the bad old torturing prisoners days o

then they will choose themselves more isolated. >> john kerry speaking friday.e go to washington, d.c., talk to the national training council. his new book is called "a single roll of the dice." welcome to "democracy now!" you are just back from britain. why were you there? what i was testifying the british parliament foreign relations committee. >> about? >> this issue with iran. there was a keen interest in a lot of thinking going on in europe to see whether the strategy that has been pursued that is so pressure centric really is working and if it will not work, what is the trajectory we're headed towards? what is the end result of this path? talk about the u.s. saying they would have direct talks with iran, as you just heard john kerry say. >> i think obama administration is serious. they do desired have diplomacy but i think the approach to diplomacy is such an which the belief is the only way to really get a deal is to put maximum pressure on the iranian regime. i think that is an approach that may sound good on paper, may sound logical on paper, but in pra

. >> john kerry says he has big he heels to fill. >> and the lead up to the card >> los altos, and petaluma and all the bay area this is abc7 news. >> one of the san francisco giant world heroes will not face criminal charges. police removed romo from the las vegas airport after a confrontation with t.s.a. agents on new year's day. the t.s.a. says he lacked proper identification and argued with the agents. abc7 was told they will not prosecute the case because they lack the resources. >> new secretary of state, john kerry, is reporting for duty, addressing the country's foreign service workers, and he praised his predecessors, hillary clinton, and condoleeza rice. >> can a man actually run the state department? i don't know. as the saying goes, i have big heels to fill. >> and john kerry was sworn in on friday and over the weekend he assured world leaders the united states is committed to peace in the middle east. >> we are certain that a man can do the job of bringing the weather, right? here is mike nicco. >> and spencer and sandy. >> equal opportunity. >> we are equal opportunity here. g

john kerry is in as secretary of state. chuck hagel, a republican who would garner bipartisan support you would think is under fire. senator john kerry takes the oat asset of state replacing hillary clinton who heads off to retirement with a question lingering: will she run for president? >> i am going to get back to my life. this is going to be new for me. why go how i will react. >> senator john kerry takes over the state department after cruising to confirmation from the senate, president obama's choice to run the pentagon is a different story. on thursday, former republican senator hagel, a vietnam verb took fire from members of his own party for his opposition to the 2007 troop surge in iraq. >> were you correct or incorrect when you said that the surge would be the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since vietnam? were you correct or incorrect? >> i am not going for give you a yes-or-no answer --. >> refuse to answer that? >> he was hammered by g.o.p. senators who believe he is soft on iran and too

hmm, john kerry is second rate?n kerry who volunteered for combat in vietnam and faced the enemy under fire? john kerry who was nearly elected president, a contest in which dick cheney didn't dare try for first base? chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, that john kerry?

as john kerry begins his term as u.s. secretary of state a new study finds some foreign service personnel are paying for the privilege to serve by donating millions to get the top jobs. in kuwait yet another activist thrown in jail for criticizing the emir on twitter sparking protests against the country's unelected rulers. two am in moscow i matras a good to have you with us here on r t our top story nice shares presidents confirm the presence of french troops in one of the country's biggest uranium mines in arlott he says special forces were asked to come in to avoid a repetition of last month's hostage crisis in neighboring algeria the mining sites itself been a scene of a kidnapping two years ago and those taken at the time haven't yet been freed or he's shown thomas has more. the mine in question is the location in which the french company a revenue has a large stake now it's important to know that this is the second mission in africa completely separate from france's mission in mali which has been going on for nearl