nicolas sarkozy is set to formally announce the decision later on tuesday. he is likely to take a neither/nor strategy. the party's dismal -- sarkozy announced that they should have awaited the party's decision. a reminder of the discord among the ump. >> the former president, nicolas sarkozy at the head of the ump party said voters should say no to the national front. also saying it is the voters' choice. the first three defendants have taken the stand in the sex trial of dominique strauss-kahn. he is one of 14 men on trial in involvement in a prostitution ring. the faces up to 10 years in prison. we're covering the story at the courthouse. what has been happening so far? >> well, you saw the first group of the 14 defendants at the stand. they involve the owner of the hotel and two other hotels as well as the manager at the time and the head of public relations for those hotels. much of tuesday morning was spent going through the character profiles of these three men previous employment. one issue that did come up was the discussion about it carlton apartme

he was favored to be the socialist candidate to face nicolas sarkozy in the 2012 election. dominique strauss-kahn faces up to 10 years in jail and 1.5 million euros of fines. many analysts believe that he will not get any time. many believe he will not serve any time and he might only just have to pay a fine. >> thank you for that. eurozone finance ministers will be meeting in a few hours to discuss greece's financial issues. the greek prime minister was in athens. to walk us through the details stephen carroll is here. >> this meeting was described as a very important one for greece's future plans. tsipras is discussing new economic reforms for greece. the prime minister wants help for cooperation and development. he wants progrowth measures for his country. the reforms will be part of a planned that the finance minister varoufakis will present later this wednesday. he will be looking for an agreement on an interim finance plan. >> sticking to his guns, the new greek government is set to present its first concrete proposal as it seeks to renegotiate the terms of its bailou

fired a cartoonist, maurice sinet, at one point, because he drew something that was critical of nicolas sarkozyh president's son, who was getting married to a jewish woman. and this was deemed to be antisemitic. so is there a double standard, where this guy gets fired for that but then has no problem publishing cartoons that are seen as making fun of the prophet muhammad? >> there is a double standard, and i think that is a problem. though i will say this _ i do not think that mocking a religious doctrine is the same as mocking the memory of 6 million people who were killed during the second world war. france does have hate speech laws, and among them, holocaust denial is a criminal offense. >> right. >> and i have for a long time spoken out against those laws. i do think that we have to get rid of hate speech laws in europe. and it's given some muslims a reason for accusing france of exercising double standards, because on the one hand, how is it possible that charlie hebdo can do what they are doing being taken to court and acquitted, and then you have a french comedian who is saying somethin

grace for the man once, once thought of as the potential challenger to former french president nicolas sarkozy, dominique strauss-kahn testifying before a french court this week he only only attended four luxury hotel orgies in a single year, and that he did not know the women there were prostitutes. she known as dsk. he faces up to 10 years in prison on, and this is the charge, believe it or not, he is charged with aggravated pimping. >>> 600 of our paratroopers are headed to ukraine to train troops to defend against attacks from russia. heavy fighting continues in the region with ukrainian government claiming 19 soldiers killed, nearly 80 injured over the past 24 hours. the latest round of fighting from leaders from ukraine, russia, france and germany gathering in minsk for peace talks, and joining us the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, william taylor, who is now the acting executive vice president at the u.s. institute for peace. it is great to have you with us. thanks for being here. >> thank you lou. lou: let me turn to first, the fact that the united states is not at this table. right

grace for the man once once thought of as the potential challenger to former french president nicolas sarkozyed former international monetary fund boss dominique strauss-kahn testifying before a french court this week that he only, only attended four luxury hotel orgies in a single year and that he did not know the women there were prostitutes. he is known as dsk. he faces up to ten years in prison on, and this is the charge believe it or not, he is charged with aggravated pimping. >>> president obama delivering a message to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu on his visit to capitol hill in two weeks at a press conference with german chancellor merkel today. mr. obama said she wouldn't have put him in such a position. >> as much as i love angela, if she was two weeks away from an election she probably would not have received an invitation to the white house. and i suspect she wouldn't have asked for one. so you know, the -- [ laughter ] so you know, this is just -- some of this just has to do with how we do business. >> wow. when the press corps is laughing with you -- or was that at y

well nicolas sarkozy, the former french president, who originally backed austerity measures for greece says he believes the country will have no chance but to reimburse its debt. >> translator: there is no chance he will succeed. but look where greece stands now, forced to beg because a prime minister who talked nonsense to our campaigning is now leading his country to bankruptcy. we have to tell greece which i love for many reasons, including for family reasons, you will have to pay back your debt. >> well our correspondent, mark lowen, is in athens and he gave me more details about the loan agreement. >> it comes down to semantics, daniela. what they've asked for is an extension called the master financial assistance agreement. doesn't quite roll off the tongue, does it? it's a formal term for greece's international loan that was agreed with the eurozone but the bailout contains all the harsh conditions of austerity. but, this loan agreement also contains conditions. so what they've done the greeks, is to basically prepare a document that helps them save face, to say, we want to cont