Wings. Woodruff and its friday mark shields and david brooks are here to analyze the weeks news. Those are just some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by charles schwab, proud supporter of the pbs newshour. And by bnsf railway. 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 president obama formally nominated his choice today to be the next u. S. Secretary of health and Human Services. And he praised the woman whos 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 sendoff 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. I am as frustrated and angry as anyone with the flawed launch of healthcare. Gov, so let me say directly to these americans you deserve better. I apologize. Woodruff still, her tenure ended on a high note as she announced yesterday that at least 7. 5 million americans have now enrolled in the insurance exchanges. Shes got bumps. Ive got bumps, bruises. But under kathleens leadership, her team at h. H. S. Turned the corner, got it fixed, got the job done, and the final score speaks for itself. Woodruff sebelius herself suggested the opportunity to implement National Health reform has been worth it. This is the most meaningful work ive ever been a part of. In fact, its been the cause of my life. I knew it wouldnt be easy. There is a reason that no earlier president was successful in passing health reform, despite decades of attempts. Woodruff to replace sebelius, the president tapped Sylvia Mathews burwell, head of the office of management and budget. The Senate Unanimously confirmed her for that job last year, but Republican Opposition to the Health Care Law could mean a tougher time this goround. Senate minority leader mitch the white house confirmed today that irans new ambassador to the United Nations in new york will not be allowed to enter the United States. A spokesman said the envoy was refused a visa because he was involved in seizing the u. S. Embassy in tehran in 1979. Denying visas to u. N. Diplomats is rare, and iran said the decision was regrettable. Australias Prime Minister has raised new hopes that search teams are closer to finding what remains of Malaysia Airlines flight 370. Visiting china, tony abbott said the signals detected underwater are helping make their search area even more targeted. We have very much narrowed down the search area. Were now getting to the stage where the signal, from what we are very confident is the black boxes starting to fade, and we are hoping to get as much information as we can before the signal finally expires. Woodruff air crews dropped more sonar buoys today, but did not pick up any new pings. Planes also kept up the visual search for debris on the surface of the indian ocean. Investigators in Northern California are searching for answers after a fiery truckbus collision killed ten people yesterday. Many were High School Students on a trip to visit a college. Explosions could be seen from miles away after a truck veered across a median and slammed into the bus. Survivors escaped by breaking through windows. Some were in Critical Condition today. Protesters in Eastern Ukraine held out in two cities today, as a deadline for surrender came and went, without police action. The prorussian separatists have occupied Government Office buildings in luhansk and donetsk. Theyre flying russian flags and calling for a referendum like crimeas. Ukrainian prime Minster Arseny Yatsenyuk visited donetsk today and said hes open to political changes. translated the main goal is to satisfy people who want to see more powers given to regions. This can be implemented within the framework of constitutional reforms by abolishing local administration and structures, and passing all powers to executive committees which will be elected by the local population. Woodruff yatsenyuk also warned the protesters they may yet be forced out if they refuse to give up. Pope francis took personal responsibility today for catholic priests who sexually molested children, and he begged forgiveness. It was the first such statement by any pontiff over the abuse scandal that now spans two decades. The pope spoke in vatican city to a French Catholic Network of organizations that protect childrens rights. translated i feel compelled to take upon myself all the evil that some priests, quite a few in number, but obviously not so many in relation to the total number of priests, to take upon myself all the evil, and ask forgiveness for the damage they inflicted for the sexual abuse of children. Woodruff last month, the pope named some of the first members to a highlevel commission to advise him on how to prevent sexual abuse in the church. First Lady Michelle obama and the Vice President s wife, jill biden, pledged new help today for some 5. 5 million americans caring for wounded troops and veterans. Former first Lady Rosalynn carter and former senator Elizabeth Dole joined in announcing a series of initiatives. They include expanded counseling, job training and financial assistance. President and mrs. Obama have released their income tax returns for 2013. They paid just over 98,000 in federal taxes on income of about 480,000. Thats an effective tax rate of just over 20 . They donated nearly 60,000 to charity. Still to come on the newshour whats behind the latest stock market drop; humanitarian crises in syria, south sudan, and elsewhere; the bipartisan backlash against common core school standards; mark shields and david brooks on the weeks news; plus, how poetry and song were instrumental to the Civil Rights Movement. Wall street extended its decline today following a major selloff thursday that included the single worst day for the nasdaq since 2011. The techheavy index has dropped more than 8 from the high it reached after the dotcom bust of 2000. Today, the nasdaq fell 54 points to close below 4,000 for only the second time this year. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 143 points to close at 16,026. And the s p was down 17 at 1,815. There are questions now about whether the long market rally may have hit a wall. Hari sreenivasan picks up on that and the specific concerns in tech and biotech. Sreenivasan for that, i am joined by hugh johnson, a market analyst who runs his own Investment Management firm. First off, whats happening with these tech stocks and maybe more specifically the biotech ones . Well, if you take a look at market history, you know, what weve had more recently, as judy suggested, is right on, and that is weve gone a long period you remember 2013, the market up 30 , nobody expected that. Thats a long time for the market to be going up without an adjustment or correction. So i think this all a starts with the basic sort of commonsense perception that this has got to be at least a correction in an ongoing bull market. Now, its a little bit more than that because, you know, if you have stocks going up a straight line, basically, as they did in 2013, theyre going to reach levels that are arguably very overvalued and i think this starts really as a valuation issue. Really, the prices of stocks got the levels that did not reflect underlying fundamentals, reflected unrealistic growth rates and started to sell. When some stocks start to go down, it tends to be sort of contagious. It spreads. It makes everybody worried were going to have a repeat of 2000 or maybe 2008, which is fresh in the minds of just about every investor. So it really starts with valuation. Valuation is really, i think, the number one issue. So were the tech stocks or biotech more volatile in these valuations . Yeah, theyre really more volatile because the expectation, particularly when you look at the internet stocks, new technology, social media stocks, you can also look at the biotech stocks, theyve reached levels that reflected growth rates which are much higher than the wider spred or broader market, reached levels that in my judgment reflected unrealistic prospects for their fundamentals. At the same time that happened, those companies themselves told us the kind of prospects that wall street with expected is not in the cards and that kind of touched it off. It really was those stocks in particular that reached levels. It was not quite so widespread and, as a result of that, you see the climbing primarily technology, primarily biotechnology and a few other sectors, it spread a little but not a lot. The safer sectors where theres not an earnings problem utilities, telecommunications, staples, things like food stocks, household product stocks they didnt have anywhere near the decline. It was the socalled highflyers. Sreenivasan is it a correction or the beginning of a bear . Its probably only a correction. For you the make the case its the start of a bear market, you have to make a t case its a decline in stocks to be accompanied by a recession. I think its hard to make a case that we have a recession in the cards for 20142015. The Consensus Forecast for the economy like 2006, 2007, good growth in 2014, Even Stronger in 2015, when we take a look at things that tell us where things are going, index of leading economic indicators, those indicators tell us they continue to go up, continue to tell us that the economy is going to expand through 2014 and 15. So based on those tea leaves, you have to come to the conclusion we dont know for sure but a conclusion that this is probably a correction and fairly severe one, one thats going to test us in an ongoing bull market, not the start of a bear market that will be accompanied by a recession. Sreenivasan hugh johnson. Thanks so much. My pleasure. Woodruff we turn now to those whose lives have been upended by war. In syria, more than 6. 5 million are displaced inside the country, many without access to aid, and nearly two million more have fled to neighboring countries. In central africa, new humanitarian crises are emerging in south sudan and the Central African republic. All of this as aid groups struggle to deal with harsh and deadly conditions on the ground, as well as a massive shortfall in finances. Earlier this afternoon, i spoke to antonio guterres, the former Prime Minister of portugal and the current United Nations high commissioner for refugees, about some of the most pressing issues his organization faces. U. N. High commissioner for refugees, antonio guterres, thank you for joining us. Pleasure to be here. Tell us what the main challenge in syria is there now. Its a neverending conflict. We have the largest displacement in the world, 6. 5 Million People displaced inside the country, more than 2. 6 million refugees coming into the neighboring countries. And as you can imagine, its not only a terrible tragedy for the syrians, its becoming an enormous threat for the stability of the region and a global threat to peace and security. Reporter and what is your agency able to do right now for these refugees . What were doing is essentially mobilizing our partners, 125 organizations together with the governments, you know, to try to give shelter, protection, water, food and to put as many children in school as possible, but only onethird of the refugee children are at schools, and to provide healthcare to these people, knowing that whatever we do is not enough, knowing that these people have suffered so much that they deserve from the International Community a much stronger solidarity, a much stronger proof that we understand. Woodruff what more do you need now for the Syrian Refugees . We need more support from humanitary organizations but also massive support to the host countries. Countries like lebanon, oneforth of its population. The impact of the economy and society and educational systems is huge. The destabilizing impact in relation to the political life of the country is also huge. So Massive International solidarity is needed, and lets be honest, the world has not been able to provide to these generous host countries the kind of support they deserve and they badly need at the present moment. Woodruff there was a u. N. Resolution passed earlier this year to allow more aid into syria. Has that made a difference . Some, but still far from being able to provide enough assistance to the people that either have been displaced by the conflict, and many of them living outside even worse than the refugees themselves because not only do they not see their needs being addressed, but their insecurity is enormous. We have displaced people inside syria that have moved six, seven times, and the war is coming offcomingafter them. Woodruff syria is bad enough but also crises on the african continent. The Central African republic, a crisis unfolding where you have christian militia forces attacking muslim civilians trying to leave. What is the latest information you have from there . Its exactly that. There was never a religious problem in the south africa republic. It was created by those who tried to manipulate the feelings of the people and the fears of the people, putting christians against muslims and muslims against christians and it is horrible. Today youre witnessing the risk of a religious conflict of the muslims from the western part of the country and the eastern part of the country, a majority muslims, has been apannedded by the state. A terrible humanitarian situation, in a country where the state practically disappeared and is essential to increase security, increasing quickly the number of military police that are there from the African Union waiting for the u. N. Force to come, and, at the same time, helping the republicans themselves to have a minimum of police and system and help to allow for all the criminals around to be prosecuted, condemned if that is the kay and jailed and not creating anarchy and chaos around the country. Can money make a difference . Its more than money. Its a Strong Political commitment to increase security and that requires more forces on the ground. Without more forces on the ground, it will be impossible to present the kind of generalized violence we are witnessing in the Central African republic. Woodruff another part of the african content, south sudan. I was looking today. More than 280,000 refugees crossing the border with uganda, kenya and ethiopia just since september. This is a crisis affecting a number of countries. Yes, and it breaks our hearts. I was recently in a small place in south sudan woodruff you just came back. Controlled by the opposition. And all of a sudden, two young men came to see me and said, where were you in 2005 in the refugee camp in uganda is this and at that time was when the agreement was signed and we were enthusiastic about going back, and they came back to south sudan and all of a sudden are displaced again. We were full of hope, full of joy to go back home, wanting to rebuild the country and, now, the truth is the Political Leadership of the country is in opposition, created a situation where all these people are in a dramatic humanitarian situation with hunger, with all basic needs not being taken care of, and because of the violence, forced to flee again into neighboring countries. Wha woodruff what is your message for americans and others who are listening who think i would like to help. This is such a big problem, what can i do . And does it make a difference . Americans have been extremely involved in south sudan. Many american volunteers have been working there supporting the people and that is, of course, something we should praise. Support, financial support, humanitarian aid in sudan and in neighboring countries, but political commitment to force the parties to make peace. I think the countries of the region and those that have invested so much, like the u. S. , in south sudan need to do Everything Possible to make sure that this completely stupid war there are no different programs, just a struggle for power and the control of resources, that this completely stupid war is ended. Woodruff do you look for contributions to the commission, to the refugee work youre doing . Of course, we badly need support. All our african operations are dramatically underfunded because the attentions are very much on the syrian crisis. But its support to all u. N. Agencies working both inside south sudan and in the countries around. Woodruff a massive undertaking and we thank you very much for talking about it with us. U. N. Commissioner