Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And friends of the newshour. 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 januarys jobs report is raising new questions about the strength of the american economy. The Labor Department reported today that employers added 113,000 workers, fewer than expected. At the same time, the Unemployment Rate actually fell again, by a tenth of a point, so its now 6. 6 percent. Paul solman sorts out the numbers for us, right after the news summary. Woodruff wall street apparently saw some bright spots in the employment data. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 165 points to close at 15,794. The nasdaq rose more than 68 points to close above 4,125. For the week, both the dow and the nasdaq gained a fraction of a percent. Woodruff president obama signed a new, fiveyear farm bill into law today. It costs 956 billion, keeps most crop subsidies intact, but cuts 800 million a year from food stamps, a reduction of about 1 . The signing ceremony took place at Michigan State university in east lansing. The president acknowledged not everyones happy with the outcome. It doesnt include everything that id like to see and i know leaders on both sides of the aisle feel the same way, but its a good sign the democrats and republicans in congress were able to come through with this bill, break the cycle of short sighted, crisisdriven partisan decisionmaking and actually get this stuff done. Woodruff many republicans had pushed for steeper cuts to both crop subsidies and food stamps. The governor of montana appointed his lieutenant governor, john walsh, to the u. S. Senate today. Walsh will take the seat currently held by fellow democrat max baucus, whos resigning to become the ambassador to china. The new senator takes office on tuesday. Hes already announced hell run for a full term this fall. The National Security agencys sweep of americans phone records is less extensive than first supposed. The Washington Post and the wall street journal reported today the n. S. A. Now collects less than 30 of all calling data. Thats down sharply since 2006, due to surging cell phone use. The reports say the n. S. A will seek Court Approval to sweep up more cell phone records. In syria, the assad regime began evacuating civilians from rebelheld portions of a besieged city. State t. V. Said some 200 people were leaving homs, as a threeday ceasefire begins. The opposition says 2,500 civilians are trapped there. The state Department Said its hoping for the best, but taking the news with a grain of salt. Weve seen the reports overnight and its a very real possibility that once the evacuations and humanitarian assistance deliveries are complete, the regime could bombard the old city of homs as there has been a trend in the past. We dont know thats going to happen, we hope thats not going to happen, but we have those concerns. Woodruff the Syrian Government also announced it will attend a second round of peace talks in geneva next week. Well look more closely at both developments later in the program. Israel has sharply accelerated its destruction of palestinian properties. 25 relief organizations said today demolitions in the occupied west bank and East Jerusalem shot up nearly 50 in the last half of 2013. Thats compared to the same period the year before. It also coincides with the renewal of peace talks. A mass exodus of muslims began today in the Central African republic. Thousands fled the capital city of bangui, in a convoy of some 500 cars and trucks. They left under the protection of troops from neighboring chad, as majority christians lined the roads to cheer their exit. The christians blame muslim rebels for atrocities after they overthrew the countrys president last year. In bosnia, violent Anti Government protests are escalating. The trouble today was some of the worst since the bosnian war in the 1990s. We have a report, narrated by lindsey hilsum, of independent Television News. Reporter the local government building in tuzla was the first to be set ablaze. The crowd has been protesting here for three days now, angry about unemployment, the closure of a local factory and what they see as the failure of bosnias politicians. Some protestors tried to take over the building, but were forced out by the flames. They marched past the government building in banja luka shouting thieves, thieves, blaming the government for listening to the International Monetary fund not the people. Were borrowing money from international lenders, but our economy doesnt function. Its obvious to everyone in bosnia and herzegovina that Large Companies are being destroyed, that privatization was done disastrously and that corruption and crime are widespread. Reporter in zenica youths threw stones at government buildings, smashing the windows, and destroying the credibility of the protests in the eyes of many. Some protestors concealed their identities. Reporter a mob of youths attacked the local government offices in mostar, they brought out Office Furniture to destroy and later they went onto the municipal library. Its not clear if these attacks are orchestrated, theyre certainly not peaceful protests. In sarajevo they set the presidency ablaze, some local administrations resigned today, general elections are due in november but these bosnians clearly have little faith in democracy to bring about change, in a country that never achieved peace, just the absence of war. Woodruff the 2014 Winter Olympics officially opened this evening in sochi, russia. The event was filled with pageantry and the traditional parade of athletes. There was one notable hitch, when an illuminated snowflake failed to unfurl into the last of the five olympic rings. Meanwhile, turkish officials announced a man tried to force a turkish airliner to fly to sochi, claiming there was a bomb on board. The plane landed in istanbul, anyway, and the suspect was subdued. Woodruff baseball star Alex Rodriguez is ending his legal fight to overturn a recordsetting suspension for doping. His federal lawsuits against major league baseball, the commissioner and the Players Union were withdrawn today. The new york yankees third baseman went to court after an arbitrator ruled hell have to sit out the entire 2014 season woodruff archaeologists in britain have found the earliest tracks of human ancestors outside africa, literally. They announced today the discovery of footprints left in ancient mud between 800,000 and one million years ago. They were preserved in layers of silt and sand before the tide exposed them last year, at happisburgh, in eastern england. These people were walking along the side of the river, it was actually the river thames, probably foraging for food. And its a mixed group of people, adults and children, and as well as the stone tools we already had this gives us a physical direct connection with a group of people who were there really at the beginning of the occupation of britain. Woodruff the creatures who left the footprints may be related to a species who died out about 800,000 years ago. A nato dog that disappeared in afghanistan last december has reappeared, in a video with taliban fighters. The militants posted the video online today and said they captured the dog during a battle. It shows the animal wearing a vest and being held on a leash by armed men. A taliban spokesman said the dog is unhurt, and being well treated. Still to come on the newshour signs both good and bad from the january jobs report; outrage over the u. S. approach to the unrest in ukraine; women, children and elders evacuated a wartorn syrian city; scientists search for a cure to a. I. D. S. ; plus, shields and brooks on the weeks news. Woodruff now, sorting through the data of the january jobs report and what it tells us about the state of the American Labor market. Newshour economics correspondent paul soloman spent this day trying to unpack both the positives, and the negatives. Its part of his ongoing reporting making sense of financial news. Reporter for a second straight month, job growth failed to live up to economists expects. Just 113,000 jobs were added last month, a dismal 75,000 in december. For some analysis, we spoke to an eminent economist at the brookings institution. No, not this guy. He just happened to be walking through our shot. This guy, senior fellow justin wolfers. His take on todays numbers the Employment Situation hasnt gotten worse. Whatever you thought yesterday is pretty much what you should feel today. My view is the u. S. Economy has been creating 150200,000 jobs a month every month for the past three years. The headlines of todays report make it look like that didnt happen, but you get into the details, and it looks like actually, thats what the economy has kept on doing. Reporter what do you mean, 113,000 jobs is the number from the establishment survey. There are two surveys. Survey a bunch of firms. They told us they created 113,000 jobs last month. We also surveyed households and if you look at that job it says we created 616,000 jobs, a bonanza. A lot on weight on a moderately disappointing number, on average, things are probably okay. Reporter doesnt this call into question the legitimacy of the monthly jobs data . One survey, 600,000 more people are working. The other survey supposedly the more reliable barely 100,000 more. This is just the nature of statistics. They are noisy. Our job as economists is to look through the data and try to figure out the signal. So we shouldnt go crazy on any single number. A lot of people will say the phone survey says only 113,000 jobs are created the economy is falling apart. This is a noisy number. Noise meaning . As much as they said theyre only 90 sure. The Payroll Survey tells us weve been creating 154,000 jobs a month. Thats reasonably healthy, not great, but the recovery continues. Reporter or continues, to look at the glass half empty, payroll. Last year, firms added an average of 194,000 jobs a month. Slowing hiring this year could be a sign of a floundering economy. And, yes, while todays drop in the Unemployment Rate would seem to be a positive, the story for months now has been that the rate has dropped because so many people have given up the job hunt. But thats not the story of the falling Unemployment Rate this time around. It fell this month because a lot of people got jobs, not because theyre pull out of labor force. Were seeing unemployment at 6. 6 . The good news part of that is its fall, and its falling quite rapidly. Well over a percentage point the past year. The bad news lets not confuse checks with levels. The bad news is 6. 6 of the labor force is ill unemployed. Thats historically high, a lot of households suffering, theres a lot we can do to do better. Reporter there are still nearly four million longterm unemployed whose job search has lasted 27 weeks or more. For them this weeks failure in the senate to extend emergency Unemployment Insurance offers little solace. Woodruff for a more inclusive picture of un and underemployment, paul has devised his solomon scale, thats on the making sense page. Woodruff now, to the diplomatic dustup in ukraine thats generated charges and countercharges between the u. S. And russia. It centers on a phone conversation involving two high level u. S. Diplomats. Newshour chief Foreign Affairs correspondent Margaret Warner begins our coverage. I am obviously not going to comment on private diplomatic conversations, other than to say it was pretty impressive trade craft, the audio was extremely clear. Reporter assistant secretary of state Victoria Nuland made that arch comment in kiev today, about those who intercepted a phone call of hers. The call, made two weeks ago, was posted to youtube this week, with russian subtitles. Its generated a furor over the u. S. Role in ukraine, where president Viktor Yanukovych and his prorussian government face a popular uprising. In the call, nuland and the u. S. Ambassador to ukraine, geoffrey pyatt, discuss the situation, and the relative merits of opposition leaders whove been invited to join the yanukovych government, including boxer turnedpolitician vitali klitschko. I dont think klitsch should go into the government. I dont think its necessary, i dont think its a good idea. Yeah. I mean, i guess in terms of him not going into the government, just let him stay out and do his political homework and stuff. Reporter the russians , who helped spread audio recording, say it proves the u. S. Is crudely interfering in ukraine. Kremlin advisor Sergei Glazyev accused washington of funding and arming the opposition. Nuland today rejected that claim out of hand. With regard to mr. Glazyevs statements complete fantasy, he could be a Science Fiction writer, you know, but its quite inventive, its quite inventive. The United States is absolutely transparent about policy is here in ukraine. Reporter american officials also charged the leaked call was a new low in tradecraft, diplomatic speak for espionage. State Department Spokeswoman jen psaki left little doubt today who the u. S. Believes was behind it. The russians were the first to tweet about this particular call. Only a few countries have the level of capability needed, ill let you use your own judgment. Reporter the nuland phone call also revealed tensions with the European Union over to how to manage the situation. At one point, nuland and pyatt agree its best for the united nations, and not the e. U. , to endorse a new government in ukraine. And nuland uses an obscenity to make the point. That would be great, i think, to help glue this thing and to have the u. N. Help glue it and, you know, bleep the e. U. Reporter that earned a rebuke today from a spokeswoman for german chancellor angela merkel. I would like to say that the chancellor finds these remarks totally unacceptable and wants the European Union will continue their efforts with great intensity to calm down the situation in ukraine. Reporter unrest in ukraine dates back to november, with protests after president yanukovych walked away from a trade pact with the e. U. Instead, he embraced a 15 billion loan package from russian president vladmir putin. The streets calmed over over christmas, but reignited in january, after passage of an antiprotest law. The law has been repealed, but protesters still occupying maidan square and government buildings in central kiev. Woodruff and margaret joins me now. Margaret, what is the real story here . Judy, i think for context there are two big things going on. You have this real postcold war struggle for influence between the u. S. And the west and russia over this last major soviet satellite in this case a republic ukraine, which is still see sawing between alining with the west or sort of reknitting its ties with russia, joining this sphere of influence that putin is trying to rebuild. The second important context point is that the u. S. And e. U. Have actually been working pretty closely together it try to calm the situation in kiev, as you can see from those videos. Theyre getting more violent. I talked to nuland this morning from kiev, and she said its very different than last december, and in fact she said, weve got extremists in both camps. There are people in government who want to impose martial law and there are people in the opposition who want to throw molotov cocktails. You did talk to her. What is she taig about all this . I i was surprised she agreed to talk to me. She and the state department are trying to put a good face on this. She said what she said in the briefing. Were very transparent. Theres nothing in the call this we havent been open, that were trying to negotiate a political way out of this horrible situation. But they also, the embassy and i think we have a photo of this. Its nuland and pyatt with three members of the opposition looking at an ipad laughing about it together. These three opposition figures are very dirve here. The danger is, of course, as the ipad as the Youtube Video posted, that this opposition will be known as the puppets of the west in midon square. Woodruff how was the call interpreted. One assumes the diplomats are using secure telephones . You would think so. I dont have all the details but this occurred two weeks ago saturday night, on the 25th. And it was very late in dief. The implication i get is that perhaps the ambassador was not on a secure phone, he was not at the embassy, and the larger question here is how secure are these duplomats foaps. The state department was pressed on this today. They all use the blackberrys encrypted for data, but not for voice. That, of course, raised the but she said no ones supposed to talk about classified information on one of these cell phones. Well, where do you draw the line . Anden this the question was raised, what about secretary of state kerry . Does he not have encrypted voice . And she wouldnt go there. Woodruff does the u. S. Believe russia was behind this . They say they tonight have absolute proof but really either russia or the russiantrained Ukraine Security services. They had the opportunity, the capability, and who else has the motive . Woodruff well, you know, you mentioned nuland and salty language. Is that just the way they talk all the time to each other . Well, theres some joke about how she spent apparently its true eight months on a Russian Fishing trawler when she was 22 years old, and thats how she learned all these curse words. The spokeswoman said that yesterday. Underneath it all, though the u. S. And the u