i'm christiane amanpour.will take you around the world to ask questions and tackle the big problems and let history be our guide. here is where we're headed this week. >>> the united states fights fires on multiple fronts. will it win? a briefing from one of america's best-known generals, david petraeus. >> we face more challenges in number and more complex and more dangerous challenges than arguably at any time since the end of the cold war. >>> also ahead, the imf chief optimistic about the u.s. economy. >> cheer up, this is a new year, people. >>> then♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ can you feel it ♪ >> rock star lenny kravitz on life, legacy and vying for an oscar. >>> and from the archive, the anniversary of the pope's first visit to atheist communist cuba. >>> welcome to the program, everyone. i'm christiane amanpour. this year crises overseas could also tip the scales. first in ukraine where the war grinds on and president biden's request for emergency funding could die in congress. in the middle east, the war on gaza threa

i'm christiane amanpour in london. thanks for watching. see you again next week.

i'm christiane amanpour. hearings began this week at the international court of justice in the case brought by south africa accusing israel of genocide in gaza. now the world faces an extraordinary possibility -- the international law against genocide that was created after the holocaust could be applied for the very first time against israel itself. in response, israel argues it's acting in self-defense after the horrors of october 7th and the slaughter of its civilians by hamas. at the heart of south africa's case is a litany of rhetoric from officials in benjamin netanyahu's government. south africa's senior counsel speaking in court. >> israel's political leaders, military commanders, and persons holding official positions have systematically and in explicit terms declared their genocidal intent. and these statements are then repeated by soldiers on the ground in gaza. as they engage in the destruction of palestinians and the physical infrastructure of gaza. >> now israel has sent one of its most distingu

christiane amanpour, it's always lovely to speak to you.hank you for joining us on "cnn news central" appreciate it. >> and all of that to you, sara. >> john. >>> happening now, illinois election officials meeting to decide if donald trump can stay on that state's ballot. >>> and cnn is on the front lines in ukraine in the trenches, as the need for more aid becomes even more desperate. we promised it, and we're going live now to the committee for homeland security that is looking at impeaching the dhs secretary. you're listening to ranking member bennie thompson with the response to the republicans. >> -- indeed, no official in american history has ever been convicted an impeachment for refusal to follow the law. these disputes are settled in the court system, not through impeachment. apparently, the republicans are upset, they lost in court. and are trying to relitigate their cases through impeachment. the constitution does not allow that. breach of public trust requires conduct intended to serve an official's own benefit or the benefit of

i'm christiane amanpour. thank you for watching and i'll see you again next week. >>> hello, thank you for joining me. i'm frederricka whitfield. donald trump endorsing a deal that could lead to the u.s. shutting down the border with mexico. he is now throwing his support behind a bipartisan senate bill that gives the u.s. the authority to crack down on illegal crossings. but republican house speaker mike johnson is already warning the senate border deal would face strong opposition in his chamber writing if rumors about the draft proposal are true, it would have been dead in arrival in the house anyway. and for more, let's bring in priscilla alvarez. what you can tell us about president biden's support for this tougher border bill? >> reporter: well, this marks a stark shift from the white house position in the early days of the administration. and is a way to fend off attacks from former president trump on immigration policy as this election season heats up. in this rare statement from president biden, yest

i'm christiane amanpour. thank you for watching and i'll see you agai

i'm christiane amanpour in london. thanks for watching. see you again next week. >>> hello, everyone. thank you for joining me this saturday. we're following two major stories at this hour. reports of an israeli missile strike hitting a building in syria. a dramatics escalation of tensions in the middle east. >>> and it's the final weekend in this country before the first primary of the u.s. presidential election. how candidates are spending these last critical hours on the campaign trail. >>> we begin with this breaking news. that strike in the syrian capital of damascus. state television says several iranian military a advisers restaurant among those killed when a building was targeted today. iranian and syrian news agencies both saying israel was behind the attack. the israeli defense forces say they won't comment on the reports. video from the scene showing the building in ruins. >>> getting reports from the reb these news agency that four people were killed when they targeted a car traveling near the border between the two countries.

the president speaking to christiane amanpour earlier this week saying that this country needs the u.s' help. and the president is asking the u.s. for resources. as far as gear for the military, intelligence to help combating the terror groups, the u.s. is spread thin with the middle east and ukraine so that will be a drain. if this doesn't happen, you are talking a destabilized ecuador. people would want to flee. where would they go? the u.s. >> thanks so much for that report from ecuador. >>> family in uvalde demanded answers and today they are getting them. the report on the shooting that killed 19 students and two teachers. a damning report that cites law enforcement and the names that should bear the blame, next. - [young alec] my favorite people in shriners are the doctors and the nurses, because they help people through life. - [adult alec] wow, i was a really cute kid, (laughs) but it's true. shriners hospitals for children is awesome. the first time i went to shriners hospitals for children, i was two months old. because of their care, now i live a full, independent life. i go

i'm christiane amanpour in london. thank you for watching, and see you again next week. ♪ . >>> hello, everyone. thank you so much for joining me and happy new year. i'm fredericka witfield. alaska airlines is now grounding its entire fleet of boeing 737s. a flight had just taken off from portland, oregon, when a section of its cabin ripped off, leaving a gaping hole in the jet with more than 170 passengers on board. one passenger captured the scene during the very tense silent moments after the incident happened. they're all nearly paralyzed in fear there. the plane was only airborne for about 20 minutes before the pilot made an emergency landing back in portland. a passenger describes the harrowing ordeal. >> i understand from talking to a lady who was sitting in the row immediately behind where the panel blew out, you could see later there was a two-window section panel that blew out that's about as wide as a refrigerator and about two-thirds as high. she said, i guess, a boy and mother was sitting there that row an

. >> i want christiane amanpour, i'm just saying. if i had to pick. >>> this i love, the push to replace punxsutawney phil, peta, people for the ethical treatment of animals, is out with an ad, they claim that phil can't actually predict the weather, and should be replaced with a coin toss. who can forget that awful day ten years ago when then new york city mayor bill de blasio dropped a groundhog that later died. reihan, yea or nay on saying good-bye to the groundhog? >> oh, ferocious, intense nay. this is a sign of man's mastery over nature, and our partnership with the animal kingdom, we must keep this going. >> oh, my lord. >> a coin toss would be -- absolutely not. >> lulu, i have a different take on this. punxsutawney phil is one of the the central characters in a great movie "groundhog day," where are you on getting rid of poor phil? >> i did some research on this story, you'll be happy to know, and they used to eat poor phil, goes back into the 19th century here in the united states. it's got a long and storied history. and t

one of the other things that he also said in that interesting interview with christiane amanpour is that that vladimir putin does not want to negotiate a just peace with the ukrainians. they don't believe in that also because a lot of the missile strikes by the russians we've seen the past couple of days. massive barrages launched toward kyiv and other cities the past couple of days. some causing damage but a lot intercepted by the anti-missile system. and so the ukrainians are saying that they have to continue fighting. i think one of the interesting things that i picked out of that interview, else said that he still believes that all of this is essentially a domestic u.s. political issue that there aren't any questions about the merit of continuing to provide ukraine with weapons. and he said look, essentially he believes that this is not charity but an investment in the u.s. security. and of course the security of the eastern flank of nato as well. >> fred pleitgen for us in kyiv, thank you very much for that report. >>> coming up next here, gop rivals ron desantis and nikki haley set

joining us now to discuss, cnn chief international anchor christiane amanpour. this has been something u.s. officials have been having nightmares about for the better part of the last several months. waking up, and a service member has been killed. what do you think? >> they're trying to keep cool heads and figure out what is the response, and what is the day after the response. if the administration hits iran, that in itself is a massive escalation at a time when there is a hot war going on in gaza. you know, there's engagement between hezbollah on the northern front there. there's a war between britain and the houthis in that region, and now we have had this, you know, this situation going on. it was inevitable that this was going to happen at some point, that an american, allies, some kind of important target was going to get hit and killed. this was everybody's nightmare. this was certainly everybody expected that with this amount of activity going on in that small region, that this was going to happen. iran has denied it, but this is what iran does. it also

here's what the president said tuesday to cnn's christiane amanpour. >> we need international cooperationeration from the u.s. we need equipment. we need weapons. we need intelligence, and i think that this is a global problem. it's not only in ecuador. this is a problem that goes beyond borders. >> the government says more than 1700 people were detained in the first week of a nationwide state of emergency against gang violence. more than 150 suspects are accused of terrorism. >>> elon musk is demanding an even larger stake in tesla, the company that made him the richest person on the planet. musk is tesla's ceo, and he sold a large number of shares to buy x, the company formerly known as twitter. now he says he wants around 25% of tesla's stock, almost double the 13% he owns now. musk says he is, quote, uncomfortable growing tesla to be a leader in a.i. and robotics without having the voting control he wants. >>> well, major turbulence for low cost american carrier spirit airlines. its shares plummeted 47% tuesday after a federal judge blocked its $3.8 billion merger with budget airline