captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: on the newshour tonight, we are on the ground in brussels. the city grapples with the deadly attacks, and the most effective way to fight terror. >> reporter: there is a mix of fear and resilience on the streets here tonight, as belgians shift focus to confronting extremism in their midst. >> ifill: then, foreign policy and the next president. today, the democrats-- hillary clinton delivers a major address, and we talk with bernie sanders. >> can isis be destroyed? of course they can. it's a question of the coalition, it's a question as king abdullah has said, of muslim troops on the ground, not american troops, and by the way,

it is not a question of going to war against a religion. >> woodruff: and we travel to the philippines, where young girls are lured into the sex trade online. 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.

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world. more information at macfound.org >> 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: the city of brussels began three days of mourning today. 31 people were killed and 270 others wounded in tuesday's suicide attacks. today, investigators kept up a manhunt, as the city tried to get back to something like normal. malcolm brabant reports from brussels. >> reporter: hundreds gathered in brussels' "place de la bourse" this morning to remember the victims of yesterdays twin bombings with a moment of silence. >> well i think everyone can agree that this is a horrible, horrible, horrible thing.

i think that's all there is left to say about it. >> pour moi, je pense... >> ( translated ): i think we had to be here. i don't have the words to express what i feel but its' true that we have been used to see these attacks for a long time but when it happens at home, you feel it in a stronger way, you feel more involved. it's the least we could do for the victims. >> reporter: elsewhere in the city, flags at european union buildings were lowered to half staff. european leaders laid a wreath at the metro station where one of the bombers struck, and belgium's king and queen visited with staff and emergency responders at the brussels airport, which announced it will remain closed at least another day. many others in the belgian capital took pride in returning to work and routine-- as a sign of strength in the face of terror. >> yes, i have to go, we all have to, because otherwise they think they will win. that's what they want, to paralyze our lives in europe and we have to go on with it. >> we should not be afraid. i think the most straight answer is to be there. to continue our lives, to go to the terraces, to drink our coffee, to go to the cinema and

so on. >> reporter: but as life went on, so did the search for answers. investigators now believe at least four individuals were involved in the attacks. they say ibrahim el-bakraoui and another unidentified man-- seen here at the brussels airport yesterday-- were the two suicide bombers who struck the departures concourse. that second man-- najim laachraoui-- allegedly also made the suicide vests for the paris bombings. and, it was el-bakraoui's brother, khalid, who blew himself up on a subway car near the european union complex, about an hour later. the third man, not yet identified from the airport photo, is still being sought. >> ( translated ): the third suspect wearing a light jacket and a hat is on the run. he put down a large bag then left before the explosion. it contained the largest explosive charge. shortly after the arrival of the bomb disposal unit, this bag blew up because of the highly unstable nature of the explosives. fortunately, nobody was injured. >> reporter: officials say the two brothers did have criminal

records tied to robbery and carjacking, but it wasn't until a march 15 raid on a belgium apartment-- rented by khalid el- bakraoui-- that they became suspects in the ongoing terror probe. that search also turned up fingerprints belonging to salah abdeslam-- the top suspect in november's terror attacks in paris. he was captured last week. one of several raids since yesterday's attacks turned up explosives and chemicals used to make bombs, as well as ibrahim el-bakraoui's computer on which he said he was "unsure what to do," "hunted everywhere," and "no longer safe." today, turkish president recep tayyip erdogan said one of the attackers was deported from turkey in june. >> ( translated ): we informed the belgium embassy with a diplomatic note about the deportation on july 14, 2015. despite our warnings that this person is a foreign fighter, belgium could not establish any

links with terrorism. >> reporter: likewise, french officials have complained that belgium failed to conduct security crackdowns in muslim areas after the paris attacks. french foreign prime minister manuel valls called for greater coordination today, before traveling to brussels. >> ( translated ): we closed our eyes-- everywhere in europe including france-- to the progression of extremist ideas, neighborhoods which through a combination of drug trafficking and radical islamism, perverted youth. and i'm not here to lecture the belgians, because i'm sure they're more than aware of this. >> reporter: there was also word that secretary of state john kerry will travel to brussels on friday, to meet with top belgian and european officials. and tonight, european and iraqi intelligence officials told the "associated press" that isis has dispatched at least 400 fighters to europe, specifically trained to attack the west. judy? >> woodruff: malcolm, given the threat of these fighters, give us the sense of the

security across europe. you traveled into belgium today. >> reporter: yes, i've come from less bowes in greece, and traveled through paris, and all the way you can see how sensitive people are in the wake of these attacks at transport hubs. at athens airport, for example, today, there was an alarm going off, and you could see tension in people's face because they didn't know what was going on. in paris, the plane was met by policemen checking very assiduously everybody's passports and this is something that should not normally happen in the free-travel own swroen. this is supposed to be paper-free. but they were checking everybody's identities very closely. indeed, there were sniffer dogs there. driving into belgium was not a problem. the border was wide open, but on the other side of the motorway, it was very difficult getting out. there were hordes of policemen on the border with france trying to see if they could get hold of those people that might be involved in those attacks yesterday. and when i finally got into the

center of belgium, into brussels this morning-- this afternoon, rather-- at the euro star station tlooked very much like this was a city at war. there were army trucks everywhere, police guards, and people checking-- being checked as they went into the euro star station because this is something people really are concerned about. in order to get into these places now, perhaps you need to be checked. and then there was a queue outside. these are the sort of things that can become soft targets in the future. there's a real difficult about the balance of security in places like the euro star, train station and at airports. >> woodruff: and just quickly, malcolm, you reported on turkey having deported back to belgium one of the attackers from what happened yesterday. how do belgians explain this? >> reporter: this is really embarrassing for the belgians because the turkish president said that the belgian authorities were warned that this man did have terrorist

links and he said that the belgians had not been able to find any. and yet, this man was able to wander around in belgium for months before carrying out this terrible suicide attack, and it really does beg the question about what the european authorities are going to do about people who return from syria, especially as this is where they're getting the military expertise to be able to carry out the sort of attacks we saw in brussels yesterday. >> woodruff: malcolm brabant reporting for us tonight from brusselss. we th. and we will take a closer look at europe's struggle to prevent this sort of attack, after the news summary. >> ifill: in the day's other news, president obama defended his administration's strategy against terror, and dismissed republican calls for more aggressive action. the president spoke in buenos aires, where he met with president mauricio macri. at a news conference, he said fighting the islamic state group is his "number one priority." but he rejected donald trump's call for waterboarding, and ted cruz's talk of major military

strikes. >> so, when i hear we somebody saying we should carpet bomb iraq or syria, not only is that inhumane, not only is that contrary to our values-- that would likely be an extraordinary mechanism for isil to recruit more people willing to die and explode bombs in an airport. >> ifill: mr. obama also condemned cruz's call for surveillance of muslim neighborhoods. he said it would be wrong and "un-american" to make muslims feel "ghetto-ized." >> woodruff: donald trump was off the campaign trail today, but ted cruz was in new york city, where he fired back at the president. after a rally in manhattan, cruz branded the obama policy a failure, and said americans are fed up with being "lectured on islamo-phobia." >> we have seen president obama's weakness and appeasement give rise to radical islamic terrorism.

isis, which president obama wrongfully dismissed as the junior varsity, is the face of evil. they have declared jihad on america and president obama refuses to acknowledge that. he is so captured by political correctness he's unwilling to confront it. >> woodruff: also today, cruz picked up the endorsement of former rival jeb bush, after winning tuesday's republican caucuses in utah. but donald trump won the arizona primary, to pad his delegate lead. on the democratic side, hillary clinton won arizona, and bernie sanders won caucuses in utah and idaho. we'll hear some of clinton's speech on foreign policy today, and have an interview with senator sanders later in the program. >> ifill: house speaker paul ryan decried the state of politics and the presidential campaign today, in a washington speech. the wisconsin republican named no names, but his remarks appeared pointed directly at front-runner donald trump.

>> this has always been a tough business. and when passions flare, ugliness is sometimes inevitable. but we shouldn't accept ugliness as the norm-- we should demand better from ourselves. we should demand better from one another. we are slipping into being a divisive country. we are speaking to each other in echo chambers where we only talk to those who agree with us and we think that there is something wrong with the people who don't agree with us. >> ifill: ryan has said he will back the eventual republican presidential nominee. >> woodruff: there's word that most of the warring parties in yemen have agreed to a cease- fire, as of april 10. a special u.n. envoy says it involves the government and its sunni backers-- including saudi arabia-- plus shi-ite rebels. meanwhile, local officials confirm that a u.s. air strike killed some 50 militants at an al-qaeda training camp, west of the port city of mukalla, on tuesday. >> ifill: an independent task

force in michigan blasted state officials today for mishandling the water contamination crisis in flint. the group was appointed by republican governor rick snyder last year. it found the state is "fundamentally accountable" for letting lead taint the city's water-- and then, ignoring pleas from the public. >> woodruff: a son of billionaire warren buffett has unveiled a $90 million fund to help young girls of color. in the u.s. the foundation, run by peter and jennifer buffett, says it's the largest single investment of its kind. the first step will be to survey minority girls and their advocates to determine how best to use the money. >> ifill: on wall street, a new drop in oil and other commodities pulled stocks down. the dow jones industrial average lost nearly 80 points to close just above 17,500. the nasdaq fell more than 50 points, and the s&p 500 slipped 13. >> woodruff: and former major league baseball catcher and

popular broadcaster joe garagiola has died. he played eight seasons in the majors, but was known for his 57-year, hall-of-fame broadcasting career. garagiola worked well into his 80's, serving as a part-time analyst for the arizona diamondbacks. he was 90 years old. still to come on the newshour: europe's struggle to combat terror; bernie sanders on his view of america's role in the world; arguments over covering contraception before the supreme court, and much more. >> ifill: we return to the attacks in brussels, and what they said about the threat of the islamic state to europe. daniel benjamin was coordinator for counter-terrorism at the state department during the

first term of the obama administration-- he's now a professor at dartmouth college; and joby warrick is a national security correspondent at the "washington post." he's also the author of "black flags: the rise of isis." >> ifill: daniel benjamin, was this a nightmare scenario that could have been foreseen? yesterday, we heard people saying this is what we feared. >> i think people have been watching terrorism have been fearing this for many years, actually. the recognition that europe had a problem with extremism in its midst and the recognition that europe hadn't taken security arrangements as seriously as it should have, i think has been common, that observe has been common in the security community for many years now. >> ifill: joby warrick, the associated press, among others, have been reporting today that there were as many as 400 people being trained by isis to carry out these attacks in europe. so did they not leave and foot prints or any signs? >> the number's a little bit soft, i think, but it's not

unrealistic to think if you have 5,000 europeans that went to iraq and syria to fight, if only 10% of them came back home, you know, that's a pretty good base for future attacks. you know, abiewrkd the guy that carried out the november attacks in paris, claimed there were 90 people that he knew of involved in cells getting ready to carry out attacks. so it's not something that can be easily dismissed. >> ifill: from what you know about writing your book on isis, is this the sort of thing the united states should be wary of? are there footprints as well leading here? >> it's a different situation for us. fortunately, we don't have the kind of radical communities you see in europe. we have radicalized individuals but not so much a community problem. and we have, fortinally, oceans separating us from some of these jihadists. europeans have a much more acute problem. they're really waking up to it now. it's almost too late for some of the action they're taking because the threat is at hand. >> ifill: you agree the idea

of alienation makes it different for the radical muslim communities in europe and here? >> there's no question there's a higher level of alienation and radicalization. european muslims are several times more likely to go to fight in iraq and syria, perhaps as much as 10 times as much. and if you look at the-- just the casualties that we've seen since 9/11, you know, there's been vastly more violence in europe, 10 times as much, at least, compared to the united states, where, despite all the concern, we've only had about 45 casualties, 45 deaths, due to jihadist violence. >> ifill: so is it law enforcement that is dropping the ball in europe? >> it's a much larger problem than law enforcement. you have a very different kind of set of muslim communities. they tend to be much poorer, much less educated. they have much less social mobility, much less access to education and even lespolitical remgz.

it's a societal problem. it's important to note a large majority of european muslims are very, very peaceful and love their countries. in fact, when polls are taken, they tend to be more patriotic than the non-muslim populations. but because of these conditions, it is easier for a smaller number of extremists, still much larger than we have in the u.s., to swim in the same seas, if you will. >> ifill: well, joby warrick, daniel benjamin mentions that there are only 45 casualties since 2004, including madrid and paris-- >> no, no, i'm sorry in europe you have had closer to 500. >> ifill: 500. >> in the united states you've had 45. >> ifill: the other way around, that's right. so making the point-- thank you-- that there are that many people and that many signs, is this something that is operating so far under the radar that belgian authorities or your poll, or french authorities couldn't have had a heads up

about it, i just want to add, especially since president erdogan of turkey today saying he made a warning? >> yeah, i think the belgians, in particular, have a problem and they're very aware of it. and we're often saying these days you're only as strong as your weakest link. in the case of belgian, you have a country with a fairly small police force. if they have, by conservative estimates, about 100 isis veterans have returned to that country alone, so the manpower involved in conducting surveillance and watching all these people, watching their phone calls, conversations, it taxes their police forces beyond their capability, let alone the problem of dealing with counter-radicalization, and all the tracking surveillance they need to be doing. so, yes, they have a problem there. they have a problem with coordinating with other agencies and other governments. so, yeah, that sets a huge problem for them, and i think they really are aware of this now, but it's kind of late to the party. >> ifill: has the migrant crisis that we have seen-- we spent a lot of time talking talg about on this program-- has that

exacerbated the problem? >> it absolutely has. we know, for example, in the case of the paris attacks, at least one of the perpetrators came in with the flow of migrants. and, you know, it's had a pretty destablizing effect, and it's quite possible-- you spoke earlier of a report of 400, which i find to be really high number of potential infiltrators ubut certainly, europe has had very weak external borders. its international borders are nonexistent and very easy for bad actors to move around and the migrant crisis has ifill: j, do you think about that? >> yeah, and it's obvious it's something that people talk about politically in this country, but it's a very different situation for us here. there's really much more vetting of refugees, potential refugees that come into this country. it hasn't really existed in europe, and now you've got a huge problem that already exists, and they're having to retroactively go back and try to figure out who some of these people are, and it is clear that

some bad people came in with the rest. >> ifill: so would you both say that maybe the root of this is more likely to be the civil war in syria because of this, or the civil war in syria, which is exacerbating, causing the migrant crisis and also causing this kind of radicalization? >> so, there is multiple causality. certainly the syrian civil war has made a huge difference and had a profound effect on radicalizing people who have wanted to go to syria and fight to defend sunni muslims who they found were being treated appallingly, as we've seen. at the same time, you know, security services in europe for the most part, @and their bureaucracies in general-- never had that catalytic moment that we had after 9/11 and they've never removed their stoved pipes. they never really forced themselveses to cooperate as well. there are times in the u.s. government when you would find that part of a particular foreign european government had one set of information, but didn't want another part to know, but we knew. and, you know, it's-- it's a

remarkable situation but, really, until you have one of these horrific attacks, there isn't sufficient prod to reorganize. >> ifill: daniel benjamin of dartmouth college, and joby warrick author of the book "black flags: the rise of isis," thank you both very much. >> woodruff: hillary clinton today slammed the republican's response to the terror attacks in brussels. in a counterterrorism speech at stanford university, she said the u.s. stands with belgium and other european allies, but also called for more european countries to invest in security. >> in our fight against radical jihadism, we have to do what actually works. one thing we know that does not work is offensive, inflammatory rhetoric that demonizes all

muslims. there are millions of peace- loving muslims living, working, raising families and paying taxes in this country. these americans are a crucial line of defense against terrorism. they are the most likely to recognize the warning signs of radicalization before it's too late, and the best positioned to block it. so when republican candidates like ted cruz call for treating american muslims like criminals, and for racially profiling predominantly muslim neighborhoods, it's wrong, it's counterproductive, it's dangerous. for more, we turn to the other democratic presidential candidate, vermont senator bernie sanders. senator sanders, welcome, and first of all, congratulations on your wins yesterday in utah and

idaho. i know you know as the voters were going to the polls in those states, on the other side of the atlantic, the city of brussels was reeling from this terrible set of terrorist attacks. secretary clinton said just a short time ago that isis cannot be contained. has to be defeated. do you agree? and if so, how? >> well, i think it has to be destroyed. this is a barbaric organization that is a threat not only to the people in the middle east, to the people in europe, but, obviously, to the people in the united states as well. it has to be destroyed. and here is how we destroy it. we do not destroy it by doing what we did in iraq and getting into perpetual warfare. i voted against the war in iraq. secretary clinton when she was in the senate voted for that war. what we do is king abdullah of jordan has told us, is we work to put together a very effective

coalition of muslim nations who lead the effort on the ground, supported by the united states, the u.k., france, and other major powers in the air and through training. now, in the last year, we've had some success. ramadi has been recaptured. isis has lost about 20% of the ground that it controlled. but we have a lot more to do. so i think what we need is strong coalition-- and by the way, judy, and very few people talk about this-- we have got to bring in some of the gulf region countries who have kind of sat it out, countries like qatar, one of the wealthiest countries on earth, who are spending $200 billion in preparation for the world cups in 20ed 22. they're spending $200 billion for the world cup. well, they may want to spend some money helping us destroy isis. saudi arabia, be the u.a.e., kuwait are going to have to play a greater role. >> woodruff: but, senator, agz

the united states waits for these other countries to get on board to form this coalition, isis is not only strong in the base in iraq and syria. it's notice sending-- now sending, we know, hundred of fighters into europe. the a.p.spd reported today, 400 trained fighters planning attacks in europe. that's going on right now. >> right, and that raises the other issue. first of all, we have got to destroy isis. second of all, we have got to protect the united states from attacks and protect our allies throughout the world, and that means, we need to do a much greater job in sharing intelligence. we need to do a much grt brt job in monitoring those young people who are being grawn draun into terrorism. we have knot to monitor how they communicate with each other to plan attacks. so there is a lot of work to be done to protect our country. as well as to protect our allies in europe and elsewhere, by the way. >> woodruff: but how do you do

that when there are people right now in europe, in belgium, and other countries-- and presumably here in the united states-- who are prepared to die for this cause? >> well, judy, no one ever said that this is going to be simple. what we have got to do is work with increased intelligence capabilities, shared intelligence capabilities. we have to work with increased law enforcement, with increased monitoring, with increased tracking of people who come into this country. this is not easy. your point is right. if somebody is willing to blow themselves up and walk into an airport, or walk into a movie theater you know what? it is tough to defend ourselves against that. but, obviously, we must do everything that we can. >> woodruff: but i don't understand how you destroy isis, to use your word, when you're talking about intelligence operations and cooperation and coalitions. >> you don't understand how we destroy isis? we destroy isis because there

are millions of soldiers in the middle east who are under arms right now. isis has perhaps 30,000 or 40,000 fighters. our goal is to bring those countries together, to put troops on the ground, to destroy isis, not to get the united states involved in perpetual warfare. can isis be destroyed? , of course, they can. it's a questionave coalition. it's a question, as king adbullah has said, muslim troops on the ground, not american troops, and by the way, it is not a question of going to war against a religion as some of my republican colleagues would have us do. we're taking on terrorism and isis, not islam as a religion. >> woodruff: but to play devil's advocate, just one more question here, senator, the approach you describe is one that is going to take many months, maybe even many years, does the united states-- >> well, you know, judy, i don't know-- let me tell you this, also, judy, i don't know how we

can stop somebody who has an assault weapon from shooting people today. these are not easy answers. you're right. this is difficult. and anyone who tells you they have a magical solution to this problem is not telling you the truth. but the two-pronged attack-- two-pronged approach has got to be, number one, we do destroy isis on the ground in iraq and in that region. number two, we do everything possible to defend the united states. >> woodruff: senator sanders, a question about the path to the nomination. you do have right now over 900 delegates. but even the most optimistic, realistic scenario shows that it's very difficult for you, going to be very difficult for you to overcome, to overtake secretary clinton. do you still believe that it is possible for you to accumulate the number of delegates you need to capture the democratic nomination? >> well, judy, let's start off by remembering maybe a discussion you and i might have had 10 months ago when i began. at that point, i was 3% in the

polls, 70 point behind sblght clinton. sheebs a poll this week, had me five point behind. and what democrats all over this country are taking notice of is that in virtually every national poll, i defeat donald trump by significantly greater numbers than does secretary clinton. so what democrat resident understanding and what super delegatedelegates are understang that, really, the most important thing right now is to make sure we don't have some republican in the white house. and i think people are take a second look at bernie sanders, because, clearly, he is the stronger candidate to defeat donald trump. now, in terms of how the electoral process has gone osecretary clinton did very, very well in the deep south. we did not do well. she got a whole lot of delegates. well, you know, what? we're moving out of the deep south now? just yesterdayarchsun, we got almost 80% of the vote in idaho and utah.

we won democrats aboard with 67%. this weekend we're heading to weather watcher, hawaii, alaska. i can't predict the outcomes. i hope we do very well. you have major state like new york state, new jersey, california, oregon coming up. we think we have a chance to do very, very well there. we have come from way, way, way back,ing and i think very few people would have thought that a bernie sanders and our campaign and what we're talkin talking at would have won a 12-contest already. but we do believe we have a path to the white house, and it is through the west. >> woodruff: still very much in the fight. senator bernie sanders. we thank you. >> thank you very much. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: how sex trafficking of young girls has moved online; and,

♪ ♪ listen up-- the latest songs and sounds added to the library of congress. >> ifill: but first, we turn to the supreme court, where the clash between religious freedom and women's access to birth control played out once again today. >> hands off my birth control! >> ifill: today marked the fourth time the high court has heard a challenge to the president's signature health care law. at the center of today's case-- the affordable care act's contraceptive mandate. just two years ago, arts and crafts chain hobby lobby challenged that mandate, and won. justices ruled that family-owned companies run on religious principles could refuse to pay for their employees' birth control. today's case shifted the focus from private companies to the potential burden for religious non-profits. the challenge comes in part from an order of nuns-- the little sisters of the poor. along with six other plaintiffs,

they argue the law forces them to either violate their beliefs or pay a substantial fine. >> we find ourselves in a situation where the government is requiring us to include services in our religious health care plan that violate some of our deepest held religious beliefs as little sisters. >> ifill: the national women's law center sided with the obama administration, saying coverage alternatives for these groups already exist. >> women deserve insurance coverage for birth control no matter where they work. these employers want to take that benefit away from their employees. the alternatives they proposed in court today are unworkable and frankly insulting. >> ifill: a ruling is expected by june. for more on today's arguments, we turn to our newshour regular, marcia coyle of "the national law journal." she was in the court today. it seems like we had a

discussion about morality at the supreme court, marcia. >> yes, because the religious nonprofits that have brought these cases-- and there are seven cases -- to the supreme court feel that the government's attempt to accommodate their objections is making them complicit in immoral, sinful conduct. >> ifill: so how did this end up back at the court? the court has ruled on this, on obamad care before, a couple times. >> yes, this is the fourth time the court's looked at the law. but this really involves health regulations under the affordable care act, and there have been dozens and dozens of lawsuits by religious nonprofits almost from the beginning of the enactment-- >> ifill: including universities and schools. >> yes, it is not just sisters of the poor. there is religious-affiliated colleges. there are roman catholic

dioceses, and some clergy who are also party to these cases. >> ifill: so what are the other options? what is the compromise the administration was offering? >> the administration has told the religious nonprofits to simply write a letter to the department of health and human services notifying the department of their objections, and, also, to give the department the name of their health insurer or third party administrator. the religious nonprofits say they are not objecting to objecting, but they claim that by providing the name of the their insurer or third party administrator, they're allowing the government to hijack their insurance plans plan and provide the coverage to their employeess that they object to. and this makes them complicit in that coverage. >> ifill: and in fact chief justice roberts used that word "hijacked "today. tell us how this played out in front of the court. >> chief justice roberts and justice alito, in particular, were the most aggressive

questioner of the solicitor general of the united states, dfgd the accommodation in this case. and chief justice roberts said he thought that hijacking was an accurate description of what's happening here. but the solicitor general told the justices that it's not accurate. he said that these insurance plans do not belong to the employers. they belong to the insurers. and the government has always had the ability to make arrangements with third parties. and in this case, the government would arrange with the insurer to provide the contraceptive coverage in a separate agreement, separate communications, and segregated funds. the employer is entirely out of it. >> ifill: now, we know, of course, that last time, there was a challenge to the affordable care act involving the hobby lobby case, justice scalia was still alive, still a nine-member court. with the four-four split, what did you discern from the

arguments today bhow that's going to turn out? >> well, my sense is, as i left the courtroom, is that the court is evenly divided. if the government wants to win a ruling for the entire nation, it's going to need somebody from the conservative side to move over to the liberal side so that there would be a 5-3 majority. the most likely person often is justice kennedy. but he gave conflicting signals during the argument, but he also did pick up the hijacking language. so it's not clear to me how this is going to come out. i would say, gwen, that this court does not like 4-4 decisions. it's a waste of everybody's time. it doesn't create a precedent. and it leaves uneven law throughout the country. >> ifill: but if it were to happen in this case, what stands? >> okay, the lower court's opinion stands. now, in these seven cases, four federal appellate courts have ruled for the government. an additional three appellate

courts ruled for the government. one has not. so in the states where the government won, the employers have to comply. >> ifill: another it's complicated. i'm sorry to throw that at you at the last minute. marcia coyle of the "national law journal, "thank you. >> my pleasure, gwen. >> woodruff: next, a disturbing new trend in the trafficking of mostly young women and children into the sex trade. special correspondent fred de sam lazaro reports from the philippines on what police call cyber-trafficking. it's part of his ongoing series, "agents for change." >> reporter: sex tourism has long been a scourge in the philippines-- an industry that thrives on trafficked human beings and deep poverty in this nation of 100 million. recent studies have shown that anywhere from 100 to more than 300 thousand filipinos are trafficked each year. 80%, four out of five, are under

the age of 18. the government, under international pressure, has stepped up enforcement but the sex trafficking industry, as always, seems a step ahead in the game. it has expanded online: >> that's only one but there are a lot of... >> reporter: at the police cybercrime center, officer ivy castillo explained one of the many ways that vulnerable young women are tricked into the trade. >> this is a fake account. >> reporter: modeling is a common lure. so they're pretending that this is a real modeling agency to entrap the young girls? >> yes. >> reporter: it has all the trappings of a glamorous fashion model agency-- especially to a young rural filipina girl. at first, they are requested to send this image. they're asked to submit pictures that seem innocuous-- facial

shots-- ostensibly part of the selection process. the next steps call for sexier images-- just the torso, not the face, they're assured, giving the false impression that it's all anonymous, until... that its unidentifiable. the young woman won't make the connection that computer software will, until it's too late. they've got her face from her previous more innocent images and have photo-shopped them with the nude ones. in no time they are shamed and blackmailed into working for the opaque criminal networks behind the trade. lila shahani is on a government task force on human trafficking: >> cyber pornography is easily one of our biggest problems, and it's proliferated very quickly. and, it's an expensive thing to police, and we're a third-world country. >> reporter: but it's an industry fueled by first world demand; from pedophiles mostly in europe, north america, and australia, says officer

castillo. >> these foreign perpetrators, they have contacts here in the philippines. these contacts are looking for children. >> reporter: and perhaps the most frustrating challenge with this "cyber sex" industry is a social one. cecilia oebanda, who founded the philippines' largest anti- trafficking group, says many people don't believe or don't want to believe it's that harmful. >> even the parents don't realize, or even believe that it is exploitative, it is abuse. there is no touch, there's no live person. and it's very difficult to convince them that this is indeed exploitation, because for them it's ok, there's no harm actually put to the child. >> reporter: at a shelter her agency runs is living proof that it's not just emotionally abusive but it also frequently escalates. the children are invariably inducted into traditional prostitution and its daily physical abuse. these two 15-year-olds were

rescued in a police sting from a cyber porn racket. their alleged pimp, a man named jerrie arraz, began as a good samaritan neighbor. >> ( translated ): there was a time when my mother needed money because my stepfather was in jail. so she asked for help from him. >> reporter: her mother: >> ( translated ): he was really kind, when we didn't have food, he gave us food. jerrie offered to send gina to school. >> reporter: this young woman is the 11th of 12 children in a family from one of the many rural philippine islands-- beset by poverty and, often, natural disasters. opportunities are scarce, so at 12, the offer of a scholarship from a kindly stranger-- a man visiting to her village was hard to resist. >> he said he was from manila. my dream was to study in manila and to get to know people, to wear nice clothes. >> reporter: she accompanied the

man to manila, was placed with arraz-- with whom he was apparently associated. she was in fact placed in school, but gradually, there were demands, and they escalated-- to display herself before strangers online, then to perform sexually and with arraz in front of the web camera. >> ( translated ): he would wake me up to say there was a customer online and he wanted us to perform, while the customer was watching. each time it happened, i just cried... >> reporter: in time, the cyber sex had escalated to plain old prostitution. >> ( translated ): in a month, about four-five times we met with foreign customers in a hotel. plus daily online-- countless >> reporter: it was when both girls were in a motel one day that arraz was nabbed, as he negotiated with two undercover detectives posing as customers.

prosecutor jonathan lledo was on the sting team, one of whom hid waiting: >> he was inside the closet for four hours, listening in on the conversation. the cue was a phone call to our adjoining room that the transaction was positive and money was exchanged and we opened the door and announced the arrest. there was bewilderment, what's happening here?? >> reporter: the young women, in terror, ran to their trafficker and to his defense. >> ( translated ): we always felt like jerry was our father so that's what we told rescuers, he is our father. >> we were really scared. >> reporter: it's been called the stockholm syndrome, one more complication in rescuing hostages, who become sympathetic to their captor, and any change to what has become normal is unsettling. >> the trafficker is providing them with food, clothing, shelter and a place to stay, and law enforcement would disrupt all this!

>> reporter: as it turns out, six children were removed from the home of jerrie arraz and placed with oebanda's agency, including a year-old infant abandoned by its mother. the more immediate task is to try to restore childhoods, through counseling and eventually adoption into homes, education and skills training for those older. philippine police officials say most of the enforcement comes from the consumer end. tracking down providers is fraught with difficulty. they can be anywhere; evidence against them, if it exists, hidden in the cloud instead of a hard drive. a lot of bad guys are not being caught? >> yes. >> reporter: another big challenge is that police must rely on tips from the public, says task force member shahani.

>> we're reliant on tips from the public, and the public tends to be very hesitant about giving information out, for fear of retaliation. >> reporter: but oebanda, who has long campaigned against trafficking, sees progress. >> our conviction rate is more than double. and so, for me, that progress is indications of a political will. >> reporter: attention is now on jerrie arraz's trial, now underway in manila. these images are from his facebook page-- it's the first so called cyber trafficking case to be brought in hopes it will mark a turning point. for the pbs newshour, i'm fred de sam lazaro, in manila. >> ifill: now to a newshour essay. earlier in the week, we heard what it was like to live through the wave of terrorism in turkey from eliott ackerman, a decorated marine veteran in iraq and afghanistan, author of the

new novel "green on blue." tonight, ackerman examines the legacy of a revolution, and the deep wounds-- but often strong bonds-- forged by war. >> five years ago this past december, the arab spring started when a man poured a can of gasoline over his head and lit himself on fire. he was protesting a corrupt government official seizure of his fruit cart. in the months that followed across egypt, libya, yemen, and most disastrously syria, revolution spread. today, there is no revolution left in the arab world. only war. yet, the revolutionaries remain. they are particularly prevalent among sir yeah's growing diaspora. when the arab spring began i was in afghanistan on my last deployment, ending combat service that started in iraq seven years before. instead of returning home, i returned to the middle east, writing about the conflict in syria from turkey's southern border. working as a journalist, i believed at first that my

experience as a marine in america's unpopular wars would prove a liability when speaking to former revolutionaries. slowly, thanks to close syrian friends. >> what found was quite the opposite. a bond existed between us. this surprised me. one of these friends was abat, an activist from damascus now living in southern turkey. proud as he was of his role as an organizer in the 2011 protest, he felt deeply conflicted about his paims. abad believed in the revolution's ideals. he still did, yet he couldn't deny the very forces of change he helped unleash created a power vacuum exploited by extremists like the islamic state. sipping tea or having dinner on any given night, abad began by asserting the revolution wasn't over, that despite setbacks, hope still existed for democracy inside syria. but by the time each evening drew to a close, he would often despair. "i wish we had never taken to the streets. i have destroyed my home."

abad's inability to reconcile what his revolution hoped to achieve with its outcome felt familiar to me. when it comes to america's wars in iraq and afghanistan, i feel almost exactly the same conflict. in addition to rooting out al qaeda and the taliban in afghanistan, and searching for wmd in iraq, our nation sent he and countless others who volunteered to bring freedoms and democracy to those who had lived under violent, autocratic regimes for decades. yes, it seems naive to say now, but that was one of the goals then. just as the syrian revolution resulted in a power vacuum filled by international jihadists so, too, did the u.s.-led wars in iraq and afghanistan. as my friendship with abad grew we began to speak about the parallel trajectories of our disillusionment, how ideals bogged down in the quar mire of dogma and sectarian bloodshed. after i had known abad for about a year, he invited me to his wedding. the summer before the revolution, he had met a swiss

woman air, university student studying in damascus. they would be married just outside geneva along the banks of lake nucher, tel. a few days before the ceremony he called and asked if i would serve as his witness. we had become close, but his request was a surprise. when i arrived at the chapel, it made sense. the bride's family and friends filled the pews, but with abad's family trapped in damascus, i represented the entirety of the groom's party. as the wedding started there were four of us-- the maid of honor, the bride, abad, and me, on a single pew. the civil ceremony was in french, which abad is it not speak, and his bride leaned toward him, quietly whispering a translation. as abad struggled to understand his vows, he glanced over to me now and again, plaintively, as if apologizing that i cannot cannot understanding, either. that a former american marine should serve as the sole witness to a new life embarked upon by a former syrian activist felt

appropriate. my wars and his revolution had left a wake of destruction, forth both of us to craft new lives from the wreckage. sitting next to my friend, it didn't seem to matter that he couldn't understand the particulars of his vows. what mattered was 9 choice he had made, to start again. >> ifill: finally, our newshour shares of the night: something that caught our eye-- actually in this case, caught our ear. each year, the library of congress designates 25 sound recordings for posterity and preservation. see if your picks match theirs. jeffrey brown has a sample. ♪ let me call you sweetheart i'm in love with you ♪ >> brown: it's a trip through the 20th century, with something for everyone, including plenty of romance, from a 1911 recording by the "columbia

quartet" of "let me call you sweetheart" to julie london's version of "cry me a river" in 1955. ♪ cry me a river cry me a river >> brown: a year later came the jazz standard "mack the knife" with this performance by louis armstrong. ♪ ♪ >> brown: and nearly a decade later, the motown hit: "where did our love go" by the supremes-- a song the trio ♪ where did our love go don't you want me initially thought was too simplistic, but helped gained them great fame. >> brown: also among the 25 recordings are important speeches. here is george marshall in 1947 outlining the plan to restore europe after world war two. >> it is logical that the united

states should do whatever is able to do to assist in the return of normal economic health in the world without which there can be no political stability and no assured peace. >> brown: and then, a bit of basketball history: the only surviving recording of wilt chamberlain scoring 100 points. it was taped off the radio by a fan in 1962. >> the fans are all over the floor! they stopped the game, people are running out onto the court. 100 points for wilt chamberlin! >> brown: back to music, and you knew it had to be there: gloria gaynor's 1978 anthem, "i will survive." >> brown: and last, but-- well, you decide: some heavy metal from 1986: metallica's "master of puppets." >> brown: from the audio time capsule, i'm jeffrey brown. >> gloria gaynor and the supremes. >> ifill: she was singing it,

i swear. she was singing along. >> woodruff: i was trying. >> i'm all for cry me a river and wilt. >> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. join us on-line, 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: >> bnsf railway. >> lincoln financial-- committed to helping you take charge of your financial future. >> fathom travel-- carnival corporation's small ship line. offering seven-day cruises to three cities in cuba. exploring the culture, cuisine and historic sites through its people. more at fathom.org. >> genentech. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> supported by the rockefeller foundation. promoting the wellbeing of humanity around the world, by

building resilience and inclusive economies. more at www.rockefellerfoundation.org. >> 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. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

>> this is bbc "world news america." >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits from newman's own to charity and pursuing the common good, kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs, and hong kong tourism board. >> want to know hong kong's most romantic spot? i'll show you. i love heading to repulse bay for an evening stroll. it is the perfect, stunning backdrop for making romantic moments utterly unforgettable.