captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: in his year-end news conference, the president names north korea as the force behind the hacking attack on sony pictures, and says sony should not have backed down in the face of terror threats. >> sony is a corporation. it has suffered significant damage. there were threats against its employees. having said all that, yes, i think they made a mistake. >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. also ahead, tunisia gears up for runoff elections. we look at the struggle for democracy in the country that gave birth to the arab spring. and it's friday, mark shields

and david brooks are here, to analyze the week's biggest news developments. those are some of the stories we're covering on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> lincoln financial-- committed to helping you take charge of your life and become you're own chief life officer.

>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: president obama said today that the united states would respond proportionally and at time of its choosing to the cyber attack on sony pictures entertainment. the f.b.i. confirmed this morning that north korea was behind the attack on the company. mr. obama spoke on that and other issues, at a year-end news conference. >> all i want for xmas is to take your questions. >> woodruff: it was a year-end review dominated by the events of one week. as the fallout continued from the sony hacking scandal, and the studio's decision to cancel the release of the movie about assassinating north korea's leader, the president weighed

in. >> i'm sympathetic that sony as a private company was worried about liabilities and this and that and the other. i wish they had spoken to me first. i would've told them do not get into a pattern in which you're intimidated by these kinds of criminal attacks. >> woodruff: without divulging specifics, he said the u.s. will respond to the attack. mr. obama also discussed his move to reopen diplomatic relations with cuba. he acknowledged the country's regime still oppresses its people, but did find room for optimism: >> what i know deep in my bones is that if you've done the same thing for 50 years and nothing's changed, you should try something different if you want a different outcome. and this gives us an opportunity for a different outcome.

>> woodruff: his action on cuba was just the latest instance of mr. obama's using the power of the executive, last month, he acted to shield millions of illegal immgrants from deportation. both moves enraged republicans, who will control both houses of congress come january. despite their differences, and the gridlock that has gripped washington for much of his tenure, the president said he still believes cooperation is still possible. >> we're gonna disagree on some things, but there are gonna be areas of agreement, and we've gotta be able to make that happen. and that's gonna involve compromise every once in a while, and we saw during this lame-duck period that perhaps that spirit of compromise may be coming to the fore. >> woodruff: mr. obama took just a handful of questions, and only from women reporters, including one on race relations in america.

it comes as the nation deals with anger over grand jury decisions in new york city and ferguson, missouri, not to indict white police officers in the killing of two black men. the president says the country's made progress, but work remains. >> i actually think it's been a healthy conversation that we've had. these are not new phenomena. the fact that they're now surfacing, in part because people are able to film what have just been in the past, stories passed on around the kitchen table, allows people to, you know, make their own assessments and evaluations. >> woodruff: the president left tonight for his family's christmas vacation in hawaii. >> woodruff: the u.s. government is not ready to handle a nuclear terrorist attack or a large- scale natural catastrophe. that was one of the findings of a report by the non-partisan government accountability office, obtained by the associated press.

it found the federal emergency management agency has a hard time coordinating different agencies' disaster efforts. and an overall medical response plan in the event of a nuclear attack is still five to ten years away. this is one of several disaster response reports the g.a.o. plans to release in the coming months. turkey signaled today it could start training syrian opposition fighters this winter. the turkish foreign minister gave a time frame of before march. it includes both training and equipping fighters going after islamic state militants. one of the key portions of president obama's strategy in syria involves fielding local forces in the fight against the insurgents. pakistan executed two militants today after reinstating its death penalty in the wake of a deadly school siege in peshawar. the men had no links to the siege. meanwhile, pakistani ground

troops, backed by warplanes, also killed 77 militants in a northwestern tribal region near the afghan border. and in islamabad, lawmakers walked out of parliament to light candles for the 148 victims of this week's massacre. >> the concept of good and bad taliban has to come to an end. they have to be wiped out across the board. right now, pakistan does not need politics; it needs harmony. >> woodruff: the united nations' office on human rights appealed to pakistan today to stop carrying out executions in response to this week's attack. a u.n. spokesman said it could do more harm than good by "feeding a cycle of revenge." back in this country, a listeria outbreak linked to tainted caramel apples has killed four people and sickened at least 28 others. the centers for disease control and prevention said the bacterial illnesses were reported in ten states, from washington to north carolina,

between mid-october and late november. the pre-packaged caramel apples were sold under the "carnival" and "kitchen cravings" brands. the federal trade commission announced a settlement with t- mobile today over the practice of "cramming". the company will pay up to $90 million for billing customers for cellphone text services they didn't order. most affected customers will get refunds for text services they never signed up for, like horoscopes and celebrity gossip updates. in economic news, prices at the gas pump keep falling. the average price for a gallon of gasoline is now below $2.50, for the first time in about five years. meanwhile, the price of crude oil ended a little higher in new york trading, rising more than $2.00 to close above $56 a barrel. stocks extended their gains on wall street today. the dow jones industrial average was up more than 26 points to

close above 17,804. the nasdaq rose nearly 17 points to finish at 4,765. and the s&p 500 added 9 points to close at 2,070. for the week, both the dow and the s&p gained around 3%. the nasdaq rose 2%. still to come on the newshour. a look at the north korean cyber hack, and what kind oresponse the u.s. could mount. fragile hope in the birthplace of the arab spring. the e.p.a. lays out new rules on how the coal industry disposes of its waste, but environmentalists say they don't go far enough. mark shields and david brooks analyze the week's news. and, millennials put service before smartphones to bridge the generational divide. >> woodruff: we now take a closer look at north korea and

cyber-terrorism and what the president had to say about it all this afternoon. it made up the dominant topic at today's white house news conference. >> woodruff: it was the first question. >> was sony wrong to pull its movie? >> woodruff: and an unequivocal, seven-word answer. >> yes, i think they made a mistake. >> woodruff: president obama told the white house press corps that sony is in a difficult position but was wrong to withdraw its own film. >> we cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the united states. because if someone can intimidate folks out of releasing a satirical movie, imagine if they see a

documentary they don't like, or news reports they dont like. or even worse, imagine if producers and distributors and others start engaging in self- censorship because they don't want to offend the sensibilities of someone whose sensibilities probably need to be offended. so, that's not who we are. >> woodruff: notably, kim jong un's name was never mentioned. but the president clearly targeted the north korean leader in his remarks, using pointedly casual terms like "some dictator" and poking fun at the seriousness of the movie involved. >> i think it says something interesting about north korea that they decided to have the state mount an all-out attack on a satirical movie starring seth

rogen and james flacco. i love seth and i love james. but the notion that that was a threat to them i think gives you some sense of the kind of regime we're talking about here. >> woodruff: the greater question for the president is how will the united states respond to north korea? the attack cost sony pictures tens of millions of dollars so far and an unknown hit in its business position. but the named attacker is another nation. one which is known for its unpredictable, defiant military posture. >> they caused a lot of damage and we will respond. we will respond proportionally and we will respond at a time and manner that we choose. it's not something that i will

announce today at this news conference. more broadly, this points to our need to work with the international community to start setting up some very clear rules of road in terms of how the internet and cyber opps-- it's we've been coordinating with the private sector but a lot more needs to be done. we're not even close to where we need to be. >> woodruff: the president said his team has presented options for a response to north korea and he is reviewing them, and that he is also looking at detailed ideas for strengthening cyber security. as he forms a response, the president stressed that he sees the threat as serious and urgent. >> if we don't put in place the kind of architecture to prevent these attacks from taking place, this is not just going to be affecting movies, this is going to be affecting our entire economy in ways that are extraordinarily significant.

>> woodruff: after the press conference, sony c.e.o. michael lynton responded to the president. he told cnn: "the president, the press and the public are mistaken as to what actually happened." he also said: "we have not caved" and "we have not backed down." lynton said sony still plans to let people see the movie, but said theaters and home video distributors are not willing to show it yet. he also contradicted the president, saying sony had reached out to a white house adviser. but he did not identify whom. let's explore some of the many questions now about how the u.s. might respond. dmitri alperovitch, is co- founder and chief technology officer of crowd strike, a security technology company. and, former ambassador jack pritchard, who has been involved with korean peace negotiations for both presidents george w. bush and bill clinton. so, dmitri alperovitch, to you first, what do you make of the f.b.i. finding? and the president referred to it

that north korea and north korea alone was behind this attack? >> we've been tracking this and call them silent clima, the name for the group based out of north korea. >> reporter: say the name again. >> silent calima. it's a north korean mythical flying horse. we have been tracking them since 2006. they have been involved in a lot of destructive attacks. >> reporter: i ask you because there were questions in the last few days about whether north korea was capable of mountinmounting this kind of at. you're saying they clearly were. >> they absolutely are. they're not the best cyberpower out there. not as good as united states or russia or china but they're in the second tier and have this capability and they have been using it for the last eight years. >> woodruff: let me turn to another piece of this story,

ambassador pritchard, and we know the president said sony made a mistake pulling back the film, and the reaction from sony c.e.o. what i want to ask you about at this point is the president's characterization of north korea's leader. at one point he talked about some dictator someplace, and then he seemed dismissive of the fact that north korea has launched such a major attack, cyberattack on, he said, a company that just made a satirical comedy. >> yeah. number one, i think the president is trying to avoid publicly naming kim jong-un as the force behind this, but you've got the take a look at the history of north korea. it's been led by one family, the grandfather, the father and now the son, and throughout the history of north korea, any attack on the leadership required north korea to respond. so it's not surprising they did, regardless of what we may think

of the -- how funny the movie is or whatnot. from a north korean perspective, it's an attack on the core of their being, and it requires a response. what we weren't prepared for is the level and the fact it was this tip of cyber attack. but clearly we knew sothing was going to happen. >> woodruff: what did you make to have the president's term "some dictator someplace"? you said he wanted to avoid naming kim jong-un. why? >> you know, anytime you talk about the north korean leaders using their name, it raises the hackles of the north korean leadership, and he's probably trying to not artificially raise a tit for tat response at the governmental level. he's still formulating what he's going to do and how he's going to respond. what he doesn't want to do is

give north koreans the fodder to suggest it's the united states beating up on this poor country and some dictator that's leading it. >> woodruff: in terms of a response, we heard the president say it will be proportional and at a time of the u.s. choosing. he's not going to be announcing it. it will be done behind the scenes, presumably. what are the options? >> well, you know, in basic terms, three things could be done. diplomatic, military and economic. on the diplomatic side, we don't have a relationship with north korea. we can't leverage something that they may want to preserve, so that's out. on the military side, anything that we would contemplate would have to have the full cooperation and understanding and approval of south korea and that doesn't fall within the proportionality that the president is talking about. that leaves you economic aspects to deal with. from my point of view, i think

there are probably three things that the administration's looking at right now. one, it's a coordination, consultation with the other members of the six-party talks, china, russia, japan and south korea. i would expect they'd take this to the united nations to put it on the record in the world spotlight, if you will, and third and what will actually be the proportionality that will do some damage to north koreans would be financial sanctions. if you think back to 2005 when the treasury department imposed sanctions that affected a small bank in macaw, it caused a great deal of angst in north korea that ultimately led them to additional bad behavior but

finally brought them back to the negotiation table. >> woodruff: dmitri alperovitch, the president talked about the need to work, he said, with the international community the start setting up some kind of rules of the road. what could that look like? what can the international community do? >> the first thing you can do is encourage additional information sharing on the indicators and the tactics that the north korean regime used as well as other actors throughout there. the intelligence of this group has been around for the most of eight years. if these companies that have been coming under attack from them have that intelligence, if they would use it proactively to hunted for the adversary, this type of hack could have been prevented. that's a critical thing we don't have now. >> woodruff: you're saying the u.s. and other countries could begin to create something like that? >> that's right. the u.s. government has a lot of information, the private sector has a lot of information. you could encourage additional information sharing. information related to the intelligence we have on some of these bad actors and share it with the private sector. that would be a good first step.

you could talk about norms of behavior, that it's not okay for a nation state to do this to a private company, destroy its network, take its information and leak it out into the public and there will be repercussions when you do it. that will be a first good step. >> woodruff: dmitri alperovitch, ambassador jack pritchard, we thank you both. >> thank you. our pleasure. >> woodruff: four years ago this week, the radical transformation and upheaval known as the arab spring was tripped off in the north african country of tunisia. a frustrated and unemployed street vendor set himself on fire after authorities confiscated his fruit and vegetables which he was selling without a license. that single act prompted weeks of demonstrations which ultimately led to the ousting of

then president ben ali who had ruled the country for nearly 25 years. other protests quickly erupted across the arab world. leaders in egypt and libya were forcibly removed, a brutal civil war began in syria. and today, much of the region remains mired in instability. millions of citizens are expected to vote this week in the country's presidential runoff election. film maker jesse deeter has been traveling there in recent months to document the country's fledgling steps toward democracy in parliamentary and first-round presidential elections. she produced this report with hari sreenivasan. >> reporter: this is what shoe leather presidential campaigning looks like in tunisia. candidate kalthoum kennou hit the streets of a working class neighborhood ahead of first round elections, listening to and seeking the support of

citizens struggling to get out of poverty. >> ( translated ): there are some villages, trust me, that don't even see the sunlight. i swear to god. >> ( translated ): for the past two weeks my feet are cooked from walking from village to village. i've toured the whole country! >> ( translated ): it's normal that'd i'd come here in this place, not far from the capital, you see how people live in misery. >> reporter: perhaps normal now, but unheard of in the not so distant past. kennou is the country's first ever female presidential candidate. and during the ben ali regime, the independent judge suffered harassment and arbitrary job transfers for her stance against the former leadership. kennou didn't make it past the first round of the presidential elections and doesn't think change is happening fast enough. however, many tunisians think their country is heading in the right direction. lotfi garbi is one of them. he's been a metal worker at a souk for more than 20 years.

he says that despite some economic hardship, things have improved since the revolution. >> ( translated ): the situation is better than it was with ben ali because ben ali didn't allow for freedom like we have now. it's true that for any country that has a revolution there has to be a period of four or five years. >> reporter: he proudly voted in the recent parliamentary elections but kept his ballot choice private. >> ( translated ): i am very happy to voted. and god willing those we elected will do good things for tunisia. >> reporter: the secular coalition party, nidaa tounes won that contest. taking over from the islamist party ennahda. what makes tunisia so unusual among post arab spring nations with leadership changes and political turmoil is the actions of that islamist party. instead of holding on to power and fighting when it became clear it no longer had support of the majority, it decided to step down. and in the presidential elections, it opted not to put forward a presidential candidate.

ennahda's leader, rashid al- ghannouchi explains why: >> ( translated ): we are in a transitional phase between a dictatorship and a democracy. we need the rule of consensus, the distribution of power among more than one party. for that reason, we chose to limit ourselves. >> reporter: although tunisia has received high marks on its democratic process internationally, security remains a serious problem for the country. >> ( translated ): nationally, the biggest danger we face is the danger of terrorism, mainly because tunisia is located in a terrorized region, our borders to libya are open which makes it possible to traffic weapons and to train young tunisian men. >> reporter: there are more islamic militants from tunisia fighting in syria and iraq than any other nation. just last week, the tunisian interior minister declared that there are now 2,400 fighters from his country for the al- nusra front or the islamic state. and some are returning home. the balance between the new

found freedom of expression and providing a secure country for citizens and investors, is front and center in this weekend's presidential elections pitting interim president and self described voice of the revolution and moncef marzouki against a man who held a top job in the government of former president ben ali, bejei caid essebi. he's presenting himself, and his party, which won the parliamentary contest, as a return to stability. but some are worried this could mean returning power to the once feared security forces which had a reputation for abuses and mass detentions. corinna mullin is a professor at the university of tunis. >> part of the problem under ben ali was exclusionary politics and the politics of fear. and there is a fear that there is a possibility to return to that. as we see in neighboring countries that can spiral out of control. it's a very slippery slope-once that happens the dragnet can worry. >> reporter: essebsi has pushed back against those concerns, and

in a newshour interview last year, he said that he and others shouldn't be blamed for the transgressions in the former dictator's government. >> ( translated ): but the old regime isn't all dirty, you know? there were two million tunisians with ben ali. we can't exclude them all. >> reporter: back on the streets, the former judge turned politician, ennou kalthoum, isn't enamored with either candidate but says keeping the peace in tunisia is key. >> ( translated ): there is a risk of the old regime and the new dictatorship as well, i am against both. if the president manages to make peace and security in tunisia automatically there will be an evolution on the economic plan because people are afraid of investing. i hope that people will be able to make things better in the future. >> reporter: metal worker lofti garbi is counting on that better future, hoping his country emerges as an arab spring success story among a region deep in turmoil. for the pbs newshour, i'm hari sreenivasan.

>> woodruff: the past few years, and a pair of major spills into waterways and communities, have brought a whole new concern about coal to the forefont: it's about a by-product called coal ash. after a six-year battle, the environmental protection agency has set the first national standards for how to regulate and deal with it. but some argue the federal government pulled its punches. jeffrey brown has the story. >> brown: december 22nd, 2008. more than a billion gallons of coal ash, a by-product of coal- burning energy production, mixed with water burst through the banks of a containment pond in kingston, tennessee. the coal ash slurry flooded homes, farm land and poured into the emory river, prompting what would become a billion dollar clean-up. earlier this year, more than 80,000 tons spilled from a duke energy holding pond into north carolina's dan river.

according to the e.p.a., more than 100 such breeches, though usually smaller, happen every year. coal ash contains toxic contaminants like mercury, arsenic and lead, and environmental groups have long warned holding ponds are not only prone to ruptures, but also leak into ground water. they had pushed for coal ash to be classified as a hazardous material. that would give regulatory authority of the substance to the e.p.a. but in announcing new standards for coal ash storage and disposal today, e.p.a. head gina mccarthy said that power would remain with the states. >> there are numerous cases of this rule sets a commonsense consistent baseline for industries and states to follow and communities can rely on to prevent health risks as well as costly clean ups. >> brown: industry groups said they were pleased the e.p.a. did not classify coal ash as hazardous waste, but they said the new rules were still too tough. we learn more now about the new rules and the reaction to them

from dina capiello, national environmental reporter for the a.p. the key question here was whether coal ash qualifies as a hazardous waste. what did the e.p.a. say? >> it's a non-hazardous waste. they related it today like household garbage. so they decided to make it not hazardous and treat it under the same classification as household trash. >> brown: what's the reasoning? >> the reasoning is the e.p.a. said the current record and evidence showed it didn't meet the hazardous classification and through other measures they could protect communities and public health from these ash waste sites. >> brown: the exemption from federal oversite has been there a long time. >> congress put it in place. i think what people don't understand is a lot of energy wastes are exempt. not only coal ash but drilling wastes are exempt, coal mining waste is exempt. because congress said so. but what they also said was, if

you evaluate the waste and at some point in future time the risk is great and it should be classified as hazardous, you have the authority to do that. so that's what the e.p.a. was doing. so twice before today, today is the third time the e.p.a. has said we're not going to do it as a hazardous waste. >> brown: what kind of new strictures did they put on? >> classifying it like solid waste like household trash, it requires all waste sites at power plants would have to have liners to protect groundwater, monitoring requirements for closer if they don't use it anymore to take the water out and cap it so it's an impermeable barrier. they would also have to, interestingly, let the public know and disclose the monitoring tests so the public could actually police it and see if it's violating water quality standards. >> brown: well, how much is known at this point? how many studies have been done about the environment or health

consequences of the spills and leagues that happened in. >> a lot. after the tennessee valley spill in 2008, the e.p.a. went into high gear, the dan river case in north carolina. they actually went around and surveyed a lot of ponds, looking at structural integrity, see what they were doing, so gathered a lot of information. just because something is not classified as hazardous doesn't mean it doesn't have hazards. that's what the environmentalists were saying today, it is hazardous. it has arsenic, lead, mercury in it, things that are in coal. and in the environment in certain quantities, it could be a risk, and that's why the environmentalists push for the hazardous waste. >> brown: and the environmental community is not happy today? >> very upset. they got a law on coal they wanted and wanted this to be a hazardous waste clarifies case. furthermore, they wanted a strict deadline for closing all of the sites out there that

don't meet these standards, and that didn't happen today. what the e.p.a. said is we can deal with legacy sites, sites that are enactive and unlined, have no liner, that are operational landfills, but we have no authority at landfills of power plant is no longer operational. >> brown: and the coal industry's respond? >> the coal and recyc industry, this is widely recycled, about 40%, are pleased with the rule. but again, they want to work with congress to make it very clear that the states are in charge of enforcement and actually to deal with the sites so they have certainty going forward. >> brown: when you look at what might happen next, would bit legislative or legal or both? >> i think the new congress will take it up. two senators said we'll look at this and say we want to revisit legislation that passed in 2013 in the house that would make it clear that states have the enforcement authority here.

that hasn't worked so well in the past. it's been a patchwork quilt of regulation, some states controlling it like solid waste like what the e.p.a. said theyhead to today, some not, and enforcement varying depending on stat budgets and how many sites are out there. >> brown: dina capiello, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: now, to talk about a full week of news, we turn to the analysis of shields and brooks. syndicated columnist mark shields and "new york times" columnist david brooks. welcome, gentlemen. so so much to talk about. david, the story today, the headline story is north korea, the administration confirming they are behind this cyber attack on sony pictures. first of all, the president said flat out today that sony made a mistake. what do you think? >> yes, i think so. you know, like the president said, we can't have a country where people are self-censoring.

based on a foreign attack, if they had done a movie about a civil rights figure and a bunch of racist said we'll do something to your company if you don't pull the movie and they pulled it, it would be disgraceful. i think this is similar. i do have sympathy for sony. they're out there alone with countries spending hundreds of millions of dollars to target them. this is a collective action problem. the countries have to tick -- the companies have to stick together. the u.s. has to say an attack on any company in the u.s. is an attack on the country and has to step in and journalists have to step in. >> woodruff: what do you mean? hen e-mails were leaked, i think reputable news organizations should not participate in publicizing them. obviously, they're going to be out on the web somewhere. somebody will publicize what was in the e-mails. i do not think we should be involved in that business. let somebody else do it. it is sort of aiding what is basically a terrorist attack. >> woodruff: mark? i think david's call for

self-censoring on e-mails is high-minded. i don't think it's practical. and i think this did contribute in part to sony's action. i mean, there's an old expression, never write what you can speak, never speak what you can whisper, never whisper what you can nod and never nod what you can wink. and, inc. the e-mails were and i think the e-mails were embarrassing not only professionally but personally to the people there and trafficking in gossip and i think that accelerated sony's decision. and the question as to what happened between them and the theater owners is open, whether, in fact, sony really did want the theater owners to say take the pressure off us by saying you don't want to show the film. i mean, the president, i thought, was quite forceful. he was very measured, and he has let it know -- i mean,

proportionally, we don't know what form it will take. i think the ambassador made it clear in the previous piece what form it will take given there is no economic commerce between the two countries. >> woodruff: is there a clear path for the must a situation like this where you have a government going after a private company? >> well, you know, the president said he spends twice as much time on his predecessor as cyber security and his predecessor will spend twice as much than him. this will be a gigantic issue. among the cyber people, they talk about going on offense. we talk about smart and soft power. this is a new form of hard power. it's a kind of war fair waged on us and you have to intimidate and deter. the u.s. obviously has to have a capability to deter and that means going on offense of people doing bad things whether in china, north korea, russia and

anywhere else. >> some locked at this and said should there be limits on what movies are made about and what books are written about? if you're going to go after a sitting leader of a country, are you opening yourself up for something like this? >> well, i mean, i assume it was discussed at some point. i mean, at david's point, are you going to be inhibited by making a biographical piece on martin luther king or john lewis because some racists say you can't do it, or mandela, or whatever the case, you can't be stampeded. there had to be some consideration given to the marketability and what the impact would be of making a movie on a closed society, on someone not simply just paranoid by a self-deity as well. i guess you substitute any other country, i mean, would you do a

jamaica satire on the -- would you make a satire on the prime minister of israel, the pope, the queen of england? >> woodruff: are there limits here? >> no, if a guy is a ruthless dictator we almost have a moral responsibility to write things about them. that's the job we do. it's complicated because we have so many cases involving islam. in another faith, you want to show respect, because it's a faith. that doesn't mean because if someone is an islamist radical you couldn't go after them and there have been cases where news rooms have backed down on that threat. but it's not that complicated or dangerous but we have responsibility to criticize those who deserve criticism. >> do you remember charlie chaplain's hitler, you know, the idea, and the piece like the

producers, being enable peep to- people to laugh. >> woodruff: another big story this week, it's cuba, opening up to this country after 53, 54 years, david. was it the right thing to do, for the president to do this on his own and to say, we're going to -- we've given it a shot for half a century, time to do something else. >> i think it's been the right move. this policy has been in place longer than i have been alive and failed. eventually you try something else. i think this is about regime change. marco rubio has a case. venezuela is poor because of price of oil, can't afford to subsidize cuba. maybe cuba would have falon faster and maybe we're giving them a lifeline by opening trade and giving them economic support. but i think the way to look at it is are we strengthening cuban

society with american influence. that regime will fall. we want cuba to be a better place to live after the regime falls. it's better to have american influence there economically, culturally, it will be a better society so when the regime falls, the transition from communism will be easier. i think the president did the right thing. >> woodruff: what do you say, mark? >> david brooks has been more sixfusuccessful in his five decs than cuba. i think sanctions are working against russia, have against south africa, they can make the case they brought iran to the bargaining table. they have not worked against cuba. they were intended, when installed, to put pressure through cuban people on the castro regime and it would topple. the reverse occurred. if anything, the regime became stronger and more entrenched.

so irrespective of senator rubio's arguments which may be historic, i think we want to acknowledge what we had done is wrong, it's made no sense, and we do want to hasten that change and be part of that change, be an agent of that change and to help make cuba a freer and fairer and better country, and i think that we believe in our exchange, a fair exchange. so i commend the president for it and i think he did the right thing. politically, i just point this out, john kerry -- al gore in 2000 got 29% of cuban support in 2004. barack obama got 35% in 2008 and they split the vote in 2012.

so it is more of a political opportunity than it is a political liability. >> woodruff: the fact the president did it on his own, didn't wit for congress to get rid of the trade embargo -- >> i think that's fine. i have ca caniptions when he dos something on foreign policy. but i think this is fine. >> speaking of florida politicians, there is florida politician, jeb bush, former governor who hasn't had his name on a ballot in 12 years but is moving closer to running. he's going to set up an exploratory committee. what do you think? what does it look like? >> i think he's the favorite. i wouldn't say he's a huge favorite by any means but a plausible candidate. he's a successful governor from a swing state, and he has a good

reputation in the party. pretty conservative, not so much on immigration, but compared to republican presidents in the past, pretty conservative, not as much as ted cruz and rand paul, but is sort of where the main stream of the party is and i believe the party is coming back from the tea party phase and back to about where jeb bush is. basically, i think the obvious problem is last name is bush, has hedge fund and income issues he'll have to deal with, but compared to the other candidates, the christies, the rainos, the pauls, the cruzs, he looks less flawed than the other guys. >> woodruff: wow! what do you think? >> i think jeb bush had a good week. if you're in the situation, thinking about running for president, you want to postpone that as long as you can. you want to keep your powder dry. you don't want to go through a two-year marathon endurance contest. so he forced the issue by his announcement of an exploratory

committedy. let it be no that no exploratory committee in the history of american politics has never said anything but there's a groundswell out there, boss, everybody wants you to run. he did a couple of things by this, first of all, he said he would release his e-mails. that puts pressure on who? >> woodruff: from the time he was governor. >> yes. puts pressure on chris christie, current governor of new jersey who has e-mails he'd just soon not have made public and on hillary clinton, a possible opponent, she's been reluctant to make public all her e-mails. she moved up the timetable to make the decision. i do not see him as a great moderate. he was a conservative governor of florida. on common core, the education of standards test which was a republican embrace has been moved and abandoned by virtually every republican, and immigration are the two that

really make him, i guess, the king of moderates in the current republican party. >> woodruff: do you think it hurts he's a bush, the father, one son and now the other son? >> yeah, it hurts. but if he's running against a clinton, what will we choose? george washington versus thomas jefferson. old names here. >> franklin roosevelt, four times president of the united states, winner of world war, two saved the country during the depression. his namesake franklin delano roosevelt, jr. couldn't get elected to the house of representatives or attorney general. the idea jeb bush, fully admirable -- the idea george bush could spawn two sons to become president. that we go back to the same family three times in less than a generation? >> woodruff: we may have to ponder that over the holidays.

we have a few days to think about it. we're not going to see the two of you before christmas. i want to wish both of you a wonderful holiday, a merry christmas. >> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: and a happy new year. >> same to you. >> woodruff: and thank you for 2014. david brooks, mark shields. >> woodruff: finally tonight, building bridges across the generation gap and the technology divide. the newshour's mary jo brooks has our report. >> reporter: got it? yep. >> reporter: your work out for the day? twice a week, 24-year-old courtney kershaw and 89-year-old dorothy stone head out on errands. on the day we visited, there was a trip to the nail salon and the grocery store. kershaw works for "capable living," a concierge business who provide services for senior

citizens who live in their own home. fees start at $1,000 a month. what's unique is the employees are all young people, so-called millennials born at the end of the last century. the goal of the company is not only to provide services but to build bridges between a generation of obsessed with smartphones and selfies with one that was raised in an entirely different era. >> some things are you telling me about when you were my age and things cost ten cents and you wasn't driving around all day. >> when i was her age, the war was going on, so it was sort of a different situation, too, as far as young girls were concerned. >> reporter: amanda founded "capable living" five years ago when she was just 20 years old. she now travels around the country speaking to young entrepreneurs and college students about the benefits and business opportunities for millennials who work with seniors. >> most of my good friends never

thought of this career for themselves and most are on completely different paths but there is a huge opportunity for millennials to get into this space and, on the business side, the financial side, there is a large opportunity. do you mind if we brainstorm? >> reporter: she points the demographic data that shows in ten years millennials will make up 75% of the workforce while baby boomers will be retiring from their careers. she thinks it's just good business sense for young people to start developing services for this older generation and makes good life sense for the two groups to interact. >> they're able to pass down their experiences and their stories and they're relevant again and it's being relevant that gives them meaning and purpose. and i do believe that those younger/older connections are very, very important to us to grow as a society. >> this happens to be me when i was, i don't know, probably six months old or something like that. >> you were adorable!

>> reporter: one of the newest projects is to start a nonprofit cyberseniors program in denver, plans to model it by one in nearby boulder where high school volunteers work with seniors on computer and internet issues. >> what do i do after? >> reporter: bruce mckenzie lives in the retirement community. >> i'm taking a class at the university called hip-hop 101, and i didn't know how to listen to the rap songs that are on hip-hop. and ryan showed me how to go to youtube, which i never knew anything about. so i go to youtube now and i can listen to all these rap songs for my class. reporter: mckenzie and other residents warrick with students from the nearby lavista high school and they love it. >> these young women are delightful. they're bright. makes me feel ten years younger every time they come. >> reporter: the students are

equally enthusiastic. >> i'm just a high school student and here i'm getting to connect with these people who don't really know anything about technology. i have the power to connect them and it's a special feel. >> i'm learning a lot from them and they're learning from me. i think i like older people more than younger people. >> reporter: jack williamson runs this chapter of cyberseniors. >> it helps bridge the gap between the generation gap and the information gap and builds relationships with young people and seniors which is sort sov rare in our culture today. >> elders and children have a very natural bond that we've lost through the industrial revolution and then even more with the information age. but i believe that, you know, the technology that once displaced elders can connect us again. >> reporter: the latest project is a smartphone app to develop where millennials can

record and preserve stories of senior citizens. she hopes to begin a pilot program this winter. i'm mary jo brooks, the "newshour". >> woodruff: again, the major developments of the day. president obama said at a year- end news conference that sony pictures made a mistake in not releasing a comedy about assassinating the leader of north korea. earlier in the day, the f.b.i. formally accused north korea's government of being behind the hack attack. sony's c.e.o. said the company did not cave in to the hackers. same-sex marriages go forward in florida next month after the u.s. supreme court declined to extend a delay. and a report from the nonpartisan, government accountability office found the u.s. government is not ready to handle a nuclear terrorist attack or large-scale natural catastrophe. on the newshour online right

now, we've just wrapped on our "12 days of newshour" and our final gift to you is a special behind-the-scenes holiday greeting from us. watch that and see the rest of our offerings from the last two weeks. that's on our home page. and continuing the theme of the season, we talked to inter-faith families who have adopted their own traditions for this time of year. and we want to know from you: do you have a holiday tradition that combines your family's different backgrounds? see our report on the homepage, and share your story in our comments section. all that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. and a reminder about some upcoming programs from our pbs colleagues. gwen ifill is preparing for "washington week," which airs later this evening. here's a preview: >> ifill: cuba, north korea, and everywhere in between.

the end of the year brings a rush of news that we can't wait to put in our usual friday night context. that's later tonight, on washington week. judy? >> woodruff: on tomorrow's edition of pbs newshour weekend, william brangham reports from georgia where a small town struggled whether to allow muslim residents to build a mosque. here's an excerpt from that report. >> they're training their kids how to do terrible things to americans and uh, we're trying to stop it. >> reporter: do you know the people who are behind this mosque? i mean, they say, "we've been living in this community for decades. and we have never shown a trace of violence." does that example not convince you that they might have different intentions than you think? >> like i said, prove it. >> reporter: they feel that the american muslim community doesn't do enough to condemn the acts of isis and al qaeda. what is your response to that? >> muslims, not only in the united states of america, but

all around the world, have condemned these acts. and, and we continue to do that, because this is really not islam. and we'll be back, right here, on monday, with a conversation with dave isay, the founder of story corps, an ongoing oral history project heard on national public radio. that's the newshour for tonight, i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend. thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> lincoln financial-- committed to helping you take charge of your life and become you're own chief life officer. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security.

at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. >> 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

report" with tyler mathisen and susie gharib. funded in part by -- thestreet.com and action alerts plus where jim cramer and fellow portfolio manager stephanie link share their investment strategies, stock picks and market insights. you can learn more at thestreet.com/nbr. >> yes, i think they made a mistake. >> simple as that. president obama disagrees with sony's decision to pull the movie "the interview" as the fbi confirms north korea was behind the hack and now, some say the impact on business is just starting to be felt. >> deep in the heart of texas, crude prices fall for four straight weeks down 50% from its highs this year and perhaps no place to