>> >> it's a model for high speed rail. there's no backing off. >> our state budget is collapsing and yet they hold on to this pipe dream of funding high speed rail. >> brown: plus, we focus on two key states in play on super tuesday: tennessee and georgia. >> suarez: and we close with another in our "daily download" series. tonight, we look at how candidates use photos on social media. >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. 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. >> suarez: rebels fighting the syrian military were forced to give way today, in the face of an unrelenting siege. fighters in the heavily damaged city of homs said they were pulling back from the district of baba amr. some 100,000 people once lived there, but that was before a month-long bombardment by president assad's army. we have a report narrated by jonathan rugman of "independent television news." >> reporter: after 26 days and government firepower like this, the siege of homs' most rebellious district appears to be ending. yesterday one activist filmed syrian troops apparently withdrawing from babr amr. but today they have reportedly advanced. and the ultimate symbol of syria's resistance can resist no longer. and this is the appalling aftermath broadcast by state television. part winter snow scene part, apocalyptic vision. entire streets seemingly pounded into submission. shattered and shelled buildings everywhere the camera looks. residents were shown blaming militants for destroying houses and terrorizing civilians but one activist told me government forces continued attacking. as he and other civilians escaped from babr amr this morning >> the regime army, or assad militias as we call them, they're trying to kill us. not escort us, to secure us, they were killing us. they were bombing us. it was, you know, an extremely dangerous journey, because th bombardment was still going on. >> reporter: more tanks have been filmed heading into the babr amr area from the damascus highway. and it's no wonder the free syrian army has withdrawn from the district for now. in a statement on facebook, the fighters said it was a tactical retreat on behalf of about 4,000 residents lacking food medicine, electricity and water. and running water is so short that residents have been melting snow to drink that instead. "we have no one to support us other than allah," they sing. though tomorrow that could change. the syrian red crescent and international committee of the red cross say the government's given them permission to enter. babr amr on friday, taking in humanitarian aid and evacuating civilians. yet, in the surrounding countryside this conflict isn't over. and the fear is that as the regime advances against these fighters, it will exact brutal revenge. "look at me daddy, answer me daddy," these sons are filmed telling their dead father. it's an activist video. and even if journalists can't safely report on the full horror of what happened here those who have suffered are still trying. >> brown: in washington, assistant secretary of state jeffrey feltman predicted the syrian people will not give in, despite their suffering. he spoke at a senate hearing. >> large numbers of syrians are living every day under siege, deprived of basic necessities including food, clean water and medical supplies. women and children are wounded and dying for lack of treatment. innocent people are detained and tortured, and their families left to fear the worst. yet, despite the regime's brutality, the people of syria demonstrate enormous courage. their determination to continue protesting for their rights, mostly still peaceful protests, is an inspiration and a testimony to the human spirit. for de. >> reporter: earlier today i met with haitham maleh. we spoke to him from istanbul where he's helping to lead the syrian national council. i began by asking him if the sireian opposition was united and able to speak with one voice >> all the opposition in syria has only one view for future. they want to finish this regime. they want to build democracy regime. they want to build a regime ruled by law, by... by power parliament, ministers, justice and all the people must be equal >> so a lot of the opposition groups have been talking about getting weapons into into syria. into the hands of the free syrian army. are there people who are ready to help pay for those weapons? and how do you get them into the country? >> lots of people need to send weapons to free because those people, the national people, the civilian people, surely they are right to do it and a lot of people around syria maybe from jordan, a lot of people know how they can take... they can take the weapons through the border. >> suarez: you mentioned that president assad has tanks and ships, heavy weapons. can you ever get enough weapons into the hands of the free syrian army to be able to fight back against an army of 300,000 men? >> we need to support the free syrian army by... because we cannot bring tanks and something like this or helicopter or something like this. but if we give them medium weapons they can finish this regime and i think the free syrian army will take the step to finish this regime and to protect the civilians. the people. >> suarez: haitham maleh with the syrian national council, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you, too, good-bye. >> suarez: i also spoke with rania abouzeid who's been covering the conflict in syria for "time" magazine. she's in beirut. rania, welcome back to the program. given the context of everything that's happened in the last couple of weeks, is the free syrian army's retreat from homs a big victory for bashar al-assad? >> well, that remains to be seen. the free syrian army based in the baba amr neighborhood of homes issued a statement online saying they were making a tactical retreat to try and ease the suffering, basically, of the 4,000 civilians who have been under constant bombardment for weeks now. they said that they basically don't have the weapons to defend these civilians and that's one of the reasons they were pulling out. now based on these developments, the syrian government appears to have given permission for the syrian arab red crescent as well as the international committee of the red cross to enter baba amr tomorrow. and according to the syrian national news agency they said that the u.n... the humanitarian chief, valerie amos, is welcome in syria but that her earlier request to visit the besieged cities and towns in that country was rejected because it was an "inappropriate time" for the syrian government. >> suarez: homs is a pretty big place, about a million people before all this started. has word been getting out on the condition of civilian there is? >> well, certainly red cross in both the arab red crescent and the i.c.r.c. are expected to evacuate many of the wounded who have been receiving quite rudimentary medical treatment if we are to see all of these amateur videos that have been posted on youtube. some of the doctors who are still in the cities say that they are... have been cleaning, washing and cutting up sacks of flour, basically, and using the fabric as bandages to try and tend to some of the wounds of these civilians and defectives who have come under constant bombardment now. they say for many of the wounded they can't do anything for them and that they're just treating them as well as they can given the circumstances and that they're running shorts on all sorts of supplies. >> suarez: just a short time ago i spoke with a leader of the syrian opposition in istanbul and he was very critical for the rest of the world for standing by and letting this happen to the people of syria. is there any help on the way? >> apart from the red cross that's going in there tomorrow, that's a question that a lot of the syrians both inside the country and outside the country want answered. toward that tend syrian national council which is the de facto political opposition group, how the press conference... held a press conference in paris yesterday and it wants to offer all of its support to the free syrian army which is the loose band of defectors and armed civilian which is have been protecting these protesters and many of these civilians from the loyalist forces. the syrian national council said it basically wants to organize, unify and arm the free syrian army. the problem is it doesn't seem like the free syrian army knows because just hours later the head of the movement was on al jazeera and he said this decision to set up a military bureau to oversee the free syrian army wasn't coordinated with his group and that they wouldn't be participating in this military advisory bureau. so, you know, while the people of syria are suffering, it would seem to be quite a... quite dire humanitarian circumstances the political opposition as well as the military opposition in exile continues to bicker. and that's a source of much frustration for many of the syrians because while the world is looking for somebody, they're looking for a partner and, you know, the united states has said this repeatedly as well as other western states, they need the syrian opposition to unify and to step up so that any money, for example, any funds, any weapons that are going to be funneled into the country need to go through a unified body. >> suarez: quickly before we go, you gave us an example of the divisions inside the opposition, what's keeping them apart? is it the approach? >> is it the eventual syria they want to see? tactics in the short term? what what are they arguing about? >> all of the above. you know, it's a strategic division within the syrian national council, for example, between islamists and seculars. you can't discount egos, you can't discount personalities. there are divisions between members of the syrian opposition those who were in exile for many years who remain in the country between the youth activists and members of the military even within the free syrian army. this is a very loose band. the commanders are localized, in most cases they don't take their orders from the colonel in turkey. they sometimes inform them of operations after the fact so the divisions are varied and they're many. >> suarez: rania abouzeid of "time" magazine joined us from beirut. rania, nice to talk to you. >> thank you. >> brown: still to come on the "newshour": the new google privacy rules; california's high speed rail; super tuesday in the south and political candidates use of social media. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: three afghans turned their weapons on nato troops in southern afghanistan today killing two u.s. soldiers. that makes six american troops killed by afghan attackers in a spasm of violence since korans were burned at a u.s. base. u.s. and afghan officials said two of today's shooters were dressed as afghan soldiers. the other was a civilian. democrats in the u.s. senate have defeated a bid to roll back president obama's policy on birth control coverage. republicans wanted to let employers and health insurers refuse to pay for contraceptive or other health services on religious or moral grounds. utah senator orrin hatch said it was a matter of protecting fundamental rights. >> it's the religious commitments of our nation that has made it the greatest nation in the world and i've got to tell you those of you who vote against this amendment are playing with fire, those of you who vote against this amendment are ignoring the constitution. those of you who vote against this amendment are wrong. >> sreenivasan: democrats rejected that argument. instead, they said the measure was an assault on women's rights. california democrat barbara boxer argued it would open the door to denying access to a host of health services. >> they would no longer have to offer breast cancer screening, cervical cancer screenings. all they have to do is say, "oh, i'm really sorry. we believe prayer is the answer, we don't believe in chemotherapy. we believe that if someone is heavy or obese and they get diabetes, we have a moral objection to helping them because you know what, they didn't lead a clean life." >> sreenivasan: in the end, the republican proposal was defeated, 51 to 48. in economic news, small cars were the sales winners last month. a number of automakers reported today they had double-digit increases for february. among the detroit big three, chrysler saw sales jump 40% or better, and ford was up 14% with smaller, gas-efficient models leading the way. general motors eked out a 1% gain. there were other encouraging signs today. applications for first-time jobless benefits hit a four-year low last week. and major retailers reported strong february sales. on wall street, the dow jones industrial average gained 28 points to close at 12,980. the nasdaq rose 22 points to close just under 2,989. seven americans left egypt today, easing a crisis in u.s.- egyptian relations. the seven work for pro-democracy groups. they had been accused of funding and promoting egyptian protests against military rule. sam lahood, the son of transportation secretary ray lahood, was among those who had been detained. nine other americans left egypt before they could be charged. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to jeff. >> brown: and we turn to a big change for one of the tech industry's giants in the debate over online privacy. in recent weeks, google has been alerting its more than one billion users around the world that, beginning today, the company is consolidating some 60 privacy policies of its different services into one and more closely coordinating those services into one large database. here's part of how the company explains it: >> instead of over 60 policies for google products and features, we're introducing just one with fewer words, simpler explanations and less legal goop to wade through. does that mean when you use google-- from gmail and search and youtube and calendar, you can count on one policy that explain ours privacy commitment to you. >> brown: google says the move will also allow it to better serve customers by pulling together personalized information across a variety of different sites. but not everyone agrees. 32 state attorneys general recently wrote a letter to google c.e.o. larry page calling the new policy an invasion of privacy. and some regulatory agencies in the european union warned that the new policy might be a violation of the e.u.'s data- protection rules. we debate the merits of the policy and the broader issue with markham erickson, executive director of the open internet coalition, representing more than 50 of the largest internet companies in the country, including google. but he does not represent or speak for google for this specific policy. and lori andrews is professor at the illinois institute of technology chicago-kent college of law and author of the new book: "i know who you are and i saw what you did: social networks and the death of privacy." for the record, we invited google to join us but the company declined. laurie andrews as the title of your book suggests, you've raised concerns about privacy online. what concerns do you have about what google is doings? >> well,ing into at heart is an advertising platform. it makes 96% of its money, or $36 billion a year, by targeting ads. so this new policy allows them to target ads across platforms. so if i send an e-mail over gmail to a divorce lawyer and then i do a google search for depression, if i then am watching a youtube video with my... a young son, ads will pop up related to divorce and mental health which might trouble him. this private information of mine will become visible. anding intoed as erred in the past. in 2010 when young people went on google chat rooms to say "i'm thinking of committing suicide with x chemical" a google ad would pop up immediately saying "dial 1-800-blah blah, get that chemical two for one." so the algorithms may push us toward harmful behaviors. >> brown: well, markham erickson google would say this is a transparent system and a service to its customers. what's the best argument? >> frankly, the criticisms you just heard i think are way overblown and more akin to fear-mongering about not google but an attack on the commercial internet itself. for over 20 years america has led the way in creating new products and innovative services many of which, if not most of which, are free for consumers. things like mapping services and e-mail services, video services and those services are provideed for free because the companies that provide those services are age to collect information about your browsing habits, they don't sell that personal, any personal information to third parties, it's internal. because of that, they're able to sell advertisements to their users that target the interest that their users have when they browse the internet. so that kind of tradeoff has been part of the commercial internet since the beginning. >> brown: you're saying consumers should know that's the economic model and therefore in exchange for the free service they are giving away person data for use by advertisers? >> well, they're not.... >> brown: first let markham erickson answer that. >> they're not giving personal data to advertisers, not at all. they collect data that is nob personally identifiable and allow advertisers to target ads of interest to users without disclosing any personal information and users would rather see ads that they're interested in than ads that aren't relevant to them. so that tradeoff has made the internetwork for over 20 years. >> brown: lori andrews, you want to jump in? >> it's not fear-mongering when people are losing their jobs or benefits as a result of this. google's collecting this information, including things that people say they don't want. surveys of consumers suggest they'd rather not be tracked over the internet and things happen such as if you do a google search about a health condition and you might be doing it for your mother or someone else, then if you go to a health insurance site or a life insurance site that's thought to represent you. they don't need my name to have my data and use it against me. plus google announced its policy saying one benefit is we're going to track you so if your google calendar says you're supposed to be at an appointment and we can tell from your g.p.s. you're far away, we'll send you a google map to get you there faster. well, the problem is google does nothing to prevent third parties from using that information. in fact, 93% of the time when the government asks for information, private searches, g.p.s. data, it turns it over. employers now are asking for your private passwords so the employer might use that same information that google is touting as a benefit to say oh, your g.p.s. location shows you were at a competitor or at your lover's house. we're already seeing people losing jobs. one-third of employers say that they won't hire someone if on their social network page there's a picture of them with wine in their hands. 75% of employers now have a policy. >> brown: well let me ask... >> if google cared, they'd work to prevent third parties from requiring access. >> brown: respond that, mr. erickson. why not have a system... one question is where consumers would have to opt in rather than being allowed to opt out in some cases. >> >> consumers do have to opt in order for google to track a user's activities across the various google products and service