thanks for watching "state of the union." i'm jim sciutto. before we go, i want to wish a very special happy mother's day to my wife, gloria, mother to our two boys, soon to be mother to another little girl. i spend every day in awe of what she does and the love she shows. i know there are many other fathers and sons and daughters out there who feel the same way. happy mother's day to all of you. "fareed zakaria gps" starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com this is "gps," the global public square. welcome to all of you in the united states and around the world. i'm fareed zakaria.

we'll start today with the attempted attack in texas. was it isis directed? what turns seemingly normal young men into jihadis? i'll ask the former cia director michael hayden. also, inside isis territory. what is it like to be behind enemy lines? i'll show you a clip from my new cnn special "blindsided: how isis shook the world." >> they want to fight the americans. that's their dream. >> and how to make sense of the british elections. we will talk to the editor of "the economist" reporting from london. then, 112 years ago, the wright brothers' plane took off from a beach in kill devil hills, north carolina, and the world changed forever.

pulitzer prize winner david mccullough on one of the greatest innovations in human history. and gold, cash, jewelry, banks are filled with some of the most valuable items in the world. so does it make sense to just rob them? that answer and much more from steven dubner of "freakonomics" fame. but first here's "my take." israel's new coalition government formed with the slimmest possible majority in its parliament seems to ensure that prime minister benjamin netanyahu will act even more cautiously and conservatively than he has recently. this is a tragedy because israel faces a strategic opportunity that is extraordinary and may not last. at first glance, it might seem absurd to talk hopefully about opportunities for israel. the middle east is in turmoil, islamic radicalism is invading

once-stable lands. hezbollah and hamas are actively engaged in the region, and the iranian nuclear danger persists. add to this the repulsive anti-semitism that is on the rise around the world, tolerated and encouraged in too many muslim communities, and it looks like a very dangerous time for the jewish state. that's what netanyahu implied when explaining to nbc's andrea mitchell why he had backtracked on his support for a palestinian state. >> what has changed is the reality. >> reality has changed, but on closer examination, one can see that it has changed dramatically in israel's favor. first there is the disappearance of the arab threat. a phenomenon that is unprecedented. from its first day in existence, israel has faced the threat of extinction by arab armies. this is the danger against which the jewish state has planned, armed, and trained for most of

its national life. today that danger is gone. the armies from israel's main strategic adversaries, iraq, syria, egypt, are now in disarray while the israeli armed forces have become the region's superpower, in a league ahead of all the rest. more importantly, egypt, saudi arabia, and the smaller gulf states now find themselves in a tacit alliance with israel against iran. second, israel's major enemies are under greater pressure than ever before. iran and hezbollah have committed themselves to defend the assad regime in syria, a daunting challenge in the long run given that assad represents the alawites who comprise under 15% of syria. reports suggest that iran is bleeding resources and hezbollah losing hundred of fighters in syria. watching these conflicts in syria, iraq, yemen, and libya, one cannot but think that israel's enemies, shiite and

sunni extremists, are busy killing each other. of course, there is iran's nuclear program, though it has significantly slowed. whatever the outcome of the negotiations, it's worth remembering that israel has a powerful nuclear deterrent, by some accounts as many as 200 nuclear warheads, many of them on submarines. similarly, it has built a wall that has reduced terror attacks against israel to virtually zero. its iron dome defense system has blunted the threat from hezbollah and hamas's rockets. and then there is israel's economy, which continues to surge forward, outstripping all the others in the region. so while it faces real challenges and dangers, israel today has policies in place to thwart, deter, and defend against them with admirable force and effectiveness. the danger for which it has no defense is the fact that it continues to have control over

gaza and the west bank, lands with 4.5 million people who have neither a country nor a vote. the feeling on the israeli right, which now rules the country seems to be that if it ignores the palestinian problem and keeps moving along, somehow it will solve itself. but it won't, and the tragedy is that this is the moment with so many stars aligned in israel's favor that enlightened leadership could secure israel permanently as a jewish democratic state that is at peace with its neighbors. it's a golden opportunity, and it is staring prime minister netanyahu in the face. for more, go to cnn.com/fareed, and read my "washington post" column this week. let's get started. ♪ a prophet muhammad cartoon

contest in garland, texas. the point was to be provocative, and alas, it worked. two gunmen, both american muslims, stepped out of their car outside the event and opened fire with assault weapons. both were killed. isis later took credit for the attack. whether or not the claim is valid, it does raise the question just how much of a threat is isis to the american homeland. to discuss, i'm pleased to be joined by michael hayden, former director of the central intelligence agency and former director of the national security agency. welcome back to the show, mike. >> thank you very much, fareed. >> when you heard about this attack and you learned it was two americans, you know, a convert, people who didn't seem to have in one case much of a background with violence, in one case there was a background, what did you make of it all? >> fareed, unfortunately, sadly, it fit exactly the profile that

a lot of folks like me expected. the people very difficult to detect, inspired by the isis message. alone, alienated, looking for something bigger than self. that movement, this event, came together, prompted them to do what they did. unfortunately, fareed, i think this is not the last time we'll see this. this is going to go on for a while and is going to be a bit of the new normal here in the united states. even in the united states. >> you say even in the united states because so far the united states has had relativity low numbers of these kinds of alienated young youth, the kind you described, more in europe, particularly in some of the larger countries in europe. why do you say even in the -- do you think something has changed, or it's just the law of numbers, at some point you're going to find a few people even here? >> it's the law of numbers

fareed. and you're absolutely right. you've commented on this quite articulately i think in terms of our ability, we're better at integrating than almost all of our european allies. that means the pool from which people like this can be drawn is going to be proportionately smaller here in the united states than it is in most of our european allies. but the pool isn't dried up. the pool isn't zero. we are, unfortunately, going to see this. >> do you feel when you watch this play itself out that we are in a situation where things are getting worse, they're getting better, is this just a kind of tide that is running? i think people are looking for some guidance here to understand, you know, where are we in this narrative of this violent radical islam and its -- and the attacks and the counterattacks. >> fareed, i think the tide's

coming in, and we're going to see more of what we saw in texas last week. now the good news is, it's very, very unlikely that we're going to see the kinds of attack that al qaeda really wants to conduct, that carefully planned, slow moving, complex, mass casualty attack against an iconic target. that's actually a counterterrorism success, and we ought to quietly celebrate that. but these low-level attacks, that's what's left to them, and that's where they're going to go. fareed, in a very unusual way, you might want to characterize al qaeda as an elitist terrorist organization and isis as a populist one. and we're seeing the violence from isis not coming from the top down but from the bottom up. >> so when we think about isis, how should we think about it? as you say, it does seem to have this populist streak where it is able to inspire and allow to bubble up these kinds of -- these kinds of attacks.

is that -- is that ultimately its aim, is it -- is it really a side order effect? it really seems focused more on the caliphate? what is it doing here? >> it is more focused on the near enemy, another distinction with al qaeda, who is always more focused on the far enemy, that's us. but if you're asking me fareed what is it we need to do about isis now, number one is we need to try to defend ourselves against the kinds of attacks we saw in texas last week admitting that some of those are going to get through. second, we need to keep pressure on isis main in iraq and syria. and right now, fareed, we're at best mowing the grass there. we aren't doing any weeding or real landscaping. so i think we need to be more robust. and then finally, something suggested by one of your earlier questions, we don't -- we shouldn't be bashful to talk about the core of this question. in many ways, this is about islam.

and we should have an adult conversation, realizing we're all people of the book. but this is a struggle within islam. and until that struggle is resolved we're going to have to do these things to defend ourselves at home and abroad. >> but do those other things involve getting involved in what is, as you say, a struggle within islam? should we be jumping in? >> i think, fareed, we have broadly the correct strategy in iraq. i think it's underresourced and i think it's overly restricted when it comes to our combat power. but in broad terms, i think the elements of the strategy are there. i see no coherent strategy in syria, fareed, other than the phrase i used earlier, we're mowing the grass. of course, the grass grows up again. >> michael hayden, as always, a pleasure to have you on. >> thanks, fareed. next on "gps" an

extraordinary look deep inside isis territory. what is it like for people who live and work so far behind enemy lines? stay tuned and you'll find out. and the samsung galaxy s6 edge is breaking the rules of design. can't get your hands on it because you're locked down by a carrier? break free t-mobile will pay every penny of your switching fees. get ahead of the curve and get your hands on the galaxy s6 edge for $0 down at t-mobile today. ♪ it's not home. but with every well co nsidered detail . . . it becomes one step closer.

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go to alwaysdiscreet.com so bladder leaks can feel like no big deal. we have a special treat for viewers around the world, monday night at 9:00 p.m. eastern on cnn and cnn international, you can catch our latest special. it's called "blindsided: how isis shook the world." i want to show a very revealing clip from the special. it centers around a german journalist named juergen totenhofer who negotiated with isis to be given safe passage to visit mosul, iraq, the biggest city isis has captured. isis wanted to show him that it could really run a state. the terrorists give out parking tickets and issue license plates, and the kids there go to isis schools. totenhoffer met people from all walks of life there, including americans who had come to fight.

and amazingly, he left mosul alive but with a chilling message. >> isis officials trotted out a few prisoners for totenhoffer to talk to. this man is one of a group of captured kurdish soldiers. >> when did they catch you? he told totenhofer he was afraid. shortly after, isis put kurdish prisoners in cages, dressed in orange jumpsuits. ♪ they were paraded through the streets, and isis made a propaganda video out of it. ♪ it's hard to believe, but according to totenhoffer, there are people in mosul who say they are better off under the islamic state. almost all are sunni, and they have suffered at the hands of iraq's shiite government. >> first of all, instead of anarchy, they have now law and

order. >> people don't like i.s., but they like the security. they take taxes, they take care of the poor. >> reporter: bizarrely, isis even reaches out to the disabled. this is a recruitment video for deaf jihadis who wish to join isis. todenhofer's isis minders kept him away from only one group. he was not permitted to speak to or even go near a single woman. >> and do you think that you will win the war -- >> reporter: perhaps the most astonishing thing todenhofer from isis soldiers and leaders is this -- >> they want to provoke the united states to bring ground troops to the country. it's a clear target. they want the americans bring their boots on the ground. they want to fight the americans. that's their dream.

the ultimate fight against americans. that's what they want. that's what they hope. >> please don't miss "blindsided." it airs monday night at 9:00 p.m. eastern for viewers of cnn and cnn international. next on "gps" -- the british elections. the once and future prime minister david cameron. i'll talk to the editor in chief of "the economist," zanny minton beddoes about the elections that surprised all the pollsters. the volkswagen golf was just named motor trend's 2015 car of the year. so was the 100% electric e-golf.

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there will be no moving vans showing up in front of number 10 downing street. to the great surprise of pundits and pollsters, prime minister david cameron's conservative party had a decisive victory in thursday's british general election. in the wake of it, three of his top competitors resigned as heads of their party. what does it mean for the u.k., the eu, and the u.s.? for that i want to bring in one of my favorite brits who has recently moved back home to take on a big new job, zanny minton beddoes is the editor in chief of "the economist" magazine. pleasure to have you on. >> it's always great to be here,

fareed. >> what did you make of the fact that everyone was so surprised? was the polling wrong? did people forget that this was a first past the post system? >> the polls were completely wrong. all the advance polls were very wrong. the real shock came at 10:00 p.m. london time when the exit poll was announced. and the exit poll suggested there would be a big increase in the number of seats for the tories. and that was a huge, huge surprise. as the night went on, and it was a long night and an incredibly exciting night, the tory leaders grew bigger and bigger, and they ended up with a small overall majority, and that's really extraordinary for an incumbent government which was currently together with the liberals and democrats in coalition, they have gained enough seats to have a small majority on their own. >> why do you think -- what's the central message here presumably as the british economy is doing pretty well and the incumbents got rewarded? >> well there's some of that going on.

i think there are a lot of shy tories around people who probably didn't tell the pollsters they were going to vote tory. people who are concerned about the economy and yes they wanted the stability of the economy, they wanted the recovery to carry on, and they were scared by the alternative. >> do you think this tells us something about a kind of global trend? you know, britain has always been particularly with america in sync in political cycles, thatcher and reagan, blair and clinton. does the fact that the tories did well and the left labour did badly, does it suggest that elizabeth warren is not really the harbinger of the future for the united states? >> you know, that's a tempting parallel to make. but there are actually quite big differences across the atlanta. as you said, i've only come back to this side of the atlantic. and i'd hesitate to make that comparison. but what is certainly true is that british voters looked at the kind of future that ed miliband laid out and they said they didn't want it. but let's not exaggerate too much.

the tories had a fantastic victory, no doubt. a triumph for the tories. but they are going to be quite a weak government i think because their majority is very, very small. and if you have a very small majority, you are incredibly beholden to your mps to keep that, and they have a lot of very, very kind of euro-skeptic, tricky mps who are not going to be willing to toe the party line. so i don't expect this to be an easy ride for david cameron at all. he's done amazingly well far better than anyone expected but it's going to be a weak government with a lot of tough things to do. there's going to be some uncertainty going forward. >> for me watching from this side of the atlantic, what was striking is this was an election a british election in which foreign policy almost didn't figure at all. not only britain's role in afghanistan and iraq, the middle east, but not even really much about europe. it became more about immigration. is britain turning inwards?

was this a momentary thing? >> no, i think there's a secular shift going on which is that britain has a diminished role in the world, and both parties weren't intending to change that. and under david cameron's first administration, britain's role in the world, i think, shrank quite dramatically. you can tell me if you agree. certainly from this side of the atlantic, it felt as though britain was playing a much smaller role in the global stage. who is the go-to person in europe now? frankly, angela merkel, whether it's ukraine or any other crisis in europe. but what is really surprising is how little role europe played in britain's own relationship with europe. because the one thing that a tory government now means is that we're going to have a referendum in this country before the end of 2017 on our membership of the european union. david cameron pledged that he would renegotiate britain's relationship with the eu by the end of 2017 and then bring the renegotiated settlement to an up or down referendum to the british people. and that's a huge amount of uncertainty that lies ahead. and i think people in this sort of early hours after this

extraordinary victory, that kind of stuff hasn't fully sunk in yet. >> zanny minton beddoes, always a pleasure to have you on. hope to see you stateside soon. >> i hope so, too. next on "gps," what is the great innovation of the 20th century, the one that had the biggest impact on the world? some would argue it was the airplane. perhaps you'll agree. and in just a moment the great historian david mccullough will tell us the fascinating story behind the first flight and the wright brothers.

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my constipation and belly pain feel like a raging storm. i've tried laxatives but my symptoms keep returning. my constipation feels like a heavy weight that keeps coming back. vo: linzess can help. once-daily linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation or chronic constipation. linzess is thought to help calm pain-sensing nerves and accelerate bowel movements. linzess helps you proactively manage your symptoms. do not give linzess to children under 6,

and it should not be given to children 6 to 17. it may harm them. don't take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain especially with bloody or black stools. the most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. if it's severe stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. other side effects include, gas, stomach-area pain and swelling. bottom line, ask your doctor about linzess today. who would have thought two bicycle mechanics could change the world? that's exactly what happened on december 17th, 1903 when orville and wilbur wright found themselves airborne in kill devil hills, north carolina. from orville's initial flight of 120 feet, we have now evolved to 3.1 billion passengers flying yearly on more than 32 million

flights, more than 3.6 trillion miles in total, according to the u.n.'s aviation agency. so how did it all begin? well, two-time pulitzer prize winner david mccullough has worked his magic again. this time on the story of the wright brothers in a new book published this week. welcome back to the show, david. >> thank you, sir, very much. it's delightful to be back. >> tell me about the times this was all happening in. the wright brothers weren't the only tinkerers or inventors. you talk about kodak and singer. >> well, it was a time of productivity and entrepreneurial ingenuity and invention. it was a renaissance time in its way. it was invention of the light bulb and the telephone and the elevator and the cash register and the mousetrap and everything imaginable, large and small. and there was a sense that there

was really no limit to what man could do. there was no war. we were not at war. the country didn't have a debt. it had a surplus. and there was this confidence about the future that was in itself therapeutic and energizing. and these two young men who never went to college, never even finished high school, were so certain that they could crack this problem, they could solve this problem that defied mankind for thousands of years, and they set themselves to their mission. and i think they're an illustration of many strong qualities of the time and of america at the time and still today. >> and what's also unusual about them is they're a team. we think of invention as a solo act, edison inventing the light bulb. here you have a team two brothers where there's clearly

a senior partner and a junior partner but yet they worked very much as a team. >> one of the clearest lessons in history is that very little of consequence is ever accomplished alone. it's almost always a joint effort. not only were they a team, but they had people working with them who were part of the team. their assistant mechanic, charlie taylor, is the one who built the first aluminum motor which was used on the first plane that ever flew. and the plane could not have done it without a very lightweight engine. and this man, who'd never built a gasoline motor before in his life nor had the wrights built this motor in a matter of a few months. and it worked. and there was innovation at every step. the use of a wind tunnel, the design and structure of a propeller. the data on -- tabulations on wind resistance and all the rest that the others had been going by, all of which the wright

brothers discovered to be incorrect, worthless as orville said. they had to start from scratch on all of that. >> you talk a lot about the lessons for today. we sometimes think we're also living in a fertile moment, a lot of invention. what do you think are the real lessons? >> that problems can be solved. by people who are determined to use their brains to the utmost, determined to not let failure or disappointment take the heart out of their efforts, and -- and confidence and character. >> what do you mean by character? what struck you about the character of the wright brothers? >> they never criticized their critics. they never got cross with people who ridiculed them.

they never said anything derogatory about their rivals. they were thorough gentlemen. and they were open-minded to new ideas, to new perspectives, and they knew how to use the english language. very, very important part of their success. their father brought them up to read, read everything, read good writers, and learned to write and to speak eloquently. they could communicate what they were about in a way that nobody else had yet achieved. and they did this with great modesty. there was no preening about how nifty they were at all. and they never changed, even when they became the most famous people on earth, famous twosome on earth. didn't change them in the

slightest. they had no interest in the limelight. they tried to avoid it if at all possible. >> so in order to be an innovator -- this is one of the words, everyone wants to be an innovator. and you would say based on these two ultimate innovators, how would you complete the sentence? in order to be an innovator you need to -- >> you need to read about wilbur and orville wright because they had it tough compared to what most of us have today. they had no money. they had no foundation behind them. they had no backer, financial backer. they had no inside track with anyone. and they had to do it all themselves. and they did it all themselves.

and they -- and they had faith that they could accomplish it. i think that most people don't understand how much hard work goes into whatever -- what everyone does. one can never underestimate the importance of hard work and success. and one can never underestimate the importance of not giving up when you fail, when some things go wrong, when you're caught in an accident or caught in some unexpected defeat. and they never just laid down and whimpered and whined or blamed it on other people or gave up. they would not give up. i think in many ways that's why they succeeded. their happiest time was when they still hadn't done it yet. their most miserable experiences on the outer banks of north carolina, beset by mosquitoes and terrible windstorms and crashes and everything going that was the happiest they'd

ever been. wilbur uses a line in his notebook on observing birds. "no bird ever soared in a calm." adversity is what lifts us. if everything is easy, if everything is comfortable, if everything comes without effort or without frustration or unexpected setbacks, you're probably not going to succeed. >> david mccullough, a great, great pleasure. and this book is destined to soar on the best-seller list as every one of your books does. >> thank you, sir. next on "gps," have you ever thought about robbing a bank? well, my next guest will tell you whether it's a good idea or not. seriously. stephen dubner one half of the "freakonomics" duo, crunches the numbers on that and a lot more. he'll tell you what you need to know when you come back.

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for ten years, we have learned and laughed with the "freakonomics" guys. if you're not familiar with them, you should be. they have a terrific blog, a great podcast, and a series of really interesting books. it's all about using economic to explain life and the choices we all make. the title of the latest book is "when to rob a bank." and one half of the "freakonomics" duo, stephen dubner, is here to explain everything we need to know about that very important decision. let's get right into it. why is it that people -- i mean, what i was surprised by is that actually there are lots of bank robberies. there are 5,000 bank robberies a year in the united states. >> yeah, but as crimes go, if you're going to lead a life of crime, which i'm not saying you are, but if you were to decide to the r.o.i. on bank robbery is very poor. >> r.o.i. means return -- >> return on investment, yeah. if you're going to do a crime,

embezzlement -- bank robbers earn on average about $4,000 in the u.s. per robbery. and they can expect to get arrested after only three robberies. so it's really not a career move. if you are -- we did look -- the bank robbery data was fascinating, however. times of day, days of the week. it turns out that mornings are much more successful, but the majority of bank robbers work in the afternoon. so either they're not profit maximizers they haven't studied economics, or they can't get up in the morning. i guess if they could get up in the morning, they wouldn't have to be robbing banks for a living. >> and fridays are the most popular day. >> fridays are the busiest day for robberies. but again, not necessarily any more successful than the other days. but the bottom line is bad crime. >> and do you think that -- you're trying to make people think of it as a kind of rational economic decision. >> that's exactly right. >> do you think that bank robbers are motivated by a kind of rational set of decision-making tools, or -- >> i do. i think it's a real mistake to

assume that people who we think are not as smart as us or who are criminals or who are politically opposed to us aren't rational. i think that's a big problem in the political debate. it's bizarre to me that most people in any realm of the political debate can't accept the idea that people can have different preferences than them and that they can still be legitimate. it's as if every disagreement is built on this bankrupt idea that because you disagree with me, your idea must be wrong. so what we try to do with "freakonomics" is explore the incentives that people respond to. and people have heterogenous preferences and incentives, and so you need to understand that if you want to make progress on solving problems. >> here's one idea you have which i really love and have always thought would work. we have in our political system this crazy situation where people are politicians or high officials and get paid very, very little for that. they get paid less than an

entering, you know, person at a good law firm or a bank. and they're wielding enormous amounts of power for years and years. and they leave, and effectively they then cash in by joining a lobbying firm or something like that. >> exactly. >> what you say is wouldn't the rational thing be to pay them properly while they're in government so that, a, their decisions can be entirely for the national interests and not for potential future employment, and b, you don't have the sorry spectacle of them all running out and doing it. you suggested this to john mccain. what was his response? >> it was very interesting. first of all, you just stated it better than we did, i'm afraid, in the book. that's exactly right. any job that you want people -- any difficult, complex job that you want people to perform at a very high level, you need to offer the right incentives. and some countries do pay their politicians a lot more. so what i proposed to senator mccain was not only should we probably pay politicians a lot more, but allow them to be compensated based on the merits of how well they do.

in other words, offer something like a stock option. so if, let's say, a senator, a congressperson or a secretary of education, if arne duncan puts into place a program that is intended to raise school test scores by 5% or 10 percentage points p, i would love nothing more if that were to get accomplished ten years from now. you have to set it up to be measurable and set up for deliverables. i would love to write to secretary duncan and 100 people who worked on it a check for $2 million, $5 million. the rest of the world works that way. instead, however, we have the wrong incentives in politics. i would pay politicians a lot more and offer them vesting opportunity in the projects they are working on. >> i love the idea of a bonus for a job well done. if you say you are going to raise test scores and you do we spend tens of billions of dollars on education. if you could get movement why not get $10 million.

>> exactly right. we spend tens of billions without knowing what works, by the way. when i ran this by senator mccain he listened and said that's interesting. in the end he shakes me hand and styles and says good luck to hell with that. if that's what it takes to be a politician. he understands what is doable or not. that doesn't mean a guy like me can't dream. >> there are countries that do it. the one i'm fascinated by is singapore. singapore benchmarks to private sector salaries. they pay their high government officials at the rates managing directors at investment banks would make. the prime minister of singapore makes $2 million. it is worth noting singapore is by most measurements the most incorruptible country in the world. >> right. if you offer incentives for the right kind of job for the right kind of people it doesn't mean there won't be some corruption.

there's been nice studies we write about in the book in mexico and elsewhere where they raise municipal elected official salaries and they do better as well. i don't blame politicians for doing what they do. if i was the kind of person that wanted to get elected to congress and i were lucky enough to get there and good-looking enough to get elected, i would get there i would consolidate power, raise money, consolidate power, get re-elected and after try to cash in. we should recognize that we don't like the results of that incentive system. i would love for us to publically advocate for something bigger and better than that. >> pleasure to have you on. >> thank you so much. next on gps, it's mother's day in the united states. we have a special mother's day gps quiz. siemens trains are not your grandparent's technology. they're something that's gonna change the cities we live in today. i find it so fascinating how many people ride this

and go to work every single day. i'm one of the lucky guys. i get to play with trains. people say, "wow, we still build that in the united states?" and we say, "yeah, we do!" the volkswagen golf was just named motor trend's 2015 car of the year. so was the 100% electric e-golf. and the 45 highway mpg tdi clean diesel. and last but not least the high performance gti. looks like we're gonna need a bigger podium. the volkswagen golf family. motor trend's 2015 "cars" of the year.

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with xfinity from comcast you can manage your account anytime, anywhere on any device. just sign into my account to pay bills manage service appointments and find answers to your questions. you can even check your connection status on your phone. now it's easier than ever to manage your account. get started at xfinity.com/myaccount the organization save the children released its annual state of the worlds' mothers report. which of the following cities has the highest infant mortality rate. is it bratislava jerusalem,

athens greece or washington, d.c.? stay tuned and we'll tell you the correct answer. >> this week's book is a reminder. it's the beginning of commencement season in the united states and if there are college graduates, past present or future to whom you are thinking of sending a gift may i recommend my new book in defense of a liberal education." it's about what kinds of skills we all need to succeed in today's world. i was thrilled that the book and its ideas got a warm reception and made the best-seller list. i would be more thrilled if you bought the book and actually read it. if you like the show you'll like the book. now for the last look. 12.5 million trees in california have died thanks to the state's extreme drought, according to the u.s. forest service. what is the answer to this water crisis? well this week state water regulators approved the first

mandatory water cuts in california's history, requiring cities to slash water use by as much as 36%. that's a start, but in recent years, global focus has turned to a technology that could help water worries, desalination or converting sea water and other undesirable water to freshwater. you may think of desalination as a costly process with a large environmental impact but the technology is gaining ground around the world and getting better. the amount of desalted water produced has more than tripled globally since 2000 according to m.i.t. europe is home to the largest and cheapest desalination plant. in two years half that country's water will come from desalination. back stateside, san diego is building what will be the largest sea water desalination

plant in the western hemisphere to come online next year. the united nations predicts that within a decade 1.8 billion people will be living with absolute water scarcity. desalination is not a silver bullet to deal with water issues but there is all this salt water around us. in "the rhyme of the ancient mariner," there is the famous line spoken by the mariner as his ship is stuck out at sea. water, water, everywhere nor any drop to drink. well not a problem any more if we can do desalination right. the correct answer to the gps challenge question is d. he cording to the state of the world's mothers report the most recent data says washington, d.c. had the highest infant morality rate among the 25 high-income capital cities surveyed. many major u.s. cities have an even higher rate than washington of course. as for the lowest rates, they were in prague stockholm and

oslo. tune in tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. eastern for our special "blindsided, how isis shook the world." thanks to all of you for being part of my program this week. i will see you next week. happening now in the newsroom. >> right now, a very pronounced funnel cloud and tornado in progress. >> a wild weather weekend. >> i haven't seen anything like this in a long time. >> damaging winds, floods, even blizzards in the plains and ana hammering parts of the east coast. >> plus two officers shot and killed in the line of duty. >> they go out every day to make sure we're safe. >> a simple traffic stop turns onto a deadly encounter and rips a community apart. >> 30 years ago was