♪ geoff: good evening. amna: on the newshour tonight, a jury decides former president donald trump must pay writer e. jean carroll more than 83 million dollars for defamation. geoff: united nations top court orders israel to do all they can to prevent acts of genocide in gaza but stop short of calling for a cease-fire. amna: alabama carries out the nation's first execution with nitrous gas. >> he was gasping for multiple

minutes and the entire thing seemed to take around 22 minutes which was significantly longer than what a lot of people expected. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> cunard is a proud supporter of public television. on a voyage with cunard, the world awaits. a world of flavor, diverse destinations and immersive experiences. a world of leisure and british style. all with cunard's service. >> the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the newshour

including jim and nancy built an ark and the robber and virginia schiller foundation. >> the donis and james l knight foundation fostering engaged communities. more at kf.org. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and 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. amna: welcome to the newshour appeared the un's top court delivered major warnings to israel about how it should

conduct the war in gaza. geoff: but first some late breaking news tonight. a new york jury has ordered former president donald trump to pay a total of 83.8 -- $83.3 million to writer e. jean carroll. amna: her lawyers had asked at the anonymous jury for heavy damages against the former president pointing to his continuing attacks both from the white house as president and after leaving office. geoff: we have more on how to make sense of the jury's decision. let's eak down the specific damages. reporter: it was a pretty stunning number that came out today. $83.3 million total. $7.3 million was offered for emotional harm. $11 million in reputational damage. and $65 million in punitive

damages. let's talk about each of those individually. the emotional harm was for what e. jean carroll said was a torrent of abuse she suffered through after the then president defamed her. she said she received death threats, a torrent of online abuse. she did not feel safe and slept with a gun in her bed at one point. the jury gave her $7 million for that. she also said her career fell off a cliff and she stopped getting interviews and going on morning tv. the only thing anyone ever wanted to talk to her about was donald trump. and with the specter of him calling her a whack job, they awarded her $11 million for her reputational repair. 60 $5 million was the punitive damages. that is what the jury could decide that they wanted to punish the former president

with. it is worth remembering that she already received 5 million dollars from her previous civil case where the former president was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming her. geoff: the 65 million dollars in punitive damages, that number stands out. what did her team argued that lead the jury to arrive to that number? reporter: the punitive damage number is the one that jumps out. her lawyers all along have been arguing that if you want to top donald trump from -- if you want to stop donald trump from continuing to make these unfounded claims about e. jean carroll, money is the only way to do that. we should note the former president has continued to make these statements about her. he says she is a liar. he says he never did anything to her. at she made it all up to sell a book. 30-40 social truths from earlier

this month he put out about her in a single day. before they rested their case yesterday her lawyers posted long swaths of video of the former president boasting about his wealth as a way of priming the jury to remember that this is a very wealthy man. geoff: and as you and others have reported mr. trump did not help himself in front of the jury with his behavior. he walked out of the courtroom. reporter: i am not a jury consultant or a psychologist but it is hard to look at how he comported himself in front of the jury and with this judge and think he did himself any favorites. the times i've sat in court with him he was arrestable, speaking loudly enough for the jury to hear so lawyers and the judge had to stop and tell him to be diet. and in the middle of closing

today, the dénouement of a court event and he left the courthouse. it is hard to see that did him any favors. geoff: what comes next? reporter: the former president says he will appeal. he posted on truth social today -- this is absolutely ridiculous. i fully disagree with both verdicts and will be appealing this whole biden directed witch hunt focused on me and the whole republican party. it is worth stating that there is no evidence that this is connected to the biden white house at all. this was a civil case brought by an individual person. the president will appeal this and we will see how it goes. geoff: we have been tracking this and the other cases involving the former president. amna: to our other top story, the international court of

justice rejected south africa's request for a cease-fire after it accused israel of genocide but the court also rejected israel's request for a dismissal and acknowledged genocide accusation should be further investigated insuring a legal spotlight will continue to shine on the war. nick schifrin reports. >> the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the gaza strip -- reporter: delivered a judicial thunderbolt. >> israel must in accordance with its obligations under the genocide convention in relation to pals indians in gaza take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of article number two of the convention. >> the conviction on genocide -- reporter: the convention was adopted 75 years ago. in article two, genocide is defined as arcs committed with the intent to destroy in whole or in part a national or

religious group and sites as examples killing, injuring, inflicting conditions calculated to bring about physical distraction, preventing births or transferring children. >> israel must assure that its military forces do not commit any of the aforementioned attacks. reporter: the court declined south africans request for a cease-fire in gaza and acknowledged israel's right to defend itself. but it also said that israel must take immediate measures to deliver humanitarian gaza, prevent and punish incitement to commit genocide and preserve evidence of its military decisions the first two were supported even by israel's ad hoc judge in the courts. >> israel's commitment to international law is unwavering. reporter: the israeli prime minister vowed to continue the work. >> our war is against hamas terrorists and not palestinian civilians.

we will facilitate humanitarian assistance. even as hamas uses civilians as shields. reporter: but israel's defense minister was less constrained. in a statement he said those that seek justice will not find it on the leather chairs of the court chambers of the hague. they will find it in the hamas tunnels. >> we respect the courts role as an arbiter of solving peaceful disputes. reporter: john kirby said today that the courts ruling echoed u.s. calls to minimize civilian casualties and send humanitarian assistance. but it also said it would not change u.s. assistance to israel. >> the president believes the approach we have been taking has been getting results. >> and a reminder of the october 7 hamas terrorist attack that started the war. u.n. principal agency in gaza fired 12 employees per

participating in the attack. in restaurants the u.s. temporarily suspended financial support to the agency which provides all of gaza's basic services. >> how symbolic is it that on international holocaust remembrance day it was exposed that these employees took part in the massacre? reporter: for perspective on the orders today we turn to harold, who served as -- assistant secretary of state for democracy and human rights during the clinton administration and he is a professor now of international law at yell law school. what is your reaction to the international court of justice's role? >> i think it is a lopsided legal win for south africa and it is a severe public relations loss for israel. i think it has some virtues. i think it will force the israelis to be much more open

about granting of access to humanitarian assistance and it will encourage its politicians to dial back their over-the-top rhetoric which the court indicated might be considered incitement to genocide. but it is an unbalanced ruling in that it does not require hamas to do anything and leaves it free to continue its attacks. reporter: when it comes to israel doesn't fundamentally force or push israel to change the way it is prosecuting the war? >> they did not tell them to stop by the as railways have said calling this a genocide was a total "blood libel." what the court said by a decisive margin is that some of the acts could be capable of being viewed as committing genocide or failing to prevent genocide. meaning this is a plausible claim depending on how severe civilian casualties are going

forward so the israelis have to take that veryeriously. the kind of unrestrained language quoted shows the politicians in the days after october 7 were really using overbroad language. and even the is really judge said. and even that is really judge said you have to give humanitarian assistance and you cannot make these intemperate statements. reporter: on israeli military actions of the court is not saying that israel has to be more precise. it is just single have to prevent the commission of acts described in the convention that would show the intent to destroy palestinians in gaza. >> it is possible the israelis could respond that we will do what we are doing and will renounce that we have any genocidal intent against the palestinians in gaza as opposed to hamas. the problem though is that the

scale of civilian deaths is so broad that from those debts you could infer or possibly infer an intent to wipe out a group. so i do think it forces the israelis to be much more careful and discriminate than they have been to this point. reporter: john kirby today said this would not change u.s. support to israel. is he right? >> it will certainly affect their discussions inside. the u.s. does not want to be accused of aiding and abetting genocide. all conversations are going to be reflected through the idea -- could but we are doing in terms of aid to israel be taken as aiding and abetting genocide? they want to stay on the side of it. kirby also said that the ruling tells only what we have been saying to the israelis anyway. which suggests it may actually help the u.s. in calling for the

restraint from more -- or more restraint from the prime minister's government in terms of its words and actions. reporter: what specific steps could the biden administration take when it comes to pushing israel one way or another if it does as you say use this court ruling for that affect? >> the biden administration could say you have to monitor the rules of engagement so there is some assurance they are following international humanitarian law. there is a well-publicized story that israeli troops fired upon and killed people holding a white flag. the obvious question is, what kinds of rules of engagement are they operating under or they would fire when someone is waving a white flag? what they could say is that we are telling this because we are your friends but also because you are under the supervision of the court and if you don't take it seriously, they are going to rule against you further. reporter: u.s. has suspended

funding to unwra after the u.n. admitted that 12 of its staff participated in the october 7 hamas attack and john kirby went further saying we will consider additional changes in the way we support the organization going forward depending on the u.n. investigation. how significant is that? >> it is a very disturbing development. the organization has 13,000 aid workers in gaza and it is critical to alleviating the humanitarian crisis going on right now which may lead to the death of thousands more civilians in the next period. it is hard to do this without organization. on the other hand, it has already become clear that at least some part of the organization is compromised. the commissioner fired 12 people are ready. i think what it will do is also create a pall over u.n. activities.

the international court of justice's opinion quoted language from the commissioner in its report. the israelis can now say those statements are biased or infected by an anti-israeli view on the part of the organization. reporter: thank you so much. ♪ amna: in the days other headlines the israeli military ordered sweeping new evacuations of three neighborhoods in southern gaza as an fighting raged. not sent thousands more palestinians fleeing to rafa along the border with egypt which is already packed by displaced people living in tent cities. president biden spoke with the amir of cutter and the president of egypt out prospects for a cease-fire and hostage release

in gaza. that came amid reports that the cia director will meet in europe with the israeli and egyptian intelligence to use and the qatari prime minister. but the white house kept expectations low. >> i would like nothing better than to say that we are here. we are not. i hope you take away from all the work that we have been doing in the recent days and weeks including phone calls president had today which is how seriously we are taking the issue and how hard we are working to see if another hostage the old can be put into place. amna: it is believed that hamas and other militants hold up to 130 hostages in gaza. houthi rebels have hired on more ships in the gulf of aden. an oil tanker was hit by a missile. 30 house members demanded president biden get congressional approval for reprisals against the rebels. they warned in the letter no

president regardless of political party has the constitutional authority to bypass congress on matters of war. the speaker of the house, mike johnson now says a potential senate deal on border security and ukraine funding is dead on arrival. he made that known today in the letter to colleagues. hard-line conservatives and former president trump are already opposing the deal as a political gift to democrats. russia denied today that president putin was open to talks on ending the war in ukraine. bloomberg news reported that he has put out feelers to the u.s. and might consider dropping objections to ukraine joining nato. a kremlin spokesperson said this as a wrong report and it absolutely does not correspond with reality. also today a moscow court extended their pretrial attention of wall street journal reporter evan. it now runs through the end of march one year after his arrest.

he listened to the ruling today from inside a courtroom cage. he is accused of asby and oshkosh something he and the journal denied. in australia thousands of people protested as the country observed australia day when british convicts arrived in 1798 as the first european settlers. crowds waved aboriginal flags to mark centuries of injustice and many pushed to do away with the usual celebrations and rename it "invasion day." >> australia day does not mean anything to us. it is the death of aboriginal sovereignty. we were operating under our law and we still do. amna: last october voters rejected creating a special committee to advise parliament on policies affecting indigenous people. the american museum of natural history in new york is closing two native american exhibits following new federal rules that say museums need permission from

tribes to display cultural artifacts. several other museums have covered displays while they determine if they are in compliance. on wall street stocks had mixed finishes showing -- the dow jones industrial average gained 60 points. the nasdaq fell 55 points and the as mp 500 lost three still to the newshour, donovan and eliana johnson way in on the week's political headlines. and then asked her not that spent a year in space talks about readjusting to life back on earth. and an american chemist causes a stir in britain suggesting a cup of tea could be improved with salt plus much more. ♪ >> this is the pbs newshour from w eta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite goal of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: for the first time in

this nation's history nitrogen gas was used as a new method of capital punishment in the x -- execution of an alabama prisoner. smith was convicted in 1988. he survived a botched execution attempt in 2022. for the second and final execution the state opted for a never before used nitrogen gas method despite concerns voiced by several human rights groups and the u.n. that they could amount to torture. we are joined by npr's kiara eiseman who has been reporting on the story. alabama tried to execute smith first by lethal injection two years ago but was unable to find a vein of the states death warrant expired. why did they turn to nitrogen suffocation? reporter: in contee 22 kenneth smith's execution was botched in that way and they could not execute him but that was the third execution that year that

was botched in a similar way. the state struggled repeatedly with lisle injection. after his failed execution his lawyers argued they should never try to use that method on him again and they advocated for a second method of execution that is legal in alabama and the secondary method is nitrogen gas. it is the other approved method and that is what was available as an alternative. geoff: smith's spiritual advisor condemned this method of execution while speaking to reporters last night. >> i think that anyone that witnessed this knows we did not see someone go unconscious in 2-3 seconds. we did not see someone go unconscious in 30 seconds. what we saw was minutes of someone struggling for their life. i stood there and cried. while i saw someone get suffocated to death. geoff: what exactly transpired

during this execution? reporter: we heard from multiple media witnesses that smith was awake, conscious at least for multiple minutes. we heard he was writhing and gasping for multiple minutes. and the entire thing seemed to take around 22 minutes, significantly longer than what a lot of people expected. geoff: and we should say that smith was convicted of beating a 45-year-old woman with a fireplace poker more than 30 years ago. the victim's son also spoke to the media last night. >> it is kind of a bittersweet day. we are not going to be jumping around hollering. that is not us. but we are glad this day is over. kenneth smith made some bad decisions 35 years ago.

and his death was paid tonight. geoff: looking ahead oklahoma and mississippi have also approved the use of nitrogen gas for execution. is there an expectation that others states will follow suit? >> a lot of people were looking at what happened last night seeing whether it is a viable alternative. lethal injection has not been a viable alternative for many states. the drugs have been difficult to obtain after pharmaceutical companies widely and unanimously objected to their drugs being used to kill people. that has made it very difficult for states to obtain those drugs and execute their prisoners with them and people are looking for alternative methods. we have seen the death penalty decrease in popularity in the amount of executions going on. it is not stopping by any means. there are multiple executions scheduled for this year and multiple executions scheduled in oklahoma where nitrogen gas is

an approved method of execution. geoff: here eisner, thank you for being with us. ♪ amna: republicans are increasingly coalescing around former president donald trump even as the likely gop presidential nominee continues to use racist and incendiary language. >> they are poisoning the blood of our country. mental institutions. prisons all over the world. not just in south america or 3-4 countries we think about but all over the world they are coming into our country. from africa and asia. they are pouring into our country. amna: from circulating baseless conspiracies about his presidential rivals to demonizing immigrants his rhetoric has reshaped the

party's base. we have been covering this. when we talk about the rhetoric, what kind of language are we talking about? reporter: in addition to what we just heard on the former president repeatedly saying that migrants are poisoning the blood of the country which historians of nazi germany point out is echoing hitler's language. he has also deployed racist tactics against nikki haley questioning her citizenship. he reposted on truth social and account, a gateway pundit that questioned whether she was eligible to be the president and questioned her american bona fides and he has also repeatedly used her birth name but mispronounced it. this is not the first time that the president has deployed

tactics like that. you will remember that he repeatedly questioned former president barack obama was citizenship and repeatedly asked for his birth certificate calling him barack hussein obama. amna: this is part of his presidential campaign. is there a political strategy? reporter: there is a playbook that has been used by republican politicians in the past that appeals to fears of the other fears of brown and black people. we saw it used by richard nixon and saw it used by ronald reagan. this is something that is not necessarily new to the republican party but i spoke with en lopez from uc berkeley, a professor of race and constitutional law and he asked ain't how dog whistle politics animates american voters. >> what is happening with dog whistle politics is you have politicians that are strategic

weight and perp -- strategically and purposely looking to exploit people's unconscious vulnerabilities i saying "welfare queen," " illegal alien." terms they know will trigger unconscious racist views but which they also can say -- i did not say anything racist, i did not mention skin color. reporter: professor lopez mentioned that dog whistle politics is of active because it animates fear and anger among voters and then they don't listen to other arguments. amna: tell us more about those voters. how is this language resonating? reporter: i spoke with a former gop congressman from virginia and he said these types of racist appeals from donald trump and other republicans is

infecting the republican voting base. and a republican pollster shared some responses she has been getting in her focus groups specifically in this recent focus group she was speaking to to time trump voters showing republican voters are repeating donald trump's dog whistles when they are talking about some of the other candidates running in the primaries. >> i'm sorry. i don't like his name. i don't like where he came from. i still harbor a lot of hard feelings about that. >> eyes -- i feel it is a man's job to make tough decisions without emotions involved. reporter: that last one we heard, some sexism directed at nikki haley. republican voters repeating some

of the same sexist rider accused by former president donald trump. amna: we are talking about the man that is the likely gop nominee. what does this mean for the republican party and the country? reporter: in 2012 the republican national committee decided that they needed to be a more inclusive party. he issued an autopsy report saying we were losing young voters and minorities did not want them in the country. but when donald trump won in 2016 he sent the party down a different path. it basically convinced the republican party that he could issue a playbook of dog whistle politics and win. i asked professor lopez the impact on the larger country. >> the tragedy is that republican leadership and also import media outlets like fox news have convinced a

significant portion of americans that their best future depends on rejecting and indeed actively fighting against a multiracial democracy. but we are already a multiracial society. what we stand to lose than is our democracy. and a society that works for all of us. reporter: even though donald trump's playbook is not new, the professor said the relentless rhetoric has essentially reshaped the entire republican voting base. amna: lara, thank you for that reporting. ♪ amna: funding for ukraine is on hold as former president donald trump has urged lawmakers to reject compromise on an immigration deal.

we turned now to the analysis of jonathan cape are, associate editor of the washington post and eliana johnson, editor and posed for the washington free beacon. david brooks is away. we reported earlier that the speaker mike johnson said in a letter that senate bill on border security and ukraine funding is dead on arrival after former president trump ramped up pressure on republicans to kill the deal. mitt romney had this to say. >> the fact that he would communicate to republican senators and congresspeople that he does not want us to solve border problem because he wants to blame biden for it is really appalling. amna: jonathan was on life support. >> senator romney is not the only one speaking out against what the former president is asking them to do. speaking out in favor of a bill

that, under normal circumstances, they would not get. keep in mind this is a bill that no one has seen. none of us at this table. it has not been released. we are talking about rumors of what might be in the bill. the word rumors is the word that speaker johnson used in the letter. it is my hope that senator romney, graham and the other six stay cohesive come stay at the bargaining table and come up with something because the idea that you should not, with something because it will give president biden some sort of win is appalling. these are the same people that have been complaining about open borders and invasions and fentanyl killing americans coming over the border and why won't president biden do anything? they are trying to do it but they are standing in the way. amna: president biden put out a

statement calling the deal a win for america. heaid for everyone who is demanding tougher border control, this is the way to do it. if you are serious about the border crisis, past a bipartisan bill and i will sign it. are republicans really serious about addressing the border crisis? reporter: the statement from president biden will be his message. i am skeptical of the bill will pass. but immigration and the border have been a problem for president biden. you can see him prepare to say that we came wanting to sign a deal with the toughest border provisions in a long time and republicans reject the that. ash rejected that. the question is whether biden will be able to get out from under all of the bad press and his poor handling of the border until now. how closely are people paying attention to this? there are some other interesting dynamics.

mitch mcconnell, the senate minority leader, this deal is republican support for ukraine funding in exchange for democrats agreeing to tougher border provisions. mitch mcconnell has been the loudest opponent on the republican side of ukraine funding and he will be in favor of this deal. it is a legacy issue for him. it looks like it will be president trump who wants to campaign on the bad situation at the border versus mitch mcconnell and the senate wanting this legacy issue which is more funding for ukraine. amna: would mcconnell delphi president -- defy president trump? reporter: he is not beholden to anyone. others are more skeptical. the house already passed a much tougher border deal and when speaker johnson came out he said the senate deal is not as tough as the house deal. reporter: and we should point

out the fact that speaker johnson is in new york constant communication with donald trump. we know what is going on here. no matter what the senate comes up with, the house is not going to pass it. and certainly they won't come up with a bill that could garner a single democratic vote. amna: this is unfolding with the presidential campaign in the background and mr. trump being the presumptive nominee. what are the biggest takeaways coming out of the early contest in iowa and new hampshire? we saw his strengths. we know his core constituency and boil base. you also saw a key judgment from a jury awarding e. jean carroll $83 million that he has to pay for defaming her. is any of this a vulnerability for him? reporter: not in the primary, not during the primary campaign. as we have seen his poll numbers started going up among the

primary electorate the moment he got the first indictment. the promise comes in if he does become the nominee a now he is in the general election campaign. there are certainly democrats that will vote for him but there are a lot of republicans that are troubled by these felony indictments who i think would be troubled by the fact that a former president of the united states today has been ordered to pay 83.3 million dollars to a woman he defamed in a lawsuit that had already determined he sexually assaulted her. i am old enough to remember a republican party where that guy would have been run out of town let alone thinking about running for president. and yet he is in the hunt. nikki haley's second-place place finish in new hampshire showed though that independent voters went to her and independent voters in a general election will be a big deal.

i don't think they like what donald trump is up to. and when you add on top of that the abortion issue, i think whoever the republican ticket is , is in trouble. amna: how do you look at this? reporter: look, i don't think this verdict is telling voters things they don't already know about him. they know he has grass and undisciplined and they know he can be offensive. but i think nikki haley's campaign against him in iowa and new hampshire has revealed some of his weaknesses. she won overwhelmingly independent voters and college-educated voters. it is clear that donald trump may not need those voters to win the primary spirit he will need those voters to win a general election. it is more than likely. and i do think this is where the lawsuit is relevant. a lawsuit can hurt him among

women and independents as can a prolonged campaign against nikki haley where he is more likely to say some things -- he made a comment on the night of their new hampshire primary about her dress. she tried to look nice and the dress was ugly. those are the sorts of comments that middle-of-the-road women -- it is alienating to them. he needs them in the general election. amna: you think that hurts him in the long run. what do you see as nikki haley strategy right now? her campaign says she has raised over a million dollars. is this about staying in to weaken the former president? reporter: we have to see what she does this week to see if she is in it until after south carolina or for the long-haul? is this about securing the vice president nomination? i'm not sure we know that from

her yet. amna: we should also note that president biden had an objectively good week. there were more strong economic numbers. he got an endorsement from the united auto workers foundation. he is in more of the general election campaign mode. the architects of his win shifting to the campaign of the white house. are they in the more general election mode now? reporter: yes because it looks like donald trump will be the republican presidential nominee. i think it is a fight they are looking forward to having. as we saw, i think it was the new hampshire primary night where the biden campaign put out a statement slamming donald trump but also slamming nikki haley saying it does not matter. she is basically trump-light and she supports what he supports so bring it on.

the campaig shifting to general election mode now is the smart thing to do i think and the necessary thing. we know with donald trump that he is constantly in campaign mode whether he is in the courtroom or standing on the sidewalk or on a stage in iowa or new hampshire. and the sooner the biden campaign gets out there, the more it will be on. i think everyone needs to buckle up. between now and election day is going to be rough. amna: buckle up is the method from jonathan. where do you think president biden is most vulnerable when it comes to republican attacks? reporter: i think the biden campaign has been in general election mode for quite a long time. he has given some big speeches in the last six months about democracy. i think biden is most vulnerable on immigration and the economy. i skeptical. i said i'm not sure voters will

pick up on this nuance of republicans rejecting the offer from democrats. i think they probably won't and biden will be blamed for the situation not the southern border. and i think he is vulnerable on the economy. the numbers are good but i don't think voters feel their situation is good here foreign policy -- there is a lot going on in the world but it tends not to be an issue that people cast a ballot on. economy and immigration are the things that will determine the outcome of this election. amna: eliana johnson and jonathan, good to see you both. thank you so much. ♪ amna: in the future astronauts could be sent on euros long missions to the moon and mars but living in space that long poses all kinds of physical and physiological challenges.

nasa is trying to learn as much as it can from astor not that spent the most time in space. our science correspondent spoke with the american that has set the record for longest single space mission >> touch down. touchdown confirmed at 6:17 a.m. center time. rubio's record ride comes to an end. reporter: frank rubio finally returned in september, 371 days after he launched to the international space station aboard a russian rocket. it was a record-breaking mission for a u.s. space percent that was not planned. three months after he and his russian crewmates arrived at the station, their capsule sprung a coolant leak after a micro meteoroid struck. they would have to wait for the russian space agency to build and launch them a new ride home. it more than doubled their time

in space. i caught up with frank rubio towards the end of his reactivation to life on earth. how are things going? >> it has been an awesome four months at home getting reintegrated back into the family. it has gone smoothly which has been a blessing. and a lot of physical training. it is getting the muscles and bones back into shape. reporter: you are a physician and a test subject. i'm curious what you have experienced and what the road to normalcy has been like. >> we have been doing this for 23 years so astronauts early on would lose up to 20% of their bone density because you are not getting the day to day pounding. when you are missing that, floating around for a year especially, that can be hard. the good thing is we have a lot of resistance training we do,

almost two hours a day and i lost little bone density because of that because i stay diligent and consistent on that exercise. i use less than six month mission people. reporter: would you say you are 100% now four months later? >> pretty close to 90%. reporter: 23 plus years into the space station, a lot of lessons have been learned including the resistance training. is nasa ready to send astronauts on long-duration missions ultimately to mars? >> from a human perspective we understand what needs to happen. consistent stressors applied to the body there and back. think we can do it. we are not there yet from a technology point of view as far as safely getting us there and back it would be challenging but i think the motivation for mission success would be incredibly high so that humans you put on that mission i think

will make it happen. reporter: let's talk about the psychology of being up there. you expected to see your family after six months. walk us through how you came to terms with that. >> fortunately my background had prepared me for it. i am an army officer. in my previous career. i have had deployments and the family has been through the adjustment of ramping up for a deployment, having the fortitude to make it through it. and a lot of our military are often told that they are staying longer than anticipated. i never got extended much more than a month but psychologically it is not that different. one month or six months. you deftly have an adjustment period. it was hard for a week. after that you settle in and realize that we can do this and the mission has to happen and you set your mind to it. reporter: and i know astronauts have an opportunity on a regular

basis to have private teleconferences with their families. how important was that for you? >> incredibly important. and as we transition to a longer distance and longer duration missions, that is something we will have to make sure is present. honestly, it makes you feel like you are still part of the family. as long as your family is doing well we can do anything for as long as it is needed. reporter: people miss fresh food on the station and you became quite a gardener in space famously growing tomatoes. i'm curious how the vegetables you grow in space, how they taste. >> we were supposed to get half the crop to eat ourselves and send the other halfback for a science. unfortunately, because things did not go as expected we sent it all back. reporter: in march when he was harvesting some of the tomatoes,

he put two in a ziploc bag and thought he velcro to it firmly in place but it floated away. he says he searched for it for hours. his fellow crew made jokingly accused him of eating the produce but in december of this year, three months after he left the station -- >> we might have found something that someone had been looking for for quite a while. reporter: the current crew found the floating fruit solving the mystery. i assuming it was a nice moment of exoneration. >> we are all friends. my crewmates will take every opportunity to make fun of me. they sure as heck would not get me out of it. they were cherry sized tomatoes. if we were going to eat it, we would've had to split it among seven people. but i'm glad they found it. i don't know if they can use them for science. but hopefully something. reporter: let's talk about the

russian partnership which is a complex situation and the invasion of ukraine which has cast the partnership in a different light. is there much concerned about the reliability of the russian partnership? >> our job as a crew is to focus on the mission. my focus was on my two crewmates. they are fantastic individuals at an individual level. ultimately we are on a mission that is in an incredibly dangerous environment and our lives depend on each other so you have to have that trust and relationship built before anything were to happen. despite the differences, i think it is incredibly important to nurture that relationship as much as possible and i think we successfully were able to do that. reporter: frank rubio, thank you so much for your time. ♪ amna: a few things are more

british than a cup of tea but britain was brought to a boil over a suggestion from an american chemist about how the classic cup might be improved. geoff: we ask our own earl grey to take a look into this brouhaha. reporter: is nothing sacred? the beverage that for centuries has sustained this nation through wars and other crises has been assaulted in the name of science by an american academic. quinton haram's that salt is for tequila. >> i am not a complete lay down the law when it comes to tea but i did try the addition of salt and i must say it was a thoroughly unpleasant experience. it was like the worst sort of pre-operation you could drink. reporter: not since the british

tea party has britain's drink suffered such indignity. a reassuring statement was issued that salt and tea was not official american policy and would not the special relationship. do you realize how much trouble you have caused? >> i am beginning to understand how much trouble i have caused. i had no intentions of causing a diplomatic incident but i woke up yesterday morning to find the u.s. embassy was weighing in on my science. reporter: michelle is a professor of chemistry at bryn mawr college in pennsylvania. >> it begins with an eighth century chinese manuscript by a team master. he recommended adding a bit of salt to the tea water. i wondered what the chemistry literature had to say. the sodium ions in the salt lock the bitter receptor so it makes the tea a little less bitter. reporter: to gauge more british reaction we tracked down some traditional tea purveyor is in a

traditional british town. >> not for me. reporter: the manager usually takes his tea black and strange. >> it added a little tingle to the tongue. not very intense at all. reporter: we touched base at a specialist store. the deputy manager reinforced the need to use boiling and not lukewarm water like some americans do. sacrilege. >> i don't think you need to add salt to your team. if you are brewing it correctly, it does not need to happen. reporter: what do you think? >> no. reporter: this is the kind of tea i normally drink, english breakfast with milk and no sugar.

i'm going to put in a couple of grains of salt. not a teaspoon as some brits have misunderstood. i feel like i am a traitor. it is not too bad. let's acknowledge he was heavy-handed with the salt. >> on a quiet day -- the thought of putting even a few grains of salt is so counterintuitive that it fries my mind. reporter: that requires an archetypal british response. put the kettle on. amna: online you can read more on the science of making and flavoring tea which is at pbs.org/newshour. be sure to tune into washington week with the atlantic tonight on pbs where jeffrey goldberg and his panel discuss donald trump's all but certain presidential nomination and the fate of the bipartisan border security deal. geoff: and tomorrow we look at the shortage of special

education teachers across the country and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm going to have some tea. amna: on behalf of the newshour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> ♪ and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the newshour including kathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith. the walton family foundation, working for solutions to protect more during climate change so people and nature can thrive together. the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world at the hewlett.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and 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. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ ♪ ♪

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