in syria but they do not extremist groups islamist groups for example which reside in the syrian national council and also in the free syrian army. almost two years of anti-government protests change little in bahrain fresh prey reform demonstrations against the wall of a police crackdown some experts say it's their brutality that is fueling the uprising coming up and orthodox believers the world over are celebrating the birth of christ there will be more on the spectacular ceremony later in the program. early this week barack obama worked out a last minute tax hike deal with congress to stop the country falling off the so-called fiscal cliff economists feared a slip back into recession if washington failed to implement the reform of the bush era tax code the wealthiest or income tax go up and middle class households will also see their tax bills rise charlie mcgrath from wide awake news says creating a sense of panic over the problem has helped the u.s. government ignore than. an enemy when the cameras are off and it's time to pass a trillion dollar nearly trillion dollar defense bill they have

in syria but they do not extremist groups islamist groups for example which reside in the syrian national council and also in the free syrian army now the domestic syrian opposition made it very clear from the start yes they want change but they want to work with president assad and the syrian government is the only legitimate force there so if the only legit. some of the forty's in syria he is still refusing to recognize that there is a genuine uprising among the syrian people and is instead blaming terrorists is totally right with that view of what's happening in syria at the moment it is largely an islamist are price and an uprising which is being backed once again by certain western countries now it's absolutely legitimate to call for change within a country but you cannot take weapons and bring about change in the white by killing innocent civilians and of course what we're seeing is once again what happened in afghanistan in the one nine hundred eighty s. when america for example back to the mujahedeen against the soviet army and we in the west we're told and what you had seen including a l

to the armed opposition the so-called free syrian army and his political wing of the syrian national council which is a form based opposition movement and it's very important to make this clear in particular for western audiences who are unfortunately not fed for picture it comes to syria the free syrian army is a lethal cocktail or various groups including many islamist groups and many groups linked to al qaida and the free syrian army or the f.s.a. it's more commonly referred to has been responsible for heinous vial terrorist attacks in the last couple of years in syria so it's it's it's pretty clear why president assad will not talk to the armed opposition and its political wing and the political wing being the syrian national coalition which of course is influenced by the e.u. and the u.s. so who is there left to talk to then much of the opposition is influenced by the west who does it talk to next then this is another important point to clarify if there is a domestic opposition. parties which want to see political change in syria but they do not extremist groups islamist groups for exam

in syria but they do not extremist groups islamist groups for example which reside in the syrian national council and also in the free syrian army. almost two years of anti-government protest change little in bahrain fresh demonstrations shatter against the wall of a police crackdown some experts say it's the brutality that is fueling the uprising more on that for you coming up very shortly. and the christmas spirit is only now coming to town for orthodox believers the world over as they celebrate the birth of christ we'll bring you more later in the program from russia's main cathedral. but first earlier this week barack obama signed a last minute deal it increases taxes on the wealthiest americans it prevented the country forming over the so-called fiscal cliff the nation was on the brink of a financial nosedive with billions of dollars in tax hikes automatically coming into effect if the law hadn't been passed on the graph from wide awake news thinks the fate of americans is never been a top priority for the u.s. government is an enemy when the cameras are off and it's time to pass a trillion

and no one knows who they are but what is my point in the case well it was initially it was syrian national council knowledge syrian national coalition after all never called terrorists mark go ahead tell us want to know in the last year you were right all terrorists are made though they commit terrorist acts i think the tone has changed also because what we have seen is that the western media which has done a very good job of preventing presenting an extremely black and white simplistic cartoonish. good versus bad narrative of what's going on hasn't been able to conceal the atrocities the sheer bloody atrocities that have been committed by the rebels and they can't hide the true nature of the conflict any longer which is an ethno religious conflict the fact that this revolution has always been a sunni and not just a sunni but they will harvest sunni because there are plenty of sunnis that actually support the government. and this is a sunni sectarian and jihadist jihadists from around the world from the united states japan china as well as a little bit at least yes many from libya they have the se

this weekend is going to meet with the syrian envoy from the united nations, brahimi and will meet with the russian foreign minister and with the syrian national council. >> so far out of this building, while they're keeping many of the details close to the vest, we're not hearing any kind of condemnation, criticism, any negative response. in fact, according to one senior military official who we can only identify that way because they're not authorized to speak on the record of this subject, all they could say about it was, you know, the israelis, above anyone else, usually gets these things right. >> no condemnation at all. in fact, from a white house briefing that we just had, a background in advance of joe biden agency trip, they're not criticizing it at all there. they're very much on board. thank you, all of you, and joining me now from more on senator hagel's confirmation hearings and the military challenges that he faces -- will face anyone who is the next defense secretary steve. you were at the hearings. >> yes. >> you've been supportive of chuck hagel. you know him very well. you've been sort of part of this whole process. let's talk about

fifty nations recently have all stopped the united nations security council to refer the syrian government to the international criminal court over genocide and war crimes will the west also pursue the rebel leadership through the security council this is a very good question as you well know in this kind of crisis unfortunately crimes are being committed by both sides and certainly being the rebels supported and trained and armed and even paid from the western countries and be some of the gulf states i do not see that they will bring them to legal court at least for the time we have to see what happens in the coming weeks but let's hope that we see. stop the lies as a tease now because if there is a major mistake from from psalm one this may really slide into a major catastrophe. it's the state of affairs you touched a little bit on the weapons situation we know that these weapons that are flowing in freely from libya through egypt mali iraq and syria how is that contributing to the instability in the region as a whole. oh very very much basically the same people that are being folk by th

national council taking a very aggressive line in trying to topple the syrian government and it doesn't seem to mind that he's backing islamic militants in syria and yet he's making out that this is the biggest disaster facing the islamic militants come to power in mali so he preached be grabby ground of the world would look at this and say their proxies absolutely glaring even though briefly french interests are at stake people are their lives are threatened they're french nationals just briefly they have a right. to the french national i think the whole of quality is all over the place you know if you saying islamic militants are the biggest threat that regional around the world then he should have a consistent policy should be backing islamic groups in syria and that's the problem ok thanks very much of the journalism broadcast and neil clark in money and. the family of american the web a wizard and information act as aaron swartz says he may have been driven to suicide by the ferocious prosecution process against him age twenty six the internet crusader face decades in jail for down

syrian president bashar assad is not going anywhere the u.n. arab league mediator laughter brahimi told the united nations security council that assad may be able to hold on to power for now he also warned that syria was breaking up before everyone's eyes and also admitted that there had been no progress made in efforts to establish talks over aid political transition now we're hearing the same kind of message come from example from the french foreign minister who has warned that syria is risky. islamised militant groups last week france also said that there was no sign that the syrian president assad was about to be overthrown so we certainly witnessing this kind of concern being expressed by the international community it does reverse previous statements where we heard numerous people saying that assad could hold on to power for a long time jordan's king abdullah for example has also said that assad is consolidating his grip for now so what we're witnessing is wasted concern over the growing strength of jihadist militants who are fighting autonomous lead in the disorganized ranks of the anti assad rebel forces and that that is rising so what

nationalize council is also here. and israel unilaterally attacking key syrian assets and an overnight bombing.ormer pentagon official is also our guest tonight. would you want to begin with the u.s. economy shocking the experts in shrinking for the first time since the recession. fox news iran house correspondent has our report. >> less than two weeks that the president said his second inaugural address that an economic recovery had begun to let the congress -- commerce departments and not so fast. slow growth slashed economic growth from three pa 1% to-1 to the persons in the fourth. they downplayed the report and give republicans part of the blame. >> consumer spending has been rising. >> comments about using the threat of across-the-board spending cuts not as a sequestered for leveraged for fiscal asperity. some members constituents are fighting. >> and put the damage on the economy as a -- you know, to achieve some political roles here in washington seems like a bad idea. >> accusing republicans of pushing spending cuts for their own sake. some minority leader mitch mcconnell denied that.

syrian troops reportedly took back control of a suburb outside damascus that rebels held fighting has intensified near the capital in recent months. on monday, 15 nations will submit a letter to the u.n. security councilequesting that syria be referred to the international criminal court. this move would open up syrians on both sides of the conflict to war crime prosecution. but this latest diplomatic move will do little to end the violence today. it's more a threat rather than a solution to the current crisis. harris? >> harris: conner, thank you. we are getting brand new video of the night the doomed italian cruise ship costa concordia ran aground nearly a year ago. coast guard releasing never before seen picks. waiting to be rescued. 4200 people were on board. dozens of them died. meanwhile growing controversy over tomorrow's planned memorial at the site of that disaster. urging people not to show up. space is limited and priority is given to those whose families dated. the costa concordia remains stuck on that reef where it sank. salvage teams say more money and time will be needed to get the ship off the rocks safely. the italian captain who is accused in all of this. multiple manslaughter causin

the united nations and arab league envoy to syria warns the country is breaking up before everybody's eyes. lakhdar brahimi is urging the security council to do something now. >> syrianas been destroyed bit by bit. and in destroying syria, the region is being pushed into a situation that is extremely bad and extremely important for the entire world. >> brahimi wants the council to take concrete action. security council has been divided on this conflict. the united states and other western countries have demanded president assad step down. russia and china have close ties with his administration. their leaders oppose international intervention in syria's domestic affairs. >>> a new survey suggests even people in countries considered to have a free press shouldn't take it for granted. reporters without borders released its annual survey assessing the commitment by governments to protect freedom of the press. japan plunged 31 spots to 53rd place out of 179 countries and territories. the nonprofit group says the japanese government lacked transparency and failed to give the media sufficient access to information following the 2011 nuclear accident in fukushima. reporters

the syrian government responsible for war crimes committed during their nearly two-year-old civil war, more than 50 countries now backing a plan set to be presented to the united nations security councilg members of the assad regime to the war crimes tribunal at the hague in the nether hands. conner powell is live with more. conner? >> that letter will officially go to the u.n. security council on monday and if the u.n. security council refers it to the international criminal court, members of the syrian government and the syrian rebel leadership could all be charged with war crimes, persecutions and prosecutions, tenning on what this court finds. it isn't really a solution to the violence today. it's more a threat of action rather than something that will end the fighting today, which is continuing across all of syria. we are -- we understand we are hearing from rebels in the north part of syria that the fighting there, they have been able to take control of a air base that was a syrian military air base that had been used to launch attacks on rebels and on civilians in the northern part of syria. rebels now, they say they control it and they've managed to capture everything from tan

so we have a very direct national interest providing dramatic and drastic increases dramatic and drastic humanitarian aid increases through the syrian opposition council, not the ngos alone, not the united nations alone, but directly to the syrian people. and we owe it to those children to keep faith with them because the continuation of these trends , mass exodus of refugees, communal violence within syria, the continued torture and killing of syrians that will eventually provoked store selling and retaliation within that country. again, destabilizing the future of the entire middle east. of real-world months that we will read in the united states. so aid that is dramatic and drastic, certainly appropriate, in the united states interest if we can provide additional aid to the opposition within syria that are in continuous communication support or logistics', that kind of assistance to ought to be considered and provided as appropriate. my hope is that this trip will emphasize to us and to the people of america have direct and immediate our state is in this conflict. struggling mightily and compassionately and to provide habitable and humane facilitie