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tv   PBS News Hour  PBS  December 17, 2009 7:00pm-8:00pm EST

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caioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> lehrer: good ening. i'm m lehrer. secretary of state clion tried to jumpstart the stall climate talks today in copenhage >> woodruff: and i'm jud woruff. on the "newshour" night, we t the latest from ray suarez on the diplomatic maneuvergs at the summit. >> srez: as heads of state arriven copenhagen, the pressu and the attention of the rest of the world is focussed on two giants: t u.s. and china. i'll have a report. >>ehrer: then white house aide david axelrod's taken copenhagen and the pusin the senate forealth care reform. >> wdruff: a report from india
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aboumoves to combat one of the country's in sources of pollution. >> lehre our special corrpondent for education john merrow rorts from arizona on a spial way to help troubled publ schools. >> i was shocked. it really took mback. >> to... >> to st see what was ssible. you know, i just kinof had to pause and sa you know, what a differencehis makes. >> woodruff: andn inside view ofhe mexican army's war on drugs. >> lehrer:hat's all ahead on tonight's bs newshour." major fundg for the pbs newshour is prided by: >> what thworld needs now is energy. the energy to get the econom humming again. the engy to tackle challenge like clite change. what is that eney came from an energy company everyday, chevn invests $62 million in people, in ideas-- seeking, teaching, buiing. fuelingrowth around the world
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to movus all ahead. thiss the power of human energy. evron. >> ts is the engine that every year. bnsf, the gine that connects us. >>hat makes us an engine for the econy? plants across americ nearly 200,000 jobs cread. we see beyond cars. intel. supporting math d science educatn for tomorrow's novators. anmonsanto. grant thornton. d the william and flora hewlett undation, working to solve social and envirmental
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oblems at home and around th world. and with the ongoingupport of these institutions and foundaons. and... this programas made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributns to your pbs ation from viewers like you. thk you. >> lehrer: the u.s. tried toy to salvage an agreement athe u. summit on climate change. took the form of a major financial commitment and new pressu on china to cooperate. y suarez reports from the talks, in copenhagen, deark. >> suarez: when seetary of state clinton arrived in penhagen today saying the u. wanted to reach a imate deal before the week was out, buthe insisted imust include verification of emsions cuts and otr goals. >> therere many ways to
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achieve transparency thawould be credible d acceptable, but there has to ba willingness to move toward tranarency in whatever reform weinally deem is appropriate so if there n't even a commitment to transparcy, that's kind of aeal breaker for us. >> suarez:hat's a demand the chinese have resisted an reportedly rejected again day. but thisfternoon chinese deputy foreign mister he yafei fired back. he said chinis not afraid of monitoring anderification, but is standing on pnciple for itself and other develing countries. >> to increaseooperation go for cooperation. >> suaz: clinton also upped the ante by announcing t u.s. was willing to participaten a global fund to pay forhe
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transition to warmer planet, and promised an undefine american contributio if a deal could be reach. the united states is prepar to work with other countri toward a goal of jointly mobilizing $100 billioa year by 2020 to address the clite change needs of developing countries. >> suarez: the secretary sd, a hundd billion is a lot of money. and while thunited states is joing with other industrial countries to commit to emiions that will cap warming at abo three and a half degrees, two degrees lsius, a limit too high for latinmerican, asian, and afrin representatives. they wt the rise limited to two and a halfegrees. >> iyou're talking about a two
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degree rise globly-- the mean of that-- then certain pnts of the continen of africa, you have aa that will go beyond at mean. it'sore likely to be three and ve degrees, and that is disarous for the economy of the continent. >> suarez: the chief notiator for the african grousaid his countries are solidly ainst the deveped country warming target. do the days increase the chances thatther countries will start to peel off a make their own deals, and accep targets that... >> i can assure you thato one wi have any chance to divide african countries. we are going to stay ufied and united as african countries, anwe are going to move as one africa in th process. >> suarez: any deal comingut ofopenhagen would ve to win the approval of thu.s. congress to brinamerican participion in a worldwide plan. senator john kerryf massachusetts to the nference yesterday that
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approval is nnable with strong compance measures. >> without an agreement heren penhagen that addresses this co issue of transparency, it will be exceingly difficult to persuade already doubtfu elecd officials that they are safe in asking tir citizens to go ang. nators and congressman alike are determined tt there must be consequences r a country that tnks they can duck altogether or fake parcipation in a solution. >> suaz: today, senator james inhofe-- who calls man-made global clima change a hoax said a copenhagen treaty would never ss on capitol hill. >> i don know what the esident will say, so i'm making my positi known, and i think that is coistent with the american pple. that i that we will not be paing any climate change bill. >> suarez: as arguments rad over emission mits, costs, and onomic growth, the world heth organization raised one
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of the less-talked-aboutspects of climate change: that a waer planet wilbe a sicker one, o. >> we already deal with ssive impas on global health of imate sensitive diseases. 2.2 million people die fm diarrheal disease whh are highly sentive to climate sensitive. 1.1 milliodie from infectable disease that's hhly sensitive tolimate. 5 million die from under nutrition th's entirely depeent on under nutrition whh is agricultural an climate dependent. by the end of the summerwe'd had a record-baking heat wave across western europe. 70,000 more pele died during that sumr than we would have expected to die in an ornary summer. that changed everything, i wld say, within the discsion with the... within western europe because we realed that
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we were noonger immune to the effects of weather and cmate. >> suarez: as the nference entersts last day, it's hard to know whether e predictions of failure are meant to prsure esident obama and other worl aders or whether it's an accurate reading of e current state of the talks. >> woodruff: i spoke with ra just short time ago. ray, hello, there. let me ask you first of al there'all this focus today on whetr the money the u.s. i putting on the tle for developing nations is gointo break the lag jam. but i gather your reportinis that it'more complicated than at . >> suarez: well, yi, the clinton nouncement that they re going to help the world rae $100, billion per year by the end next decade, so that $100 billion would bgoing out toeveloping nations by 2020 s certainly a welcome announcement and met with so excitement. but it's considereinsufficient by manof the countries that
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arstill not industrialized, ny of the countries that are facing some of t most dire effects from global rming. theyre afraid that it simply won't be enough if there aret really big commitmen from the industrialized wor for steep reductions ithe amount of greenhouse gasmissions. so wle the clinton annocement was welcome and the commitment toward not ly putting money to the pot but helping raise money aroundhe world was also somethinghat got lot of attention, the fact that the amount on the che, as it were,s still left blank by thunited states, there was no mmitment from the secretary state on how much she would give, that got some tention as well and the facthat the money... the mey figures that are being lked about be the indurialized world are coidered too small by many of the developing nations tha think they'll need the money most. >> woodruff: ray, so much of e focus now on these disagreements between the ited
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stat and china. wh is the up in of the disagreement there? what are theain differences between the two counies ? >> srez: well, these negotiations are fled with technical termbut one that's ve important and you should pay attention to forhe rest of is story is m.r.v . it means measurable, reportab and verifiable. m.r.v. means an architectu is put in place where an international body oanother member state canctually check whether a couny that makes ceain obligations under the... whatever treaty is tcome out of this procescan actually be given some oversight, seng whether ey're meeting their targets. chinbridles at this notion and if you know little chinese story, you know that the country was sliced up by the western powers f a long time and really had no ntrol over s own economy and its own trade. so there's histocal memory involvedere and there's also
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the self-confidence, the burgeoning enomy, the swagger that ces with being china in 2009. they feel that they'velready made a bger concessions and bigger guarantees to the rt of e world about how the next couple of decades are going go as far as global issions and they don't need th regime in place and th're not budging. they've given no sign of budging. and neither hathe united states. >>oodruff: ray, you wering me earlier that you can't ok at this relationshipetween the u.s. andhina without putting in the thearger context of the deveped world and the developing world. explaiwhat you meant. >> srez: whenever someone ings up history in a speech around here,t's not just a throwaway li. what history meanso global climate talks is vy significant and shows, reay, two very diffent ways of loing at the world. the ss developed countries and the industrializing untries ints to the richest places i
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thworld and say "yes, they've been emitting freely f over a century, since their big industri growth in the late 19th century. it's wt made them rich. and whatever global clate change is happening w is largely their reonsibility." so history has to be takennto account. the western world is saying "lk, that may be true, we accept that version of htory, but also know that the new big emitters othe scene are not the wealy west, the members of the e., the north american nations, t they're places like brazil, india, a china. and anregime that takes the next couple of decadesnto account can't just lk at history but has to understan the comi new industrial powers and their role in continui to warm thelimate of the planet. woodruff: so finally, ray, tomorrow the big day, the day when the heads of state arve, president obama arrives. how much real pressure is at
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puing on these folks to reach an agreement? >> tre's been a tremendous change in tone ding the week. monday and tuesday peoe in responsibili, people who helped arrange this conferce in the fir place, were saying we can't let tho heads of states down. they aren't coming here for nothing. this will put essure in the pi. it wilhelp bring an agreement about as the week prresses. but in theiddle of the week, something finitely changed in e way people spoke about the impendg arrival of those world leaders, tt there was going to beisappointment, a letdown, that their merpresence wouldn't benough to help breach tse still very-wide gaps bween the developing world and the st developed dustrial countries. >> wdruff: ray suarez, we'll be talking to you, heang what yohave to say tomorrow. thanks, ray. >> suarez: good talk to you, judy. >>ehrer: now, for the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivan in our newsroom.
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ri? >> sreenivas: the chairman of the u.s. joint chiefjourneyed to the front lin in afghanistan toy. in the kandahar region, he ued tribal leaderso help clean up corruption. he also told american troo it's urgent to conol the area. meanile, "the new york times" reported a formetop u.n. oicial in afghanistan pressed to reme president hamid karzai. the report said erican peter galbith floated the plan when t presidential election was embroiled in fraud he was ler dismissed from his job. president ama will face new pressuren his own party over seing more troops to afghanisn. the houscould vote next month on a resolution to end the colict. and spker nancy pelosi said last night she won't rou up votes to defeait. she said, "the president i going to havto make his case." republicans saidoday they still support e surge. in pakistan, intellince officials sa missile attacks by u.s. drone aircra killed at least 17 people today,ear the afghan border. they said somef the victims appeared to foreign fighters. the u.s. has cried out more than 40 drone atcks this year inside pakistan.
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u.s. officia today played down reports that insurgentin iraq and afghanistan have intcepted live video from amican drones. an account in "t wall street journal" said mitants are ing $26 software programs-- availablonline-- to hack into the feeds. a seniorentagon official insisted the problem has bee addressed. the senate banking committ has endoed the nomination of federal reserve chrman ben beanke for a second term. the vote was 16 to 7. supporters said bernanke held ste off financial ruin, while opponents argued he shou have seen therisis coming. >> had he and others not aed, some of whom sit on th committee at a time of crical importan to our country, we'd be looking at a veryvery different, and farore dire situation in our nion than is otherwise thcase. i believe ben bernanke derves substantiacredit as chairman of the federal reserve for helping us navigatthose waters, certainly withounot with perfection, but certain i think stepping up at aritical time in our nation's htory with some very wise adership that benefited ouration.
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>> many haveaid that changing horses in mile of stream will introducan unacceptable level of uncertaty into the markets. on the other hand, i wld argue that it could bequally daging to our economy and our formf government if we, the u.s. senate, fail to u our constitutional authorityo disapprove nomination when a particular nominee hasot ecuted his responsibilities a nner consistent with his own claims and our expectation >> sreenivan: the nomination now es to the full senate. wall street took a tumble new worries abouhow strong the economic recovery will be. e dow jones industrial avera lost more th 132 points to close at 10,308. the nasdaq fell more tn 26 points to close at 2,180. oscar-nning actress jennifer jones died today aher home in malibu, california. hehollywood career soared in the 1940s and 1950s. in 1943, she won the oar for best actress in "the song of bernadette"-- her firsmajor film.
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e was nominated four more times, including in 1946, fo "duel in t sun" opposite grory peck. jennifer jones was 90 years d. those arsome of the day's main stories. i'll bback at the end of the program with a preview owhat you'll find night on the "newshour's" web sit but for now, back to jim. >>ehrer: and still to come on the "newshour": cooking stov anthe environment in india; improvg public schools in tucs; and fighting drugs in mexico. thatollows an update on getting heal care reform done in the senate. ewshour" health corresponden bettann bowser has our report. >> we e going to finish this healthare bill before we leave for the hodays here. >> reporte a self-imposed christmas deadne loomed over senate majity leader harry reid and h democratic ranks toda but deite his insistence, it was not clear they'll ma it. that's partly because esident obama hearing more from those on the pitical left who accuse him of givg up on key reforms
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like theovernment-funded blic option. >> i think, at ts point, the bill ds more harthan good. >> reporter:ormer democratic party chairman howardean is now ging democrats to scrap the current billnd start over. >> the fine print this bill lows that insurance companie chargeou three-times as much if youe older than they do if you're young. is is an insurance company's dream, this bi. and i thk it's gone too far. >> reporter: and todaythe politically powerf service employees ternational union voiced i deep disappointment with concessionsade on health care reform. in an open letr to his 2.1 million mbers president andy stern said.. "our cllenge to the president, to theenate, and to the house of represeatives is to fight. remember what healthnsurance reform is all abou and fight like hell deliver real and meaningful rorm. meanwhe, new polls this week show that public suppo for
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demoats' health care reform plan is at aall time low, falling to 32%n the latest nbc news/"walltreet journal" poll. and at aime when harry reid is trying to muster 6votes to pass the bill,hose numbers are not lpful. >> its a fact that t issue of abortion sti very strong emotion. >> reporter: nebraska decrat ben neon-- one of the last holdouts-- is ill insisting on tighter restrictio on abortion coverage, he told a radio interviewer day. >> as it is right now, witho furtr modifications, it isn't sufficient. there is a lotmprovement on the legislation t the basic estion about funding of abortion has not been full answed yet. >> reporter: and replicans have stepped up thr efforts to block the bill, usinevery procedural toothey can. >> i'd offer unamous consent... >> rorter: the debate came to a standsll for a time yesterday, when oklama republican tom coburn foed
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senate clerks to srt reading 767-page democratic amendmen >> section 2006. >> reporter: the proposal wa eventually pulled. but coburn has threatened e same tacc when the final veion of the bill-- roughly 000 pages-- comes to the floor. the republican goal:o make mocrats give up and start over. >> there's a chae, there's a chance thawe could stop this-- start beginninin january. we'd all be willing come back, sit down togher, negoate, with the cspan cameras... with the cspan cameras as the psident said, commitd that he would do as a candidate. and we'd sit down gether, here, at the white hse, anywhere and fixhis system which we know needfixed. >> reporter: so fa though, marity leader reid shows no signs of giving in. and the are rumblings the senate may spend lg nights
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deting-- between now and christmas-to force a final vote. >> lehrer: healtcare reform is one of two major challges facing president oba over the next 48 hours, the oth is climate change. david axelrod is t president's nior adviser. i spoke with him late is afrnn from the white house briefing room. david axelro welcome. is hlth care reform now in rious jeopardy in the senate >> no, i think we are where were, jim . we've got strong suppo for heal insurance reform. we've got a minori of senators who want to keep that from coming up for a te on the senateloor. anwe're working to put together 60 vote wes need tout it together on t floor and i'm confident we'll t them. lehrer: senator ben nelson says he has newed reservations in that bill because othe abortion iss. he's one of the you're
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countingn. what do u think about that? >> loo there are many issues that have been rsed by him and many others. we'll work our way through tse issues. again, i'm condent we'll get this done in in a wathat will hold theoalition together. >> lehrer: what you make this rising oppotion among liberal decrats, particularly led by former democrathairman howard dn? >> look, i think that lot of people hava great deal of passion about the issu i have a great deal of psion about it mysf. i have someone in my familwith a chronic illns and i've had manyf the horrific experiences th insurance that other americans are have had and i feel strongly about this and so does the prident. so, you knowpeople are impaioned and there are some disagreements abt aspects of thislan. but there absolutely no doubt that the refms that we're working on will be infinely tter than the situation that we face today. people will be ae to get
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insurance th they can afford even if they don't g it through work, small sinesses will get tax creditsnd they'll be able to provi health care to people. there ll be protections for people who have preesting conditions u won't be able to get throw off your insuranceust because you become seriously i. there will bcaps on out-of-pocket expens so you won't go bankrupt if you bece seriously ill. these reforms e long overdue and we're so close to gettinit done. i agree with president clion who said today iwould be a emendous pwhrupbder to ms. this opportuty and it probablyon't come around ain. >> lehr: what do you make then, of t public opinion poll at least, showing a diminishment androwing drop in support for heth care reform? if all these this you say are true, y is... what does the public not uerstand? >>ell, it's an interesting... that's an inresting question, jim, becau what you find is if you ask people how you feel about the bill gng through
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congress, you get a gative reaction. if you tl them what's in the bill, then you get a hlthy jority for the bill. and i think, you know, the legislativprocess isn't always an attractivthing and it tends to focus on eas of contention. the thingshat i've mentioned, i think,re broadly supported the american people. they want it, they knowe need itand when they hear that that's ithe bill, they support the bill. i have no doubt that oe this ll is passed and implemented the american peoplwill appreciate it anit's going to improve the lives people across this untry who are ruggling in this health care system today. >> lehrer: you're not concerned about... andrew kohut, for instance, a distinguisd llster says his reading of t polls is that threal drop in suort is among liberal democrats, amongeople you would expect to be sporting thmost health care reform. >> wl, look, there's been some contention over some issue the presidt was... supported e idea of a public option within the health surance
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change and felt that would b good idea. that did not preil. we wen't able to cobble together the support we need for that. but that was jt a piece of a large package of reforms anwhen you measure what we've lost against what we would gn, there's absolutelyo doubt that people would... at this is a ry progressive piece of legislation that would make is country fairer, that wou help people in thr relationships with their insurce companies, give them some lerage, put the consumern charge. and would help bend e curve on costs, on premiumsor people, on the cost fogovernment. absotely essential. all of these things wi be achieved if we get this do. and i think the amican people ll appreciate it once we get done. >> lehrer: y're obviously monitoring allf this. the idea of having all this done in the senate by chrimas-- which is just a week away--s that no longer on the table? >> no, wre working hard to try and get that done. thother side is working hard
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to stop that by putting up ocedural barriers. understand that there's majority in the senate that readto pass this bill. the's a minority that wants the thwart the opportunityor the bill to co up for a vote. i think whether you're f or against thisill, after all these months of deba, thorgh, thoughtful debate, it's te to allow a vote to come tthe floor. and that'seally what the argument is right now. it'sot even about the bill itself, it's about whethere're going to have a vote on th bill. >> lehrer: if there's noote byhristmas, is this a serious tback for the legislation generally? >> let me say this: spoke with the president this aernoon. we expect that wll have a vote fore the holiday, but there no length to which... of tim thers no statute that's going to run in tes of getting this done f the american people. we are going to get is done for the american people becae it ithe best chance we've had. seven presidents have ied to
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reform this heal insurance system, ven presidents have failed. we've been struging with it for 100 years. are closer now, we are righ on the doorstep getting it done, we areoing to get it ne. >> lehrer: the predent's going to be at copengen in the morning at the clite conferen. whatoes he come to say and do? >> well, we are ry committed to investments in ean energy obviously climatchange is a real and perilous challee not just for the u.s. but e world. we want to address that buwe are also committedo yes kwreut ago clean energy indtry in this country thawill create jo, will create more energy independence. so we're psuing that road. but we want the world tooin together. that's the moseffective way to deal witclimate change. and we're hoping tcome out of copenhagen with an aeement that is vefiable. in oth words, an agreement on
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which wean all have assurance at countries are meeting the domestic goals thathey set for themselves. anthe president's going to talk to his fellow headsf state to seef we can achieve at. >> lehrer: what if you c't? >> wel look, we're going to pursue our goa regardless. we are committed to king that transion to a clean energy economy. but it wou be... and we will pursuen the futurelobal agreements but this is an oppornity to try and get this done d we're hopel that other countries, including china, will just as committed toetting it done. lehrer: has the president had direct contact with the chinese leadship going into penhagen about this? well, you know, jim, he's talk about this with the chinese leadership seval times over the course of this year secretary clinn is in
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copenhagen now. she met with the chinese pmier today. d the president will be meeting th him tomorrow and we hope that we canet... we made some progress in ourrevious talks. we havto get over the hump in rms of being able to demonstrate to the worldhat we're almeeting our obgations under whatever agreement we mak and that's been a bit of a hurdle, but we hope deal with it. >>ehrer: if there is no agreement, is the suit a failure? >> well, i d't think so. i think that wve made progress ere. it's not as... it hasn't comas easily as anyoneould like. these are diffict issues. but atever happens there, they will undoubtedlye more work to do think fact that the world is really foced as intensely as it is on this sue, that there's a recognition at we have to act and th the impact of not acting will be
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dramatic and destating over a long period of me for the world. i think it's a pitive thing. t we want tangible specific domestic goals tt each country can agree . they're t all going to be the same because countri are different. some are developed, me are not. but we all he to pitch in and meetur common obligations and that'shat the president is going to say and thas what i hope we'll do. >> lehrer: finally, mr. axelrod, ds the president still maintain his supportor ben bernanke thave a second term as chrman of the federal reserve? >>bsolutely, jim. wh you consider where we were a year ago, on thdoorstep of nancial collapse that could have uered in a second great depressionnd you consider the indefatigable effos of chairman bernank he deserves a cond term. that's why the predent nominated him and he conties to sport him. >> lehrer: all rig. david axelro thank you very ch. >> okay, good to be wi you.
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>> woodruff: now, anotr take on clima change, a look at reducinglobal warming-- one stove at a time. ecial correspondent fred de sam laza reports from a viage in nor india. >> reporr: it is sunny most mornings in khairatp, but you can hardly tel at least not until some time after everne's had breakfast. that's becau here and in millns of villages in the developing world, od is cooked with wood or cow dung. the sootr black carbon from incompleteombustion causes not only lung diase but global warming,ays climatologist v. ramanathan, whis with the scripps institutioat the universityf california, san diego. >> and this iseing done by over three billi people in the world; not becausehey want to destroy their vironment. they have no access to oer types of fuel.
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>> reporter: he sayseducing black carbon will imdiately slow global warming. cleani up diesel engines is one y to do this, but ramanathan ifocused on cleaner cookin he's doi an experiment. with u.n. and private grants s surya project is handing o cleaner burning stoves to ,000 househol in and around khairatpur. they use biofuels, but have a solar chargeinternal fan to burnore efficiently. >> so at instrument measures black caon. >> reporter: over the next t years, the team will measure what theleaner stoves do for air quality, hoping toake a strong case for scaling the idea. >> preliminary data showif we replace current way of cooki, we should see a dramaticmpact, first, on the health and sond, on t air quality and hopefly on regnal climate. >> reporr: ramanathan's call to reduce black carbon i supported in a rect u.s. vernment report.
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some advocatesanted this issue on the agenda of the cenhagen climate summit. but there e skeptics. rajera pachauri, chair of the nobel pre winning inter- governmental panel oclimate change says we don't y know enough aut black carbon. and he says there's nouick imate dividend. gettinbillions of people to abruptly change the y they cook just isn't practica >> if one uses that gument, i would say that runningaster trains in north america d providing public trait in houston is so much morlogical than people driving s guzzling cars and s.u.v.s. so you know,hese things are not decided byack of the envelope calculaons. if you ask people give up cars, you' got to chge the mindsets. you got to change values. >> reporter: despite his skeptici on the climate question, pachauris delhi-sed ergy and research institute has rtnered with ramanathan sie he has no argument othe
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heth issue. me 1.5 million people worldwiddie each year from some 1.5 million people in iia alone die each yr from inhaling ioor pollutants rarely seen the developed world, says idemiologist kalpanbalakrishnan, with sri ramachandra unersity, in chennai. just to give you a comparis valu- many indoor settings in developed countries th do not have this partular source of particulates are ithe range of 25 to 50 micrograms. no more than that in a tical unimproved rural household you could be as high as an oer of magnitude more, 400 t500 microgra. >> ( trslated ): so to adjust the flame, you tn this button here. >> reporte it's one thing to give away a fethousand stoves, but how to gethem into another 120 million householdsn a vast, diverse nati?
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a freebie, especlly one with unfamiliar or finiy tenology, will quickly begin to gather dust what's needeare commercial enterpses-- a so-called market value ain. haz ur rehman is one of the scieists on the surya project. >>he commercial players will have to vest substantially in building tt rural value chain, mark value chain which would be so essential,ot only for deliveryf the technology, but also for its maintenan, upke, spares, all the other things that with it. >> reporter: a non pfit group called eirofit-- backed by the shell oil mpany's foundation-- thinks it has a mark-based plan that coulbe a model. in a handf of rural markets, it has persued retailers to carry envirofit stoves, whh they can sell d service for a profit the xt challenge: getting customerto buy-- marketing. >> if you look at rural dia, wh message reaches consumer
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there in the rural? wspapers do not reach. there would be penration of tv t it would be remarkably low sohen you want to do awareness of befits, you have to do deo or van on wheels in the viages and demonstrating the stov >> reporter: eirofit holds demonstratio of the stoves, a patented desigmade at its colorado headquaers that sells from around 25 u.s. dollar there's alsontertainment, with game with song and drama. ( ughter ) the not so stle messages is about clean indoorir says envirofit's harish ancn. >> the man of mily buys a t.v., bike and he buys mobile phone. you have the ladsaying you're going into moderworld, but
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look at kitche- the heart of the househd and we're still having the same aditional stove, that gives out fumeand less efficnt. all this generatesonsumer interest. >> ( translated ): does it lve charcoal? >> ( transled ): no, all the wood is rned to ashes, all the engy is absorbed. the nearest deer is written here on the side othe >> repter: the women seemed sold as ey took their brochures. one thg they would like is financing. installments. >> ( trslated ): if that's available,e'd buy them right away. >> reporter:nvirofit is working to get microoans to make the purchases easie e goal is a million stoves b 2011. epidemiolost balakrishnan who is sdying indoor air and stove desi says none of the currt mols achieve emission andards that the world healt orgazation calls healthy.
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ill, even though they're not clean enough, they're cleaner, she says and most imptantly, they've sensited people to pollution at many rural indians used t acpt as a fact of life. >> many ople, if you go to the ral areas, appreciate the fa that they have a ls smoky stove. i think the best suld not be the eny of the good. >> reporter:efinitive study results on the effects oblack carbon are expecd in two years and climatologist ranathan ys they'll determine whether clner cook-stoves can not only helpower people's exposure to toxic soot but also lp slow global wming. >> lehrer: next,ow the weak economy is affectingublic schools. the "newshour' special correspondent for education, john merrow, tel the tale of o schools in tuscon. >> reporter: this year, ariza
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ced a budg crater to rival its own grand cany-- a deficit of nearly billion. arona communities anticipated cutsn schools. e state already ranks 50th i the nati in per-pupil spending. from theretucson schools took another hit this fall:0%. at happens when a major recession hits publieducation? what do hools do when times are tough? who gets hurt more, the richr the poor? we went to tucson to fd out. we started here,n tucson's comfortable suburban commuty. affluent east side, a comfortable subuan community. gale elementary scho has an excellent reputationveteran teachers, high performing studt body and a commitment to the arts. in the cafeteria everything looks rmal, except that paula gorey is the school principal, forced into kitchen dutyshe says, cause of budget cuts.
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how does that feel to beumber 50? >> trible. when y're 50th in the nation in per-pupil spending,here's a loof things that you cut out of education >> reporter: principalodfrey says she lost $140,000 this year. at did you lose? >> we lost... lost our office manager. we were able to keepur attendance registr, but the difference between keeng the office managerr the attendance registrar, that's exactly e amount we neededor orchestra. >> reporter: meet galenew office manager. >> now, all of the dies that i do the payroll. do all the requisitions. i do all of the arrangg for substitutes. >> reporter: enrlment is up, over 400 stunts attend kindgarten through fifth grade, but fundi is not. because e students are mostly middle class, le qualifies for little federal money >> so we're a school that rees on just that0th level spendi.
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>> reporter: gale has few amenies. there's no gym this is the autorium. thcomputers are out of date. extras like rching band have disaeared. gale also made cutin the classroom. tutors and aides we let go. and classes are bigger. >> i have 31 students, ands of yesterday, for half of the d we'll actually have students in our classroom. >> reporter: second gre teacher kim svob says in previousears her classes had an average of 24 student >> and, you know, the extr five, six, seven cldren, makes really big difference. a second grade level, they need a lot of individual attentn. and there definite are children w are falling through the cracks. no queion about that. >> reporter: what's happeninat le is happening to schools i othehard hit states. and alough arizona public scols received $473 million in
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federal stimulusunding, that s not been enough to fill al the gaps. but in itstruggle to survive, gale has an ace in the hol parents >> they're erywhere. weverage between 5,000 and 6,000 hours a yearf volunteer time. reporter: that's the equivalent of three fullime workers for a year. and at's not all. >> we asd for copy paper. we aed for pencils. we asked for esers. we askedor soap. asked for everything. >> reporter:nd? >> they came throu, miraculously. i don't know what we would he doneithout them. >> reporter: gale and its teachersre working overtime to ma sure they can keep on doing whathey have been doing. they've been lucky compared other tucson sools. ta 90-year-old ochoa elementary. it serves a po, largely hispanic population, butot
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very well. scores were low, and enrolme was drping, and that made it a target. lookinto save money, the district put it on a list of schools toe closed. >> you know,ou think what worsthing could happen to a school thaa school closure? >> reporter:eidi aranda is ochoa's princil. >> whenever you're ia crisis like that,t forces you to re-examine. i said, need to think about our enrollment, and what wld it take to incase our enrolmen >>eporter: she found what she hos is the answer here, in a new proach to education. a teacr, pauline baker, had just introduced a thod from italcalled reggio emilia. >> in a tshell, the metaphor for ggio is that children have
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a hundd languages for learning. >> reporter: reggio is guid by the ea that children learn best by doing. everytng about a reggio classroom is planned-- from e lighting, the music, to the materials fochildren. >> people think is is about art,nd that this is an art studio. but ally, the studio is a place for venting ways to do thin. >> repter: soon parents told principaaranda it was their favorite class. then tucson's new supentendent came tsee what the fuss was abou >> i was shocked. it really took me back. >> reporter: to? >> to see wh was possible. i just kd of had to pause and say,ou know, what a difference is makes in learning. >> reporter:t turned out to make all the dference to oca.
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with cmunity support, principal anda proposed to model the whole schooln the reggio approach. the plans to shut down were put asid is it yourope that converting the school thiway will attract parents fromther parts of tucson? >> yes. yes. it is a defini goal and strategy to incrse the enrollment in our hool. >> reporr: this year, ochoa opened a reggikindergarten. xt year, first grade. they wiladd a grade each year until the entire school coerted. meanwhe, classes like this fine arts class, andhis class in gardening--re adopting the approach. now suppose ochoa,ou know, liberates learning a the kids love it and the pants love it. but on those very narr tests, they don't do well. what then? >> well, we've lked into
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schools across theountry tha ha actually transformed themselv and taken a more progressive, younow, stance. d actually the students do beer. >> reporter: och's new approach-borin crisis is atactingisors, including u.s. secretary of education ne duncan in october. but the attention,nd an improved performance ratg from the state, may n be enough to assure its survival. like other tucson schools,choa lost 10% of its budget, ov 00,000, and had to let two teacherso. and itould get worse. in januarywhen arizona's state legislature reconvenes, mo cuts a expected. >> wdruff: finally tonight, the mexican governnt is
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claiming a major victoryn its war on dg cartels: the killing of a key drug lord-- arto beltran leyva in ahootout with a mexican navy unit. but the mexican war onrugs has en an uphill struggle, with tens of thousands of casuaies, and illegal drugs still flowg, escially in the state of siloa. that is where global pt correspondent yone geyo just returned from a mission wi the mexican army. "global post" is an international news web sit here's his report. >> reporter: dp in the sierra madre mountains. this beautiful lancape in north west mexichides one of the world's biggt drug prucing areas-- the so-called golden triangl a rare opportunity, we join the 94th batlion to see its work fighting drug cartelsere. ttaliocommander general solorzo says it is the only force eqpped for this job. as we fly low, solers watch for cartel snipers, who ha targetedrmy helicopters with
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machine guns and even cket propelled enades. the soldiers havlocated a marijuana field, whi sticks out because of theright green leaves of the plants. we touch dn and head to the crop. the oops are constantly on guard for enemy fi. in the last 18 month cartel hitmen have slain more tha 1,000 soldrs and police officers. the neral explains that there are about 2500 square feet of plants he-- or enough for 500 pounds ograss for american smokers. to make their marijua joints, they use t so-called sheep tale if you touch it, you caneel that it sticky. touch . >> reporter: ts is a small cr by mexican standards. the plants tear from the gund easily and within two urs, the soldiers he ripped up the entire fld and burned it on a
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bonfe. thmexican government has also sent troops intoity centers to fight the drug w. follow the soldiers on one these urn operations. the it sets up impromptu checoints which are moved every ur. in this stang, they find a stash of firearms on the fro seat. but it turns out the dver is a policeetective and they let him go. >> translated ): we see ople who arvery ostentatious. they show off their gold chain big bracelet but then they wear leather sandals. and these are thin that give them away. >>eporter: the army also sifts thugh residential neighborhoods seching for gangsters. troops say this mocular device can dect firearms or drugs at 300 rds. bumany residents don't like the military invadintheir
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lives. >> ( translated ): why do you thiso us? >> reporter: this busiss woman gets aoyed about being stopped on her own strt and launches into a scathing attack on th soldrs. >> ( translated ): how much longerill we citizens have to put up with you stoppings. look, onnight i was with two friends, who live two ocks away. they were all my age grandparents. they stoppeds here, they stopped us there. then on the cornerthen again outside the use. please. fo checks in five minutes. how can this be? >> reporte many mexicans complain that the army operions have not stopped the violence and trafficking. is month, the militaryas also come under re for human rights ases, accusations it promises to investate. but the vernment insists that the troops were sent back t their barracksthe situation would ly get worse. and as the conict intensifies, ere is no sign of them leavi the frontle anytime soon. >> lehr: again, the major developments of the da the u.s. me new overtures to
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china, to saage an agreement at the u.n. summit on clime change. and sete democrats faced growing quesons about whether they'lpass health care reform before a chrisas deadline. the "newshour" is alwaysnline. hari sreenivasanin our newsroom, prevws what's there. hari? >> sreenivas: on our web site night: find out how teachers view the psident's education stimulus program "ce to the top." the head of the natial education asciation, denn van roekel, stopped by "the runwn" to offer his response to tuesday'interview with edution secretary arne duncan. you'll also find a lk to john merrow's "learning matte" web site, with more out the toll the recessn has taken on schools. and you n keep track of the climate summ in copenhagen by tching and reading dispatche from our reportingeam. there is also re of global post reporter yone greeyo' stories from mexico.
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and oneffrey brown's "art beat" blog, a celebrion of second cy's 50th birthday. we've posted rembrances from the lasturviving member of the comedy club's first year a a conversation with actor/director/writer haro ramis. all that and moris on our web site, newsho.pbs.org. judy? >> woodruff: and that's th "newour" for tonight. i'm judy woodrf. >> lehrer: and i jim lehrer. we'll see you on-line, and ain here tomorrow ening with mark shields and david broo, among others. thk you and good night. major funding for thpbs newshour is provided by:
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en someo you count on is n sponsive, bad things could happen. granthornton. monsanto. oducing more. conserving more. improving farms' lives. that sustainable agriculture. more at producemoreconservore.com. >> chevron. this is the power of han energy. and by toyota.
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the national scice foundation. supporting education and research acrosall fields of sciencand engineering. and with the ongng support of these institutions and foundatis. and. th program was made possible by the corporation f public broadcasting. and byontributions to your pbs station om viewers like you. thank you.
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