ptioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, moneyon moves-- the federal reserve cuts interest rates. we step back to look at how this effects the broader economy. then, secretary of state pompeo calls attacks on saudi arabia an "act of war." what is next? and how will a new national security advisor shape the u.s. response? plus, in a pinch-- how warming waters in the atlantic ocean are hurting lobsrs. >> i's a lot like a bathtub rmere if you turn do the cold tap, turn off the ap you get a really, really hot bath. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour."

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>> this programade possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodrf: the federal reserve has cut short-term interest rates by a quarter point, for the second time in three months. but the central bank held back today from promising any further money moves this year. fed chairman jerome powell said it all depends on where the economy seems to be headed. >> what we think we're facing n re is a situation which addressed and should be addressed with moderate adjustments to the federal funds rate. as i mentioned, we are watching carefully to see whether that is the case. if in fact the economy weakens more, then we're prepared to be aggressive and we'll do so if it turns out to be appropriate. >> woodruff: president trump

to to twitter to criticize the fed, and powell, for not approving a larger rate cut. he said: "no guts, no sense, no vision." we'll take a closer look at the fed's moves, right after the news summary. the president today tapped robert o'brien to be national security adviser, his urth, to date. o'brien had been special envoy for hostage negotiations mr. trump removed john bolton as national security adviser, last week, over policy disputes. saudi arabia says it has mounting evidence that iran was behind weekend attacks on key oil facilities. saudi officials today displayed remnants of drones and a cruise missile. theyaid the weapons were iranian-made, but iran again denied any role. u.s. secreta of state pompeo arrived in saudi arabia toda he said the attacks were an "act of war." ,'ll talk about all of th and the naming of the new

national security adviser, later in the program. the government of israel was inb political today, after two main parties deadlocked in tuesday's elections. neitr likud nor the blue and white party won enough seats for a majority in parliament. former defense minister avigdor lieberman leads a smaller party that could become the kingmaker. he underscored his position today. >> ( translated ): the conclusion iclear. all that we have said during the election campaign is coming true. there is only one option anl national unity government, a liberal, broad government. and we will indeed say againwe will not join any other option. >> woodruff: prime minister njamin netanyahu, of likud, insisted today that he will still try to form a ruling coalition anyway. the european parliament has approved another extension to the brexit deadline, but, with conditions. it would have to be used to

prevent a no-deal british departure from the en union, or to allow for new e elections n a new referendum on brexit.ni british prime er boris johnson has insisted on leaving the e.u. by the current deadli, octhber 31, with or without a deal. the president of the philippines, rodrigo duterte, is fering bounties of nearly $20,000, for hundreds of convicted criminals.th include killers and rapists, mistakenly freed under a good-behavior program. duterte said today they are waed dead or alive, but he prefers them dd. the justice minister said later that he should not be taken literally. i bermuda, schools, transportation and government offices closed today with hurricane "humberto" bearing down. the storm is on track to pass north of the island tonight, with sustained winds o miles an hour.

nants ofe, the r tropical storm "imelda" were dumping up to 18 inches of rain rtssoutheastern texas and of louisiana. president trump has confirmed that his administration is revoking california's power to set its own car mileage standards. he argued today that the move will leaeto cheaper, fer cars. but, california's attorney general, javier becerra, said it will actually mean more pollution, and he vowed to file suit. >> our communities are screaming for help to address the climate crisis. unlike the trump administration, we don't run scared. and so wheer it is climate change or an administration n itscitrant in taking responsibilities, we're prepared to lead, we'll prepare to fight, we'll do wt we must. >> woodruff: we'll hear from california's governor gavinws later in the program.on aborin the united states have reached the lowest level since 1973, when the procedure was legalized nationwide.

a research group, the guttmacher institute, says there were 862,000 abortions in 2017, down from at 1.6 milon, back in 1990. the institute says the decline is due mainly to fewer pregnancies and greater access to birth control under the affordable ce act. and, on wall street, stocks plunged, then rebounded as the federal reserve gave mixedsi als about future interest rate cuts. the dow jones industrial average gained 36 points to close at 27,147. the nasdaq fell 8 points, and the s&p 500 added one. still to come on the newshour:ed what theal reserve cutting interest rates means for your wallet. llcretary of state pompeo attacks on saudi arabia an "act of war." the governor of california takes on climate change and the gig economy, plus much more.

>> woodruff: the federal reserve cut interest ratesor the cond time in seven weeks today. let's take a look atof the latest thinking behind this cut, the reaction tit, and the role e fed plays; and more miecifically the role ecomists play, in the ecofortunes and stability of the country. the current chairman of the federal reserve jerome powell may not be an economist, but he is the exception. nearly all his predecessors since the 1970's have been. and the influence the profession wields in key areas of american life has grown dramatically in that time. nyamin appelbaum writes on business and economics for the "new york times" edirial page, he is the author of "the economists' hour," which tracks the rise of a number of prominent economists

mr. applebaum, welcome back to the "newshour". >> thank you for having me. >> woodruff: today the federal rerve voted to cute federal funds rate by a quarter of a soint. what was the rethey gave for doing this? jerome powll the fed's chairman said they're worried about the impact of uncertainty around global trade, that it is discombobulating the economy, causing concern, making corporations hesitate before investing and weighing on economic growth. >> woodruff: and why do you think it wasn't more of a rate cut than it was, than a quarter of a point? >> it takes a lot for the fed to move more than a quart a point. a move more than that says it's an emergency, we need to do something really big. powell saw it to project a meage of calm. he said we think this is a appropriate and sufficient measure. >> woodruff: the vote of the fed board was 7-3. it's somewhat unusual to see ofatin a division.

how unusual is it? >> it is, and not just dissent but dissent on botsides. one member of the board said we should be doing more and two w sayishould be doing less. you're seeing significant decisions inside the fed about how to handle the situation. it's causing debate inside the institution. >> woodruff: we reported earlier preside trump unhpy they didn't cut rates anymore. is there a way to read how much this pressure, public press from the president, how much of an effect it's having on these fed board members? >> i think that the job ofth running the fed is not easy, even if the president is sitting quietly. you face huge questions about the economy and it's future course, a t of you be certainty, but this additional pressure is clearly causing issues for the fed.t it's png i under a spotlight. it threatens its independence, it puts it under pressure to justify its actions to congress and thnation, it makes a

difficult job that much harder. >> woodruff: but even setting that aside, is there any kind oo consensus out there about whether the fed is getting the economy righor not? >> no, just as there are divisions inside the fed, there are divisions outside the fed. there's this broad disagreement right now, both about where thed economy h and about how much the fed can do to help. if your problem is trade uncertainty, iebusinesses hesitating because they don't know what's going to happen in negotiations witchina, lowering interest rates by a quarter point may not really affect wheth or not they make investments and that may not help the economy. >> woodruff: well, let's use sethis as a chance tgue to your new book which i mentioned just a mino, "the economists' hour," the title is "false profit, free markets an the fracture of society " in which you lay out the consequences of giving a lot of power to economists spread through government through the last few decades who put a lot of stock in the belief that free markets are the answer everything. explain photo us for a minute, binyamin applebaum, what was

that theory all about? how did they go overboard and what do you believe the consequences have been. >> my book s the story ofa revolution that began in the late '60s and early '70s where economists started playing a much larger role in shaping public policy, and specifically in urging that the government should step back from acts of management of onomi conditions, op regulating airlines, the financial sector, cut back on taxation and let markets sort things out. and thcoe realequence of that has been a tremendous triesrise in ineality. the government stopped intervening to prevent inequality, it stoppeviewing inequality as a public policy problem, and as aon csequence we've ended up with a lot more inequality. >> woodruff: and you're saying this was the result of an influence of a number of prominent economists who worked s in therent pla federal government? >> that's right. so as they start to influence policy-makers, they come in in the early '60s and '70s and basically sa ptoolicy-makers,

listen, the focus should be on growth and if you're trying to deal with inequality, it will come at the expense of growth. so instead of redistributing, what you want to do is get outto ave the way, let businesses concentrate and prosper, reduc taxation, reduce regulation, and the effect of not trying toal prevent iney is you end up with a lot more of it. >> woodruff: so what are you saying has to be done now to redress where we have been and what's happened? >> well, i think our problem is inequality. it has proved to be bad for both people who are suffering from a lack of opportunity and for the economy as a whole because it prevents them froibm coning as much as they could, and, therefore, the answer is tono something haven't done in re than a generation which is to make reducing inequality a specific focus of public policy, to be asking of our public policies are they leveling the playing field, they giving americans a chance. one easy exampleiof ths is universal pre-kindergarten, an arean which we know if you're investing and allowing children

to get into the classroom, you improve their prospects in life, that's the kind of policy that we need. >> woouff: and we're hearing that, aren't we, from some ofca the democratiidates for president, i mean, they're talking about policies to attack inequality, including things like universal kindergarten but other ideas as well. >> ihink the period in which the ideas of economists and specifically emphasis on markets is us was dominant came to an end in 2008 with the financial cry sis and sce then we have been in a period of reapprisele. one vie tembodied byhe president iso do away with the technocrats and emphaze crawl up in your turtle shell nationalism. another approach is to take a more progressive substance to inecall, we're aring that from the democratic candidates. >> woodruff: is it your sense that the country has turned the ofcorner, that the ide free markets, capitalism above all elses truly behind us when it comes to economic thinking,hor there is still a battle underway about this? >> i think there's a growing

consensus that we need something different, but i thinkre in a period again as we were in the 1930s and 1970s where it's not clear what comes next, where there's a profound debate about how we move into the next thing what tyof restraints should we place on markets, what role government should play in the market and society and i think this presidential election will be substantially about those questions. >> woodruff: you're saying'r having those debates right now? >> yes, indeed. >> woof:drinyamin applebaum, his new book is "the economists' hour." we thank you for talking to us about that and about what the fed ditoday. thanks for having me. >> woodruff:s we reported, secretary of state mike pompeo arrived in the kingdom of saudi arabia today. he once again blamed iran for attacks on saudi oilacilities over the weekend, saying they have the "fingerprints of the

ayatolla" meanwhile, iranian president rouhani said saudi arabia should see the attack as a warning to end the war in yemen. our yamiche alcindor has the latest. in alcindor: today in riyadh, the saudi case a iran was on full display. defense minister turki al-maliki showcased pieces of missiles and drones. he said they were from last weekend's attacks on critical oil facilities. he also played surveeed video that pportedly showed aon flying in from the north. he spoke in english, overlayed with arabic translation. >> the attacwas launched from the north and was unquestionably sponsored iran. >> alcindor: houthi rebels in yemen, south of saudi arabia and aligned with iran, insist they launched the attacks. the defense minister dismissed that claim. he stopped short of directly accusing iran, but said the evidence points to tehran's islamic revolutionary guard corps.

>> it's not coming from yemen, the houthi militia and the proxy are just folwing the order of the i.r.g.c. >> alcindor: iran has repeatedly denied anyd nvolvement. day, an adviser to iranian president hassan rouhani tweeted that saudi arabia "knows nothing." rouhani also met with his cabinet, and blamed the u.s. withdrawal from the 2015 iran nuclear deal for mounting tensions in the region. >> we did not start breaking deals. we did not start cutting relations. aose who have taken a step back should better taketep forward. >> alcindor: meanwhile, mpeoi ary of state mike flew to saabia to meet with saudi crown prince mohammad bin salman.ol hereporters he sees the attack aan "act of war." back in the u.s., president trump tweeted that he plans to "substantially increase sanctions" on iran. he also announstd that chief e negotiator robert o'brien will become his nationas security adver-- the fourth in three years. o'brien replaces longtime washington hawk john bolton, who

was fired last week. and despite the escalating tensions, trump, appearing with o'brien in california today, still sounded cautious about using military force.in h did going into the middle east go, how did going into iraq go? we have disagreements on that. it's easy to start. oi alcindor: to unpack where we go from here i'md by dlbert malley. he was aop mide east advisor to psident obama and is now president of the international crisis group. and danielle pletka,he's senior vice president of foreign and defense policy at the american enterprise institute and a professor at georgetown university's school of foreign service. thanks so much to both of you r being here. rob, saudi arabiaresented debris they say is from iran. what do you make of that and at should the u.s. do? how should they res nd is this. >> first of all, you know, whether it wad iran ectly or one of iran's allies, i think it's hard to imagine that ira didn't have a role in this, right, i mean, this is a crisis

that has beebrewing for some time. many of us predictedny iran woud react almost in this way, not extly, but iran would take steps if it was prevented from selling its oil wiath is esult of the sanctions u.s. posed on iran, then it would try to hinder the export of oil of some of america's allies in the gulf. so we know this isut aboran and you ask about how we get out of it. let's start about how we got into this. people were not talking about iran atfitacking oilds, threatening naval activity in the region, violating the nuclear deal, no one was talking ilout that up unt president trump walked away from the nuclear deal, imposed sanctions on in in t name of moderating iran's behavior.in so we're sa policy designed purportedly to moderats irehavior in the region and as many feared has produce exactly the opposite. so let's start from why whefrree are toden talk about where we get out of it.

>> reporter: what does iran have to gain from a stike like this because of the tensions we're seeing in the region, howg dihat's going to play out? >> i think rob asked a good question, how do wet here. the notion iran somehow wsn't a malign actor in the region during the obama-signed iran deal and previously just doesn't d up to scrutiny. it's true they weren't attacking saudi oilfields, but they wernge arhe houthis and encouraging them to attack saudi arabia dir atly. haillion people have died in syria at iran and the ass regime and russia's hands, that was all happening at the same tir. so whilen has, perhaps,s, directed its ire slightly differently to more directly from iranian territory on to saudi arabia, you kno w,ey're not exactly innocents here. >> reporterwhaeydo you think ave to gain by a strike like this.

>> that's a very interesting question and all of this is a little bit of pop psychology thinking what are their motivations becaus they're denying inl volvement. i think what the iranians are tryi to do is t split the gulf arabs off from the united states. what they perceive right now is that the gulf has aligned itself with thted states against iran. they want to make them question that. to do?at the right thin shouldn't you really have a relationship with us? shouldn't you be helping us undercut thenited states? because donald trump is going to talk big, but he's not going to be there for you when you need him and, in fact, that's whatna trump has done. >> reporter: what d do you make of that, rob. >> firr of all, i agee with a lot of what danielle said and i certainly uldn't depict eastern as a benign actor in the region.we ealt with them in the obama administration. it's not as if we consider them to be benign. the question i'm raising is, as bad situation as we're in

today where we may be on the precipice of war, where e president trump may deco retaliate, we could be in a spiral, an escalatinral which would produce exactly the result that president trump said he wanted to avoid whh is to go to war with iran or the middle east. it's not everything was perfect before and is terrible now. things have bot gtten much worse on the two issues the administration told us they were going to work to imrove, iran's gnash nature and the nuclearh deal whhey said was a terrible deal. we have iran more provocative in the region to the point of perhaps provoking a regional war and second f all walking away from a nuclear deal so they would be less constrain than under the deal. why would iran have done this? athink they're sendi message to the gulf countries, we could attack you, and they know the gulf countries can't retalie because they don't have the means to do so and, second of allthey're e the fact that the u.s. is not going to come to their defense,

i could see that argumenth the other ing they're going to do is sending the message they're not passive recipients of economic pressure ich they consider as economic war fair. they consider this just another means of war which is .rangulating their econo they will react and there will be a price to pay, they won't be the only ones payi arice, saudi arabia, the u.s. and others w wll. if yt this to stop, there's a way back but it means taking our interest into account. >> reporter: how likely ahead of the 2020 elections it is thao think president tru will be wanting to get into a conflict with iran, given the t tensiot might create? >> i don't think he does want a conflict with iran. that seeolms absely manifest. he's made very clear there havet been two ices, one where a u.s. drone was shot down and now a direct attack on saudi arabia. people shouldn't misperceive this and think f this as just an attack on saudi arabia, they should this of this on the attack of the energy security,

the continuity of energy supply for theorld, something that the united states has always, under democrats and republicans, said was sacrosanct. the president has, in both cases, chosen not to respond in, let's say, in a similar way. he has not chosen to strike iran. so i don't think that we are spiraling towards war. i thinthe president is trying to innocent the iranians to sit down with him. thproblem is,f course, this is not proving at least at this moment to be a terribly effective strategy and it is not deterring the iranians from their malign actieivin syria, in yemen, in saudi arabia, in iraq -- we could go oere. >> reporter: we only have about a minute left. president trump named his fourth national security advisor roberto brine. rob -- ert o'brien. robert, what d do you make of te

shakeup? >> it's a bit hard to follow. the new national security advisor doesn't seem to be one to really sh his own agenda, so if president trump wants to infriewns whatever policy president trump wants influenced on that date, he may have found the right person, who knows. certainly different an the style of john bolton. john bolton was in favor ofla eson with iran, so maybe it's fine that we will be heading in a different direction. >> reporter: danielle, what do you make of it? >> i know robert o'brien, is a decent man, a good lawyer, he's a conservative man, i think of him as a hawk. he's not as bold and brazen as john bolton, but as we've seen with all of the national security advisors, we've all seen this movie before,nd i suspect that anybody who is in that position ijust going to be in a difficult place.a i have a lot of respect for robert o'brien for the taking tt

very, very hard jobor. >> rr: lots to discuss. thank you so much for joining robert malley and danielle pletka. >> thank you. >> oodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: turning up the heat-- howte warming in the atlantic ocean hurts lobsters. stand why a grain of sand more than you think. president trump broke again with president obama and former presidents going back several decades.nn henced california and other states will no longer be allowed to set their own fuel mileage and emissions standards. e the states were given latitude to do so back in the seventies after the clean air bill was passed. but president trump has been trying to revoke much tougher mileage standards approved during the obama years.

california and several of the automakers had worked out an agreement to stick to tougher stanrds voluntarily. i spoke with california governor gavin newsom, a democrat, earlier th afternoon. governor newsom, thank you very much for joining us. first of all, what is your reaction to the trump ministration's announcement? ha two reactions -- one, it's predictable -- thibeen rumored now for almost three years and obviously disappointed because the nsequences, if he prevails, would be catastrophic, not only for the health of our planet, the health of the erican economy will be impacted if he's successful. >> woodruff: the president says, however, that tere's going to be very little difference in eissions between the u.s. standard, the new u.s. standard and the californiaan rd. what about that? >> every independent analysis of this says that's just nonsense, and i would encourage the president to actually do a little research on his own

proposal. they're trying to hold the miles per gallon standards roughly to about 37 miles versus roughly 50 miles if the obamara rules go into effect. you don't need to be a scientist to assess the impact of tailpipe emissions, green housgas emissions, but nor do you have to be an economist to determine the billions ofollars wasted in oil consumption that would be unnecessarily consumeif he's successful c this rollback. >> woodruff: another argument the president making, he tweeted today he's doing this in order to produce lesexecutive cars for the consumer and cars that are substantially safer.a what about that? sense.t's just no it's the height of irony, isn't it, we're in the middle of an oil crieas in the middl, an oil-dependent nation that we remain and here we are tryg to exercise autony and

independence by reducing oil consumption and lowing consumers to keep more in the pocket. the question i think is an interesting one but i think this is a more important, impactfulpo t. you had four major automobile manucturers that rejected that argument that, voluntarily, on the basis of their own determination, the basis of what's in the best interest of their country and bottom line, they wanted h move forward wit the california standards, they voluntarily agreed no matter what the trump administration prevailed that they would to continue to support the obama era rules with a few teaks that california was willing to advance. >> woodruff: one other thin on this, gernor, the president also tweeted today that, in doing this, in keeping the federal standard, he said its going to lead to more production, it's going to lead to more cars being builtmany more jobs creaptd, presumably because to have the cost and the safety that he mentioned. >> again, just nonsense. you have companies on their own,

ford leading the efort with honda and vw, bmw, who says that's nonsense, because they voluntarily agreed to californi standards becaey recognize where threst to have the world, china, india and jan are going. they're moving away from the internal combungs engine and moving away from where the customer is going, ask g.m. ando where they're going,re making commitments and plans to get to more zerioo emi vehicles regardless of what the trump administration is doing, but what they did is traordinary. they can't lay claim to supporting free enterprise when they have an antitrust againstmp these ies, threatened the c.e.o.s of the company andth atening those who did not join california. you can't make this up. it's 2019, and you have the president of the united states attacking the private sector ant telling them w in their best interests as opposed to

them determining their best interest which also happens to be the best interest of mother nature and low carbon green growth. >> woodruff: governor, a different subject, theg california islature passed legislation last week to help people who work as indepdent contractors, uber and lyft drivers, for example, to helrp them be entitled to minimum wage, overtime pay and benefits but, right away, a number of large employers including uber, small employers, religious leaders, winmakers and small business owners say this will hurt them significantly, hurt their profitable, they say itwi hurt their ability to stay in business. are you prepared to negotiate some changes in this law to accommodate their concerns? one hour ago i signed that legislation. i cited i started 23 small businesses that have created over 700obs in thee industry among others, so i know two about free

enterprise and the impact of the law. dyno mex made a number of exemptions into your qestion. we're always willing to negotiate and i made that clear at the bilasigning with letter attached to that bill that said i want to continue to negotiate with these companies but we have to recognize we're going from a three-class to a two-class society and the commensurate benefits that weta for granted, workers' comp, insurance, healthcare, they're backlost and as a consequence people are more fearful and frightful abt their fate and future, so ts is a major landmark law that could have a ofound impact in helping rebalance things. at the same time, we do have to cognize that tech genie is out of the bottle and we have new platalrms thatso provide r the workforce that also have to be considered anagwe'll continue to engin these negotiations. >> woodruff: governor gave gavin

newsom of california, thank you so much. >> woodruff: speaking of climate change, our next story looks at the impact it's already having, specifically in the gulf of maine. the region is known for lobsters in those waters. last week, we told you about the cted fallout of tariffs the lobster business. tonight, miles o'brien explores what the warming of the oceans means for these crustaceans, the industry, and the la ecosystem. it is part our series on the "leadi edge" of science. and our contribution to "covering climate now," a global collaboration of more than 300 news outlets to of the climate story.>> reporter: for maine lobsterman steve train, the hard work aboard the "wild irish rose" begins dark and early about 150 to 200 days a year.

i fish year round. this boat n't go without me on it. erif i don't work, my he doesn't work, there's no paycheck. >> reporter: he's been setting his traps about four miles northeast of portland for 30 years. fewer competitors here. >> i'd juscome out here andut get away, you catch a little less but you are all along you didn't have a probm. >> reporter: in the gulf of maine, which spans from cape cod to nova scotia, lobster fishing has been anything but a problem for decades. in fact, warmer water caused by climate chan has spurred an epic run here. estimated lobster abundance in the gulf rose more than 500%n betw85 and 2014. meanwhile, in southern new england, abundance decreased 78% from 1994 through 2014. almost a complete collapse. scientists say this too is the

result of riatng ocean tempes caused by climate change. >> we've sort averaged really warm years. >> reporter: that's andrew pershing, chief scient the gulf of maine research institute. >> rhode island now rely hospitable for lobsters. it's sort of shift the optimum temperature now.or itof locked in on the coast of maine and then maine as a really great lobster habitat has boomed. >> reporter: so, maine is in the sweet spot at least for now? >> right nowyeah, and then the question is how much longer is that going to contin >> reporter: like all cold blooded animals, lobsters are high temperature sensitive. and the gulf of maine has warmed faster than 99% of the world's oceans. warmer atmospheric temperatures heat up the water directly, but they also disrupt a crucial ocean current mmonly called the atlantic "conveyor belt," it sends warm water north-- the gulfstream-- and cold water south-- the labrador current.

as the glaciers in greenland melt, more fresh water flows into the north atltic slowing down the labrador current allowing more warm waterlfnto the and that is why the water temperatures are rising so much faster her do it's a lot like a bathtub where if you tur the cold tap, turn off the warm tap you get a really, really hot bath. e it's really raordinary change that's happened really quickly in this region and so, nowe're trying to watch ho the system responds. we're trying to figure out what does it mean for us anwe make decisions about the ocean. orter: much is at stake. the american lobster is the most valuable single specs fishery in the u.s. and canada. 80% of the u.s. catch ends up in maine, where lobsters loom t largn life. so the state is investing in some serious science to better understand the life anrutimes homaamericanus. jes waller is a lobster research

biologist with the maine department of marine resources. >> there are still questions about w they grow, where they move, how they reproduce, how they find each other in the environment. we're still working on a lot of that, but that's why it makes it an amazing thing to study, is because there are really endless questions. >> reporter: she is focused lobsters in the early stages of their lives. a mother like is one can eroduce 10,000 eggs a year that she nurtures underail. once they hatch, the larvae move toward the surface. finding them in the wild is like looking for a needle in a haystack so, even though a mom can produce 10,000 of these guys, still hard to find them? >> still hard to finthem. emthe currents take them everywhere. hece they're able to swim, are really looking for the perfect environmental conditions which to grow and settle to become thoseuveniles. so, there's just a million

factors that they take where they go and how li find them on a given day. >> reporter: only about one in 10,000 will live long enou to reach harvestable size, and possibly your dinner table. the diet of an adult lobster is no secret. >> so, lobsters are carnivores. they feed really on other animals and they're horribly cannibalistic. so, they eat also theiothers and sists pretty regularly. >> reporter: but david fields is more interested in what lobsters eat when they are tiny. he is a senior resea scientist at the bigelow laboratory f ocean sciences. he spends a lot of te analyzing what is in the guts of lobster larvae. >> when you open up the slurry inside of a gut, it's a little bit difficult sometimes to identify who's in there. they're eating really small animals that digest and mix up pretty quickly. so, opening them up and king through there is a good first step and it's a traditional pthod. the second way is l a sample out of that and look at a

the d.n. match the d.n.a. inside there to the d.n.a. of organisms that are out in thega wild. y reporter: a prime suspect in this hunt is a tustacean called calanus finmarchicus. they are a key link in the food chain in cold water ecosystems;e a staple frything from herring to endangered right whales. calanus are also very sensitive to rising temperatures. that might explain the mystery leat fisheries ecologist and zoologist rick ws trying to sort through. he leads the university of maine's annual lobster settlement survey. in recent years, he and his team have found many fewer juvenile lobsters on the seafloor. it could be the first indication a population decline underway. >> the other thing that people are thinking abo is just the warming was actually expanded the acceptable habitat for theat juveniles down into some deeper waters where may be couldn't have survived before.

and so, you might just be sortg of stretchat population over a larger area. >> rorter: researchers hope all their efforts will result in better models that can lead toel improved fishery management. , maine lobstermen are extraordinarily good at self policing their industry. they toss back small ones and e big ones. females with eggs get special treatment-- their tails ared- notchemarking them as "off limits." >> that lobster can't be retained. we have to throw it back. e e doesn't have eggs now, she lyobably did at onint, and even she didn't it doesn't matter, we can't keep e reporter: all of this helps, but lobstermen likeve train can't help but wonder if the big boom is now past its peak? pae're not getting what we used to. and it's not like it's off 10%. you know, it's off 30%, 40%, our dailies were off but they were late. they hit later than they used to. so, we've had a big change and

this year is more like a long just not what we used to.ne everyoeems to be crying as much as i am. >> reporter: for now, the models predict over the next 30 years in the gulf of maine there will be a steady decline of lobsters to pre boom levels. after that, it's up in the air, and up to how much carbon we keep putting into it. if the warming continues unabated, the lobsters will move on, and so wila way of life. for the pbs newshour, i'm miles o'brien in portland, maine. >> woodruff: another growing environmental threat is closer to shore: sand mining. it accounts for 85% of all mineral extraction. much more than all fossil fuels combined.

and that comes at a heavy cost. special correspondent fred de sam lazaro traveled to cambodia where sand mining has become a big business and where it threatens peoples' way of life. >> reporter: from commerce to fishing... transport..rice production, the mighty m river is the lifeblood of southeast asia.bu today, one of the biggest businesses on the river in cambodia is dredging it for sand to make concrete-feeding one of the biggest industries in the developing world: development. nowhere has demand for sand been greater than in asia. across this sprawling continent, tens of millions of miles of new roads have been built connecting hundre of millions of new homes. construction has driven the large economies like china and india and the smaller ones likew cambodse cities like phnom penh have joined the building binge. skyscrapers, malls and apartments crowd the sline,

much of it investment from china-fueling an economy that's grown at a healthy 7.5% each year since 2005. monyrath yos of the government ministry overseeing mineral resources says sand mining playi ortant role.ed >> ( transl ): the sand mining industry in cambodia provides economic benefits to caodia both directly and indirectly. r. deepens the river and makes transportation eas it also provides material and land for construction. and it contributes to the national revenue. >> sand is actually a very finite resource, and people don't realize it. >> reporter: people often associate sand witvast deserts like the sahara, but boston university biologist les kaufman says inland sand is too fine grained and not suited to make concrete. >> so there's this big incentive to mine it out owater, out of freshwater or the ocean.

>> reporter: aside from construction, glass electronics, sand has found other uses on a massive scale in recent years: in the america to to fracture rocks for oil and gas; in singapore to make-- well, more singapore. the tiny prosperoucity state s has expanded i landmass by about 25% in recent years. a lot of the sand for that came from cambodia. it prompted concern about environmental damage anden accusations of corruption. >> ( translated ): the volumimof rts recorded in singapore shows a different figure from exports recorded in cambodia, si you can see tha big issue, a lack of transparency. >> reporter: exports of sand to singapore, which came from cambodia's coast, we banned in 2017, but environmentalist vannak hun, who's spent time in prison for his activism, says sand mining along the mekong has .continued at a record pa it's not just the skyline of

phnom penh that's being transformed, he says, but the very surface of what was known as a city of lakes. despite loud prosts, pnom penh's biggest lake, bok keung, was filled in with sand from the mekong, to create more land for construction. it was the largest of 12 lakes and wetlands that ve disappeared from the city. >> ( translated ): the most affected community are people who live along the river. when there is collapse, when people lose their land, lose their house, there's no compensation. >> reporter: he took us just outside phnom penh to see what happens in sand mining's wake. >> ( translated ): we woke up at one in theorning and we found that it had all collapsed into the river. >> reporter: mom mut is having concrete pilings builto save what's left of her home-after part of it disappeared. >> ( translated ): only four months after sand dredging started, we noticed the land was different, it kind of changed.

>> reporter: she showed us perwork from the dredging company promising compensation if her property was damaged. two years on, she's receivedg nothd isn't optimistic that will change. >> ( translated ): i hope to prevent the rest of my house from collapsing. >> reporter: it's cost her $22,000, she says, more than s.five years worth of savi and there's a chance it won'tn'. save her hom a neighbor just a mile away built a similar underpinning only to see the rear of her home llapse. it ( translated ): i was just walking over thereot slippery and i fell and then i broke my a and also lost one of my eyes. >> reporter: it's a storyed repeownriver near dredging platforms, including those inre vietnam, wand mining has also taken off. anmbodia's government insists that dredging comps are approved to operate only in limited and defined areas and after an environmental impact assessment.

>> ( translated ): riverbank erosion has taken place for millions of years since the formation of the earth so in the area that has the riverbank erosion, it's a natural factor, a natural condition. we only allow the sa dredging in thehallow areas. >> reporter: and the minerals ministry's monyrath says people in affected areas have recoue. >> ( translated ): we have a 24 hour hotline that operates seven days week. villagers who live along the river, they can make a call to file a complaint for any irregularity that they have seen.or >> rr: villagers we spoke to saw a different reality have you called any of the authorities? >> ( translat): i cannot read, i cannot wte. i don't know how to do it and also the village chief doesn't even come to see what is happening to the house. >> reporter: there's anot er threat thauld have evenco wideequences: prices for fish are inching up. >> ( translat ): the fisherman tell me it's harder to catch fish now in the river. i don't know why.

th>> reporter: how much ha price gone up? >> ( translated ): it's increased about 25% since last year. >> reporter:everal reasons could account for rising market prices for fish, but biologistu kaufman, who ses several of critical mekong spec says fish stockare declining. blames the combination sand dredging and dams, built to meet soaring demand for power. they've wiped out spawning areas. >> people don't realize when they are removing the sand th.'re taking food off plat that's the tradeoff, it's not usually reckoned in. eporter: but he saysor many who live along the mekong and most major asian rivers, a day of reckoning seems much for the pbs newshour, this is fred de sam lazaro in phnom penh, cambodia.

>> woodruff: a seventh person has died from lung illness related to vaping. california health officials reported that a 40-year-old man died this weekend. the state is launcng an ad campaign to warn ainst the dangers and risks of vaping. r states and cities are contemplating bans on some e- cigarettes.he federath officials have said individuals should stopiv vaping until more is known. vaping and the use of e- cigarettes, of course, has soared among teens in the past few years. our student reporting labs aroundhe country asked teens for their response to the news and the warnings. we received hundreds of responses. here's a sampling of what we

heard. >> i don't think people are really thinking about vaping.t it's jnd of one of those things that they get addicted to, and they don't really care what others have to say. >> if your friends are vaping at a party and stuff like that, you're not going to sano. >> a lot of people i know do vape and they're starting to stop because of this epidemic. a lot of people are justig paranoid r now. they're wondering who's next.i' you knowpretty sure a lot of them are throwing theirs out right now. >> i mean, even on like osapchat, there's viral vi of people, you know, destroying their, their vapes and stuff like that. >> i also know of a kid myselfd that goes to our neighboring high school that actually had a seizure and passed outrom vaping. and so it kind of hits close to home because it's like your own people that you knoware in danger of this. >> i deathly afraithat one morning i'm going to wake up and they're not going to be here. >> i know there's even like parents out there that will buy their kids these products because they don't rlize how severe that this like can lead to you bei in the hospital. >> most of the time when people buy vapes they buy it from their friends rather than actualet ou

>> i think that these retail stores are also selling to underage kids illegally and geing away with it. they're not carding or anything. >> there's people you know, they call them ugs. so you just go to yore plug and yoike, oh, i want a pen or i want a juul, you know, can you get it for me, as well as with weed. it's basically the same thing just nicotine. >> you have a choice whether tor use somethinot. you can't blame another person for your ownelfish desires. >> juul could make their products less appeing to younger audiences, but it's our decision to buy them. >> i did something unhealthy for so long, and now it's hurting me. that's crazy. >> i'm very scared of getting sick from it getting hospitalized. so, i think, at least in my friend group, most of us just want to like cut it out completely and just stop.

>> woodruff: our student reporting labs are a greatso ce-- last week we got a number of emails for big sky high school in missoula, monta. students wrote in to sing the praises of a beloved teacher, mark moe. he shows the newshour's news summarevery day in his class. he has announced he will retire on friday, but his students are not happy. ill miss him dearly and the reporting lab there sent in their thoughts. >> mr. moe taught me many important thin important is to think about the bigger picture. >> mr. moe taught me how to come into class and smile every day. >> mr. moe taught me that you need to really keep up to date with current evnts and it's an important part of society and you need to know what's happenin can make informed decisions.

>> mr. moe has taught me so much the pastears that i've him. he's taught me the values of w hak -- oooh -- dedication, and to be able to love yourselft and ha confidence when no one else does for you. mr. moe is such an amazing teacher and i'll miss you so much, mr. moe. oe were. >> we were so sadear you will be retiring this friday. we want you to know how much we all really appreciated your almost 30 years at hibig sk school. in order to show you, we thought who better to say it than judy. >> woodruff: wow. so mark moe, let us at thel "newshour", us, add our thanks to you for being such a dedicated teacher. some of your stunts told us th if i asked you to keep working, you would, but, of course, this is a big decision, it's yours.ho you knothey feel, you know how much you have touched the lives of these young people. whatever you do, and please leth us know what it is, we at thesh "nr" want to wish you

well. congratulations and thanks for sharing the "newshour" with your students. on the newshour online right now, one of the most well- regarded science publishers in the world corrected a study today that incorrectly claimed smartphones are causing millennials to grow horns. we explore how the study was flawed, and why it's so hard to change public misperceptions. that's our web site, pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been proved by:ll >> consumer ar believes that wireless plans should reflect the amount of talk, text and data that you use. we offer a variety of no- contract wireless plans for people who use their phone a little, a lot, or anything in between. to learn more, gto consumercellular.tv

>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation pur ic broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> so you don't think mcconnell will have to resort to the so-called nuclear option?

>> i'm hopeful that he doesn't. are you questioning whether there is a movement of pineopl this country who are white nationalists. >> what i'm saying is i haven't >> how much a dent is recycling making. >> the way we recycle plastic at the moment is part of the problem. >> the western government accused of waging a new type of war with a new kind of soldier, hackers. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

helloo and welcome t "amanpour and company." here's what's coming up. >>body all atwitter about what we're doing to come out of the eu, believe me,e' w going to get it done. >> the clock is ticking on the british prime minister as the u. supreme court gets set to ru on his suspension of parliament. rexit and tensions in t persian gulf. t iemed like an instant. i went from feeling invincible to powerless. >> the supermol christy turlington burns on how her own baby's dangerous delivery led her to combat maternal mortality around the world. >> it was a mistake to go toco ?