we spoke with carstens on friday about why it was important to be on the ground in syria. told reporters you were amazed at the number of secret prisons that bashar al assad had, more than 40 of them. have those prisons been searched yet and do you know if journalist austin tice was held in them? >> so, it is not going to shock me to find out that there are prisons yet to be discovered and searched. i would say if i'm stunned by anything, it is just the amount of prisons. you would almost think if you were running a country and you wanted to jail your enemies, you would have one prison and wouldn't be secret. but to have, like, 35 or 40 secret prisons, i find that just horrifying, disturbing and yet in a way fascinating. but really the bottom line is that we have to help and -- or rather work with our interim authorities, officials, to make sure we do a good search, so that i can one day look deborah tice in the eyes and tell them our search has been exhausted. in a perfect world, we're going to find austin tice. i think i've gone on record numerous times saying i believe

we spoke with carstens in an exclusive interview for this sunday's "face the nation."d reporters that you were amazed at the number of secret prisons that bashar al-assad had, more than 40 of them. have those prisons been searched yet, and do you know if journalist austin tice was held in them? >> so, it is not going to shock me to find out that there are prisons that have yet to be discovered and searched. i would say if i am stunned by anything, it's just the amount of prisons. i mean, you'd almost think that if you were running a country and you wanted to jail your enemies, you'd have one prison and it wouldn't be secret. but to have like 35 or 40 secret prisons, i find that just horrifying, disturbing, and yet in a way fascinating. >> margaret: ahmed al-sharaa oh the head of hts, his group and he himself are still technically designated as terrorists under u.s. law because of prior affiliation with al qaeda. do you trust that they are being helpful to the u.s. now? >> today, we conducted a joint search of a facility that we all thought would have some sort of relat

joining me now is carsten brzeski, global head of macro for ing research in frankfurt.to have you here. explain this. what is going on good to have you here. explain this. what is going on right now? we said that michel barnier is caught between both sides. difficult to please the opposition parties in the markets. what happens your? figs markets. what happens your? as we markets. what happens your? sis we see markets. what happens your? is we see the french government debt has become too high. the french fiscal tips —— deficit have been .6%. they have to save money somewhere and michel barnier has come up with a plan to raise taxes and cut a little bit on spending. remember that he wanted to reach the european target deficit of 3% of gdp by 2028 - 2029 target deficit of 3% of gdp by 2028 — 2029 services mild. but we have political games being played here. this is what we see from the left and right sides, they are trying to use this occasion to bring down the government.— this occasion to bring down the government. , . ., , , ., government. yes and as you say, the are g

disagreed over how best to handle the stagnation in europe's largest economy as german based economist carstentruggling to somehow make up its mind. so how can the german economy really be reformed and overhauled in the end? it all comes down to money. so will we go more or less the southern european way that we saw during the euro crisis, that there will be reforms combined with austerity measures, or will we see a new way? that would be reforms combined with higher debt and higher deficits and more investments. and this is how the government broke. and i'm a bit afraid that also, when i look at the platforms right now, what all the parties are proposing for after the elections, that this basic problem will still not be solved. and these are live pictures now from inside the bundestag in germanies capital — berlin — where members and these are live pictures now from inside the bundestag in germanies capital — berlin — where members have been voting. we'll bring the result of that no—confidence vote in chancellor 0laf scholz�*s cooalition governmentjust — as soon as we get them. to china now w

carsten brzeski says, "the mother of all "financial crises would result.tegration of 25 years would be an economic disaster." do you believe the german people want you to go down that path? well... as i'vejust said, we're not planning to do that. especially the economic union is not a mistake. we would like to keep that. so nothing wrong about that. falling tariffs or abandoning the tariffs, very easy thing to do. that's the opposite of what donald trump is planning to do. and then the other day, there was...an examination what parties, the famous economics that are always quoted all over the media, adhere to. and 90% of them are leftists, left—wing socialists. and, well, this is probably one of them. and they're all supranationalists. so... well, what can i say? it's an opinion. it's an alleged majority opinion. and, yes, the free trade thing is correct. we see it the same way. but you don't need the european union to achieve all that. peter boehringer, we're sadly out of time, but i do thank you very much for joining me on hardtalk. thank you. thank you,

i will speak to assistant secretary barbara leaf and ambassador roger carstens traveled to damascus, syria, to engage with the syrian people including members of the civil activist, and how the united states can support them they also met with members of the interim authority to discuss principles shared by the united states and regional partners. in their meet, to your question, they stressed the immense importance of finding missing u.s. citizens including austin tice and bringing them home so that is a -- continues to be a priority. any specifics about that meeting i would refer to the state department. i know at 12:30, the two state department officials held a -- and on the record press conference. i would refer you to that press conference that they had. might still be going. but they certainly were able to talk in more detail and take questions about this. again, they talked -- they touched on austin tice and more broadly bringing u.s. citizens home. reporter: does the president have a list of things he wants to accomplish in the next 31 days? karine: one thing i can say, keepi

tice, the journalist who disappeared some 12 years ago, some interesting new details from roger carstenswho's in charge of hostage affairs. he said that they are focusing primarily on six facilities where austin tice is thought to have been held. he said that they were quite surprised at the number of secret prisons that had been discovered, believed to have been around ten but actually 40. so for right now, they're focusing on these six prisons. they're looking for any shred of evidence they can find. still hoping to find him, but for now, sadly, no news. all right. >> we'll keep looking for that. alex, thank you so much for the update, boris. >> let's get more perspective now with retired air force colonel cedric leighton. colonel leighton, great to see you as always as this delegation arrives in damascus, we're also learning about a u.s. airstrike that killed an i.s.i.s. leader. tell us about that and about the broader concerns regarding i.s.i.s. in syria. >> yeah, boris, this is abu yusuf, who is also known as mahmoud. he was killed in the deir ezzor province in syria. so that is in

you have barbara lee, who is the top middle east official leading this delegation alongside roger carstens, who's in charge of hostage affairs, and a newly named senior advisor named daniel rubinstein. >> sarah, i know there's a desperate search. his family just devastated, hoping that he is still with us and he can be found. alex marquardt, thank you so much for your reporting on this accused killer. luigi mangione in federal court in a federal prison this morning for the first time in new york. now his lawyers are planning their strategy as they face the possibility the feds may push for the death penalty against him. and new information from the investigation into the man police believe may have been planning a coordinated attack with that teenage girl, who ended up perpetrating a mass shooting at her wisconsin school. those stories ahead can't fool myself. >> it was the most exciting time in the world. >> his life had extremely joyful moments and some really difficult moments. >> you only come across an artist like luther vandross once in a lifetime. >> luther. never too much new year'

citizen by roger carstens special presidential envoy for hostage affairs. immediately him would be chaplain margaret a reflection on ministering to members challenging times. thank you, c.j. eric, it's a pleasure to see you and your family. c.j. queen, mother of distinguished guests, like to tell you a few things about sheila jackson lee. you know, in this business that i'm involved in that's trying to bring americans back who've been held hostage by a terrorist group or wrongfully detained by nations, state like russia. president biden's brought back about 50 people in the last three and a half years. one of them was brittney griner. true fact, brittney griner would not have come back without the hard work of this congresswoman right here. the work that she did was fundamental to brittney's return. i first met her right after brittney was taken. she asked for a briefing up on capitol hill. i went there with one or two of my folks, and we started to brief her, and she started to ask some pretty tough questions. and i realized right then and there that this

the head of hostage affairs, roger carstens, says that he has been amazed by the number of secret prisonsn syria being uncovered, and he said that in their search for clues, they are focusing on around six facilities where tice may have been held, carson's acknowledged limited resources and suggested that american investigators, including from the fbi, could join the search on the ground soon. but for now, sadly, there is no news about tice's whereabouts. alex marquardt, cnn, washington the white house says president joe biden approved the largest aid package the u.s. has ever granted to taiwan. >> his administration announced more than half $1 billion in military funding for the island on friday. the u.s. is bound by law to supply taiwan with weapons to defend itself. the announcement comes one month after biden met with chinese president xi jinping in peru. during the meeting, the white house says biden called, quote, for an end to destabilizing prc military activity around taiwan. the man accused of killing an insurance company ceo is expected to be arraigned on murder charges in new y

soldiers that would have been border guards now there is absolutely nobody from the syrian regime roger carstens friendly people waving us through and honestly, the last time i came down this road was back in 2011. i was leaving syria. >> i had been undercover in damascus, posing as a tourist went back into lebanon, and i never imagined this moment would come when we would be driving through this border with no one from the regime to stop us and wolf, my cameraman scott mcwhinnie, just found this on the ground literally, as we were listening to that clip this is the old flag of the syrian regime, which has two green stars. the rebel's flag has three green stars, but this one has now been literally we just found it on the floor. i guess a real moment where you see how much things have changed just in the past 24 hours in terms of the security situation on the streets, i would just add, we anticipated that we might see quite a lot of checkpoints as we came into the city. we didn't. we did see a group of men. they did not appear to be armed, but they asked us what we were doing, where we were going

the head of hostage affairs, roger carstens, says that he has been amazed by the number of secret prisons in syria being uncovered, and he said that in their search for clues, they're focusing on around six facilities where tice may have been held. carson acknowledged limited resources and suggested that american investigators, including from the fbi, could join the search on the ground soon. but for now, sadly, there is no news about tice's whereabouts. alex marquardt, cnn, washington. >> all right. disaster relief funding was a major sticking point in that government spending bill that finally passed last night. people hit by hurricane helene say they desperately need that help to rebuild. we will speak to one of them next. >> on new year's eve, live with anderson and andy. live coverage starts at eight on cnn. >> this is the sound of the season's favorite gift. for a limited time. omaha steaks is offering the favorite gift package that includes our famous bacon wrapped filet mignon, our butcher's cut top sirloin, our delicious air chilled chicken breast, burgers, franks, sides and dess

but she's also accompanied by a car by companies to carsten who's the head of affairs and relating to all of the of the keys and hostages. and then you folks about that in group and seeing who is going to be taking care of everything and on the said you find for the united states. so it is an important meeting. it comes on the back of a flight of diplomatic meetings that you've seen in the syrian capital in the last few days. you've got a embassy offer embassy. the whole thing after more than a decade of crozier. you've got diplomats of various european centers coming to meet this new leadership to tell them about what they're expecting. expectations are and hearing from the ceiling administration and what they expect from the international community. obviously with the united states. there's so many issues that needs to be discussed. the us support for courtesy fights is in the north west of syria. then us forces presence inside syria. this issue of is really a transgression on eh, city and soil is a lot to buy more land as we can have more strikes. and this administration coming und

have you learned anything new about austin's status in syria from envoy roger carstens, who who was on the ground in syria and talking to the the new leadership there, trying to get some answers? i'll start with you, simon yeah. >> thank you so much for having us. >> um, so we have been very encouraged by the fact that roger has been on the ground in syria, and we are just continuing to push everyone who has any ability to do so to help us find austin and bring him home. >> you now have, like the rest of the world, seen this sort of overthrow that happened so quickly. and you've seen the jails that have been opened up and worse, the morgues and mass graves in syria. um, do you have any thoughts? megan and the family talking through this for all these many years as to exactly where austin might be, any ideas that you have come up with? >> um, we haven't had to, you know, kind of come up with our own ideas. we've had intel that has been provided through different sources for the last 12 years. you know, this is not we're not chasing a white rabbit. we know that he is alive. we know that

the head of hostage affairs, roger carstens, says that he has been amazed by the number of secret prisonsn syria being uncovered, and he said that in their search for clues, they're focusing on around six facilities where ties may have been held. carson's acknowledged limited resources and suggested that american investigators, including from the fbi, could join the search on the ground soon. but for now, sadly, there is no news about tice's whereabouts. alex marquardt, cnn, washington. >> iran's most prominent human rights activist is vowing to keep up the fight for equality, even as she faces a return to prison. narges mohammadi is the 2023 nobel peace prize winner. she spent most of the past two decades as an inmate of tehran's notorious evin prison, where many critics of the regime are held. supporters say she's a political prisoner detained for working to advance women's rights and democracy. during a temporary medical leave from prison, she spoke exclusively with cnn's christiane amanpour. >> the moment they let me in the ambulance and i saw the streets, i felt liberated and i felt

the head of hostage affairs, roger carstens, says that he has been amazed by the number of secret prisons in syria being uncovered, and he said that in their search for clues, they're focusing on around six facilities where ties may have been held, carson's acknowledged limited resources and suggested that american investigators, including from the fbi, could join the search on the ground soon. but for now, sadly, there is no news about tice's whereabouts. alex marquardt, cnn, washington. >> ukraine says russia has, quote, unleashed a real hell on the southern city of kherson. more than a thousand artillery shells hit the city over a period of 40 minutes on friday, leaving two people dead and ten others injured. this is just across the river from russian positions, and officials say russian troops regularly try to cross over with hopes of reoccupying the city at some point. now, similar scenes played out in kyiv, where at least one person was killed and 12 others injured. ukraine call it a barbaric attack that also damaged several foreign embassies. officials say all russian drones and mi

the head of hostage affairs, roger carstens, says that he has been amazed by the number of secret prisonssyria being uncovered, and he said that in their search for clues, they're focusing on around six facilities where ties may have been held. carson's acknowledged limited resources and suggested that american investigators, including from the fbi, could join the search on the ground soon. but for now, sadly, there is no news about tice's whereabouts. alex marquardt, cnn, washington. >> ukraine says russia has, quote, unleashed a real hell on the southern city of kherson. more than a thousand artillery shells hit the city over a period of 40 minutes on friday, leaving two people dead and ten others injured. her son is just across the river from russian positions, and officials say russian troops regularly try to cross over with hopes of reoccupying the city at some point. similar scenes played out in kyiv, where at least one person was killed and 12 others injured. ukraine called it a barbaric attack that also damaged several foreign embassies. officials say that all russian drones and m

and we know that roger carstens, the head of hostage affairs, was also in that delegation.e has been following every lead he possibly could until today. he's been in jordan and in lebanon, coordinating those efforts. there's also a new senior biden official for syria. now, for the next few weeks of this administration named daniel rubinstein. and one more thing to note, jim, is we just learned yesterday, remarkably from the pentagon, that that there are some 2000 u.s. troops inside syria. that's more than double the number that we knew about. it had been 900. this raises questions about transparency. it raises questions about why there was this influx of u.s. troops. they are primarily there to fight against i.s.i.s.. obviously, it's been a very unstable time the past few weeks, and we have seen a significant uptick in airstrikes against i.s.i.s.. all right. >> alex marquardt, very important. thank you very much. let's discuss more now with democratic congressman jake auchincloss of massachusetts. congressman, you've been very vocal about the u.s. role in syria's future. wh

the story from the post saying while there is no concrete evidence that he is still alive, roger carstensas been dispatched to beirut to lead efforts to find him. two of those officials speaking yesterday was president biden himself and also the state department's matthew miller. here are the comments from yesterday. >> what is being done about austin tice? >> there are intensive efforts underway by the united states to find austin tice and bring him home to his family. our special envoy for hostage repairs is in beirut and we are pressing all parties in the region to support this effort. we encourage anyone who has information about his whereabouts to contact the fbi immediately. you have made clear they will provide a reward to information that leads to return him home. as secretary blinken has sent directly to austin's family, including in the past few days, we will not rest until he is returned home safely to his loved ones. host: again, there is more there on the website or c-span now if you want to see those comments concerning events in syria. when it comes to things happening in w

carsten brzeski is chief economist at ing germany in frankfurt. good morning to you.of no—confidence and we're looking at elections early next year? looking at elections early next ear? ., . , looking at elections early next ear? ., ., , , year? you are right. this is auoin year? you are right. this is going to — year? you are right. this is going to happen. _ year? you are right. this is going to happen, the - year? you are right. this is going to happen, the six i year? you are right. this is i going to happen, the six time he appears that we had this vote of no—confidence. he has to go to the federal and up to the federal president theoretically to announce new election but this is what's going to happen so we will have lectured on the 23rd of february. lectured on the 23rd of february-— lectured on the 23rd of february. lectured on the 23rd of februa . �* , . ., february. and since the fall out with the _ february. and since the fall out with the finance - february. and since the fall. out with the finance minister which caused the collapse of the coalition govern