Schools rethink how they can compete to attract students and improve education. Everybody learns at their own pace. So if im quicker than chauncey, ill be able to keep going instead of waiting for him to come to my level, or viceversa. Ifill those are some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by at bae systems, our pride and dedication show in everything we do; from Electronics Systems to intelligence analysis and cyber operations; from combat vehicles and weapons to the maintenance and modernization of ships, aircraft, and critical infrastructure. Knowing our work makes a difference inspires us everyday. Thats bae systems. Thats inspired work. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ifill president obama may be ready to announce his nominee for secretary of defense, later this week. It was widely reported today that Ashton Carter will be the choice, after hes thoroughly vetted. He served as Deputy Defense secretary from october 2011 to december 2013. White house spokesman josh earnest would not confirm the reports, but he spoke highly of carter. Hes somebody that certainly deserves and has demonstrated strong bipartisan support for his Previous Service in government. He is somebody that does have a detailed understanding of the way the department of defense works. I think for all these reasons its been widely reported mr. Carter has been on the short list. Ifill chuck hagel resigned as defense secretary last week, highlighting ongoing tensions between the pentagon and the white house theres word today a woman whos married to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr Albaghdadi is being held in lebanon. Authorities in beirut say the woman and a boy who may be baghdadis son were detained near a Border Crossing with syria. The officials suggested they may be swapped for more than 20 lebanese soldiers and police held by Islamic State militants. In kenya, alshabaab militants have carried out a new mass killing of nonmuslims. This time, the victims were 36 workers at a quarry. Police loaded the bodies onto trucks after the massacre, near the border with somalia. Alshabaab said the attack was in retaliation for the presence of kenyan troops inside somalia. But, kenyas president insisted the troops will not be withdrawn. We will not flinch or relent in the war against terrorism in our country and our region. We shall continue to inflict painful casualties on these terrorists until we secure our country and region. Our stability and prosperity depends on a secure neighbourhood. Ifill the president also fired the interior minister and accepted the resignation of his National Police chief. Longstanding tensions came to a canada today warned its citizens to leave afghanistan immediately for their own safety. In the last few weeks, afghan insurgents have increasingly targeted foreigners, killing four since last friday. The canadian statement said the threat is extremely high. Israels governing coalition crumbled today, as Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu fired two cabinet ministers and called for early elections. Longstanding tensions came to a head over a bill defining israel as the jewish state. The two centrist ministers charged it would discriminate against israeli arabs. In a televised address, netanyahu rejected their criticism. translated in one word that is called putsch and that makes it impossible to run a government, that makes it impossible to lead a country. Therefore, also due to the necessity to ensure a stable and proper conduct of government, i decided to push forward legislation to dissolve the knesset and go to election as soon as possible. Ifill the early elections put the Israeli Government in political limbo amid growing violence between israelis and palestinians. Three founders of hong kongs prodemocracy movement called today for protesters to retreat. The leaders also said theyre turning themselves in. The protests demanding free elections in 2017 have paralyzed the city center for two months, and triggered violent clashes with police. Back in this country about 100 buildings in downtown detroit lost power for much of the day, after a major cable failure. The lights went out around 10 30 in the morning, forcing Public Schools to dismiss students at midday. The bankrupt citys mayor mike duggan said the power grid run by the Public Lighting Department p. L. D. Has not been modernized in decades. Today is another reminder of how much work we still have to do to rebuild this city. And a bankruptcy order doesnt solve the decades of neglect in our infrastructure and thats what we saw today in the p. L. D. System. Ifill power was gradually being restored throughout the afternoon. 35 u. S. Hospitals have been officially designated ebola treatment centers, should the need arise. The department of health and Human Services released the list today. Most of the hospitals are in major cities, and have the best trained staff and essential equipment. The announcement came as president obama visited the National Institutes of health to highlight progress toward an ebola vaccine. A federal report card out today finds u. S. Hospitals are making fewer serious mistakes. Errors dropped 17 between 2010 and 2013. As a result, 50,0000 fewer patients died and 12 billion in Health Care Costs was saved. In economic news, chicagos city Council Voted to increase the citys minimum wage nearly 5 to 13 an hour by 2019. It affects some 400,000 workers. And auto makers reported surging sales in november. Chrysler led the way, with a gain of 20 . The upbeat news on auto sales and on construction helped wall street. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained more than 102 points to close at 17,879. The nasdaq rose 28 points to close at 4,755. And the s p 500 added 13, to finish at 2,066. Still to come on the newshour Syrian Refugees poised to lose food assistance, after u. N. Funds run dry. What Congress Needs to get done before the end of the year. How professional sports tackle Domestic Violence. Philadelphias Public Schools fight to win back students. Preparing cities to withstand disasters. And the cozy relationship between the fed and big banks. Ifill now, to a Funding Crisis at the unted nations World Food Program. Yesterday, the organization announced that it can no longer provide food vouchers to more than a million andahalf Syrian Refugees as winter approaches. Ifill at a makeshift camp in Lebanons Bekaa valley last week, a syrian refugee one of 1,000 at this location grimly assessed conditions after winter storms hammered the place where shes lived for a year. translated these tents dont keep us warm. Even when lit the heaters dont keep us warm. I survive only thanks to the u. N. Food vouchers. I dont get anything else. Ifill but now, those vouchers, a vital lifeline to so many, have been suspended by the u. N. s World Food Program because of a severe cash shortage. That means 1. 7 million syrians living in turkey, lebanon, egypt, jordan and iraq face an immediate food shortage. Theyre part of an estimated 3. 2 million syrians spread across the middle east. The w. F. P. Says donor countries failed to meet financial commitments, and it warned today of potentially dire consequences. We are expecting that people will maybe have to send their children out to work, theyll have to skip meals, theyll have to do without food, and what we are worried about is that some may even feel that they are forced to go back to syria, even though their towns and villages are not necessarily safe. Ifill the u. N. Agency got a cash infusion from the u. S. Last week to cover novembers voucher operation. But it needs another 64 Million Dollars for december. Its the latest hard blow to refugees like this woman from syrias northwestern idlib province. translated this is unfair, the syrians do not deserve this. We fled our country from the ongoing war and hunger, and became refugees here. I have patience for one day without food but my son cannot. Ifill the World Food Program also assists four Million People inside syria, and that program will run out of money in february. I spoke earlier today with muhannad hadi, the World Food Programs regional emergency coordinator, from amman, jordan. Muhannad hadi, thank you so much for joining us. I want to start by asking about the suspension of the Voucher Program how did we get to suspension . Basically the suspension is the decision the World Food Program has to take for the lack of funding. Its a decision we were forced to take and unfortunately, as a result, we have more than 1. 7 Million People, refugees, lacking food this month and the months after if the situation doesnt change. Ifill what is the value of food vouchers or this debit card system as opposed to just handing out food directly to the recipients . The most important thing about this Voucher Program is that it keeps the dignity, it retains the dignity of the refugees and puts the decisions in their hands. Theyre the ones who decide from where to do their shopping, what do buy. It gives the mothers the right to decide what do they want to feed their children on any night for dinner, and it also resolves issues of protection and a lot of tension between local communities and the refugees. So its a preferred option, and this is the best way to serve the refugees in such circumstances. Ifill so explain the shovel t the shortfall to me. Is it because not must have nonny is pledged or enough pledges not being fulfilled . Not enough pledges being bull filled. In the kuwait pledging conference, 2 billion were pledged but only 40 committed. We are running a big program in syria. In syria and the neighboring countries, every month, we feed 4 Million People inside syria in addition to approximately 2 million refugees in neighboring countries. Thats a big program. Were talking about 6 Million People the World Food Program feeds every month and on that we need approximately 35 million a week to do this operation. This month only and in order to resume the operation for the refugees, we need 64 million immediately, but the the beauty of the program that we have, if we get the money tonight, by tomorrow morning, we can charge and load the cars of the refugees and they can start the Grocery Shopping as of tomorrow so they will not miss a meal, if we get funds immediately. Ifill who are you counting on to fill the gap . Donations, corporations, individuals . Well, were counting on everybody. Were countering on the United States, were counting on the big donors and were also counting on the regional countries, approaching the gcc countries and arabia and everybody else. The crisis in syria is not only about syria or the region. Its becoming an international crisis. It has taken so long and the suffering of the people has also increased. We are counting on the International Community standing by the syrian people. The syrian conflict is a political conflict. We are doing a humanitarian solution in absence of a political solution and thats why the humanitarian solution must be supported by the International Community until the syrian problem is resolved. Ifill is there a connection to be made between food an security and political stability in syria and beyond . Right now, people have no choice. The people of whom we are feeding are totally dependent on the World Food Program to feed them simply because they have no job opportunity, their livelihoods have been destroyed, theyre either displaced within their own countries or refugees living in camps or in makeshift shelters or informal settlements in neighboring countries. They have no access to the labor market. Their lives have been destroyed, and until that situation is rectified somehow, the humanitarian operations must remain to support the syrian people. Ifill muhannad hadi, the regional emergency coordinator for the World Food Program in syria, thank you so much. Thank you. Ifill the house and senate are back in washington for the final weeks of the 113th congress. Big ticket items, from financing government to tax breaks for corporations and classroom teachers, remain up in the air. Lisa desjardins reports on the highstakes todo list, as republicans and democrats alike debate deadlines. Reporter crowded halls, a crowded agenda and a bit of frenzy have taken over the capitol. Im late for something. Reporter late and not much time left. House republicans like paul ryan are trying to leverage their election momentum in the final weeks of this congress. With a big and critical to do list reauthorizing Defense Department spending. Funding the fights against ebola and Islamic State militants. And extending dozens of tax breaks which expired last year. Those include billions of dollars for corporations to promote research. But the package also adds tax breaks for teachers to buy supplies, as well as special provisions for nascar and incentives for mass transit. Thats the relatively easy stuff. Both house and senate are poised to extend the tax breaks for one year. The white house is thinking about it. But things get dicier when the federal government runs out of funds next week. Republicans insist they will fund almost all of government at current levels, but they are hotly debating a way to limit one thing the president s executive orders protecting more Illegal Immigrants from deportation. This is a serious breach of our constitution. Its a serious threat to our system of government. And frankly we have limited options and limited abilities to deal with it directly. But thats why were continuing to talk to our members. Reporter House Republicans, led by Speaker Boehner are fuming, and considering a creative option fund most of government for the next year. But fund the department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration, only until march. And, potentially try to cut funds for that program. The man who oversees those funds, secretary of Homeland Security jeh johnson, objected to the plan today at a house hearing today. I need congress to act on border security, so im encouraging you act on current appropriations request for the sake of border security. Reporter for now, House Republicans are debating the plan. The president is debating a veto, and all of congress is wondering if the todo list can be done in the two weeks officially left on the calendar. Lisa desjardins. Pbs newshour. Ifill this was a day when questions about how professional sports leagues handle Domestic Violence were back on center stage. Representatives from the major leagues appeared during a hearing on capitol hill. Lawmakers said they must do a better job of cracking down. Senator claire mccaskill, a democrat from missouri, admonished the record up to now. Professional sports, with very few exceptions, have done little to hold those who commit this crime accountable. And perpetrators know that if they can only get their victims to recant, refuse to cooperate, threaten their financial future, if they can accomplish those things, then nothing will happen. Ifill earlier in the day, former Baltimore Ravens running vincent told lawmakers that as a child he and his brother saw his mother get beaten up repeatedly acted knocked unconscious. Ive committed my lifes work for the last 20 years as an advocate against Domestic Violence in an effort to keep others from experiencing this lifetime pain. I relate to the 20 million victims, survivors of Domestic Violence, abuse in every Community Across our great nation. Ifill ray ifill earlier in the day, former Baltimore Ravens running back ray rice asked for a Second Chance to play in the n. F. L. Rice was suspended from the league this fall after knocking his thenfiancee unconscious in an elevator. An arbitrator ruled last week the suspension was illegal. Rice and his nowwife, janay, appeared on the today show along with her parents. He was asked about whether he had ever hurt her before. Had arguments. When you talk about abuse, you know, thats something that, you know, we know weve never crossed that path, but then did we say things to each other that we want to take back at times . Yeah, weve crossed that line before, but it never got to an altercation where it went that far. You know,