Joined the caliphate. Woodruff plus, at sundance, filmmakers new frontier of Virtual Reality moviegoers get total immersion into the cinematic. Its tricking your brain into believing what you are seeing is truth. So it is essentially hacking your audio and visual system. Woodruff 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. I. B. E. W. The power professionals in your neighborhood. 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 the northeastern corridor of the u. S. Hunkered down this evening for what could be a storm for the ages. Cities began shutting down services, airlines canceled nearly 6000 flights through tomorrow, and some 35 Million People braced for blizzard conditions. Megan thompson of the weekend newshour reports from new york. Reporter snow began falling in earnest on new york city streets this afternoon an early sign of the highly anticipated noreaster that will pummel the east coast through tuesday. As the huge storm spread, forecasts, shown in this color coded map, called for snowfall totals ranging from a foot in philadelphia to three feet in boston during the next 24 hours. Blizzard conditions were predicted over a 250mile stretch. Five governors declared states of emergency, including massachusetts chief executive charlie baker. This is a top five historic storm. We should treat it as such. The safety of public is our primary concern at this point in time and will remain as such throughout the course of the storm. Reporter and in new Jersey Governor Chris Christie urged people to get inside and stay there. Starting later this afternoon, you should stay home if you can. You should only go out in the case of an absolute emergency or necessity. And the same goes for all day tomorrow. Reporter in the meantime cities large and small closed schools early and mobilized snow plow teams. And airlines began shutting down most or all of their operations at major airports around new york, boston and elsewhere. New york city mayor bill de blasio had already warned people not to underestimate what theyre in for. We are facing most likely one of the largest snow storms in the history of this city. Prepare for something worse than we have seen before. Prepare to be safe. Take every precaution. Reporter many across the region heeded that advice, storming hardware and Grocery Stores for supplies yesterday in advance of the blizzards approach. We are preparing to not leave the house for a few days should the need arise. We got a lot of extra at the store today for backup. Were good for a week. Reporter for many, of course, staying at home was not an option today, and for a time it looked as though thousands of commuters might be stranded. New york city and state officials initially warned that bus, train, and other Mass Transit Services in the city could be curtailed before the evening commute. As the day went on, however, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced regular service would continue into the evening hours to help commuters get home. Governor cuomo also announced major highways will be shutting down as conditions worsen. The blizzard brings with it very high winds, gusts up to 55 milesperhour and thats what makes the situation dangerous and difficult from our point of view, its the snow combined with the wind. Reporter the warnings prompted many new yorkers to cut short the work day and head for shelter. Usually i go home at 5 00, but now i take the 1 15 bus because then i get home at the right time and its not going to snow so much because later on its going to be really bad. I just like got to work and like ten minutes before i got to work this morning my boss is like, im going to send you home as soon as you get in. Reporter regardless of the weather, though, the New York Stock Exchange pledged it would be open for trading tomorrow. I am Megan Thompson in new york city. Woodruff washington d. C. Expected to get only a minor snowfall, but the u. S. House had to postpone votes this evening because so many lawmakers were having trouble reaching the city. In other news of the day, the u. S. Embassy in yemen closed to the public as unrest roiled the arab nation. Street protests stretched into a second week in the capital city, sanaa. Demonstrators are angry over a power grab by shiite rebels that prompted the proamerican president to resign. The state Department Said in light of the turmoil, the embassy curtailed its activities. Were still providing emergency Consular Service to u. S. Citizens in yemen and due to ongoing security concerns which we indicated last week we would continue to evaluate and make staffing and other decisions accordingly were unable to provide Consular Services but otherwise remain opened and operational. Woodruff meanwhile, a u. S. Drone strike killed three al qaeda fighters in eastern yemen. It was the first this year. In syria, kurdish fighters have retaken a key town on the Turkish Border from Islamic State forces. The kurds, backed by u. S. Air strikes, say they gained full control of kobani today, after four months of fighting. Also in syria, president Bashar Alassad said the americanled air strikes need to be cleared with his regime. Foreign Affairs Magazine quoted him as saying if you want to make any kind of action in another country, you ask their permission. A new leftwing leader, Alexis Tsipras, was sworn in as Prime Minister of greece today. His antibailout party came from the political fringe to win big on sunday, setting up a confrontation with germany and the European Union. We have a report from james mates of independent television news. Reporter an audience with the countrys president and one of the youngest, certainly the most unlikely Prime Minister in greek history, is asked to form a government. Just short of an overall parliamentary majority, tsipras party of the far left has formed an extraordinary antiausterity coalition with the party of the right. With a man who even sits with the british conservatives in the european parliament. How could you make a Coalition Work between right and left . We are in europe. And now, we represent the nation, and the greek nation, its in one government. Together, all the greeks will be together, in europe. Reporter but this strange partnership of left and right makes defeated opponents wonder how they can possibly hold together in the negotiation with germany that lies ahead. If the germans want to fight the antiausterity movement, they will have to destroy the first one. Reporter thatll be the greeks. Thatll be the greeks. Reporter do you think the germans would do that . I think they have no other choice. If they will not do that, the European Union will be destroyed. Reporter on the streets of athens now pockmarked with shuttered shops and businesses after a five year long depression, that pessimism that anything can really change is pretty widely shared. I wish him good luck. He will need it. Reporter will he succeed . To say no to merkel, yes. To create a competitive economy no, no way. I think its a utopia. And no sooner had Alexis Tsipras had been sworn in than an almighty storm broke over the countrys parliament. For greece within the European Union, the future looks stormy, indeed. Woodruff european Financial Markets remained largely steady, despite concerns over greeces future in the European Union. Ukraine declared an emergency today across two eastern provinces, amid the worst violence since september. Fighting has surged in donetsk and luhansk provinces, and the trouble spread saturday to mariupol, where rocket fire killed 30 people. In response, western nations threatened new sanctions against russia, but today, president Vladimir Putin blamed ukraines government backed by nato. We often say Ukrainian ArmyUkrainian Army. But who is indeed fighting there . This is not even an army, its a foreign legion. In this case a foreign n. A. T. O. Legion. They are there with no National Interests of ukraine. They have different aims connected with the geopolitical aim of retaining russia. Woodruff nato rejected putins accusations and, it charged moscow is again sending large numbers of heavy weapons to the rebels in ukraine. President obama ended a three day visit to india today, pledging 4 billion in loans and investments. Earlier, he became the First American president to attend the annual republic day parade in new delhi. Crowds cheered as the obamas arrived to watch the display of indias military forces. Back in washington, a small drone crashed onto the white house grounds early today. The secret Service Released a photo of it and said a man was flying it for recreation but lost control. The predawn incident triggered an emergency lockdown of the white house complex. Officials later said the two foot long quadcopter did not pose a threat. A former c. I. A. Officer has been convicted in a highprofile leak case. A federal jury in virginia found jeffrey sterling guilty of espionage. He was accused of giving details about a mission to undermine Irans Nuclear program to New York Times reporter james risen. Sterling denied leaking anything, saying risen found out from Senate Staffers whod been briefed on the operation. Stocks on wall street inched ahead a bit today, the Dow Jones Industrial average gained six points to close above 17,678; the nasdaq rose more than 13 points to close above 4,771; and the s p 500 added five points to close at 2,057. Still to come on the newshour. President obama seeks new limits on drilling for oil in alaska. Taking violent action in the name of religion in europe. The diary of a guantanamo detainee. Republicans queue up early for a chance at 2016. And, transforming the cinematic for a virtual world. Woodruff the president is pushing for major new areas of protection in Alaskas Arctic refuge, and getting set for a big battle in the decadeslong debate over oil drilling and production there. Currently about seven million areas of the Arctic National wildlife refuge are protected from oil and gas exploration. President obama announced yesterday in a videotaped message the president wants to expand that by 12 million more acres, including along the oilrich coast. Its the first of several moves aimed at holding back production. Heres some of what the president said in a white house video about his decision to protect the area. For centuries, it supported many alaskan native communities, but its very fragile, and thats why im very proud that my department of interior has put forward a comprehensive plan to make sure were protecting the refuge and were designating more areas including coastal plains for preservation. Woodruff the president s actions sparked immediate and sharp opposition from some republicans including alaska senator and Senate EnergyCommittee ChairmanLisa Murkowski who joins me now. Senator, welcome. First of all, why is this a bad idea . Well, to effectively put off limits forever the entire anwar area some 19 million acres on top of what is already contained in the state of alaska, we have more than half of the wilderness in the entire United States in the state of alaska. So of all the wilderness and all the 49 other states out there, weve got more than all the other states combined. So what the president is doing through this action is a process that would could eventually lead to permanent wilderness status. Now, fortunately, this is something that the congress is going to have to sign off on. I dont see any scenario where this congress will allow for permanent designation of all of anwar including the ten or two area the area thats been specifically designated by congress to be reserved for our oil and gas exploration. Woodruff the president s argument is that this is a pristine area, that there are very rare species of animal life there, its a fragile piece of land that needs to be protected. Well, look at the map. Look at the map that were talking about. Again, this is an area that, in addition to the 1002 area is the size of the state of South Carolina that hes saying we need to take off into permanent wilderness status. This is an amazing part of the state, as all parts of the state are amazing. When you have a state thats onefifth the size of the entire rest of the country, youre going to have some amazing places. Okay, im with you on that. But for him to take all of this airy and say off limits entirely what we have been doing in the prudhoe area for 40 years accessing a resource while still being sensitive to the environment making sure that subsistence is still allowed for the native people who live off the land, this is the key here. Woodruff is there any room for middle ground here . You know what . This administration has not been negotiating with the state of alaska. I made the suggestion theyre willing to negotiate with iran but they wont with alaska. They wont work with us. Now, is there a middle ground . I have been trying. I have been bending over backwards to be that broker where we can have a relationship to advance some of alaskas interests, but it doesnt seem it makes any difference what the resource is that alaska wants to access, whether our forests in the southeast, whether our mineral developments or our oil and gas up north, it seems like this administration has taken an all of the above approach to Energy Policy except in alaska. I dont know what to do except to fight back and im gonna do it. Woodruff alaska senator Lisa Murkowski, we thank you. Thank you. Woodruff and now for the obama administrations perspective we are joined by the cabinet special implementing this policy the secretary of the interior, sally jewell. Secretary jewell welcome. My pleasure. Woodruff its clear theres a fire storm the administration has set off. What do you say to this alarm articulated by senator murkowski, that this amount of land if you set it aside 19 million acres, that its just beyond reason . I appreciate the senator s efforts for the state and shes helped me understand the perspective of alaskans. I have made many trips to alaskan and worked on elements of the pipeline in college, i visited the wildlife refuges in 2013. I saw polar bears at the airport and flew over some of the areas in the 1002 area and coastal plain and in the mountains where reactually got off and liked around and could see what an incredible place it is. It is a large area. It is one of the most special places on earth and we are blessed in the United States to have an area of this size that has been undisturbed by development and that is something that i feel very proud of the president for stepping up to protect. Woodruff what im hearing her say is that its one thing to set aside 7 million, already, but now 19 million, and shes saying, yes, its pristine but the entire state is pristine. Whats so special about thisiary . This land was set aside in 1960 as the Arctic National wildlife range. Further protections and wilderness for 7 million acres were granted in 1980. We have been operating on a plan based on a 1980s understanding of this refuge. We now understand the importance of the coastal plain in so much of the health of the the ecosystem. There are many animals that summer in the arctic that come down to the lower parts of the 48. This 1002 area has not been opened for oil and Gas Development because congress did not want it to be opened and this codifies the administrations position. Woodruff but its bigger than that. Were not even showing the entire area. What about the other arguments theyre making is that this is a blow to alaskas ability to have any kind of Economic Development . She talks about it affecting generations of alaskaians to come because of the fact they wont be able to develop their resources in oil and gas. Judy, i believe there are right places to develop like the National Petroleum reserve in alaska. Were in is process of working with a business to support the permitting of the First Development of the National Petroleum reserve. We have been actively leasing in the area. Weve done an areawide study to understand the grounds for the caribou for subsistence and the areas high in gas and oil. That has infrastructure to be quickly hooked up to the transalaska pipeline. Were not blocking Petroleum Development sources in alaska. Its just that there are right places for it too develop and wibl the wildlife is too special for it to develop. Woodruff finally her point is the administration wont negotiate. You heard her s