major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: 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. >> woodruff: the c.e.o. of j.p. morgan chase survived a pair of key shareholder votes today on his pay and job responsibilities. jamie dimon won an endorsement of his pay package, which was reportedly $23 million last year. dimon can remain bank's chairman and c.e.o. he also can retain his second title as chair of the banking giant. dimon formally apologized to investors at the annual meeting in florida. last week, dimon disclosed the bank lost $2 billion on trading losses so far. several news reports today also revealed the f.b.i. and the justice department are beginning their own investigation into the case. dawn kopecki of bloomberg news is on the story. i spoke with her earlier from florida, where she was covering the meeting. dawn kopecki, thank you for joining us. before i ask you about the shareholders' meeting there in tampa, tell us what you know about this f.b.i. investigation that i guess was disclosed today into the jap morgan loss. >> well, generally when the department of justice and f.b.i. get involved, it's generally because they suspect there's some sort of cover-up going on especially this soon, you know, after the loss was disclosed. it's not likely that they were necessarily looking at this all that much before the loss was disclosed last week. since it's the department of justice, it's a criminal investigation. and for criminal wrongdoing, there generally... they're generally looking at whether or not the company is misleading the public by what it knew when it knew it or it's looking at whether or not the people involved in london misled the company or misled shareholders somehow with what they knew or tried to cover it up somehow. the other thing that could be a possibility is that the attorney general, eric holder, seizes... is seizing the opportunity so he can look like he's tough on banks, so obama can say he's tough on banks especially jamie dimon and j.p. morgan who obama has previously said and praised as being one of the best bankers in the united states. so the obama administration looks tough on banks. they're more than likely looking at what the company knew when they knew it and whether or not there's anything they're covering up right now. >> woodruff: dawn, you had something about a conference call that jamie dimon held with investors back in mid april. >> oh, yeah. jamie dimon on his analyst calls-- i've been covering the company about two nears years now-- on his calls he almost always cracks jokes and asks a stupid question. he always goes off on government regulation. in this that call in mid april when dimon says he didn't know how bad the trade was or didn't know that there was a problem was asked about it, he was uncharacteristically, you know, calm and quiet. he stuck to what seemed like kind of a scripted format. he was very, you know, he just wasn't himself. he wasn't himself on that call in mid april. that's after, shortly after everyone started reporting, you know, that particular division had a big problem. so, that came... those stories came on april 5. we wrote a big story. the day the earnings were announced on april 13. and, you know, that's the famous line where dimon called it a tempest in a teapot. we know it was a lot more than just that. >> woodruff: let's talk about the shareholder meeting today now. what was said by management today? what did we learn that was new? >> you know, we actually didn't learn much of anything that was new. you know, we, you know, the company is sticking to a very prescribed script here. they don't want to go off script. dimon didn't generally... didn't speak off the cuff at all like he generally does. it was a very subdued analysts' meeting. they had very tight security, you know, in place. there weren't that much protestors. dimon apologized again. he said that they will take corrective action, meaning people will probably lose their jobs. we put out a story today saying that they are considering calling back excess bonuses and stock grants from the, you know, the employees that were involved so they are looking at trying to reclaim some of the pay for people who were rewarded for good results that may not have actually been producing that. >> woodruff: there was a vote taken today on whether to strip dimon of his chairman of the board title. that did not pass. it got what? 40%. >> yes. it got about 40% of the vote which is about what it got last year. you have to remember that a lot of these votes were cast weeks ago, before this news came out. so a lot of the people that were voting on it had no idea what was going on at the time. so, you have to take the vote with a grain of salt but it did survive. dimon did say that is one thing that came out that was new. dimon did say that the board has decided that so far for now they still want to keep him in the role of both chairman and ceo. >> woodruff: and thed mood of the shareholders overall, do they seem fine? what is their reaction to what's happened? >> you know, they're upset. they're upset. there were several impassioned speeches made about this loss. a lot of people were asking dimon about the mortgage mess which is still a big, huge issue hanging around the company. dimon said that the mortgage losses are still the number-one cause of losses on its balance sheet right now. and so people were upset generally at these shareholder meetings people come to air their grievances to the company. you definitely heard a lot of that today. >> woodruff: dawn kopecki, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> suarez: still to come on the newshour, the financial and political troubles in europe; a plan to treat and prevent alzheimer's disease; training surgeons from the developing world; what's next for ron paul and his supporters. but first, the other news of the day. here's kwame holman. >> holman: world markets fell again today, wary of the political turmoil in greece. wall street was no exception. the dow jones industrial average was down 63 points to close at 12,632. it's lost nearly 5% of its value in the last two weeks. the nasdaq fell more than eight points to close at 2893. and the price of oil hit a six- month low. it dropped below $94 a barrel in new york trading. republican presidential candidate mitt romney accused president obama today of putting the economy on a disastrous course. in des moines, iowa, romney charged that huge increases in federal spending and debt are endangering the country's future. >> debt is sweeping across iowa and across the nation. and every day that we fail to act, that fire gets closer to the homes and the children we love. i will lead us out of this debt and spending inferno. we will stop borrowing unfathomable sums of money we can't even imagine from foreign countries we're never even going to visit. >> holman; white house officials countered that romney favors policies that led to high deficits and the recession in the first place. and the president reinforced that point in an interview that aired on abc's "the view." >> there are very stark differences, legit legitimate differences between the candidates and the parties in how we're going to make sure that every kid is getting a great education, how we create businesses, how we're creating more jobs. that ultimately be what determines how this election goes. >> holman: meanwhile, a new poll from "the new york times" and cbs news put romney ahead of the president by three points, 46% to 43%. that is within the margin of error. in syria, a roadside bomb struck a convoy that was part of the u.n. observer mission. amateur video showed smoke rising from the first car, and people running for cover. u.n. officials said three vehicles were damaged, but no one was hurt. activists said minutes earlier, government forces opened fire on a funeral procession nearby. they said at least 20 of the mourners were killed. prosecutors in britain filed the first criminal charges today in the phone hacking probe that began 18 months ago. rebekah brooks and five others were charged with obstruction. brooks is former editor of a rupert murdoch tabloid that's now defunct. we have a report from keir simmons of independent television news. >> reporter: rebecca and charlie brooks were once friends with prime ministers. she one of the most powerful journalists in the country. her husband a millionaire who went to eaton with david cameron. >> i would just like to say that i feel today is an attempt to use me and others as scapegoats, the effect of which will be to ratchet up the pressure on my wife who also believe is the subject of a witch hunt. >> i cannot express my anger enough that those closest to me have been dragged into this unfairly. one day the details of this case will emerge. and people will see today as nothing more than an expensive side show. >> reporter: rebecca brooks has links with all of those charged today. she's facing three counts of perverting the course of justice. the first for allegedly conspiring with others to conceal materials from the metropolitan police. they include her husband, charlie brooks, her former p.a., cheryl carter, the company's head of security, mark hannah, news international chauffeur paul edwards and security consultant darrell josling. apart from cheryl carter, they are all additionally charged with concealing documents, computers and other electronic equipment. however, cheryl carter and rebecca brooks are both charged with conspiring together to permanently remove seven boxes of material from the news international archive. all of this is happening during the furor over the phone hacking scandal last year when the news of the world here was closed down and rebecca brooks resigned. and if the allegations are true, then rebecca brooks will have been involved in a cover-up at the very time she was appearing in front of the cameras with rupert murdoch. tonight she said that is not what happened. it is not her judgment that is at fault. >> holman: observers say brooks's coming trial could send new shock waves through the murdoch media empire, as well as prime minister david cameron's government. mexico's most celebrated novelist, carlos fuentes, died today at a hospital in mexico city. he was being treated for heart problems. fuentes' first novel appeared in 1929, and he became part of a generation of writers that drew global interest in latin american culture. his work often focused on the failings of the mexican revolution. carlos fuentes was 83 years old. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to ray. >> suarez: from france to greece, europe's common currency divides the members of the european union. francois hollande was met on the steps of the palace by nicolas sarkozy, the man he ousted a week ago in a bitter run-off for the french presidency. after a 40-minute meeting, hollande strolled into a state room to assume office. then france's first socialist president in 17 years outlined the grave challenges ahead. >> i measure today the burden of the constraints that our country is facing. a massive debt, weak growth. a high unemployment rate. a downgraded competitiveness and a europe which is struggling to get out of the crisis. >> suarez: that crisis, born of crushing debt loads in many euro zone nations, has sent the continent reeling. seven countries are now officially in recession. only germany posted economic growth in the first quarter. in paris, hollande called for a mutual effort to benefit all. >> europe needs projects. it needs solidarity. it needs growth. to our partners i will propose a new pact that will combine the necessary reduction of the public debt with the necessary stimulus. >> suarez: soon after hollande left for berlin and a meeting where growth and stimulus were topic-a with german chancellor angela merkel. she backed sarkozy, endorsing him publicly. the two had joined in pushing the austerity drive in europe which hollande and his supporters blame for deepening economic troubles. indeed merckel's own party has suffered two defeats in german state elections this month. today's meeting was delayed hours by nature. hollande was forced to return briefly to paris after his first plane was struck by lightning. hours later he appeared with merckel before cameras, all smiles for now. meanwhile, in greece there was little reason for pleasantries. nine days after voters divided sharply over drastic austerity measures. a total impasse in efforts to form a new government led to a call today for new elections, as early as next month. socialist party leader lamented the turn of events. >> the country is unfortunately heading again to elections. i am sure that those who did that misrepresented the will and the mandate of the greek people. >> suarez: austerity moves have sparked widespread outrage in greece, but european union creditors led by germany insist further bailout funds will not be dispersed without cuts that previous greek governments agreed to. now though a coalition of left wing parties stand to gain from another ballot. the leader of that group says greeks have had enough austerity. >> we tried to create a government that would satisfy the minimum demands made by the electorate. our main demand was to cancel the new harsh measures cutting pensions and salaries and to restore our labor rights. all they did was to present us with a dilemma. the bailout or elections. >> suarez: as the political crisis drags on, greece is teetering on the edge of insolvency. its economy contracted at a crushing 6 why 2% rate in the first quarter. that in turn has conjured fears of a greek exit from the euro common currency, rattling markets worldwide. for and for more on the situation in greece, i spoke a short while ago with john psaropoulos, a freelance reporter who writes for the web site the new athenian and other news organizations. john psaropoulos, welcome. have all other alternatives been exhausted? will greece have to hold another national election after having one just over a week ago? >> the party leaders and the president have come to the end of the constitutional road map. there are no other ways to delay a repeat election. the party leaders held three rounds of discussions amongst themselves. and then they held several rounds of discussions with the president. i think the president's deadline was may 17 when parliament would have had to convene with or without a government simply in order to dissolve itself. i think he didn't want to reach that point. it would have given a sense of utter futility to the democratic system. he preferred to admit defeat in forming a compromise this time around. i think the dynamics of why that compromise wasn't possible are quite clear. the radical left knows that it stands to make between 7 and 10 more points in terms of the popular vote and a repeat election. that is what the several opinion polls tell it in the last week. so i think that party was determined both to stick to its promises to voters to denounce rather than renegotiate the bailout and start negotiating a new agreement with the euro zone from scratch and to go forward to elections in order to secure its greatest possible self interest. >> suarez: in brought terms what are the main blocks offering in way of a choice in that coming vote? >> well, the austerity program is what is redefining politics here in greece. on the one hand you have a moderate grouping of the socialists and conservatives. the two parties that have held the coalition together for seven months. they've been hammered in the election. because of the pursuit of the austerity packages faithfully as they could under a consensual prime minister, a man who came from neither party but who is a former central banker. on the other side you have the radical left which has quadrupleed its standing in the polls, stands to increase that percentage of the popular vote even further in a repeat election. they have a dream of uniting the left in an anti-bailout government which would try to denounce the bailout agreement altogether, annul the legislation that enshrines them in greek law. >> suarez: quickly, john, before we go. in the run-up to what is going to be the next election, are more greeks now willing to openly contemplate what had been unthinkable, a departure from the euro? >> no at least 75 or 80 percent of greeks according to all the polls had that have been taken in the last year are in favor of remaining within the euro zone. i think the scenario of going to the drak ma is one that terrifys greeks and the proof of that is in the fact that hundreds of millions of euros were withdrawn from banks in a single day. on monday as it became apparent that talks were breaking down between the parties, more than 65 billion euros have been withdrawn from banks during the past two years of austerity. partly because people have been living on savings as they've lost their jobs but also partly because people have been putting money away in their homes in cash or sending it to bank accounts overseas. so that greek banks won't be able to change that into drachma currency into an overnight switch. people are truly very worried about that scenario here. >> suarez: john psaropoulos joins us from athens. that's a lot. >> thanks for having me. >> suarez: now, how the turmoil in europe affects the united states and the rest of the world. we get two views. fred bergsten, a former treasury official, is now the director of the peterson institute for international economics. and nicholas burns had a 27-year career in the foreign service, including as u.s. ambassador to greece from 1997 to 2001. he's now at harvard's kennedy school of government. ambassador burns, you just heard john psaropoulos in athens. if the worst happens, if the greeks can't get it together, is there still this fear of tumbling dominos? is it still the crisis it was portrayed as a year ago? >> well, i think so, ray. we're witnessing a political earthquake in greece. the two major political parties that have governed the country for the last 40 years have have been repudiated. as you just heard a new rad al leftist party is ascending in greek politics. there's every reason to believe when they hold this second election in the middle part of june, that party will be the ultimate winner. it will likely be able to form a coalition government. its demand to the european union and the i.m.f. will be that the austerity package, so carefully and laborously worked out over two years, will be eradicated. if the european union should give greece a big break i don't think the european union will have the mind set to do that. we're facing a crisis both in greece but more importantly through all of the euro zone because of what happened in the greek elections. >> suarez: fred bergsten you heard from athens the majority of greeks want the straitjacket removed and want to stay in the euro. can they have that and not send shudders through the system? >> the greek public is inconsistent. what is needed is for them to understand that. if they really did try to jettison the whole austerity package, then they would be forced out of the euro. i think there's no way around that. i do not think that would have a cataclysmic effect on the rest of europe or the united states or the world economy. greece is a tiny country. fire walls have been erected that i think would protect the rest of the euro zone from spillover from greece, and i think if greece did drop out of the euro, the results for the greeks would be so horrendous that the italians, spanish and everybody else seeing that would be redoubled in their efforts to stick with their programs and avoid a like outcome. so i don't think the spillover is going to be huge. but before we even get to that, two points. as your man from athens said, there's a run on greek banks. i'm not sure they're going to get to their elections next month because the greek banking system may be jeopardized and bankrupted if this bank run continues. that would in turn force the issue. are the greek politicians going to get together, bite their tongues, and stick with their reform program, augmented to include new growth element? or are they going to thumb their nose at their european creditors and drop out of the euro zone with horrendous results for their country. my bet is they would get back with the program. despite the and horns of the program by the greek electorate understandably, their desire to avoid being kicked out of the euro would be greater. it will be messy but i think the outcome, whether driven by bank runs or by a new election is going to be able to force them back into the fold at least to an important degree. enough that the europeans can keep lending them money. everybody saves face. a growth element will be added to the package. there will be little modification in the austerity requirements. but it will be basically back to the program as has existed for the last couple of years. >> suarez: ambassador burns, uted sounds like fred bergsten is a lot more optimistic than you are. >> i see two scenarios. there will be major effort by two traditional greek parties to convince the greek people that they cannot have it both ways. they can't reject austerity and hope to stay in the european union. if they reject austerity, the european union will likely cut them off. they won't be able to pay their bills and they'll have to default. there will be a major campaign and debate in greece, probably the most important moment in greek politics in several generations to convince the greek people to return to the center. but here's the second scenario which i think is probably more likely. if this left alliance does win, it's called... added which a dynamic young greek politician. he is a true believer in the radical cause. he will want to see the austerity plan abolished. in that case i think you do see the scenario of greece leaving, in many ways, leaving the euro zone and having to fend for itself. that will be a disaster for the greek people. it's the poorest country in the european union. they have been the recipient of billions of dollars of aid over the last 15 years. the e.u. has rebuilt the country. greece will be far better off in the e.u., but the politics may run in a different direction. >> the flip side of the politics is that if the leftist parties in greece stick to their anti-austerity stand-- and that gets greece kicked out of the euro zone-- it's their fault. the leftists would be at blame. they would lose all political hope for the future, i believe, and therefore i think with some face-saving changes at the margins, they will capitulate, go along with the unity government that will have to basically stick with the program. >> suarez: let's move it from athens to the heartland of the united states. if you're picking up the papers in advance of going car shopping this weekend, if you're shopping for a nice, attractive low-interest rate perhaps looking at refinancing, or just heading to the mall on saturday, does this rock your world in any way, if you're an american consumer? >> i do not think it rocks your world. it may even help your world a little bit. remember that this european crisis has shielded us from our own followy. we have a huge debt and deficit problem here. we had a big crisis last summer that supposededly was going to lead us to default on our own debt. congress took action, supposedly, but it was no action at all. it punted the issue. standard and poors downgraded the united states but what was the result? a big drop in u.s. interest rates and a stimulus to our economy. why was that? in large part because the europeans are doing worse than we are. so they're protecting us from our own followy. they're giving us a longer noose to hang ourselves. i don't like that because i think we ought to be getting our own act together. but, in fact, the economic effects on the united states so far have probably been favorable. now if europe actually blew up, of course, that would be to the contrary. but i don't think that's going to happen. if greece does leave the euro zone and there's some market disruption, it will simply mean more flight to quality. people will buy dollar. people will buy u.s. treasury. the shopper in the mall or the guy buying a car will get a lower interest rate. >> suarez: ambassador burns, how come the markets teeter and shudder every time there's new bad news from greece, here, wall street? >> well, i certainly agree with what fred bergsten has said in many ways but there's a political and psychological impact as well. there's a lot of talk about the rise of asia. all of it is true. it's very, very important. but we're still very much tied to europe. politically, militarily and economically we have a leading trade and investment relationship with europe. president obama is going to be hosting the nato leadership in chicago this weekend. it's our most important military alliance. when the stock market went down on monday partly i think it's a function of the fact that we are so close and tied and integrated with what happens in europe. i agree that a greece default can be accommodated economically. greece is about 3% of the g.d.p. of europe. but if it leads that greek default to a further crisis or if it exacerbates the crises in spain and italy, that will be a major problem for europe economically. that will have an impact certainly i think on the united states. so i think americans do realize and must realize that europe still matters greatly to us economically and politically. >> suarez: nicholas burns, fred bergsten, gentlemen, thank you both. >> thank you. >> woodruff: next, a new plan for tackling the ever-growing burden of alzheimer's disease and targeting specific drugs to fight it. margaret warner has our story. arner: the numbers are daunting. more than five million americans now suffer from alzheimers disease and related dementias. barring a breakthrough, the figure could triple by 2050. that prospect prompted the first-ever national alzheimers plan mandated by congress and formally announced today. the secretary of health and human services, kathleen sebelius set a deadline of 2025 to find effective ways to prevent and treat the disease. >> so a short time ago the fight against alzheimers lacked a national focus and a consistent, coordinated partnership with the nation's alzheimers community. today we've made the first historic investment of funds. and a 15-year commitment to prevention and treatment. >> warner: the bulk of the new money, $50 million already approved this year and $100 million in 2013, will go for research. so far there's no cure. the research focus will be on testing the most promising new therapies, including an nasal spray and a drug to prevent the build-up of a protein associated with alzheimers. the plan also includes a new alzheimers dot-gov web site offering struggling families information on available federal and community resources. >> my wife's alzheimers diagnosed very early because we had the experience of my mother. and i knew from behavior, not forgetting as much as general behavior that there was something seriously wrong with her. >> warner: it provides training for health care providers in identifying and managing the disease. for more on all this, we turn to two people involved with the new alzheimer's plan. dr. francis collins is director of the national institutes of health, which is funding key trials, including 2 announced today. and eric hall is president and c.e.o. of the alzheimer's foundation of america, which offered input in designing the plan. welcome, gentlemen. dr. collins, welcome to you. there are elements here that we've heard a lot about before. research, education, outreach. what is new and different in this plan? >> well, first of all, let me say i think there is a new sense of excitement in the scientific community about the potential for making real strides in understanding what causes this disease and how to intervene. just in the last two or three years in research coming from genomeics, coming from an understanding of stem cells, coming from the able to identify new potential drug targets. the field is energized. so it is the right time both given the enormous public health significance and the significance to individuals and families, and to scientific opportunities to ratchet up our efforts here to really move in the direction of identifying potential prevention methods and treatments. and today we are announcing two large clinical trials aimd at those goals that we're quite excited about. >> warner: i want to get back to those trials. first, let me ask you, working with families and caregivers, what's new here to you? how will this make a difference? >> the fact that we have a plan is in and of itself really important for families, coast to coast. they now understand that people are recognizing the plights that they are living day in and day out. the other part of the plan we focus a lot on research but there's also a very strong clinical care component to this plan. there's also long-term support services as part of this plan. the education piece along the web site, other activities that we'll be engaged in. all of that is really critical because in the absence of a cure or prevention, care really does become the priority. >> warner: dr. collins, back to you. tell us about these two studies. first the one. testing this insulin nasal inhalant. why that? what is the link? what do the researchers see is the link between insulin and alzheimers. >> insulin is a growth factor. apparently it has the capability of stabilizing neurons, brain cells. we've learned about that indirectly from basic science efforts. not long ago in a smaller pilot study, the idea of actually administering insulin by a nasal spray, which gets into the brain, was tested in individuals who were early in the onset of what appeared to be alzheimers disease. and there were indications of benefits. it was a relatively small study. we're excited about the ruls but we need to thes this now is... this now in a much larger group. that's what this new study will be able to do. sending $8 million to study 240 individuals to see what happens. >> warner: now the other one is actually aimed at prevention. can you simply explain that? it's to test a certain drug with a particular extended family in colombia. >> why are we going to colombia? in south america? >> well, in that particular country, there is a very large extended family that has an early onset form of alzheimers disease caused by a single glitch in the d.n.a.. and those individuals, if they've inherited that, are very, very high likelihood of getting this disease in their 40s. that means that they are already at very high risk and very willing to participate in research that might prevent the disease. even before any symptoms have appeared. so about 300 individuals in that family will be given the chance to receive a new therapy, a monoclonal anti-body that aims to clear out this protein called amaloid which deposits in the brain and see whether that can in fact reduce the likelihood of going on to full blown disease. we're going to follow this very carefully with a variety of measures using brain images, measurements of proteins in the blood and the spinal fluid. we're going to learn a lot about what kinds of indicators will help us in the future to say whether a treatment is working or not. >> warner: how big of a hunger is there out there for something effective to prevent it? >> i think dr. collins said it. we're really in a position where we need to learn more. the alzheimers foundation of america really applauds this administration for making such incredible strides and not simply talking the talk but also now putting research.... >> warner: i mean in terms of prevention, as i understand it, this is the first test that will ever or the first trial that will ever be done on people who haven't shown any symptoms yet. isn't that one of the greatest fear of families that by the time they see the symptoms it's really too late? >> look, we are doing what the disease... we are dealing with a disease that has terrified our country and terrifys the world. so the possibility that perhaps we will learn something out of here that will form a preventive measure for alzheimers disease would be miraculous and incredible. it would be the answer to everyone's deepest fears. in order to get there though we need to be engaged. we need to step in and at least this administration has really taken those steps to do just that. so i would say, you know, for families at home, they're probably ecstatic they're being recognized, that their care for their loved one and that alzheimers in their family is being recognized. they're ecstatic about all the support that is coming but also too as caregivers they have their own fear that they too may end up with this disease. >> warner: dr. collins finally back to you. looking at the big picture here. you said there's a lot of new optimism. but is it fair to say that still there is currently no known effective either drug to either prevent or retard or cure this disease? >> despite a great deal of work over many decades, we do not at the present time have a convincing way to prevent the disease. we have some drugs that can actually improve the symptoms in individuals who developed early signs of alzheimers but nothing that actually delays the progression in a significant way or treats or prevents the disease. so we have a big charge ahead of us to achieve those outcomes and especially to do so by 2025. but i'm optimistic that with this alzheimers plan, with the way in which these communities have tom together with the administration's commitment to an additional 130 million dollars for research this year and next, that we are going to have a real opportunity here to make a difference. and our cup treel needs this. all those people who are waiting for something to happen need this and their families do. today we've had more hope than we have in a long time. >> warner: thank you both very much. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: and a reminder, a new pbs web site launched today designed for americans over 50. it's called "next avenue", and taps trusted sources for information about work, health, finances, leisure and caregiving. explore nextavenue.org by following a link on our homepage. >> suarez: modern machinery has caused a spike in injuries in the developing world. now, a hospital in san francisco aims to train doctors to treat them. newshour correspondent spencer michels has our story. a warning: this story contains some graphic images. in recent years the number of motorized vehicles on the roads in developing country has skyrocketed. so have the accidents. >> we know that the global impact of injury in road traffic crashes is more than h.i.v., t.b., malaria combined. did you know that? no one knows that. yet that's the case. >> reporter: rick coughlin an orthopedic surgeon at the university of california san francisco is on a crusade to improve the care of those who sustain traumatic injuries in the developing world. >> anyone who goes to a foreign country, a developing world country, your fear isn't that you're going to get h.i.v.. your fear is that you're going to be in a car accident and your leg is going to be exposed and you're in trouble now. >> reporter: for the last four years, dr. coughlin has been spearheading a unique program which brings orthopedic surgeons from low-income countries around the world to san francisco. to one of the country's leading trauma hospitals, san francisco general. >> everyone has got.... >> reporter: five surgeons from kenya and tanzania recently arrived for a week of training and hands-on experience, learning the most up-to-date surgical techniques. this doctor is one of only 70 orthopedic surgeons in all of kenya, a country of more than 40 million people. he says lack of supplies contributes to dangerous delays in treating traumatic injuries. >> we do not talk about surgical implants so we give up... that can take several days. infection. people can lose limbs. they don't get back to work that quickly. so they have quite morbidity. >> reporter: while accurate numbers are hard to come by, the world health organization estimates that for every person killed by traumatic injury, somewhere between 10 to 50 times more suffer non-fatal injuries which often require advanced medical care. without that care, the risk of amputation increases dramatically. >> the global burden or global impact of amputation is quite enormous. there are enormous numbers of what we call open injuries where the bone, especially lower leg injuries, the lower leg bones get exposed to the air, the dirt and become contaminated. and the soft tissue sur ouchbd those bones are injured. now the bones are exposed. and in that capacity, if we can teach the surgeons how to cover these exposed bones in an expeditious fashion, then we eliminate the cycle of going down the path of infection. and then the only salvage is an amputation. >> the issue is you have some bone missing because it takes a tiny bit of bone away. >> reporter: on the day we visited the surgeons from africa were practicing on the elbow bone of a cadaver and the soft tissue around it. they were learning how to drill and insert some physician ticked orthopedic pins in artificial bones. dr. edmund eleazer from tanzania says the training he's received especially in techniques to prevent amputation has saved more than limbs. >> most of the times the patients are the one who cake... take care of the families. so with the two legs... without two legs life is difficult. you can imagine that life would be very difficult. >> reporter: in much of africa rural hospitals have few supplies. heavy stones are sometimes used as traction devices. but both doctors work in the capital cities in their countries in fairly well equipped hospitals. still, they say, they are having a hard time caring for the rising number of road traffic injuries. >> so this is a mutual exchange. >> reporter: for his part dr. coughlin says one main goal is to simply spread the message that traumatic injuries in the developing world are not getting the attention they deserve. >> why? because h.i.v. has a lobbying power and infection disease people have the lobbying power. i have no doubt in my mind that we are undersupplied, underfunded for research in this regard. >> reporter: the kenyan and tanzanian doctors say they will share the techniques and skills they've learned during their week in san francisco with colleagues back home. with just over 100 orthopedic surgeons in their two countries, serving a total of 80 million people, this program is admittedly a small step. but doctors here say they expect what they call a mult multiplier effect to spread the training to other surgeons in the developing world. >> suarez: last year the united nations launched the "decade of action for road safety" which aims to prevent the loss of more than a million lives each year by 2020. >> woodruff: finally tonight, texas congressman ron paul's announcement that he is suspending his campaign for president. paul's camp says it will not spend any more money in republican primaries, but will continue to try to amass delegates to the republican national convention through district and state party conventions. in a memo, chief strategist jesse benton said paul won't quit, even while acknowledging mitt romney's certain nomination. he wrote: "our delegates can still make a major impact at the national convention and beyond." but many of paul's active, grassroots supporters aren't happy, insisting he has a chance to grab the nomination. to help us sort this out, we are joined by jon ralston, political columnist with the "las vegas sun," and brian doherty, an editor at the libertarian- leaning magazine 'reason." he is the author of the new book, "ron paul's revolution: the man and the movement he inspired." gentlemen, thank you both for being with us. john ralston, do you first. it hasn't been a secret for some time that mitt romney has this nomination locked up. so what precipitated this announcement from the paul camp? >> well, i think he's out of money, judy. that's the real problem for him in terms of going forward. so he's going to do something that no other candidate in history has. he's going to run backwards. that is, he's going to go back to these states where he's been able to infiltrate the county and state conventions and grab as many delegates as he can for the national convention. that's what he's done in nevada long after he got crushed in the caucus here he went back, did just that and won a majority of delegates to the national convention. 22 of 28 here. >> woodruff: brian doherty, how do you see it? you've studied ron paul. can they actually go out and collect delegates even though they know he can't win the nomination? >> they absolutely can. one reason is to a lot of his fans they still actually believe he can win which i think is part of the reason they made this announcement. it was sort of expectation managing for their own fans. over the last weekend in both oklahoma and arizona state g.o.p. conventions were sort of driven to chaos by fights. in some cases actual fights. fights between ron paul people and romney people. i know that that sat the wrong way with the official campaign. they don't want their movement to be marked as the movement that leads to conventions breaking up, in the case of oklahoma, the ron paul people went out in the parking lot and held their own rump convention which they claim procedurally was the real convention. so these people are going to go on. ron paul's announcement that he's pulling back will not discourage that delegate process from moving forward. >> woodruff: you mean the official ron paul campaign. >> yes, the actual campaign, not the grass root people. >> woodruff: you mentioned, john ralston, what you've seen in nevada. how much of a disconnect is is there between the official campaign and then the grass roots supporters? >> well, certainly i think paul can try to distance himself between some of the folks that we just talked about who actually still think he can win when he has no chance to win. but the ron paul folks are animated by a lot of different things. some of them really believe in what ron paul believes in. libertarianism, liberty above all. getting out of afghanistan. not fighting wars the way that the republican party has advocated fighting wars. but the bottom line is, judy, is that he can't control them. that's really what the issue is here. he is afraid that they are going to be portrayed or caricatured. but i think that horse is out of the barn. that's already been done. you can't stop it. >> woodruff: brian doherty, helping us understand the difference between what ron paul wants out of this process and what many of his fans and supporters want. >> what they want in the end is the same which is to prove to the republican party and the world at large that their set of ideals has real pull in the republican party. if you're going to say if you're not going to win, credit bother? for that purpose it does matter if you're coming in with 200 delegates versus 500 delegated. it's a bigger signal to the world that we are not just a fringe minority that can be ignored. we are important to the party moving forward. he and his fans share that desire. >> woodruff: how much of that are they likely, john ralston, to get from mitt romney? i mean, changes in the party platform. what? >> that's the fascinating question here. they may be able to get some things in the platform but no one pays attention to the platform after the convention. can ron paul get a decent speaking slot? i think the romney folks are going to be nervous about that. they're already nervous. the republican national committee's fully integrated with the romney campaign. they don't want this... they don't want disruptions on the floor. these conventions are supposed to be beautifully choreographed. no incidents. just a coronation of the nominee. that's why paul poses a threat plus what happens after the convention? can he keep them in the tent because it is a significant number of people in a close election in some of these swing states including perhaps nevada, those ron paul folks could make the difference. >> woodruff: is there the possibility of disruption at the convention? and what are the paul supporters going to do in the fall? are they going to support mitt romney or what? >> i don't think they will support mitt romney. people talk about the ron paul vote as if the vote is something that can neither be created nor destroyed. in fact what i think will happen to most of the ron paul vote is it will disappear back to where it came from which i found is the great mass of americans who tend not to vote at all. it's like 40 to 50% of americans in most elections. romney will pick up a fringe of them who are really afraid of obama. i think libertarian gary johnson will pick up a fringe of them. ron paul people leave in what ron paul believes in. they trust him in a way they don't trust any other politician. i do not think that even if he wanted to could ron paul deliver his people to a mitt romney who they didn't believe stood for what ron paul stands for. >> woodruff: john ralston, we should point out that there is a libertarian party out there which ron paul is not associating himself with. some people are confused looking at this saying he is a libertarian in his thinking but what he wants is separate from what this party is asking for. >> right. gary johnson is the libertarian nominee. so ron paul is not going to go to the libertarian party. but i think some of his supporters will vote libertarian. i think brian is right. they are going to dissipate. they'll decide what to do afterward. i do think though that ron paul running for president this time has gotten a lot more ron paul supporters engaged in republican party politics. they want to stay inside the tent. they want to be effective. that's why it's such a delicate dance for romney at the convention because if they feel that they haven't been at least paid attention to, it's if not kow towed to i think it could be a problem for him afterwards. >> woodruff: what is it that they want most to change, brian, in government policy? >> they want spending cuts that are real and that actually get you to a balanced budget in five years like ron paul's budget proposal. they want a foreign policy that disengages from the world and the middle east and concentrates on national defense. they want a government that's not trying to manage americans' lives. ron paul is very concerned with things like raw milk rage. federal agents busting down people's door for selling raw milk. these lifestyle issues that the federal government insists on policing. ron paul people don't want them to police anymore which separates them from the g.o.p. mainstream. in their mds they want a return to what they think the original constitutional purpose of government is which is basically just to protect our life, liberty and property not redistributing income, not manage the world. >> woodruff: quickly john hall ston. at this point that is not what the republican party and its nominee is talking about. >> well exactly. that's why again them want to let the ron paul people be inside the tent in tampa but they don't want some of these ideas which are heretical to what the modern republican party is to be there in a prime time i don't think. that's again part of this delicate dance the romney campaign and the rnc are going through. they don't want these people to feel ale yent ated, the ron paul supporters who believe in the things that blin talked about but not to the level of volume, des belle level that can be heard across the country in august. >> warner: we hear the two of you. john ralston, brian daugherty, thank you both. >> suarez: again the >> suarez: again, the major developments of the day, j.p. morgan chase's c.e.o. jamie dimon survived shareholder votes aimed at reducing his pay and power. he also apologized, saying the bank's $2 billion in recent losses were "self-inflicted." and in europe, greek leaders failed to agree on a new government, forcing yet another election next month. meanwhile, france inaugurated its first socialist president in 17 years. new polls show new optimism in the u.s. kwame holman previews our online report. kwame? >> holman: two separate surveys show americans believe the economy is getting better or will improve further in the coming year. we examine what those results could mean for the presidential race on our politics page. and paul solman writes back to an australian viewer who wonders how minimum wage workers make ends meet in america. read paul's explanation on our making sense page. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. ray? >> suarez: and that's the newshour for tonight. on wednesday, we'll look at president obama's meeting with a bipartisan group of congressional leaders. i'm ray suarez. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. we'll see you online, and again here tomorrow evening. thank you, and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided 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