and to kwame holman, in our newsroom, for what's on the "newshour" online. kwame? >> holman: as new and old members of congress gather in washington, judy has filed a blog post on what key republican leaders are planning to tackle first, including the health reform law and the deficit. find a reader's guide to understanding g.m.'s road from bankruptcy to a possible record breaking stock offering. plus, from lisbon margaret warner previews this weekend's nato summit. that's on "the rundown" news blog. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. jeff? >> brown: and that's the "newshour" for tonight. i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. we'll see you on-line and again here tomorrow evening with mark shields and david brooks, among others. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> opportunity is a powerful force. set it in motion, and it goes out into the world like fuel for the economy. one opportunity leading to another and another. we all have a hand in it, because opportunity can start anywher

and to kwame holman in our newsroom for what's on the newshour online. kwame. >> holman: on our "making sense" page, a follow-up to last night's interview with authors joe nocera and bethany mcclean. we've posted a "hall of shame" slideshow looking at some of history's most notorious financial figures. plus on "art beat," jeff talks to director lucy walker about "waste land," a film that follows a brazilian-born artist who found inspiration in the world's largest trash dump. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. judy. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. on monday, we'll look at the african nation of mozambique, where the economy is growing, but many still live in poverty. i'm judy woodruff. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. "washington week" can be seen later this evening on most pbs stations. we'll see you online, and again here monday evening. have a nice weekend. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... th

kwame? >> holman: you've seen our new science unit on air. now you can visit them online anytime at our new science page. you'll find all of our reports from miles o'brien, plus additional blog posts, insights and video interviews from both miles and hari sreenivasan. each week, we'll turn to an expert to answer one of your science questions, in a feature we call "just ask." plus, find classroom resources and suggested science reading and this week, an inside look all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. gwen? >> ifill: and that's the "newshour" for tonight. on thursday, we'll look at general motors initial public stock offering-- one of the largest ever. i'm gwen ifill. >> lehrer: and i'm jim lehrer. we'll see you online and again here tomorrow evening. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> this is the engine that connects abundant grain from the american heartland to haran's best selling whole wheat, while keeping 60 billion pounds of carbon out of the atmosphere every year. bns

and to kwame holman in our newsroom, for what's on the newshour online. kwame? >> holman: you can watch all of today's medal of honor event. on art beat, jeffrey brown talks to photojournalist tim hetherington about his new book of showing images of u.s. troops in afghanistan. paul solman weighs in on ireland's debt crisis and how it compares with economic problems in spain, greece, and elsewhere. and we break down some data on congressional earmarks. use our interactive map to see how your state stacks up. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. >> lehrer: and again, to our honor roll of american service personnel killed in the iraq and afghanistan conflicts. we add them as their deaths are made official and photographs become available. here, in silence, are nine more. >> ifill: and that's the nehour for tonight. i'm gwen ifill. >> lehrer: and i'm jim lehrer. we'll see you online and again here tomorrow evening. thank you, and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and the william and flora hewlett foundation, worki

kwame holman is at the white house. geoffrey brown is at the grand hyatt hotel in downtown washington d.c., that is the headquarters for the republican congressional campaign committee. geoffrey brown, i'm going to come to you first because the republicans are the ones that have some good news so far. three senate victories. one senate pick-up. tell us what's going on there. >> judy, hello. there's music in the background here. but i've got to tell you it's very quiet so far. i'd almost call it like a steady calm. there's a purposeful attempt not to be celebratory. at least in the early hours, judy. that's what they tell us. they tell us and they tell us again. i just want to read something to you that we were given all the media were given. this is from ken spain, communications director of the national republican congressional committee. he says, this event is not a fund-raiser. that's a little jab at the democrats who are at an event across the way. it is not a quote, party. even if voters remove democrats from power

our own kwame holman is at the white house. kwame, it is late. 11:00 in the east. what are they saying there? good news for the republicans. five television networks have called the house of representatives and said that it will change hands and be republican controlled. >> judy, we just emailed the white house officials we've been talking to all day. he just kindly emailed us back to reiterate that everything the white house has to say it has said. for now. until the president speaks tomorrow at 1:00. the feeling here at the white house has been from officials that long ago, months ago, they recognized that they could lose seats. they talked in this building about seats that were marginal for democrats in the first place. talked about seats perhaps thinking about those long-time democrats who have been in difficult seats and in difficult races before who might get taken out on this night. the president in his road swing talked about courageous votes. referring to the health care and the stimulus bill, perhaps not thought to be courageous votes at the time. courage

. >> lehrer: then, kwame holman reports on president obama's meeting with congressional leaders. >> a stated aim of today's white house meeting was to resolve major issues in the lame duck congress. it was an early barometer of how the president and the opposition will get along in the next congress. >> woodruff: we have a newsmaker interview with white house senior advisor david axelrod. >> lehrer: margaret warner examines the decrease in schools known as "dropout factories" and the rise in high school graduation rates. >> woodruff: and gwen ifill talks to marcia coyle about today's supreme court arguments over moving inmates out of california's crowded prisons. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> lehrer: the long-awaited pentagon study on the effects of ending "don't ask, don't tell" was

. >> suarez: kwame holman reports on the return of congress, and charles rangel's decision to walk out of his own ethics trial. >> ifill: and what can a lame duck congress hope to accomplish? we look back with congress watcher norman ornstein and historian richard norton smith. >> suare: and jeffrey brown talks to author stacy shiff about cleopatra, the egyptian ruler who has captured our imagination for more than 2,000 years. >> rome is looking at... well mannered rome is looking at her as the stuff of decadence, as this decadent wild queen. >> ifill: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: a high-profile dispute played out today between the man running afghanistan's government and the man running military operations there. it raised new questions about the future of those operations. it was the latest flash point in a tense relationship. over the weekend, afghan p

here's kwame holman in our news room. >> reporter: u.s.ayed down reports of a new highly sophisticated uranium enrichment facility in north korea. a visiting american nuclear scientist recently was shown the once hidden site at the north main nuclear complex. today the u.s. special envoy for north korea, steven bosworth met with south korean officials and said he was disappointed but not surprised at the revelation. he hoped disarmament talks could be resuscitated. >> i do not believe in engagement just for the sake of engagement. or talking just for the sake of talking. we have to begin to make progress, and it is fundamental that the north reans demonstrate that they approach the dialogue and the discussions and the negotiations with that same measure of seriousness. and willingness to actually make hard decisions. >> reporter: north korea claims it has installed 2,000 centrifuges inside the newç facility. u.s.ç defense secretary robert gates warned that could help the regime build a number of nuclear devices. more than 330 people died

newshour correspondent kwame holman has that story. >> reporter: on this election eve, campaign workers across the country knocked on doors and made 11th hour pitches for their candidates. first lady michelle obama was in nevada stumping for senate majority leader harry reid. he's in his toughest re-election battle ever with republican challenger sharron angle. >> we need you to find those folks that you know who are planning to sit this one out. we need you to tell them that they can't just vote once and then just hope for change to happen. you've got to tell them they have to vote every single time. they've got to vote for their council members and their mayors and governors and for senators like harry reid. >> reporter: former president bill clinton headlined a rally in west virginia for governor joe manchin running for the u.s. senate. >> you have to fly away from your common sense with the country in the economic trouble we have with the budget challenges we have to deny not just west virginiaians but america the chance to have one of the finest governors that i've ever seen who tu

kwame holman begins our coverage. >> reporter: seven months after the explosion of the deep water horizon oil rig, the lead investigator of the bipartisan commission examining the causes of the incident said there is no evidence those involved made shortcuts on safety to save money. >> we see no instance where a decision-making person or group of people sat there aware of safety risks, aware of costs and opted to give up safety for cost. we studied the hell out of this. we welcome anybody that gives us something we've missed. but we don't see a person or three people sitting there at a table considering safety and cost and giving up safety for cost. we have not seen that. >> reporter: that conclusion supported b.p.'s own internal report on the disaster released in september. b.p. found flaws with contractor halliburton's cement job and the maintenance performed by rig owner transocean ltd on critical pieces of equipment. b.p. questioned how its employees could have misread a critical pressure test before the blow-out. the bipartisan panel laid out a detailed portrayal of the events leadin

newshour correspondent kwame holman begins our coverage. >> reporter: voters descended on polling places nationwide in a mid-term election almost certain to shift the balance of power in washington and state houses across the nation. there have been months of negative ads, billions of dollars spent, and heated campaigning. >> this is going to determine the future o our state and there's a lot of important issues coming up. a lot of important changes. >> i do think that the spending is totally out of control. >> no government shall have.... >> reporter: all of that at a time of widespread economic uncertainty, and a tea party insurgency driven by strong opposition to president obama's agenda. for his part, the president was heard but not seen today during both taped and live interviews with radio hosts. he checked in with ryan seacrest, the host of american idol, on his morning drive radio show in los angeles looking to stoke up the youth vote. >> you've got to get out there and vote. you know, young people all across this country, they're the ones who are going to make the difference not