Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20140107

When we began a feeding program in that area, our humanitarian workers were attacked. Woodruff those are just some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. 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. Bitter cold, persistent and spread across much of the country today. Conditions were better suited to peng wins that people and gave new meaning to the term blue states. Im wearing long underwear, i feel like im going skiing but im not. Im going to work. Millimeters of americans spent another icy day in the polar vortex, from washington, d. C. Where readings started the day in the sing glits as soon as i got out of work i will make sure i bundle up and stay there. To most of the midwest and the northeast and new england. 28 below, 30, 40rbgs but it doesnt make a lot of difference. You bundle up in layers, whatever we have. Layers. Stay warm. Im using a towel as a scarf. Im using my wifes scarf because i couldnt find mine. And the deep south joined the misery, as frigid air pushed all the way into the renal renal. This is ice on the roads in atlanta. And snow in rural north georgia. And this completely frozen fountain in s. In greensboro north carolina. Further south, vegetable and citrus crops in florida are at risk. Farmers worked today to protect fields of potatoes and cabbage from the falling mercury. It depends on how cold it gets and how deep it freezes. It could affect the top layer of potatoes. The containage can be affected and it can burn the top leaves. Even places accustomed to cold winter hesitate a shock. Chicago hit a record low for mondays date at 16 degrees. Not counting the wind chill. This is what it looked like when a man opened his window and let freezing winds pour inside. In indiana, about 30,000 people lost power overnight. And with it, their heat. They turned to generators, blankets or shelters to stay warm. Many schools in the midwest stayed closed for a second day today. Michigan governor rick schneider. This isnt the day to have the kids go out and build a snowman or an igloo. The conditions are such that its not safe to be out in the cold for long. Black ice and slick patches on the road were another danger with the number of spinouts and rollovers growing by the hour. And more than 500 amtrack passengers got off trains they had spent the night on and climbed into into busses do their destination, chicago, blowing drifting snow had been stuck on the tracks since Central Illinois since yesterday afternoon. We did have power, we did have blankets and were happy about that. But one part of the country escaped the deep freeze, sunny Southern California with temperatures in the 70s. The fact that it is the beginning of january and im eating a cup of ice cream is awesome. Starting tomorrow, those still suffering through the cold can expect somewhat warmer weather, at least near or above freezing. We have heard the term woodruff weve heard the term polar vortex quite a bit during this deep freeze. Here to help us understand the Science Behind it, im joined by andrew freedman, Senior Science writer at climate central, a news and research organization. Andrew freedman, thank you for being with us. Tell us, what is the polar vortex. The polar vortex actually is not really a new meteorological phenomenon. Its just the National Attention has been focused on it in the past couple of days. You can think of it as this mass of very cold air that usually resides near the north pole, that usually resides in the arctic and is surrounded by fast upperlevel winds. Ifill so it usually sits there but what happened . What caused it to move . Thats what is especially interesting. Usually these fast moving upper level winds trap the air up there and keep it there and thats relative good for people down in the continental u. S. Because it spares us from some of the brutal cold. But occasional what can happen, the winds weaken and its like when you have a spinning top, when its spinning very quickly, its pretty stable. When it starts to slow down, it meanders and wobbles and what we had was a wobble in the polar vortex that kind of pinched off this large chunk of it and slid it south with the aid of other weather systems and the jet stream that were more familiar with. So at the risk of getting really in the weeds here, what caused it to slow down, to start this wobble . Well some of it is dynamics that are going on in the high atmosphere, in the stratosphere and there are often waves that go through the atmosphere from low to high and high to low and that can help cause some of these wobbles. Theres also, you know, areas of High Pressure called blocking highs that sort of act like stop signs in the atmosphere, preventing storms from kind of going through them, and we had a sear lease of blocking highs other the past week or so over the North Pacific especially. They kind of rerouted the traffic in the atmosphere. Is that what caused it to come so far south this time. Yeah, thats pretty much an explanation of why the polar vortex, why such a big chunk of it came this far south. But keep in mind we havent seen anything like this in a long time, in 20 to 30 years. A lot of the records are being broken from those periods but we have seen this before. This is not an alltime cold event, we have had many worse outbreaks. Any way to predict how often we will see it happen in the future, when we will see the next one come . Well, we can predict it in advance in terms of a week or two perhaps. But you know, what were sort of guaranteed is that were going to continue to have cold outbreaks throughout the winter, but longterm Climate Change means that a lot of the cold outbreaks that we experience may not be quite as cold as they used to be. Were seeing less frequent extremely cold temperatures in many cold places. Minneapolis has had much fewer days below 10 degrees fahrenheit, fewer nighttime lows that low. In the past decade versus the 1970s for example. So the longterm trend is up but we have these natural variations in weather patterns that we try to keep close track of. It and sure does catch everybodys attention. Andrew freedman of climate central. We thank you. Thank you. Woodruff j. P. Morgan chase agreed today to pay more than 2 and ahalf billion dollars to settle criminal charges in the Bernie Madoff fraud. Bank ignored warning signs that federal authorities charged the bank ignored warning signs that madoff was running a huge ponzi scheme. Well get full details right after the news summary. On wall street today, stocks finally had the first up day of the new year. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained more than 105 points to close at almost 16,531. The nasdaq rose 39 points to close at 4,153. A bill to restore longterm Unemployment Benefits took its first step forward in the senate today. Half a dozen republicans joined democrats to begin formal debate. Republicans also called for spending cuts to pay for the bill. Well have a full report on todays action later in the program. In iraq, the government claimed it struck a key blow at al qaeda militants holding two cities. The military said this video showed an air strike on an Operations Center just outside ramadi. It said 25 fighters died in the attack. The militants seized ramadi and fallujah last week when Government Troops pulled back. Today, sunni lawmakers warned that the shiiteled government to keep out. translated the iraqi troops were pulled out of anbar because they were defeated. They faced tribes and so many armed men. The troops participation in civilian issues which are in fact the responsibilities of local police has created chaos in anbar and the situation is out of control. Woodruff the Obama Administration has pledged to help the Iraqi Government by providing surveillance drones. The first chemical weapons materials have left syria. The u. N. Announced today that poison gas ingredients were loaded aboard a danish ship. The vessel took on the cargo in the port of latakia, then put to sea until the next shipment arrives. Eventually, the chemicals will be destroyed on a u. S. Navy ship. A Corruption Scandal in turkey took a new turn overnight, as Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan dismissed or reassigned 350 police officers. It was his latest effort to contain an investigation that he says is politically motivated. The corruption probe has grown steadily to include cabinet ministers and businessmen close to the government. The Los Angeles County sheriff announced today hell retire from running the nations largest county jail system in the face of a scandal. Last month, 18 current and former deputies were indicted on charges ranging from beating inmates to obstructing investigators. Today, sheriff lee baca said he decided not to seek a fifth term, to prevent further damage to the department. The reasons for doing so are so many. Some are most personal and private. But the prevailing one is the negative perception this Upcoming Campaign has brought to the Exemplary Service of the men and women of the sheriffs department. Woodruff baca is 71 years old. He said hell step down at the end of month. More than 100 former new York City Police officers, firefighters and Prison Guards were charged today with faking mental problems to get federal disability benefits. Some falsely said they suffered ailments after 9 11. Prosecutors say four ring leaders coached officers on how to describe symptoms of depression and other problems. They received payouts as high as 500,000, and the ring leaders allegedly got kickbacks. In chicago, a ban on handgun sales is now in limbo. A federal judge ruled monday that ordinances barring such sales are unconstitutional. But he agreed to delay his ruling from taking effect, to give the city time to appeal. Last year, chicago led all other American Cities in homicides. Still to come on the newshour another record fine for j. P. Morgan; a bill to extend Unemployment Benefits clears a key vote; what to expect from Janet Yellens Federal Reserve; an inside look at a terrorist Training Camp; plus, the challenge of fighting hunger in the worlds crisis zones. Woodruff we return to the j. P. Morgan story and the historic penalty it will pay for the banks connection with the madoff ponzi scheme. The settlement and fine were announced five years after Bernie Madoffs scheme collapsed around him and investors worldwide. Jeffrey brown picks up the details about those connections. At the time that madoffs crimes were unveiled, jpmorgans name was not publicly connected with the case in any significant way but federal prosecutors said today the bank new something was wrong well before the ponsy scheme collapsed. U. S. Attorney spelled out some of that history at a press conference this afternoon. Todays charges have been filed because in that regard, j. P. Morgan as an institution failed and failed miserably. In part because of that failure, for decades, Bernie Madoff was able to launder billions of dollars in ponzi proceeds, essentially through a single set of accounts at jpmorgan, as far back as 1998, a bank fund manager concluded that the returns were possibly too good to be true and that there were too many red flags. Patricia hurtado has been covering this for Bloomberg News and was at the Prosecutors Press Conference Today and joins me now. Thank you for joining us. Lets fill in the picture little bit. What exactly is jpmorgan admitting that it did . Well, theyre basically accused of being the private banker for Bernie Madoff and enabling his ponzi scheme to continue, merely for the mere fact that they were concerned and they got their own personal investments out of madoff and he thought they were suspicious and something was wrong they allowed other people to be victimized. We heard this phrase, too good to be true, thats how it looked at least at the time. But the problem is, nobody said anything . Yeah, the government basically alleges that for years, dating back to 1986, madoff had an account at Jpmorgan Chase and its predecessor entities and allowed hundreds of billions of dollars to go through and allowed very unusually suspicious transactions to go through and the bank never raised any red flags or concerns. But the bank was savvy enough to get its own money out when it became concerned before the fraud was uncovered in 2008. No individuals are cited. Am i right the company said it doesnt believe employees knowingly assisted madoffs scheme . Yes. Basically the u. S. Attorneys office conceded today theyre not charging an individual, that this is an constitutional failure. Many, many people, this is a huge bank, different parts of the bank didnt communicate well with each other and didnt share their concerns, so it sort of isolated or the concerns are fragmented, so not one individual was aware of the ponlzy scheme and allowed it to continue. To trish give us examples of the red flags that were ignored. Well, the government in an unusually statement of facts, its an admission of responsibility. A mea culpa of what the Bank Employees were talking and saying privately about madoff which is kind of incriminating. For example theres bun point in june 2007 where one employee speculated thtt madoff and his returns are speculated to be part of a ponzi scheme. In december 1998, jpmorgan manager said his returns are, quote, too good to be true and there were too many red flags, end quote. And the last, most significant thing, was four months before madoff basically admits that he has conduct add ponzi scheme that has gone on for decades in december 2008, jpmorgan in october 2008 was really concerned and redeemed 275 million of its own money from its investing with madoff, and at one point, one of the traders said in october 16, 2008, weeks before madoffs fraud was uncovered there are many elements in the story that make us inference and later when madoff was arrested in 2008, one madoff employee remarked to another one cant say im surprised, can you . And the other said no. This is referred to as a deferred prosecutorial agreement. What does that mean . Is there still potential for prosecution . No. If the bank agrees to behave itself, what you might remember with a probation, theyre told to behave, theyre under the governments thumb for two years. They have to report to the u. S. Attorneys office to prosecutors, to federal regulators, to banking officials as well as the fbi and they have to alert theogovernment as soon as theyre aware anybody is misbehaving and not complying with the banking regulations and then they are on notice to notify the government asap otherwise they will be prosecuted so its deferred for two years until they are off probation basically. So explained to us something about the money involved here; how much and where is it going to . Much or all of it going to victims . Basically, manhattan u. S. Attorney stead today that, with the addition of the 1. 7 billion, that theyre getting from extracting from jpmorgan today, on top of hundreds of millions of dollars and four billion dollars basically collected through another madoff case, forfeiture case, theres going to be 4 billion that will be gotten into the pockets of all of the Madoff Victims. So some of this is going through its a little confusing. Theres 1. 7 billion going through the criminal side and then separately paying hundreds of millions to settle private claims . Yeah. Basically all of the money from this case is basically the governments agreement with the bank. So this is 1,797,000,000,000 that is going to be disbursed to Madoff Victims and then theres 350 million that will be disbursed in a separate payment the bank is making to the office of currency and controller and then 543 million is being collected by the trustee that is overseeing the bankruptcy of madoff. And the other part of this, you say, is that the bank agrees to 134 kind of monitoring or various steps to make sure it doesnt happen again . Yes. It also, in addition, it has to acknowledge responsibility which went on for pages of years and years and years of systemic failures to Pay Attention to these basic red flags that madoff wasnt totally kosher. So how unusually is all of this . How big of a deal did the u. S. Attorney see it . It is very rare. And it is pretty significant. Its the secondlargest forfeiture that the government has ever been able to extract and the department of justice has been able to get from a banking institution. The only larger one involved hsbc, so its significant and its quite at a big dent. Its a cold day outside in new york and it was kind of a cold day for jpmorgan today. Patricia hurtado, thrawch. Woodruff even as prosecutors announced the j. P. Morgan settlement, a separate trial got under way today over allegations of Insider Trading by the former manager of the hedge fund run by billionaire steven a. Cohen. Insider trading has been a major focus of the u. S. Attorneys office for seven years, and cohens hedge fund, s. A. C. , has become a major target of several cases. Thats the subject of tonights frontline to catch a trader. Heres an excerpt about the pursuit of cohen, including exclusive footage of a video deposition he gave in a private civil suit over these matters. Narrator this is a copy of sacs code of ethics and conduct, obtained by frontline. In the industry, its called a compliance manual. It spells out the rules prohibiting Insider Trading. In his 2011 deposition, cohen was asked by the plaintiffs attorney if he was familiar with s. A. C. s compliance manual. Now, the s. A. C. Compliance manual at the time provided that if you were in possession of material nonpublic information, you could not trade, period, correct . Yeah. Well, the way. Is that correct . Actually, i dont know what it says. Okay, so at the time, you didnt know what s. A. C. s compliance manual says on Insider Trading . When it comes to trading, i rely on counsel. You know, youre talking about somebody whos been in the industry for 30 years, and for him to be that oblivious of these very central things to his business in that deposition was shocking. I dont remember what it says. So you dont know today, sitting here as the head of the firm, what your compliance manual says. Ive read it, but if youre asking me what it says, today, i dont remember. What it meant was, he really didnt care to have an understanding of what the rules were or even what was in his compliance manual, which just told me he didnt take those things very seriously. And there was trading in fairfax. Narrator the deposition was part of a lawsuit filed against s. A. C. And other hedge funds by Company Called fairfax financial over allegations of price manipulation. And we went short fairfax. Fairfax had been targeted for whats classically called a bear raid, which is when short sellers go out into the marketplace and try and drive the stock price down artificially by putting out negative information about the company. Well, it really comes down to where they heard it. If it was a rumor. Narrator michael bowe asked cohen whether he thought it was acceptable for his traders to short a stock if they have advance knowledge of negative press stories about the company. What if they sent you an email that said the reporter told me he is coming out with a negative story . It is your testimony it would be okay for them to short . If the story was not coming out in a relatively short period of time, i would say there was ambiguity on that. I think it might be okay. Narrator fairfaxs suit was dismissed, but the securities and Exchange Commission took an interest in cohens answers under oath and subpoenaed his deposition. A deposition by steve cohen may come back to haunt him as he tries to protect his s. A. C. Capi from a federal Insider Trading lawsuit. Narrator in july of 2013, the s. E. C. Brought a civil case against cohen, alleging he failed to supervise his traders, a charge he is fighting. They basically said, look, this was an operation where there was a complete failure of compliance, and cohen, who has his name on the door and owned 1 failed to properly supervise these guys. Narrator that same month the Justice Department filed a criminal indictment against s. A. Calling it a magnet for market cheaters. The government decided that they found Insider Trading so pervasive that they wanted to put their foot down and say ok this is effectively a criminal enterprise and were going to declare it that and charge the firm criminally. Narrator Steven Cohens lawyers have argued that he has never been involved in Insider Trading. Cohen has repeatedly declined frontlines requests for an interview. Woodruff tonights addition of frontline, to catch a trader, airs on most pbs stations later this evening. Woodruff the u. S. Senate took action to extend emergency Unemployment Insurance today, but, as newshour Congressional Correspondent kwame holman reports, many challenges still remain before benefits are restored. On this vote the yeas are 60, the nays are 37. Reporter the drive to restore benefits to the long term unemployed cleared its first hurdle this morning, as the senate voted to proceed with debate. Democratic majority leader harry reid argued millions of people need the help, and so does the economy. Americans use their Unemployment Benefits to buy food and fuel at local gas stations, to pay the landlord or to purchase a child a winter coat. Thats why for every 1 we spend on Unemployment Insurance, the economy grows by 1. 50. Reporter six republicans sided with the democrats in voting to limit debate on the bill. It provides up to 47 weeks of federal Unemployment Benefits after state offerings are exhausted. The payments had averaged 300 a week when the program expired december 28. This bill would restore benefits to 1. 3 million americans for three months while a longerterm deal is worked on. Republican Minority Leader Mitch Mcconnell said he still wants to see the 6. 4 billion cost offset. One way, he suggested, is to eliminate new Health Care Subsidies for the poor by delaying the requirement they get coverage. Id like to propose that we be allowed, that my side be allowed, to offer an amendment to pay for these benefits by lifting the burden of obamacares individual mandate for one year and take care of our veterans who were harmed by the recently agreed to budget deal. Reporter reid was quick to knock down mcconnells proposal, while leaving the door open to spending cuts elsewhere. He wants to pay for them by whacking obamacare. Thats a nonstarter. So if they come with something thats serious, ill talk to them. But right now, everyone should understand the lowhanging fruit is gone. Reporter all of that as president obama met with people whove lost their jobless benefits. He welcomed the senate vote but said its just a first step. All theyve agreed to so far is that were actually going to be able to have a vote on it. They havent actually passed it. So weve got to get this across the finish line without obstruction or delay. And we need the house of representatives to be able to vote for it, as well. And its. Thats the bottom line. applause reporter that may not be easy. In a statement, Republican House Speaker John Boehner warned even if it passes, the senate bill has little chance of reaching the house floor. One month ago i personally reporter nonetheless, Senate Democrats pushed forward for a second, key procedural vote sometime this week. Woodruff the high rate of unemployment is one of many challenges the new chair of the Federal Reserve will face when she takes over next month. Janet yellen, the first woman to head the central bank, was confirmed by the senate last night. She has already made it clear that joblessness is one of her main concerns. We take a closer look at how she may change things as she tries to navigate some tricky terrain. Michael hirsh has written about the yellen agenda for national journal, and gillian tett writes on these matters for the financial times. Welcome to you both. Michael, your first. We said janet yellen make it clear. She worries about unemployment. What more do we expect her to do as chairman of the fed about that . Well, i think that the main thing is this has been the grand passion of her life and her career as an economist, if you look at what she has written. She comes out of an activist tradition of economic thinking, that is quite distinctive, i think, from the previous two fed chairman, Alan Greenspan and ben bernanke who were both conservative economists and i think based on her writings and things she said in her speeches going back more than a decade, we can expect to see her focus on the employment issue in a way that i dont think we have seen a Federal Reserve chairman do for a while. And shes in a position to make a difference . The important thing about Federal Reserve chair people, i guess we have to use that term now, is they have an influence that goes way beyond the specific mandate of the fed mandatory policy. Their economic thinking is enormously influential not only in washington but around the world. This there is the most important economic job in the world and the second most important job in washington after the president. So i think her fouryear term, during that time were going to see a lot of testimony and discussions with congress that will shape new thinking on unemployment. So gillian tett at the same time she has expressed worry about joblessness, she is also under pressure to wind down the stim husband program that the Federal Reserve has been engage in, the bond asset buying, socalled imawnt take easing. How much tension is there between those two goals . Well, the reality is, theres rising tension right now and you can see that in terms of the people sitting around the table with her on the Federal Reserve committee, because opinions will increasingly divided about just how quickly the fed should change course or not. But the key thing to understand about janet yellen, is shes not just the first woman to hold this post which is remarkable but one of the first cansions to hold the pace and she cares about the human face of economics and as she herself has said many times, for her unemployment is not just had a bunch of statistics but its very much about human lives. For that reason alone we certainly can expect her to take a much softer policy line than some of her predecessors. So gillian tett, staying with you, what does that mean that we could look for her to do . I think the important thing is what she is not going to do and what she is not going to do is withdraw the stimulus that was put in the economy the in the last couple of years in a very rapid manner. She is someone looking for a gentle exit strategy that ensures that although the fed does not fuel the bubble anymore that we see in bond prices, that at least it tries to maintain the stimulus and keep the economic machine going. And michael hirsh, in connection with all of this, you wrote recently and this picks up on what you said a few minutes ago, that she, for a long time, has advocated a higher minimum wage. Is she in a position to do something about that . Not specifically. In other words, she again, the feds mandate doesnt allow her to shape legislation specifically, and shes going to be a little bit wary getting into Congress Business because theres been some backlash against some of these fed policies. One of the reason her confirmation vote was as close as it was. But i do think she will have a lot of influence in terms of the kinds of things she says in her by annual or semiannual rather congressional testimony, in the kinds of things that she says in speeches, in the same way that Alan Greenspan over his 18 years at the fed and ben bernanke, during his two terms really influenced economic thinking about the response to the crises and the period before the crises. Gillian tett this is something that i know you are written about, about how important the communication skills of the Federal Reserve chair can be. How do you see that in connection with janet yellen. Janet yellen is somebody that even two years ago pointed out the feds have already engaged in such extreme policy measures frankly theres not a lot more they can do in terms of putting money in the economy. Instead, increasingly theyre trying to shape how the economy works and how we expect the economy to work by talking about the future and by trying to persuade people theyre going to take a very easy start for a long time. Now thats incredibly controversial. Some people think the policy which is called Forward Guidance is really a bunch of voodoo but certainly it means that people will be watching what janet yellen says very, very carefully indeed because she not just ascribing what is happening, she is describing how she hopes to see the economy Going Forward in the future. Is that something that you expect her to do . Very much so. The most distinctive thing other than the fact she is the first woman to lead the fed is the breadth of her economic thinking. Better than yankees focus as a circular was on the great depression. Greenspan was famously a financial economist. She is someone who has studied the whole economy and again in a kinsion way and comes out of the activist school at yale and studied under those renowned foregovernment intervention and you will see that in every policy decision she makes. As jillion says, first things first, she will have to decide on when to taper back the federal intervention and she will be include to do that less than more. And i think you said you expect her to be tougher in terms of regulating wall street. Already she has gotten turf battles with the governor there who bernanke left to do that. She sees that as her agenda and something she wants to take on personally as chair fed and you will see her taking a prominent role perhaps getting into a fight or two with the federal department. How do you see that, gillian tett and i wanted to ask about the fact she is the first woman and if that could affect, in any way, what she does . Before i get on the women issue, one thing i want to point out, she has broad experience. The one bit of experience she does not have is direct Market Experience and her focus is very different from the predecessors. Shes actually not that focused on the way the market behaves and cares far more about the real economy, the human face of the economy and that could bring quite a different tone to the policy debate from what we have seen before. Does that have any tie in to the fact that she is a woman . Its very hard to say. I think, however, shy does take a much more holistic view about her economic process of work and thats one of the most interesting things of all is, by week the first woman to hold this position, suddenly an entire generation of young female economists can look up and think, wow, maybe thats possible. And that helps to reshape expectations in many ways and it helps to carve a new face or stamp on what economics is about and actually it may encourage more women going into the field Going Forward. Why have there been so few women do you think . Im asking michael this but i want to get jillions response first, quickly because this can make a difference. Absolutely. I would also note, and i dont think its just a coincidence that going back to brooksly, the head of the ftc in the 1990s tried to take ton the issue of overthecounter derivatives before the economy happened and was slapped down by the men in charge. We have seen women coming and really take on wall street in a way that frankly not that many men have. Gary beginsler is one of the exceptions. Its interesting to see her at the tail end of this and she represents also what someone described to me as someone who is truly not captured by wall street. She has not worked in there and in some ways thats at a strength n that way, like some of these other women that have not been part of the wall street mindset, she can stand back and look at it in a different way than we have seen by those inside the power structure in washington who have previously worked for wall street. So jillion, what do you look for . Im looking for her to have a new face on economics and theres a great study by Stanford University that those when you have a female professor in the department you have more women doing ph. D. S and economics and the fact she is there can help to change the economics in the next generation. Those women can go on to become policy makers. At the moment, only 10 of the bankers are women so theres a lot of ground to catch up but certainly its an interesting eye appointment. Michael hirsh and gillian tett thank you both. Thank you. Woodruff terrorist groups are secretive by nature, using Violent Attacks to make public statements. Tonight, we get a rare look inside a Training Camp for al shabab. That is Al Qaedalinked organization based in somalia. It comes from jamal osman of independent television news. Reporter in a secret location deep in the somali bush, i meet alshabaab, one of the most feared Al Qaeda Affiliated organizations. This is the Jihadist Group behind the attack at the westgate Shopping Mall in kenya that left 67 people dead. This is the face they want the world to see. This is the alshabaab class of 2013. Around 300 newly trained fighters have completed a six month course, the same military training as the westgate attackers. Today, they are rewarded with a visit from alshabaabs spokesman, Sheikh Ali Dhere. Hes the public face of the group and the only one willing to show his face on camera. Reporter some western analysts believe alshabaab is in decline, but the groups say the westgate attack proves how strong they remain. Thats why alshabaab viewed the westgate Shopping Mall in nairobi, kenya, as a p. R. Victory. These terrifying images from the attack show alshabaab fighters casually walking through the mall as they shoot civilians. Reporter for alshabaab, the attack is being used to inspire new soldiers. Reporter highly organized, these latest additions will soon decide which unit within al shabaab to join. Some show off their gymnastic skills to impress Sheikh Ali Dhere. The recruits might remain regular fighters, become bomb makers or work for the amniyat, alshabaabs elite intelligence network. But the most popular unit is the suicide brigade, and, believe it or not, there is a long waiting list; only the best recruits will be accepted. Reporter alshabaab have been designated as a terrorist organization by several western nations. After losing control of four major cities, the islamists were thought to have been defeated. But they still control large parts of the country and see themselves as an alternative government. This is bulo burte, a key strategic crossing point on the shabelle river. Its an alshabaab stronghold. It also happens to be the town where one of the westgate attackers came from. The number and identities of the attackers still remains a mystery. Kenyans claim there were only four, but locals here suggest there were more, and some are even believed to have returned to somalia. Reporter unlike other parts of southern and central somalia, there is peace here, but its under alshabaabs strict sharia law. All the women do go to a school and are allowed to run their own businesses. The locals might not agree with alshabaabs military campaign, but they told me they appreciate them for bringing law and order. I ask local elder muhammed bedel what life is like now under the selfappointed alshabaab rule. Reporter i followed the hizbat, the alshabaab police, on their beat. None of them would let me film their faces. The first stop was this restaurant, telling the female owner to remove the rubbish from outside. Then, they make their way to the local hospital, where they check the pharmacy for outofdate medicine. Reporter . And also, the cleanliness of the facilities. They seem satisfied. Our final stop is a mini supermarket where they checked product expiry dates. But as soon as they hear the call to prayer, everything stops. People head to the mosque for midday prayer, whether they like it or not. Passing vehicles are pulled over. Reporter the alshabaab police make sure everyone goes to the mosque. Reporter this butcher is reluctant, but no is not an option. The mosque quickly fills up, with some having to pray outside in the heat. Its a Good Opportunity for al shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Dhere this time in civilian clothes to drum up more support. Reporter its an ominous message from a group that says its been revived and is strengthened by the kenya attack. They say they will strike again. The question is, where and when . Woodruff finally tonight, we turn our attention to hunger. There are 870 million undernourished people around the world, most of them in developing countries. Thats according to the united nations. And at least 20 of households face extreme food shortages. Jeff recently sat down with the woman in charge of combating this chronic problem. The Rural Food Program is the uns Frontline Agency for fighting Global Hunger and right now it has its hand especially full with four major food emergencies at once n syria, with millions displaced and in refugee camps, in the Central African republic another conflict area where the un has warned of potential famine, in neighboring south sudan in the news with an outbreak of tribal violence, and in the philippines, still reeling from tie tune high i dont know. The Rural Food Program is based in room. The executive director is erthran cousin, an american with many issues in food issues and she joins us no now and welcome to you. Thank you very much. First, the here is number of the emergency situations, how unusually and what kind of challenge is it to deal with them all at once. Needless to say, it is highly unusually. When we created this category of level three emergencies, which the un and the not Profit Community worked together to make sure that we met the needs of those impacted by the emergencies, we all said what we we do if we had three of them and now we have four. Its noted that three of the four are conflict areas, civil war, a lot of violence. Yeah. What kind of challenges does that pose in particular. Needless to say, in conflict areas the challenge is thats you have war, and you have the inability to access those who are in what we call beseiged areas or areas where fighting is ongoing because its very difficult for humanitarians to access to those areas to assist the victims of the conflict. So take for example, the Central African republic, one that doesnt get that much attention. What are you label to do and not do . In the Central African republic, we said over 300,000 people in the areas in the rural areas of the Central African republic but the challenges are a lot more people are needed because we cant get access to. A good example is that there are a hundred thousand people in and around the airport itself in banghi. When we began a feeding program in that area, humanitarian workers were attack sod we had to stop the feeding program. Food is there but you just cant get it. You cant get to it people because of the ongoing violence notice area. You know, we talk about these kreeses but in the meantime theres so much more i know. I was reading today about the continuing problem that you are dealing with in kenya and the refugee camps and i saw where you wrote, the worlds gaze has turned elsewhere. This must happen constantly for you, right . It does. And tragic because you feel as if youre prioritizing one hungry child over another. You feel that personally. I feel that personally. Because in ken da where you have somalia refugees there are still over 500,000 people in the refugee camps and we had to cut rations there, first 10 in december and another 10 in i cant know january. That means there are children that will not get the nutrition that that need. You have been at this in many different ways noor long time. When does the world Pay Attention and when does its not . And when do you get frustrated and when do you not . Unfortunately the world pays attention when the media shines a lot on those in need, which is why its so important that we maintain the Global Public role that is necessary to meet the needs of those we serve. We require investments. Dfp is 100 donation funded and we receive significant support for our work but we recognize that theres only so many dollars to go around. And what it forces us to do is, when i get frustrated, is it when i see a situation where we know that we can make a difference, that we dont have the resources to support those in need. And that happens too often. Too often. Setting aside the immediate crises that were talking about, if you can for a moment, when you think of the longer of food security, because theres another area, is how do people feed themselves, how does the world feed itself, crises aside . What do we need to know or somewhat not happening that you would like see happen . Well, the solutions are available to us. We recognize that the majority of people who are hungry in the world live in rural areas and most are small subsistence farmers and by increasing the agricultural chain and marketing chain in countries where we serve, we can provide the economic support necessary to those small holders so they can feed their families in a sustain and i believe durable manner so we know somewhat required. The challenge; its not one year solution. Its going to require multiyear implementation of the work that is necessary to support the small hold of farmers so they can ultimately feed themselves and feed their children and our support is no longer necessary. And we know it works. Because china is great example. 50 years ago when wfp was started, china was the largest government program. We worked with the farmers in china and began to make a difference there and we know where it is today. Erthran cousin is executive director of the world food program. Thank you very much. Thank you for having me woodruff again, the major developments of the day. The recordbreaking deep freeze persisted and spread, leaving much of the country colder than parts of antarctica. J. P. Morganchase agreed to pay more than 2. 5 billion to settle criminal charges that it turned a blind eye to Bernie Madoffs ponzi scheme. And a bill to restore benefits to the longterm unemployed passed its first procedural test in the senate. On the newshour online right now the polar vortex may be on its way out, but you should still stock your house with winter essentials. First up good books. We asked kate di camillo, the new National Ambassador for young peoples literature, to recommend her favorite titles for kids stuck inside. Find those, plus an expanded list from the library of congress, on our rundown. All that and more is on our web site, newshour. Pbs. Org. And thats the newshour for tonight. On wednesday, a look back at the war on poverty 50 years after president Lyndon Johnson called on americans to take up the fight. Im judy woodruff. Well see you online and again here tomorrow evening. For all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by theres a saying around here you stand behind what you say. Around here, we dont make excuses, we make commitments. And when you cant live up to them, you own up and make it right. Some people think the kind of accountability that thrives on so many streets in this country has gone missing in the places where its needed most. But i know youll still find it, when you know where to look. 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. Captioning sponsored by this is bbc world news america. Funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newmans own foundation, giving all profits to charity and pursuing the common good for over 30 years, and union bank. At union bank, our relationship managers work hard to know your business, offering Specialized Solutions and capital. We offer expertise and tailored solutions for Small Businesses and major corporations. What can we do for you . And now, bbc world news america. This is bbc world news america. Reporting from washington, i am katty kay. The Iraqi Government says it has killed 25 al qaeda militants in an airstrike, but extremists are not giving up, and there is fear of a civil war. To morgan chase was slapped with a 1. 7 billion dollar penalty. Authorities say the bank ignored obvious warning signs of bernie ponzi scheme. And we will show you the new gadgets rolling out at the consumer electronic show