nations egyptian is urging assad to resign and supports the opposition but iran is backing the assad administration with russia. after the meeting they held a news conference. >> translator: to solve the situation in syria iran's cooperation is necessary. >> translator: the situation in syria should be solved by syrian, not by intervention from other countries. >> iran will cooperate with egypt. they will support mediation efforts by the un. >>> the public standoff between journalists and government officials is making more headlines. staff say they were censored. they have used their latest edition to take a jab at the communist party. >> reporter: the southern best weekly published its second edition on thursday. >> translator: i came to buy the news to know what's happening and to know the truth. >> translator: media restrictions are getting tighter. >> reporter: they did not run a story detailing their complaint. editors wrote even though the party had the right to control the media, it should change with the times. no major rallies happened on thursday outside the head office. hundreds of prot

assad step down. russia and china have close ties with his administration. countr that president assad step down. and china have close ties with his administration. >>> gas street lights are an important part of the capital for over 200 years but this old tradition is facing a turning point. nhk world's correspondent has more. >> reporter: filming you the streets with a soft yellow light. their design is typical of the 19th century. the earliest models are nearly 200 years old. more than 40,000 units are still in use. >> translator: the atmosphere of gaslighting is fantastic. it is an essential part of berlin. >> translator: just seeing the lamps gives me peace. >> reporter: in the days of the cold war, west berlin was surrounded by east germany. updating the city's infrastructure was no easy task. and the old gas lamps survived. however, something's changing. the tear-down of the lanterns has begun. last year, authorities began replacing the gaslights with electric models. one of the motives is an effort to cut costs. but the aging lamps are also prop to malfunctions. many stay lit during the da

because the obama administration is still desperate to find a way to negotiate with iran over the nuclear weapons program. i know if we were to get involved in the conflict against sa assad there would be no way the iranians would negotiate. >> what can the administration do? >> i don't think there's much they can do as long as they are not willing to take on russia and iran. the reset button has worked out well as we can see here. the administration is hosted by fat tar. >> good to see you. seems our fighting with continue with assad in place. >>> eric, thanks. there are growing concerns the deadly flu outbreak is sweeping across the country and there is high demand causing vaccine shortages not to worry, though. we will have all of the tips you need on the best way to protect yourself. police confronted suspected gunman inside a movie theater. tell you what happened when we come back. caring for their lives and lives of others one of the officers fired at the suspect striking the suspect. how'd i get this... [ voice of dennis ] ...safe driving bonus check? every six months without an accident, allstate sends a check. ok. [ voice of dennis ] silence. are you in good han

. >>> rare speech from syrian president bashar assad has drawn a quick and blunt reaction from the obama administrationassad rejected international calls to step down and tried to justify his crackdown on anti-government rebels. he outlined plans for a national reconciliation conference and new constitution as well. but the u.s. state department says the syrian leader is "detached from reality." >> spokesperson for the state department released a statement saying, quote, assad has lost legitimacy and must step aside to enable a political solution and democratic transition that meets aspirations of the syrian people. you would think at this point. 60,000 syrians have been killed since this broke out two years ago. how do you negotiate peace with that much blood on the streets? >> exactly. what is fascinating is what he is floating as something that he floated years ago, and -- just, didn't have any teeth. just wasn't credible. i think also, at this point. even the turkish head of state, former ally, is speaking out against assad. he just has no allies at this point. i think the description of assad bein

appears that the situation in syria is getting increasingly dire, and it appears that the assad administration is -- has dug in pretty hard. and so there is a real danger of the warfare prolonging and while it prolongs having the syrian state devolve into a potentially, ethnically cleansed enclafes through the kurds -- enclaves through the kurds and so forth and jihadists to launch attacks from. so i think we are unanimous in our concern for that. i think we also agree in strong and bipartisan fashion that we need to do more in the way of recognition of the free syrian army, and we need to make sure that there is both adequate humanitarian relief getting into syria and that these opposition groups have a significant role in the distribution of that material for the reason senator mccain identified, for giving them authority and credibility as they fight for their freedom. on the jordanian border we visited a refugee camp where the night before nearly 2,000 syrian refugees had crossed the border in order to find refuge. since that camp was set up, the influx of refugees has been ahead of the ca

let's suppose i mean if the intervention does go all the way to pad is the obama administration to deal with a post assadsyria. i do you know i don't think i don't think they're prepared to deal with that at all one of the problems with the various american led interventions over the years whether we're talking about bosnia kosovo libya and hopefully not in the future syria is that the goal mediately defined comes first and then worry about the consequences later is something that is not fully taken into account we look at for example the aftershocks of libya in mali and in algeria ok we will leave it and former us senate foreign policy adviser thank you for your time thank you good times at goldman sachs staff at the investment giant are reported to be getting a significant salary boost but a lot of that money has been made on the back of surging food prices which are leaving many around the world starving nearly my colleague in d.c. now we speak to our sees the legacy of ski he's been looking into the matter. this debate has been going on for many years now but this latest controversy is definitely mak

assad step down. russia and china have close ties with his administration.heir leaders oppose international intervention in syria's domestic affairs. >>> a new survey suggests even people in countries considered to have a free press shouldn't take it for granted. reporters without borders released its annual survey assessing the commitment by governments to protect freedom of the press. japan plunged 31 spots to 53rd place out of 179 countries and territories. the nonprofit group says the japanese government lacked transparency and failed to give the media sufficient access to information following the 2011 nuclear accident in fukushima. reporters without borders spokes persons say japan's fall from it's normally high ranking should serve as warning. the survey says media in finland enjoyed the most freedom followed by other european nations such as netherlands and norway. myanmar rose 18 places to 151st. it abolished censorship in 2012. china remained unchanged. north korea remained second last at 178th. atrea remains last. >>> judo federationoi apologize f

among other things, the administration's handling of the ongoing blood bath in syria remains highly controversial. >> and it's time for assadt president assad should step away. the world will not waiver. assad must go. >> you repeatedly said that president assad needs to go. >> right. >> starting two years ago. >> right. >> and yet, 60,000 syrians are dead and he is still in office. >> right. >> what does it take for america to intervene? >> well, i think we have been very actively involved. until recently, there was no credible opposition coalition, and i cannot stress strongly enough how important that is. you cannot even attempt a political solution if you don't have a recognized force to counter the assad regime. >> secretary panetta recently said that president assad had chemical weapons ready to go, locked and loaded, ready to go. the red line used to be when he moved those chemical weapons, and now would the u.s. actually permit him to use them? >> no, no. and president obama has been very clear about that. we laid down the red line on chemical weapons, because that could have far-reaching effects beyond even the str

anything and we have again, 60,000 dead and after 22 months all i get frankly from the administration as the fall of assad is inevitable. i agreed but what about what happens in the meantime? so, i hope that -- i know that you are deeply concerned about the situation, but it's terrible. it's heartbreaking to meet a group of young women as i did in the camp in turkey, the refugee camp who had been gang raped is a really horrible experience, can we can do a lot more without putting american boats on the ground and we can prevent the slaughter and massacre and inhumanity otherwise we will be judged very harsh by history. i hope that and i know from our previous conversations you will make this your highest priority, and i look forward to at least exploring and try to implement a different policy than the one that we have pursued for the last 22 months. well, john, thank you. i have and you know this because we've talked about this at great length, i have a complete understanding of where you are coming from this and what you are trying to say about the way i do want to say to you that i don't want inquisitiv

assad for example. but i don't know that is really going to change anything with the administration policy. >> i want tosterday that we didn't focus on. hillary clinton about weapons. >> so, this pandora's box if you will of weapons, coming out of these countries in the middle east and north africa is the source of one of our biggest threats. there is no doubt that the algerian terrorist had weapons from libya. there is no doubt that the malian remnants of aqium have weapons from libya. >> bret: this is the first time publicly we heard the secretary of state say the weapons from libya are in the hands of aqium, al-qaeda in the islamic magrab. in algeria, in mali, from libya. a lot of these weapons are from us. the u.s. we gave to libya. the question that senator rand paul asked was were we moving weapons to syria through turkey and other places. but the secretary of state was taking about libya, weapons from libya now in the hands of al-qaeda there. i mean, that is a huge deal, the fact that al-qaeda is exploding in that area, charles. >> and the irony is that it isn't only the weapons that came out of

assad addressed his war-torn nation in a rare speech. he stood firm against global calls for him to step down. and proposed a peace process that would leave him in power. the obama administration quickly rejected it. more than 60-thousand people have reportedly been killed during a bloody civil war two years. searching for dozens of people who may be missing in wildfires in southeast tasmania. those wildfires have already destroyed more than a hundred homes. also been evacuated from the tasmania peninsula because the fires have blocked roads in and out of the rural communities. firefighters are having a tough time getting the flames under control because of the rough terrain. but they say they should gain the upper ground this week. >> president obama and the first family are back in washington tonight. after wrapping up their holiday vacation in hawaii. air force one touched down at joint base andrews in maryland earlier this morning. the president interrupted his vacation by flying back to washington to settle the fiscal cliff negotiations. now. he's back to face new battles over spending cuts and raising the country's debt ceiling. elizabeth corridan has more on that. >> "i

after 22 months, all i get from the administration is the fall of assad is, quote, inevitable.i agree. but what about what happens in the meantime?i hope that you -- i know you are deeply concerned about the situation. but it is terrible. it is heartbreaking. to meet a group of young women as i did in that camp but enter -- that camp in turkey who had been gained rate he's really a horrible experience. -- gang raped is really a horrible experience. we can put more books on the-- we can do a lot more without p utting american boots on the ground. we can prevent this -- inhumanity, otherwise we will be judged harshly by history. i know that from our previous conversations that you will make this your highest priority. i look forward to at least exploring and trying to implement a different policy than the one we have pursued for the last 22 months. >> thank you. you know this because you and i have talked about this at great length. i have a complete understanding where you are coming from and i know your frustration and i know what you are trying to say about this. i do want to

after 22 months, all i get from the administration is the fall of assad is, quote, inevitable. i agree. but what about what happens in the meantime? i know you are deeply concerned about the situation. but it is terrible. it is heartbreaking. to meet a group of young women as i did in that camp but enter turkey who had been gained rate he's really a horrible experience. -- gang raped is really a horrible experience. we can put more books on the ground and prevent the inhumanity, otherwise we will be judged harshly by history. i know that from our previous conversations that you will make this your highest priority. i look forward to at least exploring and trying to implement a different policy than the one we have pursued for the last 22 months. >> thank you. you know this because you and i have talked about this at great length. i have a complete understanding where you are coming from and i know your frustration and i know what you are trying to say about this. i do want to say to you that i do not want inquisitive ness or curiosity about what possibility might be with russia

assad. we go to latin america, where on the one hand in 2009 the administration condemned what happened in honduras, which is debatable whether that was a koop or not. on the other hand they stole an election in nicaragua. i had to hold up a nomination here to get a strongly worded statement out of the administration. we move over to the middle east where israel, quite frankly, has been concerned whether they admit it publicly or not that for the early years of the administration, they were more focused on the palestinian question as the biggest issue in the immediate when in fact the biggest issue in the middle east is that iran wants a nuclear weapon so they can attack israel and potentially other nations. talked about iran. in gine the people of iran took to the streets in defevents principle that is we say we stand for, and the president of the united states says we are not going to interfere in their sovereignty. totally demoralized the opposition. north korea today announced they are developing a weapon that can reach the united states of america. and lest anybody accuse me of being overly pa

assad. he proposed a new constitution that he said would include new laws for the party's and local administration. he think russia and china for their support of syria and stressed that his country would defend themselves from outside forces. the last time he addressed the nation was in june 2012. coverage comes to us courtesy of al-ajzeera english. -- al- jazeera english. >> this is the first time since november that the president has given a public address in his own country. official figures in united nations said as many as 60,000 people have lost their lives during the course of the 21 month conflict. [chanting] our translator is standing by [applause] -- by. [applause] president bashar al-assad, live from the syrian capital. >> ladies and gentlemen, today i look at your faces and the faces of the people of my country with sadness and pain. i look at the eyes of the children of syria. i'd look at the hands of the elderly today, pain and suffering is spread all over syria. safety and security are absent in these streets. many women lost their children, many children became orphans. siblings h

administration to pull the plug. >> jamie: over to syria. rebels fighting their way closer to assad stronghold in the capital. reports of another car bombing in damascus as well following a series of deadly attacks at a gas station in the capital that the government is blaming on the rebels. a human rights group is reporting battles south of city and on the road to the airport. meanwhile, state tv says president assad will deliver a speech tomorrow what will be his first major public statement in weeks. >> gregg: a battle over gun ownership and privacy is growing in new york state. putnam county is thrown in the national spotlight after officials deny that a local newspaper's request for local information on every piss tool permit holder. they plan to publish online like it did no two neighboring counties is plain wrong. david lee miller has more. >> a quiet suburb on the outskirts of new york city is in the crosshairs of a national controversy. county clerk has refused to comply with the freedom of information request filed by a local newspaper. it wants the names and adoctors of residents with pistol permit

assad. widespread violence was reported thursday across syria, with continued bombings by government planes and clashes between troops and anti-government rebels. the obama administration is continuing its push to rally support for sweeping plan to address gun violence. on thursday, vice-president joe biden called for action before hundreds of u.s. mayors gathered in washington, d.c. foreign annual meeting. in his address, biden referenced the shooting rampage in newtown, connecticut that claimed the lives of 20 children, six school staff, and the shooter's mother. >> we have to do something. i hope we all agree there is a need to respond to the carnage on our streets and in our schools. i hope we all agree that mass shootings like the one we witnessed in newtown 34 days ago cannot continue to be tolerated. that tragedy in all my years of public life i think is -- has affected the public psyche in a way i have never seen before. >> a new poll affirms vice president joe biden's claim about the impact of new town, finding it affected the public opinion on guns or deeply than other shootings. a new poll says 54% of americans believe gun control laws should be tightened up

administration. >> yeah. >> but you have really backed arming the rebels and a no-fly zone. >> yes, the rebels are -- i mean, bashar assad is being supplied by the russians and the iranians with iranian revolutionary guard on the ground with weapons. everything that the opponents of intervening in syria said would happen if we did have now happened because we haven't. the president said it's a red line, the use of chemical weapons. bashar will use that as a green light for everything less than that. 60,000 have been killed. >> how do you know who the rebels are? how do you know -- >> i met them. >> you met them all. >> no, but i've certainly met enough to know who they are, but the sad news is that as every day goes by, more and more jihadists gain more influence and there's more and more of their presence which is going to make the post-bashar assad situation even more and more complicated. the jihadists are pouring in there, so, of course, i know who they are. >> just quickly, tell me quickly, chuck hagel, does he have your backing now? you met with him this week. >> no, but i want to see what happens in the hearing, a

the assad regime to collapse now rather than a year from now, which will result with the country being overrun from jihadists from the middle east. >> john: do you think others in the administrationr view that we need to act on this now? >> well of course i'm not in the administration any more. i think that frankly the people who are advising the president are split, but so far the president said so far we're going to stay out of this. >> john: moving over to egypt. morsi has rejected any unity government. how should he be handling a situation like this. >> again, what he should do is reach out to try to curb the violence. we've seen this in many countries. there are leaders who take courageous steps. they stand on the security forces while reaching out to come to some preliminary cease-fire. we had to do this in the 1960s when our cities were on fire, while not yielding doing something to curb the violence. egypt will very rapidly stop amendmenting down as an organized society. >> john: clearly egypt's number one economy is tourism. >> the problem that we have you are is our influence is limited in a situation like this. there isn't all that that we can do. nonetheless, the inte

debate within the bush administration, and at the time, the white house was trying to isolate syria, bottom line, petraeus was never allowed to make the trip. >> host: and assad is facing some of those same fighters today. >> guest: yes, he he is. this is -- some of that would happen in any event, but, yes, he's facing -- it's sort of an -- it would be poetic justice if not for the possibility that these people could end up in a position of authority in syria, against our interests, but, yes, some of the same people he let in to fight in iraq are now flooding into syria to fight him. .. like it is and jordan and israel. i'm so concerned but i just appreciate c-span so much. this is the first time i've ever been able to call. and i thank you. and i wondered if the man from the times had heard about this. and i would like to see them report these kinds of things and the time. >> host: well, i think l caller raised a good point. we have reported someful things. -- a lot of them are home years ago and driven out of the country well before, you know, any of these american war there. and one of my colleagues "new york times" colleagues found one of the few remainin

assad doesn't think he's losing, and the opposition thinks it's winning. that is not an equation that allows you to reach some accommodation for transition. the goal of the obama administrational of the international community is to effect some sort of transition. >> they called it quote, pragmatic. has he given any indication whether he would back more u.s. support of rebel fighters in that country? >> i don't think he will, frankly. i think the rebels hope that he will, but i don't think the administration will do that. if this administration, kerry is basically at the end of the day carrying a foreign policy set by the president and if you were going do it, we would have done it already and now with the mess that has become syria where you have islamic militant groups, you have assad militias running around and we have kurdish groups running around, i think the u.s. is scared of getting involved. >> i was struck by something that you said on inauguration day. you talked about the glaring absence of discussion in the foreign policy in the president's speech. how did you characterize this president's approach to foreign policy? >> i think he doesn't want to deal with it, fr

administration. i do not agree with him on all of the issues. i was troubled by his attempts to negotiate with bashar assad, who was very little credibility. he first voted against the war in iraq, then voted for the surge that made it possible for us to rescue a failing situation. but i do not think he will truly for -- to truly make the foreign policy of the u.s. any more than hillary clinton really did. this is one of the most centralized foreign-policy positions of ever seeing with the president and a handful of close aides truly making those decisions. i think john carey will be a capable the plant carrying out those decisions. host: there will be a live hearing today. one of the nominees, chuck keiko, nominated to be the -- chuck heigl, nominated to be the defense secretary. what do you think about? guest: there is no question he has been outside the mainstream of the senate. do not get me wrong, his hair was them in vietnam is something everybody should respect and his many years of service in the country, something for which i have the money -- the utmost respect. i am troubled by the fact that he

administration. how do you handle an exploding al-qaida situation in north africa. how do you handle syria when the president has said many times bashar al-assadd step down and he's not stepping down and the civil war is getting worse. how do you deal with iran that is thumbing its nose and stepping up it's ambitions. this is what the senators, at lowe's on the republican side are going to be pressing on. bill: hillary clinton red a statement verbatim on the senate side and later in the house in the afternoon, what she was saying is when american is engaged in these hot spots it's better for us as a country, it's better for the world. it seemed to me that that was a veiled message to the white house and this president to stay engaged and don't allow these boiling points to fester more than they have already. did you hear it the same way? eufrpblgts are. >> reporter: yeah i did, bill, i think that is a great point. the signal of sending both john kerry and chuck hailing, actually, some people suggest that that is a signal that the white house is saying this may be a little bit different than bob gates, leon panetta and secretary clinton as far

administration really subcontracted our national security, regional players like qatar and turkey and others who have been supporting islamists forces in syria. we have this competition between iran-supported assadamist-supported al qaeda opposition in syria. we've given no support to the liberal opposition. we give no support to moderates and 60,000 dead syrians are testament to the fact we provided no support to those that represent american values and represent american values. i think that's a failure. jenna: peter, quickly can we change that path? if you believe what mark says is the path changeable as of now? >> well it is never too late but i don't think it's going to change. if you like egypt, you're going to like syria because it will be worse than egypt. i don't think any of futures for syria are good. in fact i think they could be much worse than what we're seeing in egypt today and this administration hasn't done a good job on its middle east policy. jenna: we'll have you both to talk about the new picks, john brennan for cia, chuck hagel for secretary of defense, how that could be game changers in all of this we have a little indication how you feel already but we'll have you back t

assad regime in syria. unless you're prepared to see a nuclear iran i think the military option is the only one out there. and i don't think iran is worried about the obama administrationbecause i think they see zero chance we will use force. uma: that seems like all these talks have been an exercise in futility up to this point. >> it's worse, it's given iran ten years to advance its nuclear weapons program and ballistic missile program. this is why the focus is now on israel and what prime minister benjamin netanyahu will do. uma: great to see su. i know you'll be watching the confirmation hearings very closely and we look forward to hearing from you. thank. >> thank you. jon: a video made at a new jersey hospital was leaked to fox business network. what it shows about health reform and its impact on patients. and a new report linking some of baseball's biggest names to doping. what it could mean for a-rod and the other stars who made the list. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation, so i used my citi thankyou card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? and with all the points 've been earning, i was

assad in the region as a whole. jenna: using chemical weapons will that force our hand? is there something out there that will force our hand even if there is philosophy you're mentioned part of the administration feeling we'll not get involved otherwise? >> i don't want to see chemical weapons used inside syria but i'm not sure there is lot we can do about it in the short term. the overriding american objective is make sure they don't get outside of syria into the hands of al qaeda and other terrorist. >> we saw libya, the weapons inside that country and where they went. ambassador, great to see you. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> there is a big sigh of relief over the fiscal cliff deal but if you think that means your taxes are not going up this year, that is not necessarily so. what is really in the deal and how quickly it will impact your paycheck jon: right now, some crime headlines we're keeping an eye on. attorneys in the movie theater massacre case are in a colorado courtroom today. the judge making sure both sides are ready for a preliminary hearing next week. james holmes is charged with killing 12 people on the opening night of the most recent "batman" film in aurora. >>> poli

assad, further assisting the opposition. we don't -- for the right policy. yeah? and then donnavan. >> reporter: the immigration over reform that are worried that the administration's efforts on gun violence is going to push off immigration reformed. you talked or -- something the post inauguration. i'm wondering -- i don't believe we have given a specific time frame. i would point you to the president's commitment to do it early in the -- to take action early in the second term. beyond that i won't be specific. i can assure you that it is a taupe priority of this president. it is something he will act on as he is promised. >> reporter: can we expect to hear that in the state of the union or the gnawing really a? i would say broadly speaking the state of the union addresses tend to include at least a sample of a president's agenda, and immigration reform, comprehensive immigration reform is a high priority of the president's. but i don't want to get ahead of the speech. yep? sorry. >> reporter: the reports recently . >> then donnavan. i know, i said before. go ahead. >> reporter: cyberattacks by iran -- the security expert saying there's no doubt within the u.s. go

assad. he proposed a new constitution that he said would include new laws for the parties and local administration. he think russia and china for their support of syria and stressed that his country would defend themselves from outside forces. the last time he addressed the nation was in june 2012. coverage comes to us courtesy of al-jazeera english. >> this is the first time since november that the president has given a public address in his own country. official figures in united nations said as many as 60,000 people have lost their lives during the course of the 21 month conflict. [chanting] our translator is standing by. [applause] [applause] president bashar al-assad, live from the syrian capital. >> ladies and gentlemen, today i look at your faces and the faces of the people of my country with sadness and pain. i look at the eyes of the children of syria. i'd look at the hands of the elderly today, pain and suffering is spread all over syria. safety and security are absent in these streets. many women lost their children, many children became orphans. siblings have been divided. this pain is