so, we had newt gingrich and mitt romney. both on the offensive over the last 24 hours. they know that six days is a short time and that's when the caucuses are. what have we been hearing from both of the candidates, mark? >> well, hala, you're absolutely right. so much on the line, so much at stake here. six days until january 3rd when iowa republicans will caucus and will really kick off what has been already a very long presidential season. well, newt gingrich had pledged not to go negative in this campaign. he had said that he would only go positive and talk about his plan to try to turn the american economy around. well, the gloves have come off and, in fact, he is going negative. yesterday on "the situation room" with wolf blitzer, he went right after mitt romney. in fact, let's listen to what newt gingrich had to say. >> all i say mitt is, if you want to run a negative campaign and you want to attack people, at least be man enough to own it. that's your staff and that's your organization. those are your millionaire friends paying for it and let's be clear. i am willing to fight for real job creation with a real reagan camp-style job creation program. you are a moderate massachusetts republican who, in fact, is very timid about job creation. let's get it on together and let's compare our two plans. >> you know, hala, it wasn't just mitt romney that newt gingrich was critical of. he was critical of ron paul. in fact, wolf asked him directly, would you support ron paul, if you won the republican presidential nomination and newt gingrich flatly said no. to be fair to newt gingrich, he is taking criticism from all sides right now. he's getting had hit by ron paul and he's getting hit by these independent expenditure groups, these so-called super pacs supporting mitt romney for the nomination and newt gingrich trying to fight back, although he still says he's staying positive. hala? >> he's taking it from all sides, right, mark? is this hurting them and is going negative also hurting them if he vowed not to go negative? >> well, it's a saying here in iowa that iowa voters do not like to see negative ads, but, in fact, negative ads do work. what we're seeing is these independent groups are the ones that are really doing a lot of the damage to newt gingrich. that's what it appears to be in recent polling that newt gingrich came out of no where. we thought his campaign was all done and he came out of no where in the beginning of december when herman cain fell and he left the race and that was the rise of newt gingrich. however, these negative ads do seem to be working, hala. >> all right, let's talk about gingrich. the virginia ballot. he's not the only one not to have made that virginia ballot. what is going to happen there with all these candidates who haven't made, who haven't gotten their name on the virginia ballot in time? >> yeah. let's just continue on the whole theme of being negative. we saw mitt romney being critical of newt gingrich for failing to collecting the 10,000 signatures that you need to get on the virginia ballot. this is a big blow to newt gingrich, as it was to rick santorum and as it was, as well, to rick perry. none of those three are going to be on the virginia ballot. mitt romney will be on the ballot, as will ron paul. well, mitt romney had some words about why newt gingrich wasn't on the ballot. let's hear what he had to say yesterday. >> i think you compare that to, what is it, pearl harbor. i think it's more like lucille ball at the chocolate factory. so, i mean, you got to get it organized. >> so, a dig by mitt romney at newt gingrich because newt gingrich does not have the organization that mitt romney has in place. hala, just in a few hours, our own wolf blitzer will be sitting down with mitt romney and talking about his run here in iowa and his run for the republican presidential nomination. hala? >> well, there we heard from mitt romney and we heard from newt gingrich and, as you mentioned there, mitt romney will sit down with wolf blitzer and you can see that interview at 4:00 p.m. eastern right here on cnn. mark preston, we'll catch up with you later. mark is part of our team in des moines, iowa. now, this week, president obama plans to ask congress to raise the debt limit by $1.2 trillion to fund the government through most of next year. now, it's part of that deal struck over the summer, so approval is expected. but the increase is likely to give republican candidates some of those fresh talking points on the campaign trail. and we'll see how many of those make it into the discourse in iowa over the next day or two. let's turn our attention now internationally to north korea and the carefully choreographed north koreaen-style staged events. the pageantry of a public funeral today for kim jong-il. a three-hour event dominating state-run television and featuring a tearful kim jong-un. now, there he is. he is the youngest son who is now known as the great successor. cnn's paula hancocks is in seoul, south korea, with more. all right, so, i imagine south koreans and really much of the region had a bit of worry when kim jong-il died thinking what is going to happen in terms of the succession. are those worries still out there or do they feel that the succession to kim jong-un is going smoothly, paula? >> well, hala, i think the concerns are still, but what we saw today in his funeral in this pomp and ceremony that north koreans do best is that at least north korea was trying to get the impression that everything is running smoothly. what we saw was kim jong-un walking alongside his father's hearse. we had his uncle behind him who we understand is going to be helping him in the first few years of his reign. the military on the other side of the hearse, which was meant to show that he has the backing of the military. all very choreographed by the north koreans. they wanted to show that this succession is going to script, as far as they're concerned. of course, this is just the public face. we have no idea what is really happening behind the scenes. we don't know if there are political battles and power struggles amongst the elite. and we don't know in the future if kim jong-un wants his work to get his power base will actually feel like he needs to carry out an attack or a provocative act in some way to try and show his strength or whether or not he will actually negotiate even more than his father did. so, i think these concerns around the region and around the world are still definitely there. but what we saw today, hala is really what we were expecting. the pomp, the ceremony, the tens of thousands of north koreans out on the streets braving the cold in a very snowy pyongyang watching the funeral procession. >> of course, the questions still out there regarding the nuclear talks, the development of nuclear power in north korea. thanks very much, paula hancocks is in seoul and south korea. the world is keeping a close eye on what's next for north korea. zain verjee is live in london with a look at what the headlines are saying about kim jong-il's country and the state of the country he is leaving behind. hi, there, zain. >> hi, hala. straight to the newspaper headlines and give you a flavor of what the analysis is. take a look at the "the daily telegraph." a typical north korean state funeral. it's an opinion piece that says the north korean regime displayed hundreds of thousands of mourners in a similar state of overwhelmed grief during the funeral of his father, whose coffin was also draped in a red flag. the other newspaper here "the guardian" and "the uk." thousands mourn north korean leader. may have helped answer key questions about the communist regime's immediate futamid fears that the rapid rise of the inexperienced kim jong-un could spark power struggle. will kim grow out from his father's shadow, it asks. an analysis piece that says, while having to grow out of the shadow of his father, the untested heir is now saddled with daunting undertakings such as shoring up the economy and ensuring firm support from his people and establishing a charismatic leadership. analysts we spoke to today, hala, said the important message people in north korea is one of continuity that kim jong-un will follow the policies that his father had and maintain the same kind of backing from his uncle, the region, the head of the military, all that trotted out behind him when they were going through the funeral procession. >> we'll know soon enough how smooth the transition is. as far as many countries are, we'll know what happens with these six-party nuclear talks. whether or not they get back on track and what happens on that level. zain, thanks very much. i'll see you a bit later. claiming syrian authorities have moved hundreds of detainees to secret military sites to hide them from outside observers. arab league monitors in the country now. they're there for a second day to see if the government is ending its bloody crackdown. this video allegedly shows syrian forces spraying water canyons at protesters on tuesday. protests and violence have erupted ahead of the arab league visit. mohammed jamjoom is following developments. the monitors are saying they aren't seeing anything frightening in the streets of homs or other parts of syria. of course, this is raising some eyebrows saying there are only ten of you in each hot spot and you are being acompacompanied be syrian government. >> that's right, hala. we were told observers would fan out to other citiy ies and we hd that in hama there were protests and clashes earlier in the day. now, we're being told, in fact, those visits were postponed for logistical reasons and causing more concerns among the activists and many of them are really convinced that what the syrian government is showing these observers is just a charade. it's not the real picture of what's going on there in syria right now. we heard yesterday that while observers were in the city activists and residents said crackdowns were still going on and thousands of protesters that were in places in the neighborhood there being fired upon with live ammunition and tear gas trying to disperse the crowd. when we spoke to arab league monitors earlier today and asked them, they said, you know, reports being written up and being delivered to the arab league. they knew these reports were confidential and they weren't talking about what they had seen or hadn't seen on the ground in syria. hala? >> the reports that detainees are being hidden from the observers and also we're hearing reports that residents in homs refuse to meet with some of these observers because they had the military with them. of course, they're afraid for their own safety if they go up to observers and they have members of the military and officers there standing by and listening in on conversations. >> well, that's right. first to your point about are they afraid to go up to the observers. the arab league monitors we spoke with yesterday said anybody could come up to them and talk to them. the arab league monitors continue to insist that they had the free access that they needed. but the activists that we spoke with, they were concerned about this. we did see videos emerging posted online by activist groups purporting to show members of this arab league delegation in the streets and showing residents coming up to them and one video, in particular, residents pleading to take these members to more embattled parts of the cities to see what was really going on. a big question mark to what they will be able to see. the activists still very concerned that they're not getting a full and accurate picture of what is going on. >> what we would love. we would love to go to syria and report on it for ourselves, but so far we haven't been given permission since that brief visit last july. thanks verymuch. mohammed jamooom in cairo, egypt. an important american ally in the region. it ends with him on a gurney in court. up next, we're talking about what's changed and what has stayed very much the same for the egyptian people after the arab spring. 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[ male announcer ] learn more from your state farm agent today. it's real milk full of calcium and vitamin d. and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance... lactaid® milk. the original 100% lactose-free milk. former egyptian president hosni mubarak wheeled into court today wearing a jump suit. his murder trial has adjourned until monday picking up after a three-month delay. he is accused of ordering the killing of hundreds of protesters to clamp down on the revolt that eventually ended his 30 years in power. he is pleading not guilty. and you see him there sort of obscured by several men in dark suits. mubarak stepped down in february. that makes ten months since the military took over in egypt. so much is different, but, so much is the same. protesters are still in tahrir square, but this time they're standing against military rule. when initially they had stood with it. the protests have turned dangerous at times. take this video from earlier this month showing soldiers attacking a woman stomping on her and dragging her away. you see it there on the left-hand side of your screen. and just this week, a prominent blogger was let out of jail and headed straight to tahrir square to join demonstrators. he said the general in charge of military police should be put on trial for killing protesters, the same crime mubarak is accused of. steven cook is the author of a book "the struggle for egypt from nasser to tahrir square." steven cook, thank you for joining us. >> good morning, hala. >> when you see the images of protesters in tahrir square and soldiers stomping on a woman's bare chest and a prominent blogger jailed for several weeks before being released. has anything changed in egypt? >> well, it certainly seems from those images and from everything that has been going on over the course of the last several months but in the last few weeks as much as things have changed in egypt, they certainly have not. young activists are continuing to stay in tahrir square and the streets as a permanent revolution against military rule, which they suspect for trying to salvage as much as they can of the mubarak regime. i think that there is a lot of evidence that that is, in fact, what the military strategy has been. >> when u.s. viewers watch these images and they think, wait a minute, in february we had this revolution and mubarak stepped down and democracy was supposed to flourish in that country and we did have a few rounds of legislative elections in egypt where the muslim brotherhood scored very well. so, what is the future then for that country after having gone through such a difficult and historic year? >> well, for anyone who is paying attention to what's going on in egypt, the idea that egypt would relatively smoothly transition from 60 years to a democracy was not necessarily dealing with the facts of the situation. i think that egypt is in for a long-term struggle for, as egyptians debate what kind of society that they want. and you can see that the military has a very different vision of the future of egypt, as the activists in tahrir square, which is very different from the muslim brotherhood, which you just mentioned, has done quite well in the most recent round of elections. so, this is going to be a long-term process in which egyptians work out their future and it's going to be marked by periodic spasms of violence and continuing protest and instability and uncertainty. >> when you look at the parties that do well when there are free elections. for instance, in tunisia, the country who sparked this whole arab spring movement. you have the relevant islamic parties that score well. is that what a democratic arab world will look like when elections are held? >> well, we're not sure. in the early going it seems that these islamist groups which are well organized and well resourced and have been so for quite some time certainly have an upper hand over new political parties that have emerged as a result of these uprisings. what will really be the tell tale sign of egypt's move towards a more political system is how egyptians go about writing the constitution and the content of that constitution. now, this is not going to be an easy process, by any stretch of the imagination. but the real focus now is going to be on the content of this constitution and that will, the development of egyptian institutions after the fall of mubarak will tell us what kind of society egypt will be. >> not just egypt, though, steven, as you know. what happens in the most populous arab country has an influence on the rest of the arab world. so, it's going to be so important what happened in 2012. we always appreciate your analysis. steven cook, thanks for joining us. >> thank you, hala. the u.s. is still considering a request from, speaking of the arab world, al sal saleh to come for treatment in new york. earlier in the day a senior obama administration official said this man you see there would be, in fact, let in. it state department is still trying to determine if he is eligible. he was badly injured in an attack on his palace in june. well, we've got another best of 2011 list ahead for you. we'll tell you which companies were the best performers on wall street this year and ones were the worst. and a russian fishing boat trapped for nearly two weeks in antarctic ice. it's finally free. hear who came to the rescue after this. it's me? 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[ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson. well, a russian fishing boat is finally free from the antarctic ice two weeks after it got stuck and started taking in frigid water which was a huge concern because there were concerns it could sink altogether. underwater ice tore a hole in the sparta in mid-december but a south korean ice breaker came to the rescue. zain verjee is live in london. lots of korea news today, whether it's the funeral of the dear leader in north korea or south korean ice breakers coming to the rescue. tell us more about this because the russian ship is certainly thankful, i imagine. >> they are. they were rescued on christmas day, that's when the south korean vessel tore through the ice and they made it to the spot of the russian vessel. and it was a lot of good news there. the south koreans there did a great job. essentially about a one-foot hole, hala, in the russian vessel. they banged into an iceberg, oops, got stuck for two weeks. the crew was panicked and they were already on some of the rescue vessels, the life boats waiting there. the south koreans got there and they basically fixed the hole. they put a metal plate, they welded that in there and then they managed to transfer fuel from ship to ship so that the russian vessel could get out of the ice. so, the south koreans escorted it very nicely out of the ice and they should be in open waters, well, any time now, actually. so, the -member crew is very grateful that they are out of that antarctic ice. the south korean vessel, by the way, some vessel that was doing polar research and they just happened to be in the area and just difficult to air rescue th