captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. federal reserve chairman bernanke said the central bank is ready to prop up the ailing american economy, if needed. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the newshour tonight, we talk to economists paul krugman and douglas holtz-eakin about the state of the recovery, and whether the fed and others are doing enough to help. >> woodruff: then, we have the second of jeffrey kaye's reports from northern pakistan. >> while the world is focused on the immediate needs of pakistan, homelessness, -- issues, rebuilding it, et cetera. this is also a crisis in slow motion. >> from iraq margaret warner >> brown: from iraq, margaret warner updates a violent week as the u.s. combat mission winds down. >> woodruff: betty ann bowser returns to new orleans to find out how three families are coping five years after katrina. >> i think we've done a great job considering all the odds that were against us. >> brown: and mark shields and david brooks offer their weekly analysis. >> woodruff: that's all ahead

. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, our spencer michels in san francisco has the latest on today's ruling, on its implications for the rest of the country, and plans for an appeal. >> ifill: then, the president's top energy adviser, carol browner, updates the end to the battle to plug the gulf coast gusher, as new reports show most of the oil now gone. >> woodruff: in pakistan, jonathon miller of independent television news reports from a remote village destroyed by the worst flooding in 80 years. >> all the water is contaminated, raw sewage swilling round, putrefying carcasses of cattle polluting the water. there is a very high risk of epidemic now, that's the big concern. >> ifill: and, we talk to new orleans mayor mitch landrieu and brookings institution scholar amy liu about the comeback and the challenges five years after hurricane katrina. that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting s

i'm ray suarez. >> woodruff: i'm judy wood rough.ee you online and tomorrow evening with ruth marcus and michael gerson filling in for mark shields and david brooks. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. 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. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. seven u.s. troops were killed in roadside bomb attacks in southern afghanistan today. >> suarez: and i'm ray suarez. on the newshour tonight, we get analysis of the latest violence and the charges of corruption within the karzai government. >> woodruff: then we have the first of a week of stories from margaret warner in baghdad. tonight she reports on iraqis taking over as u.s. forces draw down. >> especially as control of it, they are my partners, they protect me. they have for the last months. i trust them implicitly. >> suarez: kate zernike of the "new york times" and david von drehle of "time" magazine assess the glenn beck phenomenon and the tea party movement after the weekend rally in washington. >> woodruff: and jeffrey brown finds out what this year's emmy awards say about the business of entertainment television. that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations.

. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. the newshour tonight, jeffrey brown talks to middle east analysts david makovsky and ghaith al-omari about the upcoming negotiations, the first in nearly two years. >> lehrer: then, we interview the pakistan foreign minister about the massive floods, the relief efforts, and the threat posed by militants. >> any government would find this disaster challenging. any government whether it is the first world government or a third world government it is huge. >> woodruff: mark shields and michael gerson, sitting in for david brooks, offer their analysis. >> lehrer: we get some perspective on the indictment of baseball pitcher roger clemens from david epsteen of "sports illustrated." >> woodruff: and from our colleagues at georgia public broadcasting, we have the story of the discovery of a civil war era prison. >> the significance of finding the artifacts in the ground is that you're able to recover not just the artifact, but the information about how the artifact was left. >> lehrer: that'

captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. crews pumped drilling mud into b.p.'s oil well today, taking the final step toward plugging it for good. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. on the newshour tonight, joel achenbach of the "washington post" updates today's so-called "static kill" operation, the beginning of the end of what is now officially the largest accidental spill ever. >> woodruff: then, we talk to federal judge reggie walton and former drug enforcement administration chief asa hutchinson about a new law narrowing the gap between sentences for crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenders. >> ifill: kylie morris of independent television news has the latest on the tens of thousands of pakistanis in urgent need of food and medical aid after days of deadly flooding. >> woodruff: and margaret warner talks to former senator slade gorton and former c.i.a. director john mclaughlin about congressional oversight of the nation's massive intelligence community. that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newsh

i'm ray suarez. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. washington week can be seen later this evening on most pbs stations. we'll see you on-line and again here monday evening. have a nice weekend. thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy productive life. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. 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. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

there have been.... >> woodruff: better than the afghan police. >> often. for the better trained ones certainly. you know, there are also people who probably don't want to be in the army and police. who weren't recruited to be in the army and police. >> woodruff: why not? >> it's dangerous. far more dangerous being an afghan soldier trying to fight the taliban who is probably underequipped, leadership issues and training issues. to be an afghan policeman is to be a target. to be a security guard not so much. you can end up in kabul guarding a private home. the road convoys, you know, those are dangerous but there are also questions do some of these companies pay the taliban not to attack the convoys. being a security guard is a far safer job than being a soldier or policeman in afghanistan. >> woodruff: you would agree? >> it varies from job to job. some of the convoy security can be rather dangerous. it depends on what you're proceed teching. many are proceed feking ngo warehouses. >> woodruff: non-governmental organizations? >> yes. many of the people doi

judy woodruff begins our report with some background. >> woodruff: federal judge royce lamberth issued his ruling late yesterday afternoon, sending a shock wave through much of the american medical research community. in a 15-page opinion, lamberth ruled that embryonic stem cell research must stop and "preserve the status quo" that existed before an executive order signed by president obama early last year expanded the controversial research. >> we will lift the ban on federal funding for promising embryonic stem cell research. ( applause ) >> woodruff: that congressionally-mandated federal funding ban had been in place for more than a decade. in 2001, president bush allowed some federal funding of stem cell research, but only on a limited number of lines of embryonic stem cells that already existed. >> i have concluded that we should allow federal funds to be used for research on these existing stem cell lines, where the life and death decision has already been made. >> woodruff: under president bush's policy, 21 lines were eventually available for federal funding. that number has gro