Corporate funding is provided by mutual of america designing customized individual and Group Retirement products. Thats why we are your retirement company. Additional support is provided by and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. From the tisch wnet studios in Lincoln Center in new york, hari sreenivasan. Sreenivasan good evening. Thanks for joining us. Isis is being blamed for a terror attack in another part of the world today, afghanistan. The president of that country says the Extremist Group was responsible for a suicide bombing that left at least 33 people dead and an estimated 100 wounded. The attack occurred outside a bank in the eastern city of jalalabad. The victims had gathered there to collect their paychecks. A spokesman for the taliban, which has been at war with the westernbacked government in afghanistan, also condemned todays attack. Well have more after the news summary. A suspected terror plot in australia has been foiled. Authorities in melbourne arrested five teens said to have been planning an attack on police during a world war i commemoration next week. The five teens, all 18 or 19 years old, are all described as isis sympathizers. There has been a sharp spike in terrorrelated arrests in australia in the past six months. Russian president Vladimir Putin struck a more conciliatory tone toward the United States today. During a television interview, he said the two countries share what he called a common agenda. And putin said russia is prepared to work with whoever is elected president of the United States next year. Relations between the two countries have deteriorated since russias annexation of crimea and the subsequent sanctions imposed against it. California today modified its proposed drought restrictions. The states Water Resources control board said the new rules would reduce cuts to communities that have taken steps to save water but would increase cuts on more wasteful communities. The goal is to have the new rules in place before summertime when water usage spikes. A new report says the Catholic Church in the United States spent more than 150 million during a 12month period ending last summer on child abuse cases, the vast majority of the sum on legal settlements with victims. It said most of the abuse cases occurred from the 1960s to the 1980s. The church spent the rest of the money, almost 32 million, was on what the church calls safe environment training programs. Two weeks after a policeman shot and killed walter scott in north charleston, the local chapter of the n. A. A. C. P. Is calling on the federal government to investigate all fatal shootings by police in that South Carolina community during the past two decades. The group claims authorities there deliberately filed false reports and tampered with evidence to protect officers involved in the fatal shootings of africanamericans, what they call a blue wall of silence. And nearly 20 republican president ial hopefuls are in nashua, new hampshire, this weekend for what the state Republican Committee calls the first in the nation forum. The states always influential primary is now a little less than ten months away. And there may be a scientific explanation for those loving feelings you have when you look into your dogs eyes. Researchers in japan say a chemical called oxytocin, sometimes called the love hormone, is released in your brain, prompting those good feelings to wash over you. Its not unrequited love. The scientists says the dogs are experiencing the same chemical release and presumably the same loving feelings. Sreenivasan todays bombing in afghanistan caps a chaotic week throughout much of the muslim world. Violent conflicts are now raging in iraq, syria and yemen, and the threat posed by terror groups like isis and al qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula seemingly are intensifying. To help us analyze these developments, we are joined from washington by Anthony Cordesman of the center for strategic and international studies. Mr. Cordesman previously served in the state department and was the director of intelligence assessment in the office of the secretary of defense. Its nearly 2,000 miles from damascus syria to kabul, afghanistan. And violence seems to be spreading throughout the entire region. Whats the Bigger Picture that we need to understand . Im afraid that is the Bigger Picture because what we are watching and we have been watching almost since 2010 is a very sharp rise in the number of terrorist incidents. And now what were watching is civil war and basically some forms of insurgency. Sreenivasan we mentioned that suicide pomming in eastern afghanistan today, that the president of that country blames on isis. How significant is it that isis is now involved in afghanistan . We need to be very careful. I think part of the problem is its convenient to blame isis if youre trying to negotiate with the taliban. But a lot of groups have sort of had this cosmetic set of alignments with the Islamic State without there being real ties. These movements movements are generally independent. And long before any of these alignments occurred afghanistan, for example saw a very sharp rise in casualties last year. Theres been another rise this year. What i think we had hoped for in terms of of much stronger Afghanistan Forces a much stronger afghanistan government, has yet to appear. There certainly is no more stability in afghanistan than there is in yemen or syria or iraq or on the other areas in this region. Sreenivasan you mentioned iraq, and isis forces are now battling Government Troops for control of ramadi and the nations largest oil refinery. What does this say about the effectiveness of our Bombing Campaign against them . Were dealing with a scattered force. It isnt really dependent on a lot of heavy equipment. It can embed itself in buildings and cities which makes bombing very difficult unless its supported pie by ground troops. In both the case of ramadi and the refinery that is not something where air power alone can be fully effective. Where it has done well is reducing the revenues theyve had through oil exports. It has had some impact on hitting key leadership cadres but this coming campaign so far has been relatively limited and it has not had any major strategic impact. Sreenivasan if we turn our spotlight to yemen for a second, yesterday al qaeda fofses seized dozens of tanks, rocket launchers, small arms. How concerning is that groups gains given that it was responsible for the paris terrorist attacks in january . Well, it is concerning because it also is the movement which has been best organized in trying to launch attacks against the United States. A rebirth of that group, al qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, is seriously dangerous. Sreenivasan what about the humanitarian aspect of all this . The most recent estimates from the u. S. Aid for syria are a good example. Has a population of a little over 18 million. Theres Something Like 3. 7 million that have been driven out of the country as refugees. More than four Million People are so caught up in the fighting that theres no form of aid that can reach them. Just over the last few weeks, weve seen something close to that building up in yemen a breakdown in food supply in basic operations of the economy the spread of violence throughout the entire country in the populated areas. So the human cost just keeps rising. Sreenivasan if someones just kind of opening up the paper, so to speak, or watching this program, considering the string of headlines that theyve been seeing all week, what should the takeaway be . This is going to be a very long set of struggles. It isnt centered in one place. Were going to be dealing with this problem for years. Weve already said weve had our chief military warn us that in iraq it could easily be years before mosul is liberated and no one has said anything about when this conflict will end in syria, end in yemen end in afghanistan. Sreenivasan all right Anthony Cordesman joining us from washington, thanks so much. My pleasure. Sreenivasan wednesday is earth day, and president obama is expected to travel to florida to highlight the issue of Climate Change. Today, thousands gathered in the Nations Capital for a rally and a free concert to call for swifter action to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions. Thats the goal of some teenagers in oregon, too. Theyve teamed up with Environmental Lawyers there and have gone to court to try to compel the state to do more, sooner. The newshours Megan Thompson explains their novel legal approach in tonights signature piece from eugene, oregon. Reporter a crowd paraded recently outside the courthouse in eugene, oregon. Kids, teachers, parents there were even singing grandmas all hoping to draw attention to what this young woman was doing inside. Your honor, i have counsel table with me this morning, this afternoon, Kelsey Juliana, one of the plaintiffs. Reporter Kelsey Juliana is only 19 years old, but shes suing the state of oregon, claiming its not doing nearly enough to stop Climate Change and prevent the effects it will have on her generation and those to come. If the state does not act now, we are facing irreversible, catastrophic crises. Reporter juliana, who delayed her first semester of college last fall to participate in a climate walk across the country, has been active on the issue for years. Ive been doing climate activism work since fifth grade, and, you know, that started with me, you know, getting my friends, my soccer Team Together and spending a day marching and holding up signs. Reporter in 2011, juliana and another plaintiff teamed up with a local environmental activist group, our Childrens Trust, to file the lawsuit against the state. Juliana was just 15. But its not only her age thats drawn attention to this case its also the legal approach thats being used, all started by university of oregon law professor Mary Christina wood it was really the moment when Hurricane Katrina hit and i recognized that Climate Crisis had not been addressed properly by government, and the crisis was worsening with great urgency. And environmental law had largely failed to address many of the most significant problems we face. So, to me, the Public Trust Doctrine was the logical response. Reporter the Public Trust Doctrine is a legal theory that essentially says government should hold certain Natural Resources in trust for the public. It can be traced back to ancient roman law and English Common law. In the u. S. , its mostly been used to guarantee Public Access to waterways and became part of american case law back in the 1890s in a Supreme Court ruling that private developers in chicago couldnt prevent Public Access to lake michigan. But in the 1970s, Environmental Lawyers began arguing that the Public Trust Doctrine should be extended to other resources like wildlife or even the air, and that it should compel governments to protect these resources, too. And now, professor wood says, it should be extended to protect the atmosphere, as well. It obviously applies to the atmosphere because the atmosphere controls the climate system we all depend on for survival. Reporter wood thought, if the atmosphere could be considered a resource covered by the Public Trust Doctrine, then maybe courts could force governments to take additional steps to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions. She called her idea Atmospheric Trust Litigation and worked with wellknown climate scientist james hansen. He says we need to reduce emissions by at least 6 a year and proposed specific remedies like a carbon tax to help get there. Wood started giving talks about the plan and eventually wrote a book. The problem with climate is that there is mindblowing urgency, and we have now natures laws to contend with. And so, what Atmospheric Trust Litigation asks is that government have a plan. And so, i heard a talk that mary wood gave at the university of oregon about using the Public Trust Doctrine to compel governments to protect our climate system for future generations. Reporter environmental attorney julia olson was so inspired that she decided to put woods ideas into practice. In 2010, she cofounded our Childrens Trust, the group that backed julianas case in oregon. But its not just happening here; kids backed by the group have brought lawsuits against the federal government and in 14 other states, although the case in oregon has gotten the furthest along. And the ideas catching on globally, too; similar lawsuits have been filed in ukraine, uganda, the philippines and the netherlands. Its all been done with the help of an army of attorneys and scientists working pro bono. Were trying to spread the message that people everywhere, all over the world, hold these fundamental, inalienable rights to have their essential Natural Resources protected for themselves and for future generations, for their children and greatgrandchildren. Reporter many of the lawsuits, including the federal suit, have been dismissed. And while a couple of state judges have been receptive to the idea that the public trust could include the atmosphere, none has forced state governments to take action. Richard stewart is a professor of environmental law at New York University and explained the plaintiffs in oregon will have an uphill battle, too. Its an interesting and intriguing idea, but there are a number of problems. One, it goes way beyond what any state court has done thus far. Secondly, the atmosphere is global and Greenhouse Gases mix globally, so oregon can by no means solve the problem, even the problem in oregon. The third problem is providing a remedy, and many courts in. There have been cases brought in other states that have said this is really for the political branches, this is beyond the capacity of the judiciary to manage. Reporter in fact, the Circuit Court judge in oregon originally tossed out julianas case on procedural grounds based on that very argument. But last year, an Oregon Appeals Court gave our Childrens Trust one of its biggest wins so far ordering the case back to the lower court for a decision on the merits. Four years after the plaintiffs filed their lawsuit, they finally got their day in court on april 7, here at the lane county Circuit Court in eugene. People lined up two hours before the hearing to watch Kelsey Julianas case against the state of oregon. But interestingly, the state itself doesnt dispute many of the basic underlying facts of the case. The state of oregon agrees that Climate Change is a serious problem. Reporter Paul Garrahan is an attorney with the Oregon Department of justice and was part of the states legal team at the hearing. The state of oregon for decades has been an environmental policy leader. Oregon is already one of the lowest Greenhouse Gas emitters in the country and is about to shut down its only coalfired power plant. The state even has a Global Warming commission and is adopting a clean fuels program. Garrahan says the state shares many of the plaintiffs goals, but using the Public Trust Doctrine to sue in court isnt the right way to go about achieving them. We think that as a fundamental issue of democratic government, those decisions should be made by the legislature and by the executive branch. It is the duty of the legislature. Reporter but the plaintiffs argue theres no time for a debate about the role of various branches of government, and point to a report issued by the state itself showing its proposed plans dont put it on track to achieve its own emissions goals. The plaintiffs acknowledge that the state is taking lots of steps to address this, but they say its just not enough. Well, we agree that the state can do more, and were aggressively pushing policies to do more. Reporter judges have said, im a judge, and its not my job to tell democratically elected legislatures and state officials what to do. How do you overcome that . Its actually pretty simple. So, we have three branches of government. It goes back to fifth grade civics. And one branch of government, th