Transcripts For WHYY PBS NewsHour 20140703 : comparemela.com

The buyers to have access to soap and other higenic products. What products should be sold alongside with knowsties like soap have been considered. Woodruff thats what were covering on tonights pbs nehour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Bae systems. Inspired work. 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. The Dow Jones Industrial average passed a new milestone. Closing above 17000 for the first time. It gained 92 points in a shortened trading day ahead of july 4 to finish at 17,068. The nasdaq rose 28 points to close near 44. 86. And the the nasdaq rose 28 points to close near 4,486; and the s p 500 added more than 10 points, to 1,985. Hurricane arthur powered up today as it headed toward the outer banks of north carolina. By late this afternoon, the storm had sustained winds of 90 miles an hour and was less than 200 miles from cape hatteras. Its approach prompted evacuations and canceled fourth of july plans for some. Others stayed put, amid indications the storm would brush past hatteras without making a direct hit. Either way, governor pat mccrory urged people to leave, and he promised emergency crews would be ready. Were already taking action in preparation to have a very quick recovery and ensuring we can get back on line as quick as possible regarding utility service, water services, roads, transportation, and anything else that needs to be repaired or fixed within a very short period of time. Woodruff the hurricane also roiled Holiday Weekend plans farther north. The fourth of july boston pops concert and fireworks were moved up to tonight. Tropical storm warnings for nantucket and the cape cod. The top u. S. Military commander played down prospects today for major American Action in iraq. Several hundred u. S. Advisers have deployed to help iraqi forces fight sunni militants of the Islamic State or isil. But the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, army general martin dempsey, said he does not see the need for an industrial Strength Force for now. Assessing and advising and enabling are very different words than attacking, defeating and disrupting. We may get to that point if our National Interests drive us there, if isil becomes such a threat to the homeland that the president of the United States with our advice decides that we have to take direct action. Im just suggesting to you were not there yet. Isil has declared an islamic caliphate, and today, its fighters extended their grip on eastern syria. They seized more towns, plus the countrys Largest Oil Field after winning the allegiance of local tribes. Meanwhile, saudi arabia deployed 30,000 troops to its border with iraq amid reports that iraqi forces had withdrawn. Baghdad denied it. The United Nations warned today that the syrian refugee crisis may destabilize the entire region. The u. N. High commissioner for refugees appealed for donor nations to make good on promised aid. He estimated at least 2. 9 million syrians are now in neighboring states and 100,000 more are joining them each month. Tensions were on the rise along the Israeli Border with gaza today, after a night of rocket fire and air strikes. It follows the deaths of three israeli teenagers and the apparent revenge killing of a palestinian teen. Israel bolstered its forces and moved more equipment near gaza, while street clashes intensified in jerusalem between police and palestinian youths. Each side criticized the other. Its time now to do only two things to respect the law and to avoid incitement. translated the Israeli Occupation is responsible for this escalation. The Palestinian People are acting in selfdefense. Woodruff israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to calm the situation today, vowing to find the attackers responsible for the palestinian teens death. Earlier in the week, he pledged to make hamas pay. The latest major auto safety recall came today from subaru. The Company Announced its calling in more than 600,000 cars and suvs with brake lines that may be prone to rust. The recall affects certain model years of the legacy, outback, impreza and forester. Its mainly for cars sold in cold weather states where salt is used to treat roads in winter. Still ahead on the newshour good jobs news from the month of june. Increased Airport Security and screening. The backlash against common Core Education standards. Consumerism in rural bangladesh. A reporter and his son embed with u. S. Troops in afghanistan. And, the case for a new interpretation of the declaration of independence. Woodruff the unemployment woodruff the Unemployment Rate in the u. S. Dropped to 6. 1 in june, its lowest point since just before the financial crisis of 2008. That news came along with a strong hiring report, 288,000 more jobs last month. Well above most expectations and stirring hopes, yet again, that the momentum in the jobs market is here to stay for a while. The newshours economics correspondent, paul solman, has the story part of his ongoing reporting, making sense of financial news. Reporter whopping job gains, upping the average of the last five months to more than 200,000 a record last seen in the tech boom of the late 90s. On a visit to a tech startup hub in washington, president obama accentuated the positive. It should be a useful reminder to people all across the country that given where we started back in 2008, we have made enormous strides thanks to the hard work of the American People and businesses. Reporter economists like boston colleges Matthew Rutledge were taken by surprise. A lot more positive than i would have figured. You know, were expecting our usual 200,000 extra jobs and it actually came out more like 300,000 jobs and this is great news. But the latest report on the economy as a whole, on g. D. P. , was that g. D. P. Actually shrank. This is the exact opposite of what we were getting earlier in the recovery, where we were getting g. D. P. Growth, but no job growth. Now were getting job growth, but its not exactly clear why. It doesnt seem like people are producing anymore. Maybe theyre just finally getting around to hiring people back. Reporter indeed the employment picture seemed bright, right across the board. More jobs at restaurants and bars, in business services, manufacturing, healthcare, architecture. Our own inclusive u7 and underemployment number was the lowest since we began calculating it at the start of 2011. Any clouds . Well, most of the new jobs seemed to be parttime. And the percentage of the population officially in the workforce remained at a low 60 for the Third Straight month. Particularly striking to me reading this mornings numbers was that the population grew the usual 200,000 but the civilian labor force didnt grow at all. Well, we know that the baby boom is just reaching that magic retirement age, 62, 65, 66. And so were seeing some of those people drop out. Were seeing them retire on schedule. But a lot of people have not really been able to afford to retire. Some of them are finding jobs. Some of them are sticking with their job search longer than they would have in the past. Reporter how did age affect job growth in last months report . So we saw huge job growth among younger workers. 2554 went up to Something Like 500,000 to 600,000 extra jobs. Among people 55 and older it barely went up less than 100,000 jobs. And the Unemployment Rate for men 55 and older actually went up a little bit. Reporter that rate went up to 4. 9 in june while the number of unemployed men over 55 rose to nearly 900,000. What that could reflect is that people with the best job prospects have been able to take that financial portfolio, theyve been able to take their more valuable house, theyve been able to take that Pension Coverage and walk away. Whereas the people that are left, the people that are still looking for a job 65 and older, are the people that have to continue to look because they dont have the option to drop out. And so thats why the Unemployment Rate is a little higher than it would have been otherwise. Reporter research by professor rutledge and others has shown that unemployed Older Workers remain jobless for longer than their younger counterparts scarred by having been laid off at a later age. As a result when they do find work, it tends to be for a lot less money. Theyre going to be especially worse off relative to younger workers who are able to bounce back a little bit better. So not only are Older Workers looking for a job for longer, but they have more difficulty even finding that job. The job they find wont necessarily be as good as the one they just left. Reporter why . It might just be that theres a lot of people out there. You dont have to hire an older worker if theres a younger worker thats cheaper and maybe, at least you can perceive to be more adjustable, more trainable. Reporter if the economy continues to add more jobs at this pace, though, the socalled reserve army of the unemployed will continue to thin, providing hope even for those most scarred by the great recession. Woodruff additional security measures, a response to goverment concerns over new terrorist threats. Officials to take additional safety measurers at a number of airports in europe, middle east and africa that have flights directly to the u. S. Airports on both sides of the atlantic ramped up security after american officials warned of potential plots to smuggle bombs on flights to the u. S. They said al qaeda affiliates in yemen and syria are trying to make bombs that current security measures wont detect. The secretary of Homeland Security jeh johnson appeared last night on msnbc. People should not overreact to it or overspeculate about whats going on. But there clearly are concerns centered around Aviation Security that we need to be vigilant about. There is a terrorist threat to this country that remains, and i believe that Counter Terrorism needs to be the cornerstone of our mission, our vast mission. Woodruff alqaedas yemen branch, known as a. Q. A. P. Was behind the so called underwear bomber on Christmas Day 2009. A nigerian man tried and failed to set off plastic explosives inside his underwear on a flight to detroit. The following year, a. Q. A. P. Tried again, placing bombs in printer cartridges on cargo planes bound for the u. S. They were intercepted and disarmed. Now, the department of Homeland Security is asking for expanded passenger screening with special emphasis on smart phones and shoes. British Prime Minister David Cameron pledged his support today. This is something weve discussed with the americans and what weve done is put in place some extra precautions and extra checks. The safety of the travelling public must come first. We mustnt take any risks with that, i hope this wont lead to unnecessary delays, but its very important that we always put safety first and we do. Woodruff also today, the u. S. Embassy in uganda warned of a threat to attack Entebbe International aport, tonight. U. S. Officials said the information came from ugandan police. For more on this threat warning im joined now by richard barrett, he ran the United Nations Al Qaeda Monitoring Team for nearly a decade. Unitil he stepped down. He is a former member of the British Secret intelligence service. Richard barrett, we welcome you. First of all, do we know exactly what caused authorities to be concerned . No, but as a coincidence of things going on here, as your report said, archiving the Arabian Peninsula which is known for making these sort of bombs, being in discussions and moving personnel up to Northern Syria where the al quaida fillia is on this front is also threatening to amoun mount attacks as well. In addition to that, i think al quaida thinks its credibility is at stake because the israeli extent has taken over glory if you like and gotten all the attention of the current terrorist group at the moment and al quaida probably feels they may need to do something to recapture the lost ground. Woodruff do we know if there was a specific threat or just a general piecing of different threads of information together . Well, that i dont know. But clearly, it is a time when people need to be alert. Its a holiday period coming up, of course, and many people traveling around, and i guess that theres no harm in reminding people that these checks are for a purpose and reminding the people who carry out the checks that their work is very serious and needs to be done properly. So there may have been some sort of indications of a possibility of increased threat, but i think, generally speaking, its considered a good time just to get people back on their toes. Woodruff why, richard barrett, is al quaida in the Arabian Peninsula of particular concern . Well, theres a man called alsiri who is active in creating the bombs, a saudi chemist whos been active for some time and sent his brother in 2009 to try to kill the Deputy Interior Ministry in charge of the al quaida account, and that guy apparently had a bomb which evaded theirs detecting mechanisms and almost killed the prince. So beyond that, when there was omar mu tall lab, in christmas of 2009, and then the printer bombs, this guy has techniques that are difficult to detect. Woodruff is anything publicly known about what kinds of bombs they mae be ex measurementing with . Is the intelligence that good . The intelligence is not too bad. The Christmas Day bomber was analyzed and so, too, were the bombs in the printers and more recently, they made the mistake of giving a bomb to somebody who was prepared to hand it over to the saudi authorities, so that bomb is also being examined. So theres quite a lot of knowledge about what theyre trying to do, but the tendency they are working with emits very little vapor to be detected by current machinery. Woodruff the assumption is these folks are working all the time to try to come up with something that can get through security. Exactly right, and they probably know a certain amount of the capacity of the machines being used at airports and, therefore, they have a bar that they have to cross and they know what the bar is and they only have to cross it once to cause everybody a considerable upset. Woodruff you mentioned earlier al quaida feeling that its credibility may be at risk, and there was reporting a few weeks ago with the advances of i. S. I. L. In iraq, there was reporting about previously the two having been split and now that we see i. S. I. L. Making these advances, i mean, could that literally be whats driving al quaida to want to do something dramatic because they see i. S. I. L. Getting all this attention . I think so, yes. I think youre right on that. I think that al quaida will not want to be driven by other peoples timetables, but, at the same time, they really need to do something because, really, since the july 2005 bombings in london, they havent achieved very much except giving out statements and threatening people, and that only lasts so long when youve got another rival group like i. S. I. L. Attracting a lot of recruits and money. So i think theyre going to do something because they have to balance the down side of a botched attempt with doing something that has an effect and shows theyre still powerful. Woodruff give us a sense of what more can be done because, you know, there are times when Many Americans feel theres already so much security thats in place, how much more can be done overseas at these airports to ensure that flights are as safe as possible . Yeah, i think you make a very good point there. Theres only so much security that you can impose on people, a lot of security has to come from the people themselves. So theres questions that youre asked, did you pack your bags yourself, did you accept anything from somebody else that you brought with you in your luggage . So its a sensible question and should be taken seriously by the people who answer them. But beyond that, i think we may need protection against attacks will be coming from the community, and the closer authorities can work with communities from which the Vulnerable People may be recruited to terrorist activity, may be easier to spot them in advance rather than screening everybody. Woodruff richard barrett, we thank you. A time for vigilance. We appreciate it. Thank you. Woodruff students and teachers may be enjoying their Summer Vacation from the classroom. But that hasnt stopped the red hot debate over the so called common Core Education standards, and new tests that go along with them. The battle is picking up momentum on a number of fronts. Jeffrey brown has our update. Reporter one major battleground a growing list of states that are dropping the common core standards. Indiana, oklahoma and South Carolina have done so. Louisia