cardin: as i mentioned earlier, elise mellinger is a pearson foreign officer fellow. let explain what that means. she's an experienced member of the department of state's foreign service, she has served in india and indonesia, singapore, she is a person who has served our country for many years and she's a career diplomat at the state department. and for the past year, she's been assigned to my senate office and as -- acted as a valuable member of my staff. now, that helps a career -- our career diplomats understand the congressional process better but it also gives us the opportunity to have an experienced individual who really understands the workings of diplomacy to be in our office and help us carry out our responsibility. in elisea's case that was particularly helpful to me because at the beginning of this year i took on the new responsibility as the chair of the east asia and pacific subcommittee. throughout my career in congress i've spent a lot of time on europe, i've chaired the u.s. helsinki commission, traveled extensively to europe, but it was a new ventur

elise labott is following this story for us. tell us who this is and why he was kidnapped. >> he is a 72-year-old development expert, contractor for usaid from right here in the washington area, kidnap ped by l qaeda militants in lahore, pakistan, where he was working. they broke into his house, overpowered his security guards and took him. the leader of al qaeda took credit for the kidnapping. in this latest video he makes a desperate plea, mr. weinstein, for help from president obama. let's have a listen. >> mr. obama, you are a family man and so you understand the deep, mental anxiety and anguish that i have been experiencing and, therefore, am appealing to you on a humanitarian basis, if nothing else, and asking that you take the necessary actions to expedite my release. >> and he says he has spent his whole life in service of the u.s. government and the american people and asking not just the president, but secretary of state john kerry, the american public and the media to help him bring him home. as he says, he feels aban

elise labot is following the story for us. what does this mean for egypt as political future? >> it doesn't look good. as el note, it's the biggest political party in egypt. it's a huge movement, so you're not just talking about a wide swath of supporters you're alienating, but a lot of social services, charities, nongovernment organizations in the country will be shut down it further aliens yates the -- if the muslim brotherhood goes underground, who will they turn to? they started in the sinai, but they're gaining influence throughout the country. these are the groups that are believed to be responsible for some of these bombings. the concern is this could further radicalize the population. >> there's long-standing ties between the u.s. government and the interim government there in egypt. whagle plafr for plan for dealing with this government? egypt? >> it's really unclear, brianna. the us has very little influence. this was a symbolic amount of weapons and loans, that countries like saudi arabia, the united arab emirates, they share the concern, so they're making up the sh

and elise noted that the trend of that cost three years would continue next year was to grow weak number of job offers a job websites. these kinds of songs employers pay special attention to the possibilities of internet recruiting. presently the service is referred to as one of the most convenient and efficient wants saving both time and money. with the increasing number of job offers to w h o k said because it's on jobseekers will have a greater choice of employment options the ay ay ay ay ay ay ay. the i know. i know. sure or scolding the book is a rusty sword you rock show. two of the markham site as its director since two thousand and six. still makes show up all the students arrive on time will lose i still get to it one last ditch bid to show good in maths he is the issue the local cpa which to sew the little one up on it. i'm starting to reek seen vast improvements in its educational services for default the top by two thousand won only fifty thousands of white meat in children's court where tourists. this is international intervention the beginners recent two eight million inclu

but elise is right.uation is getting that much better, baby we don't need to have this anymore. i think republicans understand now at post shutdown, if you will, that they can't just be seen as intransgently standing in the way of everything. they've got to find a way to get legislation through across the finish line and signed by the president. the budget deal is one of those. potentially, i still hold out hope that will come the spring, there's going to be some progress on immigration because they understand it needs to be done. there's a desire to get it done. that way they can go home next fall and say we did finally tackle that big issue. whether or not they resolve it with the senate we'll see. i believe they will eventually get to it so they can say we tried tackling that one also based on the fact that most of the nation wanted them to do it. >> it's all good. thank you both. >> bye, alex. >> come by to see the tree. >> it's beautiful right outside. see you. the fight for a living wage in america

. >> this girl, stephanie elise jennings walks into the store with a gun, demands money, gets the money and ends up taking off. >> you know her full name, middle name included so something tells me she didn't get away. >> she didn't get very far. turns out they found her a short distransfrom an original robbery. the sad part is that in the getaway car they had a 3-year-old child. >> there's so heart breaking. >> were ne really in need to care for the child or was is cigarettes and alcohol? >> it was just cash but the gun she was using was a toy gun. >> do you lose your child. >> according to tsiar family no. >> and this 46-year-old is elena. she's there buying herself a ring. then another customer walks in so she's done and is just about to walk out the door, he pulse out pep are spray. >> he drops everything, ends up taking off. >> this lady is running them down, though. stop, i got everything he'll score right here. >> this crook has no idea what he's up again. >> this thief is also facing prison. th this. >> i remember this random e-mail i got about a year ago from a woman namd netti

is willing to negotiate. >> elise labott, thanks for breaking that down.he next story contains graphic images that may not be appropriate for children. you may want to take the kids out of the room for the story. fears a new civil war may erupt in south sudan propelled two leaders to go to the the capital and trying to kick start peace talks. deadly violence erupted christmas day, stores looted, homes burned, hospitals have no medicine, no doctors. arwa damon tracking tensions in south sudan from uganda. >> reporter: fighting continues in the oil-rich northern portion of the country, other pockets, as well. but in the town of bor, where much of the violence intensified at beginning of the conflict on wednesday, there was evidence of fresh flood, images emerging showed bodies lining the streets, some burnt, we're not clear why. stores had been looted, stores and homed razed to the ground, we're only beginning to get an idea of how terrifying it must have been. civilians returning home, trying to salvage what they can before going back to u.n. bases, not fee

elise holman, al jazeera. >>> over in germany they have stretched their unbeaten run in the league to1 games. they have now gone a whole year without a league defeat, and on saturday hamburg went to scotland. the goals fueled a 3-1 win. they go into winter break as league leaders. third place dartmouth went again pop inhiem, and they fill a goal back. he leveled from close range, the 2-2 result was dropped by points behind second place. >>> sergei garcia picked up his first win in a year in thailand. the spanish golfer that led the field since the second round turned in 168 on sunday. steve henriks did by two strokes to win the champion. he celebrated with his girlfriend, who was his caddie for the week. >>> skiing for you now. world champion tessa has won the third world cup giant sla lom event of the new season. they managed to avoid the fate of some of her rivals in switzerland. she posted the fastest time in both runs. they were defending over a world cup champion. >>> american college football most prestigious individual honor the heisman trophy went to its youngest ever winner.

elise is with us. on the way back home. down to 38%. >> that's right.ed in. among all the policy areas healthcare is the one where people are ranking him the most low. that's not granted they are starting to recover and things are going better, but it seems like this is going to deal obama a blow that perhaps the last several months if not into next year watching the mid terms. >> susan? >> the other interesting thing about the poll is young people 49% disapproval rating 18 to 29-year-old voters. that's pretty serious for obama. usually flip that around because he gets a lot of support from young people. also the independent vote. 62% disapproval rating. that's really dangerous for the president. and for democrats in general because they rely on independents in many of the close across the finish line. >> i thought the poll was interesting one. 38%. all-time low for him for quinnipiac. and, you know, goes much lower than is he really going to drag the party down. i think it's' it's all going to hinge on healthcare law and how it going forward. still loo

elise labott is our foreign affairs reporter. elyse, the u.s.nment can't be happy about this, channel 4 giving edward snowden air time. any reaction there? >> not today on this holiday, michael. kind of staying quiet about it, obviously the government keeps referring to edward snowden as a fugitive and that he should come home. you might note that he joins the ranks of mahmoud ahmadinejad the former president of iran in delivering this alternative alternative message. they would say he's in that kind of company. over the last year, you've noticed edward snowden started as just leaking this information but now in becoming more of a provocateur speaking out and this christmas message he urged people in britain and obviously around the world are also paying attention to rally against this mass government surveillance that we've seen. let's take another listen to what he said, another part of it. >> the conversation occurring today will determine the amount of trust we can place both in the technology that surrounds us and the government that the re

let's get more from cnn foreign affairs reporter elise labin. this is the same taliban that the united states went to war with afghanistan towards, because of what happened on 9/11, because of the attacks here. we've been at war with them for 12 years now. and the taliban is still able to hit the u.s. embassy there. i think for people watching at home, they're going to be saying, huh? are you kidding me? what's this war been all about? >> you're right, dana. this comes at a pivotal time for the u.s. in afghanistan. the u.s. trying to keep some troops in, after the end of 2014, to train the afghan army and police, because they aren't strong enough yet. an attack shows security is still a challenge. the afghans can't handle it 100% on their own. this is a capital kabul, the heart of the country, and 13 years after the u.s. went into afghanistan, the taliban are showing they're still able to carry out attacks. it makes you wonder how much stronger the country is as we're winding down. >> never mind the fact that 2,300 americans have lost their live

. >> elise lab got covering this. what things are we talking about?that's right. it's nothing that's going to turn the conflict around, talking about food, medical kits, communications equipment trucks, things the rebels have said is not enough to help them on the battlefield against assad's forces the reason the u.s. had do it is a wake-up call for u.s. officials because these islamic groups, the so-called islamic front that seizesed the weapons, now these islamic groups are not only battling assad's forces but battling moderate groups on the ground that the u.s. is trying to boost up. so it's really a blow to u.s. international efforts to end the conflict and get assad out because now you have a two-front war. >> elise, speak to this, because assad has always said from the very beginning, and many saw this as an excuse potentially turning into reality now, you had al qaeda and terrorist elements running around trying to take over. it seems like they've gained some ground. >> reporter: well, they've gained ground and they're not just battling assad,

members of his auntie and that its wings elise and also that the head of his administration resigned and some diplomats or ukraine and the knights for example i do the c o canada. that little one to present these covenants typically chance. in fact he is a little bit different because it looks at the last moment he knew how spooky is that press conference. and now is not he said i spend all this but he's on his threats against anti meat ministers of the year to find a solution to the situation and at the salon and the rope this price tag. this is warmed by the protest their seat won't be close to the cabinet of ministers at the oss the resignation will present its government. john is still a mega bailout because it let iran. in the thai capital to you fresh violent actions continued into the night between anti government protests is in police. angry crowds that even tried to force their way to various government buildings around the caulk and outside government house that were met with police probably it's taken us to callum will fall the park which had been killed and many more conj

us residents spent more than fifty seven billion us dollars and elise was bored to death in the uk during the so called manic monday. people had to spend two point six million pounds per minute to be able to buy gifts for the holiday. last month left before the opening ceremony of the switch to the games cause extensive national team will be fun the form and ginny were nineteen. the main cast for the sportsman is to go to the olympics without injury texans team has obtained the license is to buy a fleet of one ten licences for the first time ever dentist and absolve rockabilly of four present context and figure skating. two women sportsman prepare for the olympic games have no time to relax you're simply working hard every hour every minute is precious for them now it is necessary to strengthen training efforts to achieve the best results we've recruited another mobile considered the roof skaters have summarized the results of an expense classical off the awful watching pictured at the end of so difficult and moxie macros can show the best results. as a result of the championship a nation

approving a mills act historical property contract, under administrative code, chapter 71, between elise sommerville, the owner of 70 carmelita street, and the city and county of san francisco; and authorizing the planning director and assessor to execute the mills act historical property contract ~. item number 9, resolution approving a mills act historical property contract, under administrative code, chapter 71, between adam wilson and quyen nguyen, the owners of 56 pierce street, and the city and county of san francisco; and authorizing the planning director and assessor to execute the mills act historical property contract ~. item number 10, resolution approving a mills act historical property contract, under administrative code, chapter 71, between jean paul and ann balajadia, the owners of 64 pierce street, and the city and county of san francisco; and authorizing the planning director and assessor to execute the mills act historical property contract ~. item number 11, resolution approving a mills act historical property contract, under administrative code, chapter 71, between ka

a radical islamist rebel group in syria has given its terms now for elise and twelve christian nuns held hostage since monday the extremists want the syrian government to free a thousand women from prison in exchange so far there's been no comment from damascus regarding the demand that arms were seized from on a street during an opposition assault on a predominately christian town and islamic extremists have been increasingly targeting the christian minority in syria the country's ambassador to the u.n. told r.t. that some foreign powers serve influence over the kidnappers. we ask the security council members. to act immediately and to shoulder their responsibilities in order to make pressure on those states and governments who may have influence over these terrorist groups so that they would release without any condition the nuns and the orphans we should make a petition actually on the saudi government. and the qatari government as well as the government these are three governments are deeply involved in escalating the situation in syria through the operations conducted undertaken by

elise is not controlling the area during the night several hundred police in kenya and dispersed the crowd. eyewitnesses say that the stress that was a rather rather violent novel that the two people were arrested at more than forty had to be hospitalized with different injuries the riot police cordoned off the air to the plate to anyone in sight. the square while the opposition still contemplating the next booth people are mixing integrates with what happened. this title what he actually expected that this friday with kids but especially considering that for the last three or four days was very very peaceful and no classes no fly lists of what's report that the fact is that only bring its thousands tens of thousands but have been protesting against the other coach's decision. i talked to some of them and realize that not all of them were actually aware of what the work of protests against let's have a look at my report. it's early police. spray. what to do you see what number of european countries has been protesting against brussels police ukraine is probably the only one where peo

so do you know this is going to be a us with elise concentrations of captive by your mouse to aim the songs on there in the un the european and american officials have condemned these attacks. what are we done on an international level to combat such terror well that's very difficult in the speeches. you know does this seem to be a rush of domestic issue in many ways. and these are the groups. hey get this a full plate right now cause but syria where it is very difficult for me especially when aged seventy and puts them on to much emphasis area let them live in a row. i rather this era was leaked that there is an offer from the saudis who came to help try to rein in terror in the caucuses ahead of the olympics. it wasn't a camp. and you kind of connection here or just speculating of course the acting but i think this is my guts getting completed on time. leno said selby is in bold in many aspects and co sleep just to play just being latino support and the lebanese army. so it's a very very complex situation and i think the speculation bloke reusable the best thing to do it this time.

. >> joining me now, staff writer for "the hill," elise, thank you for joining us. >> thank you, nicee. >> so is by the administration to extend the unemployment benefits a no-brainer or will he get some pushback? >> that is a good debate, on capitol hill, republicans are hesitant to spend anymore money that would add to the deficit. this would cost tens of billions of dollars added to the debt, so it would be a major shift for them to refuse to do it now especially with only a handful of weeks to go. there are a lot of people counting on those amounts right now. >> it would cost 20 billion to extend the benefits, which would expire by the 28th. >> last week we saw democrats ease up on some of their concerns. they originally wanted this unemployment benefits extension to be attached to this small-scale budget deal that is now in the works on capitol hill. they thought that would be a good show toward unemployment to include their interests in the budget deal. but later in the week they said actually it is okay. if the budget deal goes through without this section as long as we can pas

let's bring in cnn foreign affairs reporter elise labatt as well as molly lasser from the johns hopkins school of international advanced studies. we were talking with barbara about warren weinstein, who is being held in pakistan. the u.s. doesn't negotiate with terrorists, doesn't negotiate with al qaeda. what are the options for freeing him? >> well, they don't look good. as you said, they don't negotiate with al qaeda or any terrorist groups because then that looks like if they're open for bargaining, that will just encourage more groups to kidnap americans and in fact, that's what zawahiri, the leader, said after they kidnapped weinstein. you have to know this guy works for a private company, a private contractor. if the terrorists were looking for money, it would make it a lot easier, a lot of times in these cases, the company will try and negotiate on their behalf. short of some kind of rescue of mr. weinstein, looking at what kind of influence their contacts on the ground might have with tribal leaders, other type of groups, this is the thing that the state department intelligence

but the reality is that we are talking about trillions of dollars and elise in the democratic party,ne gives a darn what happens tothe money and what would be the consequences of the path it has been chosen here? >> it cost too much and he cares too little. the strategist told me the other day that we inherited a bad deal in the next island. a bad deal when we did our job and notes for someone else to work out and that's not the way you govern things. that is unconscionable that the president would take this position and the president had to take the position and he said that it's going to work well by 27. >> closing in on this issue, that is mitch mcconnell sing that it's time to stand up the tea party and the gop establishment that has to do better. seems to be republican leaders are embring us. >> i hope that that is not the broader subject. i think that what mcconnell was trying to say is don't have conservatives going after other republicans and it's not necessarily a new argument but a divide. we've been watching o in the field and i think tea party groups have done a large ser

release do we have any indication at this point why the guantanamo bay officials chose these two men for elise as well as the other four that you had mentioned previously. you know i think they're trying to figure out what countries they believe they can get assurances that the people sent back won't be tortured they claim to have that from algeria we have the center who had one of those algerian clients and think that's wrong that he is in danger in algeria but they went ahead anyway i think because of the pressure on them to try and get them closed i don't think there's any particular order i think it's when they can get agreements with countries and get people out but they certainly have not worked very hard on it as we sit here we're coming up on january eleventh of the twelfth anniversary some of these men have been there are eleven and almost twelve years so that just shows me that they're not working very hard and recently a couple of days ago the general who actually was responsible for setting up one tunnel general lenhart came out with a statement saying it was the wrong thing to do

base under our control and i don't think we can hold people indefinitely there but obviously congress elise disagreed with me. maybe the courts will find four chalets seems like it's going to be a mainstay of the sack and a bell going forward if it's an unfortunate run at a time marked the dean former congressional attorney think he'll take you there. and so your purse is calling out some news organizations have refused to publish his recent story on the obama administration's case for war with syria. curses up with their prize winning journalist to accuse the obama administration of having called cherry picked intelligence as it relates to serious on his twenty first template ask so what i heard the story with his usual magazine the new yorker or the washington post. rt political commentators and zach says moore. this is a pulitzer prize winning investigative journalist seymour hersh has been exposing us military and intelligence panel and vietnam. he's got a new skill this one. alleging that the obama administration cherry picked intelligence reports. we allege that syrian president bush

been cleared for release the case as fine wine and guantanamo bay officials chose these two men fur elise as all the other for that you had mentioned previously. i think we are trying to figure out what countries they believe they can get assurances that the people sent that won't be tortured they claimed to have that from algeria. we at the center who had one of those algerian clients and as he and think that is wrong that he is in danger in algeria a bit they went ahead anyway i think because of the pressure on them to try and get them closed. i don't think there's any particular order i think it's when they can get agreements with countries and get people out but they certainly have not worked very hard on it. as we sit here were coming the plunge and where eleventh and twelfth anniversary. some of these men have been there eleven and almost twelve years. the doctor shows me that they're not working very hard and recently a couple of days ago the general who actually was responsible for setting up guantanamo general and heart came out with a statement saying it was the wrong thing to d

all right, elise, thank you. let's bring kenny into this conversation.ake us inside dennis rodman's head a bit. you know this guy. was going on? >> if i knew what was going on in dennis rodman's head, i wouldn't be sitting here. i would be the greatest psychologist in the world. overall, the thing we've seen is that sports can merge people together, can break down barriers, break down different things, but the problem i think is dennis doesn't recognize that and how he could use his influence not just for his financial gain and being over there for a basketball game. the way things have gone in north korea and with the secretive human rights issues that go on, he could think about it as a bigger plan and then just as a check. for me, not recognizing that, even at all is to me a bit disturbing. they love the nba basketball in north korea. i was an eyewitness to that. i was there three years ago exactly, and the north korean leader -- they had a basketball signed by michael jordan. it was revered. they would have loved michael jordan to come. i think think

elise, nice to see you. what is this makeover the website is getting? >> the obama administration expanded the am of information people can access to health care.gov without having to create an account. it hats created a bottleneck for so many people. now you can see provider networks for the first time, out of pocket prices for the first time and they're seeing it as a boone. >> before they had this. i know that there was a the love criticism. you had to put your name in. give your social security number, date of birth. how much more information do you have to give in. >> plenty. your date of birth, every member of your family, their dates of birth, their social security numbers, your address, maybe some previous addresses if you moved recently. a lot of information people had to provide to even start the shopping process. what they're creating opportunities to look for information. people are liking it. >> i can look at the different plans, i can see the prices, what they offer before i have to give one lick of information. >> that's right. we're talk

. >> elise is our foreign affairs report joining us from washington. ahmadinejad, ali gee, and even marge simpson. snowden is urge iing listeners to -- remember "1984" about big brother watching? snowden says it's nothing compared to what's going on today. take a listen. okay. well, i think we have an error there. but anyway, it's not a very uplifting christmas message about the world we live in today, carol. he's saying everybody needs to start a dialogue about these programs, and i think you've seen this over the last year, congress with an independent panel talking about that perhaps the nsa and all these programs that the u.s. had overreached. i think you started seeing edward snowden kind of more just leaking this information, but now he's evolved into a provocateur, speaking out, giving more interviews about the need for us to question how the government is watching us. >> i would assume, because he can't leave russia, taped it in russia -- before you answer that question, we do have the bite that you were waiting for. let's listen to more of edw

elise, we'll be batracking it. thank you. let's move on to miguel marquez, in for michaela pereira. >> merry christmas eve. >> making news this morning, scary scene for passengers on a southwest airlines flight leaving st. louis for kansas city. the jet had to return to lambert international airport after a flock of birds got sucked into the plane's engines just before takeoff. passengers described hearing a loud boom and smelling smoke. more than 100 passengers had to return to the terminal and wait for a new plane that eventually took them to their destination safely. >>> jp morgan chase says it's easing up on the limits. it was raising the limits to $250 a day in cash withdrawal and $1,000 a day on purchases. chase said it may continue to change the limits as long as it makes sense to do so. >>> at least a dozen people are dead after a car bombing at the interior ministry building in egypt. part of the building collapsed and the blood donation center was running so low it had to turn some people away. egypt's interim prime

elise, he's on a plane coming home, he'll learn he's down to 38%. >> it's not a good poll for the whiteouse right now. the point i was interested in, among all the areas, health care is the one where people are ranking him the most low. not surprising considering the rollout of obama care. granted they're starting to recover, but it seems this will deal him a blow that lasts several months if not into next year when we'll be watching the mid terms. >> the other interesting thing, among young people, 42% disapproval rating. usually flip that around because he gets a lot of support from young people. also the independent vote, 62% disapproval rating. that's dangerous for the president and democrats in general. because they rely on the independents in many close elections to carry them across the finish line. so i thought the poll was an interesting one. it's an all time low for quinnipi quinnipiac, if he goes much lower, he'll drive the party down. i think it's all going to hinge on health care law. if it still looks like a sdaft, you'll see him keep going down. >> bipartisan budget deal,

elise vivek is a writer for "the hill."oint plunge in his own numbers, the government broken, 71%, he's head of the government. these are ugly numbers. could that ugliness be reflected in the questions posed to the president today at 2:00 eastern? >> i believe they will, because these year-end press conferences often reflect wider concerns about what's happened over the last 12 months. and certainly what's on everyone's mind is the fact that president obama is in a much weaker position than he was certainly at the beginning of the first term, but also at the beginning of the second term which it's hard to believe that was just in january, but it's true. of course, everyone is think about obamacare given the news about the catastrophic plans today, but i think there will also be questions about the economy and how it's getting better. certainly, democrats on capitol hill see those pieces of news as a boon to them given automatic other problems they're -- all the other problems they're facing. gregg: yeah. you've got to think

. >> they're laying snowball, three to six inches and let's check in with elise andrew, and it's a beautiful picture, but great looking. >> it looks like wisconsin pictures. >> washington, d.c., and the cars are moving and accumulating on the grassy surfaces and the snow is coming down. you can see in the mid atlantic just the back edge of this already coming in. so the snow, we've got it in washington. philadelphia is kind of seeing the bull's-eye of the snow. you can see where it's the brightest white color and that's where we're seeing the heaviest of snow. visibility between baltimore and philadelphia is about a quarter of a mile or so. new york city just not moistening up the atmosphere to see the snow begin to fall. a little bit we'll make it move in. >> here's the bit with of no through the mid atlantic, you can see we're going new farther north, and overnight it all becomes a rabemaker, and you can see by tomorrow morning it's just rained around because the temperatures will be in the 40s. unlike the ice storm of dallas and memphis a few days ago this really will be a different anima

joining me now is foreign affairs reporter elise lavette. so what are they saying about why he was suddenly released? >> reporter: well, fred, you heard dan saying, and, you know, as a result of this apology, and everyone kind of believes that the north koreans actually wrote this, themselves, where he admitted his veteran status and he worked in the korean war against the north koreans, they say he's admitted his crimes and he feels bad about it, and release him on humanitarian angels, and u.s. officials telling me there's been direct contact between the u.s. and north korea. over the last month, the north koreans called the obama administration yesterday, said they're releasing him. they did not explain why. and they can only -- really can never know with north korea, fred. very unpredictable. no one really wants to get in the head of the north koreans, but obviously, everybody very happy that mr. newman is on his way home. >> so lots of joy that newman has been released. however, there's another american being held, and the u.s. is callin