Moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. And with the ongoing support of these institutions 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. Ifill the headlines on ebola in the u. S. Were more hopeful today. They included news that the pool of potential ebola cases is shrinking. Its somewhat of a happy press conference for us. Ifill after weeks of uncertainty, a bit of relief. Dallas county judge clay jenkins announced that 43 people no longer need to be monitored. All had initial contact with thomas duncan, the liberian man who died of ebola at a dallas hospital. They included several of duncans relatives and his fiancee, all allowed to leave quarantine today. Theres zero risk that any of those people that have been marked off the list have ebola. They were in contact with a person who had ebola. And the time period for them to get ebola has lapsed. It is over. So they do not have ebola. Ifill five more people will complete their 21day monitoring period in coming days. 120 others are still under watch in texas, including those who cared for thomas duncan. But a dallas hospital worker who handled some of his specimens, and then went on a cruise, also tested negative. The ship returned to texas yesterday. Two infected nurses, nina pham and amber vinson, are still being treated at special facilities, in bethesda, maryland and atlanta. In washington today, dr. Anthony fauci of the National Institute of allergy and infectious diseases, said both had exposed skin even though they followed existing guidelines. So the protocol that was quite successful, it worked very well in ebola in africa, the way that was written, was a risk for the nurses and they went by the protocol. They got infected. Right now, those protocols are being changed. Ifill those new guidelines will be issued by the centers for Disease Control and prevention. Meanwhile, in west africa, ground zero of the epidemic, nigeria was declared ebolafree today by the world health organization. This is a spectacular Success Story that shows to the world that ebola can be contained, but we must be clear that we have only won a battle, the war will only end when west africa is also declared free of ebola. Ifill nigeria had 20 ebola cases in total and eight deaths. Thereve been more than 9,000 cases and 4,500 deaths in guinea, liberia, and sierra leone. Test on american dk tore who caught ebola in sierra leone and treated in Emory University in atlanta was declared free of the virus today and released. Well turn our focus to the ebola fight in liberia, after the news summary. At least 43 people were killed in iraq today in a new round of suicide and car bombings. The targets were mainly shiite communities in baghdad and karbala. In one of the attacks, the bomber blew himself up as worshippers were leaving a mosque after midday prayers in central baghdad. At least 17 people died there. In all, more than 200 iraqis have been killed in just a weeks time. Islamic state forces have claimed many of the attacks. A libyan militant has pleaded not guilty to u. S. Charges stemming from the 2012 benghazi attacks. Ahmed abu khattala entered the plea today in federal court in washington. He faces an 18count indictment. If convicted, he could get the death penalty. The benghazi attacks killed u. S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other americans. In nigeria, fridays announcement of a ceasefire with boko haram insurgents appeared increasingly shaky. Fighting continued throughout the weekend, and Army Officers reported at least 25 militants were killed overin damboa, in the countrys northeast. Meanwhile, talks are supposed to resume tomorrow on freeing more than 200 school girls kidnapped by boko haram in april. Indonesia sworein a new leader today. Joko widodo completed his rise from the slums of java to become president of the worlds fourth most populous country. The 53yearold was inaugurated at the president ial palace in jakarta. He called for unity to achieve economic growth. translated to the fishermen, the workers, the farmers, the merchants, the meatball soup sellers, the hawkers, the drivers, the academics, the laborers, the soldiers, the police, the entrepreneurs, and the professionals, i say let us all work hard, together, shoulder to shoulder, because this is an historic moment. We need to move together to work, work and work. Ifill about 50,000 people attended a street Party Outside the inauguration, and widodo rode through it, flashing victory signs and shaking hands with wellwishers. Theres word today that dozens of alleged nazi war criminals and s. S. Guards have collected millions of dollars in Social Security benefits since 1979. The Associated Press investigated men who entered the u. S. After world war ii, but fled decades later after being named as nazi suspects. The report said the Justice Department encouraged them to go, with a legal loophole that lets them keep Social Security benefits. The Social Security administration had no immediate comment. It also turns out, thousands of federal employees accused of misconduct are earning millions of dollars in paid leave. The Washington Post reports the Government Accountability office found more than 57,000 workers were kept home for a month or longer and paid 775 Million Dollars over a three year period. The workers also kept accruing Vacation Days and pension earnings. Last weeks turmoil on wall street gave way to relative calm today. Stocks managed small gains after mostly strong corporate earnings overcame disappointing results from i. B. M. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 19 points to close at 16,399; the nasdaq rose 57 points to close at 4,316; and the s p 500 added 17, to finish at 1,904. Still to come on the newshour driving an ambulance in ebola stricken liberia. Bolstering the fight against Islamic State forces. Confusion over voter i. D. Laws, and how it might affect the upcoming Midterm Elections. With Political Polarization on the rise, former republican leader bob dole calls for a return to bipartisanship. Apple pay uts purchasing power at smartphone users fingertips. And, accusations of anti semitism as the death of klinghoffer returns to the opera stage. Ifill now, an intimate look at the frontlines in the fight to contain ebola in hard hit liberia. An estimated 4,200 people have contracted the virus since the outbreak began, and 2,500 people have died. In this report produced by the New York Times video journalist ben solomon spends three weeks with an ambulance nurse overwhelmed by an onslaught of patients needing care. My name is gordon kamara. Im an ambulance driver. That piece was 17 years old, died at home the next day. Ifill the flashpoint in the battle against Islamic State forces the beleaguered syrian kurds battling to defend the town near the border with turkey after shifts by both the u. S. And turkey. Chief Foreign Affairs correspondent margaret warner. Warner after weeks fighting off a siege by Islamic State militants, the syrian kurds defending the town of kobani are being reinforced. Overnight, the u. S. Airdropped pallets of weapons, ammunition and supplies furnished by kurdish authorities and their Peshmerga Forces in iraq. Then this morning turkey, bordering iraq and syria, said it would help Iraqi Kurdish fighters travel through turkey to kobani to join the fight. The Turkish Foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke in ankara. translated we are fully cooperating with the coalition with respect to kobani. We are facilitating the passage of peshmerga fighters to kobani. Warner but turkey continued to say more aid should go to rebel factions trying to oust syrias president bashar al assad. translated we should not forget that the only element fighting both against assad and isis the Free Syrian Army. In framing a border strategy, the Free Syrian Army is the group to be supported. Warner previously, ankara insisted it would not allow men or materiel cross its border to aid kurds in kobani. Thats mainly because the Syrian KurdishFighter Group in kobani called the p. Y. D. Is allied with a Kurdish Group in turkey, the p. K. K. , that waged a bloody 30 year insurgency. Just yesterday, after president obama notified him of the coming u. S. Airdrops by phone, turkish president Reccep Tayyip erdogan made his displeasure clear. The p. Y. D. Is for us, equal translated the p. Y. D. Is for us, equal to the p. K. K. It is also a terror organisation. It would be wrong for the United States, with whom we are friends and allies in nato to talk openly and to expect us to say yes to supplying arms to a terror organization. We can not say yes to it. Warner the u. S. Airdrops also represent a steppedup american effort to save kobani beyond its Ongoing Campaign of air strikes against Islamic State positions. Secretary of state kerry, in indonesia today, said it was too important an opportunity to pass up. While they are a Offshoot Group of the folks that the. Our friends, the turks, oppose, they are valiantly fighting isil. And we cannot take our eye off the prize here. It would be irresponsible of us, as well as morally very difficult, to turn your back on a Community Fighting isil, as hard as it is, at this particular moment. He didnt say if there would be further air drops, nor when iraqi peshmerga fighters might arrive. Ifill and margaret joins me now. Margaret, the u. S. Said it wasnt going to participate in these air drops. Something changed, what was it . Warner absolutely this is a big turnaround. First of all this is the first time the u. S. Has directly supplied lethal aid, as they call it, to any syrian rebel fighters. But secondly, as you may recall at the beginning of this operation, the department of defence thought this battle over kobane was a diversion. They didnt even like having to do air strikes. Its not really essential to the fight against Islamic State. But the more the Islamic State poured resources, men, material, heavy weapons in there, the more one they presented target, and the more they presented it as an important strategic victory as far as they were concerned. And the u. S. Suddenly recognized that they could not afford to let cobaby kobane fall, even though they are warning kobane could fall, because it would add to this sense 6 power on isis. They decided kobane was important, we had to do something about that. Thats right. What about turkey, they also switched positions, they were not going to get involved either. Warner big switch, big switch. First of all, you know, turkey has been in a position to do a lot to help. They are sitting on the border. They moved tanks down there. They havent even used their artillery to help pummel some of those u. S. Positions. And secondly they have is positions and they have refused to let any kurdish fighters krorx their own pkk, their own insurgents. Or even civilians who have been dying to cross the line to go help their fellow kurds. So in speaking to a senior kurdish official nine days ago, he said no way, no how would he allow a corridor, as we showed on the map, in which these iraqi kurds, who actually have pretty good relations with turkey, which i wont get into why, cross over and come in and help. That is a big turn around. Im also going to ask you about how called them to change at the same time. It is interesting to me, that with some tension between the u. S. And turkey. And they both reversed themselves at the same moment. That cant be by accident. Warner well, it is not entirely by accident. Heres what i am told. First of all, the u. S. Had grown increasingly frustrated with turkey. Yes, there has been some cooperation, yes, turkey is now going to let its property be its territory be used to train. But basically, turkey still hasnt decided what its going to do. And so apparently in this phone call on saturday, president obama call the president erdogan, he said look, we do share the goal of defeating isil. He said let me tell you, the fighters in kobane are running on time. Their lifeline is running out of time, their time line. Ifill the president said this to erdogan. I am told on good authority. And he said if kobane falls, it will hand a huge propaganda victory it will hand a huge momentum to isil and neither of us want that. So let me tell you what we are going to do. Now erdogan was not pleased with that. He said, see those frosty comments he said yesterday which we just ran. But this official said it was a productive conversation. That these two men actually after some ups and downs over the last few years, have an ability to talk directly. And this official said i cant say why turkey did what if did. But it knew what we were going to do. It criticized what we did, but you notice we embrace wlad it did. So coordination implies they get together and say you do this, and i do this. Not quite. Ifill a little facesaving going on. Warner and an understandingment when president obama said were going do this, then turkey has been facing condemnation for doing nothing, letting the beseiged fighters fight it off by themselves. And last thursday, i didnt realize this, they lost a key vote, secret ballot in the u. S. General assembly to get one of these coveted seats from the u. N. Security council, they have been lobbying for three years and lost it a 2 to 1 margin and a lot of little countries made clear this is why. So turkey had a reason. At this point the u. S. Was going do something this is the least bad option for them. Ifill what happens going forward. We know the u. S. Stepped up air strikes in and around kobane. Now these air drops of lethal weapons. Now this cooperation, at least for now with turkey, does that continue . Does that build . Is there going to be more . Warner last night there was a background Conference Call on the phone, with some of the reporters in which basically u. S. Officials said look, were going to do what is necessary. I think if you look back to the operation, the rescue thiadist, remember, they said hey were out of material again, the leaders are saying in five days we will be, i think so. But the other thing that is key to remember here is that obama strategy which he laid out at west point and over and over, we dont want to be the combat forces any more. We want to empower local forces. Here are the most effective local fighting forces, much more effective than the moderate Syrian Rebels at the moment were supporting, they happen to be the kurds in kobanement and even though the turks are a po plec particular that there is an appliance between their insurge ent kurds and the fact is i think this administration is now committed up to a point with air strikes and air drops. Ifill feels like a minor turning point, maybe a major turning point. Warner i think could be. Ifill margaret warner, thank you. Warner thank you, gwen. Ifill in an unusual saturday ruling, the u. S. Supreme court cleared the way for enforcement of texas voter i. D. Law, considered among the strictest in the nation. The action is the latest in a series of preelection Court Rulings that have changed polling requirements for voters in 18 states, among them, North Carolina. Kelley mchenry of public station unctv reports the new regulations have left some voters scratching their heads. Reporter at a recent Voter Education forum in granville county, it was clear there is much confusion about the states new voting law. Where can you get free i. D. s . Reporter its not surprising theres confusion. Over the last few weeks there has been a flurry of Court Appeals and decisions which first upheld, then reversed, then upheld again the new requirements. The new voter law includes a photo i. D. Requirement, a ban on sameday registration, no outofprecinct voting, and a reduction in the number of early voting days. All of the rules took effect this year, with the exception of the photo i. D. , which starts in 2016. The law was passed in 2013 by a newly elected Republican Legislature and the changes are bitterly dividing voters. Im very concerned about it. I think the turnout will be lower. I think folks will be frustrated and they wont understand and they wont come to vote. I think the changes are being made to make the whole voting process more honest and more believable. Reporter proponents of the law said the changes were needed to protect against fraud, although even they admit the number of reported fraudulent cases has been low in the past. Jay delancy runs the voter integrity project in raleigh. Its mission to root out voter fraud. He says the reason there are so few cases is because people arent looking for fraud and district attorneys dont prosecute it. I had one d. A. Scoff at me and say ive got d. U. I. s to prosecute. I dont have the resources for this. Reporter the new voting requirements have prompted a public outcry from many groups, including the n. A. A. C. P. , which worries the restrictions will