additional l support is provided by -- and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs stations from viewers like you. from new york. >>> good evening. thanks for joining us. ukraine's national security council held an emergency session tonight after pro russian activists seized new buildings earlier in the day. the interior minister promised what he called a very tough response. they were armed with pistols and rifles and seize add police head kaurs in an eastern ukraine can city. there were hundreds of pistols and ammunition stored at the police head quarters. in a nearby city, they also seized the police head quarters. protestors have occupied a government building there for nearly a week. eastern ukraine has a large russian speaking population. >> there has been another poison gas attack in syria. an amateur video posted online shows men and children crowded into a hospital room, some apparently having difficulty breathing. they say the attack occurred last evening during air raids by government forces. the regime blamed remember l forces saying they had

additional support is provided by -- and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnetcenters in new york this is pbs news hour weekend. >> good evening. i'm allison stewart. the pro-russian separatist displayed ukrainians had his men recently took hostage. seven of those being held are european observers who the separatists claim, are a charge refuted today. all appear in good condition, however an eighth hostage was released on medical grounds late in the day. in addition, three ukrainian security officers being held by separatists were also put on display. they were blindfold, bloodied and stripped of their shoes. the men traveled from crimea. the separatists seized control of the office of regional state television in oorn ukraine. three weeks ago they seized government buildings in ten cities in eastern ukraine and have held them ever since. today while in malaysia, president obama urged international backing for additional sanks against the kremlin which the obama administration believes is supporti

edded additional support is provided by and by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by -- and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tish w.e. studios in lincoln center in new york, this is pbs "news hour weekend." >> good evening, thanks for joining us. secretary of state john kerry and russian feign minister sergie lavrov conferred by telephone today in the latest effort to defuse the crisis in ukraine. russian separatists who occupy government buildings aross eastern ukraine three weeks ago say they are willing to release eight international military observers they detained, but only if other separatists in custody are also freed. recent satellite images show tens of thousands of russian troops massed along the border with ukraine. the pentagon said yesterday that russian fighter jets have made about half a dozen incursions into ukrainian air space. the united states and its european allies are expected to announce a new round of sanction against russia on monday. president obama is in malaysia tonight, his third leg of

and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major support for frontliis provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information is available at macfound.org. additional funding is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. the wyncote foundation. and by the frontline journalism fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler. and a grant from millicent bell, through: >> narrator: jiro ishimaru is a journalist trying to expose what kim jong un's regime wants to hide: the secret world of the north korean people. he has an undercover network which covertly films life inside the country. >> (translated): obviously, it's an extremely dangerous thing to do. in north korea, even filming everyday life is considered a form of political treason. if they are caught filming, they'd be locked up and may never be let out again. >> narrator: even filming on the chinese side of the border is illegal. >>

for all of us. >> additional corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by prudential. brigham & women's hospital >> additional funding is also provided by the annenberg foundation, the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. once again, live from washington, moderator gwen ifill. gwen: good evening. with the exit of health secretary kathleen sebelius and the arrival of her nominated replacement, sylvia matthews burwell, the white house sees a fresh chance to push ahead with implementation of its health care law. >> there are 7 1/2 million people across the country that have the security of health insurance, most of them for the very first time, and that's because of the woman standing next to me here today. and we are proud of her for that. gwen: white house officials insisted that sebelius' exit was her idea, and that burwell will pick up where she left off. is that even possible, alex? >> i think she's got some catching up to do. she comes to a new agency. she doesn't have a lot of health care experience in her professional background, although she's involved in those issues a little bit as a white house official. but she has cat

additional support is provided by -- and by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. sethi: this week on "quest"... sea otters combating climate change... sizemore: to see that change almost overnight was amazing. sethi: ...cars fueled by hydrogen... holloway: i was promised flying cars when i was a kid. this is as close as it's going to get. sethi: ...and scientists trying to build a more resilient forest. pecore: some of the best old-growth stands that we have are in the menominee tribal lands. announcer: major funding for "quest" is provided by the national science foundation. sethi: known as "science on a sphere," giant digital globes just like this one

additional support is provided by -- and by the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tish wnet studios at lincoln center in new york, hari . >>> renewed violence in eastern ukraine days after diplomats reached international agreement in geneva to defuse the crisis. five people were killed including three pro-russian separatists during a shoot-out at a checkpoint the separatists had set up. russia accused ukraine of failing to protect russian speakers in the area. russian president putin acknowledged the possibility of russian military intervention in the region. during a television interview, when asked whether moscow would press armed pro-russian separatists in eastern ukraine to pull back, the russian ambassador to the united states called for the disarming of ukrainian militias in the western part of that country. >> we have signed the geneva agreement. that's a message in itself. but what is important, that all provided in the geneva statement is equally applied in ukraine. >> though the ambassador sai

additional support is provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting.nd by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >>> from the tish wnet studios in lincoln, new york. >> good evening, thanks for joining us. there is a potentially significant development in the search for malaysian 777 that went missing four weeks ago today, with 239 people on board. britain's channel 4 news has our report. >> reporter: this is the chinese patrol ship, the high shohio ohn 01. it picked up a pulse signal last night a frequency of 41.5 kilohertz, used by black boxes. its location was here, just north of where previous i couldn't say search efforts were concentrated and about 1800 kilometers from perth. >> if, and it's a big if, this is the ping from the black box recorder, it means the search area has gone to an area that was originally 85,000 square miles to an area that's going to be in the order of ten square miles. so we've gone from the impossible to the plausible. and it means that they will land using sight scan s.o.n.a.r. and rovs, remo

. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: from the coasts to the heartland, people everywhere are feeling the effects of global warming, from economic damage to health threats. that's the conclusion a global group of scientists reach in an extensive new report issued today. they urged world governments to respond by curbing carbon emissions. we'll have a full report, and analysis, after the news summary. >> ifill: general motors' troubles took another turn for the worse today. the auto maker recalled 1.3 million chevrolets, saturns and pontiacs because the power- steering assist can stop working. it's the latest in a string of recalls that began last month with faulty ignition switches. the company faces a congressional hearing tomorrow over that issue. >> ifill: crews trying to find the missing in the washington state mudslide are now confronting a new danger, toxic slide. officials said today the mud and debris contain sewage, propaine, and

. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ifill: a sitting member of congress, new york representative michael grimm, was arrested today on a range of federal charges. the two-term republican pleaded not guilty to a 20-count indictment, including mail fraud, wire fraud and tax fraud. it alleges he under-reported and concealed wages for workers at a manhattan restaurant. grimm is a former fbi agent who's also under investigation for campaign finance violations. suicide bombers killed at least 50 people across iraq today, ahead of wednesday's parliamentary elections. the worst attack came at a kurdish rally 100 miles northeast of baghdad. 30 people died there. other attackers hit polling stations where soldiers and security forces began casting ballots. prisoners and hospital workers also voted today. the national elections are the first in iraq since us troops withdrew in 2011. hundreds more islamists have been sentenced to death in egypt, in the latest

. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: a wave of selling hit wall street today. technology and biotech stocks were especially hard hit. the nasdaq fell more than 129 points to close at 4,054, its worst day since november, 2011. the dow jones industrial average lost nearly 267 points to close at 16,170. and the s&p 500 was down 39 at 1,833. the drop came despite a report that new claims for jobless benefits are now the lowest in nearly seven years. a federal judge in new york has sentenced s.a.c. capital in a major insider trading case. the hedge fund will pay a record fine as part of a plea deal totaling $1.8 billion. eight s.a.c. employees have already been convicted of insider trading, but founder and owner steven cohen has not been charged. investigators in murrysville, pennsylvania, tried today to understand why a teenager stabbed 21 people at his high school. 16 year old alex hribal was tackled and arrested after yesterday's attack

>> frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from: and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major support for frontline is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information is available at macfound.org. additional funding is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. the wyncote foundation. and by tfrontline journalism fund, with major support from john and jo ann hagler and a grant from james worth. >> my name's todd michael fickett. i'm here for arson, in prison for arson. down here, it's like being buried alive. you're like... you're someplace alive, but you're no place anybody wants you. >> narrator: todd fickett has just assaulted a prison officer. he's been put in an isolation cell as punishment. >> my mental state will probably go downhill like it did last time. i go pretty crazy. >> narrator: todd is facing six months alone in his cell. he's one of an estimated 80,000 inmates across the united states in solitary confinement

. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: search and rescue crews spent a second day working to find more than 270 people missing in a ferry disaster off the coast of south korea. at least 25 deaths have been confirmed since the vessel went down yesterday. we have a report narrated by lucy watson of independent television news, in beijing. >> they urge for a response. banging the hull of this stricken vessel, hoping to hear survivors because this is still a rescue operation. remarkably, 24 hours earlier, as passengers phoned for help, there was an uneasy calm. they were unaware of how fast they were sinking. an announcement told them to stay where they were, because it was less dangerous. but it's come to this. collective anguish as yet another body is brought in. and this man, who cowers from the cameras, was the captain, responsible for those onboard, who could face a criminal investigation. he says he's sorry, he's ashamed, but he was o

research-based solutions in education, environment, science, and policy. of education, the corporation for public broadcasting'sgrant, and by viewers like you! - ha! ha! ha! thank you! ♪ one, two! a one, two, three, four! ♪ peg plus cat!

. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: for the third day in a row, violent weather is threatening the southern united states. tornadoes have killed at least 35 people since sunday, including a dozen or more yesterday in mississippi. >> it's moving to the right! >> woodruff: it was late monday afternoon in mississippi, when the funnel clouds formed. weather radar showed the ferocious storm system cutting a wide swath across the state. >> this is bad. >> woodruff: tornadoes tossed and tumbled cars across an open field in the town of louisville. robbie anderson huddled in her closet in edwards, as a twister tore through. >> that's the tin roof, the metal roof that has come off of the house and of course it's raining all in the house and all of this, but that's okay too because i'm still here. >> woodruff: a tornado in tupelo uprooted massive, old trees, pulled down power lines, and knocked semi-trailer trucks on their sides. >> to see trees

. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: a final decision on a much-debated extension of the keystone oil pipeline has been delayed again, possibly until after the november elections. the u.s. state department today extended the federal review of the project indefinitely. it cited a nebraska court fight over the route. the pipeline would extend from canada to nebraska, then connect with existing lines carrying crude oil to refineries in texas. an avalanche on mount everest killed at least 12 sherpa guides today and left four others missing. the disaster was the deadliest ever on the world's highest peak, in nepal. it happened just shy of 21,000 feet, about 8,000 feet below the summit. guides had gone out early to fix ropes for climbers, including australian gavin turner. >> the experience was great. it was going well, and then suddenly there was a huge thud. we got covered by this enormous cloud of snow and snow dust, and, for a few secon

. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: it could have been much, much worse. chile survived a major earthquake overnight, with relatively limited damage. the epicenter of the 8.2 magnitude quake was in the pacific ocean, about 60 miles offshore. it sent people running in the aisles of stores, as products tumbled off the shelves. six people died, and thousands of coastal residents were evacuated from low-lying areas. >> woodruff: a smaller 5.8 magnitude quake hit panama today. people reported light and moderate shaking, but the head of panama's emergency services said there was no damage, and no one was injured. the confirmed death toll in the washington state mudslide has now risen to 29. 18 others are still listed as missing. the updated numbers came as flood waters receded in the small community of oso. that's allowed crews to reach some areas that had yet to be searched. >> woodruff: the head of general motors faced another hostile re

. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: another school was engulfed by sudden violence today, when a teenager stabbed and slashed 19 students and a security guard in pennsylvania. it happened just minutes before classes began at franklin regional high, in murrysville, about 20 miles east of pittsburgh. the 16-year-old suspect was finally wrestled down. police did not release his identity, but did say he was armed with two knives. emergency officials said a fire alarm may have limited the casualties. >> we're teaching children in school now if they're in a hallways and they hear something going on to basically run out of the building. so pulling that fire alarm could have saved lives without a doubt to make people think there was something going on a to get out of the building. one person's actions could have saved ten peoples lives or caused ten people not to be injured. >> ifill: several of the wounded were in critical condition, including

. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: bombs tore through a campaign rally in iraq today, killing at least 31 people and wounding dozens more. the event at a baghdad stadium was intended to introduce candidates from a militant shiite group ahead of next week's parliamentary elections. a camera captured the exact moment one of the bombs went off at the complex. there was also intense gunfire from iraqi security forces after the explosion. reporter jane arraf is in baghdad. she was covering the rally for the newshour and spoke to us a short time ago. a warning-- some of the im shown during this interview may be disturbing. jane, welcome. how close were you, and tell us what happened. >> reporter: well, we were at a rally, quite an important one for new political party, the league of the righteous, and it's a very hard-line iranian-backed party that actually has a militia attached. as the main speakers -- and they're doing a reenactment of

. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: the worst flooding in decades literally drowned parts of the florida panhandle and coastal alabama today. the deluge was triggered by the same front that's spawned tornadoes and killed at least 37 people this week. >> ifill: streets turned into rivers, and cars into islands, as it started pouring yesterday, from gulf shores, alabama to pensacola, florida, and didn't stop. >> i came down about 6:00 this morning to check on everything. and the water was probably up to the sidewalk over here next door. and that was the first time in 29 years, i've never seen it get this deep before. the water was waist-high in some places, and still rising. >> we've had up to 22 inches of rain in the panhandle. >> ifill: that's roughly a third of pensacola's average rainfall for the whole year. and florida governor rick scott told today of urgent appeals for help. >> we've had flash flooding. we've had about 300 requests

and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major support for frontliis provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information is available at macfound.org. additional funding is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. the wyncote foundation. and by the frontline journalism fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler, and a grant from james worth. >> my name is keith huff. i'm from louisville, kentucky. i've been incarcerated five times in the kentucky state prison system. i got a total of 27 years in the system. is it okay to go in? >> yeah. >> thank you, sir. >> narrator: keith huff is a million-dollar prisoner. the state of kentucky has spent an estimated $1.1 million incarcerating him. he's been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disor. >> (whispering prayer) i do great in prison for some reason. it's sad, but i do great in prison, i mean, because i got the structure, pe

. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: hundreds of people in south sudan have been killed in what the united nations is calling ethnic slaughter. u.n. human rights officials say rebels from the ethnic nuer group, seized the city of bentiu last week and murdered people who sought safety in a mosque. these graphic images released by the u.n. show bodies in the streets, and earth-moving machines carrying away remains for burial in a mass grave. a u.n. team witnessed the aftermath of the killings. >> during the past few days, bente was seen as violent, very targeted, deliberate violence that struck individuals of certainty identities, and think that's what i so far have seen in the mosque and the other parts of town has really been very, very heart-wrenching. certainly atrocities have been committed on a significant scale. >> woodruff: the u.n. investigators charge that a local radio station helped incite the killing by broadcasting hate me

. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: more americans went looking for work in march, and more people found it. the labor department today reported a net gain of 192,000 jobs, although many were in lower-paying industries. revised figures also added 37,000 more jobs in january and february than first estimated. the unemployment rate for march was unchanged at 6.7%. economics correspondent paul solman goes looking for trends inside the numbers in just a moment. on wall street, the jobs report failed to stop a sell-off driven by slumping tech stocks. the dow jones industrial average lost nearly 160 points to close at 16,412. the nasdaq fell 110 points to close at 4,127. and the s&p 500 was down 23 at 1,865. for the week, the dow and the s&p gained a fraction of 1%; the nasdaq fell a fraction. army officials at fort hood, texas, now believe an argument most likely sparked wednesday's mass shooting. specialist ivan lopez killed three soldier

. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: president obama announced this afternoon that 7.1 million people signed up for health insurance, before last night's deadline. that tops the administration's original goal, and it came despite glitches on the healthcare.gov website. the president marked the achievement with an event in the white house rose garden. >> millions of our fellow citizens know the economic security of health insurance who didn't just a few years ago. and that's something to be proud of. regardless of your politics or your feelings about me or your feelings about this law, that's something that's good for our economy. it's good for our country. there's no good reason to go back. >> woodruff: there was no immediate word on how many of the enrollees were previously uninsured, or how many have paid their premiums. and beyond those questions, republicans charged again the health care law is doing more harm than good. senate min

. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: grief settled over south korea today, after a ferry disaster at sea. hundreds of high school students were on board the vessel that capsized and sank. officials confirmed six deaths, but 290 others were still missing, many hours later. we have a report narrated by jonathan miller of independent television news. >> reporter: in the yellow sea, a few miles off south korea's rocky coast, the 150 meter long, 6,000 ton ferry, the sewol, has capsized in 30 meters of water. on board, 459 passengers. among them more than 300 teenagers en route to a school field trip on a volcanic island in the south. the ferry had sailed through the night after leaving incheon near the capital, seoul. rolled and sank in two hours flat. as the news breaks, distraught moms and dads converge on the high school. inside, they're scouring the white board for names. there's confusion. at first the school said all the students were s

. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: hopes of finding that missing malaysian airliner were cautiously on the rise today. that followed a flurry of reports that searchers may have picked up signals from the plane's black boxes. lucy watson of independent television news reports from beijing, where the search is being closely watched because most of those on board were chinese. >> reporter: an australian crew lower the key american device that could end uncertainty surrounding flight 370. it's been trawling the ocean for underwater sounds like those emitted from flight data recorders and on board they my have detected but not located them. >> clearly this is a most promising lead. and probably in the search so far, its the, it's probably the best information that we've had. we haven't found the aircraft yet, we need further confirmation. >> reporter: the latest signals, or pings ,were heard here, by an australian vessel. 370 miles from

. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: president obama formally nominated his choice today to be the next u.s. secretary of health and human services. and he praised the woman who's held the job for five years, during the battle over health care reform. >> kathleen will go down in history for serving as the secretary of health and human services when the united states of america finally declared that quality affordable health care is not a privilege, but it is a right for every single citizen of these united states of america. ( cheers and applause ) >> woodruff: president obama and a boisterous crowd joined in giving kathleen sebelius a rose garden send-off and defending his affordable care act. sebelius was a popular former governor of kansas when she came to h.h.s. in 2009. but she took heavy criticism over the calamitous launch of the government website for health insurance enrollment, leading to multiple mea culpas to congress. >>

. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: wall street got the week off to a good start, as stocks recovered ground lost in last week's sell-off. the dow jones industrial average gained 146 points to close at 16,173. the nasdaq rose almost 23 points to close at 4,022. and the s-and-p 500 added nearly 15 to finish at 1,830. a powerful bomb ripped through a bus station in nigeria today, killing 71 people and wounding 124. the blast in abuja was the worst terrorist attack ever in the african nation's capital. it destroyed dozens of buses and cars, and left charred, mangled metal amid the blood stains. president goodluck jonathan visited the scene and blamed boko haram, the islamist group that's killed thousands in nigeria's northeast. >> ifill: a wildfire burned for a third day in valparaiso, chile, as the military moved to evacuate 700 more families. the fire, which erupted saturday, has killed a dozen people, forced thousands to flee and destro

. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: search crews in the indian ocean failed today to pick up more underwater pings from a malaysian jetliner, one month after it disappeared. officials acknowledged time is short, since locator beacons on the two black box recorders were designed to transmit just a month, before their batteries die. in perth, australia, defense minister david johnston said it's a herculean task. >> this is day 32. a lot are concerned that we have at least several days of intense action ahead of us. the weather out there today is reasonable, and, so, you can be assured that we are throwing everything at this difficult, complex task in at least these next several days while we believe the pingers are still active. >> woodruff: an australian ship towing a u.s. navy deepwater sound detector picked up pings on saturday and sunday. they were consistent with the sort the black boxes would emit. crews digging through the mudsl

. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: officials in south korea now say search teams have recovered at least 156 bodies from a sunken ferry. nearly 150 others remained unaccounted for as the search operation ended its eighth day. divers are having to navigate the dark depths and will have to rip through cabin walls to find the remaining victims. another brief glimmer of hope faded today in the search for that missing malaysian plane. investigators found sheet metal with rivets that washed ashore in southwestern australia. but, initial analysis found no connection to the jetliner. meanwhile, malaysia's government announced an international team will investigate the disappearance. >> indeed, it is imperative for the government to form an independent team of investigators which is not only competent and transparent but also highly credible. as i've consistently said since the beginning, we have nothing to hide. >> ifill: officials in both mal

. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: the number of confirmed dead in the washington state mudslide rose again today to 30. the local medical examiner's office released the names of two more victims, and it lowered the number of missing to 15, down from 18 yesterday. meanwhile, the search continued in the tiny community of oso. it was buried last month when a hillside collapsed. the senate intelligence committee has voted to declassify parts of a report on c.i.a. interrogations after 9/11. the report concludes methods such as waterboarding were often cruel and ineffective. today's vote comes as senators accuse the c.i.a. of spying on their investigation and deleting files. the c.i.a. says senate staffers accessed the information illegally. hopes for progress in middle east peace talks are fading. israel announced today it will not release another group of palestinian prisoners after all. it blamed palestinian president mahmoud abbas for r

. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: u.s. drones were back in action over yemen today, after a weekend of heavy strikes aimed at al-qaeda. the government of yemen announced the attacks have killed at least 55 militants, including three senior members. the main target was a major training camp in the country's mountainous south. attacks in towns just outside baghdad killed at least 33 iraqis and wounded nearly 80 today. in one incident, bulldozers had to clear burned-out wreckage after a suicide car bomber struck a police checkpoint 25 miles south of the capital. five policemen and seven civilians were killed there. in syria, the government set a date to hold presidential elections: june 3. incumbent president bashar al assad is expected to win a new, seven-year term, but the opposition dismissed any election as a farce. and on twitter, a u.s. state department spokesman said the vote would be a "parody of democracy." the confirmed death t