foreign minister laurent fabius denied ransom was paid but did admit to delicate negotiations. it's not clear which group kidnapped them, but the finger has been pointed at the islamic state of iraq and levant, an al qaeda branch with a track record of hostage taking and appearance in morne and eastern provinces of syria. journalists paid a heavy price in syria's car, 60 have decide. dozens kidnapped. times for an change of money -- exchange of munry or prisoners. >> reporter: france takes pride in securing the release of pripers. for a president beset by political woes. this latest release provided a rare moment of good news. r-. >>> rescue teams have been working around the clock after flood water inundated parts of serbia, it's been caused by heavy rainfall and melting snow. many were evacuated in the south and west of the country while some refused to leave their homes. the waters have began to subside. thousands of homes are without power. >>> pope francis used his eastern message to call for an end to conflicts around the world. in front of thousands of supporters in st.

laurent fabius is visiting his counterpart jimmy bruneau. cuba's human rights record was discussed. >> translation: there has been some improvement recently, especially with relationships with europe. tourist visas have been permitted and foreign investment from allowed. there was some talk. there has been economic partners. they have to speak freely. it's a duty to speak about everything, and, therefore, we have to speak about human rights. >> it's famous for bright lights and slot machines and caberet acts. melissa chan explores how creativity can flourish. >> los angeles, where 40 million tourists flock to cam ble, party and indulge, not to appreciate art. >> we are at the university of nevada las are -- las vegas, and patrick duffy shows us works. he won't deny they have struggled. las vegas art museum closed in 2009, during the recession. he is optimistic. >> we have about 2 million people that live here every day of their life. we are going to be able to also gather some of those towerists to be interested in our gol ris and institutio

laurent fabius is the foreign minister, so are they going to have any impact at all on the french economyoins us with his analysis. stephane. >> so there's one thing, ross, we've got less ministers than what we used to have in france. 15 ministers, the least of the ministers have been announced this morning. we will have to wait for the next week to ask the secretary of state position, which is the equivalent for junior minister. the key question for us, of course, what the name of the person who is going to replace the former french finance minister is not in the new team and has been replaced by two people, actually. michelle sappa, the finance minister and the minister for the public account, some sort of budget minister. michelle suppan worked for -- he failed to reduce the unemployment rate by the end of the year like francois hollande wanted to do. he's a close friend to francois hollande and probably he will have to take care or to look very carefully at what arnaund, the former minister for the product team recovery that was the official title he had. and he was the nonminister fo