captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for saturday, october 10: twin bombings at a peace rally in turkey kill dozens of people; violence between palestinians and israelis escalates; and, in our signature segment, how light rail trains can jump start economic development, but do enough drivers get on board? >> you have to start somewhere. you have to build it. you have to basically convince people to park their cars. >> sreenivasan: next on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by:

corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios of lincoln center in new york, hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: good evening, and thanks for joining us. no one has claimed responsibility for a pair of terrorist bombings in turkey today. the attacks occurred during a peace march in turkey's capital city of ankara. more than 90 people were killed and close to 200 other people were wounded. i.t.n. reporter rajiv popat has more in this report, which includes the moment when one of the bombs exploded. >> reporter: witnesses describe shocking and chaotic scenes. just moments after two

explosions in the center of the turkish capital ankara, the injured were treated on roads and pavements by passers-by as they waited for paramedics to arrive. the blast happened ahead of a peace march, a protest against the connick with kurdish militants in the southeast of the country. one of the bombs exploded outside the city's main train station. the government says this was a terrorist attack and they're investigating claims that a suicide bomber was responsible. the turkish prime minister has been holding emergency talks with senior officials. security is now a top priority for the government with parliamentary elections in the country just three weeks away. >> sreenivasan: a wave of stabbings in jerusalem's old city and unrest throughout israel has prompted the israeli government to step up security. in the past week and a half, stabbings by palestinians have killed four israelis and wounded at least ten more.

israeli police responding to the attacks and troops confronting palestinian protesters have killed at least 20 palestinians in jerusalem and the palestinian territories of gaza and the west bank. israel's military said today a rocket had been fired from gaza into southern israel. joining me now via skype from jerusalem to discuss the escalating unrest is josef federman of the associated press. joseph, thanks for joining you. what's the latest? >> we are more violence today. it appears stabbings i jerusale, and violence on the gaza strip >> sreenivasan: on the one hand you have protesters marching and on the other hand you seem to have random attacks that have hard to predict in different parts of the country now. >> yeah, it's something israel hadn't dealt with before, at least on this level. the attacks do not seem to be organized. they don't seem to be coming from above. they're sort of ground-level

venus. it's very hard to defend yourself. what you have is a country that is very jittery, very nervous, and everybody looking over their shoulders >> sreenivasan: this is probably the 15th time that people thought this is the next intifada or uprising. what do people on the street feel, on both side of this? >> look, it's very easy-- the easy thing to say is here we are entering a new intafada and there are a lot of similarities. the level of convenience, the fact this is dragging on, the fact it doesn't seem to be stopping. there are also key differences. in the past, the intafada violence organized from the top down. a decade ago, 15 years ago, when it started, you had yasser arafat in charge of the palestinians. he had armed forces who were involved. this time you have mahmoud abbas in charge of the palestinians. he is committed to nonviolence. he is not calling the shots on this thing. so, again, it's hard-- you're talking apples and owners here, and it's very hard to say where

this is heading >> sreenivasan: and what's the israeli political response to this then? >> well, you have prime minister netanyahu dealing with different pressures from different directions. he's a nationalist. he has a hard-line cabinet, so he's under a lot of pressure to respond tough and you'll see him when he makes his public statements. he talks tough. he talks about the need for the country to band together, how to stop terrorism. but on the other hand, he's also urging restraint, and most noticeably, a couple of days ago, he called on lawmakers to stay away from the temple mount, the area in juz that is at the heart of all the unrest >> sreenivasan: what is the situation flying some of these specific areas? do you see an increased police presence? >> yeah, i actually went for a walk through the old city where a lot of the attacks have been happening. i went through the old city two days ago, and it was quite a chilling experience. i walked from damascus gate, which is in the heart of the

palestinian side of the old city, over to the western wall, which is the jewish side, and really every 50 yards, every 100 yards, there were groups of policemen, sort of miniature checkpoints as you walked through the alleyways, patrols everywhere. i've been here over a decade. i've never seen anything like that before >> sreenivasan: joseph federman of the associated press joining us have a skype from jerusalem, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> in neighboring syria, russian force anniversary stepped up their attack on syrian president bashar al-assad. russian militaries bombed more than 50 targets in the past 24 hours, supporting government ground troops fighting rebel groups. joiningly me now is "wall street journal" reporter sam dagher. sam, we have heard in the past few days of the russians attacking different positions in syria by land, air, and sea. >> that is correct, harry. but they've been primarily targeting the non-isis fighters.

these are rebels in the western half of the country. these are islamist rebels as well as relatively moderate rebels linked to the so-called free syrian army which has received assistance in the past from the united states, including antitank missiles >> sreenivasan: so this puts the u.s. in a position where people that they have supported on the ground against president bashar al-assad are now being attacked by the russians. >> you have to also look at the repercussions of what the russians are doing. first of all, by focusing on these groups, they're allowing isis to exploit the situation, and we've seen that already happen in aleppo. isis took advantage of the fact that, you know, its rival, these other rebel groups, are preoccupied, fending off regime forces who are trying to fight them with russian support. so what isis did in northeast

aleppo is capture least 10 villages yesterday from the rebels, as well as a very important base. it's called the infantry academy, northeast of the city of aleppo, and this is something the rebels captured from the regime in 2012. second of all, you also have to look at what's happening on the ground, which could be exacerbating the refugee crisis. there are a a lot of people fleeing the villages being hit by the russians. these are people primarily-- we're seeing reports of thousands of people leaving villages in the countryside where an offensive is under way by the row scream and its allies, the iranians and the shiite fighters from lebanon and elsewhere, who are being backed by the russians from the air. so people are fleeing these villages.

so that potentially could be making the refugee situation much worse, and these are people who have already been displaced from other parts of the country. a third consideration as well is the sectarian overtones of what's going on. the russians and their allies are targeting predominantly sunni villages, and the area of the operation right now is the-- is basically the principal sectarian fault line in syria separating sunnies from the shiite-linked alites, to which bashar al-assad belongs. people from a certain sect, sunnis, leaving their villages because of the military campaigns being backed by the russians >> sreenivasan: sam dagher of the "wall street journal" joining us via skype from beirut. thank you very much. >> my pleasure. >> sreenivasan: north korea says it is prepared to fend off any attack by the united states. in the capital of pyongyang today, a military parade with thousands of troops marked the 70th anniversary of the

country's ruling workers party. in a rare public speech, north korean leader kim jong-un said, "our revolutionary force is ready to respond to any kind of war the american imperialists want." but he made no comment about north korea's nuclear weapon or long-range missile programs. china, cuba and vietnam sent delegations to the event. kim, who is in his 30s, assumed power after his father's death four years ago. former prisoner of war bowe bergdahl is expected to be spared jail time in the u.s. bergdahl has been undergoing a military hearing in texas for leaving his base prior to being kidnapped by the taliban inside afghanistan in 2009. bergdahl's attorney says today the army informed him it will recommend less than a full court martial for the charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. because soldiers searched for bergdahl for 45 days, army commanders alleged bergdahl had endangered their lives. he spent five years in taliban captivity. last year, the taliban freed bergdahl in exchange for five

taliban prisoners held at the u.s. military prison in guantanamo bay, cuba. after four dry days, rain has returned to south carolina. thunderstorms dropped another inch or two of rain today in and around columbia, south carolina, slowing recovery efforts from the record two feet of rainfall last week. hundreds of residents have not been able to return to their homes as some flooded roads and rivers have been slow to recede. more than 300 roads and bridges remain closed statewide, including stretches of i-95 and other interstate highways. california is cooling off. a heat wave in southern california has peaked with three-digit temperatures in many areas. yesterday, it was 104 degrees in burbank, 105 in long beach and 108 in the city of camarillo, a record high. today, those cities were down to the mid-90s. the high demand for power left 4,000 residents of west los angeles without electricity last night after a blackout.

>> sreenivasan: light rail-- train systems at street level-- are growing in many american cities where the car is still king. one of them is dallas, which has expanded light rail by luring economic development around new tracks and stations. but ridership is low, with less than 2% of dallas residents regularly using the system. our signature segment tonight looks at transit-oriented development in texas as part of our ongoing series on how cities are taking innovative steps to solve problems, make life better for residents and serve as a model for other cities. special correspondent karla murthy reports in this installment of "urban ideas." >> reporter: well before dawn, adriuanna hughes is starting her commute to work from a suburb

south of dallas, texas. >> there's always a bit of congestion here. >> reporter: hughes loves her car, but the rush hour commute in dallas, even this early, can be painful. on a bad day, it can take her two hours each way, so she's changed how she gets to work. she parks here on the outskirts of downtown dallas and boards a train. >> when i did drive, i was a nervous wreck because of traffic. my commute varied too much. just some days it'd be really easy and really short, some days it'd be really long and i'd be late. >> reporter: now she curls up with her train blanket, listens to music and texts as she makes the journey to richardson, texas, 18 miles north of downtown dallas. that's where her job at insurance giant state farm is based. from her door to her desk takes just over an hour. did you ever think you would be taking a train in texas? >> i didn't. i really didn't. i was certainly one of those people, "no, i just need my car."

i've certainly changed that because i've been able to do everything that i've done before. >> you don't have to figure out how to use the machine. >> reporter: getting car lovers like hughes to give light rail a try is one of the main challenges for gary thomas, who runs dallas area rapid transit, known as dart. he took me on a ride on dallas' red line, which stretches from the northern suburb of plano to south of dallas. what's the greatest barrier to getting people on to the train? >> it's really getting people comfortable with it. >> reporter: for decades, sunbelt and western cities including dallas, phoenix, salt lake city and denver have grown along with their highways into sprawling metropolitan areas. today, many cities are building out their own light rail systems, and they're hoping to create magnets for economic development. and dallas has become an unlikely leader. since launching in 1996, dart has become the longest light rail system in the country with 62 stations and 90 miles of track stretching all the way to

d.f.w. airport. adjusting for inflation, it cost more than $8 billion to build. here in downtown dallas, dart's four light rail lines converge, and this is one of their busiest stations. about 100,000 riders use dart light rail each weekday, but that's in a region of more than six million people. the system, designed as traditional hub and spokes, stretches far out into the surrounding suburbs. residents of 13 municipalities voted to impose a one-cent sales tax on themselves to help pay for the system. the tax began in 1984 and continues today, contributing $486 million in 2014. that covers the entire operating budget of dart, which also includes buses. getting texans to tax themselves for public transportation, that doesn't seem like something that would go over easily around here. >> well, certainly, when you say it out loud in today's times,

you think, "gosh, how did that ever happen," right? folks realized then that our region was growing so quickly that they had to do something different. and it's not like transit is brand new to north texas; transit was here in the late 1800s and all the way through the first half of the 20th century. and now you're seeing history kind of come back around. >> reporter: open land around the new train lines and stations presented new opportunities for development, another selling point. one of the first developments to take shape in the 1990s was mockingbird station, just north of downtown. just steps away from mockingbird station behind me, you can find a movie theater, shops, restaurants, apartments and office space. this is what dart points to as a model for the kind of development that can built around train stations. >> as these developments started to take off, we thought, "oh, now we're starting to get this. this is more than just transportation. >> reporter: but mockingbird station is located next to a

major highway and has ample parking for people not taking dart. how can you be sure that these developments wouldn't have happened anyway, even without the light rail system put in place? >> some of the developments probably would have happened even without the light rail, but they probably would have looked different as well. >> reporter: a study commissioned by dart found developments built between 1993 and 2013 near light rail stations like mockingbird are worth more than twice as much as developments built in comparable places without rail. >> we're probably about four years from completion. >> reporter: walt mountford is developing a giant mixed-use project called "city line." it's located adjacent to a dart rail station and two major highways in the suburb of richardson. >> we had a completely blank slate-- 186 acres of previously undeveloped land right at the heart of a very pedestrian- friendly light rail stop. and so, it allowed us to create an urban environment in the suburbs. everything is very walkable here. >> reporter: it's a $1.5 billion

development which is still under construction. it will have nearly 4,000 rental units, a hotel, 28 restaurants, a whole foods supermarket and 4.5 million square feet of office space, including four buildings for about 8,000 state farm employees like adriuanna hughes, who no longer has to drive more than 60 miles a day. >> i was filling up two times a week and having to get a little more gas to carry me through the weekend to go to the mall and run errands. i don't have to do that. i have one tank of gas, and it lasts me throughout the week. >> reporter: mountford says the proximity to light rail makes employers more attractive to younger workers. >> this is a new trend that'll ultimately lead to a critical mass of being able to attract companies and residents and supporting all the restaurants, hotels, theaters and really bring everyone together at one location. >> yeah, the building is going up against that building over there. >> reporter: while development around dart in the suburbs may have thrived, dallas developer

john tatum says it hasn't downtown. >> the hope is to realize the efficiencies of using transit for a developer to avoid parking garages. the tax base in downtown could grow a multiple or two, and that's lots of billions of dollars. now, these buildings are being repopulated, and they need double the parking they were built with in the 1980s. >> reporter: tatum, who served on dart's board in the 1980s, says too few people take transit. >> what is harder to see today is not the miles and how big that is and what an achievement that is that it goes through all these suburbs. what's harder to see is that the ridership is lackluster. what's harder to see is that the cost per seat mile is way high. that there's parking lots near transit stations that aren't being built on and people aren't talking about building on them. >> reporter: 240 miles to the south, dallas' traditional texas rival, houston, has taken a very different approach to light rail. >> although we love dallas, we think houston is much better.

i'm going to say that. >> reporter: tom lambert runs houston's transit system, known as metro, which opened its first light rail line in 2004. >> up until that time, we did not have rail operating. we were really a truly all-bus- based system. but then we began to see that if you really want to move people in different modes, rail really becomes a high-capacity movement of people. but it's really got to be in those corridors that have the density to support that. >> reporter: and that's a big difference with dallas. houston's main line is only about 13 miles long, but because it runs through one of the densest parts of the city, it's ridership per mile far exceeds dallas'. in fact, it's one of the highest in the country. instead of stretching far into the suburbs, like dallas, houston's system is compact, connecting a few major hubs, including nrg stadium and the texas medical center with downtown. urban planner and metro board member christof spieler is an avid transit user. >> if you build lines in dense, walkable cities, you get in

dense, walkable neighborhoods; you get higher ridership. >> reporter: he believes light rail has been a catalyst to downtown development, with $8 billion of projects along a 7.5-mile stretch of track. for example, look at the neighborhood of midtown in the heart of houston. across from the light rail station there's a mixed-use development under construction with 363 apartments and 30,000 square feet of retail space. >> this isn't some empty field on the outskirts of town that gets a new development; it's a neighborhood like this. we're seeing a real shift in the kind of places people want to live in. neighborhoods that have not just homes but places to eat and places to shop are fun to live in. i mean, there's a real change in the attitude toward cities. >> reporter: dallas is now trying to build a new line through downtown and asking for federal funds to help pay for it. dart chief gary thomas says turning car-centric dallas into a mass transit mecca is still a work in progress.

is light rail being utilized the way it should be? >> you have to start somewhere. you have to build it. you have to basically convince people to park their cars. and again, if that choice doesn't exist, we know what they're going to do, right? >> sreenivasan: to underscore that challenge of getting people to drive less-- as light rail track mileage in dallas doubled since 2009, ridership went up only 50% and remains far below expectations. dart projected it would be carrying 45 million passenger trips a year by now, but the system has reached only two- thirds of that goal, 30 million trips a year. dart now projects less than 1% ridership growth over the next four years. what's public transportation like where you live? let us know at www.facebook.com/newshour. >> this is pbs newshour weekend, saturday.

>> sreenivasan: as the newest nobel prize winners were announced this week, the career of a past nobel prize winner was winding down, someone who has been pivotal in the fight against aids. newshour's megan thompson reports. >> reporter: in the early 1980s, french scientist francoise barreé-sinoussi-- one of only a few women at the prestigious pasteur institute in paris-- began seeing patients infected with a mysterious virus. >> it was a lot of pressure, you know, because of course we had already some evidence that this virus was transmitted by blood, by sexual roots and from mother to child. >> reporter: in 1983, barreé- sinoussi and her mentor discovered h.i.v., the human immunodeficiency virus which causes aids. she shared the nobel prize for medicine in 2008 and dedicated

her career to research and activism, traveling the world to fight the spread of the disease. today, due to new treatments and drugs, h.i.v. is no longer an automatic death sentence for the estimated 37 million people around the world living with the virus. barreé-sinoussi says even though a cure may never be found, she's confident that at some point, patients may no longer need indefinite treatment. >> i am personally convinced that remission is feasible, is achievable. when? i don't know. >> reporter: barreé-sinoussi has closed her lab, but she plans to continue her advocacy work as long as she can. she says her only regret is not finding an h.i.v. vaccine. >> i encourage a new generation of scientists today to continue. >> we will try to build a

government that respects the people >> sreenivasan: on the next pbs newshour weekend. and finally, the secret service agent who nancy reagan credited with saving her husband's life has died. jerry parr was the lead agent on duty during the march 1981 assassination attempt on president ronald reagan. after would-be assassin john hinckley fired toward reagan outside a washington hotel, agent parr shoved the president into a limousine. when parr realized reagan had been shot in the chest, he ordered the limo to drive to george washington hospital. parr had also served on president carter's security detail. parr later became a minister. he was 85. >> that's it for this edition of pbs newshour weekend. i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching.

>> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

- this couch is for people who want to feel better and improve the quality of their lives. asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. you are not stuck with the brain you have. you can make it better, and we can prove it. [cheers and applause] female announcer: "the washington post" wrote that by almost any measure, dr. daniel amen is the most popular psychiatrist in america. he is a double board-certified psychiatrist who's written ten "new york times" best-selling books including the mega best-seller, "change your brain, change your life."