There is something so special that comes with taking a page, opening a book and reading that page yourself. Ifill those are some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Lincoln financial committed to helping you take charge of your life and become youre own chief life officer. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. And with the ongoing support of these institutions 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. Woodruff milwaukee joined the list of cities today in the spotlight over fatal police shootings. That came with the news that a white policeman who killed a mentally ill black man to death in april, wont face criminal charges. Officer Christopher Manney shot dontre hamilton 14 times. He said hamilton fought with him and grabbed his baton. The District Attorney ruled it a case of selfdefense. In reviewing this case, we came to the conclusion that based on all the facts, all the circumstances present to a reasonable officer in officer manneys position at the time the circumstance occurred, that his use of force was privileged and was justified. Woodruff officer manney has since been fired. Hamiltons family today asked for a federal investigation, and also called for calm. Ifill president obama announced his pick for the number two spot at the Justice Department today. Sally yates is federal prosecutor for the Northern District of georgia. If shes confirmed by the senate, shell oversee dayto day operations at justice. Woodruff the french firm alstoms. A. Will pay a record 772 million for violating u. S. Laws against overseas bribery. The power and Transportation Company pleaded guilty today in federal court in connecticut, where one of its american affiliates is located. Justice Department Officials say alstom used bribes to win more than 4 billion in projects abroad. Ifill fierce clashes raged in Northern Iraq again today as Kurdish Peshmerga forces battled Islamic State fighters for control of a key town. The clashes center around sinjar. In recent days, the kurds broke a monthslong siege of the mountain that overlooks the town. The plight of thousands of people trapped on the mountain led to the initial u. S. Air strikes against Islamic State units last fall. I a chaos today over efforts by hindu hardline esches to convert christians and muslims by force. Opposition lawmakers threw papers and swarmed the center of the upper house of parliament, halting its proceedings. The Prime Minister has not spoken on the forced conversion. He is himself a hindu nationalist. And woodruff and in tunisia, a veteran of previous regimes, 88 yearold beji caid essebsi, has won the north african nations first free president ial election. He ran as an antiislamist and claimed victory in sundays runoff. Tunisias 2011 revolution inspired the arab spring uprisings. Woodruff back in the country, wall street posted its forth winning session in a row. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 154 points to close at 17,959; the nasdaq rose 16 points to close at 4,781; and the s p 500 added nearly eight to finish at 2,078. Ifill and Rolling Stone magazine asked today for an independent review of how it handled the story of an allege gang rape at the university of virginia. The account, by sabrina erdely, was called into question when it came out she never contacted the accused attackers. Rolling stone now says the Columbia Journalism School will examine its editorial process. Woodruff still to come on the newshour. Tensions rising in the wake of the murder of two new York City Police officers. A massive internet failure in north korea has people wondering if the retaliation for the sony hack is already underway. A young inventor offers a new tool for the blind out of a simple childrens toy. A closer look at obamacare in year two, and the impact on your wallet. Pope frances stuns in vatican city as he delivers a most unusual christmas message to the cardinals. The art of communication from an american treasure. And finally, remembering joe cocker, a voice like no other. Ifill the murder of two new York City Police officers ignites a volley of blame between the Police Department and the Mayors Office and exposes the deep rifts dividing a city in mourning. New yorkers stopped all day, to place flowers at the site in brooklyn, where two policemen were killed on saturday. And the murders dominated the day for new york mayor bill deblasio, including at a luncheon for the citys Police Athletic league. We have to understand an attack on them was an attack on all of us. It was an attack on our democracy, it was an attack on our values, it was an attack on every single new yorker and we have to see it as such. Put aside political debates, put aside all the things we will talk about in due time. Ifill the two officers, rafael ramos and wenjian liu were shot as they sat in their cruiser on saturday. Their killer, 28yearold ismaaiyl brinsley, who had a history of violence and apparent mental instability, shot his girlfriend Shaneka Thompson in baltimore, before traveling to new york, shooting the officers and then taking his own life. Earlier, he posted social media references to the Police Killings of eric garner, on Staten Island, and michael brown, in ferguson, missouri. On instagram, he wrote, they take one of ours, lets take two of theirs. Over the weekend, leaders of protests over the garner and brown cases, as well as family members, condemned the killings of ramos and liu. We are going in peace, and anyone whos standing with us, we want you to not use eric garners name for violence because we are not about that. Ifill but the head of new yorks police union charged the mayor, and protest leaders, set the stage for what happened saturday. We tried to warn, it must not go on, it cannot be tolerated. That blood on the hands starts on the steps of city hall in the office of the mayor. Ifill Police Officers even turned their backs on de blasio in protest, saturday night, when he visited the hospital where the two officers had been taken. This afternoon, the mayor, and new York City Police commissioner bill bratton responded at a joint news conference. I will keep reaching out to everyone that serves this city. They dont have to all agree with me. Can you point out to me one mayor that has not been battling with the Police Unions in the last 50 years . Name one. Name one. So the experience of this mayor in terms of some cops to the liking him, is nothing new. Ifill new York Governor Andrew Cuomo has appealed for calm on all sides. And a number of big city Police Departments put their officers on alert, amid the new surge of tension. Ifill joining us now for a deeper look at the questions raised by these Police Killings are two men with different perspectives. Patrick colligan is president of the new jersey state policemens benevolent association, the largest Law Enforcement union in the state. And mark levine sits on the new York City Council, representing washington heights. Mark, do you see a connection between ferguson, Staten Island and now what happened in brooklyn at all . I think thats a very dangerous conclusion to draw. This was a man who was mentally and emotionally ill, documented history of such problems. And he didnt appear to have a strong ideology or history of Movement Activism so we should be careful ascribing logic to his actions. I think we should be careful to inflame this moment by blaming protestors, blaming the mayor. I think we all need to unite and grieve at the loss of two of our own. And pause for a moment to reflect and remind each other that we have a responsibility to care for citizens and police united. And that vision, i hope, will put us on a path towards the kind of Police Reform which serves communities and police both. Pat coblligan you are in new jersey but you heard your counterparts on the streets of new york this weekend. Do you see a connection . Its tough to ignore what happened, you know, despite, you know, despite the mental capacities. Its tough to ignore what happened since august the 9th, since the shooting occurred. And you know, it was impossible for Police Officers. Were human. Its impossible to watch the new reports, watch people wishing for our death, watching the violence against the officers. And unfortunately watching two officers literally slaughtered in a patrol car doing nothing. And just let it go away and just make it a time for healing. Its a time for vigilance for us. We have to be extra careful. Woodruff do you believe that this tragedy has been used by anybody as a political opportunity . It hasnt been used by the new jersey state policemans benevolent association, we put a warning out to our 33,000 members throughout the state, just to be extra vigilant. Not to get into the routines that we find ourselves in. Its been a tough time. Ive been a Police Officer for 23 years. And i got to be honest with you, this has been the toughest toughest couple of months that i have had to deal with just the feeling and the pervasive actions of people, even in new jersey. People putting their hands up when we pull up, things like that. Its been a difficult few months for us. Woodruff mark levin, what do you think about that, is there a political opportunity being grabbed here. There are been plenty of political opportunities from the likes of george pataki, bernard carrek, rudy giuliani, all of whom have attempted to blame mayor de blasio for this horrific incident, an incident by a mentally ill person. As i mentioned. I will say that today i think we have perhaps taken a step back from the press i business in new york cit city precipice in new york city. My sense is that police Union Leadership has pulled back from some of the heated rhetoric and that there will be a pause on this kind of language, at least through the date of the funerals of the officers, four or five days hence. And a number of prominent protest lead ares in new york city have also called for the temperature to be lowered. And for a period of respect. Woodruff but the officer colligan said it has been a difficult time for Police Officers in the last few months. Dow believe Police Officers have been at greater risk . Because of the protests, no. Absolutely not. Policing is an incredibly dangerous job. And it deserves our respect, for people who are willing to put their life on the line to protect us. But the facts are, that the number of Police Killings are down dramatically, if you take the perspective of several decades. In 1971 there were 12 officers killed in the line of duty in new york city. This year there were two. One death is one too many. And we need to do everything in our power to prevent it. But the city does remain safer today for the general population and for police, arguably, than at any point in its history. Woodruff officer colligan, dow believe this was about one deeply troubled individual or is it a symptom of something larger . Look, the problem is we have one individual come up on saturday, and again, murder two Police Officers. But what the media doesnt have access to and what the general public doesnt have access to are the Law Enforcement reports. The Credible Threats against us. We get those. We have gotten a lot in the last 48 hours. Not only Credible Threats but arrests have been made, an arrest in new york today, arrest by secret service in tennessee and another arrest. So to say its one individual, that is pretty disingenuous. Woodruff do you believe that our nations leaders or mayors like mayor de blasio or in other public settings are weakened by these debates . Or is it a debate that we need to have . I think the debate that needs to be had, you know, the vast majority of Police Officers throughout this country, ill speak throughout the country, are hardworking dedicated Police Officers. And to watch, to watch the protests in new york and wish 9 death of cops, i am all about a peaceful protest, you know. You watch, i see the dieins in Grand Central station. Thats a peaceful protest. And the people are getting their point across. But when you are throwing garbage cans off the level of a bridge and punching Police Officers in the face and of course murdering two in a police car, its hard not to i dont know what they are missing here. If you let it continue and let a protest get out of hand, then i dont know what else you are going to expect. Youre going to have to expect violence. Woodruff mark levine, as you mentioned, the mayor has called for a pause until after the funerals in public protest. Some activists said this is muzzling their right to continue to speak. Where do you come on that . Well, the work of reforming police in new york city is still under way. And we have a long way to go. There are real policy debates that we need to continue to play out. But i think we need to do them understanding that we have a chance to make policing safer for communities and for cops themselves. When we install cameras as part of standard gear for Police Officers, were not only protecting communities, helping to build trust, but were giving officers a defense against unwarranted accusation. When we provide officers with handheld devices like tablets and smart phones as new york city now will be doing thanks to funding from the manhattan da, we give them new tools, a tool that incidentally might have avoided bloodshed on saturday if we had gotten a picture of the attacker outside to all cops on the beat. So we need to continue this debate on how to make new york city ever safer and ever fairer. Safer both for police and for citizens, and these questions will remain controversial. But its essential that we have this debate in a civilized way, not only without violence but without violent language. And that goes for both sides. I mr. Optimistic that more and more people are coming to this conclusion and that perhaps, perhaps out of this tragedy, well get to a better place where we can have a passion with civil discourse on these issues. Woodruff mark levine, a city of the new York City Council and pat colligan of the new jersey state policemens benevolent association. Thank you both very much. Thank you. Thank you. Woodruff while much attention in recent days has been paid to accusations that north korea hacked into sonys computer systems. The isolated country was in the spotlight at the United NationsSecurity Council this afternoon for another reason. The groundbreaking meeting, which north korea boycotted, focused on that countrys dismal human rights record and could lead to the International Criminal court. Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that north koreas links to the internet went completely dark this morning. The outage is being described as one of the worst north Korean Network failures in years, and comes just days after president obama warned that the u. S. Would seek retaliation for sony attack. Joining me now for more on that is david sanger of the New York Times. David, thank you for being with us. So the outage of the internet in north korea is being described as toast. What do we know about it . Well, not a huge amount, judy. Other than the fact that as you know north korea doesnt have many Internet Connections. Its got about a little over a thousand official internet protocol addresses which would be probably you would find more on some city blocks in new york city. So as a target for turning off the internet, theyre pretty vulnerable. But it also means that if an accident happened or Something Like that which seems possible but not entirely likely right now, it would be fairly easy to go turn it off. You have to remember that north korea does almost no business over the internet. It does almost no banking. In fact, the Internet Connections are really only for the military, the elite and of course their propaganda so is this a mere inconvenience for the North Koreans . What is the practical affect . Well, the practical affect is that that elite group wouldnt be able to communicate outside of the country. Inside the country, North Koreans can use an intranet that is completely controlled by the state. And of course its content is completely controlled. So its not as if you can do a