Newsroom international starts now. Michael holmes sitting in for Suzanne Malveaux today. Michael . Thanks, ashleigh banfield. Welcome to Newsroom International im Michael Holmes in for Suzanne Malveaux. The future of the u. S. Troop residency in afghanistan is front and center this week. President obama expected to meet afghanistans president , hamid karzai at the white house friday. Focus to make sure theres a smooth security handover to the Afghan Government when nato forces leave afghanistan next year. Its still unclear how many u. S. Troops will remain to Train Afghan Security forces and focus on counterterrorism. Chris lawrence outlines the proposals for the transition. Reporter the options are on the table. At the low end, a little more than 6,000 troops, mostly special Operations Forces hunting terrorists with a small amount of training for afghan forces. The 10,000 option would still focus on al qaeda, but would add conventional troops to expand afghan training. A 15,000 option would include even more conventional troops to go on limited patrols and give afghans even more support. Some experts say, forget that last option. 15,000. Its not politically tenable in congress, its not doable of a budget execution perspective. Reporter analyst stephanie sanok worked in baghdad and developed options for the iraq drawdown. Between war fatigue and spending cuts the middle option may be a reach. My guess, closer to the 6,000 option. Reporter Jeff Dressler argues the lsu have to keep helicopter crews, medical teams and backup for whatever droops are left. Keeping 6,000 probably isnt that much cheaper than keeping 15,000 because theres basic things you need to have there just for the six. Reporter low ball options are minimizing the danger any remaining troops could face. I would argue that, even with 20,000 troops, youre assuming quite a bit of risk. Its about no means a lowrisk option. Reporter general john allen presented options in one of his last acts as commander. But general Joseph Dunford admits he wasnt included in the talks over options. That could some tense fights with members of congress who are skeptical of the drawdown plan. I have not been included in those conversations. Thats thats interesting to me. A guy thats going to take over command is not even included in those conversations . Reporter whats the big picture goal . In an interview with cnns erin burnett in afghanistan, defense secretary said terrorists have to be defeated, not decimated. I think that you can reach a point where you so significantly weaken al qaeda that, you know, although there may be a few people around, they wont be able to be conduct the operations that theyve conducted in the past. Chris lawrence joins us the pentagon. Good to see you, chris. Former senator chuck hagel, of course, just nominated for secretary of defense, he would be part of this pullout. Hes a guy that was not in favor of the troop surge, has a controversial side to him in that regard. What do we expect from him . Reporter basically, michael, wasnt in favor of the surge in iraq, not quite so critical of the surge in afghanistan. Its a big difference. On the surge in iraq, he called it one of the biggest foren policy blunders since vietnam. Chuck hagel was part of the planning for the afghanistan surge under president obama. He consulted with the president S National Security adviser and when he gave a speech shortly after that surge was announced didnt have much criticism for president obama, said he was approaching the situation very carefully. So that suggests that his position may be a lot more aligned with president obama on afghanistan than it was during the later years of president bush. Yeah. President karzai, meeting him, he wants u. S. Security personnel to stick around after 2014, thats going happen, but hes highly critical of the actions of american troops in his country. How will the American Military walk that line between, you know, pulling out entirely and Holding Hands with the Afghan Government and trying to hang on to the fragile gains that theyve made . Reporter its going to be extremely difficult. President karzai, just in the last month or so, has been extremely critical of the United States, not only saying that u. S. Troops are causing a lot of the instability in the country, but really blaming the United States in its civilian contracts, its redevelopment contracts, for fostering a lot of the corruption in the country. So this is the environment in which president obama and president karzai will be meeting, trying to hammer out some agreement. On the other hand, president karzai would probably be well served by a larger u. S. Presence in afghanistan because the more u. S. Troops you have there, the more Afghan Soldiers theyre going to train, the better equipped the afghan force is going to be. So again, this is going to be a really tough set of negotiations to see where that number falls. I can tell you, just in the last day or a couple days, im hearing more and more that that 6,000 figure is way more likely than that 10,000 figure. I suppose either way, numbers of troops is one thing, amounts of money is another. Afghan military weve helped bill up cost way more than the Afghan Government is able to afford, its billions of dollars still have to go in. Reporter yeah. Theyre owing to have downsize the military. They were building up the Afghan Military to sort of push back the taliban. But it was always clear that at some point, you know, whether its 2014 or 15 or 16 that militarys going to have to get smaller because the Afghan Government cannot afford to sustain it and other countries will not put enough money into afghanistan to keep numbers at that size. Good to see you, chris lawrence. A faceoff erupting in china over freedom of the press. This is all happening in a place called guangzhou, a little more than 80 miles from hong kong. In a rare protest, chinese rallied outside the offices of the southern weekly newspaper. They were supporting the journalists who say that the government rewrote an editorial calling for politic real form and gave it a positive spin. A very positive spin. Howard kurtz host of reliable sources and the Washington Bureau chief of newsweek and the daily beast. A lot of people surprised that they wouldnt be censorship of Something Like this. This newspapers had a bit of rope in the past to play with. Why does this incident be a flash point . Certainly has seemed to touch a nev, michael. The idea of a few hundred people demonstrating outside a Newspaper Office doesnt sound like much to western ears. But in china where journalists can be and are thrown in jail for not towing the company line, in fact Amnesty International says the highest number of imprisoned journalists are in china, it represents a sea change and a hunger for real news in a country where the censors control everything. The four characters that make up the name of the newspaper, actually blocked from social media searches sifrns friday. Its not stopped it blowing up on social media, thats how it works, i guess. A post from the actress, i want to show you that to you. Quotes Nobel Prize Winning author, one word of truth shall outweigh the whole world. We talk about how unusual these protests are. Also highly unusual for chinese journalists to go on strike. Absolutely. And at the same time, the rise of social media has enabled chinese i wouldnt call them dissidents, people who love their country, but believe in more freedom to speak out to have a megaphone because no matter how powerful the government is they cant sensor everything. I read today one popular blogger, 6 million followers on the chinese equivalent of twitter has two posts taken down. The government is trying to tamp this down and i think it goes beyond the original editorial by the southern weekend, which simply said we hope for greater respect for Constitutional Rights in china. And the leader in waiting is has vowed to crack down on corruption. One way to do that is have an open media. Do you see that happening in the short to medium future, or is that a dont hold your breath thing . It seems that sometimes the chinese authorities loosen the reins a bit particularly if on an anticorruption drive they might allow stories about local corruption. If you do other things thats not allowed and newspapers have been shut down, people, as i mentioned, sent to jail. There are still negotiations going on with that newspaper that started this, over what they can say in the future and the editorial. So you know it seems to me ultimately be a losing battle against technology on the part of the chinese authorities but the culture of censorship and government control is so engrained in beijing that its a very difficult tightrope for journalists who want to report freely. Its a slowmoving beast. Howard kurtz there. Heres more of what were working on this hour for Newsroom International. Hundreds of australians forced from their home by raging fires. Fueled by a vicious heat wave. Worst the country has ever seen. A little later, you think slaverys history . Think again. More than 27 Million People around the world are being bought, sold, and exploited. That group of Young Christians part of a larger group coming together to try to stop it. People really love snapshot from progressive, but dont just listen to me. Listen to these happy progressive customers. I plugged in snapshot, and 30 days later, i was saving big on car insurance. With snapshot, i knew what i could save before i switched to progressive. The better i drive, the more i save. I wish our company had something this cool. Youre not filming this, are you . Aw camera shy. Snapshot from progressive. Testdrive snapshot before you switch. Visit progressive. Com today. Try capzasinhp. It penetrates deep to block pain signals for hours of relief. Capzasinhp. Take the pain out of arthritis. Welcome back, everyone. Hundreds of people in south east australia are being force out of homes by bushfires, burning in the New South Wales. It includes the city of sidney and the australian capital territory, act in New South Wales as well where the capital of the country is. 100 homes destroyed so far. The Officials Say that the fires were fueled by recordbreaking heat wave. Also very dry conditions in december. This is the worst heat wave, actually in New South Wales in living memory. Yesterday the hottest average temperature across the country ever. Australia, is, of course the worlds driest inhabited continent, vulnerable to bushfires, every year you see them. Scientists believe creeping climate shift for even hotter temperatures globally and that includes australia. I spoke with matt inwood superintendent of Rural Fire Services in New South Wales. Heres part of what he told me about the sheer size of the blazes. Apparently we have just over 130 fires burning across New South Wales. 30 of those fires at this stage remain uncontained. Fire crews are continuing to work throughout the night over here tonight making sure that were certainly rendering Properties Safe and Property Protection mode on some fire grounds. And establishing containment lines which crews can back burn off as we start to see a cool passing through the south of the state at present. Desperate situation there. Winter weather tightening its grip on the refugee camps along syrias borders. Camps already struggling to keep up with the desperate need for supplies and shelter. People living in flimsy tents that were only meant to hold them through summer, not downpours theyve been seeing lately. People resorting to burning plastic for warmth in some cases. They cant find any firewood. It is wet throughout the camps. Temperatures are dropping. Imagine enduring all of that as a child without your parents. Photojournalist joe duren captured a heartbreaking snapshot of life in the refugee camps in the words of an orphan boy. Heartbreaking stuff, isnt it . One of our camera men based out of the instant bull with that . An earthquake hit off turkeys northwest coast. It was felt in istanbul and other parts of the country, even in athens, greece. Right now, no reports of injuries or the damage. U. S. Geological survey says it was a magnitude 5. 7 earthquake. He rules venezuela with an iron fist, or he did. What happens if hugo chavez and no longer lead. Ear, huh . Im not juice or fancy water. Ive got nine grams of protein. Thats three times more than me [ female announcer ] ensure clear. Nine grams protein. Zero fat. In blueberry pomegranate and peach. Welcome back, everyone. Believe it or not, slavery still exists, very much so. Its here in the United States. And very much in existence around the world. Christian students met in atlanta to push a Global Movement to end it. Jim clancy tells us about their cause. Reporter more than 60,000 Young Christians from around the country and around the world held candles aloft in the frosty air. Their own faces shined back at them from a massive cube set up outside the georgia dome. Faces of those who have pledged to light up the world and put an end to Human Trafficking in their lifetimes. Slavery is trapped in dark places all over the world. Its trapped here in atlanta. In the shadows. Its in the shadows in mumbai india. Its in the shadows in cam bode yo. Its in the shadows around the world in brothels and factories. 60,000 students are going to shine a light on slavery. Reporter for many a journey of the Christian Faith one that brings them to the passion conference to worship, pray, and learn. For the past two years, theyve been focusing on the unholy scourge of sexual slavery and forced labor. The 27 million victims, the billions of dollars churned out, by robbing men, women, and children of their freedom. These young men and women are determined to change that. Truth is spoken here. Where truth is spoken, things change. Raise awareness, fight for those that dont have a voice. Were just going to tell people about it. Were going to let the world know theres an issue and were not okay with it. To know its out there, it opened my eyes to all of this. I had no idea this was going on. I want to help as much as i can. The reason im excited about this generation is that they have an understanding they dont want to tolerate slavery. They dont want to tolerate mass atrocity in the world and do nothing about it. Reporter gary hagans International Justice mission, more than a dozen groups singled out by organizers for support. This business students starting a journey of justice. Their entire lives would count for justice. Their entire lives would count for freedom. And thats happening here. Reporter last year the event raised 3. 5 million. With 20,000 more participants this year, Tablet Computers used to speed the donation process. Some of the money comes from students themselves. More was raised in their communities. It will be used to help raise awareness, rescue victims, and help them restore their lives. These christian students have donated money and now theyre posing for pictures that will make a personal statement. Were in it to end it. Each and every one of them knows that Human Trafficking hangs like a darkness over the world, but theyre making a personal commitment to be the ones to hold the candles to shine the light of freedom. Jim clancy, cnn, atlanta. Impressive sight, isnt it . Want to continue the conversation. 27 million men, women, and children are enslaved around the world. Yes, thats an accurate number. Theyre trapped in forced labor or being sold, exploited in some way or other. Joining me now is the founder of the Passion Movement that is vowing to end modern day slavery. What a noble cause it is. Now, we had here in atlanta, because this place was full of them, 60,000 young adults who poured in, donated, i think, 3 million for various causes for the freedom projects around the world. One thing to donate money. Its another thing to have a conference and talk about it. Whats next for the campaign . You know, passion 2013 was a gathering of young people. Thats the hope of the world, really, 18 to 25yearolds from 50 states and 50something nations around the world came together to celebrate jesus, the ultimate abolitionist, the original abolitionist. In that cause they wanted to lift their voices for those who have no voice. Not only did they raise money. That moneys going to fund 23 project, 19 partners here in atlanta and around the world. But they want to bring awareness to the nation for people who have no clue that this is go on. So end it movement has launch swrd thats certainly a a way two bring this conversation to the forefront so everybody in america can know that there are still more slaves today in the world than at any other time in human history. You talk to most americans, you sit around the dinner table, the pub, people are going to say, really . My wife and i got on the elevator, we have been downtown for the conference, wearing this hat from the movement, and gentleman on the elevator looks up at my hat, it says end it movement, he said, whats end it movement . I thought ive got 14 floors to tell this guy whats going on. He looked at me and said, youve got to be kidding me. Thats the respons