Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by bnsf. And with the ongoing support of these institutions 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 u. S. Navy tested the waters in part of the south china sea, and touched off verbal combat with china. An american destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles of a chinesebuilt island in disputed waters. Its part of the spratly islands, where vietnam and the philippines also have claims. Beijing rejects those claims, and it roundly criticized the u. S. Action. translated if any country has any illusions about carrying out any actions to interfere in or obstruct chinas legal, reasonable and fair activities on our territory, i urge those countries to abandon these illusions. It may make china come to the inevitable conclusion that maybe we do have to strengthen and quicken the building up of our capacities. Woodruff in washington, the state Department Said the u. S. Has a right to freedom of navigation in the area. The Defense Department has awarded Northrop Grumman its biggest contract in more than a decade, for the next generation longrange bomber. The announcement late today involves a potential 100 stealth bombers, at a cost of up to 80 billion. Ifill pentagon leaders called today for stepping up the campaign against Islamic State forces. At a senate hearing, they talked of new moves in the middle east, involving both air and ground components. Ifill defense secretary Ashton Carter told senators this morning the shift in strategy would involve a beefedup u. S. Air campaign and, possibly, frontline combat support. We wont hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against isil or conducting such missions directly. Whether by strikes from the air or direct action on the ground. Ifill the new chair of the joint chiefs of staff, marine general joseph dunford, agreed it may be time to put american combat boots on the ground. If it had operational or strategic impact and we could reinforce success, that would be the basic framework within which id make a recommendation for Additional Forces to be co located with iraqi units. Ifill the two leaders said they hope to target two key locations raqqa, the Islamic States selfdeclared capital in syria, and the militant stronghold ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province in western iraq. The new approach comes as the Obama Administration deals with the failures, so far, of its campaign against isil. In particular the u. S. Military had hoped to train 5,400 moderate fighters in syria, but actually fielded only a few dozen. The focus now is on supporting kurdish militias and others, and on ramping up air strikes. Carter said that effort will intensify despite russias new air campaign, in support of syrian president assad. We are not cooperating with russia and were not letting russia impact the pace or scope of our campaign against isil in iraq and syria. Ifill but several republican senators including president ial hopeful Lindsay Graham argued its too little, too late. What youve done gentlemen, along with the president , is youve turned syria over to russia and iran. This is a sad day for america, and the region will pay hell for this because the arabs are not going to accept it. The people in syria are not going to accept this. This is a halfassed strategy at best. Ifill any changes in u. S. Strategy still need president obamas formal approval. Indications are, that could come as early as this week. Ifill separately, russia announced it has invited iran to join international talks on syrias future. They are scheduled in vienna, later this week. Woodruff the earthquake death toll in afghanistan and pakistan climbed today to nearly 380. The quake was centered deep under the hindu kush mountain range, near the afghan city of fayzabad. Rescuers struggled today to reach the hardesthit areas, and teams went out on foot to assess damage and casualties. Pakistani helicopters ferried out some of the injured, but supply drops may not begin for some days. Ifill back in this country, the f. B. I. Has opened a civil rights investigation into a sheriffs deputy who tossed a High School Girl from her desk at a South Carolina school. Officials say the girl disrupted class, and refused an order to leave. With that, the white deputy is seen flipping the black teen and dragging her away. Another student recorded the scene. The incident drew nationwide condemnation today, and the chair of the local School District trustees joined it. I repeat that what happened yesterday, what we all watched on that shamefully shocking video is reprehensible, unforgivable and inconsistent with everything this district stands for, what we work for and what we aspire to be. Ifill black parents in the School District said theres a long history or discrimination. The girl was charged with Disturbing School and released to her family. The deputy has been placed on leave. Woodruff president obama defended police today, as officers come under scrutiny for Law Enforcement practices in minority communities. He spoke to a meeting of the International Association of chiefs of police, in his hometown of chicago. Too often Law Enforcement gets scapegoated for the broader failures of society and our criminal justice system. And i know you do your jobs with distinction no matter the challenges you face, thats part of wearing the badge. But we cant expect you to contain and control problems that the rest of us arent willing to face or do anything about. Woodruff the president spoke as the Justice Department reported that ambush attacks on police held steady between 1999 and 2013, at about 200 a year. There have been questions about whether such attacks are now on the rise. Ifill c. I. A. Director john brennan says he was outraged when he learned his personal email account had been hacked. Word of the hacking emerged last week. I asked brennan about it today at a forum cosponsored by George Washington university and the c. I. A. I certainly was concerned about what people might try to do with that information. I also dismayed by how some of the media handled it. The implication from some of the reporting was that i was doing something inappropriate or wrong, or a violation of security responsibilities, which was certainly not the case. Ifill the hacked data included brennans contact list and his wifes Social Security number. Woodruff for americans under the age of 75, theres good news today about life, and death. The American Cancer Society reports the death rate in that age group, from all causes, fell more than 40 between 1969 and 2013. The Research Found deaths from strokes dropped by 77 during that period. At the same time, Heart Disease fatalities were down nearly 70 . The study also said deaths from unintended injury fell by 40 . Ifill on wall street, stocks skidded after crude oil hit twomonth lows. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost more than 40 points to close at 17,580. The nasdaq fell four points, and the s p 500 slipped five. Woodruff and abby wambach, the alltime leading goal scorer in International Soccer history, is retiring. Wambach announced her decision today, after president obama honored the u. S. Womens team at the white house for winning the womens world cup in july. Wambachs final game will be december 16. Ifill still to come on the newshour a budget deal to avert a fiscal crisis; dueling realities clash in syria inside the rubble, and resorts; ted koppel warns of a cyber attack on the electrical grid, and much more. Woodruff the gridlock in washington seems to be easing this week. Deals are being made, votes cast and the speaker of the house is trying to clear the deck for his replacement waiting in the wings. Political director Lisa Desjardins reports. Having listened to our members and listened to the American People we have a budget agreement. Reporter the outgoing speaker of the house, john boehner, used one of his final news conferences to make the announcement. The agreement is not perfect by any means. But the alternative was a clean debt ceiling increase without any Additional Support for our troops and without any entitlement reforms. Reporter the deal would increase spending by 80 billion over the next two years, boosting both defense and domestic programs. It would also lift the federal debt ceiling through the spring of 2017. Within the divided House Republican conference, the tentative agreement drew backing from boehner supporters. Like all these things you wish you were negotiating with yourselves, but youre not. I think it will pass. I think it ought to pass. Again, its fair enough to be critical of it. But if youre going to do that, you have to lay out what you would do. Im encouraged by the fact were doing something that looks like a budget with the budget with the president. Reporter but the most conservative republicans members of the freedom caucus, who helped drive boehner to retire were not on board. I will not be voting for it. Because in my view, its financially irresponsible. This is a very complex deal. This thing must have taken weeks, probably months, to negotiate and it was dropped on us in less than 48 hours. This is our problem with Speaker Boehner. He has been speaker of the United States, not speaker of the house of representatives. Reporter Wisconsin Republican paul ryan, the man likely to become speaker, said the closeddoor process of getting the deal stinks, and he declined to say how hed vote. Boehner said he agrees about the process, but he argued the deal deserves support. Listen, when youve got bipartisan agreement in a town that is not known for bipartisanship, youre going to see a lot of bricks flying from those that dont like the fact that theres a bipartisan agreement. Reporter this afternoon, Senate Leaders on both sides added their support. This agreement is a victory over the loudest, most extreme voices in the republican party. Passing it into law would be a victory for common sense and middle class. I am hopeful and optimistic that that bill will come over to the senate and when it does, we will take it up. Reporter the house could vote tomorrow, with a goal of final congressional passage by next weeks debt ceiling deadline. Woodruff later, president obama welcomed word of the agreement, and urged quick action. Lisa joins us now from capitol hill with the latest. So, lisa, hello. It is not quite a done deal, but, as we heard, the democrats are celebrating, already. Yeah, democrats are celebrating in the senate. Some Top Democrats sat down with reporters and said they feel this is an incredible deal. This is a done deal in terms of a final offer from leaders in the house and senate. But the voting matters. Looks like there is a vote in the house and senate largely because of those democrats. Woodruff what were the tradeoffs . We know both sides had to tried. What happened . There were immense politics involved, and depends on who you talked to. Everyone will claim one thing or another. If you step back, democrats got something they want very much which is a rollback of steep spending cuts that will go in place for domestic nondefense programs next year. Republicans got the same thing for defense programs they like. The pentagon said it is going to feel the cuts next year. It is easily divided how theyd roll back the cuts. Thats something some republicans sea wasnt fair because they have more votes, thethey wanted to only save the fence. But democrats were able to come away with some money for other domestic programs. This bill is full of many other aspects. One thing i wanted to point out, judy, there are changes in obamacarecare, for example a requirement on large employers that would automatically enroll their employees in healthcare, that would be frozen here. Thats a gain for republicans. There is a lot for everyone. One thing republicans did not get is any savings on the debt. This deal in some ways will increase the deficit, depending on how you look at it. Woodruff what about the socalled Entitlement Programs medicare, Social Security are they affected by this . They are. There is Important News here. Some medicare recipients were facing a very serious increase in premiums next year. That is going to be frozen and spread out so those payments will go up in later years rather than next year. Social security was facing perhaps the biggest crisis of any Entitlement Program next year. Disability insurance was facing a cut in benefits, running out of money next year. Now that program will gain another six years of life, go through 2022. Woodruff is Speaker Boehner prepared psh this through even without the conservative republicans, in other words with the votes of democrats in the house . I think thats one of the important things here, that might be the biggest important thing. What happened is Speaker Boehner and Mitch Mcconnell got together with their counterparts and decided they will govern, even if it took a combination of democratic votes, maybe more than republican votes, yes, Speaker Boehner is ready to pass this. Amazing to think about, one month and ten days ago, we were talking about Speaker Boehner having just resigned and the house in disarray. But Speaker Boehner saw an opportunity to get through these crises and govern. It was basically the four leaders, democrat and republican, against the house conservatives and the leaders showing this is how they want to govern. Woodruff in so many words he said he would not do it without democrats. But hes doing it. Woodruff thank you. P woodruff a look inside syria. Frontlines martin smith visited the wartorn country this summary after securing a rare government visa to report on the ground. He witnessed evidence of a country at war, but also captured an alternate view of life there. For tonights documentary inside assads syria. In the following excerpt, smith visits a new resort development with syrias tourism minister located just outside the bombed city. During my visit i meet the man in charge of the campaign. Syrias minister of tourism. How do you do . Fine. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. The minister is still very upbeat about his mission. Reporter the minister is here in homs to see one other project. So we follow him and the governor through the bombedout remains of central homs to this place five miles east of the city. The resort isnt fully open yet, just the pool and public areas. Everyone seems excited. The ministers visit attracts ten local reporters, and the resort is already taking reservations. The official opening is just a month away. Just ten miles from rebel lines, the animals look as stunned as i am. We drive back to the reality of homs. This city is going to need a lot more than a new resort. I talk to some High School Students who make that clear. Syria has little to offer them. They face military conscription when they finish school or a car bomb tomorrow. What do you worry about . I worry about my friends. I worry about these explosions that happen in our neighborhood. There is so many. Reporter who is doing the explosions . Terrorists. Reporter terrorists. And where are they from . What group . The terrorists have destroyed my future. I dont have any future now in syria. They destroyed our life. We were happy people because we live in a safe place. Now we cant. Were afraid of every car could bomb in us. Reporter are we safe here . No place in syria is safe. No place. Because the American Government has given the rebels longrange rockets. They can destroy any place in syria. Were not safe in our homes. Ifill joining me to talk about his trip and tonights documentary is frontlines martin smith. Martin, first of all, the practicality of this, how did you get in . Well, i worked for more than a year, trying various avenues to get in. Some reporters can get in and they get shortterm visas, maybe one week, maybe a couple days extension, but i needed more time if i was going to put together a documentary on this. Then i got a phone call. Somebody offered me access to a trove of footage taken by a young journalist, maybe more than a thousand hours over the last four and a half years, and asked if i was interested in looking at it. I said, sure, but i would like to come and look at it. Then the project became more ambitious after that. I stayed on and we planned travel together, and i was able to make this trip. And one of the things about the trip, we didnt have a time limit. I stayed a full three weeks, could have stayed longer, and we didnt have the usual minder from the ministry of information, from the Foreign Media Department that a lot of journalists are saddled with. Well, i want to ask you about the surprises and the surprises for me would be whether anybody would feel free to speak to you, a western journalist, and actually criticize assad. No. I mean, that is a red line for them. They are not going to criticize assad directly because they risk a beating or worse. So people generally will say very kind things, enthusiastic, patrio