no means just one organization or one group. >> woodruff: david, as we sit here today and again given this video that is out there, what are the expectations for those talks? >> i think at this point a process is likely. i think the taliban has gone captioning sponsored by far enough that it is likely macneil/lehrer productions to continue. i think we have to watch the >> woodruff: u.s. and afghan reaction of other afghans, officials denounced a video that appears to show u.s. marines nonpash tune afghans are desecrating the corpses of taliban fighters. very suspicious of this. they do not like the idea of good evening, i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: and i'm judy a process in which the u.s. woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, negotiates with their enemy and they worry that this is we assess the impact of the images on anti-american an election year. that president o bomba has sentiment in afghanistan and the every reason to hur-- obama prospects for peace talks with has every reason to hurry the taliban. these negotiations. >> brown: then, we look at the but is a process going forward. as i wrote yesterday, all assassination of an iranian wars end and they usually nuclear scientist. >> woodruff: betty ann bowser end through a process that reports some good news in the fight against cancer. begins a little bit like this. we don't know if this process will work. but this is how wars end. >> woodruff: well, it's >> one of the great success certainly one that we will stories in medicine over the last 40 years is pediatric continue to keep an eye on, cancer.

we'll introduce to you two david ignatius, andrew exum, survivors and how they're coping. we thank you both. >> thanks for having us. >> brown: margaret warner gets the latest on the decision of a mississippi judge to halt the >> brown: still to come on the "newshour": targeting nuclear release of 21 inmates, pardoned by outgoing governor scientists in iran; fighting haley barbour. >> woodruff: and ray suarez cancer in children; blocking pardons in mississippi and examines sweeping changes to allowing new names on the internet names that could allow internet. but first, the other news of the for a new world of dot anything. day. here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: the president of >> brown: that's all ahead on pakistan asif ali zardari left tonight's "newshour." the country again today, amid rising tensions with his major funding for the pbs country's military. newshour has been provided by: pakistani officials said it was a day trip to dubai, for a wedding. zardari spent several weeks in dubai last month, for medical treatment. there has been a growing furor in pakistan over a leaked >> and by the bill and melinda government memo that sought u.s. gates foundation. help to rein in the military. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy productive life. the tone in the u.s. presidential campaign was markedly more subdued today. and with the ongoing support of in a morning statement, the head these institutions and foundations. of the u.s. chamber of commerce said it was foolish for republicans to attack mitt romney's record as a venture capitalist. and... and as the day went on, newt gingrich and rick perry pulled this program was made possible by the corporation for back on their public criticism public broadcasting. of romney. meanwhile, the frontrunner and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. defended the free market system thank you. in west palm beach, florida. >> i believe in a merit nation,

an opportunity nation. where people by virtue of their education and hard work and risk taking and their dreams and >> woodruff: the u.s. military maybe a little luck could faced a new firestorm of criticism today over stunning achieve great things. and by the way as they were scenes of american troops and enemy dead in afghanistan. successful they did not make the rest of us poorer. they raced across the internet >> sreenivasan: president obama and around the world, triggering condemnations and weighed in, at a fundraiser in chicago last night. investigations. he said republicans would un-do all the good his administration has done. a single still photo captured >> everything that we fought for is now at stake in this the damning image-- purportedly election. showing four u.s. marines urinating on three bodies. the very core of what this the video-- too graphic to air country stands for is on the here-- was posted on youtube. line-- the basic promise that no matter who you are, where you the posting said the bodies were come from, this is a place where taliban fighters, and the troops you can make it if you try. belonged to a scout sniper team that's at stake in this election. with 3rd battalion, 2nd marine division out of camp lejeune in >> sreenivasan: the obama campaign also reported north carolina. raising $68 million in the last quarter of 2011 for the that unit was deployed to president's re-election and the democratic party. the u.s. economy sent more mixed signals today. afghanistan last year but first-time claims for jobless returned to the united states in september. benefits surged back up, as indications were that some or all the four marines may no businesses let go thousands of temporary, holiday workers.

but realty-trac reported the number of homes entering longer be in the service. in afghanistan today, a spokesman for the nato-led foreclosure, fell last year to the lowest total since 2007. security force-- isaf-- said the on wall street today, the dow jones industrial average gained conduct seen on the video was utterly unacceptable. 21 points to close at 12,471. >> this actions do not represent the nasdaq rose almost 14 points the values of the vast majority of coalition forces who serve to close at 2,724. their nations honorably. this was a national day of >> woodruff: the u.s. marine remembrance in haiti, two years corps said it could not yet after the earthquake that killed 316,000 people. verify the video's origin or authenticity. several sites in and around the but a pentagon spokesman said today: capital, port-au-prince, held memorial services including this "it clearly appears to be to us what it appears to be to you-- mass near the shattered remains troops urinating on corpses." of the national cathedral. the quake left one and a-half million people homeless, and at a morning event, with the visiting algerian foreign and more than 500,000 people are minister, secretary of state still living in temporary camps. hillary clinton expressed total dismay. a new wave of heavy snow >> it is absolutely inconsistent blanketed anchorage, alaska with american values, with the today. standards of behavior that we forecasters predicted up to 16 inches. that will put anchorage on track to have its snowiest winter expect from our military ever. personnel, and that, you know, the record is nearly the vast, vast majority of our 133 inches set in the 1950s. military personnel, particularly our marines, hold themselves to. to the southeast, national guard troops have been helping the >> woodruff: defense secretary leon panetta issued his own city of cordova dig out.

statement, saying: the community on prince william sound has had 172 inches of snow just since november first. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to jeff. >> brown: and we turn to the covert campaign of assassinations and sabotage against iran's nuclear program. pieces of broken glass and panetta telephoned afghanistan debris littered the pavement president hamid karzai today to denounce the actions in the wednesday at the scene of a bombing in tehran. video, and to promise a full investigation. state t.v. reported two attackers on motorcycle stuck a magnetic bomb on the car of a and in his statement, karzai nuclear scientist, then drove urged u.s. authorities to, on. quote, "apply the most severe the explosion, moments later, punishment to anyone found guilty in this crime." killed 32-year-old mostafa ahmadi roshan and his driver. the video could also complicate the iranian government called it tentative moves in afghanistan a terrorist attack, blaming toward peace talks to end the israel and the united states. decade old war. but in washington, secretary of state hillary clinton rejected on wednesday, secretary clinton the charge. appeared open to new >> i want to categorically deny negotiations with the taliban-- any united states involvement in a position she re-stated today. any kind of act of violence >> with respect to the implications of this, as i said inside iran. yesterday, the united states remains strongly committed to >> brown: in fact, the bombing helping build a secure, was the latest in a string of attacks in iran targeting top nuclear officials. peaceful, prosperous democratic

two years ago, a nuclear physics future for the people of professor was killed when a bomb strapped to a motorcycle afghanistan, and we will exploded outside his home. continue to support efforts that several months after that, a will be afghan-led and afghan- pair of car bombings killed one owned to pursue the possibility nuclear scientist and wounded of reconciliation and peace. another while they were driving to work. in both cases, iranian officials >> woodruff: in turn, the taliban said today that the pinned the deaths on the u.s. and the israel. video showed shameful and inhumane acts, but would not hamper peace efforts. >> ( translated ): so-called on the streets of kabul, however, some afghans said the advocates of fighting terrorism have picked up weapons, and we will remove this mask and episode cast new doubt on american intentions. devilish cover from their face and reveal their identity. >> brown: in addition to attacks >> ( translated ): on the one on scientists, iran's nuclear hand they the americans present program has been hit by other acts of sabotage and what might themselves as friends of afghanistan and call us heroes have been accidents. of peace and also they try to in 2010, computers at iranian have peace talks with taliban, so we don't know what kind of nuclear facilities were infected political game they are playing in afghanistan. by the stuxnet virus. >> woodruff: in the meantime, it disrupted controls on both the u.s. navy and the marines have opened centrifuges being used to enrich uranium. and this past november, an investigations. the men involved could face court martial proceedings for explosion destroyed part of a violating the geneva convention missile testing site near the town of bid kaneh. and international laws of war. iranian officials called it an accident. for more on all of this we turn through it all, tehran has moved to former army captain andrew

exum. forward with its nuclear ambitions, while he served in afghanistan in 2003 and 2004 and is now a senior rejecting u.s. charges that its fellow with the center for a new goal is nuclear weapons. just this week, the american security. international atomic energy he was an advisor to generals agency confirmed iran has begun enriching uranium at a second stanley mccrystal and david petraeus when they were the top commanders in afghanistan. site near the city of qom. and david ignatius is a foreign and today, iran's supreme affairs columnist for the leader, ayatollah ali khamenei, insisted the islamic republic will continue on that path. "washington post." he has covered the afghan conflict and peace process. he also vowed to punish those who carried out wednesday's bombing and those behind it. we thank you both for being here. andrew exum, as a former uniform service member what's your reaction to and for more on this we go to ronan bergman in tel aviv, these videos. a reporter. >> i was disgusted, really, i think the reaction from the come dant of the marine and he's also work on an corps to the secretary of article on this subject for state was entirely "the new york times" appropriate. magazine. on the one hand, this type and david allbright, of dehumanization of the physicist and former u.s. enemy takes place in every major conflict. weapons inspector, now president of the institute on the other hand, we hold for science and our soldiers to a higher international security. ronan bergman, i will start standard. and we have commissioned and with you. noncommissioned officers that are paid to make sure certainly many people are lookings to israel and its that these types of things do not happen. smusd intelligence agency watch. >> woodruff: so how could something like this happen? is known and not known about >> well, i mean, first off, are you putting 18 and who is shined this.

19-year-olds in kbachlt i >> jeff lee, a, i don't know think in a lot of ways it's and even if i knew i would good for the american people tell you that i don't know. to see these videos because we don't want to risk me people don't have an idea of what afghanistan is like, what the war is like. jeopardizing national and yet, it's important that secrets of israel and being thrown into jail. people see the way that i would say this moussad has soldiers can be dehumanized through the experience. a long tradition, the israel you see this happen with young soldiers. intelligence foreign agency you see it happen when has a long tradition of they're not properly supervised by taking out o eliminating, noncommissioned officers and by commissioned officers. targeting nuclear scientists and unfortunately, this isn't the first time we've working for israeli enemies. seen something like this take place in the war in benjamin netanyahu many times, i think stupidly but iraq or afghanistan. i think many times compared >> woodruff: thinking abu ghraib. >> you look at the kill team incidents in southern president ahmadinejad with afghanistan just last year, hitler and when your adversary is the size of that was arguably certainly a lot worse than what we saw adolf hitler then all means are justified to stop him. in video today. but the visceral images are and we have been witnessing something that is different. in the last five years a >> woodruff: david ignatius, as somebody who has covered series of mysterious mishaps, this conflict, how do you think something like this sabotaging, bombing and happened? above all killing of iranian >> well, i think andrew exum said all the things that are right. scientists who were the videos are shocking, the prominent figures in the iranian nuclear project and behavior is immature. the iran can attempt to it's just grotesquely. >> that's right. build surface to surface >> inappropriate, these are

young men at war. long-range ballistic missiles. they are dehumanized. these assassinations i would but what i found really say are aimed at three fold disturbing watching the video is the sort of target. first, to take out prominent smirking, these guys looking figures from the iranian at the camera and smiling as nuclear project. they urinate on these the second, to make the corporations. it's just terrible behavior iranians, to force the and so j daing to the united iranians to put a lot of states. i just got back from effort into trying to prevent the next afghanistan right before christmas. i met with lots of u.s. assassination, screening people, trying to find who soldiers there. it's appropriate and easy to are the most-- guarding the say we have so many good live scientists. soldiers and officers in and when someone has to invest so much effort into combat. and that these are the trying to protect, he has a exception, but it is terribly damaging. lot less energy to invest in these images will persist. the investment of the they'll persist on the project. internet and in people's and third, maybe not less minds for a very long time. important target is to and they undo so much work that had been done to try to spread fear, grave say we are a benign intimidation among the surviving scientists that presence. >> woodruff: andrew exum, they may end up like their don't the soldiers and the marine get training about friends. how to behave in a situation they have prestigious job, like this. >> absolutely. good salary but at the end but again, we see these of the day they might types of things take place in conflict time and time recalculate their participation and maybe again. and you can talk about oh, consider to go back to the well, you know, we've been

jobs that they had before in there for ten years and the length of this conflict has schools and universities in worn on the soldiers. but quite frankly we find tehran. >> brown: let me ask david al bright what is foe about incidents at this beginning this scien cyst that was i remember a a young allied killed this particular man. soldier being sent home for >> dr. roshan is a chemical engineer. something similar to this he is involved in the and being punished from his military for kind of posing nethan's fuel enrichment with a picture we a dead fighter. plant, gas centrifuges, and you see this type of inappropriate behavior. the important thing is first that is the core of the concern about iran getting off the way you stop it is nuclear weapons. the reporting says he's through good training and also firm noncommissioned involved in the procurement. >> brown: i saw that, what officers supervision. would that mean and why and then the second, the would that make him a important thing is that target. >> iran depends very heavily first off we condemn it and on buying overseas the the strong statements you equipment it needs to run saw today again from the its gas centrifuges. come an dant on up were a lot of high-tech appropriate. and that we punish these equipment. it doesn't make it. it's hardly self-sufficient soldiers, these marines for what they did. in many of the items that 2 >> woodruff: it sounds as if official, u.s. officials are neesd. and he would possibly have quite serious, determined been involved in organizing that they are going to not the secret smuggling operation that iran has been only indicate, not only find trying to operate worldwide. out who they are but then and is banned underu.n. pursue an investigation. security council sanctions. >> yeah. and countries are spending a >> woodruff: david ignatius, great deal of effort to try you mentioned there is going to be a long-lasting affect. to stop iranian smuggling what kind of effect do you see. operations. >> brown: what about-- what

the conflict goes on. do we know about the overall the fighting goes on. group, the people who, the and then there are as we're iranian scientists in terms going it to discuss here, peace talks that have been of size, so that you can under way with the taliban. assess what kind of impact >> these are images of these kinds of killings might have on the overall american arrogance to people who live in afghanistan, to group. >> well, there's thousands of people involved in the people around the world. program. hundreds of professional they really repellent scientists at his level. images. and in the age of the and so it's-- killing one of internet they're accessible them is to the going to have to people in a way that a big impact on the program. these kind of images never were. i mean ronan mentioned these horrible things happen in other kind of indirect every war but now there's effects that are very real the technology to capture and can disrupt the program them and they do persist and and cause a hardship and that's going to be damaging perhaps some delays. for us. but he can be replaced. >> it is especially there are a lot of iranians unfortunate that these who can step up to the plate images emerge at a time when in order to help improve or the u.s. was embarked fulfill iranian needs for seriously in carrying out its equipment. secretary of state clinton's now a lot of those efforts are being stopped and we don't know how good this guy pledge last web to seek some was. you know, he was a brilliant political settlement of the in a sense smuggler his loss war through a process of may be significant. reconciliation with the if he was average, he can taliban. that process has gone a lot easily be replaced. further than many people had >> and ronan bergman, would thought. at the time of secretary clinton spoke last february, israel act alone if, you

the u.s. had already met know, we're in the realm of secretly in november of 2010 speculation, of course. but what does the past tell with a taliban us without warning the u.s. representative. a person who was the and is there now in israel a personal secretary of mullah omar, the leader of the taliban. fear, a certain concern there have been perhaps a half does meetings with this about retaliation from iran. person since then. so it's a serious channel >> let's divide the issue of that's continuing. and the fact that the whether israel decide to-- a taliban said today that despite the release of these could variety operation. images, they want this usually when we are talking process to continue is interesting. about targeted killing one reason they want it to operation, israel act alone. continue is because the taliban fighters who are now thus i would assume that what the secretary of state, in guantanamo in prison are to be released to house clinton said today that arrest. united states was not >> woodruff: one of the things the taliban -- involved is utterly true. >> in qatar as part of this confidence building deal. israel, if learning from the >> woodruff: andrew exum, do we take the taliban at its past would take at the end of the day, if israel is word, the word of the convinced that iran ask leaders who have made these reaching nuclear military statements today that images capability, at the end of like this won't derail these the day as a last resort, talks? >> yeah, i think what's even without notifying the important to note here is american government before, that these images probably israel would go for it overt won't have the strategic significance that the abu airel strike. as for your last question, ghraib images have in part yes, there is an extreme because the die has already

been cast in afghanistan high alert in the israeli security services, guarding with the terms of the nato withdraw from afghanistan as israeli embassies overseas well as these negotiations are fearing that what is which at least part of the insurgency feels, you know, perceived in iran as an can be a separate line of alleged moussad operation, operation. i think there are reasons to would lead to an iranian be cynical about the negotiations. not because those with whom retaliation. and we have seen before we are negotiating with iranian ability together aren't negotiating in good faith but simply because there are no actors in with hezbollah op rattives afghanistan. working overseas, taking out the governor, the insurgency israeli embassies and jewish and nato canlation are installations overseas, fragmented to a degree. there is a fear that iran we all have different would not tolerate any more interests as we try to negotiate into the conflict. the elimination of prominent even if you strike a deal figures from the nuclear with the taliban, which i project and therefore would think would deeply like to order a launch a sort of be out from underneath the thumb of the pakistani security services that retaliation. doesn't mean you strike a without taking responsibility, not firing deal with the-- network or missiles but bombing some some of these other sort of israeli-- outside of insurgent groups fighting in afghanistan. >> woodruff: you did write israel. about this yesterday, what is the status of those >> brown: and david albright, i will put this in the talks? >> well, the status is that largest context because this we are awaiting formal comes at a time of heightened tension but also renewed sanctions from the announcement by president karzai and by the taliban west. >> and the sanctioned have that that office will open. been engineered for months. the united states and europe

>> they've said they want an and with the pressure from office of their own in israel have really raferpd up sanctions on iran. qatar. >> they requested, they have but the intention all along and this is really why i said that they are prepared to open an office. think countries bought into it was that this would have they have requested qatar. a-- would bring israel-- i'm we proposed turkey or saudi sorry, would bring iran to arabia. the negotiation table. and they countered by saying and they would make that they wanted qatar. meaningful concessions in quite a lot of work has been those negotiations. done in the background. the two previous meetings but as always with these between the europeans, diplomatic things you're waiting for the last little americans and others and pieces to come together. iran have really not been but they'll come together productive. with the opening of the >> brown: so what is the office. then the release of the thinking now then about the guantanamo prisoners to impact-- impact of this covertical pain on impact qatar under house arrest, in effect under the supervision one way or another on the of this process. status of the sanctions or the effort of the sanctions? and then you will have >> well, it's bad timing. afghans meeting with taliban if nothing else. i personally am very much representatives to talk against these kinds of about a new set of confidence building measures. targeted assassinations of and all kinds of things that nuclear officials. pem are speculating about. but you have to wonder why the point is if the office opens, then you begin other now. talks. and you're trying to get as andrew said there are lots of reasons to be iran to the table. pressure is always a skeptical about this process. a lot of afghans don't like precarious thing to apply. it. it can backfire. >> woodruff: still divisions among the afghan official, divisions among the taliban the sensing of the united

as well. states at least is that it >> absolutely. is going to get iran to the i mean the insurgency is by table. but you don't want to drive iran into a corner where they may decide to do the very thing you are trying to prevent, namely build nuclear weapons. >> david albright and ronan bergman in tel aviv, thank you so much. >> thank you >> woodruff: now, to the first of a two-part report about how patients and their doctors are faring in their efforts to cure or manage different cancers. it's been four decades since president nixon signed a law that would change the way cancer research was funded in an effort to develop better treatments. tonight, "newshour" health correspondent betty ann bowser looks at what's happening in the battle against pediatric cancer. >> reporter: 16-year-old kate albrecht knows this drill all too well. after she lies down on the table, a big machine called a linear accelerator delivers high energy radiation to shrink and

kill the cancer cells she has from stage four hodgkins lymphoma. while most teenaged girls busy themselves with boyfriends and text messaging, albrecht's days have been filled with more sobering activities-- three months of chemotherapy followed by these radiation treatments. the cancer was diagnosed last summer. >> i was totally surprised that i even had cancer, it was not something that i was expecting. >> reporter: nobody saw it coming. except for a slight cough, albrecht had been an active healthy competitive runner and skier in lake tahoe. but after the diagnosis, albrecht and her mother moved temporarily to palo alto to have treatment at lucile packard children's hospital at stanford university. >> you and your grandpa! >> i actually like that one, even though i have no hair. >> reporter: today albrecht is counting the days until her red hair grows back. her prognosis is excellent, and

her mother linda, who's been at her side through all the treatment is optimistic. 40 years ago if this had happened what do you suppose the two of you would have been looking at? >> oh, boy. definitely not as good a prognosis as we've had. i don't know what they would have done 40 years ago as far as all the drugs and treatments that they've come up with. they did not have that then. so we may have been looking at something a whole lot scarier. >> reporter: you will get no argument from cancer researchers on that point. 40 years ago, more americans were dying from cancer than all the people killed in world war ii. but in 1971, the national cancer act was signed. it provided billions of federal dollars for cancer research and became known as the war on cancer. >> hello, how are you?

>> reporter: dr. michael link was a young pediatric oncologist 40 years ago. today, he's one of abrecht's doctors at stanford's lucille packard's children's hospital, and the current president of the american society of clinical oncologists. >> at that time we were curing about 40% of children with cancer and in that interval, in that past 40 years or 35 years that i've been on scene the cure rates have improved dramatically such that now we cure probably 80% of all children with cancer. and we cure almost 90% of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia the most common childhood cancer and a disease that was absolutely incurable in the 1960s. >> reporter: one of the discoveries that has led to success with children was learning the nature of the disease, something that was not fully understood 40 years ago. >> cancers are diseases of our genetics of our d.n.a. and we develop mutations in those cancer cells and those mutations are what cause the cancer and what drive the cancer

and we now understand for example in a disease like leukemia that there are multiple different types of leukemia even though they look the same under the microscope which are driven by a different one of these dna mutations. >> reporter: oncologists now also know that childhood cancers are genetically less complex than most adult cancers and respond better to both chemotherapy and radiation treatment. but there was a time when doctors didn't have the resources they do today to target specific gene mutations with drugs. one of link's first patients was nancy mcgee, diagnosed in 1978 with stage four hodgkins lymhoma just like kate albrecht. back in those days oncologists tried to kill the cancer in children without killing the patient first, mcgee has vivid painful memories of that.

>> they put me into radiation that was first and then from there into chemo, which was put that on my worst enemy, that's what in my mind almost killed me. i didn't have all my treatments because it was literally killing me. i was 100 pounds and i went down to 64 pounds. yeah, i was skin and bones literally. i wasn't eating because i was constantly sick. >> reporter: dr. link remembers those days too. >> in the 1970s, we were desperate to have therapies that worked and she was lucky to have a disease like hodgkins disease which was responsive to radiation and chemotherapy. and so we threw the book at her, if you will, to try to cure and she presented with very advanced stage disease. >> reporter: today at 46, mcgee is a lab manager at stanford university's school of medicine. but, like most of the pediatric cancer survivors of the 1970s,

she paid a high price for survival. she's had thyroid cancer, skin cancer and, in 2001 the biggest scare-- a routine mammogram identified very early breast cancer. she could have settled on a more conservative treatment, but because of her previous radiation exposure, she opted for a double mastectomy. >> i could not have a lumpectomy and radiation i had to have a mastectomy. and as soon as i heard that i had breast cancer i already knew in the back of my head i was having a double i was not going to go through this twice. because i was heavily radiated on my right side the breast cancer was on the left side of my left breast so it wouldn't be if nancy gets it on the right side it's when. >> dr. link, how are you? >> reporter: today, 32 years after being first diagnosed, mcgee still sees dr. link and

takes part in clinical trials. >> you know we probably learned more from you than almost anyone else. you've had almost every possible thing that we see, so it was worth it. >> i'm here. i was put on this planet for some reason. i'm still trying to figure out what but you know i have a son who i adore. i never knew if i'd have kids back then. i don't-- if they really knew what chemo would do to a reproductive system of a 13-year-old child. you know, so when i conceived my son it was like in my mind a miracle. you know and so i just carpe diem, i seize the day i live each day to the fullest that i can you know and try to be happy. >> reporter: in the last decade, dr. link has seen the benefits of clinical trials in which as many as 80% of all children with cancer participate.

>> for the next generation of the nancy's that come to us for treatment we are going to do a better job, we're going to do it with less morbidity, less complication and hopefully so that they can have an improved quality of life. this is way more complicated than we thought. cancer is not one disease. cancer is a multitude of diseases. the future is based on really understanding this molecular basis or the genetics and the dna damage that causes cancers. we're understanding what are the, what drives the cancer and we're trying to develop very, very specific drugs that target those specific abnormalities. >> reporter: while doctors like link are excited about curing more pediatric cancers, many adult cancers remain stubbornly resistant, with no cures in sight. >> brown: on our website, we're collecting photos of your connections to childhood cancer. find instructions on how to participate on our health page.

betty ann's next report looks at some of the adult cancers and what's being done to find breakthrough treatments. >> woodruff: next, pardons put on hold in mississippi. margaret warner has the story. >> warner: last night, after days of controversy, a mississippi judge moved to block some last-minute pardons made by outgoing governor haley barbour. vacating the governor's office this past week, the two-term republican issued pardons to more than 200 felons, 14 of them convicted killers and many others imprisoned for violent crimes. after a furor erupted, barbour's office yesterday issued a statement saying that 189 of them-- roughly 90%-- had already completed their sentences. the judge's ruling temporarily blocks the release of 21 of those who were still in jail. to help sort this out is daniel cherry of mississippi public

broadcasting. daniel, welcome, thanks. how did this story just explode? flesh it out for us a little bit. >> well, whenever he, governor barbour had first pardoned five inmates. and that was drawing enough attention. and then came this additional 200 plus. and it really did just create a serious public outcry around here. >> warner: and so some became public right away but then just this week you heard about the nearly 200 others? >> right. we heard that on the day that he left office. we've got a release from the secretary of state's office that said there were 200 more that he had pardoned just before he left office. >> warner: de give any reasons for-- sorry, i didn't mean to interrupt. but de give any reasons for why these pardons were issued? >> well, he hasn't spoken to

the media. and i asked him personally. and he wouldn't speak to me. but he did release a statement yesterday evening kind of laying out why. he said that, you know, 90% of these people have already served their ter. and he wanted to get the felony off of their record so that they could then vote, get licenses and hunt. >> warner: i guess get a firearm licence. i understand there is quite a furror, quite an outcry over this. >> there really is and it's tough to really judge public opinion because we haven't done any polls or anything like that but just judging from social media and comments on news articles. a lot of people really were worked up over this. they were wondering why this extremely popular governor would go and pardon 200 or so felons at the very end of his, really a term that was just a legacy. and he did this right at the end. it left a lot of questions for a lot of people. >> warner: now before we get into what the judge did last

night, explain the basis, the foundation of the governor's pardon power and how other governors used it. >> warner: well:. >> well, in mississippi and in many other states, as i understand it as it has been explained to me by experts, governors and even the president, they have power to pardon inmates at, in mississippi at least at their own discretion. now in mississippi we have a little system to where certain trusted inmates, they call trustees who have gained the trust of their supervisors can then go and work in the governor's mansion and it's kind of conventional to pardon those particular trustees. now governors in past really, and least in the past 20 years or so really haven't gotten more than around the 10 pardon mark, some as low as one. some as high as 13. and nothing anywhere close

to 200. >> warner: now daniel, i reported in the introduction to you that there were what appear to be 14 con victed of murder and many others convicted of violent crimes. give us a flavor. i mean were they-- did they all involve injury to other people? what, how would you characterize them? >> well, they didn't all-- the majority of them were drug offenses. duies, a lot of things like that. but there is also kidnapping, enticing children. and then there is the manslaughter, homicides that don't get reported along with the actual murders per se. >> warner: so let's go to the judges ruling last night. now this is a state judge and he blocked just 21 of them. on what basis and why just 21. >> well, those particular 21, and best of my knowledge, had not been released yet. so whenever there is a pardon, as i understand it, there is a 48 hour period that goes in between the

pardon taking effect and those particular inmates being released. these particular 21 had not been released yet. so whenever the injunction took place to halt the pardons, these particular 21 were held in limbo. so they are held until further hearing. and then it will be decided. then their fate will be decided. >> warner: and on what legal grounds did the judge issue this injunction which i understand had been requested by the attorney general. >> yes, mississippi's attorney general jim hood used sex 124 of the mississippi state constitution that says before a felon can get a pardon they have to file a request, a petition in the newspaper from where the crime occurred. they have to do that for 30 consecutive days before they can be released. and the attorney general and the circuit judge thought there was considerable doubt

that this had not been done in all cases. so they're taking this time and the extra hearing to review all of this to decide their fate. >> warner: i understand you've talked to some of the victims' families. just tell us about one, at least. >> well, i talked to a couple. i actually talked to one just a little bit earlier this morning and she told me that whenever, and this particular woman that i spoke to, her sister was killed by one of the men who is pardoned. he's not part 2691. he is part of the 5 who got out before the 21. he is out. and she said when ever she got the news it just brought everything rushing back to her. and she said it felt like her sister, you know, her sister was killed just yesterday. and she just really feels for other families and victims who have to go through this. and then there is another gentleman that i spoke with. he was actually shot in the

face by a man who was released. and now he says he fears for his life. he fears that this man has been pardoned. he's out there and he is afraid that he is going to come find him. >> warner: daniel cheree of mississippi public broadcasting, thank you. >> thank you. >> brown: finally tonight, one of the internet's gatekeepers is starting to sell new website names and categories. why does that matter? ray suarez looks at the stakes. >> suarez: since the earliest days of the internet americans have gone to web addresses with familiar names to the right of the dot. as in dotcom or dot org. starting today the companies that assign what is duld main names are make a big change. it's rolling out a program meant to dramatically increase the number and kind of names, sign stead of a company like let's say marriott being called marriott.com, it might now

choose to be called dot marriott. but it going to cost plenty. up to $185,000 just to apply for the new name and the total economic stakes could add up to hundreds of millions of dollars. some businesses and lawmakers are up set with what this could mean for commerce and the future of the web. we look at this now with rod bextrum, the president & ceo of ican, the internet corporation for assigned names and numbers and dan jaffie is with the association of national advertiser which is part of a coalition opposed to the rollout of the program. now, inside the trade press it's all full of just the shorthand gtld. what is a generic top line do nain-- domain so we know what is talking about. >> sure, the name to the right of the dot on the internet. so think dotcom, dot net, dot org as examples that many people know. >> suarez: in the short history of the web people have gotten very used to using it and are familiar with the sufficient fixes,

dot go dot edu, dotcom,. >> what sus allowing the top breyer accomplish. >> we open it up because you mentioned dot gov that is only usable by the united states goff government here. and other governments don't have those same choice, they would like to. the internet is used by 2 billion people around the world and everyone would like to enjoy equal access saz dan jaffie, why not it sounds like it would make it easy, useful to have your corporate name as your top line domain, why not. >> we don't think there is a problem with having more top level domains. we are very concerned, however, that this basically unlimited increase in top level domains is going to impose enormous costs on business, costs that will basically mean that people will be buying their own trademarks to protect them against others who may harm them. and it's going to be a serious problem for consumers. what we are talking about here, and mr. beckstrom said

this at a meeting yesterday is that some people are estimating that we are going to go from 22 top level domains to as many as 4,000 domains within one year and then after that, who knows. and we also know that to the left of the dot which is the secondary domains, increase far more than that at the present time there is more than 100 million secondary domains in this 22 top level domain situation. what happens when you have hundreds, thousands of new do mans. this is going to create enormous problems for those who try to monitor the internet against internet crime. >> suarez: how about that haven't companies spent a lot of time, money and outreach building part of their corporate identity around a name like cnn.com, expedia.com. doesn't this force them to have to rebrand when they don't really want to? >> nobody has to rebrand. this is entirely offering more choices. and i want to correct the record here there are not 4,000 a year. there is a board resolution

where the maximum number is 1,000 per year that can be added to the internet. and there are many companies that are interested. if you read "the wall street journal" article yesterday will you see many entrepreneurs that are looking at starting new businesses and offering new services with new ideas with new top level domains. no existing companies have to go apply for a new top level domain. it's an option for them to consider. >> suarez: about what did dan jaffie's point that for years some speculators have been buying domain names not because they want to use them but because they want to sell them to people who really need them. even buying the names of well-known products and companies so that some day down the road when that company may want it, they will have to be the ones to sell it to them. >> the smartest intellectual property attorneys in the world have been wrestling over this program for six years. and have added nine different components to provide protection force trademark holders. so that that kind of activity is discouraged to the greatest extent possible. >> and dan jaffie, doesn't that 185,000 price tag discourage squatters where

you could have bought a domain name pretty cheaply once upon a time, that's pretty high table stakes for somebody who wants to buy it on spec. >> it is certainly something that raises the cost and in fact top level domain sellers have said if you want a top level domain, in fact, you might need it up to 800,000 dollars to a million dollars at minimum, for all of the various costs that would be involved. and that would have nothing to do with the situation where you have an auction where people are fighting over a name which can go into the multimillions of dollars. but there is a group called creedo the coalition for responsible internet domain oversight which represents 161 associations, groups and companies that are opposing this rollout as premature, who all believe that this is going to create major pressures on companies to do defensive registration or dramatically increase the amount of tracking that they

will have to do of the internet and cost them millions of dollars in that regard. and they have strongly said that it would be premature to roll this out at this time. and another point that is very significant is there are substantial holes in the system. that have been pointed out by the federal trade commission, by other police organizations around the world. by the interagency organizations. >> what kind of hole does you mean, just so we know. >> very, very serious situations where if you start, one of the protections has been built not situation or alleged protections that has been built not system is something called a-- approach which would give you more information, supposedly about who actually owns an ip address, an internet address. but when you go and look at it you find names like mickey mouse or donald duck or god or bill clinton but it's not bill clinton who is behind it and you can't get behind those names to find this out. this is why the ftc wrote a letter to ican and said the

unprecedented domain registries only increases the risk of a lawless frontier in which bad actors violation contract provisions with impunit impunity-- impunity ultimately harming consumers. >> this program has been developed by the global internet community and i understand you are representing the interests of advertising companies, one category of entities, primarily in america. but we have to look at the global picture. six years have been spent to add additional protections. for example, you can't apply for a top level domain that would be a type of squatting domain. we would never approve it you have to demonstrate what you are going to use it for and explain your use so actually it could help reduce the type of squatting. >> suarez: what about the notion that the who is part, is still pretty pore oust, you can buy a bill clinton domain and not bill clinton. >> we can bring to this table law enforcement which i have tremendous respect for. i have worked for law enforcement in the federal

government and bring in the privacy groups and civil rights and civil liberties and they are not going to agree how it should be implemented. one group wants privacy, another more law enforcement. the ican community brings together these parties to bring together consensus views and documents. we open public comment period on how we can improve some of our agreements related to who is, and we are in negotiations right now. and these things are processes that are ongoing. and there are improvements in this program that the previous programs didn't have. >> quickly before we g i want to hear from both of you. this is a world that so far up until today has been managed with a minimum of government interference from governments around the world. can it continue to be so mr. savvy. >> we think that is the right approach. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. we are one of the strongest supporters of self-regulation, where it works. where, in fact, the real concerns are met. but we're finding, you know,

the u.n., nato, who, igo groups, 38 of these groups, not for profits, ftc, the whole of the business community that is very concerned about this and says that there are serious holes, you wouldn't ask somebody to come on a ship and be able to say there are holes in that ship and by the way it should cost you millions of dollars to buy your way on to get that ticket. and then say stay out. we think this is very, very reckless. >> ray there are no easy holes that could be fixed in this program. that's why it took six years of many of the smartest people in the world haggling over paragraphs and details. the rule book is 300 pages of documentation. very well thought out program. in fact one of your attorneys yesterday said well, why don't you go on a-- and sol of it. >> i said if you think you can solve that in ten minutes, i invite you, please come to our next public meeting in costa rica, sit down with law enforcement, the civil society groups, government, come up with a solution.

the reality is these are tough problems because, and here's why, the internet it, there is one internet for one world. the system has in-- integrity. the trademark system is divide mood categories and geographies. any trademark term you take could be hundreds or even thousands of legitimate different owners in the world. and the domain name system every name is exactly unique so that the e-mails when they are sent to you get just to you, and not to five over people. because that would fracture the internet. i can ask to name that integrity. >> suarez: gentlemen, thank you both. >> thank you so much. >> woodruff: again, the major developments of the day: u.s. and afghan officials denounced a video that appears to show u.s. marines desecrating the corpses of taliban fighters. haiti marked a national day of remembrance, two years after the earthquake that killed 316,000 people. and iran's supreme leader vowed revenge on those who killed an iranian nuclear scientist yesterday.

online, we continue our coverage of haiti, two years after the earthquake. hari sreenivasan explains. hari? >> sreenivasan: on the rundown, find an update on the cholera epidemic and a story about a family rebuilding its home. we follow up on our story about syrian spies in the u.s. through the public insight network, several syrian americans share their stories. it's science thursday. see a slideshow of giant galaxy clusters, alien planets, dust clouds and more. that's on our science page. and on art beat, we talk with bluegrass legend doc watson. all that and more is on our web site: newshour.pbs.org. jeff? >> brown: and that's the "newshour" for tonight. i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. we'll see you onlin and again here tomorrow evening with mark shields and david brooks, among others. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

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