captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: turmoil in russia: the latest on the diplomatic retaliation against the west and the fallout from the deadly shopping mall fire. then, on the front lines of i cyber warfarnside the u.s. military's newest combatant command center. >> it's not like fighting a war in another domain where you deploy troops, you fight and go home. thinconflict in the cyber do is constant. >> woodruff: and it's friday. mark shields and david brooks discuss the latest turnover at the top of the trump administration and adding ati nship question to the census.w plus, ad this: the latest entry in the newshour bookshelf, a conversation with author

mohsin hamid on his book "exit west". all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by ♪ ♪ng movi our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

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thank you. >> woodruff: an american soldier has been killed in nsythern a in the military campaign against islamic state fighters. a british soldier died in the same roadside bomb attack. a local syrian official says it happened overnight in manbij, where american troops are aiding anti-isis forces. president trump said yesterday that the 2,000 u.s. troops in ysyria will be leaving "v soon". but the pentagon's u.s. central command said it has no information on that. palestiniaprotesters nfronted israeli troops along the gaza border today -- in thei blt day there since 2014. the palestinians said at least sr15 people were killed byli fire.nd reuters correst nidal al mughrabi witnessed the violence. he spoke with us -- vit skype -- a shile ago, from gaza city.

>> we have seen lots of people, thousands and several thousands have started to come early to the locaon east of gaza along the border with israel. accordinto the organizers, people should have stayed 700 meters away from the boder, but many, many of the protesters have ignored the caution of organizes to stay that far. ople throw stones. organizers responded by tear gas, live fire andbberbu llets and casualties started to fall. >> woodff: why is this happening right now? we know that this has been a special day for the palestinians, what was the immediate impetus? >> every year it'sbeen some celebrations and some demonstrations to mrade the day in 1976, you know, and loss

of land, but this day it was different. palestinian factions including the islamist grohup hamasich controls the gaza str has s supported an idea of tens of thousands of people along the d border of israel to the right of return. >> woodruff: the israelis are accusing the palestinian hamas, of deliberately sending women and children to the bored, putting tem at risk, in other words. did you see that? >> the israelis, you know, they said hamas was exploiting the crowds for its own purposes in order to send civilians to be face to face with israeli soldiers along the border. what happened todayw,- you kno we've seen -- you know, people from all factions, but we've seen lots oe pople who are

frustrated of everything. they are frustrated of the lack of peace, they are frustrated for the lack of any horizon. it has made no difference to them whether they dive orie because the situation in gaza was so terrible.ff >> woodruit is late at night there. have things calmed wn? >> many, i can say most of theot ters have returned home. the palestinian president has asked for the united nations to meet over what happened today in gaza. he condemned it, and he asked the u.n. security council to afford thealestinians with international protection because of what happened. tomorrow, there will be a national mourning dy and also strike. so that is also another reason why we could expect more clashes. >> woodruff: nidal al mughrabi withu reters,

thank you very much. >> you're welcome. >> worodruff: istians marked good friday across much of the >> woodruff: christians marked good friday across much of the worltoday -- from jerusalem the vatican and elsewhere. pope francis began services atsi st. peter's ca, by lying prostrate before the altar. security was heavy for the occasion. and in the northern philippines, crowds gathered to witness and record as seven roman catholics were nailed to crosses. the church has tried to discourage the ritual. back in this country: majury in florida has acquitted the widow of the gwho massacred 49 people at a gay nightclub in orlando. noor salman was found "not guilty" of lying to the f.b.i. and hiding her husband's extremist beliefs. omce mateen was killed by po in the 2016 pulse nightclub attack. independent autopsy results raised new questions today about the police killing of stephon i clarsacramento, california.

on march 18, two officers fired 20 times at clark, shouting that he had a gun. t ned out to be a cell phone. today, dr. bennet omalu-- a hthologist hired by the family- - said eight sho clark, and seven were from behind. police had said he was coming toward tm. >> the proposition that has been presented, that he was assailing the officers meaning he was facing the officers is inconsistent with the prevailing forensic evidence as documented at autopsy.f: >> woodrr. omalu is known for his groundbreaking study of brain injuries in pro football players, that prompted the n.f.l. to adopt new safety rules. more than two dozen school districts in kentucky osed today, when hundreds of teachers called in sick. they are protesting a pension overhaul adopted late last night.

it says new teachers will be not be guaranteed a set benefit amount. this follows a teachers strike in west virginia and threats of job actions in several states. and a russian hacker accused of attacking silicon valley companies is back in the united states to face trial, the czech republic extradited yevgeny nikulin last night. he's charged with hacking systems at linkedin, dropbox,r and otheerican firms. still to come on theewshour: russia strikes back, expelling 60 american diplomats out of the country, atlanta-- the targeof a large-scale cyber attack. tus, inside the governmen command center tasked with fending off hackers, and much more. the diplomatic showdown between russia and the united states and its western allies intensified

this week, following the poisoning earlier this month in england of a former russian double agent and his daughter. the expulsions of alleged russian spies by more than 20 nations, and the retaliation by moscow, came amid a national tragedy there: last sunday's deadly fire in siberia.in as nick schieports, relations between russia and the west have reached yet another new low. >> reporter: today, russia tested a new intercontinentalss ballistic e it claims can elude u.s. missile defense. ct russia can't elude the current diplomatsis that's made russia-u.s. relations more dangerous than at any point since thy,cold war. tomerican diplomats packed their things outside the u.s. consulate in st. petersburg. 60ssia ordered the consulate closed and expelle.s. officials in response to therd u.s. oing russia's seattle consulate closed a expelling 60 russian officials.mo these are th significant expulsions since 1986. >> i've just returned from meetings in iceland.

>> reporter: but unlike 1986, when president reagan expelled soviet diplomats and held talks with the soviet union, today, the world isn't bipolar and the two des have less interest i cooperation. and thatakes things more difficult to solve, says carnegie moscow director dmitri enin. >> for the united states, it's the fundamental russian behavior that needs to change. for the russians, however, the goal is a compromise, achieved through the normal give and take process. and those two views are totally incompatible. >> president putin and i have been discussing various things. >> reporter: president trump expresses a desire to improveth relationship. but under the trump administration, tension has increased. over the baltics, nato jets have shadowed russian ministers' planes and russian jets have rocked their wings to demonstrate they're armed. in ukraine, the u.s. is sending

offensive weapons to soldiers fighting against russian-backed separatists. veand in syria, us troops fired on pro-russian forces who had attacked them. this week, u.n. secretary general antonio guterres called for the two sides to reduce the risk of escalation. >> it's time for prens of these sorts guaranteeing effective communication, guaranteeing capacity to prent escalation i do believe that mechanisms of the sort are necessary ar:in. >> reporor putin, tension's an opportunity, he's portrayed himself as the only naader strong enough to stand up to a powerful, extenemy. but that doesn't mean he can ignore internal crises. siberian town kemorovo, when a fire ripped through and gutted at a memorial, a father remembered talking to his daughter on the phone as she tried to escape. >> i was crying to my daughter. she said, dad, i love you. i'm suffocating. i'm losinconsciousness.

>> reporter: the tragedy sparked mourning and protests. because the mall's exists were blocd and the firearm disabled. putin visited to pay respects and to present himself as a benevolent leader launching an investigation. he met with victims' families, letting them interrupt and question him. he ptrayed himself as authentic and local officials as corrupt. >> 100 investigators are working on this case. they >> 100 investigators are working on this case.ey ill inspect the whole chain of command. >> putins an accomplished politician who's been very successful over the past 18 years. but a lot of peoplunder him, the bureaucracy, fee they are only responsible to the tsar, that they are totally irresponsible, and c totally irresponsible, to the population.

>> reporter: putin's critics accuse him of facilitating the kind of low-level corruption and ineffectual local governance that led to the fire. the fire shows the limits of putin's control. >> russia is a combination of top down control and anarchy much of the issues around russia is not the poor management which exists on behalf of the authorities, it's also lawlessness and la of responsibility among ordinary people. >> reporter: those ordinary people direct their ire at the local government, as putin portrays himself as confronting local corruption and an aggressive west.u. th is considering further escalation, and russia maintains blanket denials. neither side wants war. but it's not clear how they get t of the cycle of confrontation. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick scfrin.

>> woodruff: cit iof atlants sais slowly making progress in restoring its computer networks. hari sreenivasan explains how nine days after a cyber attack brought city services to a virtual standstill, systems are coming back onr:ne. >> reportlanta is among the largest, but only the most recent victim,n a recent spike in ransomware attacks, where hackers gain entry to computers, seize files, and lock out users until a ransom is paid. the f.b.i. received more than 2,600 such complaints in 2016. a group known as "samsam" is thtaght to be behind the atl hack. they've already extorted moreth $1 million this year, from some 30 organizations. the f.b.i. advises not to pay extortion money to hackers, saying it emboldens criminals, and does not guarantee that the

seized data will be returned. atlanta officials have not saidt r they paid the $51,000 ransom demanded of them. for more on the scope and consequences of these modern-day shake-downs, we turn to allan liska, senior intelligence analyst with the security firm "recorded future." put this atlanta hrsk in ctive for us. how significant is it? >> thank you for having me, hari. it is actually pretty significt in terms of the scope of the damage. this is, though, one of theh thingsat the "samsam" group does as part of their attack structure. a lot of ransomware that we see is broadly distributed, so i a tackers going after as many targets as possible. the "samsam" group is a little bit different. they study theiret ta they take their time getting in, and then once they've accessed the network, they make sure they keep the dame as small as possible, and atlanta is one of the biggest targets they've hit.

nk when we thif hackers oftentimes a stereotype by hollywood is a teenager sitting a their basement by themselves. but when you taout groups like this, is this one of the new faces of organized crime? >> absolutely. the "samsam" group is well organized, well funded. they've carried out attacks since at least december of 205. they've brought in several million dollars over the lastle cof years. so it's -- i hate to use the term, but it's a thriving enterprise. >> sreenivasan: let's talk a little bi about atlanta. they have been pretty tight-lipped on exactly what's been affected. but what kind of services if it's not atlanta but other citiesho are switching fro paper to digital that could fall prey to this kind of attack? >> in atlanta, we see this with their court system having to switch back to paper and not being able to pay fines, speeding tickets or access other

services. this happens a lot. when you have a group that plans their ransomware attack carefully, they will make sure that it's disruptive. we saw this last year with the attack on the san francisco bart system where an attacker got in and installed ransomware on the fare system so weveryboo went to buy the ticket saw the systems had been infected with ransomware. >> sreenivasan: so it seems that cities and companies put up kind of fire walo try to keep hackers from getting in kind of directly, but it se that the human beings inside are the weak links. they get an email, click on a link and all of a sudden the ba guys are inside the network, so to speak. >> in this particular case, that's not what happened, but that's the primary distribution of ransomware i thrgh fishing e-mails, a fake invoice, a link to a bad web site. that is the primary distribution. the good news is that type of

ransomware is actually on thecl e. so we saw a big drop in that at the end of 2017, and that's continued into 208. part of that is organizations are getting better at protecting themselves from that type of ransomware. this type of ransomware is a little bitifferent because this is targeted, and this is a group that iswilling tke weeks or months in order to gait accethe networks they want to get to. that is much hader -- that's much harder group to protect against. >> we see this story because it the city of atlanta, but if you go back and search google news, you will see the baltimore police department and the fire department here and colorado, state by state, city by city, they're experiencing these attacks and they're kind of geder the radar. >> this is a chn tactic that we've seen over the last year or so. so ransomware used to be, again, widely distributed, widely

attacked, but a lot of corporations have stepped up their security and made it much more difficult for these attackers to gain access. however, hospitals, health care facilities, government agencies, state an local governments specifically, don't have the resources to fully secure their systems the way some of these other companies -- you know, banks and so on -- do. so they have been more suheptible to tese ransomware attacks. they also havefttimes a mandate to pay the ransom because either constituent or patient services are being disrupted, so they tend to be more likely toay. they're good targets because they will often pay and they're i don't want toay easy targets, but because their security teams tento be stretched thinner, there's -- a bad guy is more likely to find a

mistake. >> sreenivasan: allan liska, senior intelligence analyst with "recorded future," thank you so much. >> thank you >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the "newshour." mark shields and david brooksr analyze anotump cabinet shakeup. author mohsin hamid answers yous ons about his newest book "exit west." and the accountant who play in the national hockey league. but returning to the murky world of cyber attacks, and defense. the newest u.s. military command is responsible not for a piece of land or air, but cyberspace. special correspondent mike cerre, has this exclusive, inside view of the men an women protecting the military's digital networks at united states cyber command. >> reporter: it looks and sounds like every other stateside

military base, far from the front lines around the globe. but fort meade, maryland, home base to the natial security ency and u.s. cyber command, the military's newest combatant command, is fighting a war every day. admiral mike rogers commands both the n.s.a. and u.s. cyber command. >> today, we face threats that have increased in sophistication, magnitude, velocity.nd volume and wa>> reporter: the interne largely created by the defense department in the late 60s mostly for research and developmenprograms. now, like every other major institution, it depends on it for almost everything it does. as a result, the defense department's information network is now targeted by nearly 40 million malicious emails, everyday. colonel paul craft's cyber protection teams defend the network from this top secret operations center called "the j-soc."

>> we do not want the enemy to get a foothold into the department of defense's networks to gain or maintain any terrain ewst like they would in land. >> reporter: theour was granted exclusive access, under conditions we not identify team members or the cyber-defensese technologies vice admiral nancy norton is the commander of the joint forces headquarters-dodin, which is responsible for protecting the military's network. >> the national defense strategy has made pretty clear that we have near peer competitors in cyberspace from russia and china. north korea and iran are also routinely working to gain a competitive advantage by getting into our networks. >> reporter: in addition toth e adversaries, u.s. military cyber warriors fight thousands riof non state actors, ter groups, and professional hackers all committed to cracking the firewalls of cyber's first, and presumably largest, distributed network, now used for everything from combaoperations and to

military healthcare. >> everything starts with a thing called "an indicator of compromise." it could be a malicious spear phishing e-mail.it ould be a packet that looks foreign for some reason that could do something malicious to our network. the simplest thing is to block it. but if they're in your house, it's about getting that person out of your house and making sure we knewhat they touched. and the network is again restored, hardened, and restored. >> reporter: once inside, hackers can disrupt a network'sl operatioe they did last year to the british health system forcing hospitals to down, or they can stea confidential information like equifax's credit reports on more .an 145 million americans so far, the most serious cyber-b securiaches of u.s. defense and intelligence networks were inside jobs, like

.f.c. bradley manning, w now identifies as chelsea, a transgender soldier who copied and released nearly a million classified documents. the leaking of the n.s.a.'s ansurveillance techniques other classified material by a subcontractor, edward snowden. there are also accidental security breaches, like th careless use of a flash drive by a military unit in the middle eastn 2008 that temporarily created an opening into the defense department's network. these cyber teams are drawn from all the services and ranks. some were trained by the military others were recruited for their ber skills. >> it's not like fighting a war in another domain wher deploy troops, you fight and go the conflict in the cyber domain is constant. a line of code buried in this recruiting ad generated nearly 0,000 hacking attempts on a fake military website. 1% cracked the site and were invited to join the militarywa cybeare team.

>> reporr: training and retaining this new generation of cyber warriors is a challenge. ard with the technology, i could walk out today and get a-- very easily get a six-figure salary. it's not about the money. fo's about the pride in your job and what you do the american people. >> reporter: lieutenant general vincent stewart is a deputy commander wimm u.s. cyber d. >> the metaphor i like to use in this space, itho like playing ey. you're constantly on the move.e in both offed defense and it's fast paced, it's ic and one goal can change the outcome. >> reporter: general stewart can't elorate on cybercom's offensive tactics, like those they've rently used to try to disrupt isis' online recruiting and media operation, or what and media operation, or what if any involvement the u.s. had with the widely publized

reported, but officially denied a cyber attack on an iranian nuclear facility, using a software virus called "stuxnetwhich disabled critical equipment. >> what was created with stuxnet that was not just an operation to sabotage iranian nuclear research. it was a new kind of weapon. >> reporter: peter singer, with the new america foundation, and other defense analysts believe the iranian attack to be a major turning point in cyber-warfare. >> they created a weapon something that causeical damage. but it was unlike every other in history anthat it was computer software such as zeros and ones. >> rorter: but it is a more recent cyber attack, on the 2016 presential election, that is now the concern. detecting, let alone stopping the russian meddling, wasn't cyber command's job. since it was large executed on facebook and other public, social media networks the military is prohibited from

intervening with. and more the arose platforms more responsibility of the department of homeland security. is is an issue of priority. at's what has cloudedthe debate over the 2016 is you have these intelligence agencies seeing things coming in, seeing things hit american politic institutions, but, of course, they're not supposed to be involved in american political questions and then, on top of it, it throws thm into a partisan debat' that's why s been so difficult. iceshe senate armed se committee recently challenged cyber command's admiral mike rogers on thu.s. response to the russian interference. >> intentionally, we have not taken on the russian. >> it's probably fair to say that we have not opted to engage some of the same behaviors

that we are seeing. >> this is not just about th chinese. this is about the russians. this is about the iranians. these e all our potential adversaries who understand the things thadt unerpin western liberal democracies and are going after it. that's what keeps me awake. >> in the cyber realm, an attack can dismantle infrastructure an networks and also destroy faith in institutions. for the p "newshour", mike reporting frofort meade, maryland. >> woodruff: it was the third week in a row ere president trump fired a member of his administration. this week, it was davikin of the department of veterans affairs. that and other news brings us to the analysis of shields and brooks. that's syndicated columnist mark shields, and "new york times"

columnist david brooks. gentlemen, more rnover. this time it was the head of the veterans affairs department. david, looked as if he and the president were gettiong well but then there was a dispute over how fast they should privatize, what the v.a. dose, anthen there were questions about a trip he took to europe with his wife last ek, but he's out. >> can you imagine working at a plrye where eveeek somebody goes? there was a quiet week but they still lost a cabinet member. it spes to how litle sense of camaraderie and trust there is bewiuse you don't know wh be there day to day and no assurance is a real assurance. to me the most interesting thing is the replacement with jackson and t's part of the belief of populism which donald trump stands for is expernce is more corrupting than educational and you need clean people from outside who are pure fro partisan interest and rotting in the swamp. we're about to test that

proposition because parently an extremely good man but with no administrative ability is being asked to run the second largest bureaucracy in the u.s. government, and with someone who has no administrative ability but hangs around people who do,j itst a different style of thought. i feel great sympathy r that guy coming into what's going to be an extremely difficult job. ronnydruff: we read dr. jackson, the president's personal white house physician, was reluctant, apparently, when this was first raised with him to takhee over.a. >> that's exactly it, he comes with very high personal recommendations -- the deputy chief of staff a the obma white house called him not only a patriot but a saint, and dan pfeiffer went on the record, and had hen there under tree presidents. so the personal credentials arei pretty s and he -- and the president likes him, and he did very well one tlevision

tesenting the president's medical report illing with a straight face the president weighed 239 pounds. so that endd eam. but i come back to the firing. this is quite a unique administration in the terms of public service. i cancall when donald trump was running, he said -- and i looked it up again today -- i know the best people, i know the best managers, i know the best steel makers, we're going to have th best cabinet. we're on the third national security advisor at this point. what's so bizarre to me is i can remember when thepseace cor was created, and there was one young man who put his career on hold and they said, why are you doing this? he said, i've never done anything plitical or patriotic

or unselfish because nobody asked me and, he said, president kennedy asked me. you know, that sense of public service th it's a high calling, that it's for the common good, is totally absent from this president, from his lexicon, from his frame of reference. >> woodruff: well, and, you know, while we're talking about personnel, theroead of the enental protection agency, scott pruitt, david, appears to be in some hthot water is week because turns out he was living in a room orrenting a room near capitol hill last year and paying an unusually small rent, $50 a night, in an area where it's more expensive than that, and there's a story in the "the washington post" today about unusually inexperienced and not people who didn't do a great job in the white house personnel office. so just more questions. >> yeah, and this goes to the point mark made and to the notion of norms. i have been talking to lot of people like -- a lot of peopl

that the president's approval ratings are up. the economy is doing well, i tove him credit for that. there's a validit that argument but there's been a damage to the normse govern ourselves by, the capacity of stat he appoints people he personally likes where a personal relationship with the king is all that matters. pruitt takes a department that has some ties to the wie ofta lobbyist. it's mott the biggest scandal in the history of the rep rick, it's just somebody who goes in with a mentality of i'm here to serve the people and country, it doesn't feel right to do that. alarm bells going off in your head ofny normal person, that's going to hurt my capacity to do my work. the fact the alarm bells didn't go off suggests the shift in capacity from private to public sector has not happened, they haven't crossed the mental leap

mark described that you can be corporate lawyer, do all that, and it's perfectly fie but, when you do public service, you're entering difaferent lm, you're probably not going to get fly first class which you're used to, there will be sacrifice bus you do it because you feel 's the right thing. >> woodruff: it's a different recommend and typically the vetting is tough to gt these jobs in the administration. >> it is, and the piece you mentioned in the post pointed out they started with a farol smaller f talent. most administrations start with 30300 -- 300,000 names. theyi adink, one-fourth of that when they came in.h many have been down because they didn't meet the loyalty t one point or another. of course, the whole personnel staffing was absolutely blownup it was done by chris christie. they had done according to independent observers a pretty darn good job andhey just burned that. so they have been behind. epmost administrations, ublican and democrat, at the office of

personnel management put in professionals, i mean really talented people. i'r known a num them myself, and, you know, because they recognizehat personnel i policy in any administration. you have the greatest ideas and policy in the making but unless you have able, committed people to execute those policies, it's for naught. that's exactly what's een the problem here. >> woodruff: change of subject, but relat in ay because it's administration policy, david, as we learned from the census bureau, from the administration, the trumpti administ, that what the census folks are going to do in 2020 is add a question about people's citizenship, raising all kinds of questions about whether this is going to be a deterrent to people participating who are living here without all the proper documents. >> in normal times, frankly, doesn't strike me as an odd question to ask, are you a citizen, and historically thes census hsked that question.

but in the atmosphere of fear s thrrounds immigration these days, with i.c.e. behaving as they are and wth the administration really threatening in some situations to kick tizens or noncitizens out, what you're doing is thisnd comes at thef that climate and, give that climate, asking thisuestion, making this policy shift now can only be interpreted as a way to get people to not answer the question. there is an important shift to political power because money goes to -- depends on how many people you represent in each risdiction, federal money follows the numbers and if you're scaring people ay frm participating in the census, the jurisdiction will get less money. given the climate, strikes me as a menacing and probably counterproductiveuestion. it's already clear if you have a government person coming to the door and asking a questioand the private person, people answer the private person more because there's no fear there, but the government implies force, so they would get a

higher turndown rate if you make it even more menacing because you're going to ask a question that could get you thrown out, people are going tol cose the door. >> woodruff: the administration is saying they think they're going to get a more accurate count, but the skeptics are saying, no, they will hide. >> put me down on the side ofe the ptics. there's 132 government programs based on need, so you have to get, whether it's od stamps or whatever it might be, school lunches that are baseed -- apportionment to the states is based on the need, and if the poorer people, the less affoplut who oftentimes are those who are recent immigrants to this country are silenced under timidity, fear, and we don't get accurate count, that means people who need it most are not going to get it, will be --

deprived. it will mean less political power to states like california and texas, too, because o the large latino population. but the motives -- the hands are not clean coming to this question.n' it di-- it wasn't something that came uh up out of a think tank. it was announced b wilbur ross the secretary of commerce who we don't think spent a. phd.'s research looking at this. it tid have a certain appeal to the president anthe white house. >> woodruff: different subject, the event that really took over washington last saturday and that was the big march for our lives, david, d by those young people at parkland high school, the marjory stoneman douglas high hool in parkland, florida. it was a huge turnaround around the country. ishis something that's going to last? will it make a difference in the

argument against gruel? >> i'm skeptical it will make a difference. ibut it was instructive to me. i went to be with the marchers as a journalistic observer, of course, and shocked me as a very moderate march it was focused on the specific issues of banning assault weapons, a few specific moderate pieces of legislation. i was hardened by it because seems likehe extreme on this side feeds the extreme on this side and our entire polical system i gyrating without any sense of moderation, but this was a moderate march and the people were good-hearted, there was a good spirit. there was notu cul war fighting. there was norad callization. it struck me as democracy the way it's supposed to wor then i followed the feedback on the march on twitter, franklyit anas like i was at a different march, it was as if they were all set of radicals and one set was shouting at another. so it was revel tore to me that theworld you se on twitter is

not the real world and that esn't are a lot of do people who have positions, this or that, you can agree with them or not, but it gave me a much more hopeful sense out our democracy. >> woodruff: says something about social media. >> i think it does say an awful lot about social media. judy, no arrests here in washington. very littlrefuse t behind. they were a cleanrespectful group of people. i think david's absolutely right, good will and good nature was pervasive. there weren't taunts or any really hostile activity. you know, i am more hopeful, quite frankly, hing lived through it and seen it, that there may be some hope, that they've sustained etthey've kept it going. i do think that the n.r.a.,

national headquarters is verych n the defensive right now, and gun sales arew don, you may haveo nticed. one went into chapter 11 this week after 202 years. >> woodruff: congress was away. they're coming back, maybe we'll gets a sense next week. >> we whether. >> woo,druff: mark shiel david brooks, happy easter, happy passover to both of you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: now, a work of fiction explores migrati, violence, love and fear: jeffrey brown sits down with the authorh of our mick for "now read this," our monthly book club, a partnership with "the new york times." n> brown: two young people fall in love in unnamed city in the muslim world and as violence takes hold they're fonged to flee, joi mass migration that's become one of

the hallmks and st contention events of our time. but this is a novel exit west that uses realism a some magic to capture life for millions today and a possible future. as we do every month've asked you to send in questions and author moshin hamid is here to answer someas we an fit. nice to see you again. >> thank you. >> brown: thanks for coming.ht i'll get rto it. there were a lot of people who wondered about how this matched up with you, right. so elaine from fyettesville, arkansas, is any part of this novel drawn from your own experience? another question, are your main characters based on real people you know? >> well, i have been migrating my who life, so in a way i suppose i was always going to write at some point a novel about migration. moved to california when i was 3, back to america when i was 18 from pakistan, london, now back to pakistan. so the experience of migrationon

and the emo pain and confusion that comes from it i think do in a way comfort me but at the same time the horrors thaare things i'm not familiar . with nightmares, living in pakistan, is someone is terrified of what could happen as opposed to what is happening. v> brown: a lot of people noticed that not g the names of the two characters but not other characters, right? ume places are namedt not the city where they're from. so christina pikme fro cherry valley, california.th ware hamid trying to give this story a timeless universals quality by not g sving apecific location to the city? >> a bit. it's a good question. tlthinkthat, for me, the nameless city pawas because i didn't want to name it there town wi live because

something terrible happens in that city and it would have broken my heart to do it to my own city, but partly i wadn the reader to imagine it the city of their father, mother, best friend. >> brown: bob olson in minnesota, what was the thoughtv behindg the only two protagonist's names in the book? >> the novel covers a lot of ground, moves from place to place and different characters me into it. having only two named characters keeps the reader in touch wih the emotional heart to have the story. who ever else you immediate th matter bt the couple is what the book is about. >> brown: they me, others move, this is the magic i was referring to for those who have not read the book, people moveop throug doors, explain that because obviously it interested our reade. >> so in the novel these black doors begin to appear. so maybe you're in your apartment and the door to your

throom has been replaced by a dark rectangle. say you're across the world, suddenly billions of people start to move tapwhpeole world starts to change. >> brown: lots of people asked about the device. connor from st. louis said how and why did you dece not to write anything about the couple's fiscal journey outof the company? >> we have become so focused onf the storyow somebody crosses the border, how did you cross the mediterranean in a small boat or thu.s.-mexico border, crawl underneath a barbed wire, and weink people who have done that are different from us. it makes ust' imagine thaall their life consisted of and that's very different than us. when you take away that part of the story, you're left with people just like us, anyone can have that experience. taking away that story doesn't minimize the importance of that happening in the real wold, but

it shows people are just like us. >>rown: that opens up a whole other issue, we wonder who are they, what's goowng on, does this even happen. >> i think technology works a bit like magic. most of us have a black rectangle in our pocket or backpack or purse and when we look ate our consciousness goes far away from r bodies, magically appearing somewhere else and looking at the, pho and suddenly you're by the moon or mars or antarctica. i thought what would happen if your body could move as easily asour mind. the doors give life to that. >> brown: there was a question i was inerested in becse it goes to your thinking about how you write. i've seen exit westescribed as a fairytale. i'm not sure that's entirely accurate, but the guage in the book does v to me, thisre er, striking style that reminds me of someone telling a. st i felt like a listener in some ways rather than a reader.

>> i'm really h happy toear that. i write by reading my stff out loud again and again. >> brown: you walk around the room talking to yourself,in re >> yeah. if you see me from a distance, you would think i was crazy, a guy pacing around in his study talking to himself. i read two hours out loud for ve which one hour i write. the reason that matters is we image we read witur eyes but we actually process words and lauage through circuitry in our minds connected to our years. >> brown: i won't give away the ending, but a lot of pee werendering about where this leaves you. are you optimistic about the situation, the refugees situation? >> i'm optimistic aout our species. you know, we are descended from fugees, all of us. our people have my grated. everody comes from the mother continent of affect and now people have moved on since then. so i think that we will find a way. human beings do, ande current fear that we have of the future,

i suspect, will overcome it. >> brown: all right. we're going to continue our talk and we'll have that ente conversation available online. for now, first, let me say tha you, moshin hamid, for joining us. >> thank you. >> brownlet me tell you at home about our pick april as we turn back to nonfiction. the next book "the death and life of the great lakes," a wonderful story of hisietory, e an about thet thr the largest source of water in the world and america's waterways. dan egan will join us for online extras all month and answer your questions right here at the endf pril. so remember you can join "now read this" thrangh facebook the "newshour" site. we're at 51,000 readers and i countithe book club and, most importantly, everybody's reading along. join us. thanks.

>> woodruff: what started off as just anotherame in the n.h.l., last night's match-up between the chicago blackhawks and winnipeg jets, became one of the more improbable sports stories of the year, as an unlikely hero stole the show. >> hey, who's this guy?>> oodruff: it was the question by many watching last night's game in chicago. but by the end of the night,he they had t answer:re he's the shot, foster sucks up another one! ( cheers )f: >> woodrhat "guy" was 36-year-old accountant scott foster, pressed into emergency service for the blackhawks.le the former col goalie is one of a handful of amateurs that n. il. teams hold in reservef their pros can't py, and that's howonce in a blue moon" ended in a red jersey last

night, when the blackhawks backup goalie went down with injury. but the father of two,ho's never played professionally, looked everyit the part. >> ( horn sounding ) and look at scott foster. >> woodruff: in 14-plus minutes, foster stopped all seven shots he 2aced, and secured a 6 to win for one of the league's worst teams, against one of its best. in the locker room, he met the news media: >> did you get any advice before you went out there? >> i don't think i heard anything other than "put yournd helmet on"ow i'm standing here. >> did you see joel quenneville just laughing as you were getting on the ice? >> i think i would too. ( laughter ) >> woodruff: the blackhawks move on to play in colorado tonight. but scott foster will be at home in oak park, illinois, not on the ice...w. for no to our newshour shares,

something that caught our eye.de the of a rescued chimpanzee's flight to wildlife ary recently spread like wildfire on the internet. the newshour's julia griffin tracked down the video's pilot anasked about his mission save africa's imperiled primates. >> reporter: it's a simple video that tugs at the heartstrings: a baby chimp bonds with, sleeps on, and even learns from the ma flying him tfer home. the pilot is anthony caere, a belgian aviator working for virunga national park in the democratic republic of congo. >> since i was aittle boy, i had like two big wishes and i was flying small planes and animals. so-- and i got the opportunity to work for virunga national park four years ago, i grabbed it with two hands. >> reporter: on a noal day, caere is an "eye in the sky," assisting rangers in anti- poaching patrols, wildlife censuses and other duties.

but a few times a year, he ferries orphaned apes and monkeys 400 miles north to lwiro primate rehabilitation center. his passenger this time was mussa, a three-year-old chimpanzee recently rescued from poachers. >> it's actually a very sad story because they took that kttle chimp away from his family. illed this family. >> reporter: poachers often sell slaughtered adult monkeys as bushmeat in local markets, but they prefer to peddle the baby animals as pets. once confiscated from their s, lwiro provides primat like mussa a safe space to recove the organization cares for more than six dozen chimps and nearly 100 monkeys, many of which arrive malurished, stressed and physically wounded from small cages and tight ropes. whicis why, caere says, most baby chimps are not restrained during hislights. >> if you have like a really chill little baby chimp who is happy to be on your lap and it holds you, then you have the

wrong effect when you put it in a cage, then it will totally freak out start to cry. it can die, actually. so we take the time to gain his trust, to feed him and when he feels comfortable and he jumps on your arms and he holds you then it's time to do the flight. >> reporter: and while he is happy his video went viral, caere emphasizes this flight should never have happed in the first place. >> i hope the people not only say ok it's a cute moviebut there still is poaching and the message is that that little chimp should be with his mom and not ony lap. >> reporter: mussa is now in quarantine with other rescued baby chimps. when he is ready he will be introduced to a new ch family. for the pbs newshour, i'm julia griffin. and, a news update before we go: one baton rouge, louisianali officer has been fired over a 2016 fatal shooting of a ilack man. alton sterling wasd in a struggle outside of a convenience store. the second officer involved was

spended for three days. earlier this week, the state declined to bring criminal charges. charges against the white officers. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a great easter and passover weekend. thank you and go night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by supporting innovations in

>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs statiofrom viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by tmedia access groupbh tmedia access groupbh access.wgbh.org orelyse: we're the detectives,

and we're going to investigate some untold stories from america's past. this week, how was this african-american artist om connected to se of the most celebrated murals of the 20th century? my mom told us we had this fous aunt who was a famous artist. wes: how did this recently disct of our first president aid an abolitionist's cause? "anxious to promote the happiness of the poor africans..." tukufu: and, in an encore presentation, is this scrap of fabric evidence of a secret wartime attack on the u.s. mainland? elvis costello: ♪ watchin' the detectives i ♪ get so angry when the teardrops start ♪ ♪ but he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart ♪ ch ♪in' the detectives ♪tt's just like wain' the detectives ♪