tv PBS News Hour PBS August 5, 2014 6:00pm-7:01pm PDT
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captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: after almost a month of fighting, israel pulled its ground troops out of gaza as a three day cease-fire began, setting the stage for possible long term truce talks in egypt. good evening. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. also ahead this tuesday: why investing in companies that promote women leaders can be good for your pocketbook. >> there's actually research that shows that women are better investors. so what you actually see amongst venture capital startups, you'll see that women-owned companies perform better. >> woodruff: and the culture of violence for juveniles in jail. the justice department finds new
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york city's riker's island a violent and unsafe prison for teenage inmates, exposing them to unnecessary and excessive force. those are just some of the stories we're covering on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> at bae systems, our pride and dedication show in everything we do; from electronics systems to intelligence analysis and cyber- operations; from combat vehicles and weapons to the maintenance and modernization of ships, aircraft, and critical infrastructure. knowing our work makes a difference inspires us everyday. that's bae systems. that's inspired work. >> i've been around long enough to recognize the people who are out there owning it. the ones getting involved, staying engaged.
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they are not afraid to question the path they're on. because the one question they never want to ask is, "how did i end up here?" i started schwab with those people. people who want to take ownership of their investments, like they do in every other aspect of their lives. >> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: a two-star american general was shot and killed in afghanistan today by a man in an
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afghan army uniform. the pentagon has not identified the officer, but the associated press said he is major general harold green. the attacker machine-gunned nato troops at a base west of kabul. he wounded 15, including a german general and half a dozen americans, before being killed himself. a pentagon spokesman confirmed the incident, but had few details. >> the incident will be jointly investigated by afghan and i.s.a.f. authorities. that investigation is just now getting underway. we need to proceed before speculating about any specific circumstances. >> ifill: n.p.r correspondent sean carberry has been reporting on the shooting from kabul. he spoke with us a short while ago. sean carberry, to the best of your knowledg could this have happened? >> well, at this point, it's unclear whether or not this was an infiltration by the taliban or simply an officer angered by
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a dispute at the time. a lot of security measurers have been put in place in the last couple of years to guard against insider attacks. very "guardian angels" who are forces who hover around u.s. and n.a.t.o. officials when meeting with afghans and additional measurers such as carrying loaded magazines in their weapons so, over the years, there have been measurers to prevent this kind of incident but at this point it's unclear whether or not this was a taliban infiltration, whether it was a matter of dispute and something that escalated too quickly to do anything about. >> ifill: but this was confirmed that it was someone in an afghan uniform who attacked? >> yes, he was wearing an afghan uniform. they have not confirmed whether or not he was an active army officer. the afghan military have not confirmed one way or the other, simply referred to him as a terrorist in an afghan uniform. but the pentagon said there's no reason to suspect the man was
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not a member of afghan forces. >> ifill: they call this kind of internal attack green on green, green on blue crime. describe what that means and how rare it is. >> this year increasingly rare. the last fatal green on blue attack was in february. green refers to afghan forces, blue refers to n.a.t.o. or u.s. forces, so these are cases where an afghan security force, whether army or police, shoots at n.a.t.o. or u.s. forces. again, in 2012 there were a rash of these attacks. there were more than 60 n.a.t.o. forces killed in more than 40 of these attacks in 2012. they steadily declined with increasing security measurers and the decreasing presence of foreign troops here. >> ifill: and what's caught our attention is someone so high ranking was the victim this
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time. has that happened in recent memory? >> certainly not. this is the highest ranking u.s. military official killed in afghanistan and, according to sources, the highest ranking u.s. military official killed in an active combat zone since the vietnam war. so this is very unusual, and the function of a meeting today that was between high-level n.a.t.o. officials and high-level afghan officials. in fact, the afghan general in charge of the base where this took place was also shot and seriously wounded. >> ifill: sean carberry of npr, thanks so much. >> woodruff: the second of two americans infected with the deadly ebola virus arrived back in the united states today. missionary nancy writebol had been working in liberia. she was flown to atlanta this morning and taken to emory university hospital for treatment. dr. kent brantly is already being treated there. both are receiving an experimental drug. >> ifill: there's word today that 730,000 ukrainians have fled into russia this year to
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escape the fighting in their country. the u.n. agency for refugees reported that figure today, based on russian data. within ukraine, another 117,000 people have been displaced, and u.n. officials say that number is growing by about 1,200 each day. >> woodruff: in southwestern china, the earthquake death toll rose to at least 410, as search- and-rescue efforts were hampered by heavy rain. the hardest hit area is a mountainous region, 230 miles northeast of the city of kunming. some 10,000 chinese soldiers-- as well as hundreds of volunteers-- are involved there. they're using sniffer dogs to search for those still buried in the rubble. >> the priority for us now is search and rescue and we hope to find survivors. this is the most devastated place in town and most of the victims are buried so this is the main area for us to search
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and rescue. >> woodruff: chinese officials say thousands of mud-brick homes were destroyed in sunday's quake. >> ifill: and in beijing, officials announced plans to ban the use of coal by the end of the decade. the chinese capital is plagued by deadly levels of air pollution. much of the dust that contributes to the smog comes from coal. the plan is to transition to electricity and natural gas for heating. >> woodruff: a japanese scientist embroiled in a scandal over stem cell research, committed suicide today. police said yoshiki sasai hanged himself. he had co-authored papers in the journal "nature" that claimed to show how to reprogram mature cells into embryonic stem cells. within months, the papers had to be retracted for containing falsified data. the incident became a major embarrassment for japan's scientific community. >> ifill: a criminal gang in russia has pulled off the biggest internet data theft yet. "the new york times" reports the ring has stolen $1.2 billion username and password combinations, plus 500 million email address.
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the report cites information from "hold security," a milwaukee firm that's uncovered several other major hacking incidents. >> ifill: wall street had a down day, partly on worries that russia might intervene militarily in ukraine. the dow jones industrial average lost nearly 140 points to close at 16,429. the nasdaq fell 31 points to close below 4,353. and the s&p 500 slipped more than 18 to finish at 1,920. >> ifill: still to come on the newshour: is there a road to a long-term truce between israel and hamas? lessons in africa's economic and political success stories, getting a return for investing in women executives in the corporate world, the broken and violent prison system for juveniles at new york city's riker's island and putting a life of adversity and hardship to music, jeffrey brown talks to soul singer charles bradley.
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>> woodruff: and to the middle east where a 72-hour cease-fire between israel and hamas is holding so far, after a month of fighting that killed hundreds of palestinians and 67 israelis. and, despite major differences, efforts to reach a longer lasting deal have resumed. the latest try at stopping the shooting began at 8:00 am local time and quickly, palestinians in gaza ventured out for food, water and supplies. they also began to survey the toll of a month of israeli aerial bombardment and heavy ground fighting. for many returning to beit hanoun, in northern gaza, there was little left to see. >> ( translated ): i am destroyed. i have heart problems and then i saw our house, we are all shocked. we don't know what to do. >> woodruff: just to the south,
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the shijaiyah area of gaza city was largely destroyed two weeks ago. israel contended it was a hamas base of operations in a civilian neighborhood, much of which is now gone. >> ( translated ): what are we going to do? should we sit in the streets? we don't have homes to sit in any more, or anything. >> woodruff: gazan officials say nearly 1,900 palestinians died during the fighting. the palestinian foreign minister pointed to the death and devastation today, as he visited the international criminal court at the hague. he said there is "clear evidence" of israeli war crimes. >> nothing is compared to the atrocities, the carnage, committed by the israel against the innocent palestinians in gaza. >> woodruff: the palestinians would first have to be admitted as a member state before the court, a step that israel has strongly opposed. back in gaza, the last israeli ground troops finished
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withdrawing today. they said the mission to destroy hamas-built tunnels is largely completed, but they're staying close to the border. >> we are safeguarding the communities from potential more threats, potential tunnels that maybe we didn't get. we are happy to report that over 31 or 32 tunnels have been destroyed, taking this threat off of the table. >> woodruff: in jerusalem, meanwhile, the headlines were of the cease-fire, but some israelis said it was just a palestinian ploy. >> ( translated ): we should have hit them hard until we finished them. the cease-fire now is only in their interest. >> woodruff: others took a softer line, but remained wary just the same. >> ( translated ): the cease- fire is good for everyone. i prefer that we leave as long as hamas doesn't pull a trick on us. >> woodruff: just outside jerusalem, at an israeli settlement on the west bank, a guard was stabbed repeatedly by
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a palestinian man. it was the third such isolated attack over the last two days in the area. >> ( translated ): what we see here is an escalation all over jerusalem, and the west bank. the army must realize that it must send its soldiers to guard the communities until it is calm. >> woodruff: and on the diplomatic front, a palestinian delegation arrived in cairo as regional powers gathered to try to hammer out a lasting cease- fire. the palestinian group included hamas-- which controls gaza-- and fatah, the party of palestinian president mahmoud abbas, which controls the west bank. >> ( translated ): we want serious and real negotiations that would lead to meeting the demands of the current phase and would then help bring about the end of the occupation. >> woodruff: there was late word that an israeli delegation arrived in cairo, too. egyptian mediators expect to shuttle between the sides in the coming days. joining me now to discuss the prospects for the cairo negotiations are aaron david
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miller, a former middle east negotiator for the state department. he's now a vice president and distinguished scholar at the wilson center. and hussein ibish, a senior fellow at the american task force on palestine and a contributing writer for american and middle eastern publications. and we welcome you both back to the "newshour". hussein ibish, what are the prospects they can pull something off in cairo? if not just to extent the cease fire, to do something longer lasting? >> i think it depends. i think the cease fire is likely to hold because i think both parties reached the point of diminishing returns and i think for israel there's no reason to restart hostilities and i don't think hamas can i politically sustain the pushback that would come if they did. i think it's going to be difficult to find a formula that will satisfy hamas and that the israelis and the egyptians can
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live with, but certainly if the palestinian authority can become a fulcrum, for example being on the other side of the crossing, if the egyptians and the israelis can live with that, that's one way forward. >> woodruff: sounds like he's saying, aaron david miller, yes, the form may be there in the short term. longer term is more complex. >> i think it really is because expectations are much higher. before there were no expectations. israelis declared a unilateral cease fire and withdrew. in 2012, the egyptians brokered a cease fire. now you have the israelis determined to avoid an inconclusive ending, demilitarization. hamas has staked its credibility, its legitimacy on fleeing gaza economically. so the tradeoff, demilitarization for economic reconstruction in gaza will be a tough one to make let alone sustain. >> woodruff: hussein ibish,
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what's the minimum you see both sides need to create something that will last? >> well, i think the israelis pretty much want to -- either want to deny hamas as much as possible a victory but i think they are probably willing to go along with a program to help gaza, as long as it's under egyptian auspices and possibly the p.a. as well. probably the egyptians would insist on that. so that's something i think the israelis might be able to live with particularly when it comes to reconstruction, economic improvement, humanitarian aid. hamas needs almost anything deliverable to the people or that constitutes a political or diplomatic breakthrough for them because they really have been through this almost one month of fighting and come up with absolutely nothing. i mean, really, the way they have lost politically as well as militarily and in every possible sense is absolutely pretty spectacular. >> woodruff: so are you saying there's more of a reason for them to go along for something
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like what you just described? >> yes, i think there is and it dovetails back with the strategies that preceded these hostilities. you have to understand the context of hamas. hamas was really desperate over the past year. hay had lost their headquarters in damascus and sponsors in tehran and friends president morsi in egypt and facing a crackdown from egypt who shut down their smuggling tunnels and treated them as an hostile entity, they were broke and their prop later was tanking. the gamut was to form a government with fatah and bring the p.a. into gaza and have a bigger presence in the west bank themselves. so i think they are trying to parlay a lesser role in gaza in the strong long run for a bigger role in th the west bank. >> woodruff: hue do you see
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that? >> that's a fascinating point, in which the agreement arrived on their part was to reach financial and economic gains and use the backdoor into the west bank where, in essence, the palestinians struggle. fatah took place in gaza and hamas was born six days after it broke out, and i think even they understand changing the political center of gravity to ththe west bank. >> woodruff: are they operating from such a point of weakness as he was saying? >> we might have a slight difference of opinion. they can win even though they've lost. the reality is, in four weeks, they killed six times the number of israelis, shut down ben gurion airport, forced the f.a.a. to suspend it, they fired significant number of rockets on the last day of cease fire, retain a fairly large arsenal of trying trajectory weapons and
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the tunnel infrastructure psychologically and even practically among several operations some of which succeeded -- >> woodruff: those which israel was destroying. >> exactly. there's a problem because the militarmilitary which drove then here needs to deliver something to the public. >> that's the problem. all the things aaron just talked about don't actually accrue to the benefit of the palestinian people of gaza or west bank or anybody and don't bring us closer to national liberation. hamas can't point to a single gain out of. this they didn't even get israeli soldier to exchange for prisoners. they've gotten absolutely nothing. >> woodruff: sounds lying a distinction between what hamas can claim and the palestinian people. >> certainly hamas can say we're a resistance organization. last time a major ground incursion in 2009. several israelis died from
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friendly fire, and this time 63, so we did bert on all the other things, but i don't think that explains to the people of gaza why it was worthwhile to reject a cease fire a month ago and accept it today. >> woodruff: talk about the role of the u.s. we've seen what appeared to be real tension wean the u.s. and israel over the last few weeks. how real is that and how does that affect what happens? >> it's real. i think the relationship is too good to fail but there is dysfunction at the top, no question. you have benjamin netanyahu and barack obama, they do not trust one another, they don't like one another, their views on a number of issues are fundamentally divided. so that's going to be a problem. i think they have no choice but to accommodate and find a way to work together. we've seen worse periods.
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bush, baker and shamir, you remember that period, a very tough one. but here they can't find a single project on which to cooperate which is meaningful to both and that's a significant problem. >> woodruff: how does that bode for finding a solution? >> well, i don't think it's going to make it any easier or harder, frankly. the u.s. role is important, but it's secondary. the egyptian role is crucial here and really egypt being the other state that has a say in what happens in gaza because of its geographical position and political importance in the world is crucial and ultimately i think the egyptians and palestinian authority that can craft a workable solution for gaza, you know, and i think hamas is going to be in a very tough situation because claiming credit for that will be difficult. >> if we keep our feet on the ground and our head out of the clouds, it may be that we can
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actually mick a contribution here. we have to be very disciplined and clear on what we want to cleave and not go for some transformation, some idealized world. >> but in the west bank is where american contribution can come. >> woodruff: talks with are beginning. thanks for your insight. >> ifill: we turn now to the u.s. africa leaders summit, happening this week in washington. the main event today was a business forum, where leaders focused on the wealth of untapped opportunities for u.s. companies, in one of the world's fastest growing markets. president obama's appearance highlighted day two of the summit as he announced billions of dollars in new public and private investment. >> we want to build genuine partnerships that create jobs and opportunity for all our peoples. and that unleash the next era of african growth.
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that's the kind of partnership america offers i want africans buying more american products. i want americans buying more african products. i know you do to and that's what you're doing here today. >> ifill: u.s. companies plan to spend about $14 billion on everything from construction to banking to clean energy initiatives like wind and solar power. former president bill clinton, also appearing at the conference, played up business prospects in africa. in 2000, he signed the african growth and opportunity act. the measure aimed to expand u.s. trade with african countries while encouraging free markets. it is up from renewal next year. today he said investment in the continent remains a "massive opportunity". >> in spite of agoa, which i signed almost 20 years ago or 15 years ago. and all the things that have been done since. it strikes me that we've only barely scratched the surface of what we could and should be
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doing there. and that we're missing the boat. >> ifill: african leaders also highlighted the need to lift up future generations. jacob zuma is the president of south africa. >> i think it is important for people to look at africa and see that africa is changing. there's a good story that is coming out of the continent of africa. >> ifill: phuti mahanyele is chief executive of the investment holding company "shanduka group", based in south africa. >> 15 to 25-year-olds in africa make up 60% of the population of the continent today. and so a key issue is making sure that we have those people being educated to be able to contribute towards, you know, the continued growth of our economies on the continent. >> ifill: a number of african nations-- including rwanda, angola and mozambique-- have made major strides rebounding from years of violence and political strife.
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the african development bank says the middle class across the continent expanded from 220 million people in 2000 to 350 million a decade later. for more on the effort to recast the narrative-- from african struggle to success story-- i'm joined by christopher fomunyoh of the national democratic institute, he's observed elections across the continent. and torek farhadi, a senior advisor at the international trade centre, focusing on african finance and business. first, fomunyoh, today, the u.n. development program said in spite of all the success that africa is still -- the sub is a hair ran africa still the most unequal region in the world. what difference would this announcement from u.s. and u.s. enterprise make? >> i think, you know there is an expectation that investments are going to really focus on the african people themselves and
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also they would target some of the areas in which the company is still lacking, mostly the area of manufacturing and industrialization, so that africa can shift from an industrial-based economy to one in which manufacturing also creates jobs and opportunities for young africans. >> ifill: i want to get back to the bit about young africans. torek farhadi, i want to talk about what the president said today which is 1% of u.s. trade goes to sub saharan africa. why is the u.s. lacking in that? >> well, so far the u.s. has been focusing on markets, and the african market because most difficult market. we talk about africa as one continent but it's composed of 50 countries, so you have to negotiate country by country,
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and not as a government, but when a private enterprise goes in, in every country, they have to deal with another set of arrangements for their investments. the second reason is africa has been lacking in infrastructure. in order to ship something from west africa to east aftercay, it's sometimesasier to put it on a ship and send it by sea because the roads are not there, so the opportunities are there as well because there is quite a number of construction projects and infrastructure projects which have been identified would need financing and they would make a lot of sense now for africa. >> ifill: so much of it financing, christopher fomunyoh, comes from china or even e.u.
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countries rather than from the u.s. >> i think the realization among the americans including americans in the private sector is that the u.s. is lagging behind in terms of taking advantage of what exists on the continent and building partnerships with the african private sector. that's why, last year, when president barack obama during his trip to launch the power africa initiative received a lot of encouragement and i'm delighted to hear that in the summit it is to increase the number of countries to benefit from africa. >> ifill: expanding the the electrical grid. >> correct, expanding the electrical grid into areas of the continent from the american private sector and also other countries that are beginning to buy into the initiative. so i think the u.s. government is doing to africa what all
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dwoforts should do which is create an environment to allow the private sector both from within the united states and the continent to take advantage of the opportunities. >> ifill: in every setting so far this week, there has been a certain amount of defensiveness when so often when wn talk about africa we talk about insurrection or disease or terrorism, and what they wanted to do this week was change the subject. are there success stores? are there different ways on the continent where the countries have rebounding? >> absolutely. what happens today on the disease side and sur recollections, those are surmountable challenges, especially the partnership america can offer to africa is important. america has a lot of soft power and good will in the eyes of the african people and almost in riff country in -- in every country many africa, the african population are looking forward
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to doing more business with america. for that, they have to bring their products up to the standards on what we import in america and, for that, i think it's possible to give technical assistance so that those products are brought to standards and, for that, i think the u.s. can make a major contribution in education in africa. after all, we heard that the demographic will be such that young people, they are the future and already we have a population of more than 300 million people who are middle income. so the opportunity for business is there. i think a partnership of reciprocity and access to markets and trade and investment would benefit all the parties. angola has launched that very well in the last 15 years.
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>> ifill: opportunity to act. right, president signed it in 2000 and up for renewal in 2015. >> ifill: rwanda, mozambique, sierra leone, the places we've identified as rebounding, this demographic piece, how much of that has to do with their rebound? >> it has to do -- i think the demographic contributes a lot to explaining how these countries have bounced back but also i think it's been a wave of governance or attachment to democratic governance across africa that has given the continent (indiscernible) and struggling in terms of development and put in place institutions that can really guarantee a lot of this work that is generated through an investment can be spread to the african populations that really need it the most.
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however, when you look back on what transpired on the continent in the last ten to 15 years, there's a story that can be told for most of africa. you talked about angola, half of the country is oil. but today it's bouncing back and doing very well. sierra leone, a few years ago sierra leone was involved in the civil war, but today sierra leone is contributing peace keepers in somalia. so over 60% of the population comes from an africa of today and tomorrow. >> ifill: christopher fomunyoh and torek farhadi, thank you so much. >> thank you for having me. >> woodruff: in a world of
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finance and big business that's dominated by men, a new american investment fund is betting on women. and its founder is hoping to send a strong message to wall street and beyond. our economics correspondent, paul solman, has the story. it's part of his ongoing reporting, "making sense" of financial news. stocks around the world tanking because of wall street. >> one of the biggest financial failures. >> a total of collapse of the financial system. >> one to have the major causes of the crash of 2008 says the chief financial officer of citigroup, the general familiarity of wall street's old boys network. >> people who had grown up together, gone to the same schools, looked at the same data over years and years and came to the wrong conclusion. >> the same wrong conclusion says sallie krawcheck, one of the rare females who scaled the heights of high finance.
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as sallie krawcheck sees it, the key problem was group think, with few to no females to offer alternative points of view. >> diverse teams, i've seen, may not make quicker decisions but tend to make more effective decisions. they're not all looking at the same thing in the same way. people said if lehman brothers were lehman sisters, it wouldn't have happened. i wouldn't go that farm. if it were lehman siblings, we would have had a chance. >> reporter: whether you buy that or not, after the crash, women hold 15% of fortune 500 companies and 17% of corporate board seats though almost half of business degrees go to females. >> if it were intelligence or effort, we would have a more diverse team. who bragged the most eloquently, right? who presented themselves the best? who made the best case? and sometimes those are people
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who have the best results and sometimes they're not. my experience has been that the gentlemen are more likely to come and ask for the promotion and the women are less likely to do so. >> reporter: sallie krawcheck left banking three years ago, determined to push more women into management. she's now started a stock mutual fund which invests only in companies that promote women. >> here is a market-based, capitalist solution to driving investor capital to those companies. >> reporter: the fund is a joined venture with pax world, a new hampshire firm. it's a way for bellwomen to back a cause they care about and to profit. >> they want a fair return but also want a positive impact. they want their money aligned with their values. >> reporter: sallie krawcheck's women's fund invests in the world's 400 most
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female-focused firms. >> we look at everyone and see how many women on the board, in management, do they have posts like c.e.o. or chief financial officer. they make a commitment to women playing a significant role in leadership and we think that will bode well over time. >> reporter: who's number one? top ten include microsoft, zero rocks, procter & gamble, lockheed martin -- it's big blue chip global companies. >> reporter: companies with a way better than average rate of women at the top. xerox, more than a quarter ofsine yore managers are female. women comprise 40% of its board and nine of its most senior executives are women insecluding the last c.e.o. and the current one ursula burns who thinks the value of gender diversity is obvious. >> we have 6.5 billion people in the world, half are women.
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helps sell products better. >> reporter: since 2001, xerox aggressively diversified into services since women were taken on, its stock as surprised investors despite challenges impose bid digital iming as opposed to see rocking. should come as no surprise says brande stellings. her firm finds firms with more women team to prosper. >> there is a difference. some says sallie krawcheck's data drives her fund. >> whether high returns on equity, greater innovation, whether it is greater client focus, greater long-term focus and, in fact, lower gender pay disparities within the companies. >> reporter: innovation? i've seen research,
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controversial to be sure, but research that shows that men are greater risk takers. >> well, men take more risk. there's actually research that shows that women are better investors, that they're more risk aware and, so, what you actually do see amongst venture capital startups is you will see that the women-owned companies performed better. more singles and doubles whereas the guys typically will either hit a home run, you know, or are more likely to flame out. >> reporter: to sallie krawcheck, investing in women's funds is economically savvy. >> i don't think it makes a lot of sense to invest in socially responsible funds in the hope of getting x number of returns. >> reporter: professor meir statman is a skeptic of any targeted fund no matter how much he believes in the purpose. >> a custom-made portfolio like
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a suit is more expensive. my sense is the likelihood that our benefit from it ought to take into account expense ratio and it would be very small. >> reporter: meir's research found do-good returns are higher for do-good funds. unfortunately. >> they are upset bays socially responsible funds tend to exclude tobacco companies and weapons companies and environmental violators. that exclusion hurts the trends and, so, in this sense, those two effects cancel out. >> reporter: though sallie krawcheck's fund invests in lockheed martin it excludes most sin stocks at a cost says professor statman, though he doesn't disapprove of the female-focused fund. >> people who want the to buy the fund are people who feel passionately about promoting
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women in roles of leadership, in roles of executives. and if they get returns that are about the same or even somewhat lower, then they can get elsewhere, well, then, they consider it worthwhile. >> reporter: sallie krawcheck thinks lots of investors will. >> 90% of women want to have a social impact. 77% of women globally reported they want to get behind companies with greater gender diversity. people are saying, gee, just like i want to work at a company where i make money but also makes a difference in the world, and you see this with younger investors, i also want my dollars to make a difference. >> reporter: is it fair to characterize your fund as the fund that doesn't invest in the good old boys network companies? (laughter) >> if you would like to, you could characterize it that way, although i want to be very, very clear and i really hope this
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makes the cut that i really, really like white middle aged males. i want to make that perfectly clear. i am married to one. >> reporter: tremendously relieved to hear it. >> i know a lot of them. i promise you, this is not an anti-guy thing. this is a pro all of us thing. >> reporter: i have one last question. if you're truly successful and all the major companies of the world adopt the practices you're promoting, then your set of funds will be out of business, right? >> that would be a good problem to have. (laughter) >> ifill: why are there still fewer women at the top of american business? hear from sallie krawcheck about why she thinks women keep their heads down, plus how she climbed the ranks as a new mom. that's on our "making sense" page. >> woodruff: there's a "deep- seated culture of violence" against teen inmates at one of
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the country's largest municipal jails: riker's island in new york city. that's how the u.s. attorney in manhattan described practices and conduct there in a report released yesterday. it also said staff at riker's island, "routinely utilize force not as a last result, but instead as a means to control the adolescent population." among his findings, the u.s. attorney reported: nearly 44% of male teens between 16 and 18 years old have been subjected to force at least once while in custody, a striking number of serious injuries, including broken jaws and bone fractures and investigations and incident reports that were often incomplete or falsified. benjamin weiser has been covering the story for the "new york times" and joins me now. benjamin weiser, thank you for being here. this is some strong language in this report that covers the period 2011 to 2013, is it not?
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>> it is strong, but the united states attorney made it clear that they felt they've got it supported with evidence and reports and all the findings that they made. >> woodruff: what do they mean, when they say "deep-seated culture of violence" against these 16 to 18-year-olds, what are they referring to? >> the united states attorney in this report, a roughly 80-page report, talked about sort of force first, that corrections officers there had used force in an excessive way and resorted to solitaire confinement, an overreliance of that, and also a kind of culture of silence. corrections officers use the euphemism "hold it down." it was widely used within the jails, meaning don't report this incident. teachers and medical staff have learned to look the other way or not report or even feared retaliation for reporting what might have been injuries
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inflicted by staff on other inmates. the u.s. attorney said rikers is a broken institution and broken institutions produce broken people. one of the saddest part is almost half of the adolescent inmates are said to be mentally ill. >> woodruff: i want to read from a couple of the descriptions in the story you wrote, benjamin weiser. you wrote in one instance a female corrections officer punched an inmate in the ribs using handcuffs that were wrapped around her hand after he had fallen asleep in class and then she was joined by other officers who kicked him while he was down on the floor, sprayed him in the eyes with pepper spray. what was the justification for that? >> well, those are just samplings of a vast number of such cases. our early reporting at the "new york times," my colleagues found that an internal report found 129 inmates had been subjected to incidents of use of force last year over just 11 months
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that required -- seriously injured after altercations with staff. the u.s. attorney said there was a widespread violation of civil rights, a pattern of practice of use of force and overuse of solitaire confinement. >> woodruff: tell us how the report says the corrections officers themselves explained why they did what they did. >> the report says many corrections officers would give accounts, written reports after the fact, but those reports were often contradicted by not only the inmates accounts but by videotape that was running at the time of an incident and, in one case, the report said accounts by several of the corrections officers were so similar in language that it appeared that they had colluded. and sometimes the report said inmates were beaten out of view of video cameras, as if they had been taken into isolated areas where video cameras were not watching.
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>> woodruff: the code of silence as you mentioned a minute ago appears to be a big part of this where the report, the u.s. attorneys office found, as you said, that there was an effort to keep quiet about what happened. now we know that new york city has a new corrections commissioner. what is the new official in charge of all this saying? what are they doing now? >> that's a good question. the report was very careful to make the point that its investigation looked at a period that ended late last year. of course, that was the last administration, the bloomberg administration. it also made clear the new commissioner of corrections joseph ponte had not been head of the agency during all this misconduct but it's now his ball game and the report made clear that it expects and hopes the kind of cooperative response from the city over the next few months. if the city does not respond that kay way, the u.s. attorney's document said, the justice department could actually bring a lawsuit and seek remedial action that way.
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>> woodruff: rikers island is a place where youth from all over the metropolitan area go? >> that's right, a combination of about ten jails. three of the jails presently hold adolescents. 400 or 500 adolescents currently there, age 16 to 18. >> woodruff: do we know what's happened or if in there's any punishment for a guard or corrections officer who is found to have engaged in excessive force? >> no, the report sort of makes the point that most these incidents did not lead to substantial punishment or discipline for corrections officers where even that happened. the union head of the corrections -- the corrections union norm seabrook gave a response to this yesterday and said they welcome certain reforms. he also said there had been a lot of mismanagement at rikers. he was sort of turning it around and pointing to the management and leadership and the report
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sort of makes that point well. but he says there are times when corrections officers need to respond to defend themselves and he suggests much of this might have been that kind of response. >> woodruff: a striking report. benjamin weiser with the "new york times." thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> ifill: finally tonight, we take another look at a singer songwriter considered up and coming at the age of 65. jeffrey brown has that. >> brown: it's the voice and the energy that grab you first. a new force in old-fashioned soul music. it's garnered a small but growing following for charles bradley. supported by a group of funk all-stars called the mennahan street band, he's been on tour for a year to promote his album "victim of love" packing
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intimate venues across north america, europe and down under. fans who come to witness and preach the gospel of soul. >> when i get on that stage, i open my heart and let the spirit run free. i show the love that god gave me. ♪ we've got to change our evil ways ♪ when i scream, i scream because it's like 30 words coming to me at one time. how can i say those 30 words? i can't. i scream it. ( screaming ) ♪ >> brown: the intensity comes honestly. after a life of hard knocks, bradley got his first big break at age 62, when dabtone, a record label helped him bring about a resurgence of soul music
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helped him release his first album "no time for dreaming," rolling stone named it one of the best albums of 2011. but for bradley his success is the accumulation of life marked by adversity. ♪ ♪ nobody wants to take the blame ♪ >> brown: bradley grew up in new york city and spent most of his life on the cusp of poverty. as an adult, he spent most of his time on the streets and struggled to make ends meet. >> i left home at 14. i had been living in the streets and i have been through so many things in my life. >> brown: it was an opportunity with job corps, the vocational training program created in 1964 as part of president lyndon johnson's war on poverty that led bradley to his first gig. >> when i turned 16, i went to
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job corps and he said, you look like james brown. i learned two songs and they asked me to join the band there. they said, can you sing? i was afraid. they gave me a little gin and i got a little popped up. i said, give me that mic. i started singing and never put the mic down. >> put your hands together for james brown, jr.! ( cheers and applause ) ♪ >> brown: bradley's uncanny resemblance to the godfather of soul wasn't lost on him. when he was finally discovered by daptone, bradley was well into his 50s and making a living with a james brown act
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known as black velvet. these days, bradley's songs reflect the story of his own past, one of the most pain tells the story of the death of his brother who was shot in his home in new york city. ♪ your brother is gone ♪ oh! >> brown: the band leader is bradley's writing partner. >> it's impossible for charles to sing and not be incredibly soulful. that comes from the pain. the place he sings from is a place of pain and frustration. he doesn't particularly like to sing so much about the good times as much as he likes to sing about the things that, you know, the trials and tribulations of his life and the struggle. >> brown: for bradley, it's a
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struggle worth fighting for many more years to come. >> all my life, i've always been looking for a dream from the age of 14, and i don't stop. i don't stop. i keep going. ♪ ( cheers and applause ) >> woodruff: again, the major developments of the day: a 72- hour cease-fire took hold between israel and hamas, as israeli ground forces completed their withdrawal from gaza. a man in an afghan army uniform machine-gunned nato forces outside kabul, killing a two- star u.s. army general and
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wounding 15 other servicemen. and the second of two americans infected with the deadly ebola virus was flown back to the united states from liberia. >> ifill: on the newshour tonight: photographer ben thwaits sees a lot of similarities between the troubled teens he mentors and great artists: they take risks and ignore convention. that's part of the reason he thinks it's so important for them to channel their energy into nature photography. the results have been stunning. see some of their work, on art beat. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. on wednesday, we'll look at the legacy of world war i, the so- called "great" war caused levels of carnage and destruction never seen before and totally redrew the map of europe. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. we'll see you online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:
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>> 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. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org
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. this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathisen and susie gharib. >> collapse on after $80 billion deal. 21st century fox abandoned this pursuit of timewarner. what is next for fox and the pray that got away? >> sharp stumble, a lousy start to the trading day, and it got worse, but there are ways to protect your money in this market. >> road safety. the new technology companies are developing to cut down on the number of long-haul truck accidents and potentially save lives in our three-part series, collision course. that and more on "nightly business report" for tuesday, august 5th. good evening, everyone and welcome. i'm tyler mathisen. >> and i'm sue herrera in tonight for susie gharib.
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