i'm on the vase. geoff: and i'm jeff vented. >> when the middle-class class is strong, america is strong. geoff: kamala harris outlines her economic plan, including child tax credits, housing incentives and a ban on price gouging for groceries. amna: negotiators for a gaza cease-fire deal make progress

but sticking points remain. geoff: amid a horrific civil war in sudan, that country's vice president defends his unwillingness to participate in u.s.-led peace talks. >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the news hour, including jim and nancy builder, and the robert and virginia schiller foundation. upholding freedom by strengthening democracies at home and abroad. >> the knight foundation, fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support

of these individuals and institutions. ♪ and friends of the news hour. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: welcome. it was her first major policy speech since becoming the democratic presidential candidate last month. amna: vice president harris laid out her vision for combating one of the biggest issues for voters in this year's election and one that has dogged the biden-harris administration, rising prices. >> vice president harris on the trail in north carolina as her

campaign unveils its economic agenda. >> costs are still too high and on a deeper level, for too many people, no matter how much they work, it feels card to be able to get ahead. >> the focus, they say, lowering costs for everyday americans. new data this week shows inflation cooling year-over-year, but a recent swing state voter survey shows on economic issues -- >> is the most important subject. >> terrace's opponent has an edge. 48% of respondents said they trust trump more to get inflation in the cost of living under control compared to 42% for harris. from's lead is shrinking compared to how he fared against president biden on this issue. at a trump campaign event in new jersey last night -- >> we would not have had inflation. >> the former president veered off script from planned remarks on combating anti-semitism to a

controversial comment about republican donor miriam abelson. trump awarded her the presidential medal of freedom. last night, he claimed that award was better than the highest decoration for members of the u.s. military. >> it is much better because everyone gets the congressional medal of honor, soldiers, they are either in very bad shape because they've been hit so many times by bullets or they are dead. >> a veterans political action committee called the remarks insulting, saying donald trump does not respect veterans and their sacrifice, but trump's running mate, ohio senator and veteran jd vance, defended trump at the milwaukee police association today. >> this is a guy who loves and honors our veterans. i don't think him complement again saying a nice word about someone who received the middle of freedom is denigrating those who received military honors. >> it was vance fosco second stop in wisconsin this month

after being named trump's running mate in milwaukee in july. the democratic national convention will begin next week in illinois, where harris is expected to roll out additional policy proposals. for more on the specifics of harris's policy proposals, i'm joined by gina, economics reporter for the new york times. ->> thanks for having me. >> let's start with the harris campaign's plan to address with a call price gouging. the campaign says she would implement the first ever federal ban on corporate price gouging and work with the ftc in congress to do so. what are they proposing they would do on this front? and knowing what you do about why grocery prices are where they are, could this approach work to bring prices down? >> what exactly is the key question in the answer is we don't know yet. we don't know what this policy would look like.

i think the devil is in the details. we do not know how they go about preventing price gouging or how they are defining price gouging. what we do know is that profits went up quite a lot in the grocery sector during the aftermath of the 2020 pandemic. in 2021, we saw profits shoot up in grocery stores and they stayed up for a while. that is consistent with what we saw across the economy, companies raking in more profits because they were charging more. they charged a bit more than was necessary to cover costs during that period. so there are people out there, particular on the progressive side of the aisle, who have been saying things like this was an example of price gouging, of what happens when you have an imperfectly competitive marketplace, saying we need some sort of response from the government on this. that is what we potentially see here. you have economists on the other side saying this was an economy

that worked the way you would expect. we had shortages for things, eggs, a lot of grains during this period, and as a result, companies were charging more because things were in short supply and they could charge more, and that resulted in more production and prices came down. some economists are saying this is econ 101. this is how it works. if you in some way stop the economy from working the way it would on its own, you might not have the supply come online. at the same time, progressive economists are celebrating this. you have a contentious debate without a lot of detail. amna: and the devil you say is in the details. let's go on to the housing issue and addressing the availability issue. the harris campaign says a potential president harris would call for the construction of 3 million new housing units over the next four years in the

government would provide first-time homebuyers with up to $25,000 in down pavement assessments -- down payment assistance. how viable are plans like this for that kind of level of building and what's the potential impact? >> there are two big questions here. one's political viability in the second is economic viability. when it comes to political viability, this would have to pass congress. to get those homes built, the way that paris campaign is proposing to do it, is through incentives for builders and local housing authorities to encourage homebuilding, and that money needs to come from congress, so there's a question of could you get it through, what does congress look like, is this possible? on the backside, you have to say would it work in the timeframe the harris campaign is talking about, because it's a pretty ambitious and accelerated timeframe. she is saying those 3 million units will go up within the four years she's in office.

so i think those are some big questions. if you are not building enough supply and you are giving first-time homebuyers $25,000 as a credit, is there a risk that goes to prices? home sellers could just charge more. so i think this is a big, knotty set of questions that will depend on the political and practical realities of the moment. amna: another set of proposals that would have to go through congress relating to the child tax credit. paris said she would not only restore -- harris said she would not only restore the child tax credit but expand the provision to $6,000 per child under the age of one for middle and low income families, so what's the viability for a plan like that, and what kind of a difference could that make? >> this is a fascinating one

because there's a lot of bipartisan support for the child tax credit. you saw jd vance over the weekend talking about how he would love to see a bigger child tax credit. and so i think that there is some possibility that republicans would reach across the aisle on this one, that you could get something through congress on that. a huge question is how do you pay for it? it is expensive to do these things. the harris campaign has not laid out how they are planning on paying for these kinds of policies. they do mention in their campaign briefings things like, you know making corporations and wealthy americans pay their fair share, but we don't have any sort of detailed explanation of how these policies would be offset in the budget, and so that is the big question here going forward. >> when you look big picture at these policy proposals how do they compare to some of the policies we have seen from the biden administration? is this the harris campaign going in a new and different direction or more of the same? >> a lot of this builds on the

biden agenda but takes it a step further and makes it more dramatic, maybe more populist in some cases, like the price gouging proposal, and tries to tackle a lot of kitchen table issues surrounding costs and price increases that have bedeviled the biden-harris white house. these have been real issues they have struggled to sort of connect with voters on, and it seems like she is tackling them pretty head on here. amna: that is gina, economics reporter for the new york times. thank you. geoff: turning our focus to the middle east, where mediators working toward a gaza cease-fire wrapped up the second day of talks and by some indications end on a hopeful note. nick joins us with more. where do these talks stand? >> u.s. officials are hopeful, even optimistic. an official brief reporters using phrases like this, this process is in the in game, the

deal is ready to be closed, but there is still no israeli and hamas agreement to new language that u.s., qatari and egyptian mediators called a bridging proposal. there is an overall agreement on the framework of the first phase of the deal, a six-week cease-fire, the release of more than 30 hostages from hamas and 700 palestinian detainees released by israel. alongside with a phased israeli withdrawal from gaza. the new language is designed to bridge these disputes. a senior official said on israel's insistence to control the corridor between gaza and egypt, that is moving the right way. the checkpoints the gazans insist on. and number three, in the coming days, working groups will

examine which israeli hostages and palestinian prisoners will be released and in what sequence. u.s., egypt and qatar said they will aim to conclude the deal next week in cairo when they reconvene. president biden said we are closer than ever but there is no confirmation from israel or hamas, the two sides fighting this war, that they will agree to language that not only pauses the war but also blocks an iranian attack on israel. >> what to they say about the possibility of such an attack? >> they are worried because they have seen iran make preparations for that kind of attack. president biden said no one in the region should launch an attack that could derail the negotiations. if holding out hope for a gaza cease-fire is the kind of caret to iran, the administration also delivered a stick, an explicit warning. an official said we would encourage the iranians to not

move down that road because the consequences could be quite cataclysmic, particularly for iran. that is not language this administration often uses. secretary of state tony blinken, you see him there on a previous trip to israel, will travel to israel again to meet prime minister netanyahu to underscore the u.s. message on iran an crucial make sure netanyahu agrees to the cease-fire language that is coming out today, because again, that other administration official warned israel today, if you continue to negotiate for months to get the perfect deal, you risk having no hostages left to save. geoff: thanks as always. appreciate it. ♪ we start the other news with the war in ukraine. after a week of headlines after

ukraine's incursion into russia, it is russia looking to score a major military victory. authorities in an eastern ukrainian city have presidents to evacuate his troops draw near. it is one of ukraine's defensive strongholds and a key logistics hub. ukraine's army chief told the president of ukraine that his forces are advancing a little over a mile into russian territory. ukraine says it now controls more than 440 square miles of russia's kursk region. thousands protested across india today amid growing national anger after a doctor was raped and killed last week. >> we want justice, we went justice, we went justice. >> at one rally in new delhi, medical workers join protesters to call for accountability. the protests began a week ago, when police found the bloodied body of the 31-year-old at a

medical college in kolkata. an autopsy later confirmed she had been sexually assaulted. >> women of this country are being wronged daily. whether you are a rich or a poor woman, educated or uneducated woman, everyone's fate is the same. predators can do anything they want to women in this country. there is no justice. there is no action. geoff: the indian medical association called for a 24 our withdrawal of medical services in protest saturday though essential services will still be provided. hurricane preparations are underway in bermuda as ernesto churns closer to its coastlines. the category 2 storm is strengthening as it moves up the atlantic, packing maximum sustained winds of 100 miles per hour. ernesto could drop a foot of rain on the british territory starting saturday morning. meantime in puerto rico, power has yet to be restored to some 250,000 people nearly three days after the storm made landfall

there. another 170,000 are without water. the outages in puerto rico have prompted health and safety concerns for the island, where more than 40% of the population lives beneath the poverty line. a jury in florida has convicted a white woman in the fatal shooting of a black neighbor over a dispute related to children playing near her home. the all-white jury found 60-year-old susan lorincz guilty of manslaughter after 2.5 hours of deliberation. lorincz had claimed self-defense when she fired a single shot through her front door in june of last year, killing 35-year-old ajike "a.j." owens. she faces up to 30 yeasr in prison. president biden designated the site of an infamous 1908 race riot in illinois as a national monument today. he was joined by lawmakers and civil-rights leaders in the oval office as he signed the

proclamation. the monument covers more than 1.5 acres and serves as a reminder of the two-day riot by white mobs that resulted in the deaths of several black residents and destroyed dozens of homes and businesses. at the white house today, president biden says it is important to remember such history and that it does not fade away. >> we are allowing history to be written. what happened. so our children, our grandchildren, everybody understands what happened and what could still happen. geoff: one notable fallout from the riots is that the tragedy helped to lead to the creation of the naacp. new jersey governor phil murphy picked his former chief of staff to replace bob menendez following his federal bribery conviction. at a conference in newark today, governor murphy said george helmy will serve in the senate until shortly after the november election. once a winner is certified,

murphy will appoint that person to fill the role until the new senate is sworn in early next year. democratic congressman andy kim is running against republican real estate developer curtis bashaw to fill the seat left by menendez. on wall street, stocks closed out their best week of the year with some modest gains. the dow jones industrial average added nearly 100 points, as recent economic data calmed investors' nerves. the nasdaq tacked on 37 points to close out the week. the s&p 500 extended its winning streak to a seventh straight session. we at pbs news hour are saddened to report that former mpr chief executive john lansing has died just months after leaving the job. in his 4.5 years at the helm, lansing saw npr through the covid pandemic, staff layoffs, and a financial crisis that he himself described as existential. before that, lansing enjoyed a long career in broadcasting and cable television. john lansing was 67 years old. still to come, how the city

hosting next week's democratic national convention has been handling a migrant surge. david brooks and jonathan capehart break down the week's news. and former u.s. ambassador john sullivan discusses his new book about what led up to russia's invasion of ukraine. >> this is the pbs news hour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state. geoff: chicago, the city hosting the democratic national convention next week, has been at the center of national conversation on u.s. immigration policy. laura has this report. >> facing adversity. >> this baptist church has transformed in the last two years.

the historically black church now offers live translation during its services to accommodate a growing number of spanish-speaking congregants who fled their homes for the united states. kenneth phelps is the church's pastor. >> they are here, they are hungry, they are hurting and they are in our community. from a christian standpoint, we have always welcomed visitors and strangers. >> people like lugo, who are strangers no more. she now lives in a studio apartment with her two daughters after spending six months in a city run shelter when she arrived from venezuela. >> it's good to feel that you have peace and pastor phelps has helped me a lot with that. any problem we have or anything we need, he tells us to let him know and he will take care of us. i feel at home. >> but the integration of these new members has not been easy. >> many of the community were

not welcoming. >> phelps says community outreach corrupted early last year when the city opened a shelter -- outreach erupted last year when the city opened a shelter. the community had been told it would be a job training center. >> we were told the city did not have the resources to do that. somehow, mysteriously, magically, they find moneys to open up a shelter. it just didn't sit right with the community. >> over the last two years, chicago has spent nearly $500 million on aiding migrants. it is one of several democratic led cities targeted by texas governor greg abbott, who has bused more than 100,000 migrants in a politically motivated move to shift the nation's attention to immigration. >> i took the border to them. those buses will continue to roll until we finally secure or border. >> at its peak in january, chicago housed 15,000 migrants.

today, the number is roughly 5000, a drought that has coincided with a massive decline in the number of people apprehended crossing the southern border due in part to a biden administration action blocking asylum-seekers. >> so there are no people to put on buses to chicago in mass numbers that we are aware of. >> chicago's deputy mayor for immigrant, migrant and refugee rights says the city is looking for more action from washington. >> this is a federal responsibility. what we have done here is build an asylum-seekers resettlement program. it has been tense at times but we have managed to do it without taking away from any programs or communities. >> like his 2020 2016 campaigns, trump has increasingly demonized migrants. >> they are poisoning our country. they have poison mental institutions and prisons. >> reiterating his message that

migrants were destroying american suburbs, from's campaign posted a meme on social media saying import the third world, become the third world. but he's also using the influx of migrants in blue cities over the last two years to win over some black voters at the margins. >> i will tell you that coming from the border are millions and millions of people that happen to be taking black jobs. >> perception is reality when it comes to politics. >> jaime dominguez is a professor at northwestern university. he says the large influx of migrants into chicago and other cities ignited a discussion among democrats. >> the democratic party beginning to have a conversation about what, going forward, kind of platform we will have relating to immigration. >> she took on drug cartels -- >> the harris campaign began raining ads -- running ads in arizona and nevada that leaned

into her background as attorney general of california and includes a pledge to hire more border patrol agents. vice president harris has attacked republicans for killing a border security bill. one of the most conservative to be considered by congress in decades. >> earlier this year we had a chance to pass the toughest bipartisan border security bill in decades. but donald trump tanked the deal. >> despite polls showing harris ahead or gaining momentum in nearly all battleground states, a recent pbs news poll found registered voters favored trump on handling immigration 53% compared to 47% for harris. the former president has made the deportation of undocumented immigrants a central tenet of his campaigns immigration proposals. >> we are going to start the largest mass deportation in the history of our country because we have no choice. >> that worries 24-year-old --

this 24-year-old, who arrived in chicago four months ago with her partner and two children. >> we feel very hurt. we understand the damage they will do to us. there may be some people who come to do harm but we are not all the same. in venezuela, my brother was killed so i fled to the united states. we just want to work and look for a better life year for our children and ourselves. >> she is a client at onward house on the city's northwest side, a nonprofit supporting asylum-seekers in chicago. despite fewer people arriving in recent months, a caseworker says the organization is still scrambling to provide services. >> we have more than 1000 on the waiting list, so it's a high need. >> she says many clients here are aware that her ability to make a life in the u.s. may be appended if former president trump wins in november. >> they are well informed on

what's going on and so having to come into this country during the election and having to run the risk of being deported. the clients are very afraid. >> in chicago, the promised influx of migrants from texas to coincide with the democratic national convention has not materialized. u.s. customs and border protection announced of that encounters were down 32% from june to july, the lowest monthly total since september of 2020, and that's the first full month of data since president biden signed an executive action restricting asylum-seekers. >> thank you. just days before she formally accepts her party's nomination at the democratic national convention in chicago, vice president harris is unveiling key policy proposals. for that and more , we turn to the analysis of brooks and capehart. that's new york times columnist david brooks and jonathan capehart, associate editor for the washington post.

kamala harris is hoping to sharpen her economic message with a focus on cutting costs. the washington post referred to it as an aggressively populist economic agenda. she is talking about eliminating medical death for millions of americans, a $25,000 subsidy for first-time homebuyers. give us your takeaways from the speech and the policy rollout. >> clearly, as we know from the polls, the economy is either issue number 1, 2 or the for the american people. it makes sense that she would use her first policy speech to focus on not just economics, a piece of economics, because she did say at the top of her remarks that there are other things she's going to roll out later, but she wanted to focus on this narrow issue, which are issues the american people say is top of mind for them. cost-of-living and everything that relates to that, whether it's drug prices or rent or grocery prices, and so, you

know, whether she will be able to fulfill a lot of these promises, that remains to be seen. a lot of it has to be -- has to do with the makeup of the next congress, but the thing that is top of mind for me is that not only is she using prices and consumer prices and what the american voters are thinking of where the economy hits them hardest in the pocketbook, this comes after the financial times, university of michigan ross school of business put out a poll over the weekend that showed the vice president is one point hire, 42% versus 43%, of people surveyed as to who they trust better to guide the economy. so the momentum we have seen the vice president have at her back since taking over the top of the ticket, now she has it when it

comes to policy issues and on the economy in particular. geoff: on this matter of economic policy, the vice president is proposing the first-ever ban on price gouging for groceries. this is something you took particular issue with. it pulls well for swing voters but economists say the underlying reason why grocery prices are higher is more complicated. >> she has some good things in this package. the child tax credit is a good thing. she wants to deregulate housing. but the price gouging thing, well, a news hour contributor said it's impossible to exaggerate how bad this policy is, and i agree with that. catherine had a good line that if your opponent's calling you a communist, don't lead with price controls. we have seen it happen in venezuela and the soviet union. price controls do not work. what is worse about that, first, it is addressing a problem that does not exist. grocery prices, inflation, has

been less than 1% for the past year. it's over. we had a surge but it's over. the problem does not exist. but the core problem is it expresses a level of economic illiteracy that is surprising in a responsible democratic candidate. the idea behind greed flation's we had all those years of low inflation and i guess people were not greedy then. then magically they all get greedy and start price gouging at kroger, harris teeter, heb, and there's this massive price gouging. that's not why inflation surged. inflation surged because of the pandemic, which screwed up supply chains and productivity. the biden administration over stimulated the economy. larry summers and jason furman said at the time this will cause inflation. low and behold it did. the fed has to clamp down on growth. that is what caused inflation.

that is basic economics. her greedflation plan is somewhere outside of normal economics. geoff: what about that, jonathan, that parts of her economic policy speak to economic illiteracy? > i take issue with the word illiteracy but we will have to agree to disagree on our word choices, but catherine raises a good point. i found her column to be rather persuasive. and so now it's incumbent upon the vice president and her team to flesh this out a little bit more, but if we are going to talk about economic illiteracy, can we talk about donald trump and his proposal he talked about in his press conference last night talking about a tariff on all imports? we don't talk enough about what that tariff on all imports would mean to the american consumer. and that would mean higher prices. but the former president does not talk about that.

so i think when you are talking about the vice president's plan on price gouging and whether she would be able to get that done or we talk about the former president's plan for tariffs on all imports, let's have this conversation, which i think we will have, because the vice president still has to flush out other pieces of her economic agenda. geoff: let's keep the focus on donald trump because he is getting backlash for his comments about veterans. here's what he said at his bedminster estate over the weekend. >> we were so proud when we gave miriam the presidential medal of freedom. that's the highest award you can get as a civilian, the equivalent of the medal of honor but the civilian version. it is better because everyone gets the congressional medal of honor, soldiers, they are either in bad shape because they have been hit 70 times by bullets or they are dead. she gets it and she's a healthy

beautiful woman. they are rated equal. amna: what should we make of these comments? >> when i covered the mccain campaign, they had a group of medal of honor winners. they were great guys. i was in all of them. people who have won the medal of honor have done something amazing. donald trump has had career -- throughout his career, donald trump has had trouble with nila terry valor. he attacked campaign on it -- he attacked mccain on it. it bugs him. so this is a piece of that emotional weakness of his character. >> there are republicans who have pointed out that at a time when you have the republican campaign targeting walz's military record, this gives the harris campaign fodder for a counterattack now on donald trump. >> absolutely. what did mrs. adel's and do that

was in service to something -- adelson do that was in service to something other than herself? people who get medals, who president trump to -- disparaged, gave a lot in service of this country. these are the biggest patriots there are. and i agree with david. i would not say -- i think donald trump is broken. he's broken when it comes to anything related to, i don't know, human feeling, something where someone does something for someone other than themselves. it is too late for him to fix it but it is not too late for the american people to ensure that he's never put in a position to give another medal of freedom again. geoff: from a political

standpoint, is there a risk that voters grow tired of what is now a very familiar act? megyn kelly, the former fox personality, who now has a podcast, i think, still influential and -- in conservative circles, said from's rambling is boring and probably age-related. >> i wonder about that. trent has been saying stupid stuff for a long time. for all of harris's rise, trump is still doing better than he was in 2016 or 2020, so he is still a viable candidate, and all the stupid comments do not seem to have hurt him because basically think he gets them. you can tell a lot of lies but if people think you get them they will support you nonetheless. so he may be getting old. watching the rallies i think he is less funny than he was. certainly just as an entertainer he's less of an entertainer.

megyn kelly is onto something but i don't see a big political deficit from that. geoff: earlier, you mentioned harris's momentum. does the energy and enthusiasm on the democratic side mask the fact that this is still a competitive race? the cook report has her up by less than 1% now heading into the convention. >> yeah. this race has always been statistically tied, but you cannot deny that you would rather be the democratic ticket right now with momentum and enthusiasm at your side and pushing you into your convention and hopefully pushing you out of your convention even if you are statistically tied, but donald trump -- this is probably the one and only time i will agree with megyn kelly. 's shtick, it is not funny -- his shtick, it is not funny. it is boring and tiresome. and even if there are people who support the former president, even those on the periphery, the

people they have to worry about, those republicans or people who might think i don't know if i want to vote for this guy again. i don't know if i want to go through another four years of vengeance and name-calling and tearing this country down, you know, i have watched just about every rally and speech and press conference he's done since the change of the top of the democratic ticket, and it's like watching an old cover band play the same old what they view as their heads over and over again. at a certain point, donald trump is going to have to give not just his supporters, his diehard followers, something. he's got to give other people a reason to vote for him. and so far, maybe i am biased, but i do not see it. >> next week, it will be democrats turned to cheerlead the nominee. what will you be watching for?

what do you want to hear? >> a few things. i will be watching to see how the democratic party treats president biden on his big night on monday. the other thing i will be looking for is, you know, whether the protests related to the gaza, whether they make their way inside the hall, and if they make their way inside the hall, how big they will be, how disruptive they will be and what the reaction will be, and then, you know, the vice president's speech -- the vice president shall nominee's speech and then the other speech and what they say, how they say it, and how they rock it or don't out of chicago. geoff: it is confusing when you have the vice president who is the presidential nominee and the vice president will canada in the same party. who will you be watching for? >> this is the first time i have gone to two happy conventions in

the same year. i'll be watching for the biden speech. all the big names but mostly i'm looking for whether the country is ready for an emotional change of tone from anger and pessimism to something exuberant and joyful, which is what harris has been offering. geoff: her approach and use of the word joy and tim walz's approach too, why do you think that might be affected in this cycle? >> i watched the montana rally trumpeted this week and she was in the data that rally trump did this week and she was in -- rally trump did this week and she was in nevada. she was sending out waves of positive emotion. trump looks scowling and resentful and angry. we have been in a pessimistic mode and maybe we are still there. i have seen a lot of people in a pessimistic mood about this country.

but maybe there's a shift. geoff: we will see you both in chicago. ♪ visitors to a new art installation in the caribbean will need to take masks and oxygen tanks. called a world adrift, the exhibition is the work of a british artist who wants to highlight the dangers of climate change for the west indies. our special correspondent reports for our ongoing coverage of the intersection of art and climate change in our series canvas. >> in common with every artist, the artist's vision begins with a blank canvas. >> to me, it's important. it's a way of telling stories about the sea, our relationship to nature, looking in this

fascinating space where colors are different, refraction is different, textures, formations, even how you feel is different. >> taylor's cavernous studio is currently empty. the sculptures and the message they convey are being installed on the seafloor. what is left behind are his preparatory models. >> this is trying to get an idea of what the large pieces are going to look like once they are underwater. we try to replicate the water, the surface texture, how light will penetrate through that, and how the organic transformation will adhere to the figures and change how they look. >> this is where you will be able to find the installation, nestling in the turquoise waters of one of three islands that comprise the small nation of grenada, paradise in peril. >> they are small boats. they are made to look like they are fabricated in origami. they are actually made of stainless steel.

they encompass these local schoolchildren and have sales, which also depict messages about climate change. overall, it's meant to show this fragile future that we are building for our young communities and how imperiled they are. >> climate change is a constant theme of taylor's work. inside of britain's parliament, these four horsemen of the apocalypse are speaking to power, sending a message to governments everywhere, reverse climate change and stop the waters rising. not far from taylor's studio on the north kent coast is the sculptor's expression of anger at pollution exacerbated by climate change. this work sitting on the shingle is in solidarity with swimmers and fisherfolk whose livelihood is dependent on some of britain's finest oyster beds. just like the caribbean, britain is suffering from climate change

in that it is raining more than ever before and when it rains britain's antiquated sewage systems cannot cope, with the water companies pumping record levels of sewage into the rivers in the seas. how can art affect climate change? >> i'm not sure i can affect climate change but we can change our attitudes towards it. with this particular installation, i am hoping that it will demonstrate how fragile some of these small caribbean island nations are and how at risk they are from hurricanes, rising sea levels, warming sees, which are already detrimental to the coral reefs. >> that also has a serious effect on making hurricane stronger. >> the hurricanes become much stronger and earlier in the season. this recent hurricane, hurricane beryl, it's the first time a category five hurricane has ever been recorded at this time of year. >> hurricane beryl, which struck at the beginning of july, caused

devastation in grenada. three people were killed. 70% of buildings on the site of taylor's newest work were damaged or destroyed. it is because of such natural disasters and the fear of worse to come that the government of grenada commissioned the sculpture. >> what is the purpose of doing sculptures underwater where relatively few people can see them? >> many different purposes. first and foremost, on a basic level, they are a habitat for marine life, so they are designed with textures, formations, surfaces that actually attract marine life, so that then becomes a platform for corals, crustaceans, different types of creatures to live within. it also helps draw people away from natural settings, so the visitors that go to different regions, it helps take them away from natural sites and brings them to these artificial areas. >> who is going to see it apart from snorkelers? >> you would be surprised.

we are in a digital era so thousands and thousands of people will see it via their screens. we are never going to engineer or negotiate ourselves out of this ecological crisis. that's only part of the solution. it is about changing our values and belief systems. watching nature reclaim its space gives me a sense of hope and a real sense of healing. if we can reconsider our relationship to nature to revere it, the reminder that we are nature ourselves, we might see who we really are and what an incredible world we are part of. >> the coming few months could underscore the relevance of taylor's work. climate experts are predicting this hurricane season will be particularly severe. for the pbs news hour, i'm malcolm in kent. ♪

amna: sudan has been caught in a bloody war between the country's army and a militia. tens of million civilians caught in between. this week, the united states mediated peace talks in geneva. the rsf militia sent a delegation, but at the last minute appeared not to officially participate in the talks. the sudanese armed forces refused to attend altogether. in the first of her reports from a rare trip inside the country, with the support of the pulitzer center, special correspondent leila molana-allen sat down with sudan's vice president in port sudan on the red s. >> five years ago, elated sudanese young and old danced in the streets after countrywide protests brought down sudan's 30 year dictator and an indicted war criminal. democracy had arrived. two years later, the sudanese

army and a rehabilitated militia , the rapid support forces, reunited under an army chief who took power in what civil society calls a coup against the people. this is sudan's vice president and deputy head of the military junta that has ruled the country since 2021. a former insurgent leader, he's been a leading political and military figure for decades. before the explosion of the conflict last april, the rss leader was vice president. he was succeeded after the rsf broke away from sudan's army and started to fight against it. the war broke out seemingly without warning, taking many by surprise in its speed and ferocity. the news hour sat down with the vice president to the latest on the fighting and the prospects for peace.

>> they put the army into a position of defense. and after one year, the sudanese army wanted to change the mood of the war, and now it is on the offense, so to fight them, to follow them from area to area is difficult for a conventional army. this is why it's taking long. >> agar has been an outspoken critic of international attempts to mediate the conflict, saying the only solution is the complete military destruction of the militia. >> in the meetings, negotiations with rsf, is committing political suicide. it is an instrument or tool for the uaa and others. he has no control of the forces. how do you kill people and destroy infrastructure? you have no control of these forces.

>> multiple foreign governments, including the united arab emirates, russia, saudi arabia and iran have taken an interest in the conflict, resulting in a steady flow of foreign weapons and mercenaries on both sides. in june, agar traveled to russia to meet with vladimir putin. we asked what he hoped to achieve. >> when i'm fighting a war, i need parts. i will get it. >> attention to the conflict has been muted but news that they had repaired relations with iran raced alarm. agar says if the u.s. is worried about where they get their weapons it should sell to sudan itself. >> we are ready to buy weapons from any country. >> human rights groups have

documented evidence of weapons being supplied to the rsf by the uae, russia and turkey among others, smuggled into rsf territory by neighboring chad -- via neighboring chad. the u.s. is a leading arms seller to the uae. what impact are those foreign weapons having on your ability to fight this war? >> they definitely have a great effect. these are new weapons. they are not used. this army never had such weapons. by the uae. and others. the uae has a lot of political interest in sudan, number one of them is that.

they are interested in having an area on the red sea. so it is a complex situation. >> what do you want the u.s. to do in terms of taking responsibility for the use of those u.s. manufactured weapons being used to slaughter innocent civilians in sudan? >> one thing the u.s. government can do is stop supplying the uae. the americans know the weapons are being used here. there is doubt about that. they also have to decide do they want sudan to continue or protect the human rights of the sudanese? >> so you believe these efforts on behalf of the u.s. to try and become involved in these talks are simply political posturing

ahead of the election? >> yes. definitely yes. they are not serious about it. when these elections are over, they will change their mind. >> the u.s. is mediating talks this week in geneva and that improving the humanitarian situation, but both parties to the conflict are absent. leaders say they have little faith in the process. >> what is it that makes you feel that this u.s. administration is not a serious partner for peace in sudan? >> their behavior. the u.s. administration has never come here. the special envoy has never been to sudan. they just bypassed sudan. >> u.s. engagement has been patchy. the special envoy has never visited the country in his role. a planned visit alongside usa

director samantha power was aborted after the u.s. team refused to travel any further insight sudan than the airport, citing security concerns. what does that say to you about their seriousness of being involved in peace talks with sudan? >> if you are serious to solve a problem, why don't meet the president of the country? why don't you meet us in our country? that's not happening. >> meanwhile, civil political leaders say they have been cut out of the peace talks and plans for sudan's future. >> is it the attention -- intention of the sudanese armed forces to immediately get back power to a democratically elected leader when the war is over? >> they are ready to take the country to elections and hand over power. >> that is what will happen? >> that is what's supposed to happen. you win the war and vote for the establishment of democracy.

>> for now, as the war rages on, democracy has been put on the back burner. for the pbs news hour, i am leila molana-allen in sudan. ♪ geoff: we hoped to bring you an interview with former u.s. ambassador to russia john sullivan about his new book midnight in russia but experienced some technical difficulties so we will have that for you next week. amna: be sure to join us for special coverage of the democratic national convention that begins on monday at 8 p.m. eastern. geoff: tune into washington week with the atlantic for the preview of the convention and an analysis of the presidential race. amna: that is the news hour for tonight. i'm amna nawaz geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. have a great weekend. >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by --

and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the news hour, including kathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith. the walton family foundation, working for solutions 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. hewlett.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the news hour. this program was made possible

by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪

♪ hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. >> there is only one option, that's deliver security and opportunity, and that's negotiating. >> as hopes for a gaza ceasefire hostage deal h