JUDY WOODRUFF: Good evening.
I'm Judy Woodruff.
On the "NewsHour" tonight": The House Intelligence Committee chairman voices doubt that former
President Obama ordered wiretaps of Trump Tower.
But President Trump stands by his claim.
Also ahead this Wednesday: Malcolm Brabant takes us to Turkey, where President Erdogan
is seeking more power during a time of political and religious tensions.
MALCOLM BRABANT: President Erdogan's popularity and policies are about to be put to the test
in a referendum to decide whether Turkey should have a United States-style presidency, but
without the checks and balances.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And the possibilities of computer-connected brains -- how researchers are experimenting
with implants to help people with paralysis.
DENNIS DEGRAY, Clinical Research Participant: It's very liberating.
To be able to utilize a portion of my body that has not worked to actually cause and
effect is great fun.
JUDY WOODRUFF: All that and more on tonight's "PBS NewsHour."
(BREAK)
JUDY WOODRUFF: Short-term interest rates are going up again in the United States for the
second time in three months.
The Federal Reserve announced another quarter-point increase today.
Policy-makers suggested in a statement that economic growth is improving, and Fed Chair
Janet Yellen said that makes it more likely there will be two additional rate hikes this
year.
JANET YELLEN, Federal Reserve Chair: The simple message is the economy is doing well.
We have confidence in the robustness of the economy and its resilience to shocks.
It's performed well over the last several years.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The Fed is predicting growth at a rate of 2.1 percent this year and next.
President Trump has talked of 4 percent growth.
We will have more on the potential economic effects of the rate hike later in the program.
In the day's other news: Two Russian intelligence officers and two cyber-hackers now face U.S.
criminal charges in a Yahoo data breach that compromised 500 million accounts.
The acting assistant attorney general, Mary McCord, announced the action today.
It's the first to implicate Russian officials directly in cyber-crime.
MARY MCCORD, Acting Assistant Attorney General: We will not allow individuals, groups, nation
states or a combination of them to compromise the privacy of our citizens, the economic
interests of our companies, or the security of our country.
There are no free passes for foreign state-sponsored criminal behavior.
JUDY WOODRUFF: One of the hackers is in custody in Canada.
The others remain at large, and it's not clear if they will ever see an American courtroom,
since Russia has no extradition treaty with the United States.
In Syria, suicide bombers killed at least 31 people in twin attacks in Damascus, this
as the country enters its sixth year of civil war.
The state news agency says the first attacker blew himself up in the main judicial building
as police started to search him.
A second bomb went off inside a nearby restaurant.
Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, the death toll from an assault on a military hospital rose
to 50 today.
The attack, a week ago, was claimed by the Islamic State group.
Officials said a suicide bomber blew up his car, and gunmen disguised in lab coats stormed
the hospital in Kabul.
Investigators have detained 24 people, including medical staffers.
A disaster at a landfill outside Ethiopia's capital has now claimed 113 lives.
The death toll rose again today, as search-and-rescue efforts continued in mountains of garbage
which collapsed on Saturday and buried makeshift huts at the site.
Voting has ended in the Netherlands, and exit polls show Dutch voters have rejected a bid
for power by an anti-Islam party.
Geert Wilders and his far-right followers did worse than expected against center-right
Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who'd warned against electing Wilders.
MARK RUTTE, Prime Minister of the Netherlands: Having a political leader wants to take away
the Koran from Muslims in the Netherlands, who wants to close our mosques, the wrong
sort of populism is not addressing the real issues of the people, only making them bigger,
instead of solving them.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Wilders acknowledged that he'd lost, but he vowed that he'd be back.
Back in this country, the U.S. Senate confirmed former Indiana Senator Dan Coats as director
of national intelligence.
He will oversee 16 intelligence agencies, and could be a key player in probes of Russian
meddling in last year's election.
President Trump moved today to dial back federal rules on auto fuel economy.
Just before President Obama left office, the EPA finalized a standard that automakers reach
an average of 54 miles a gallon by 2025.
That's double the current standard.
The industry strongly objected.
And today, in Ypsilanti, Michigan, Mr. Trump said the EPA is going back to the drawing
board.
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: The assault on American auto industry, believe
me, is over.
It's over.
Not going to have it anymore.
If the standards threatened auto jobs, then commonsense changes could have and should
have been made.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Environmentalists have argued the higher standard would promote use of hybrids
and electric vehicles and cut carbon dioxide emissions.
The White House signaled again today that it's open to changing the Republican replacement
for Obamacare.
A spokesman said the president is working with House Speaker Ryan and other leaders.
There was also word that more than 12 million people signed up for coverage this year under
Obamacare and enrolled on federal and state exchanges.
A portion of one of the president's federal income tax returns has surfaced for the first
time.
The leaked document shows that for the 2005 tax year, Mr. Trump reported earnings of $153
million, and paid $36 million in taxes.
He wrote off more than $100 million in business losses.
The White House criticized the leak, but didn't challenge the document's authenticity.
In a tweet today, the president called it -- quote -- "fake news."
Reports of sexual assault rose at two of the U.S. service academies this year.
According to the Associated Press, they were up at the Naval Academy and the military academy
at West Point.
The Air Force Academy saw a sharp drop.
The AP says a separate anonymous survey found sexual misconduct is actually rising at all
three schools.
And on Wall Street, stocks took the latest interest rate hike in stride.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained more than 112 points to close at 20950.
The Nasdaq rose 43 points, and the S&P 500 added nearly 20.
Still to come on the "NewsHour": what lawmakers have and have not found in their ongoing Russia
investigation; a key U.S. ally, Turkey, is set to decide whether its strongman president
should have even broader power; and much more.
Russia's role in last year's election, alleged contacts between the Trump team and Moscow,
and President Trump's allegation that he was wiretapped by his predecessor, all these were
front and center on Capitol Hill today.
John Yang reports.
REP.
DEVIN NUNES (R), California: I don't think that there was an actual tap of Trump Tower.
JOHN YANG: Leaders of the House Intelligence Committee cast fresh doubt today on President
Trump's claim that then-President Obama illegally wiretapped Trump Tower.
Committee Chairman Devin Nunes:
REP.
DEVIN NUNES: President Obama wouldn't physically go over and wiretap Trump Tower.
So now you have to decide, as I mentioned to last week, are you going to take the tweets
literally?
And if you are, then clearly the president was wrong.
But if you're not going to take the tweets literally, and if there's a concern that the
president has about other people, other surveillance activities looking at him or his associates,
either appropriately or inappropriately, we want to find that out.
JOHN YANG: The committee gave the Justice Department until last night to produce any
evidence to support the president's claim.
Instead, the department got an extension until next Monday, when FBI Director James Comey
is to testify before the panel.
Adam Schiff is the committee's top Democrat.
REP.
ADAM SCHIFF (D), California: I do think it's incumbent that, if we get to March 20 and
we have the testimony I think we all expect from the director that there was no substance
to the accusation that Barack Obama illegally wiretapped Trump Tower, that the president
explain himself.
I think this -- you can't level an accusation of that type without either retracting it
or explaining just why it was done.
JOHN YANG: Senator Lindsey Graham wants to know if there's a warrant for a wiretap.
SEN.
LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), South Carolina: Congress is going to flex its muscle here.
We will issue a subpoena to get the information.
JOHN YANG: FBI Director Comey was on Capitol Hill this afternoon to brief leaders of the
Senate Judiciary Committee.
Chairman Chuck Grassley and top Democrat Dianne Feinstein want to know about former National
Security Adviser Mike Flynn's contacts with Russian officials.
Flynn is one of several Trump associates under scrutiny for dealings with Russians during
the campaign.
One-time Trump adviser Roger Stone said today he thinks a special surveillance warrant uncovered
his contacts with a Russian-linked hacker who claimed credit for the cyber-attack on
the Democratic National Committee.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm John Yang.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And late today came word that, in an interview to air tonight on FOX News,
the president was asked again about his wiretapping accusation, and he said: "Wiretap covers a
lot of different things.
I think you're going to find some very interesting items coming to the forefront over the next
two weeks."
Back on Capitol Hill, lawmakers from both parties expressed frustration with FBI Director
James Comey, and what they say is an unwillingness to provide them with critical information.
Joining us now, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, a member of the Intelligence Committee.
Senator, thank you for being with us.
Are you getting the cooperation you need from the intelligence community?
SEN.
JOE MANCHIN (D), West Virginia: Well, Judy, first of all, it's good to be with you.
And we are going to be able to get that.
We have been speaking to them.
We have been out to the CIA.
We're looking at all the documents, and they're providing those to us.
The Intel Committee is able to get in-depth, if you will, with all of our different intelligence
agencies.
I have great confidence in them, and we have got to get to the bottom.
There's an awful lot that's going on here.
There's two different paths.
You have one with the Russians involved in our election process.
To what extent -- we know they made an attempt.
They made more of an attempt this time than ever before.
We know that the outcome of the election, they were not able to intervene or interfere
with that or disrupt that whatsoever, but their desire was there.
We must prevent that from ever happening again and also to help our allies.
Then you have the other Russian intervention, if you will.
How much of an association is there?
Is there any type of with the associates from President Trump during the campaign, his people,
himself, his family, whatsoever?
And is there any intertwinement?
So, I think the American people want to know.
And we need to get through this and get -- come to the conclusion, and do the business of
this great country.
And, right now, that's our -- that's the hot topic.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, at this point, do you think you're any closer to knowing whether
there was any, as you call it, intertwinement or collusion between the Trump campaign and
Russian officials?
SEN.
JOE MANCHIN: I can only say what we have seen to date.
Now, I don't see any evidence of that whatsoever.
But we're just in the start of this.
So it would be premature for me to say anything, a definite yes or no.
But we're going to look at everything.
We're going to turn over every stone that we possibly can.
We're going to make sure we interview and bring people in that have -- names have been
mentioned that you have mentioned on your "NewsHour," and we're going to make sure that
we get the facts.
And intelligence is to provide the facts to us.
The facts will usually take you to the truth.
And then, when we get the truth, we have got to make the decisions and do what's best for
this country.
(CROSSTALK)
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, Senator, let me just stop you there and ask you about this other
strand of the story today.
And that is President Trump saying in that interview that we just mentioned that we're
going to see more, in his words, in the next few weeks come to the forefront about the
wiretap that he accused President Obama of being behind.
What do you know at this point about that?
SEN.
JOE MANCHIN: Well, the only thing I can discuss and what I know about that is what you all
have been reporting on and what has been reported in the news today.
Jeff Sessions said he didn't advise or didn't say a thing about a wiretap and knows of no
wiretap.
And there's no evidence of showing any wiretap to date.
If there's other evidence to come forth, we will be happy to look at that and evaluate
it and investigate it, but, as of right now, that has not come forth.
JUDY WOODRUFF: In the end -- well, let me just rephrase that.
Is it up to the White House, for the president to provide whatever evidence he has?
SEN.
JOE MANCHIN: Well, I would think that, if he has evidence that the intelligence community
doesn't have, and it's not being brought forth, and he wants to make sure that that's considered
into this whole process, then I would hope that they would.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Let me turn you, Senator, to the other issue that we're covering right
now on the Hill, and that is, of course, health care reform, the Republican relationship legislation
that seems to be running into more opposition from Republican members of the House and the
Senate.
Where do you think that stands right now?
SEN.
JOE MANCHIN: Well, it's over in the House, and I guess, if they put the push on, they
can push that out and send it over to the Senate.
I don't see a receptive audience.
I don't know of one Democrat that would vote for the process they're sending over for the
piece of legislation.
I'm not voting to repeal, Judy.
I have been very clear.
I told President Trump this many weeks ago.
There's no way I can vote to repeal and throw people off, when I know the political toxic
atmosphere that we have in Washington, thinking that we can come back and repair it.
They can get rid of it with 51 votes.
They don't need a Democrat.
But they can't fix it unless they have eight of me, eight Democrats who are willing to
sit down and work and fix some of the market conditions that we have that make it so really
costly and very hard, very much a hardship on a lot of people that didn't get the expansion
or the subsidies or any of that.
So, I understand where the problems are.
But no one seems to want to fix it.
So, I said this.
I said, why don't we vote and sit down, have a working group voting on the market repairs
that we could do, and see if you can get 60 votes, before you throw the baby out with
the bath water?
JUDY WOODRUFF: And have they responded affirmatively to any -- to your suggestion or anything like
it?
SEN.
JOE MANCHIN: I have only had one -- one of my colleagues -- Republican Senator Bill Cassidy
come over.
And we have sat down twice to see if there was a pathway forward.
He had a piece of legislation.
We looked at it.
We told him our concerns with it, but we had a dialogue going.
And then, basically, the House has gone off on their own, and the things that we, Bill
and I, were talking about didn't materialize.
So, nobody seems to want to do anything.
(CROSSTALK)
JUDY WOODRUFF: I'm sorry to interrupt you.
But just quickly, so, at this point, where do you see this legislation headed?
SEN.
JOE MANCHIN: I don't see it moving on this side.
I really don't, on the Senate side right now, unless there are some tremendous changes made.
Judy, let me just tell you, the state of West Virginia, 172,000 people got the expansion.
That means the people that were not on Medicaid, but within the 139 percentile -- 172,000.
Another 36,000, 38,000 got some, basically, subsidies.
That means, because of their income, they were subsidized about $388.
And then we had the donut hole filled for our seniors.
We have a poorer population.
All of a sudden now, all of a sudden, they're going to give the wealthiest of the wealthiest
in the country $575 billion tax credits, $575 billion.
And that's going to be on the backs of the poor, the elderly, and those who have been
addicted and are getting in treatment centers or being able to get treated for addiction,
which is a horrible problem in my state.
So, I get hit three ways.
The poor get hit harder, the elderly pay more, and the people that are addicted are not going
to get treatment that's needed.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, we thank you.
SEN.
JOE MANCHIN: Thank you, Judy.
JUDY WOODRUFF: For more on questions about the Trump campaign's connections with Russia,
the battle over health care, and the president's newly leaked tax return, we turn to Matt Schlapp.
He is chair of the American Conservative Union.
And Karine Jean-Pierre, she was a senior adviser to MoveOn.org during the 2016 elections.
And we welcome both of you to the program.
Matt, I'm going to start with you.
It's been more than 10 days, I think, since President Trump tweeted that President Obama
had wiretapped him...
MATT SCHLAPP, Former White House Director of Political Affairs: Right.
JUDY WOODRUFF: ... during the campaign.
So far, no evidence of this, investigations under way.
Where does this stand?
MATT SCHLAPP: Well, first of all, this term wiretap is kind of an old-fashioned term.
What we have been reading about in most of the respected newspapers across the country,
back before the election, through the inauguration, and afterwards, was that there were people
in the Trump team, on the Trump team who were under investigation for inappropriate ties
with Russia, that there were phone calls that had been intercepted.
So, all of this was reported.
The question is, was something done inappropriately?
And I think that's what -- I think that's what the president wants to know, and I think
a lot of other people want to know as well.
JUDY WOODRUFF: How much urgency is there around this question, Karine?
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, Democratic Strategist: I think there should be a lot more urgency
than we're currently seeing.
I think at this point up to the FBI to really step in and let us know, what is really happening?
I think one of the issues that we're seeing here is Donald Trump is not being presidential.
He tweets without understanding the consequences of his tweet.
There's no measurement of what he's saying.
And it's incredibly dangerous to accuse your predecessor of potentially breaking the law.
And I think, at the end of the day, we have to -- we have to really look and ask the question,
what happens if there is a true, actual national security crisis?
Are we going to believe Donald Trump?
JUDY WOODRUFF: How much does it matter, Matt, that we get to the bottom of this?
MATT SCHLAPP: It matters to me a lot, because I actually think that if the Obama administration
was investigating the Trump campaign, that is something we have not seen before.
That is historic.
And I want to know why.
If that did happen, I want to know why it happened.
And I think there's some explaining to do to the American voter.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And if it didn't happen, then the question goes to, why did President Trump
make this allegation?
MATT SCHLAPP: Of course.
I think it's fair to say that people want to hear from the FBI.
But this might shock of two of you.
There's a lot of us who have lost a little confidence in Jim Comey over the years.
We probably want to hear from more people than just Jim Comey.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And that calls to mind, Karine, there is this wider investigation going on
into connections that Matt alluded to a moment ago between the Trump campaign and Russian
officials.
We don't know where that stands.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Right, and we need to have a full, thorough investigation on that.
Clearly, there is circumstantial evidence that shows the Trump organization has had
some sort of contact with Russia, and we really need to get to the bottom of it.
Yes, there should be a special prosecutor, but I also think there should be an independent,
bipartisan commission to really get down to the bottom of it, so we know that that commission
has jurisdiction, that they could have subpoena power, and also that it's public, so that
we know, the American people know what's going on.
JUDY WOODRUFF: But right now, you have got all these investigations under way.
MATT SCHLAPP: Step by step.
We haven't even filled the Senate-confirmed positions at the Department of Justice.
Both the House committees with jurisdiction need to do a full investigation, and then
we can draw conclusions of what needs to do done after that.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: I think we could do all three.
I don't think we have to do one or the other.
(CROSSTALK)
MATT SCHLAPP: Don't we just want the answers?
What does it matter what way you get the answers?
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Well, I think why not give it to the public?
Why not show the public what's going on?
JUDY WOODRUFF: Let me -- I want to turn you both to something else that we're watching
very closely, and that is health care repeal and replace, the American Health Care Act.
Matt, we are now seeing more and more Republicans...
MATT SCHLAPP: Right.
JUDY WOODRUFF: ... saying they can't support the Republican leadership bill which the White
House signed on to.
Where is this headed?
MATT SCHLAPP: What they decided to do was just roll this out and jam it through.
And in 21st century American politics, that is a very difficult path to take.
They would be smarter to bring people in.
Nothing, it seems, Judy, gets people more passionate than the idea of their health care
and their very life, and they want to make sure we get it right.
And I think jamming through a piece of legislation was the wrong way to start.
They're now bringing people in.
The president is bringing people in.
I think that's going to give it a better chance of passage, but it's not there yet.
JUDY WOODRUFF: If this is truly in trouble, Karine, where do you see this going next?
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Well, what they have presented, the Republicans, with Trumpcare, is, it seems
to be a plan that's more of the survival of the fittest.
And like you were saying, alluding to, health care is incredibly personal.
And the Republicans had seven years, seven years to come up with something that would
work for everyone.
And they jammed this thing through, as you mentioned.
They introduced it on March 7.
They want to have a vote on it on April 7.
And of course Republicans are very upset about it, because this is an assault on seniors.
You have costs going up, premiums going up for people who really need it, as they're
getting older.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, if this version doesn't work, we're going to look at some changes
coming.
MATT SCHLAPP: If Republicans don't pass a replacement for Obamacare this year, they
are going to be in a world of hurt.
Now, maybe I could expand it and say by the midterm election.
But there has to be a plan that's put on place and that passes, so they have to figure out
a way to go forward.
I think they started off in the wrong way.
But I think much of what's included in this plan does represent what needs to be done
to fix the incredible mess Obamacare left us in.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Very quick.
Two pages of Donald Trump's, President Trump's tax returns from the year 2005.
He paid a quarter of his income in taxes.
How much have we really learned here?
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: I think it brings up more questions than answers.
It's unfortunate that we have to play this cat-and-mouse game just to get the president's
tax returns.
We still don't know, who does he do business with?
Who does he owe money to?
We know he's in debt.
Which foreign banks does he owe money to?
And I think all of these things are important to know, because he's putting forth foreign
policy and domestic policy, and we just don't have those answers yet.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Matt.
MATT SCHLAPP: He has complied with the law.
He had to give thorough financial disclosure documents to the FEC.
Those are all public documents.
People can go on right now online and get all those documents.
I think what we learned on this rather ridiculous television show the other day with this leaked
tax return is that this ridiculous concept that he didn't pay taxes for the last 10 or
20 years was wrong, and, actually, when you look at this year, he paid a higher percentage
of his taxes -- or his tax rate was higher than President Obama, than Bernie Sanders,
than Mitt Romney, than a lot of the people who have been criticizing him.
JUDY WOODRUFF: We are going to have to leave it there, obviously a lot more to talk about.
Matt Schlapp, Karine Jean-Pierre, thank you both.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Thanks, Judy.
MATT SCHLAPP: Great to be with you.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Thank you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Stay with us.
Coming up on the "NewsHour": what's behind the Fed's interest rate hike?; computers and
brain implants that restore the ability to communicate; and the artistic process of putting
a face to fossils.
But first: Citizens of Turkey vote next month in a referendum that could grant President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan controversial new powers.
Erdogan's push led to a showdown this week with Dutch leaders who had denied permission
to two of Turkey's government ministers to rally support among expatriate Turks who live
in Holland.
And this comes amid an ongoing purge of tens of thousands of Turkey's own government employees,
as special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports from Istanbul.
MALCOLM BRABANT: "We won't shut up, we're not afraid, we will not obey," they chant.
Turkey's new outcasts are daring to protest, despite being labeled as enemies of the state
in the great purge following last July's failed coup attempt.
Tens of thousands of teachers, academics, judges, police officers and civil servants
have been dismissed from their jobs and stripped of their passports.
Derya Keskin, an assistant university professor, was purged last September after she signed
a petition calling for peace in Turkey.
DERYA KESKIN, University Professor: We can make a comparison between the McCarthy era
and Turkey right now.
But this is, I think, worse.
There are similarities, I'm sure, but this is worse.
It's just a pretext to get rid of all lefty people, all Democrats, even liberals.
It is expanding to liberals, actually.
MALCOLM BRABANT: The blanket allegation made by the government is that the purged are followers
of this man, Fethullah Gulen.
A supposedly moderate Muslim preacher, Gulen is a former ally of President Erdogan who
runs Islamist schools and has a fervent following.
The government alleges he runs a terrorist organization called FETO.
It accuses him of orchestrating the coup attempt and is demanding that the U.S. extradites
him from exile in Pennsylvania.
Are you a Gulenist?
Are you a terrorist?
DERYA KESKIN: I'm not a Gulenist.
I'm not a terrorist.
I'm against all kinds of violence.
I condemn every kind of violence.
That's why I signed the peace petition.
AHMET KASIM HAN, Political Scientist: During the McCarthy era and during the Stalin era,
the historical circumstances were totally different.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Political scientist Ahmet Kasim Han says Turks traditionally favor stability
over liberty, and suggests there is some merit in the government's depiction of Fethullah
Gulen as a dark force trying to destabilize Turkey.
AHMET KASIM HAN: In Turkey, there is an issue which is very hard for the Western mind to
grasp.
Turkey has really gone through a very aberrant coup attempt, which has unfolded a series
of events that has even made the most informed Turk surprised to the level of infiltration
of the Gulenist movement to the state.
MALCOLM BRABANT: If politics is a source of division in Turkey, then so is religion.
Almost all of the roughly 80 million Turks are Muslims.
But opinion polls suggest around half the population opposes the growing Islamization
of the country under President Erdogan.
Since 2002, when he became the dominant figure in Turkish politics, the state has built an
estimated 17,000 mosques.
This small, traditional mosque will soon be dwarfed by minarets of a new Islamic landmark
slated for Taksim Square in the secular heart of Istanbul.
Hasan Kara is the chief imam of Sultanahmet, Istanbul's blue mosque.
HASAN KARA, Chief Imam, Sultanahmet (through translator): Because Recep Tayyip Erdogan
is a Muslim, a man of character and brave who speaks out fearlessly, the public have
taken to him as a man of the people and view him as an idol and role model.
MALCOLM BRABANT: What worries tens of millions of Turks is that the vision of Kemal Ataturk,
the father of the modern nation, is more seriously under threat than ever before.
Ataturk revolutionized Turkey in the 1920s by realigning it away from the Eastern world
towards the West, and enshrining secularism in the Constitution.
Ataturk's legacy was at the heart of this campaign meeting to fight against the growing
trend in Turkish education whereby state schools are transformed into overtly religious institutions,
and creationism is promoted over evolution.
Aysel Celikel heads the Society for the Promotion of Contemporary Life.
AYSEL CELIKEL, Society for the Promotion of Contemporary Life (through translator): This
situation is, of course, worrying us, because the political powers have said they want to
raise a religious generation.
With all these prayer rooms and small mosques opening up at schools with the kind of education
they're offering, they are really pumping this idea of a religious generation.
MALCOLM BRABANT: This is Fatih, a traditionally conservative district of Istanbul, where the
majority of women cover their heads.
We have come to meet Ihsan Eliacik, a renowned Muslim theologian and writer.
He worries that the Turkish leader might not be able to control more radical Islamists
within the country.
He's concerned about homegrown extremists, as well as Islamic State militants, who, earlier
in the Syria conflict, enjoyed fairly free movement in Turkey.
IHSAN ELIACIK, Muslim Theologian (through translator): There might be a danger of conflict,
because, with the ruling party, Islamic extremists became too powerful.
The ruling party unwittingly helped them flourish.
And especially because of the Syrian conflict, they grew stronger.
They got ahold of weapons and they got organized.
They thrived.
So it will take time to eliminate them and to neutralize them.
MALCOLM BRABANT: President Erdogan inspires adulation and disdain in fairly equal measure.
He argues that changing the constitution will help make government more efficient.
RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, Turkish President (through translator): Turkey has come to a crossroads
on changing the system of government.
The process has started.
MALCOLM BRABANT: President Erdogan's popularity and policies are about to be put to the test
in a referendum to decide whether Turkey should have a United States-style presidency, but
without the checks and balances.
If Erdogan wins, he will have much more power, he will be able to get rid of the prime minister,
and the role of Parliament will be much reduced.
His opponents fear that victory will mean that an already authoritarian leader will
become a fully fledged dictator.
The changes could enable Erdogan to stay in office until 2029.
This pro-government rally was addressed by the prime minister, who was effectively campaigning
for the president to make him redundant.
BINALI YILDIRIM, Turkish Prime Minister (through translator): These reforms are a historic
opportunity for our country.
With a strong presidency, military authority, military coups and elite groups will be history.
Nobody will try to interfere in the business of people and politicians elected by people.
WOMAN (through translator): I am here for the unity of our country and for sake of our
youth's future.
MALCOLM BRABANT: "We don't want to be in chains.
We won't allow anyone to lord over us," cry the no campaigners.
President Erdogan's opponents fear that his victory on April the 16th will accelerate
Turkey towards becoming a theocracy, or religious state, like Iran.
That's why Turkey's NATO partners will be watching this historic vote with keen interest.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Malcolm Brabant in Istanbul.
JUDY WOODRUFF: After years of holding interest rates at near zero level, the Federal Reserve
has entered a new phase, where short-term rates may be rising with greater regularity,
as they did again today.
Jeffrey Brown looks at how the Fed has changed its outlook for the economy and the path ahead
for policy-makers.
JEFFREY BROWN: In the past, Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen has expressed concerns
about the strength of the recovery.
But, today, she told reporters, "We have confidence in the robustness of the economy and its resilience
to shocks."
David Wessel joins me now for some Fed tea reading.
He's with the Brookings Institution and a contributing correspondent to The Wall Street
Journal.
David, a largely positive message, right, that sustainable growth continues and can
continue.
What is the Fed seeing?
DAVID WESSEL, The Wall Street Journal: Well, the Fed is seeing that unemployment has come
down to the level that they consider full employment.
They seem to have a great deal of confidence that the economy has finally got some momentum.
Janet Yellen cited the confidence of the business community and consumers that is showing up
in surveys.
So, I -- and she was very, very upbeat, I think.
JEFFREY BROWN: Slightly higher inflation, but at a reasonable level, right?
So, they're not worried about overheating this point.
DAVID WESSEL: They're finally getting to their goals of getting inflation close to 2 percent,
getting unemployment down.
She noted that the labor force participation rate, the fraction of people who are working
or looking for work seems to be going up a little bit, even though we have an aging population.
So, she seemed to be very happy with the way the economy is going.
JEFFREY BROWN: But clearly signaling that this is the trend, right, that there will
be more hikes to come?
DAVID WESSEL: This is the trend, but gradual.
There was a lot of talk about gradual.
If you look at the forecast that the members of the Fed's policy-making committee said,
they're basically seeing a couple of interest rate increases this year.
That would still get us to, like, maybe 1.5 percent by the beginning of next year, still
very, very low.
JEFFREY BROWN: So, you put together today and this kind of trend, what impact on consumers?
DAVID WESSEL: Well, this will mean that people are going to pay more to borrow.
Mortgage rates have already gone up.
They're around 4.2 percent for a 30-year mortgage.
They were below 4 percent just a few months ago.
People will see -- who borrow on their credit cards will see more.
And, eventually, although it always takes a long time, people who have money in the
banks, savings accounts, certificates of deposit, will see those rates start to creep up.
JEFFREY BROWN: Now, there has been a lot of discussion in recent weeks, especially as
the Fed rates -- raises the rates, vs. this -- with a steady growth in mind -- vs. the
president, who talks about a real push forward, right?
DAVID WESSEL: Right.
JEFFREY BROWN: And really getting the economy going.
DAVID WESSEL: I think what the Fed fears is that, if Donald Trump gets big tax cuts and
big spending increases that take effect right now, when the economy is close to full employment,
they will have to raise rates more rapidly.
But Janet Yellen made clear that they're raising rates now without much anticipation of a big
fiscal move.
If they get one, I suspect they will raise rates more rapidly.
She did, of course, make the point that if Congress and the president could agree on
things that get the long-term growth rate up, the rate of productivity growth or bringing
more people into the work force, that's something that the Fed would applaud.
JEFFREY BROWN: We heard her talk -- she was asked a little bit about relations with the
new administration.
It's always a little delicate dance a bit, right?
DAVID WESSEL: Yes.
I think she was prepared for the question.
Right?
JEFFREY BROWN: Yes, clearly.
DAVID WESSEL: She said wonderful things about the treasury secretary.
She said she had met Donald Trump.
I think her attitude is going to be, we have an independent Central Bank for a reason.
I'm going to do what I think is right.
And I suspect that people at the Fed realize that, at some point, they're likely to be
the target of an angry Donald Trump tweet when he thinks they're raising rates too fast.
JEFFREY BROWN: And just very quickly, in the meantime, the stock market just keeps going
up, even with the rates going up.
DAVID WESSEL: Right.
JEFFREY BROWN: They don't seem to matter.
DAVID WESSEL: The stock market was relieved that the Fed didn't sound tougher today, and
the stock market seems to figure that everything they like about Donald Trump will come true,
and everything they're afraid of about Donald Trump will not come true.
JEFFREY BROWN: David Wessel, thank you, as always.
DAVID WESSEL: You're welcome.
JUDY WOODRUFF: For decades, researchers have worked to create a better and more direct
connection between a human brain and a computer to improve the lives of people who are paralyzed
or have severe limb weakness from diseases like ALS.
Those advances have been notable, but now the work is yielding groundbreaking results.
Special correspondent Cat Wise has the story.
It's part of our Breakthroughs reporting and for our weekly segment about the Leading Edge
of science and technology.
CAT WISE: Dennis Degray is a 64-year-old quadriplegic who is writing a sentence on the computer
screen in front of him using only his brain.
A former volunteer firefighter, Degray had a bad fall 10 years ago which severed his
spinal cord.
As part of an early stage clinical research study led by Stanford University, Degray and
two other volunteer participants with ALS had small sensors implanted in their brains
in an area called the motor cortex, which controls movement.
Even though Degray can no longer physically move his arms, the neurons in that part of
his brain, and in the brains of many other paralyzed individuals, remain active.
The sensors in his brain listen in to those neurons, which emit different electrical signals
depending on the direction Degray thinks about moving his hand.
DENNIS DEGRAY, Clinical Research Participant: To move the pointer around, I imagine a ball
lying on a table and with my hand lying on the ball.
And as I roll the ball forward, the pointer goes up, and as I roll the ball back toward
me, the pointer goes down, and, of course, left and right correspondingly.
CAT WISE: The neural signals are transmitted to the computer through two devices that screw
into small pieces of equipment called pedestals protruding from Degray's scalp.
In the computer, sophisticated algorithms turn the movements in his mind into cursor
movements on the screen.
DENNIS DEGRAY: It's very liberating.
To be able to utilize a portion of my body that has not worked to actually cause and
effect is great fun, just great fun.
DR.
JAIMIE HENDERSON, Stanford University: If you had asked me five years ago if I thought
I would see these types of systems becoming available any time within my lifetime, I would
have been pretty skeptical.
But I would say now that, within the next 10 years or so, we will probably begin to
see systems that can restore function to people with paralysis.
CAT WISE: Dr. Jaimie Henderson is a professor of neurosurgery at Stanford University.
He implanted the sensors in Degray's brain, and he is one of the leaders of a scientific
team from several universities around the country working on the technology called BrainGate.
DR.
JAIMIE HENDERSON: The principles by which we're reading out brain signals are well-established.
The research advance is using the computer algorithms to figure out what the brain is
doing, an operating system that can read out signals on millisecond time scales and feed
that back to the user, so that they can be in very tight feedback loop with the machine
and use it more efficiently.
CAT WISE: That improved efficiency in the BrainGate operating system, which has been
in development for more than a decade, is at the heart of a new research paper Dr. Henderson
and his colleagues released.
The study, which was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, also a "NewsHour"
funder, highlighted the typing results of Degray and the two others in the study.
DR.
JAIMIE HENDERSON: Our participants in this study were able to type at anywhere between
20 to up to almost 40 correct characters per minute, which translates to somewhere between
four and eight words per minute, which is the fastest typing now demonstrated in people
with paralysis by a factor of anywhere from two to four.
This allows you to type at speeds that are now approaching what you can use on a cell
phone.
CAT WISE: Surveys of those with paralysis show that speed of communication is important
to them.
That's one of the frustrations with current systems that track eye and face movements.
One of the goals of the research now is evaluate the safety of brain-computer interfaces, but
there are still a lot of questions and concerns about connecting brains to computers.
It's a debate the Stanford team embraces.
KRISHNA SHENOY, Stanford University: Over the past few decades, we have become increasingly
comfortable with having various devices implanted in our bodies.
CAT WISE: Study co-author Krishna Shenoy says his broader research with neural prosthetics
shows people are comfortable with much more now than just knee replacements, for example,
electrodes to control Parkinson's tremors.
KRISHNA SHENOY: Fifteen years ago, society started to become comfortable with deep brain
stimulators.
When you turn the system on, the tremor essentially stops.
It's like magic.
Tens of thousands of people are walking around every day with these electronic systems in
their brains.
So, the question is, is there something sacrosanct about the brain, that we shouldn't go there?
This is extremely important to be guided by bioethics, neuroethics.
And this is a case where we can do tremendous good if this is developed and deployed correctly.
CAT WISE: Dennis Degray says that, while he's able to utilize a range of communication systems,
he's participating in the trial to help advance a technology that may benefit those who don't
have as many options.
DENNIS DEGRAY: What we're performing here is basic science.
We're building a foundation upon which the roboticists, the communicators, the mechanical
engineers, medical prosthetic device manufacturers, all of them will be able to utilize the controls
that we are learning about at this point.
DR.
JAIMIE HENDERSON: We have, I think, made slow, but steady progress, and are getting to the
point where we can now really imagine systems that can be fully implanted, wireless, able
to be used 24 hours a day without calibration.
I think we're still a ways away from that, but we're getting closer.
CAT WISE: The Stanford research team hopes to enroll another trial participant in the
next year or two.
And they are now exploring ways to connect people and their brains to new devices.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Cat Wise in Palo Alto, California.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Fascinating.
And we will be back shortly with a look at an artist who brings dinosaur fossils to life.
But, first, take a moment to hear from your local PBS station.
It's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air.
(BREAK)
JUDY WOODRUFF: Now to our "NewsHour" Shares, something that caught our eye that might be
of interest to you, too.
Nothing captures the imaginations of children and adults alike quite like dinosaurs.
But, for one artist, a childhood love of prehistoric creatures inspired a unique, and prolific,
career.
Special correspondent David Biello explains.
DAVID BIELLO: Julius Csotonyi is a paleoartist.
His job is using his artistic skills to bring fossilized bones back to life.
JULIUS CSOTONYI, Paleoartist: We can't go out there and photograph it anymore.
So, I think that this is why paleoart is crucial to communicating certain aspects of the science.
DAVID BIELLO: Csotonyi's skills are highly sought after by paleontologists such as Michael
Ryan, the curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
MICHAEL RYAN, Cleveland Museum of Natural History: It takes our research one step further
than we could do it on our own.
DAVID BIELLO: Ryan's specialty is horned dinosaurs, known as Ceratopsians, of which Triceratops
is the most famous example.
When Ryan discovers uncovers a new Ceratopsian, he often calls on Csotonyi to bring it back
to life.
MICHAEL RYAN: Julius is one of the best of the current crop of new dinosaur artists.
He did a beautiful piece when we named a new horned dinosaur from Southern Alberta called
Xenoceratops.
DAVID BIELLO: When a new dinosaur is identified, Csotonyi and Ryan discuss its major anatomical
features and what its living environment may have been.
Then Csotonyi gets to work.
JULIUS CSOTONYI: I mostly start at the head.
Over several rounds of revision and review, we come to a rough sketch that is agreeable
to everybody, and then I start to add the color layers to it.
DAVID BIELLO: The final piece shows what a dinosaur like Xenoceratops might have looked
like in real life.
MICHAEL RYAN: We're trying to get our research out to the public.
We can do that by writing scientific papers.
We can put the
bones
that make up those fossils on display in museums.
But one of -- the best way to get images out of what these things look like is to work
with artists.
People visually cue off a nice colorful painting of a dinosaur.
DAVID BIELLO: Every year, millions of people see Csotonyi's work in books, in magazines,
and at more than 20 museums around the world.
JULIUS CSOTONYI: I would be doing it in my free time anyway, even if it wasn't a job.
I do my best at visualizing what these looked like when they were actually alive and to
try to take people through this world that is no longer accessible to us.
DAVID BIELLO: For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm David Biello in Cleveland, Ohio.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Some late-breaking news out of Hawaii tonight.
A federal judge there has granted a temporary restraining order blocking President Trump's
revised travel ban from taking effect nationwide.
The ban was intended to take effect at midnight.
It temporarily barred travelers from six Muslim-majority countries and most refugees from entering
the U.S.
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 we will see you soon.
For more infomation >> Find foreign friends with Airtripp. - Duration: 3:39. 
For more infomation >> News Conference: N.C. Central vs. UC Davis Postgame - Duration: 31:03. 
For more infomation >> News Conference: UC Davis First Four Postgame - Duration: 11:30. 
For more infomation >> Ghost in the Shell
For more infomation >> Fiat 500 0.9 TWINAIR 500S NAVI, PDC, AIRCO - Duration: 0:54. 
For more infomation >> Reto! Maquillaje con los ojos cerrados!! - Duration: 2:48. 
For more infomation >> BMW 4 Serie Coupé 420dA Coupé High Executive M-Sportpakket - Duration: 1:01. 
For more infomation >> BMW 5 Serie 520dA M-Sport Edition Xenon, Schuif-/ kanteldak, LCD-display, El.wegklapbare trekhaak - Duration: 0:57. 
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét