Moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. 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. Brown the battle for control of syria reached ever closer to the capital today. Heavy fighting flared near the damascus airport, and Online Access was cut, as the pressure intensified on president bashar alassad. We have a report narrated by Jonathan Rugman of independent television news. Reporter it could be the wests Worst Nightmare. Jubilant jihadist fighters near damascus. This group has captured a helicopter and these islamists are now in the vanguard of syrias rebel army. Syrian warplanes and helicopters were filmed attacking the fringes of the capital today. And to the road to the International Airport has been closed by fighting. And as that fighting intensifies much of syrias Internet Network has been cut. The government and opposition are blaming each other for the shutdown. Whatever the truth, syrias regime is battling these men for its very survival. President assads helicopters are being shot down. And even a mig jet was filmed tumbling from the sky. This rebel boasting that hes downed both a helicopter and a mig within 24 hours. These surface to air missiles have been looted from captured military bases. What do we first with it a voice can be heard asking. Not Everybody Knows how this newfound firepower works. Yet this islamist brigade near damascus now has one. While near aleppo an entirm air Defense System seems to have fallen to the socalled daoud battalion which is affiliated however loosely with al qaeda. These are assads missiles, say the cameraman and we have taken them. London and washington may have refused to arm these rebels. But armed they are like never before. Suarez and Margaret Warner takes the story from there. Warner for more on todays developments and what they mean for syrias president bashar al assad, im joined by andrew tabler, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for near east policy. He was in rebelheld Syrian Border regions in midnovember. Andrew, welcome back. Thank you. Warner first of all, how critical is the rebel seizure of some of these surfacetoair missile from the captured army bases . Theyre answer cloutly vital. For months the syrian army has harassed rebel held territories and theyve bombed them into submission. With these shoulderfired missiles theyre able to down syrian aircraft of all types and it allows the Syrian Opposition to have the possibility of actually saying they have a pure liberated territory which is completely outside of the regimes control and that sets the stage for a possible benghazilike pocket that could push president assad south and west war war so step back from all todays news, what do you make of todays developments. The internet, the airport . Is the conflict entering a new phase . Its definitely entering a new phase. The siege on the airport and the airport road and so on actually mimics a lot of other attacks on airfields throughout the country where rebels approach it with missiles, machine guns and make sure planes cant take off and that way they take care of the air force that way. In terms of the internet, were not sure. It could be intentional or the result of the power cuts or where the mobile system went out as well or part of the plan. And in damascus people are panicking, they think that something is going on that the regime is about ready to lash out and were waiting to see what that might entail. Warner so you mean people, civilians on the ground, are panicing . Absolutely. Warner so be go back to the airport. There is this big battle for the access road into the airport and you had the two Major Airlines shutting down their service today. How crucial is maintaining control of the airport and a functioning airport to the assad regimes hold on power . Well, its more of a sovereignty issue to capture the capitals airport which is east of damascus, an area where the rebels are active. Its a major blow but its a psychological and political blow. They have other airfields they can fly out of but its a big loss for assad, a big embarrassment and another sign that president assads hold over geographic syria is tipping. Warner isnt assad believed to be restocking weapons and aircraft through the air . Sure. And theyre being resupplied. They have large stocks of weapons. Theyre being helped out by the iranians with the transformation of the that dia warner that being the thugs. Alawite forces. The russians also are backing them in one way shape or form. Who hasnt backed them is the United States and the west in terms of rebel forces and syrians, especially opposition, are quite angry about that. Warner if the Internet Service stays down, how much does that hamper the rebels ability to operate . It dawes because theyre unable to coordinate. You beal surprised what happens over mobile phones and through the internet and using smart phones. And texting. But they still have twoway radios and sat phones. But its it harder for them, not impossible. But its a sign that the assad regime hasnt done this until now and its a sign were entering a new phase. Warner do you think the assad forces need the same infrastructure or do they have their own . I think they need it and do they have their own closed network . If its a result of a power failure to the communications system, thats one thing. Hezbollah has its own Communication System in lebanon, if its Something Like that were looking at a the regime lashing out possibly and communicating in that way. Warner in the video we just saw that damascus rebel outfit was described as jihadist. How prevalent and prominent are jihadists within the larger rebel forces at this point . Theyre a minority but salafists are a main part of it. Also islamists in general and very recently weve seen and uptick in the number of jihadist salafists within syria. Weve also seen more and more shoulderfired missiles getting into their hands. So the issue of arming or not arming opposition, it might have gotten away from the west. It seems like the weapons that we feared were going to get into the wrong peoples hands has without us doing anything and thats a major problem in a security issue for the Obama Administration. Warner you were telling me before we came on that youd seen another video that also suggests that. Tell us about that. Thats right. There was a video released a few days ago in which in the video it was an organization fly a black flag, clearly something jihadist saying to europeans and americans we dont need you, we have these weapons, well do it on our own. So our Worst Nightmare through neglect seems to be coming true in syria. Warner quickly, how close is the u. S. To changing its policy at all from what youve been able to discern . I think it is on terms of recognizing the government in exile which we was formed in doha. In terms of arming the opposition, im not sure. It might be something thats been debated to death. Theres no action out of the Obama Administration. We were hoping it was going to happen earlier, it didnt happen and it seems now that the people the jihadists and salafists have the arms now including shoulderfired antiaircraft systems and the Secular Forces that came out of the mainstream that we could deal with dont seem to have those weapons and the question is what is the Obama Administration going to do now . Warner tough decision. Patrick tabler, thank you. My pleasure. Suarez still to come on the newshour political turmoil in egypt; arizonas new senator; a broad range of steps for a Minnesota Dance Company and the College Conference switches. But first, the other news of the day. Heres hari sreenivasan. Sreenivasan democrats and republicans accused each other today of refusing to talk specifics about how to avoid the fiscal cliff. The two sides traded charges of bad faith as yearend tax hikes and spending cuts moved another day closer. On the face of it there seemed to be Little Movement today. No substantive progress has been made in the talks between the white house and the house over the last two weeks. Sreenivasan treasury secretary Timothy Geithner and legislative chief rob nabors arrived at the capitol this morning, for meetings with congressional leaders. House Speaker John Boehner also spoke to president obama on the phone last night. He said he wanted to know where the administration would rein in spending, but that he had heard nothing new. I was hopeful wed see a specific plan for cutting spending. We sought to find out today what the president is really willing to do. Listen, i remain hopeful that productive conversations in the days ahead can be had but the white house has to get serious. Sreenivasan Senate Minority leader Mitch Mcconnell echoed that complaint. In a statement, he said, today, they took a step backward and significantly closer to the cliff. Conversely, white house spokesman jay carney charged republicans failed to provide any details on what they could tolerate in the way of tax increases. The president has always engaged in this with real numbers. When you talk about flexibility on revenue, all weve heard so far and its welcomed, dont get me wrong, but weve heard that yes, revenue on the table but we need more than that. Sreenivasan away from the microphones, there were reports of possible movement. An account in the journal politico said the contours of a deal are emerging. The report cited unnamed sources who said the deal could include 1. 2 trillion in tax increases over ten years. It also said entitlement programs, mainly medicare, will be cut by no less than 400 billion. And on the sidelines, the president hosted his defeated rival, mitt romney, at a private lunch today. Mr. Obama travels to suburban philadelphia tomorrow, pressing to raise taxes on top earners, but keep tax cuts for everyone else. Wall street initially fell after House Speaker boehner said thered been no progress on a fiscal cliff deal. But stocks rose later, on news that the economy grew at an annual rate of 2. 7 in the third quarter. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained more than 36 points to close well above 13,021. The nasdaq rose 20 points to close at 3,012. The United NationsGeneral Assembly voted today to recognize palestine as a non member observer state. The tally was 138 to nine, with 41 abstentions. The u. S. Voted no. It came after palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas appealed to the world body to issue the birth certificate of palestine. We did not come here seeking to delegitimize a state established years ago, and that is israel. Rather, we came to affirm the legitimacy of a state that must now achieve its independence, and this is palestine. Sreenivasan palestinians said the vote would strengthen their hand in future peace talks with israel. But the israeli ambassador to the u. N. , ron prosor, warned that the palestinians are turning their backs on peace. For as long as president abbas prefers symbolism over reality, as long as he prefers to travel to new york for u. N. Resolutions rather than travel to jerusalem for genuine dialogue, any hope of peace will be out of reach. Sreenivasan meanwhile, a Bipartisan Group of u. S. Senators said today they will push to cut off u. S. Aid, if the palestinians use their new status to bring israel before the International Criminal court. In iraq, a wave of attacks today killed at least 43 people. Most of the victims were in the city of hillah, south of baghdad. Backtoback explosions targeted shiite pilgrims and emergency responders. The force of the blasts left twisted wreckage of cars outside shops in a busy commercial area. A third bombing killed six people near a shrine in the city of karbala. A yearlong inquiry into british media practices ended today with a call for new regulation. Lord Justice Brian leveson led the investigation. It was triggered by a scandal over a tabloid newspaper owned by the murdoch conglomerate that hacked voicemails of hundreds of people. We have a report from gary gibbon of independent television news. Reporter they say the body that regulars the newspapers cant be run by newspapers alone anymore. It needs to be more independent and overseen by a government watchdog. This is not and cannot reasonably or fairly be characterized as statutory regulation of the press. I am proposeing inspect regulation of the press organized by the press. Reporter but David Cameron said the judge had got it wrong. Laws controlling newspapers could mushroom into censorship. He said he wanted changes the way newspapers regulate themselves but not new laws. The issue of principle is that for the first time we would have crossed the rubicon of writing elements of press regulation into the law of the land. We should, i believe, be wary of any legislation that has the potential to infringe free speech and a free suppress. Hear hear reporter describes the phone hacking and other intrusions suffered by innocent victims like millie dougher will, Justice Leveson depicted a press out of control, those reckless regard for accuracy would resist and dismiss complainants almost a matter of course and showed a recklessness in prioritizing sensational stories almost irrespective of the harm caused, heedless of the public interest. Good morning. Any thoughts today . Rupert murdoch in new york today, the judge also said there was no evidence to support allegations that there was a grand bargain between the tory leadership and the murdochs, exchanging newspaper support for policies ahead of the last election. Lord Justice Leveson said he was now passing the ball on to the politicians. They are far from agreed what they want to do with it. Sreenivasan nasa had a major announcement of its own today. The planet closest to the sun mercury has ice at its poles. The findings came from messenger the first spacecraft to orbit mercury. The ice was found in the permanently shadowed region of the north pole. Scientists said they believe theres ice at the planets south pole as well. And in washington, one of those scientists, david lawrence, said its no small amount. If you add it all up you have 100 billion to one trillion metric tons of ice. Now of course, those numbers are big its hard to know what to do with them. So we can bring it down to earth, in fact here in this town, if you take the amount of ice we consider to be at mercury right now, stack up the entire area of washington d. C. By about two to two and a half miles of ice, that is what is current presently at mercurys poles. Sreenivasan the Messenger Team said the ice likely came from comets and asteroids that crashed into mercury. Those impacts may also account for dark material that could be the remnants of organic matter. Those are some of the days major stories. Now, back to jeff. Brown and we turn to egypt, where an embattled president tried again to explain his sweeping actions, and an islamist led assembly raced to complete passage of a new constitution. All across egypt this evening, people watched as president Mohamed Morsi spoke to state television interviewers addressed the nation. He defended his decision to grant himself powers free from judicial review. translated my responsibility is to protect this nation from any conspiracy or from any attempt to go backwards. As the countrys president my responsibility, is to achieve justice and respect the laws and to lay down many rules in the absence of parliament until they convene and are able to vote on behalf of the people. Brown the islamist president also criticized the outpouring of protests against his actions. On tuesday, at least 200,000 people filled Cairos Tahrir square, accusing morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood of hijacking last years revolution. Liberal and secular groups also condemned a move to fasttrack a final vote on a new constitution. translated we want a constitution that represents all egyptian people, not one that represent a certain faction of egyptians. translated the Constitutional Panel tasked to brown the constitution is being drafted by an assembly dominated by islamists. That body moved up the vote to this week, because the countrys Supreme Constitutional Court is expected to issue a ruling on sunday that could dissolve the assembly. In washington today, state Department SpokespersonVictoria Nuland also raised concerns about the new constitution. Weve been very clear all we want to see this constitution meet International Human rights standards, protections for all groups in egypt and to have a judicial set of guarantees that also meets International Judicial standards. But again we havent seen the specific draf