captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> ifill: good evening. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: on the newshour tonight: a buffer zone planned a ceasefire broken-- kurdish rebels fighting against isis in syria and iraq come under fire. the delicate balance of alliances in a war-torn region. >> woodruff: in a historic trip to africa, president obama promotes peace, democracy and human rights. >> ifill: plus, a journey into the history of world war two-- honoring the "silent heroes" who fought and died in normandy on d-day. >> we know about the generals, we know about the really famous heroes, but the average guy that went out there and did what he had to do, they are just numbers so these kids are getting to know them.

>> woodruff: all that and more 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. >> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives.

>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. >> 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: the death toll from sunday's al-shabaab suicide bombing in somalia's capital rose today to 15. the facade of the five-story hotel in mogadishu was sheared off when a car packed with explosives rammed into its front gate. in neighboring ethiopia today president obama said the islamic militant's attack underscored the need to push back against violent extremism. >> yesterday's bombing in mogadishu reminds us that terrorist groups like al-shabaab offer nothing but death and destruction and have to be

stopped. we've got more work to do. >> ifill: the blast killed a kenyan diplomat, a chinese embassy guard and two journalists, among others. >> woodruff: airstrikes resumed in yemen today shortly after a midnight humanitarian cease-fire went into effect. the saudi-led coalition pounded houthi targets near the rebel- held military base of al-anad, and north of the port city of aden. 15 coalition troops were also accidentally killed in two strikes in the province of lahj. the five-day truce was designed to get much-needed humanitarian aid to civilians in the hardest- hit areas. >> ifill: with no way to make a looming loan repayment, puerto rico has come up with a plan to raise up to $500 million through oil revenue. that's only a fraction of the $3 billion it had hoped to raise to refinance its debt. the governor's chief of staff told reporters today the commonwealth can't raise enough from its public finance corporation bonds before an

august 1 deadline. >> woodruff: the u.s. olympic committee killed boston's bid to host the summer games in 2024. after the city raised financial questions. earlier today the city's mayor voiced concerns the multi- billion dollar event would put taxpayers at risk. marty walsh said he didn't want the city's residents to have to foot the bill if local olympic organizers ran out of money. >> i refuse to mortgage the future of the city away. i refuse to put boston on the hook for overruns. and i refuse to commit to signing a guarantee that uses taxpayers' dollars to pay for the olympics. >> woodruff: there are only seven weeks left to officially nominate another city. the u.s. hasn't hosted a summer olympics since the 1996 games in atlanta. in economic news, china's shanghai stock index plummeted 8.5% today. most of that sharp decline was in the last hour of trading. it was its largest one-day loss since 2007, in spite of the

chinese government's recent efforts to stabilize the market. analysts attributed the sell-off to weaker-than-expected economic data, including a drop in chinese factory activity and industrial profits. >> ifill: fears of a slowdown in china's economy pushed stocks lower on wall street. the dow jones industrial average slid 128 points to close at 17,440. the nasdaq fell more than 48 points, and the s&p 500 lost 12 points. >> woodruff: bobbi kristina brown-- the daughter of r&b singers bobbi brown and the late whitney houston-- has died. she passed away sunday at a hospice in duluth, georgia six months after she was found unresponsive in a bathtub. she was 22 years old. still to come on the newshour: a delicate balance of alliances under threat after air strikes hit isis and kurdish targets president obama promotes his economic and human rights agenda for africa and much more.

>> ifill: turkey and the u.s. are working on plans to sweep islamic state fighters from a strip of land across the turkish border with syria. this comes as istanbul steps up its air campaign against the extremist group and its crackdown on kurdish insurgents. special corespondent jane ferguson reports from southern turkey, where many are holding their breaths. >> reporter: american fighter jets will soon be launched closer to the islamic state group than ever before. from this turkish base at incirlik, they will pound the extremist group just across the border in syria. a new deal between the u.s. and turkey will allow americans to launch air strikes from turkish soil and increase turkey's role in the fight. turkey will reveal the details

this is a major turnaround for turkey, which has been criticized for not doing enough to tackle isis. now, deadly attacks by the group along the border have pushed the turkish government to act. at this outpost, 100 yards from isis, a turkish soldier was shot dead by the group last week. el beyli village is the nearest turkish village. people here are terrified that isis is simply too close. some told us they want more soldiers to keep them safe. >> ( translated ): we are so nervous. we want to see a normal life again here. we cannot sleep. >> reporter: an hour down the road, the group's power is alarmingly apparent. in areas like this along the turkish border, isis are so close to turkey that you can see their flags flying. just behind me on that wall there is an isis flag, just feet away. now what the turkish government want to do is to push isis back

from these areas to create some sort of safe zone or buffer. >> it's clear turkey believes once you establish a safe zone, people will go back to it. >> reporter: stephen cook is a middle east scholar of foreign relations. >> it will become a place that moderate syrian forces will expand march against the islamic state as well as the assad regime. but one can imagine a whole host of scenarios that pull turkish and potentially american forces further into the syria fight. >> reporter: the islamic state has also hit the kurdish people in eastern turkey. ethnic kurdish communities straddle the border between turkey and syria. kurdish rebel fighters inside syria have been battling isis for months. last week a suicide bomber killed 32 young activists in the kurdish town of suruc inside turkey. the attack shocked the nation and increased calls for action against isis.

the young people killed here were planning to bring toys for children across the border a few miles to kobane, where kurdish forces had routed isis earlier this year. the five-month-long battle for kobane was a significant victory for the kurdish forces. it showed their growing strength inside syria. the turkish government watched with concern those kurdish gains in territory with concern, fearful their own kurdish population may push harder for independence. now this new deal with the american military opens the door for turkey to fight not only isis, but the kurds. and it's already happening. turkish jets bombed both isis and kurdish forces in iraq as soon as the deal was announced. a two-year-old ceasefire with the kurdish rebels in turkey is now believed to be over.

people back in suruc say turkey is only starting another war inside its own territory. >> ( translated ): in the name of operations against isis, we don't want to attack turkey. we see egypt, libya and iraq and the wars that are going on there and we don't want this to happen in our area. >> reporter: although american jets have been helping the kurds win territory from isis in syria, u.s. officials now say they support turkey's strikes against kurdish targets. turkey's involvement in the war against isis could prove a crucial turning point in u.s.- led coalition efforts to destroy the group. opening a new fighting front against kurds in the region simultaneously, will change the delicate balance of alliances in an already complex war. >> ifill: i spoke to jane ferguson a short time ago.

jane, we're talking now about an i.s.i.l, i.s.i.s.-free zone along the border now. why is it turkey is interested in this now? >> well, turkey is under increasing pressure. the turkish president is under pressure from its own population to do something about i.s.i.s. and not be seen a being soft on terror. violence has shocked turkey in the last week. what's complicated issues for the turkish government is there are so many kurdish rebels on the syrian side of the border. those rebels have been making massive gains against i.s.i.s. and taking terrorist away from i.s.i.s. whenever they have victories, as they have had in the recent months. that complicates things for turkey because the turkish government are dealing with a large kurdish minority in their country who, for decades, have been pushing for independence and they, of course, still want to see any bolstering of kurdish calls for independence right on

their border and in their territory. >> >> ifill: you mentioned the word "complication" more than once. there are a lot of complications. another one is syria themselves agreed to anything which involved in this collaboration could help the pro-assad forces in syria. >>syria. this, of course does complicate things because it will be fighting i.s.i.s. and not necessarily assad and that is something that the turkish government have been criticizing the coalition for. they really wanted airstrikes against assad. they wanted a no-fly zone imposed. so for them they had been holding out for that. but at the minute, the details of this deal will be revealed tomorrow, probably most likely at that n.a.t.o. meeting. so we won't know the details just yet. but the plan, as far as officials are telling journalists, would be to create this buffer zone to allow certain rebel groups not

kurdish rebel groups, around certain rebel groups described as moderate to take over that specific area, that would give them room to resupply, to maneuver, to basically operate in the area around aleppo north in aleppo city. >> ifill: we don't know how far the buffer zone would extend. >> it's not clear four in it would go. it's unlikely it would go all the way to aleppo city. that would be an enormous military target. but if it could just move in far enough to be able to number i.s.i.s. away from the border so that they no longer can touch the turkish border, that would be significant in itself militarily because that would affect their link to tot side world, essentially. >> ifill: jane ferguson, reporting for us tonight in turkey, thank you. >> woodruff: president obama continued his visit to africa today, making a personal push

for peace and calls for democracy. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: the star-spangled banner greeted the first american president to visit africa's second most-populous country. but after the pomp, the president spoke of urgent business, not in ethiopia, but in its neighbor to the west: south sudan. since the u.s. helped midwife the founding of the world's newest nation in 2011, civil war has left tens of thousands dead and displaced two million more. >> our hope is that we can actually bring about the kind of peace that the people of south sudan so desperately need. >> reporter: the president and african leaders discussed options, including sanctions, if a peace deal is not reached by august 17th. mr. obama urged inclusion, and respect for human rights, in a news conference with ethiopia's prime minister.

>> i believe that when all voices are being heard, people know that they are included in the political process, that makes a country stronger and more successful and more innovative. >> woodruff: that message was also central to the president's visit to kenya over the weekend. it was a highly anticipated visit to his father's homeland and mr. obama's first in nearly three decades. kenyans lined the streets to welcome the president, whom they see as one of their own. but security precautions prevented him from greeting many of the residents so thrilled to see the kenyan-american president, as he referred to himself or visit his father's village. he did, however, attend a private dinner with members of his family-- including his grandmother and half-sister. and he cut a rug at a state dinner held in his honor joining in on a traditional dance. aside from the celebrations, the

president also pushed his human rights message. kenya's president, uhuru kenyatta, emphasized the threats of terrorism facing his country and promised to work toward equal rights for all. >> we agreed together that we can build a future in which our people of all faith, cultures live peacefully together with >> reporter: but the country has a checkered record when it comes to human rights. in 2010, kenyatta himself was named a suspect in crimes against humanity by the international criminal court. president obama spoke about corruption, ethnic divisions, and human rights-- urging kenyans to "choose the path to progress." and he had stern words for the treatment of people based on sexual orientation even as kenyatta dismissed gay rights as a "non-issue" for kenyans. >> so, i'm unequivocal on this. the idea that they are going to

be treated differently or abused because of who they love is wrong. full stop. >> reporter: tomorrow, in addis ababa, mr. obama will be the first american president to address the african union. joining me now to discuss the visit and president obama's record on africa is: career diplomat and former assistant secretary of state for the bureau of african affairs under president obama, johnnie carson. he's now a senior advisor at the u.s. institute of peace. and william gumede, an author and professor at the university of the witwatersrand in south africa. we welcome you both. professor, how do you think this trip has gone and how much difference do you think it's going to make? >> unfortunately, this trip is almost coming at the tail end of

the obama presidency. you might understand this has been happening in the last couple of years in africa. china has become a big factor in africa's growth. obama coming to africa has made democratic noises but almost a little too late. >> woodruff: ambassador carson, what about that? is the president coming too late? >> absolutely not. this, i think, is turning out to be a very substantive and positive trip with president obama focusing on expanding trade and commercial opportunities with africa with these two countries and the united states and strengthening the security partnership that the united states has had with both kenya and eat nopia. the president is also getting a chance to talk about some of the

new initiatives that he has been responsible for power africa to substantially increase the amount of electrical power reaching african cities and communities, feed the future which is designed to promote a green revolution across africa, to help end starvation and famine at the village level and to expand agro-industries at the upper level, and particularly a focus on the youth, the next generation. so this is an important trip, and it's the fourth trip to the continent and may not be his last. >> woodruff: well professor gumede, these are specifics, this has to do with working with the economy and young people. >> well, what has been happening in the next couple of years, you know, we've seen the longest

growth spurt in africa, you know, i mean, since independence and since the second world war. if you look at how the dynamics of this growth, the dynamics of this growth has been driven really, you know, by newly-emerging markets buying africa's products, getting engaged in africa whether china or india. that is the nature of -- it has been a big game-changing couple of moments the last couple of years in africa, and in the u.s., you know has almost lagged behind and really going to have to work much harder, you know, to catch up with what has happened on the continent. if you just think about it, at the moment, civil society on the continent where the new african leaders should be coming from, you know, have struggled the last couple of years because, you know the foreign funding used to get in the path has declined up the global financial

crisis and many of the several societies democrats in africa have struggled and hoped that the u.s. would have played a much bigger and stronger role in providing them with capacity. >> woodruff: let me put that question to ambassador carson. to listen with to what the professor is saying, sounds like the u.s. is dropping the ball, china has been active there, there has been an opportunity to engage and the u.s. hasn't taken advantage of it. >> the united states has been deeply engaged in africa, not only as a development assistance partner, but increasingly as a trading partner as well. the united states remains one of the largest, single, bilateral contributors to development assistance in africa and the united states remains one of africa's largest trading partners. i think that president obama,

over the last several years, has gone out of hi way to encourage american bymen and investors to increasingly look at africa as the last global economic frontier. you may recall, judy that in 2014, president obama held the first u.s.-africa summit and the first day of that summit was devoted all to economic, commercial and investment interest. >> woodruff: professor gumede it almost sounds like you're talking with two different situations, with your description that the u.s. has been absent and ambassador carson saying the u.s. has been very engaged. how do you account for that? >> well, the u.s. has been engaged with africa, but, you know, it's been engaged almost in a wrong way. it's been engaged in sort of the old way. you know the old pre-financial

crisis ways whereas africa has moved and, you know, and the world has moved and for developing countries have moved in africa has also moved. so for me the u.s. is really catching uh and need to do quite a lot to catch up. but in terms of looking into the future, i think, you know if out of this trip, there could be a focus on african civil society, because that's where the future leaders will be coming. from that's where the future democrats will come from. if they can be supported and given the capacity, which has not happened in the last couple of years. >> woodruff: well we hear you, and ambassador carson, i want to give you a chance quickly to comment on the president's remarks in his public speeches in africa about human rights, about sexual

orientation, the lack of respect for that. are these the kinds of statements that are going to have resonance on the continue snent. snent -- on the continent? >> absolutely. i think democracy, strengthening democratic institutions and promoting good governance are at the basis of having a good, well-organized society. i think that a society that protects the rights of individuals also proects the intellectual property of those individuals. a society that protects civil liberties also protects corporate liberties, and i think a society that is open and inclusive is a society that generates both good idea and greater productivity from both men and women. >> woodruff: ambassador johnnie carson professor william gumede, we thank you both.

>> ifill: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: student historians document the stories of "silent heroes" at normandy, record fines for fiat/chrysler after failing to recall millions of unsafe cars and breaking silence-- the personal accounts of 35 women who accuse bill cosby of assault. but first, the 2016 presidential contenders are on the attack, each jockeying to the chance to secure a place on the stage for the first republican debate in cleveland in ten days. the polls are getting tighter and the rhetoric is getting hotter, just in time for politics monday. that's with amy walter of the cook political report and tamara keith of n.p.r. let's start with mike huckabee, shall we? mike huckabee said -- and we can take a look at what he had to

say -- that the president's foreign policy is the most feck less in american history, it is so naive that he would trust the iranians. by doing so he replaced the israelis and marched them to the door of the oven. obviously, that was a holocaust reference. and before i ask you to weigh in on that, let's hear what the president had to say in response while asked about it while traveling in africa. >> when you get rhetoric like this, maybe it gets attention, withand maybe it's just to push mr. trump out of the headlines. but it's not the kind of leadership that is needed for america right now. i don't think that's what anybody democratic, republican or independent is looking for out of their political leaders. >>leaders. >> ifill: it should be said no one asked the president about donald trump but he managed to bring it up.

what are these policies and provocation that we're talking about. >> i think the president is correct that it has to do with donald trump is sucking up all the oxygen and, in fact he is sucking up that place that so many of the other candidates thought they would be sitting in right now, which is the anti-establishment, angry at the system candidate. there are plenty of people in that position or vying for that position -- ben carson, ted cruz, rand paul, mike huckabee -- they're not getting the attention, donald trump is, and they are such increasingly putting their rhetoric and antics up to try to dethrone him. >> ifill: donald trump lindseylindsey graham responding by beating up his cell phone, and governor perry said after the wake of a shooting in lafayette louisiana, that maybe moviegoers should bring gunnels. everybody seems to be topping

each other. >> there's a debate coming up. they all want to place on the debate stage. only top ten earn a place on the first debate stage. how do you raise your profile and get in the top ten? some of them are running ad. some of them are taking chainsaws to the tax code or golf clubs to their cell phones. they're trying to get attention they're jumping up and down and saying, hi! perhaps if you get a call from a pollster, you will support me so i can get on that debate stage, and it's national polls not the state polls in iowa and new hampshire where maybe more people are paying attention. >> ifill: we'll talk about the polls in a minute but first i want to talk about what's getting lost in the attack and counterattack which is policy. >> mmm! >> ifill: what do we know about donald trump and what he actually believes, amy? >> i don't know what he actually believes in. i don't know that he actually believes in anything. honestly, he's been all over the map, if you look at statements

he's made in his political career if you could call it that, where he flirted with running as a president. he talked about being an independent, democrat he's been republican, he's been pro-life pro-choice, he's saying hillary clinton is a good person, he likes her now he's saying show would be a terrible president. he's talked about a tax on wealthy people, and now talking about how terrible the tax code is. the the reality is what donald trump is brilliant at a exploiting the anger and frustration that's been there on republican voters, the tea party candidates tapped it into burks, as i said, there's only this much vote there. donald trump is getting all of it, nobody else is able to peel some of it away. >> ifill: including hillary clinton who in the last weaker has given major speeches on economy and climate change. is it breaking through? >> not really. i think donald trump is monopolizing the headlines and i think also, it's summer and people aren't necessarily ready

for a lot of policy. what i think the clinton campaign is doing here is the way you get coverage, traditionally, is you have a horse race, and then people cover the horse race. well, hewell, she doesn't truly have a horse race and she is doing policy rollouts. but there hasn't been a ton of detail in them or a lot of meat yet. she keeps saying that will come later in the summer. >> but there has been a horse race to the debate station as we've seen before. let's look at the nbc maris poll in iowa and new hampshire. in new hampshire, donald trump is leading, 21% followed by jeb bush at 14%, scott walker 12 john kasich at 7%, rounding out the top four. that's a big turnaround. >> absolutely. nobody would have said three

months ago donald trump would be topping the polls. but if you said to me would there be an anti-establishment tea party candidate up in the top three in new hampshire? of course. that happens to be donald trump. the person who is benefiting the most is jeb bush. if you notice in this poll and if you see the iowa poll, he's in the top three in all of these. it's consolidating an anti-bush vote, anti-establishment vote for one person, and it's everybody else who is desperate for attention and the one who doesn't show up much and that's marco rubio. >> ifill: bernie sanders is 47% -->> bernie sanders is consolidated the anti-hilary vote. martin o'malley is trying to get a little bit. lincoln chaffee would love a little bet bit of it, jim webb would love a little bit.

but really bernie sanders came in and he became the alternative to hilary. he's the thing that's there for all of those people who just -- who say things like, i don't want another clinton or another bush. >>bush. >> ifill: let's go to iowa briefly where the numbers are not so different except, in this case, in iowa, donald trump is coming in second. we have scott walker, midwestern governor up top. why is that different? >> again, i think you're seeing the same three things bush is the establishment candidate donald trump, who by the way if you look at overall approval ratings in that poll, he actually piqued. his approval ratings among republicans are in the high 40s and in new hampshire in the mid to high 50s. so i don't know if he can get much higher than where he is. the question is there are still 15 people, serious candidates in the race will 21% be enough to win one. >> ifill: hillary clinton and bernie sanders are one and two

in iowa. when you talk about donald trump leading, he's still incredibly unpopular as well in the public at large. >> yes, that is a problem that he has. he has huge name i.d. and people have strong opinions about him and many are not big fans or many of the people say that they don't expect that he would ultimately go on to be the republican nominee, which is not a great sign for the staying power of his candidacy. i'll also just say, this time in 2011, michele bachmann was riding high, and herman cain was riding high, it was like an escalator to a cliff, and that could be happening this time, the alternative to the establishment. >> ifill: we'll remind you of that after we get to the debates and donald trump is still there. thank you both very much. >> thank you.

>> woodruff: now, an effort to make history more meaningful by bringing the classroom to where it happened. the newshour's april brown traveled to normandy, france to see a program that uses a personal approach to highlight the sacrifices made during world war ii. the report is part of our american graduate series, a public media initiative funded by the corporation for public broadcasting. >> reporter: it has been more than 70-years since broadway valentine sims, eugene mlot and francisco blas died during the invasion of normandy-- the turning point in the allied campaign to liberate europe from nazi germany in world war two. but their sacrifice and that of 13 other servicemen is being remembered and honored in graveside eulogies at the american cemetery perched above omaha beach in northern france. >> technician fifth class broadway valentine sims was born in 1916 in the remote town of elizabethton, tennessee. >> eugene g. mlot was a shipping

clerk and electrician with four years of high school under his belt when he joined the army air force in 1942. >> francisco blas embodies the characteristics of bravery, courage and unwavering loyalty as he faced segregation, uncertainty and even death itself. >> reporter: this is an important part of national history day's normandy institute. >> i will never sacrifice of henry and louie made for their country and the sacrifice they made for me. >> the program started because of a concern that today's young people don't really understand what sacrifice is all about and how sacrifice and freedom fit together. >> reporter: as executive day, cathy gorn has led 15 director of national history day, cathy gorn has led 15 student-teacher teams on a journey through history each summer over the past five years. by following in the footsteps of those who served and died during the normandy campaign they learn about d-day and world war two. >> we've asked them to look at someone from their own backyards, their own community

or at least their own state and find out all they could about this individual who gave that ultimate sacrifice. many of these young people were not too much older than the kids that we bring here and to honor them in way that sort of gives them their history back. >> reporter: before they even go to france, teachers and students selected for the normandy institute spend months becoming historians. they contact living family members, collect pictures, love letters and official military documents, hoping to unlock any clues about their "silent hero." >> we know about the generals we know about the really famous heroes, but the average guy that went out there and did what he had to do, they are just numbers so these kids are getting to know them. >> reporter: there is a stop in washington d.c. to learn more about the war beyond what can be taken from a textbook. at the national archives in college park, maryland, the teams work with some of the nation's leading caretakers of

world war two artifacts, hoping to uncover further details amid the archives' four billion documents. >> we had several planes shot down and we lost all men on board. >> reporter: but the human costs of war can perhaps best be told by those who were there-- 92- year-old norwood thomas jr. fought as part of famed 101st airborne division. thomas was among the first allied troops to land in normandy, parachuting into a field under cover of darkness. >> on the dropzone that we landed on, we were supposed to have three battalions of infantry, this would be approximately 2,000 men. i landed at 1:21 in the morning. daybreak we moved off that dropzone we were able to garner 95 men. >> reporter: when they get to france it's time to tell the stories of their servicemen, among them a pilot, a technician and two radiomen-- twin brothers

from nebraska. vanessa taylor from ainsworth, nebraska learned henry and louie pieper died together when their ship struck a mine in the english channel. >> their parents had received a letter from the twins only two days before they were killed that said don't worry about us we are together. >> so he probably landed like right there. >> reporter: spencer valenti and his teacher thomas leighty of wilmington, delaware studied the life of private william verderamo. verderamo saw action in north africa and sicily. >> a lot of his family members say that he was a really outgoing sort of person that he'd always say when he registered for the army that he would always say that he's going out to save the world. >> reporter: private verderamo was killed on june 6th, 1944-- d-day. spencer uncovered a letter that was later sent by the army effects bureau to verderamo's wife of six months, mary.

>> i regret to advise that included among your husband's effects are some photos which are damaged, apparently by bloodstains. i shall appreciate it if you will indicate whether you desire these articles forwarded with his property. >> it makes it very real and vivid and i do have a very vivid imagination. i'm able to put myself in stories, i'm able to imagine if this is where they were at the beach. >> reporter: at first, audrey calovich of kansas city, missouri, only knew flight officer edmond decker as a decorated pilot killed by german fire on june 8th, 1944, she'd eventually find out much more. >> ed possessed a joy of mischief and adventure and had an eye for trouble and was a lover of life. he was dashing and handsome. flight officer decker was idealistic, cocky and brave. he was a fighter pilot, a good one. >> reporter: many of the details audrey discovered came from decker's family in kansas city and an alumni group at his old high school. but she found few military

documents that mentioned decker- - and that has given her a new empathy for historians. >> being on this trip you understand how important it is to preserve history for future researchers like us. >> reporter: audrey's history teacher lisa lauck will use lessons learned on this trip to change how she teaches. >> you think about the troop movements and the overall big picture and you know people die but you don't connect to it emotionally and that's something i really want to change for my students. i hope that they can take away that these are people, like you and i with families, had loved one had personalities. >> reporter: while there is much emphasis on the personal stories here, historian antonin dehays is conveying another important goal of the institute: that the past can be seen in many ways. >> our job is to mention all the aspects of an event-- the glorious ones, but the darkest ones as well. >> reporter: among them, the horrors of the holocaust and the almost six million jews who died.

but at a visit to a german cemetery, nicole cordes of indianapolis became aware of how families in that country were affected as well. >> someone had come recently and put a laminated picture of the soldier and they put flowers around it and they were fresh flowers so someone came recently and i think he was 19 when he died. >> reporter: back at the american cemetery, the students say a final goodbye to the men they've grown to know. >> mack, you've inspired hope in your men, your country, a small desperate people and a young girl who will remain forever grateful for you and your comrades who fought for your country and what they believed in. >> eventually time and the elements may take back this plot, but it is a beautiful thought to think he will stay here and that the earth will always remember him and his sacrifice. >> reporter: for the pbs newshour i'm april brown in normandy, france. >> ifill: the students and teachers are building websites to share what they learned about their "silent heroes". you can find a link to them on our home page: pbs.org/newshour.

>> woodruff: fiat chrysler must offer to buy back hundreds of thousands of ram pickup trucks and other vehicles as part of a settlement with the federal government. the automaker will pay $105 million in penalties-- the highest civil fine ever for an auto manufacturer-- as part of the agreement. the national highway safety traffic administration-- or n.h.t.s.a., for short-- found 23 allegations of misconduct with fiat/chrysler, covering more than 11 million vehicles. the government said the company had failed to notify owners and delayed fixing vehicles, which included problems with steering and control. it comes just days after a video showed hackers taking over a jeep and fiat ordered a voluntary recall of more than

one million cars to prevent hacking. anthony foxx is the secretary of transportation and joins me now. welcome again to the "newshour". >> thank you judy. >> woodruff: so explain more why the penalty is being levied. what is it fiat chrysler failed to do? >> in the course of doing recalls, the recalls were basically ineffective so there were failures to notify dealers and consumers, there was fairly to inform -- failure to inform n.h.t.s.a. of various aspects of the recall and the recall was executed poorly so these fines are calibrated not only to punish fiat chrysler but we have remedial steps in place to improve performance going forward. >> woodruff: $105 million in penalties. it could have been higher. if you had levied 35 million on each of the 23 recalls it could have been 700 or 800 million. >> it's the significant, highest

penalty n.h.t.s.a. has ever put in place in history and will be attention getting not only to fiat chrysler but also to the rest of the industry. our goal is to see the industry be proactive with safety and to ensure that when consumers get behind the wheel, they're able to move where they're going safely. >> woodruff: how significant is it, secretary foxx, that fiat is being ordered to take cars and trucks back they sold. is this designed to send a message to the rest to have the auto industry? >> on that aspect of the recall, we found that, in some cases, there is no effective remedy that chrysler has been able to produce to solve the problem consumers have so, in most cases, we're having them buy the veects back and get the consumer in a better car. >> woodruff: this is the first time something like that's happened? >> well this magnitude, perhaps. i haven't gone back into the history books to look, but i

know it's rare but exists within n.h.t.s.a. >> woodruff: how much of a safety risk with fiat chrysler? i mentioned the recall on friday over the hacking and then there was another recall saturday. how many of their vehicles are at risk? >> well, i think there are society of of two separate issues. the 23 recalls that we're making the fines towards today those recalls are going to be much more effective given the remedial steps put in place. as far as cybersecurity, this is an ongoing concern we have. we are working with industry to produce a round table of industry take holders all of whom have skin in the game when it comes to cybersecurity so we can their information aproses private sector holders and tls government at the table working with them to ensure that we're as safe as possible. >> woodruff: there are so many car and truck drivers in this country, how concerned should be people be. >> is this we are not only working with fiat chrysler to

address the specific problem that emerged last week burks we're also working to ensure that across the industry there is a much higher level of vigilance around the cybersecurity issues and there will be more to common that. >> woodruff: just on the recalls overall, secretary foxx the sense is that n.h.t.s.a. the national highway safety traffic administration is just taking a much tougher line against the auto industry than has been the case in the past. is that how we should interpret this? >> we believe very firmly that in this age of rapidly-changing technology and automakers trying to get more and more products on to the marketplace that safety can't slept, and, so, we are being very muscular, i would say, in terms of responding to this environment and making sure that industry gets the appropriate signals that if they're proactive, it's going to be a better business decision to deal with the issues before something gets on the street or to issue recalls and do the right thing in the first place. >> woodruff: let me ask you

about something else that is part of your portfolio and that is a bill before congress to fund highways. how worried are you that, now that we approach a deadline, the fact is both houses of congress are not able to come together in some sort of an agreement on this and the fact that the gasoline tax in this country no longer seems to be something that congress is willing to use to fund the highway? >> we have a structural problem with how we pay for our highways, and, you know, on the good side of the ledger, it's good to see both houses working towards what they believe are solutions to solve the problem even over, you know, a multi-year period. but we have lots of innings left in the week. i'm hoping that they get to some resolution so that we don't go over the highway cliff because there are projects across country that would be potentially stopped and jobs that would be affected as well. frankly, the country needs a long-term highway bill. i have been saying that the entire time i have been here and we'll keep pressing even if we go into extra innings beyond

this week. >> woodruff: and you think it could go beyond this week? >> potentially. i'm hoping they find a resolution burks we'll see. >> woodruff: secretary anthony foxx. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> ifill: "new york" magazine overnight published an arresting cover image that has brought renewed attention to the dozens of sexual allegations against bill cosby. of the 46 women who have now claimed rape or assault at the comedian's hands, 35 agreed to be interviewed and photographed. a 36th chair is unoccupied, which sparked a social media firestorm about the assault victims who remain silent. it's tagged: #theemptychair." here is one of the women who did speak to the magazine. joyce emmons is a former comedy club manager who said she was assaulted by a friend of the comedian's one night after she asked cosby for headache medication.

>> and i don't remember anything after that except waking up the next afternoon. i had no clothes on. and his friend was there next to me without clothes on. and i said, "what's happening?" because i was really out of it. and he said to me, "did you enjoy yourself?" as if i knew what i was doing. i said, "you pig," and of course i used some other words. i said, "bill what did you give me?" i know it was a little white pill, i remember that much. he said, it's called a quaalude. i bet you don't have your headache now. and he laughed as if it were a joke. >> ifill: cosby has denied allegations of rape and assault. we contacted his spokesman again today, who declined to comment on the latest report. noreen malone is a senior editor

at "new york" who interviewed and wrote many of the stories of the 35 women. thank you for joining us, noreen malone. how long has this project been in the works? >> the project has been understoodway since december, actually -- underway about since, about six months. our photo director of the magazine had seen the women coming together one by one and she saw the vision of how powerful the picture would be if they came together in one picture. >> ifill: did you have trouble having them to agree? >> one or two said no. one signed on and then it snowballed, we had four sign on in the last week. all of these women had already come forward so they had already made the tough decision to go public, it was just a matter of sharing even more with the public. >> ifill: not only were there photographs taken and some agreed to the videos, but a lot of them met each other for the first time. what was that like? did you get to spend some time

at the photo shoot to see how they interacted with one another? >> i went by the photo shoot in new york. for a lot of them, it was a joyous occasion. that seems like an odd word to use, but, you know, none of them had met each other in person before, and there were people who this was, you know, a format everything in their lives and these were the only people who could share this experience with them. >> ifill: had these women been blaming themselves all this time? is that the way this works? >> they really had. many events happened in the '60s and '70s and '80s when date rape was not the same thing. there was literally no word for that at that time, so these women had the experience that they couldn't even make sense of themselves much less tell people about it and how people listen. >> ifill: in fact, how many of them are of a certain age. they're in their 50s and 60s now so they all went through this some time ago, allegedly.

separate interviews, similar stories, however. >> yes. that was the really striking thing. you know, we talked to all 35 women separately, and the same things kept coming up. you know, many of the incidents that they described, alleged incidents are quite similar. they involve cosby contacting an agent and saying, you know, can you put me in touch with someone. many of these girls were so excited, many were actresses trying to make it and heard bill cosby was taking an interest and drug and drink is similar throughout tins dents. >> ifill: i want to talk to you about the empty chair. the thing your eye is drawn to after you look at the women lined up and facing the camera. what is the significance of it and -- first, what's the significance of it? >> i think it's somewhat open to interpretation. as we were talking to many of these women, almost all of them said, oh i know who someone else who's not coming forward

and not going to talk but it happened to her too. and people on social media seized on the empty chair as a way of saying okay, these 35 women are ready to talk about something that happened in their past but not everyone who has been sexually assaulted or raped is ready for that, so people were, you know offering up reasons why women or men might not be ready to come forward and talk about it and hash tagging the empty chair. >> ifill:? scrolling through the responses a lot of it had nothing to do with bill cosby at all. >> it really took on a life of its own, which was great to see. >> ifill: we have not, but have you gotten any reaction from the cosby camp on this latest report? >> i have not and we reached out before publication to several of his lawyers and have not heard back anymore. >> ifill: did you anticipate legal pushback? how did you vet all of these stories? >> well, it was quite a process. the magazine has a fact-checking

process, but, you know, we don't -- our stories we say are alleged in this. we check them out to the best of our ability, but attend of the day, it's he said, she said. cosby has not been convicted of any crimes. statute of limitation is up for all these incidents. so this was really more in letting these women tell their stories. >> ifill: in this case, he said, she said she said, she said, and so on. >> right. >> ifill: noreen malone of "new yorker" magazine. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: on the newshour online: we continue our series on long-term care with three profiles of older americans who have decided to "age in place"-- that is to stay in their homes rather then move to nursing facilities. see how they do it-- we have their stories on our home page: pbs.org/newshour.

>> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. on tuesday: how the first test of the atomic bomb changed the lives of those living downwind from the blast. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> 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.

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