that could mean bashar al assad will be in power for a long time to come. sition groups, many foreign governments, and protesters on the ground in syria, said it was a sham, meaningless. bashar al assad didn't abide by the old constitution, one activist told us, why would we believe he would honor a new one. efforts by the international red cross and syrian red crescent to get in, stalled for the second consecutive day leaving the wounded and trapped western journalists facing conditions that worsen by the hour. michael holmes, cnn, beirut. >>> other headlines today, 16 americans are on trial in cairo. they're accused of fraud following a crackdown on pro-democracy groups and egyptian officials say are interfering with the government. one of the americans on trial is the son of the u.s. transportation secretary. west africa, this is senegal on election day, people are furious at the president. they don't want him re-elected to a third term. the highest court cleared him to seek a third term despite the constitutional limit to seek a third term. this what is

and cutting off water energy, food and medicine supplies, this is a man made disaster for which bashar al-assad is responsible and we must make them stop. president bashar al-assad has mentioned darker priorities and i want to emphasize the important steps that the e.u. can take to step up its own efforts. so irrespective of how china and russia seek to obstruct genuine measures. but it not be the e.u. member states who fail to enforce the embargo and sanctions. how do they ship with russian arms to reach syria? that it not be europeans acknowledge company that expert systems used for massive fans censorship tracking and tracing of dissidents, but it not be the same oil to fuel their cars to drive to the grocery store and also fuels the tanks roaming the streets of homes. can the council and commission guarantee the e.u. sanctionsnd embargoes are enforced? besides the government let one syrian citizens in information work is regime. foreign journalists are of embrace citizen journalists risk their lives to share videos of their freedom cheers and that was slaughtered. ladies and gentlemen, we d

since the beginning of the uprising in syria last march the regime of bashar al assad has been accused of their oppression torture and killing but with abad much of holmes blame has since focused or assad's forces attacking civilians and shell in residential areas. the beautiful yard calls himself a member of the opposition and intellectual not through aleutian every one his stresses from a social democratic group originally from homes he blames assad for mistakes which allowed bloodshed at the start but he just defies what the regime is doing in his native city now he is the two i mean he is trying to to to. protect civilians i think that in homs there are many gangs you know there is a title and everyone can claim that he belongs with that this title and no one can ban him the danger posed by the armed forces was seen in the killing of a french journalist last month and b. says when he went to homs he put in his mind that the syrian opposition is very peaceful in the g.m. is trying to frame them so he he was like a pioneer in the call and he was killed by the some gang attacks on gov

who is bashar al assad? dr. gerajerrold post is considea founding father in clinical psychology. th us. bashar al assad became the heir apparent to his father unexpectedly. his older brother died in a car accident. how did that play in a role in who he is and how he's leading right now? >> he never expected to be the leader of iraq. in fact, he was unpost graduate training in opthumology in london when his brother died and his father summoned him back. his older brother was this charismatic macho person who loved fast cars, was a womanizer. in contrast, bashar was a rather soft, gentle man. and it was widely, widely concerned with the fact of could he stand in his giant father's shoes? >> i'm curious, in a recent interview, bashar al assad said the military forces are actually not his forces and that he doesn't own the country. a lot of people have dismissed that as complete and utter bs. you're saying there could be some truth to it. >> yes, in many ways, it may be his younger brother who is much more like his older brother, bazil, who is in fact directing the extent of the bruta

meanwhile and see where president bashar al assad has ordered a referendum on a new constitution to be held in eleven days that could put an end to the one party rule of the presidents by party and trained in the current constitution party is maria finishing reports now from damascus. the date for the people's referendum on the country's new constitution has been announced on wednesday it is expected to be held on the twenty sixth of february in eleven days the syrian government has been working on a draft for this new constitution for quite a while now and it has sad that the most important thing about this new constitution the most important change is that it implies the end of monopoly of the ruling party in syria the vast party has been in power in the country for the last fifty years actually since the beginning of the uprising here in syria last march protestors have been calling for democratic reforms and for amendments to the country's key law in the wake of violence that followed in the show demonstrations peaceful demonstrations many opposition leaders have been only demandin

they will be talking about support for the arab league transition plan which calls for bashar al-assad to step down. on the other hand, you have the syrians calling for their own reform. the russians think this is a step in the right direction. it seems as though the divisions are growing rather than the reverse. >> thank you very much for joining us. to libya, where one year after the revolution there started, celebrations have been held to mark the event. while the toppling of the gaddafi regime might have brought hope for freedom and stability, a new report by amnesty international says that both are under threat by armed militias committing torture and executions. we have a report and where the country stands one year on. >> they had been celebrating for days here ahead of the official anniversary. this is where it all began. protests turned into a revolt that eventually with nato's assistance to topple one of the most interest dictatorships of the last half century. benghazi is the birthplace of the revolt. the people here are fiercely proud of that fact. this is a country where g

bashar al assad's brutal crackdown on the opposition in that country. at least 63 people have been killed so far just today. unbelievable pictures playing out. opposition forces say this explosion destroyed a government tank northwest of the capital of damascus. thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets yesterday in the southern city of daraa where the eruption started not quite a year ago. forces killing at least two people there. for the 13th straight day, the city of homs is the target of

that could still mean bashar al assad will be in power for a long time to come. opposition groups, many foreign governments, and protesters on the ground in syria said it was a sham, meaningless. bashar al assad didn't abide by the old constitution, one activist told us, why would we believe he would honor a new one. meanwhile, efforts bit international red cross and syrian rees cread crescent to g stalled for the second consecutive day, leaving the wounded and trapped including weather journ western journalists in conditions that worsen by the hour. >>> secretary of state hillary clinton is weighing in on the situation in syria. this morning she told cnn's allyse lavitt diplomatic efforts were under way to chip away at inner circumstancele that supports syria's president bashar al assad. >> we have a lot of contacts, s do other countries, a lot of sources in the syrian government and the business community and the minority communities and our very clear message is the same to all of them, you cannot continue to support this illegitimate regime because it is going

bashar al assad. >> offering congratulations to syria, to democracy and bashar al assad. hem honest," that supposed show of democracy and the new constitution being called a total far as, superficial move to placate bashar al assad's critics, is the from the state department.c superficial move to placate bashar al assad's critics, is the from the state departmene, superficial move to placate bashar al assad's critics, is the from the state department. >> we dismiss it as absolutely cynical. it is -- essentially what he's done here is put a piece of paper that he controls to a vote that he control so that he can try to maintain control. there is no way to evaluate whether the vote that happened represented anything like a referendum, even on the ridiculous proposal he put forward when the guns and the tanks and the artillery are now -- are still firing into homs and cities all over the country. so how could you possibly have any kind of democratic process in conditions like that. >> in an interview with cbs news, secretary of state hillary clinton urged assad supporters to

>> hillary clinton arrived at the united nations to demand the ouster of syrian president bashar al assad. >> we have a choice. stand with the people of syria and the region or become complicit in the continuing violence there. >> the security council will begin item two. >> western arab countries are pushing for the plan calling for assad to hand overpower to the vice president. assad would have 15 days to step down. if he doesn't, the security council could take what it calls further measures, including economic sanctions. russia, which has veto power objects to the resolution, saying it could lead to civil war or eventual military strikes like the nato-led bombings in libya. >> the role of the international community should not be one of exacerbating conflict or meddling by the use of economic sanctions or military force. >> the united nations estimates more than 5400 syrians have been killed since the government cracked down on protesters last

if so it decrease like as if bashar al assad's aides have a very high opinion of americans. s before a big interview and bashar al assad is being coached, to spin this crackdown, one aide writes, don't talk reform. americans won't care or understand that. the aide advises the syrian president to talk about, quote, mistakes, blame his own police. american psyche can be easily manipulated when they hear there are, quote mistakes done and now we are, quote, fixing it. here's what asaid said about the crackdown in that early december interview with barbara walters. >> these are individuals and individual mistakes. >> done by the military or done by whom? >> we don't know everything, but some cases done by the police, summer cases done by syrians. >> reporter: that e-mail was apparently from the press attache. hackers like this one cited by "foreign policy" magazine claimed to have downloaded the e-mails. cnn has seen the e-mails. they appeared legitimate, though we cannot independently very fill the authenticity. syria doesn't have a policy to torture people, sell he can contrast

speak to here on the ground have been telling us that this man has been supporting president bashar al assad's policies continuing in the southern part of the country we are hearing from the opposition activists that the army of bashar al assad has attacked the city of daraa targeting free syrian army soldiers altie has actually just traveled to the city of daraa on wednesday and we've been able to speak to the governor over this area on the ground and with many military there and they've told us that there is no free syrian army in this region right now and actually in generally they say that it doesn't exist such a thing as a well coordinated opposition military force they've confirmed that they're fighting almost every day the military operations but they're fighting against separate armed groups which are. mostly consisted they say of army defectors and foreign soldiers. now a new showdown is expected that the u.n. general assembly later on thursday as members are set to vote on a new resolution on syria the attack sponsored by arab states and supported by a number of western countries cou

negotiations in damascus between russian foreign minister sergei lavrov and the syrian president bashar al assad russia's ambassador to the u.n. commented on the outcome in the situation of the country in general for on this we go live to our he's a marine a poor and i is joining us from new york so marina one of the main points that ambassador vitaly churkin touched on. that's why russian envoy to the un vitaly churkin addressed the media just a little while ago reaffirming russia's commitment to bring a peaceful solution to the conflict in syria of course addressing the fact that russian foreign minister sergei lavrov is there right now and trying to hammer out an agreement in which syrian president bashar al assad and the opposition groups will come to the table and begin some type of dialogue and baster churkin did also underscore the fact that when russia made its amendments to a draft resolution that was voted on saturday he said that if the security council had worked two or three more days there could have been a consensus reached in this circumstance particularly relating to syria the c

syria's president bashar al assad has ordered a referendum on a new constitution to be held in eleven days according to the country's state run news agency it could put an end to one party rule the president's baath party which is in shrine in the current constitution changes to the law were a key demand by the opposition at the beginning of the country's eleven month uprising but in the wake of deadly clashes with the army many opposition leaders are now insisting that the president quit you know it's a bit of a referendum came amid reports of new outbreaks of violence with tanks shelling the fourth largest city of hama and in oil pipeline growing up blown up in the rest of city of homes but with reports of atrocities coming mainly from the rebels there are concerns that one side of the conflict is being largely ignored or tease maria if an ocean reports. since the beginning of the uprising in syria last march the regime of bashar al assad has been accused of refreshen torture and killing but with abad much of homes blame has since focused on assad forces attacking civilians and shel

speak to here on the ground have been telling us that this man has been supporting presence bashar al assad's policies continuing in the southern part of the country we are hearing from the opposition activists that the army of bashar al assad has attacked the city of daraa targeting free syrian army soldiers actually just travel to the city of daraa on wednesday and we've been able to speak to the governor over this area on the ground and with many military there and they've told us that there is no free syrian army in this region right now and actually in generally they say that it doesn't exist such a thing as well called united opposition military force they've confirmed that this fight scene almost every day the military operations but there. against. which i. think this is did they say all of this and foreign soldiers the u.s. has expressed concern that iran and russia are providing weapons to syria that could be used against the rebels moscow says it's only selling non-conventional arms damascus under business contracts and that they're not used in the conflict let's talk now with mart

speak to here on the ground have been telling us that this man has been supporting president bashar al assad's policies in the southern politics of the country we are hearing from the opposition activists that the army bashar al assad has attacked a city of targeting free syrian army soldiers he has actually just traveled to the city of daraa on one c. and we've been able to speak to the governor over these areas on the ground and with many ministry there and they've told us that there is no free syrian army in this region right now and actually in generally they say that it doesn't exist such a thing as well call it an aide to the opposition ministry fulls they've confirmed that this fight scene almost every. day the rum into operation but they're fighting against some fries on grooves which i. think insisted they say. foreign soldiers when you showed out as expected at the u.n. general assembly later on thursday as members are set to vote on a new syria resolution the text sponsored by arab states and supported by a number of western countries could turn up the heat on the syrian regime arti

itself because lebanon is not only in neighboring states for syria and the republic syria under bashar al assad today the regime actually but the sunni and the shiite the problem is that they are interconnected to the shiite and the area and most of the powerful groups inside lebanon such as hezbollah are the party of god they are a major league shiite animal movement let's say they are the major ruling parties actually representing the shiite muslim they are recruits they connected to the regime of president bashar al assad and they are not well thought of by current local sunni is inside tripoli and i cut region which is a very close region geographically and strategically towards the border with the republic of syria to these there is a high tension between the not only the two peoples that see but certain people they have been you know supporting actually the opposition is inside syria by you i meant the people from north lebanon majorly they are sunni sunni but there are alawite inside the north especially. what's that all about which is a majority of alawite that the occupy there or the a

that these plan calls for bashar al-assad to step aside in favor of a deputy. barbara platt said as there is hope this new resolution could be passed. >> momentum has been moving over the last couple of days. there was a high-level meeting on syria. high level because haitians on the draft resolution. the resolution backed the arab league peace plan which would be bashar al-assad ceding power to a deputy. and i lie on the pot -- council has objected to certain parts of the latest draft. he said it did not submit formally any amendments. late in the afternoon on friday, 8 vote was called to be held on saturday morning. it is still not clear how russia will vote. it has vetoed a resolution on syria before in october. there is some hope this time things could be different. the text has been revised several times to meet russian concerns, particularly concerns of this could legitimized for military intervention and regime change. hillary clinton is speaking about the resolution by telephone and is supposed to meet on saturday to talk about it. perhaps the pending v

dozens of countries backing the call for president bashar al- assad to go and endorsing the main opposition grouping, the syrian national council. >> i do believe they justified our intensified support and working with them. i have offered them additional practical help we can provide from the united kingdom. the political opposition outside syria. i believe they are doing the right thing and they will be able to bring greater unity to the opposition and syria. >> to promote the syria national council as legitimate representative of the opposition. to ramp up economic sanctions against syria, to close embassies, and to pre position humanitarian aid just in case president bashar al-assad ever agrees to a cease-fire. behind the scenes, it was chaotic disagreement about whether to arm the rebels. britain has always been against it. the americans hinted they might consider it. sitting next to hillary clinton, the saudi foreign minister said he was all for it. an excellent idea, he called it. >> what do you think about foreign aid to syrian opposition? >> i think it is an excellent idea. quips o

i asked her to look in the camera and speak directly to the syrian president bashar al assad. oing seen around the world. i want you to look into the camera, as you were, and assume you're speaking to president bashar al assad in syria. what would you say to him? >> i would say the united states stands with the people of syria. fully and unequivocally. your names are numbered, and it's time and past time for you to transfer power responsibly and peacefully. the longer you hang on the longer you do damage to yourself, your family, your interesting, and indeed your country. >>> we have the senior fellow at the hoover institution. professor ajami, is the world doing enough? what else should the -- the watch really is watching. this episode, we went to the security council, and everybody hung their hopes on the security council, and the obama administration i think basically argued that somehow or another are you familiara will see the light of day. they had didn't worry about the chinese. they thought the chinese were come along for the ride. they convinced themselves they could s

began discussing a draft resolution that calls for syria to stop the crackdown and president bashar al-assad to step down. the united states and european nations aim to adopt the resolution at an early date, but some countries including russia prefer to promote dialogue between the syrian government and opposition groups. >>> fiscal deficits are on the minds of americans and others as well. ai, tell us about the situation in the u.s. >> the deficit continues to be extremely high. new u.s. budget report predicts the country will run a deficit over $1 trillion for the fourth year in a row. a report released by the congressional budget office said the deficit will likely amount to $1.79 trillion for the current fiscal year that runs through september. >> the pace of the recovery has been slow since the recession ended two-and-a-half years ago, and we project that it will continue to be slow for the next two years. >> the report also predicts that the unemployment rate will average 8.8% in 2012 and will worsen to 9.1% in 2013. this situation points to the tough task ahead to shore up the nation'

it calls for bashar al-assad to step aside in favor of a deputy. after a month of negotiations, there is hope that this new resolution could be passed. >> momentum has been building here over the past couple of days. there has been a high-level meeting on the draft resolution. this backs an arab league peace plan for ending the crisis in syria and it is to have the president, bashar al-assad, a delegate power to a deputy. russia has objected to certain parts of the latest draft on the table. diplomats here said it did not submit formally any amendments. late in the afternoon, a vote was called back to be held on saturday morning. it is not clear how russia will vote. there is some hope here among diplomats that this time, things could be different. the text has already been revised several times to try to meet russian concerns, particularly concerns that this ze regime change. hillary clinton and did the russian foreign minister spoke about this on telephone. perhaps the vote will help to focus their minds on this issue. at any rate, it is adding t

. >>> and an in-depth look at bashar al assad. his overthrow grow louder. those stories are coming up this half-hour. >>> first as always, a look at the headlines. >>> the u.s. ambassador to the united nations susan rice said syrian president bashar al assad's days are numbered. meanwhile senior obama officials say the pentagon has begun an internal review of the u.s. military capabilities in the region. procedure is considered a typical move to inform the president of his options when he calls for them. >>> argentina's president said she'll file a complaint with the united nations over britain's plans to deploy a warship and nuclear submarine to the falkland islands which argentina calls the maldinas. >>> lebanon's hezbollah chief confirms what many world leaders have long suspected. that iran does provide the shiite military group with military and financial support and has done so since 1982. he made the announcement. he says with the highest authority when public went to support. >>> the results are in. there has been an unexp

i suspect that president bashar al-assad will lighten the horrible all to read a garage -- horrible artillery barrage on homs tomorrow. he will declare they have taken positive actions, etc., to help with the humanitarian situation. at the end of the day, the russians do not seem inclined to abandon the charles saw -- abandoned bashar al-assad. they may earn the enmity of much of the syrian people for many years to come. >> thank you for joining us with those insights. today, the two main palestinian factions agree that a fattah leader will head the interim government to organize elections in the west bank and gaza. woe -- the move came with a warning from israel that it may close the door to any future peace talks. from ramallah, this report. >> after talks with, chiefs -- with hamas chiefs, mr. abbas as agreed to lead a new unity government for both the west bank and gaza. >> we did not sign this agreement for the mere sake of signing. we would implement the recommendations and any other aspects, regardless of the hurdles and problems we were surrounded by. >> we are serious about amending

we are also part of a wider coalition of resistance whose leader is bashar al-assad. we did not start all of this talk. >> , bullet-scarred homes, frightened presidents, the conflict is mirrored on either side of this small hillside. as the situation across the border deteriorates, the fear is that violence here will inevitably escalate. >> two scientific studies showing how the bird flu virus could be deliberately mutated will not be published. security officials have demanded that van are doing the research could be used by terrorists. -- citicsecurity officials have demanded the ban because the research could be used by terrorists. >> a farm in vietnam and the authorities fight another outbreak of bird flu. the virus has claimed more than 3000 -- 300 lives in a dozen countries. the big worry is if it will mutate and start a pandemic which raises the really challenging question, how best to tackle it? today in geneva, emergency talks discussed the latest research because scientists have deliberately engineered the virus to see how it can be passed between people. th

. >>> world opposition is growing to the deadly regime of syrian president bashar al-assad. secretary of state hillary clinton is meeting with officials from 70 countries in tunisia to discuss ways to end that violence. tina krause has the latest developments now from london. >> reporter: hundreds of protestors loyal to syrian president bashar al-assad tried to storm an international conference in tunisia. foreign ministers from more than 50 countries are meeting to demand an end to the violence in syria. u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton is among those at the friends of syria gathering. she's calling for a cease fire to allow humanitarian aid into the country. and pressing for new sanctions and travel bans. gunfire gunfire [ sound of gunfire ] , rebels are locked in a fierce battle with syrian government forces, they're asking international leaders to send them more weapons to help take down the assad regime. activists say syrian troops executed at least 18 people in a village of central via friday including at least -- syria friday including at least five children. t

what bashar al-assad is try to stay away from gross violence. i think that this would rally world public opinion for a u.n. resolution or some kind of other international decision to call for action against him. >> you just returned from turkey, obviously a key player. increasingly, the west is starting to say that this has to be a regional solution. what is the thinking at the moment in turkey? >> it was exactly what i was thinking before i went to turkey. turkey would like this to be a solution from within the region but they would also like to work with the west and nato. they have realized that turkey alone cannot change bashar al- assad's behavior. they would like to help the civilian population which would require turkey working with nato. there is a sense in southern turkey, towns along the border with syria, that whereas in western capitals, people think that the fall of assad is imminent. many people are thinking that the assad regime might survive longer than we think it would. >> that seems kind of realistic given how much he has run

to syria's president, bashar al-assad, your days are numbered. there a military option in the works now? >>> what prosecutors are asking to have jerry sandusky kept indoors as part of his bail conditions. >>> and rob marciano live at the weather center. >> a little winter weather heading to the east coast finally but not terribly scary. here it is. it's a quick mover. again, i won't be spending too much time in the east coast. ohio river valley and all of it is heading towards delmarva, d.c. beltway. slushy east and west. one to three inches of snow. you will see delays at that airport. maybe philly as well. light snow showers across the metropolitan area and chilly air behind this system. 13 minutes after the hour. "early start" is coming right back. in the works package, we change the oil we change the filter... tire rotation, suspension, we make suspension checks... what we have here is the multi-point inspection. every time a vehicle comes into a ford dealership you'll be presented with one of these. we check the belts, hoses... brakes. tires

one of his brothers' heads the office of one of syria's richest men and a cousin of bashar al- assad,ut the bloodshed prompted him to desert and flee to jordan. he lives under tight security in a military compound. in a secretly filmed interview, he talks about the role of syria's feared secret services. >> it was the air force's ceqa service that monitors all state institutions as well as the entire syrian secret service apparatus -- the air force's secret service. it is also responsible for planning and carrying out attacks and brutal massacres. >> one of those massacres took place here a year ago. thousands were on the way to protest against a military blockade. troops opened fire from an officers' barracks -- and officer's barracks. >> the massacre on april 29 last year was the turning point in my career in the secret service. on that day, i saw 120 bodies and 160 people who were detained. there were two children who were brutally tortured to death. i could not stand it any more. >> the father of one of the boys went on syrian state television after a meeting with assad to deny hi

the bombardment of the city by forces loyal to president bashar al-assad resumed at dawn on monday with the rebel activists say in a field hospital has been hit after the failure of efforts to reach a resolution at the u.n. and when did before the russian foreign minister is due in damascus. in a moment, a full report on the situation. first, this from our correspondent, paul wood, who managed to enter the city of homs. >> there has been pretty constant shelling since about 6:00 a.m. local time, which was about two hours ago. it sounded like mortars at the beginning. maples a multiple rocket launches are being used -- many people are saying multiple rocket launches are being used. we've tried to put as many thick walls between us and the street as possible. it does not appear to be an invasion at the moment. it does appear to be a constant stream of artillery fire. so far, we believe there have been at least 10 killed and probably more. this is the sound of the rebel fighters, the free army, as they call themselves, replying to heavy artillery. that's pretty much a futile gesture. when