Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Xq institute. The ford foundation. Working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. And with the ongoing support of these institutions 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 the first two weeks of the Trump Presidency are in the books, punctuated by a push on regulating the financial industry. John yang reports on the days events. Reporter at the first meeting of this new Economic Advisory council, President Trump used it to tout his plans for progress. Were bringing back jobs. Were bringing down your taxes. Were getting rid of your regulations. And i think its going to be some really very exciting times ahead. Were doing it. Reporter the group talked banking rules and tax reform, but some also raised concerns that mr. TrumpS Immigration order will hurt their foreign employees, and the economy. Blackstone group c. E. O. Steve schwarzman is the councils chairman. He described the discussion on fox business channel. Oh, sure, one would except that it had. General kelly, who runs homeland security, was there and brought people up to date on the changes that had been made. And there was obviously concern by different people and explanation and that issue ahd to be covered and was covered. Reporter before the first meeting, uber chief executive Travis Kalanick quit the group over the issue after being pressed by both workers and customers. He wrote to employees we will continue to advocate for just change on immigration, but staying on the council was going to get in the way of that. The same kind of pressure is driving a National Boycott of trump products. Retailer nordstrom is dropping ivanka trumps fashion line, citing poor sales. Today brought the number of mr. Trumps executive actions to 20. Today, were signing core principles, for regulation of the United States financial system. Doesnt get much bigger than that, right . Reporter that executive order directed the Treasury Department to look for ways to roll back the doddfrank acts regulations. The 2010 response to the financial crisis was intended rein in big banks and protect consumers. The president also signed a memorandum aimed at blocking a retirementsavings regulation, called the fiduciary rule. Set to take effect in april, its aimed at making brokers put clients interests first, when recommending investments for retirement planning. Administration officials call it a solution to a problem, and the financial industry strongly opposed it. Republican congresswoman ann wagner of missouri championed efforts to stop the regulation. Taking the boot off the neck of the American People and this economy moving forward. People are crying out to cut the red tape. They are finished with the washington knows best, topdown bureaucratic regulation that is absolutely suffocating american families. Reporter mr. Trump capped the second week of his presidency by heading to florida for a weekend at his maralago resort. On his way back to the white house on monday, mr. Trump will spend his first major event addressing troops, Central Command at Macdill Air Force base at tampa bay. Judy. Woodruff a lot going on at the white house this week. Right up to today, white house Senior AdvisorKellyanne Conway in a situation where she had to retract a statement she made in an interview yesterday. Yang last night she was defending the president S Immigration order and said the media never reported the Bowling Green massacre. One of the reasons is because it never happened. Today she acknowledged on twitter that she had confused it with the arrest of two iraqi iraqis who had been radicalized in Bowling Green, kentucky. She apologized but also complained about being criticized for her slip. Woodruff john, you mentioned twitter, the president has continued to be active on twitter this morning tweeting again about that phone conversation that he had reportedly heated conversation with the Prime Minister of australia, and then another one about, of all people, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yang thats right, ill take them in order. The Prime Minister of australia said that the phone call was candid and frank, which, of course, is diplomatic language often for a shouting match, but he did say that, contrary to reports, that mr. Trump did not hang up on him. So mr. Trump thanked him for straightening that out and called the original reports fake news. Then on alexander haig, there was the little back and forth yesterday from the Prayer Breakfast when he talked about the ratings. Mr. Schwarzenegger replied maybe they wanted to switch jobs, that mr. Trump was better at ratings and that americans could sleep at night. He said, yes, Arnold Schwarzenegger did a really bad job as governor of california and even worse on the apprentice, but at least he tried hard. Woodruff well, sounds like that settles that. laughter john yang after another busy week at the the white house. Thank you. And in the days other news, januarys job creation was the best since last september. The Labor Department reports that u. S. Employers added 227,000 new jobs. At the same time, the Unemployment Rate ticked up to 4. 8 , now that more americans are looking for work. President trump welcomed the report, and said that it shows a great spirit in the country. The jobs report and the president s move to scale back financial regulations fueled a rally on wall street. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 186 points to close back above 20,000. The nasdaq rose 30 points, and the s p 500 added 16. The Trump Administration imposed new economic sanctions today on 13 people and a Dozen Companies in iran. It is a response to irans test this month of a Ballistic Missile. Early this morning, the president tweeted iran is playing with fire. And, press Secretary Sean Spicer said the president isnt ruling out other responses, including military action. The sanctions today i think will be very, very strong and impactful, and i hope iran realizes that after the provocative measures that theyve taken, that they understand this president , this administration, is not going to sit back and take it lightly. Woodruff later in the day, when mr. Trump was asked about iran, he said theyre not behaving. But irans foreign minister javad zarif posted his own tweet, saying iran unmoved by threats. Will never initiate war. We will get into the details of these sanctions, and the implications, after the news summary. In paris, Security Fears surged again today when a man with a machete attacked guards outside the famed louvre museum. The attacker, said to be an egyptian national, shouted god is great in arabic. He slightly injured one soldier before being shot and wounded himself. Museumgoers had to flee, or shelter in place. A senior israeli official is welcoming a u. S. Statement on settlements. In it, the Trump White House says they do not impede peace, but that constructing new ones or expanding existing ones, may not be helpful. In response, Israels Deputy foreign minister said today the conclusion is that more building is not the problem. A spokesman for palestinian president abbas called for action to prevent settlement expansion. U. S. Defense secretary james mattis reassured south korea and japan today that the u. S. Is still committed to defending them. His first trip abroad followed candidate trumps complaints that the allies should do more for their own defense. In seoul, mattis met with his south korean counterpart, and underscored american support to deter north korea. Americas commitments to defending our allies and to upholding our extended deterrence guarantees remain ironclad. Any attack on the United States or on our allies will be defeated and any use of Nuclear Weapons would be met with a response that would be effective and overwhelming. Woodruff mattis later met with japans Prime Minister in tokyo. The u. S. Has more than 28,000 troops in south korea and about 50,000 in japan. The u. N. Human rights commissioner is accusing Security Forces in myanmar of mass killings and gang rapes against rohingya muslims. A report today charges theres a campaign to drive them out of the mostly buddhist nation. Myanmar has denied previous allegations of abuses against its muslim minority. It says it is battling insurgents. Back in this country, a Justice Department lawyer told a federal court that 100,000 visas have been revoked under President TrumpS Immigration order. The state Department Said later that the number is actually fewer than 60,000. Meanwhile, federal judges in boston, seattle and Virginia Held hearings on legal challenges to the order. The boston judge extending the partial block on the order while in virginia a judge allowed the challenge to go forward. The stage is set for a Senate Showdown on betsy devos, President Trumps nominee for secretary of education. Senators voted early this morning to end debate, with democrats and republicans senators jousting over the nominees qualifications. The nominee for the secretary of education is one of the worst nominees that has ever been brought before this body for a cabinet position. On the grounds of competence, on the grounds of ideology and on the grounds of conflicts of interest, she scores very, very low. There will be no mandates for common core, no mandates for teacher evaluation, no mandates for vouchers, no mandates for anything else from the United States department of education headed by betsy devos. We will be swapping a National School board for what she believes in, which is a local school board. Woodruff the confirmation vote on devos will come next week. It could end in a tie, leaving Vice President pence to cast the deciding vote. Congressional republicans are also moving to rescind more obamaera regulations. The house voted today to abolish a rule on cutting methane emissions from natural gas drilling. The senate gave final approval to dropping a mandate that energy firms disclose what they pay governments for drilling rights. We will look at the drive to roll back rules, later in the program. Enrollments on the National Obamacare website have fallen slightly. The government reported today that 9. 2 Million People signed up through the end of january. Thats about half a million fewer than last year. There are no final numbers yet for the 11 states with their own Health Insurance markets. Still to come on the newshour new sanctions against iran in response to a Ballistic Missile test; from wall street to the environment rolling back obamaera regulations; the next phase of the battle for mosul, and much more. Woodruff as we reported earlier, the Trump Administration applied new sanctions today to over a dozen people and companies tied to irans Ballistic Missile program. Hari sreenivasan has more. Sreenivasan the white house says the sanctions are not related to the nuclear deal, and structured in a way that maintains the u. S. commitments to that agreement. At the same time, the National Security advisor Michael Flynn also released a statement today, saying the International Community has been too tolerant of irans bad behavior. The ritual of convening a United NationsSecurity Council in an emergency meeting and issuing a strong statement is not enough. The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate irans provocations that threaten our interests. Joining me for what the new sanctions and statements mean Going Forward is Karim Sadjapour of the Carnegie Endowment for international peace. Karim, lets put h this in context. Who do these sanctions affect and what will they be prohibited from doing . These sanctions are very targeted against individuals and entities that are affiliated or part of irans revolutionary guards who are involved in irans Missile Program and irans support for regional militias, and theyre very targeted. Theyre not broad sanctions which are intended to really change iranian behavior, but i do think theyre intended to do what general flynn, the National Security advisor said, which is to put iran on notice. Sreenivasan how different than what the Obama Administration would have done had they seen this test on their watch. The Obama Administration was reluctant to encounter irans regional behavior because they were worried that would provoke an escalation which would jeopardize the nuclear deal which sus the Obama Administrations main Foreign Policy legacy, and the Trump Administration doesnt have those concerns. President trump has routinely denounced the Iran Nuclear Deal as a disaster, and i think in contrast to the Obama Administration, the Trump Administrations National Security brain trust, men like general flynn, general mattis at the pentagon, these were men who served in iraq, and they hold iran responsible for the death of hundreds of u. S. Soldiers. So they felt, during the obama yearyears, that they were restrd from being able to retaliate against iran and now they feel unrestrained and theyre confronting iran in the region. Sreenivasan iran said they are planning to same similar steps against members inside the United States. Does this escalate . Does this go further . I do think, hari, that we are in the early stages of an escalation which could eventually over months culminate in a military conflict either between the United States and iran or israel and iran. Now, irans comfort zone is to have kind of managed, contained hostility between the United States and iran. For four decades, thats been a central part of the revolutionary ideology, but theyve stopped short of actually going into military conflict with the United States. I think that the early weeks and months of the Trump Administration will be a trial in which both countries are kind of feeling the other one out. Iran, i expect, will want to show that these sanctions and the taunts from trump are not going to modify their behavior, but, at the same time, they will probably want to respond in a way which isnt going to significantly escalate. They will want probably a gradual escalation. Sreenivasan is the end goal for both sides here to see who will back out of the deal first, or who will, at least in the International Community, lose face . You know, thats absolutely right, that kneeder side will neither side will want to gratuitously tear up the nuclear deal and be blamed for it. I think one of the things the Obama Administration did well is they made the case to allies that they tried to engage iran and iran didnt reciprocate and the problem lie in iran, not washington. I think the challenge the Trump Administration will have is you have a president in washington who is gratuitously blusttrouse not only toward america but its allies, and you have a president and foreign minister in iran who to much to the world seem like moderate, reasonable figures and add on to the fact that the middle east is in the throws of tumult and carnage and, for many countries around the world, including china, russia and europe, they see iran as a force for stability in the region and an ally against i. S. I. S. Sreenivasan all right, Karim Sadjapo