geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on the “news hour” tonight, the man accused of killing united healthcare's ceo is charged with murder as an act of terrorism. geoff: displaced syrians return to their homes after the fall of

the assad regime, while the search for missing americans continues. we speak with the mother of journalist austin tice. >> he was 30 the last time that i hugged him, and he's 43 now. it's just so hard to imagine. amna: and the ongoing opioid crisis prompts a renewed focus on expanding access to the medication methadone as a treatment. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs "news hour" has been provided by. the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the "news hour," including kathy and paul anderson, and camilla and george smith. >> the charles foundation,

working to advance inclusive democracies. learn more at -- >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation, fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

amna: welcome to the “news hour.” prosecutors in new york have charged the suspect in the killing of united-healthcare's ceo with murder as an act of terrorism, among other charges. geoff: luigi mangione had already been charged with murder in the killing of brian thompson. the terror allegation is new. under new york law, such a charge can be brought when an alleged crime is intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, among other factors manhattan's district attorney alvin bragg said the brazen attack was meant to have a broader impact. >> this was a frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation. it occurred in one of the most bustling parts of our city, threatened the safety of local residents and tourists alike, commuters and businesspeople just starting out on their day. amna: the killing has sparked a wave of outrage against the healthcare industry at large, with police warning that there

could be an elevated threat against executives. and it has led to an outpouring of support for mangioni himself. at the press conference this afternoon, new york city's police commissioner compared some of the public's reaction to that of a violent mob. >> in the nearly two weeks since mr. thompson's killing, we have seen a shocking and appalling celebration of cold blooded murder. social media has erupted with praise for this cowardly attack. let me say this plainly, there is no heroism in what mangione did. geoff: the 50-year-old thompson was shot in the early hours of december 4, while walking to a manhattan hotel where united-healthcare was holding its investor conference. mangioni was arrested nearly a week later in pennsylvania. his lawyer has said he'll fight extradition to new york to face the charges there. an extradition hearing is scheduled for thursday. amna: the day's other headlines

start in wisconsin, where officials say the motive behind yesterday's school shooting appears to be a quote, combination of factors. but police chief shon barns provided no further details. officials say a 15-year-old girl killed two people and wounded six others at abundant life christian school in madison, before shooting herself. two students remain in critical condition. police searched the alleged shooter's home today and said they were investigating her online activity. madison's mayor said that authorities would not be releasing information about victims just yet. >> there's so much that we do not know at this point. and we have to allow law enforcement the time and space for a careful and methodological investigation. let them do their jobs. and above all, please respect the victims. amna: the madison police chief also said numerous local schools were dealing with false threats

known as swatting. that's when fake reports of violence are called in, leading to an emergency response. but police say there are no current threats to any nearby schools. ukraine has claimed responsibility for a bomb blast in moscow that killed one of russia's top generals. lieutenant general igor kirillov was head of russia's nuclear, biological, and chemical defense forces. dashcam video from ukraine's security service shows the moments before a bomb was remotely detonated outside of the general's apartment complex, killing him and his assistant as they left for work. just a day earlier, ukraine had opened a criminal case against kirillov for allegedly granting the use of banned chemical weapons in russia's war. moscow has denied this, and says it's looking into kirillov's death as act of terrorism. >> today, as a result of a terrorist attack, our colleague and our comrade died.

everyone understands what happened, what happened and what needs to be done. the investigators must find the killers in russia. and we must do everything to destroy the patrons who are in kyiv. amna: meantime, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskiy welcomed poland's prime minister to the western city of liviv today. donald toosk said that poland will do everything in its power to make ukraine's membership in nato a real possibility. zelenskyy is set to meet with nato leaders tomorrow in brussels. turning to the middle east, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu says his nation's troops will remain in what israel calls a buffer zone inside syria for the foreseeable future. netanyahu made the comments during a visit to the top of mount hermon, about six miles inside syria and across the border from the israeli-controlled golan heights. israel seized a portion of southern syria in the days after president bashar al-assad was ousted earlier this month. it comes as another conflict, the war in gaza, barrels on.

palestinian medics said today an israeli strike in the north killed at least eight people, all from the same family. meanwhile in washington, u.s. state department officials expressed cautious optimism about a potential ceasefire in gaza. >> we should be able to get to an agreement. we should be able to bridge the disagreements between the two parties. but that is not to say that that we will. all the united states can do is push and try to come up with compromises, but we cannot dictate to either side what choice they have to make. they have to make those decisions for themselves. amna: in a statement today, hamas said reaching a ceasefire agreement is possible, and cited the quote, serious and positive discussions being held by mediators in qatar. french authorities issued an overnight curfew for mayotte, as the territory struggles to recover from last weekend's deadly tropical cyclone. 22 people are confirmed dead across the archipelago, which is

located between madagascar and the coast of africa. the storm was the worst to strike mayotte in nearly a century. authorities fear hundreds, if not thousands have been swept away, or buried beneath the rubble. the french military is dispatching planes with up to 50 tons of food, water and medicine each day. and french president emmanuel macron plans to visit the territory himself on thursday. president-elect trump is suing the des moines register and iowa's top pollster over their final poll before the election. that state poll showed him trailing vice president kamala harris by three points. trump ended up winning iowa by more than 13 points. he's now suing nationally-recognized pollster ann selzer, her polling firm, the newspaper, and its parent company gannett, accusing them of consumer fraud. a gannett spokesperson said today, quote, we stand by our reporting on the matter and believe this lawsuit is without merit. this comes just days after abc

news agreed to pay trump $15 million to settle a defamation case. on wall street today, stocks slipped ahead of tomorrow's decision by the federal reserve on interest rates. the dow jones industrial average dropped more than 260 points, the nasdaq fell 60 points, but held above that 20,000-point level. the s&p 500 also ended lower on the day. and, a bit of unwelcome news for the pair of astronauts who've been stuck aboard the international space station for much longer than planned. butch wilmore and suni williams were only supposed to spend a week or so in space when they blasted off in early june onboard boeing's new starliner aircraft. technical problems extended their stay until february. nasa said today that they now won't be home until late march, at the earliest. still to come on the “news hour,” congress works to strike a deal to avoid a government shutdown and fund hurricane relief. members of the electoral college

meet to officially cast their votes for president. and the library of congress adds a new group of movies to the national film registry. >> this is the pbs “news hour” from the david m. rubenstein studio at weta in washington, and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: in syria this week, civilians are finally returning home after nearly 14 years of civil war displaced millions, and left the country both divided and destroyed. assad regime checkpoints that used to sever any chance of seeing loved ones, now gone like the government that manned them. special correspondent leila molana-allen spoke to families across that nation in jobar, homs, and the northwestern city of azaz, who are overjoyed to be reunited, but now face the daunting task of rebuilding their homes, and their families.

leila: the desolate wreckage that once was home. bittersweet memories rise for every dusty track newly carved through the rubble as syria's newfound freedom open up roads long block to most. syrians are crossing the country in the thousands to return to homes they fled that they thought they would never see again. >> my memories of this area are so beautiful, full of flowers and jasmine. it was more like heaven than earth. leila: but what they find there brings it all back. he watched his beloved hometown destroyed house to house a decade ago as they refused to surrender to regime forces. >> here was my study where i used to read. this is the house i was raised in. my life is here and everything i have worked for. it is destroyed now. leila: his neighbor is gone. his community torn apart.

he knows it will never be the same but he wants to try. >> i want to rebuild that brick by brick. i just want to go back home. i will get a tent and put it here on the rubble of my house. leila: he looks at the life he loved in pieces around him. he wonders why. >> they only wanted to be free and the price was complete destruction. fires and savage killings everywhere. i don't understand where this hatred comes from. we are all syrians in the end. leila: these thriving damascus suburbs used to be home to millions of people but the assad regime systematically targeted rebels and their families here with airstrikes, shelling, and chemical weapons, eventually clearing them out. they are now to free to come back but in this shattered wasteland most of them don't have homes to return to. leaving damascus to drive north, the highway is a patchwork of

carnage. some former neighborhoods now little more than dust. abandoned syrian army tanks litter the road, scattered with remnants of the former regime. now this road, once a feared path, teamed with life, excited families heading home, rebel fighters reinforcing the country they now run. in the wreckage of hom city, a lone figure wonders. mohammed is home after 12 long years. in this hollow shell where he was born and raised he remembers how life gave way to fear and death at the hands of assad's army. >> that use to kill whoever showed up in their path. i was even scared to send my children to the school which was 65 feet away from the house. they used either airstrikes or snipers to hit us. leila: staying home did not keep them safe. two his children by a bomb in this house. he is overjoyed to be back, but

how could he even begin to rebuild? >> when i came back home to my mothers's house i started crying. i remembered my childhood and school memories. very few neighbors of mine are still alive. the rest are all gone. leila: his family though is still here. whispered conversations cap for for fear of syria's ever present spine network is all that has connected them through these years. >> i have relatives i have not spoken to for about 10 years. it was for a bidden and all the calls were attract. they arrested you if you said anything. leila: but now they are at liberty to reminisce together on the good times and the bad. the children didn't understand the sound was and they were trembling on the ground with fear. he said they were going crazy from the fear. >> when the bombing started suddenly the kids would start crying hysterically.

i felt so helpless. i wanted to protect them but there was nothing i could do so i cried with them. leila: mohammed's sister-in-law came back after the initial bombardment, unable to fulfill life elsewhere. with three young children to raise, life under regime control and sanctions has been tough. so the army snipers use to on this roof and they would shoot at civilians on the street? >> life was very hard. you couldn't move freely and everything was so expensive. i have a little girl and we had to spend days looking for milk and diapers. leila: she can hardly believe how much has changed in just a couple of weeks. the whole extended family reunited under one roof. >> cannot believe it. when they arrived we didn't even dare to come out on the balcony. we were asking, is our country really free now?

leila: they rent a small apartment in the middle of a devastated street. but for many families who fled further north, even a house amidst the ruins is a distant dream. surviving this war has been the reality. we first met ali and the seven-year-old struggling through a years long wait for essential surgery unavailable in rebel-held northwest syria. separated from his mother and siblings for years as they remained behind penniless in this displacement cap. mohammed was lonely and miserable. but now there is no need to be far from home. >> mohammed was so happy syria was free. he told me i want to go see my mother and siblings and finally

we were able to make it. leila: miriam still did not believe they would be allowed to cross. >> suddenly they opened the door and it was unbelievable to see them after two years of waiting. when mohammed first arrived he ran towards me and hugged me tightly and could not get enough of kissing me. he was hugging everyone and playing with them. he was so happy. leila: she says mohammed's demeanor has changed completely. the shy, fearful boy who longed for companionship youngs and plays with his little sisters, delighting in squeezing the cheeks of his baby cousins. he still has 10 more difficult surgeries ahead of him but now the checkpoints carving up syria are gone. he can stay-at-home and undergo his operations at a nearby hospital in aleppo. >> he tells me mom, the doctor will translate -- transplant my

hair and eyebrows and fix my hands. before he would tell me how kids were making fun of him. but it is not the same with his siblings. he loves playing with them. leila: where that home will be is the next question. their house in aleppo was destroyed in the airstrike that burned him five years ago. like so many here who fled, the road is finally opened, but there is nowhere to go. the family has a mountain to climb to restore his health and build a new life. but now they will climate together. for the pbs "news hour," i am leila molana-allen in northern syria. ♪ geoff: congressional leaders should be ready to go home for the holidays but they are staring at yet another government funding deadline and

scrambling to make it. the deal coming together could have much larger implications but lawmakers have not yet released the full text of an agreement despite speaker mike johnson's assurances earlier today. >> we're gonna take care of these obligations and get this done, and then we're going to go to work in unified government in the 119th congress that begins in january. geoff: congressional correspondent lisa desjardins is checking her sources as we speak and joins us now. i am starting to think yogi bear was talking about congress and not baseball when he said this is deja vu all over again. lisa: i am checking to see if we have the text of this bill yet and we do not. the deadline is friday. let me make a plea to our viewers. i know you probably want to change the channel right now. people don't like dealing with% this again and again. there are two reasons this is different one is what we expect to be in this particular short-term funding bill.

let's talk about a couple things in the bell. it would extend government funding to mid march meeting we are going to be back here again in march. there is supposed to be $100 billion for disasters including hurricane damage that obliterated many parts of the southeast. $10 billion in direct aid to farmers. part of that has to do with drought. this would also allow year-round ethanol sales which is a powerful force in the middle of the country. the second reason this is important is critical tests for speaker mike johnson. so far he is having a very hard time. many of his republicans do not like it is this late and they have not seen the bill and they do not like it. a large group of republicans are simply not happy. here is one of them. >> i like mike, i'm frustrated with the outcome. i'm frustrated with what we get. the american people didn't bargain for this, and they will not understand this. we're evidently going to take an

1800-page document that we haven't really read and pass it, and add more debt. very frustrating, it's the opposite of what the doge commission is trying to do. so, am i voting for it? no. lisa: he sits on the rules committee which is the gateway to bills and right now speaker johnson does not have the votes to bring this up under a normal rule. in addition norman is someone who has opposed potential speaker candidates in the past and there is a rising question about whether this will speaker johnson who needs to be reelected in january. one more thing about this. there is not just a spectrum of these financial issues but other things in this bill we should pay attention to that make republicans mad the washington commanders will be able to build a stadium in washington, d.c. the baltimore bridge collapse, there is money to help them recoup costs for that. also prescription drugs,

something that affects a lot of americans, there is some reform in this bill but we are waiting for the language to understand it. geoff: so speaker johnson will likely need democratic votes. when congressman norman says we are going to pass this bill no one will have time to read, speaker johnson put a rule in place that members will have three days to read bills like this, but it is now tuesday. will they have three days? lisa: this is one of the reasons americans have problem's with congress, they do things like this. the deadline is friday. they need to have the text moving tonight to make that deadline. doesn't seem like it is going to happen. speaker johnson right now has only bad choices because of the way he has done this. if they move it tonight may be about right now it looks like it is moving too slowly and he make -- and he may have to break that rule. we may also have to have weekend votes. geoff: i want to ask you about internal democratic party

politics. mainly that new york congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez today lost her bid to become the top democrat on the house oversight committee. this is at a time when democrats, there is an appetite for fresh faces, especially in congress leading these committees. lisa: that was a big part of her pitch. she will now be a fourth term congresswoman, she is not new anymore. she has talked about that race, she pitched the new generation. she said i am one of the top fundraisers. seniority should not just to be the way people gain traction. it should be the people who are strongest and able to voice things for the working class. what she lost to jerry connolly, a virginia congressman, who among other things has important ties to washington, d.c. which is part of the oversight committee's job. but there was a vote for one newer person, angie greg, who will be heading the agriculture committee despite nancy pelosi endorsing someone else. geoff: lisa desjardins, thanks as always. ♪

amna: while the numbers are finally starting to decline, more than 74,000 americans are still dying every year from opioid overdoses. despite that, very few people struggling with addiction get treatment. tonight, william brangham looks at the renewed focus on methadone, one of the oldest and most effective medications in this fight. >> 27 days at a time. william: for natalie, what is in these little white bottles has turned her life around. >> is nasty. william: that is methadone and it has helped her team and opioid addiction she has struggled with for close to a decade. >> actually such a small amount but it really is amazing that i don't get the highs, the lows,

anything i would get on a normal opiate. william: per path to addiction was like millions of others. illegal -- a legal opioid prescription to help with pain. at first it really helped but within a few years she could not stop and her life began to unravel. >> i was still trying to be a wife and a mother which i was failing at. i was not able to hold a job because when you run out of pills every three days opiate withdrawal is excruciating. and you are sweating and freezing at the same time. william: i cannot imagine doing anything like that. >> yeah. and every single day revolved around finding what i needed. even if it was just to get me through the next day. william: she tried several other treatments including medication that helps curb the cravings for

opioids, but it was not enough. so last year she was prescribed methadone. it is a potent opioid itself, first approved for drug treatment in the u.s. in the 1970's. >> if i had not made the move when i did i don't think i would have been living much longer. i don't think i would've lived to today. i should have died 100 times over. william: for many americans battling opioid addiction, getting it is not easy. it can only be prescribed in federally regulated methadone clinics and nationwide there only about 2000 of them. 80% of u.s. counties have none. so once a month she makes the trip from her home in rural utah to see dr. paula cook, medical director at the regional recovery center. >> how was the methadone going? >> i don't have any withdrawals. william: this clinic has only been here for two years and before it opened the nearest one

was 120 miles away. >> we are unique. very few rural towns have a methadone clinic. some states don't have a methadone clinic. william: patients often get counseling and behavioral therapy. >> that is before you take your methadone. that is probably after you ticket it will be a little lower. william: decades of research has shown methadone can cut the risk of overdose death by nearly 60% and that people on it are four times more likely to stay in treatment. given all of that, why is methadone still so hard to access? >> because it is in opioid so we are getting someone to substitute therapy. which in essence is somewhat true. you are giving them in opioid treated opioid addiction but the outcomes are very different. most people who get on methadone stop using illicit opioids. they retain treatment and get a

job and stop going in and out of the criminal justice system. >> the very first day i went to my methadone clinic and i had taken my first dose and was walking back to my apartment and i was like, my god, i am not going to get dopesick today and i am not going to have to do any of the stuff i have to do every day to alleviate that sickness. and not only that they are going to give me another dose tomorrow. william: david has taken methadone for nearly 20 years after he became addicted to heroin in the 1990's. today he is a research scientist at new york university who studies opioid use and drug policy. he credits methadone with helping him get his phd and turning his life around. what about the argument that you often hear that you are simply substituting the addiction of one drug with the addiction to another drug? >> it is almost like, so what? i swapped taking in illegal,

criminal drugs that was very difficult to access and could only be obtained in an illegal market, and never with any knowledge about what your dose would be, for a consistent, stable, legal drug that i can access every single day at my methadone clinic or for my take-home doses. william: for decades because of fears that people would take too much or sell their doses, most patients were required to show up every day at a clinic to take their methadone under close supervision. many patients criticized those rules, saying they made it extremely hard to hold down a job or live a normal life. but this october emergency measures that were introduced during the pandemic were made permanent in many states. these rules give clinicians more flexibility to let patients like natalie take-home up to a months worth of methadone at a time. >> it is a gold standard

evidence-based dedication. we don't cook barriers up for medications like inso impute we allow people with diabetes to have access to insulin and don't require them to participate in antiquated system that is stigmatizing that some people cannot access at all actually because of the nature of their condition. william: last year a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation that would allow more doctors and specialists prescribed methadone and would expand the kinds of places where patients could get it to places like pharmacies. but that legislation stalled amid concerns among some the medical community that loosening safeguards could backfire. >> people who are just starting at methadone are at a higher risk of overdose for the first couple of weeks them before they started on this medication. so the omission -- the initiation can be quite tricky. william: dr. kenneth is an addiction psychiatrist at johns

hopkins and he directs in opioid treatment program in baltimore that prescribes methadone. he says it is not a silver bullet on its own, that people battling opioid addiction really benefit from the additional support clinics often provide. >> if people are getting medication within a setting that is not addressing their needs, their social needs, their medical needs, their mental health needs, all the barriers to treatment that they have, their outcomes will not be as good as if people were going to comprehensive treatment. william: you also hear concerns about methadone from within the recovery community. some argue it is still a drug and adding off methadone can be as difficult and painful as trying to quit other opioids. they argue abstinence through programs like narcotics anonymous is the better path. some others who have used methadone paid a more --paint a more complicated picture. >> getting on methadone saved my life.

getting off of it gave me a life. william: we first met ryan in 2017 while reporting on the opioid crisis in rhode island. he took methadone for six years to get over his oxycontin addiction. he eventually got off methadone and now credits his sobriety to abstinence and support from peers. >> i had to go to the methadone clinic in a fairly seedy neighborhood and i had to be there every day. still, i am trying to find recovery and trying to change my environment a little bit and still standing in line outside in the cold with people i used with was not very helpful. william: do you think if you had been given 30 days worth of doses to take home that that would have helped? >> i do think that would have been better for me but i wish that there was more support in terms of me being able to become more productive as a member of society.

william: back in utah, dr. paula cook says today because fentanyl is so prevalent and so potent, increasing access to methadone is critical. it is why she supports allowing it to be prescribed outside of clinics like hers. >> is there a risk? of course there is a risk. that is why it requires good stewardship. but i am 100% sure it is the right path because that is what the evidence shows and is what people who have opioid use disorder have demonstrated. and improving access will reduce loss of lives. william: natalie says methadone is slowly helping her rebuild her life. could you envision you are today and how you are living today? >> no. i never envisioned that i could have a life like everybody else has. i am able to work two jobs and not go through withdrawal but also not be in pain. i am able to be a mother.

i am able to be a sister again. it has changed my whole life. william: for the pbs "news hour ," i'm william brangham in utah. amna: tomorrow, we'll look at why medications are so rarely prescribed for people who struggle with one of the most commonly used and deadliest drugs, alcohol. ♪ geoff: the election may have ended over a month ago, but today marks the day donald trump's victory becomes official. across the country, hundreds of presidential electors are gathering in their respective states to cast their electoral college votes, an often ceremonial but essential step in the process of confirming the election results. to help us break this down and explain its significance, i'm joined by jessica huseman, editorial director of votebeat, a news organization focused on elections and the voting

process. welcome back. we are glad you are here because we have reported extensively this past year on election security and the integrity of the voting process so we thought it fitting to see this process all the way through. when we say the electoral college is convening, help us understand what that actually means. jessica: it is not that exciting. all of the people who were chosen by the electors by political parties in each state are gathering in one place and casting their ballots officially for the people there state selected as president. usually on a winner take all basis unless you live in maine or nebraska, and in that case the electors get to vote proportionately. but everyone else is just voting along the exact same lines as what the state voted for. geoff: there are 13 republican officials who signed false certifications claiming that donald trump won the election in

2020. they are now serving as electors today, this time casting real votes for the president-elect. all of these folks hail from michigan, pennsylvania, and nevada. do we know why there was no recourse for these 2020 fake electors when other people have faced court cases and legal issues? jessica: sure. some of these people are facing legal issues. eight of them are currently facing charges in nevada and michigan. but certainly they didn't face any repercussions whatsoever within the republican party. the republican party brought them back, republicans still voted for these folks to be the people who cast these, even if ceremonial but quite important ballots today. so yes, i think they are unlikely to face political repercussions at any point moving forward even if they do face misdemeanor penalties in

their states. geoff: there is also the question of public sentiment. there is at least an pew poll that voters feel broadly pays -- positive about how elections were conducted this past year, in sharp contrast to 2020. it's especially true for trump voters. 93% of them say the 2024 elections were run and administered at least somewhat well, up from 21%. the only difference is their candidate won. the 2020 and 2024 elections were both secure and fair. jessica: absolutely. it is true that the 2020 and 2024 elections look a little different. we were in a pandemic in 2020, many more people were casting votes by mail. in terms of the procedures, the security, the way those ballots were counted and audited, it is basically the same. there have been no major changes in the way that america's

elections are conducted between 2020 and 2024. and so, i think that what this really shows is that we are a nation of sewer losers. -- of sore losers. geoff: looking at the calendar there are a few more key dates that are important in this electoral process. ending on inauguration day of course. walk us through what we can expect. jessica: the votes being cast today by all the electors across the country are going to go to washington and they will be signed off on in a procedure that became quite famous in 2021. it' happening on the same days, january 6. those votes will be signed off on by the vice president, this time that is kamala harris. so that is the first time we will see all of these electors coming together and officially nationally signing off on the results. then of course we have inauguration day.

so it is all downhill from here. geoff: the effort to scrap the electoral college usually gets kicked around every four years. where does that stand now? jessica: nowhere. it doesn't stand anywhere. it would be really difficult to overturn the electoral college. it would require either a constitutional amendment, or for lots of states working in concert to change the procedure across the country and agreed to do that. so it is quite a lot of work. the last time this was even remotely successful was in the la 1960's. so i think we are going to be stuck with the electoral college for quite some time unless there is a national movement at a time where it is not gained a lot of steam. geoff: jessica huseman, thanks as always. jessica: thank you. ♪

amna: austin tice, a former u.s. marine and freelance journalist, is one of the longest-held american hostages abroad. but the recent fall of bashar al-assad and his brutal regime in syria has renewed hope that tice will be found, some 12 years after he was abducted during a reporting trip outside of damascus. details about tice's imprisonment are limited, but, here's what we do know. tice traveled to syria in may 2012 to cover the war. on his way to lebanon on august 14, he was detained at a checkpoint in damascus. five weeks later, a 43-second video surfaced showing tice being held by armed captors. reports emerged that tice had escaped imprisonment in early 2013, but his freedom was short-lived, and he was recaptured in damascus soon thereafter. still, the biden administration declared in 2021 its sincere belief that tice was alive. and, more recently, a syrian former prisoner has come forward

telling nbc that he saw tice twice in prison in 2022. tice's family has long advocated for his release, pushing american officials over three administrations to do more to find him. and now that prisoners held by assad's regime are being released all across syria, tice's family is stepping up their campaign to find him. and austin tice's mother debra joins us now. welcome and thank you for being here. debra: thank you so much for having me. geoff: 12 years you have been fighting, more than 12 years to bring your son home. what was it like for you to see the assad regime fall, to see in new syria emerging, and to see a new opportunity to potentially find austin and bring him home? debra: there were two feelings. i don't think the way that change is coming on might be more difficult than we're thinking. but those first days, of course, when people were able to go into

the prison and find their loved ones and finally -- families could be reunited. there was a jubilee with that. that is the kind of thing that just has to be contagious to see these families. they have been wondering and waiting for so long. amna: you know what it is like to be one those families. debra: yeah. i can hardly wait. amna: you sound as though that has been tempered over time. do you not still hold that same hope? debra: it is still the same. because there are a lot of prisons in damascus. and the ones they were going to first were the ones that were most dangerous to their inmates. because of a lack of air. we believe that where austin was capped, they kept him more carefully. so it would make sense that he would come later.

amna: president biden was asked about your son on december 8 and he said the u.s. remains committed to bringing him home. secretary blinken said a few days ago the u.s. continues its dogged, determined efforts. we know they have been indirect contact with the rebel group now running the country as well. the fbi has offered up $1 million. the state department has offered up to $10 million. do you believe the u.s. government is doing everything they can to find austin and bring him home? debra: they are doing everything that they want to do. for me, there could be more. amna: tell me more about that. what are they not doing right now that you would like to see them doing? debra: one of the things that seems so odd to me is that they are not going into damascus. amna: there are no u.s. officials they are yet? debra: right. amna: these are civil societies groups, other journalists on the ground you have been in touch with. debra: yes.

hostage aid worldwide is the ngl we have been working with and they are on the ground looking for austin. so we do have that kind of support. amna: president biden has also said the u.s. does believe austin is alive but they have to first identify where he is. you recently sent a letter to the israeli prime minister, to benjamin netanyahu, asking him to pause israeli airstrikes in one particular area because you said you had credible information that austin was held in a prison there. is that information that the u.s. government says in credible and have acted on it in any way? debra: i do have confirmation from the government that it is credible. for me, reaching out to netanyahu, he's the boss of all the bombing people, right? just to take a pause with that

and give us the opportunity to check those prisons in the mountains. amna: have you gotten any response from the israeli government on that? debra: no. i did not get a response from them. they did say that their letter was delivered. hts said they had worked with the israel government and they did not have a pause. i don't know if that had anything to do with my letter. amna: austin went into syria around the first time actually i first went to cover the war as well. i wonder if you could just tell us a little bit more about your son. what drew him to want to go into the chaos and uncertainty at a time when a lot of other people would run away? debra: keep in mind it was 2012. it was not at all what it became.

there was still a civil uprising. he had served in iraq and afghanistan. and so when this was starting to bubble into what looked like would be another urban war, that is what compelled him to go, only with the camera. he was just hoping that he could take such beautiful pictures of syria itself, the syrian people, the amazingly cute and beautiful syrian children, and he was just hoping that these photos could be compelling enough to prevent another urban war. amna: knowing your son as you do, does it surprise you that he would want to go there and do that? debra: no. it wasn't surprising. by the time he is announcing he is going to do something he has thought it through.

you not going to talk him out of it. so the best response is to say, have you thought about your safety? how are we going to stay in contact? and just to be practical. because he has made his decision and he is going to do the thing so that is the only appropriate way to respond to him when he makes an announcement like that. mom, i'm gonna join the military. well, that's something i never heard before. and he did. but that's austin. amna: after 12 years of fighting to bring him home, have you thought about what it will be like to watch him be free and be able to hug him again? debra: it is so hard to imagine because he was 30 the last time i hugged him and he is 43 now. one thing austin thought was

really funny would be he would give me a big hug and twirled me around. i am wondering if he will still be thinking about wanting to do that. amna: what keeps you going every day? debra: my faith. my faith is what keeps me going 100%. because i tell people, me, myself, i am at home right now in the dark in my bed, in the fetal position sucking my thumb. so what you are seeing right here is really my faith and that is what keeps me going, yes. amna: there is a lot more information coming in and coming out of syria. if you could get a message to austin today, what would you say? debra: we are waiting for you. we have not given up. you are coming home.

you're going to go on with your life. and i just want you to know, austin, that i am praying that you are already working on forgiveness. because when you walk free you're going to need to walk free of any rank or -- any rank or -- any rancor, wanting any kind of revenge. please walk free, walk really free. amna: debra tice, thank you for spending time with us, telling us about your son. we hope to see you here with him soon. debra: oh, yes. i'll do it remote. [laughter] thank you so much for having me. ♪

amna: today, the librarian of congress carla hayden announced the 25 films for entry into the national film registry. geoff: the registry, which began in 1989, now includes some 900 movies, chosen for their cultural, historic, and aesthetic importance to preserving the nation's film heritage. senior arts correspondent jeffrey brown has more for our arts and culture series, canvas. >> nobody puts baby in a corner. jeffrey: an iconic line from a 1980's romantic classic. graphic and brutal scene and hoped define the whole genre. >> i consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. jeffrey: and the story of an american hero told in one of its seminal sports films. three of the 25 films chosen by a library of congress panel from the more than 6700 nominated by the public for consideration this year. led by university of chicago cinema studies historian and

turner classic movies host jacqueline stewart, the panel worked to choose titles that demonstrate a wealth of films and genres. the oldest name this year, annabelle serpentine dance made in 1895 by the edison manufacturing company. from the dawn of cinema, the silent short is one of a series of recordings from popular dances. the newest films? 2007's no country for old men, and the social network from 2010. >> people want to go on the internet and check out their friends so why not offer a website that offers that? whatever you can visit. jeffrey: the award-winning drama about mark zuckerberg's creation of facebook written by aaron sorkin and directed by david fincher. other popular hollywood hits including 1984 comedy beverly hills cop. >> this is the cleanest and nicest police car i've ever been in in my life. jeffrey: can star trek ii, the wrath of khan, starring william

shatner and ricardo montalbano. >> buried alive. buried alive. >> khan!!! jeffrey: the wrath of khan is one of five films selected this year including prominent latino artists or themes. the others include 1995's me familia. and the 1970's counterculture classic, up in smoke. >> the level of improv we brought to those meeting -- movies is what gave it its spontaneity and that is why people thought it was happening for the first time, because in many instances it was happening for the first time. jeffrey: the award-winning documentary common threads, stories from the quilt, is a heartbreaking record of the 1980's aids epidemic told through the -- on the national mall.

several films selected were made by black female -- black directors including compensation, uptown saturday night, and will, from 1981, widely considered to be the first independent feature-length film directed by a black woman. the trailblazing cinematographer and director, jesse maple. also included this year, the miracle worker, the biopic of helen keller and teacher and sullivan starring patty duke and anne bancroft. >> yes. >> can i have 10 hot dogs with lots of mustard and texture? >> they cited 1989's powwow highway as one of the first indie classics to depart from stereotypes and treat native americans as ordinary people. have a favorite movie you think should be named to the list in 2025?

>> ♪ i had the time of my life ♪ ♪ jeffrey: you can submit your nominations on the library's website through august 15. for the pbs "news hour" i am jeffrey brown. geoff: what would you nominate? i have to say coming to an america. congressional leaders have now unveiled the text of the stopgap spending bill that would prevent a partial government shutdown and keep the federal government funded through mid-march. amna: lawmakers are still digesting the more than 1500 been a -- geoff: and that's the “news hour” for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire “news hour” team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs "news hour" has been provided by.

>> in 1995, two friends set out to make wireless coverage accessible to all, with no long-term contracts, nationwide coverage, and 100% u.s.-based customer support. consumer cellular, freedom calls. ♪ >> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf. the engine that connects us. >> carnegie corporation of new york, working to reduce political polarization through philanthropic support for education, democracy, and peace. more information at carnegie.org.

and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its ca

hello, everyone, and welcome to amanpour & company. here is what is coming up. diplomacmay end the