If they need food, were going to get them food. You know, if they need love, were giving them the hug. Sreenivasan all that and more, on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by xq institute. Bnsf railway. Lincoln financial committed to helping you take charge of your financial future. 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. Sreenivasan president elect donald trump has penciled in two more names on his white house staff sheet. He announced today that Thomas Bossert will be assistant to the president for Homeland Security and counterterrorism. Bossert also served under president george w. Bush. And, Jason Greenblatt will be special representative for international negotiations. Hes now the chief legal officer for the trump organization. In the days other news shinzo abe became the first japanese Prime Minister to visit the u. S. S. Arizona memorial at pearl harbor. More than 2,300 americans died there in the japanese attack on december 7, 1941, hurling the United States into world war ii. Today, abe joined president obama in a wreathlaying ceremony before making statements on the occasion. translated i offer my sincere and everlasting condolences to the souls of those who lost their lives here, as well as to the spirits of all the brave men and women whose lives were taken by a war that commenced in this very place, and also to the souls of the countless innocent people who became victims of the war. Sreenivasan the abe visit came six months after president obama visited hiroshima, where the u. S. Dropped the first atomic bomb. An outbreak of bird flu in south korea is now that countrys worst in a decade. The government said today that the number of poultry fowl destroyed will reach 26 million by tomorrow. That has resulted in egg shortages and soaring prices. Meanwhile, a region in china has culled more than 55,000 chickens and other poultry. Russian search teams today recovered the flightdata recorder from the military plane that crashed into the black sea. It turned up a mile off sochi, where the plane went down sunday, killing all 92 people on board. Investigators brought the device to the surface and sent it to moscow. They say it is not badly damaged, and could shed light on what happened to the plane. translated its too early to make any conclusions. Various causes are being considered. We will receive a big part of the information from the flight recorder that was found. We hope that we will find the other flight recorders as well. Sreenivasan russian intelligence officials have played down the possibility of terrorism in the crash. Theyre focusing instead on possible human error, equipment failure or bad fuel. Back in this country melees erupted at a number of shopping malls nationwide last night. Cell phone video captured people getting into fights in at least 15 malls from colorado to cleveland. Spooked shoppers ran for the exits, and dozens of people were arrested. Police are saying troublemakers may have used social media to organize the fights. On wall street today, stocks moved slightly higher, in a quiet day of trading. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 11 points to close at 19,945. The nasdaq rose 24, to a new record close, and the s p 500 added five. And, actress Carrie Fisher, of star wars fame, died today at A Los Angeles hospital. She had suffered an apparent cardiac episode on a flight from london to los angeles last friday. What are you doing . Somebody has to save our skins. Into the garbage chute, flyboy sreenivasan it was the role of a lifetime, and for Carrie Fisher, playing Princess Leia organa defined much of her life. As she once said, ive always been in star wars. Ive never not been in star wars. from an early age, she knew something of hollywood fame, as the child of Actress Debbie Reynolds and singer eddie fisher. I didnt want to be different than other people, and thats what celebrities are. So being a celebrity kid, thats the dichotomy. You want to fit in, not stick out. My fantasy was to be normal. Sreenivasan fisher began her own career in shampoo, with warren beatty, in 1975. And then theme of star wars starting in 1977, the original Star Wars Trilogy made her instantly famous. It became a lovehate relationship, but fisher returned in 2015s sequel, the force awakens. I like Princess Leia. I like how she handles things. I like how she treats people. She tells the truth. Sreenivasan her screen career included lesser parts as well, in hannah and her sisters, and when harry met sally. She won notice as a screenwriter and author, too, depicting her struggle with drug addiction in 1987s postcards from the edge, her semiauto biographical novel and later movie. Im not doing any drugs. Sreenivasan in later years, fisher used her onewoman show, wishful drinking, to try to balance enduring fame with real life. This will really impress you. I am in the abnormal psychology textbook. How cool is that . Now keep in mind, i am a pez dispenser, and im in the abnormal psychology textbook. Who says you cant have it all . Sreenivasan Carrie Fisher was 60 years old. Fisher is survived by her mother, debbie reynolds, as well as a brother and a daughter. Still to come on the newshour Donald Trumps cabinet and obamas last days; an uncertain road ahead for refugees after the fall of aleppo; the reach of opioids into elementary schools, and much more. Sreenivasan we begin tonight with politics, and new questions surrounding president elect Donald Trumps private foundation. Lisa desjardins has our report. Reporter tis the season for charitable giving, but charity has been a longrunning and controversial topic for president elect trump, one that he reignited last night. He posted two tweets, staunchly defending the donald j. Trump foundation, his private charity, as both generous and efficient. But those tweets ricocheted. Some say they are misleading or plain false. So what do we know . Lets start with this mr. Trump tweeted i gave millions of dollars to d. J. T. Foundation. And he did. Tax filings confirm mr. Trump and his companies donated 6 million of his own money to the foundation. I wanted to make this out of the goodness of my heart. Reporter but heres the issue timing. Tax filings show he donated nothing to the foundation in recent years. Instead, most of the foundations funding, almost 10 million, has come from outside donors, including vince and linda mcmahon, the professional wrestling tycoons. Linda mcmahon is now the Trump Nominee to head the Small Business administration. The couple gave 5 million in two years. Next, this claim from trump that all of his Foundation Money is given to charity. Again, context is critical here. Most of the Trump Foundation money did go to nonprofits or charities, but philanthropy may not have been the only motivation. Public documents Show Foundation funds also went to help settle lawsuits against mr. Trump, or to political allies, as the washington posts David Fahrenthold recently explained to the newshour. They gave to this group called and justice for all, which was a Political Campaign committee helping Florida Attorney general pam bondi, who at the time, just happened to be considering her office was considering whether to pursue an investigation against trump university. They, later on, after the money came in, decided not to pursue that investigation. Trump paid that money out of the Trump Foundation, which is against the law. Reporter finally, trump tweeted that his Foundation Never paid fees, rent, salaries or any expenses. That is true his children serve as the foundations board, and the foundation is run by the staff of the trump organization, his business. Now, that creates an efficient family charity, but has raised some serious questions. Charities are not supposed to directly benefit or overlap with forprofit businesses like the trump organization, and thats one reason the new York State Attorney general is investigating the charity. And all that leads us to whats next for the Trump Foundation. The president elect has announced he plans to close it. But legally, hes not allowed to do that until the new york investigation is over. For the pbs newshour, im lisa desjardins. Sreenivasan now, for more on the state of the trump transition and the last weeks of the obama administration, we turn to president ial historian and newshour regular michael beschloss; and White House Correspondent and Washington Bureau chief for american urban radio, april ryan, author of at mommas knee mothers and race in black and white. Well start with you. It seems president obama is still leaving his mark on his time here with commutations from federal prisons, even gitmo some prisoners are being transferred out, obviously abstaining from the u. N. Vote regarding israel. Well, hes going to be president until the very end, january 20th at 12 noon 2017. This president has a legacy when it comes to criminal justice. Theni pardons and communetations will be on par with other president s. But this is a legacy piece that he wants to show and make a mark with. When it comes to gitmo, hes been wanting to close git moasm thats something that has not fully worked for him the way he wanted it to, but he still once again, hes being president ial. As we were talking, his day with the japanese leader abe, theyre working on issues of trying to show the world how reconciliation can look years after what happened at pearl harbor and also talking about a World Without any nukes, a hope for that. So he again is trying to set an example and keep his legacy in place as much as he can until that last moment that he is president in washington, d. C. , next year. Woodruff sarah sreenive there other historical examples of president s taking diplomatic or policy stances on their way out . Sure they do. Jor h. W. Bush sent american troops into maula for humanitarian reason, but in his case he said, is this okay with you, and bill clinton said yes, im for that. Dwight eisenhower before he left the presidency in 1961, he broke diplomatic relations with cuba for a long time. But the difference here is youve got donald trump, who began right after the election doing all sorts of things that were new, like, for instance, the telephone call to the president of taiwan, all sorts of tweets to make it clear that someone new is going to be in charge with very different views, and very different from, for instance, ronald reagan, who waited until a week after he became president to say the soviets lie, cheat, commit crimes to achieve their ends, but reagan felt the time to do that was not during the transition but right after he was president when he had the full power of being in the white house. Sreenivasan michael, does that impact in any way how the rest of the world perceives the abilities and actions of the current president . Sure it does. If muscle is what president obama is trying to do and in the past usually a president elect would be careful about sending a signal that there are sort of two president s here at once or, for instance, in the eisenhower case, the bush case that i mentioned, they usually try to at least do it together with the president who is still there or excuse me with the incoming president , but, you know, wife seen all sorts of precedents shattered by donald trump, and this is one more. Sreenivasan april ryan, these tweets and these disagreements seem to be happening in public and at the same time the Incoming White House and the Transition Team say there is back Channel Communication that continues between president obama and president elect trump. Its very interesting. I asked some white house officials about that communication, and all they would say is the fact that its very interesting that donald trump during his time running for the oval office, which has satisfied president obama to talk about Hillary Clinton following president obama, and now he calls president obama quite a bit looking for advice or just wanting to talk about issues. And i find that very interesting to the point where the president , though, however, no matter how interesting it, is he makes it a point to pick up the phone and call him as soon as he can, call him back. Just for the smooth transition that the president s have afforded from george w. Bush to his presidency. So this president finds it very interesting, and particularly this is a crazy time, as they are watching this president say that if he were running against donald trump, he would win, and donald trump is going after him on social media saying, i dont think so, and then trying to keep the transition working. Thats a very interesting piece by itself. Sreenivasan michael beschloss, lets talking about the cabinet, at least the announcements so far. How do they stack up on different actis, whether its gender or race or sosa economic status . Even the most ardent Trump Supporters would say its not the most diverse cabinet. Not a great deal of became, not a lot of diversity here. The interesting thing to me is that john kennedy, lets take that example, he was elected 1960 by only 100,000 popular votes, and his electoral vote was about 303, very close to Donald Trumps, yet donald trump, who did not win the popular vote and the electoral vote like kennedy, you know, unlike kennedy, feels that he can basically do this and doesnt feel a political need to, you know, make more of an effort with democrats on the other side. Kennedy, in his case, said, you know, i was barely elected by the popular vote. Id rather make some effort to show that i get along with republicans and so he put republicans at the defense department, the treasury, in key positions to show that he recognized that that was not the most resounding mandate on earth. Woodruff april ryan, this Transition Team said they were looking for something different. Yes, they are looking for something different, something totally not washington. What were getting from many persons that ive talked to, be it democrat or republican, there is a general consensus that this is a business approach to social problems. And that, you know, with no governance really. The few people in the cabinet that have a governance stance and government knowledge, governing knowledge, but the problem is if more is that this is oso new and so fresh, and on racial terms, george w. Bush, im thinking back to that administration, george w. Bush had the most diverse racial construct of his cabinet. Now you go to the next republican president , number 45, donald j. Trump, who is listening to his constituency and standing by what he said when he was campaigning, that he didnt care about being politically correct. Its going to be very interesting to see. Sreenivasan michael, how does this transition play out historically, when you have captains of industry moving into roles where theyre leading organizations with thousands of people, with different kinds of organizations. Its one of the biggest experiments or even gambles weve seen in american history. Donald trumps whole thing, and we said this in the campaign, is i dont think having political or Public Service experience is particularly helpful. He essentially said he thinks its harmful because youre part of an old establishment that did not work. Were about to see whether this works or not, and four years from now we will know. Sreenivasan all right. Well have you back then. Michael beschloss, april ryan, thank you both very much. Great to see you. Thank you. Thank you. Sreenivasan when the syrian uprising turned into a civil war in 2012, the countrys largest city, aleppo, became a bastion for the rebel forces that opposed the syrian regime. After months of russian air strikes, last week the Syrian Government declared the entire city to be within their control. As aleppo fell, civilians and rebels were escorted out in an historic evacuation. Special correspondent Jane Ferguson and videographer Alessandro Pavone traveled to the turkishsyrian border to meet those who escaped. A warning some of the images are disturbing. Reporter these are the survivors of eastern aleppo, battered by years of war, and months of unremitting air strikes. The lucky ones who lived through the siege come here to turkey for medical treatment. Shrapnel from an air strike smashed into ahmads tiny four yearold body a month ago. His father says that his brother was killed in the same air raid, and he has had his leg very badly damaged. Mohanned cradles a severely wounded hand. He is just seventeen, and says he too was injured by bombs dropping from the sky. translated in 11 days, they will do another operation on me, and god willing, when it is finished i will go back. Reporter outside a turkish hospital by the border with syria, the wounded gather. Two months ago she says that she was hit with an air strike, so she has only just now managed to get out to turkey for treatment. They came here after fleeing aleppo city, the last major bastion of revolution and revolt against Bashar Al Assads rule in syria. Government forces defeated the citys remaining pockets of resistance last friday, after a siege and aerial Bombing Campaign by russian and syrian war planes. 35,000 people, including the remaining fighters a