Little bit on this friday. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Thanks for being with me. Im brooke baldwin. Now we take you to washington. Wolf blitzer. The situation room. Brooke, thanks very much. New plans for ending the war in afghanistan. President obama meets with the afghan President Hamid karzai. The white house looks at the connection between video game and gun violence as battle lines form in the looming fight over gun control. And a new report on the flu. We now have a clearer picture of where this epidemic stands. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. Its the longest war in u. S. History and now were learninging new details about how president obama intends to end it for the United States. After meeting with hamid karzai at the white house, the president said the u. S. Will probably be able to speed up, to accelerate plan troop withdraws. Some americans will remain, presumably, their role, though, potentially becoming clearer. Our White House CorrespondentBrianna Keilar is joining us. Breakdown for us what came out of this meeting. Reporter wolf approximate, the main headline is Afghan Forces taking over control from u. S. Forces and that was from president obama and president karzai, that is set to take place in the spring which is a slight acceleration. The other thing we heard from president karzai was that hes open to giving immunity to u. S. Troops who may remain beyond 2014. Thats immunity from afghan courts as well as their laws and that was a key demand of president obamas for having troop remain. President karzai said that the u. S. Will hand over control to afghan prisoners to afghan officials and that was a key demand of karzais for having troops remain. Really the big headline is acceleration of troops taking the lead on security and president obama was asked about that. We are able to meet those goals and accelerate them somewhat so let me repeat, whats going to happen this spring is that afghans will be in the lead throughout the country. That doesnt mean u. S. Forces are no longer fighting. They will be fighting along afghan troops. It does mean, though, that afghans will have taken the lead and our presence, the nature of our work will be different. We will be in a training, assisting, advising role. And brianna, it seems to be a sign, based on what we have heard from the u. S. President , that the u. S. Will be able to pursue an aggressive drawdown on those troops this year and next year and we are seeing many signs and a statement come out from president obama and president karzai talking about how Afghan Security forces have exceeded initial expectations, that they have made progress. And also, as you know, with president obama appointing or picking former senator chuck hagel to be his next secretary of the defense, its widely speculated that a more aggressive drawdown is something that hagel may favor as well. But its sort of unclear, wolf, what it means for the final number of u. S. Troops that will remain in afghanistan. We know that white house officials are talking about somewhere between 0 and 9,000 troops but one of the things that was really interesting, listening to this press conference today. We didnt hear the president s talk about there being no u. S. Troops. In fact, the finding of Common Ground on immunity for u. S. Troops and Afghan Soldiers and who will be in control of overseeing them seem to indicate that they have found some Common Ground on key sticking points and the take away there is likely there are going to be u. S. Troops in afghanistan beyond 2014. The only thing they have to work out is how many. It looks like youre right. Thanks very much, brianna, for that. The date is now set for president obamas state of the Union Address. Following tradition, the House Speaker sent a letter to the president today formally inviting him to address both areas of congress on february 12th. Vice President Joe Biden and members of his Gun Violence Task force sat down with representatives of the video Game Industry this afternoon. The Vice President promised that by next tuesday he will get president obama a set of proposals to try to cut down on gun violence in the United States and prevent Mass Shootings like the ones in colorado and connecticut. While those incidents certainly caused national outrage, theres concern that the white house still doesnt have enough political clout or public momentum to push big, major changes on guns through congress. Lets bring in our National Political correspondent jim acosta as hes walking into the situation room. What are you learning . Wolf, the its clear the proposals from the task force will be running head on into the nra. We know that it is there is no Silver Bullet. With Vice President bidens task force the focus is starting to turn to what, if anything, can get passed with a congress in gridlock. But republican senator Chuck Grassley sounded positive about restricting high powered gun magazines and requiring background checks. I think we have to do things to make sure the database of the fbi has all of the information so people cant buy guns that shouldnt have guns. The Vice President laid out some of the ideas emerging from his task force on thursday but did not mention a new assault weapons ban stirring speculation that the white house is dropping the proposal but the white house says thats not so. An Administration Spokesman told cnn avoiding this issue because its been politically difficult in the past is not an option. Thats despite what will be fierce opposition from the nations top gun lobby, the National Rifle association. I do not think theres going to be a ban on assault weapons passed by the congress. The nra plans an Aggressive Campaign and can point to what happened in 1994 when president bill clinton signed the last assault weapons ban into law. Democrats lost both houses of congress to republicans. These become the only republican candidate in indiana with an f rating from the nra. Last year the nra proved it was willing to go after the gop as well, running this ad against dick lugar. The white house appears to be prepared for the fight to come. After biden spent days meeting with interest groups, the latest being video game makers, the Vice President doesnt seem to be in the mood to take on the Entertainment Industry. Are democrats as nervous about the nra as they used to be . No, they are not. Chris van hollen says they are eager for new gun control laws after newtown. If you look at the contested races across the country, they are in the suburbs and i think its on the side of commonsense gun safety pro vig visions. But democrats say its up to the president to make that case. Thats why they expect president obama to put a heavy emphasis on gun control in his state of the Union Address. Wolf . Its going to be a big speech. The Vice President will make the recommend takings to the president on tuesday, that doesnt necessarily mean were going to learn what those are. We may have to wait for the state of the Union Address . Thats right. But i think were starting to find out what the key provisions of this task proposal will be, the high capacity magazines and an assault weapons ban. There will be issues to address Like Mental Health and a look at the Entertainment Industry but really all of these proposals seem to be going after tightening down on the restrictions on gun buying and on the kinds of weapons and ammunition you can have. At the same time, Chris Van Hollen mentioned to me, they have a lot on their plate with the budget and everything else. So squeezing this in is going to take a big, big push from the white house. A major amount of Political Capital as well. Jim acosta, thanks very much. A recent cnn orc poll shows a Strong Majority of americans favor a ban on is semiautomatic assault weapons. 62 compared to 37 who opposed. Lets dig deeper with our chief political analyst gloria borger. There are significant political risks for the obama administration, for the democrats in this gunfight. There are a lot of political risks. If gun control was easy, they would have done it a while ago. The assault weapons ban has not been renewed for eight years, wolf. Its been sitting out there. And i think in my conversations with Administration Officials, what they are going to come up with and that sort of echos what jim was saying, they are going to come up with what someone describes to me as a menu of options. The menu of options will include a ban on assault weapons and also include closing the gun show loophole, limiting purchases of the highcapacity magazines. So they are going to put those options out there he a there is attention inside the democratic party. Do you make a huge push on assault weapons and hurt yourself on the other list or do you kind of ease up on assault weapons and maybe go after the magazine clips, which some people believe would be more effective. Dont forget, theres a lot of history here and joe biden was the person managing the 1994 crime bill, which included the ban on assault weapons. He remembers what happened to democrats after they got past and lost control of the house. Where could there be some consensus on this issue . Again, in talking to Administration Officials about this, who have been involved in some of these sessions, one source said to me that it would be on the background issue. There seems to be a consensus developing that you can close that gun show loophole, require background checks. And the other area is on these highcapacity magazines. If you could limit those highcapacity magazines, then perhaps that would be another way of going at the assault weapons ban without allowing folks to say, you know what, youre taking away my guns because you wouldnt be taking away their guns. You would be just limiting those highcapacity rounds. You dont only need to develop a consensus with the republicans, but amongst the democrats you need a consensus because there are serious splits even among democrats. And heres the issue. The polling you just showed earlier, you know, shows that a majority of the American Public wants a ban on assault weapons. Twothirds of the American Public want some sort of gun control. But the overall polls dont really matter as much as the state by state polls and the question of intensity. There you see it. And so i think what you look at if youre a democrat, youre a member of congress, for example, senators up from the states of montana, louisiana, south dakota, all democrats, gun control a very big issue there. A lot of gun owners. So what they are trying to measure is intensity of voters who come out in midterm elections because midterm elections, unlike president ial elections, you tend to get people from the far right and the far left who come out and vote. And so these democrats have to decide whether those gun owners would be with them on a certain number of issues so they could still get reelected and still do some kind of gun control, wolf. And remember the price they paid for this during the clinton administration. Right. They do want to do gun control but they have to find out what is realistic and whats not and that assault weapons ban is right there smack in the middle of everything. Thanks very much, gloria. More than half a Million People are fleeing syrias civil war and now winter is compounding the misery for many refugees. Plus, details from this spectacular winter phenomena. Impact Life Expectancy in the u. S. , real estate in hong kong, and the optics industry in germany . At t. Rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. Its just one reason over 75 of our mutual funds beat their 10year lipper average. T. Rowe price. Invest with confidence. Request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. With investment information, risks, fees and expenses excuse me, sir im gonna have to ask you to power down your little word game. I think your friends will understand. Oh no, its actually my geico app. See . I just uh paid my bill. Did you really . From the plane . Yeah, i can manage my policy, get roadside assistance, pretty much access geico 24 7. Sounds a little too good to be true sir. Ill believe that when pigs fly. Ok, did she seriously just say that . Geico. Just click away with our free mobile app. We dont let frequent heartburn come between us and what we love. So if youre one of them people who gets heartburn and then treats day after day. Block the acid with prilosec otc and dont get heartburn in the first place [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. Zero heartburn. Syrian Opposition Groups report at least 80 People Killed in syrian war. The number of refugees fleeing the war has topped 612,000, about a third of them have fled to neighboring lebanon where winter is only compounding the crisis. Here is cnns Nick Paton Walsh with more. Reporter were about an hour away from the Syrian Border but in the last three days 20 centimeters of snow and freezing temperatures have swept in. Doctors say that 20 children have taken ill as this town absorbs quite so many refugees now has to deal with a bitter winter. Its nearly syria but hardly life. Enveloped in snow, the border town grimes with refugees, all cold and many young. This man particlized, shot near homms, now surrounded by the children he cant provide for. No one helps us here, he says. No one helps us but god. In this tiny space for nine, the children are literally climbing the walls. His brother, probably a rebel, doesnt want his face shown. He needs medication for kidney stones. Powerless where they now call home. Squirrelled away in houses like this are 15,000 refugees and its causing the population here alone to rise by about 40 . This is rebelfriendly territory so they are okay here even in the harshest of winter and nearly 200,000 Syrian Refugees goes on across the country. The greater the risk, the sectarian balance lebanon has struggled with for decades. Others survive in ruins, dark spaces haunted by a father dead, a son arrested last summer. Left to fend for themselves, knowing worse is behind them. Translator i left with the tanks and the rockets and planes overhead, she says, we went over the mountain in the night with the kids walking. The water leaks in and explains last night they were almost robbed for the third time. Even though nothing, something to someone here. This fragile, tiny country wondering how a new generation of anger will express itself. One sideeffect of this snow is making it impossible for refugees to come into this valley over the last few days. They will leave this town to deal with the consequences of this harsh winter but, again, a steady flow of what was in the past, hundreds of refugees every day. Nick paton walsh, cnn, lebanon. After a week of dramatic testimony about the colorado shootings, theres another delay in moving towards a trial. Lisa sylvester is monitoring that. Lisa, whats going on . Wolf, james holmes was scheduled to be arraigned and possibly enter a plea today but a judge put everything off until the week of march 12th. Holmes attorneys want time to go over the 30,000 papers filed in the case. Hes facing counts of murder and attempted murder and some shouted from the courtroom, rot in hell, holmes. And in making the announcement today, transportation secretary ray lahood emphasized they believe the plane is safe during our next hour we will have a closer look at the dreamliners recent string of problems. And finally, check out these incredible pictures from australia. You are looking at the red light of a sunset reflecting off a dust storm that formed under a thunderstorm. The dust has been picked up by a weather system that moved offshore over the indian ocean and dropped out of the developing thunderclouds. Its great that the photographer was able to capture those images. I love those pictures. Not something you see every day. Not every year either. Thank you for that, lisa. Just back from a controversial visit to north korea, Bill Richardson will tell me what he saw and learned in the worlds most isolated country. And how one school is now fighting back against the flu. You can prevent gas with beano meltaways, or treat gas with these after you get it. Now thats like sunblock before or sun burn cream later. Oh, somebody out theres saying, now i get it take beano before and therell be no gas. Take beano before isurprise. Its eating less. To losing weight. Im hungry just thinking about it. Thank goodness for new slimful. One delicious, 90calorie slimful and a glass of water, like before dinner, helps keep me satisfied for hours. So instead of this much, i only need this much. And slimful tastso good. I dont even miss dessert. Slimful and a glass of water. Eating less is a beautiful thing. Out from the centers for Disease Control and prevention. The number of states reporting high levels of flu activity has fallen by five and the reporting widespread activity increased from 41 to 47. Our chief medical correspondent dr. Sanjay gupta is joining us right now. What does th