you this isn't about punishment or persecution. this is about doing the right thing. >> it's just about being -- showing us that she's human and not inhuman. it's just inhumane. >> reporter: >> imtiaz joins us from london. the question we have is could her diplomatic immunity be revoked? >> well, a u.s. embassy spokesperson has told cbs news that this is a very sensitive issue, and frankly, and this is a direct quote here, given the global impact such decisions carry, immunity is rarely waived. norah? >> imtiaz, thank you. there is a serious crisis in iraq tonight. the government is trying to get a handle on protests that have been growing more violent by the day. in the past week more than 100 people have been killed, thousands more wounded. the protesters are demanding jobs and an end to corruption.

the first monday of october means the start of the new supreme court term, and there could not be more at stake in this one. jan crawford is our chief legal correspondent and has covered the court for 25 years. and jan, i know this is shaping up to be a historic term. >> well, i mean they are taking every hot button issue that's out there. you've got gay rights, abortion, immigration, gun rights, and they are going to jump right into it. starting tomorrow with the case that really looks at whether or not federal civil rights law protects gays, lesbians, transgendered people from discrimination in employment. and then in the months to come, they're going to look at abortion, whether or not states can put more regulations on abortion clinics. they're going to have a case that looks at president trump's efforts to try to end that obama era program called the dreamer program course that was designed to protect people who came to this country illegally as children. and then there is gun rights. they're going to look at whether states can put a lot of

restrictions on people's ability who have legally owned firearms to take them outside their homes. >> my goodness, every single hot button issue it seems. and of course this is a new court because it has brett kavanaugh in that. how will that affect these decisions? >> replacing justice kennedy. they're both conservatives, but justice kennedy sometimes would side with liberals on the social issue cases like abortion and gay rights. so will brett kavanaugh see those issues differently, decide them in a more conservative way? and then of course there is the chief justice. liberals and conservatives will be scrutinizing his actions, and his actions if possibly he is the presiding judge in a senate trial if president trump is impeached. >> oh my goodness. so much at stake with the supreme court. we're glad to have you. thanks, jan. acting homeland security secretary kev walked off the stage today at georgetown law school after he was shouted down by protesters who chanted the names of migrant children who have died in custody. mcaleenan was trying to give a speech on immigration policy and law. >> all right, that's much.

>> what do we do? stand up, fight back. >> mcaleenan tried several times to start the speech, but he gave up after about seven minutes. in new york city today, a vigil was held for four homeless men who were beaten to death over the weekend. the accused killer is himself homeless. and as mola lenghi reports, the incident is drawing new attention to the struggles of some half a million americans living in the shelters or on the streets. >> reporter: a cloud of grief still hangs over new york city's chinatown. >> i can't believe he was killed that night. >> reporter: the shocked community remembering the four homeless victims beaten to death saturday night as neighbors and friends. >> i met him when i was a little girl. >> reporter: cheun kok was the oldest of the four victims. he was 83. a homeless man, 24-year-old randy santos was arrested soon after, reportedly still carrying the alleged murder weapon. surveillance video shows santos wielding a metal object, beating

the men as they slept on the street. police say the attacks were random. the incident has renewed focus on the country's vulnerable homeless population crisis. nationwide in 2018, there were more than 550,000 homeless people. in new york city, there are more than 60,000 homeless people. and in los angeles, it's more than 30,000. in 2018, 39 homeless people were killed in l.a., ten more than 2017. >> this cannot be the best that we can do. >> giselle routhier is with the coalition of the homeless. >> we need deeply affordable housing for people who are homeless. we need the government to step in when our housing market is not fulfilling that gap for people. >> reporter: well, in addition to the four men killed, a fifth homeless man was also injured in the attack. he is still fighting for his life tonight. meanwhile, the suspect, randy santos is facing four counts of murder, norah, as well as an attempted murder charge. >> all right, mola, thank you. there is still much more

ahead. hospital officials take emergency action after a deadly bacteria strikes premature babies. how a pro-democracy tweet is threatening the nba's multibillion partnership with china. and tyler perry has made millions making audiences laugh. now he's making movie history. here at... snowfest...

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tonight the nba is under fire for backing down to china over a pro-democracy tweet. the league is accused of putting its multibillion brand ahead of free speech. jim axelrod explains how the tweet sparked an international incident. >> reporter: in the world's most populous country, the most popular pro sports league is the nba. >> the nba is the only sport in the world that has a chance to be a truly international sport that's based in the united states. they need china to do this. >> reporter: anti-government protests have been raging in hong kong for the last four months. so when the houston rockets general manager darryl morey's

friday night tweet, "fight for freedom, stand with hong kong" angered the chinese government, the nba jumped in quickly, and not on the side of free speech. morey's views said the nba deeply offended many of our friends and fans in china, which is regrettable. the rockets' biggest star james harden also chimed in. >> we apologize. we love china. we love playing there. >> reporter: with more than half a billion chinese fans in the matchup of free speech versus big business, commerce says sports writer bill reiter was a slam-dunk. >> whatever principles you bring to the table, including free speech, you check that at the door if you want to do business with china. >> reporter: that seemed pretty clear from morey's walkback tweet yesterday. "i've had a lot of opportunity to hear and consider other perspectives. i did not intend my tweet to cause my offense." the nba is getting plenty of blowback itself and creating some strange bedfellows in the process. republican senator ted cruz from texas said the nba's retreat is

shameful. beto o'rourke, the democrat from el paso called it an embarrassment. and norah, as you know, normally you can't even get those two to agree on what color the sky is. >> yeah, a lot of blowback indeed. jim, thank you. still ahead, the stitches to prove it, america's oldest president may also be its toughest. ah!

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(vo) cascade platinum does the work for you. prewashing and removing stuck-on foods, the first time. (mom) wow! that's clean! (vo) cascade platinum. breaking news from danville, pennsylvania. a hospital is transferring some babies to nearby hospitals after three infants died from a bacterial infection. they were among eight premature babies who were infected by bacteria that's spread by water. officials are working with state and federal health officials to make sure no other babies get sick. there is no slowing down former president jimmy carter. today he and rosalynn appeared at a habitat for humanity event in nashville one day after he took a nasty fall at home in georgia. a black eye and 14 stitches were visible beneath his hat. mr. carter turned 95 last week, the first president to reach that milestone. also recovering, presidential candidate bernie sanders. he and his wife jane took a walk in the rain today in burlington, vermont. sanders suffered a heart attack

last week and had two stents inserted into an artery. all right. coming up next, actor tyler perry goes from

when you humble yourself under the mighty hand of god, in due time he will exalt you. hi, i'm joel osteen. i'm excited about being with you every week. i hope you'll tune in. you'll be inspired, you'll be encouraged. i'm looking forward to seeing you right here. you are fully loaded and completely equipped for the race that's been designed for you.

we end tonight with history in the making. actor tyler perry's new film and tv studio is now open for show business more than 2,000 miles from hollywood in atlanta. meg oliver has some of gayle king's exclusive interview with the inspiring studio boss. >> reporter: tyler perry is the first african american to independently own a major film studio. it's the largest film complex in the country, bigger than the burbank, california lots owned by warner brothers, paramount, and walt disney studios combined. hollywood a-listers celebrated perry on saturday. beforehand, he spoke with "cbs this morning's" gayle king. >> "the new york times" said you

are the most successful mogul hollywood has ever ignored. do you think hollywood gets you? >> no. i clearly believe that i'm ignored in hollywood for sure, and that's fine. i get it. >> wait a second, is that fine? >> it is. my audience and the stories that i tell are african american stories that i grew up with, and we speak a language. hollywood doesn't necessarily speak the language. >> who doing your hair? >> reporter: but perry's "madea" films have had universal appeal and he hopes to build on his success. rodney ho has covered entertainment in atlanta for decades. is this considered the next delta airlines or coca-cola for atlanta? >> when people bring up atlanta, you'll think of cnn and ted turner. you'll think of hank aaron and the braves, and coca-cola, and you'll think of tyler perry. >> reporter: the studio is built on a former confederate army base. that irony is not lost on perry, who named each of the studios after prominent african americans in the film industry. meg oliver, cbs news, new york. i'm norah o'donnell in washington. thanks to the jones day law firm

for this incredible view of the capital. and we'll see you tomorrow. good night. this is the "cbs overnight news." >> welcome to the "overnight news." i'm meg oliver. the pentagon is scrambling to contain the fallout after president trump ordered all u.s. troops out of northern syria. the move clears the way for a threatened invasion by turkey, which considers kurdish forces along its border to be terrorists. for years, the kurds were america's closest allies in the war zone, serving as the ground forces in the battle against the islamic state. critics of the pullout call it a betrayal. david martin has the story from the pentagon. >> reporter: u.s. troops abandon

observation posts along syria's border with turkey ahead of a threatened incursion by the turkish army, which u.s. intelligence estimated could happen within the next 24 to 48 hours. president trump said it's only 50 soldiers who are being moved out of harm's way. >> i don't want those 50 people hurt or killed or anything. i don't want anything bad to happen to our people. >> reporter: but he made it sound as if the final american pullout from syria had begun. >> turkey, syria, let them take care of it. let them take care of it. we want to bring our troops back home. it's been many, many years. it's been decades in many cases. we want to bring our troops back home, and i got elected on that. >> reporter: the surprise move announced in a late-night white house press release was immediately denounced by more than half a dozen republican senators. majority leader mitch mcconnell warned "a precipitous withdrawal of u.s. forces from syria would only benefit russia, iran, and

the assad regime, and it would increase the risk that isis and other terrorist groups regroup." senator lindsey graham called it a betrayal of the kurdish forces, which have been leading the fight against isis. >> the kurds stepped up when nobody else would to fight isis. if we abandon them, good luck getting anybody to help america in the future with radical islam. >> reporter: the pullback came after a sunday phone call between the president and turkey's president erdogan, who has been threatening for weeks to send his army into northern syria to clear out what he considers kurdish terrorists threatening his country. the pentagon had tried to talk turkey out of it by conducting joint security patrols along the border. administration officials insist president trump did not give turkey a green light to invade syria. in one of his tweets, the president threatened to, quote, totally destroy and obliterate the economy of turkey if it does

anything that i in my great and unmatched wisdom consider to be off limits. holly williams has been covering the war in syria since it began. she discussed the situation there with norah o'donnell. >> well, norah, those kurdish fiegers that we're talking about are known as the syrian democratic forces, or sdf. and we spoke with them over the phone earlier today. they told us they feel betrayed by the u.s. they are clearly very angry. now i've been in and out of that part of syria over and over again since 2014, and i have gradually witnessed the sdf become america's closest partners on the ground in the fight against isis. they say they have lost around 11,000 of their fighter, mostly young men and women, and that fight is not over, because although isis lost all of its territory back in march, the group is still carrying out suicide attacks and assassinations. and the risk is that the sdf will now say to the u.s. you've betrayed us once again, and when it comes to the fight against isis, we're going to look after our interests, and not do your bidding.

>> and holly, that's really the question. what's going to happen to these thousands of isis fighters that are imprisoned in northeast syria? >> well, norah, the sdf say they have around 12,000 accused isis fighters in those prisons, including what 00 foreigners. we visited one just last month. the nightmare scenario is the sdf no longer has the resources to guard them, there is a mass prison break, and then we see isis reforming their army. the impeachment inquiry into president trump continues to pick up steam. a second whistle-blower has come forward with firsthand knowledge of the president's call with ukraine's leader. and subpoenas were issued to both the pentagon and the office of management and budget. major garrett brings us up to speed. >> this is a sm, and the people are wise to it. >> reporter: president trump again denounced the house impeachment inquiry that continues to ensnare more parts of his administration. >> and it's lucky that i'm the president because i guess i don't know what.

a lot of people said -- very few people could handle it. i sort of thrive on it. >> reporter: a second whistle-blower has emerged, this one according to their lawyers with direct knowledge of president trump's phone call with ukraine's president. the house intelligence committee is considering extreme measures to protect the first whistle-blower's identity, such as interviewing the person behind a curtain, and obscuring his or her voice. democrat raja krishnamoorthi -- >> we have to take all precautions, because we cannot burn his or her identity. >> reporter: the house intelligence committee led by california democrat adam schiff today subpoenaed documents from the pentagon and office of management and budget, in part to learn the reasons behind the white house's decision to withhold critical military assistance to ukraine. white house critics accuse mr. trump of holding back that aid to pressure the new ukrainian president to launch an investigation into former vice president joe biden's son hunter. later this week trump donor and ambassador to the european union gordon sondland will testify before the house, as will the president's former ambassador to

ukraine, masha yovanovitch. she was abruptly dismissed from her post earlier this year. >> i heard very, very bad things about her for a long time. not good. >> is the president among republicans still has a 90% approval rating. that makes him more popular than many of the lawmakers who are republicans in congress. and as the president just said today, he thrives on a fight. many republicans based on the facts as they know them now simply do not want to get into a fight with this white house or this president. a homeless man in new york city is charged with murder, accused in a deadly rampage over the weekend. four homeless men were bludgeoned to death in their sleep. a feith is in critical condition. mola lenghi has the story. >> reporter: a cloud of grief still hangs over new york city's chinatown. >> i can't believe he was killed that night. >> reporter: the shocked community remembering the four homeless victims beaten to death saturday night as neighbors and friends. >> i met him when i was a little girl. >> reporter: cheun kok was the oldest of the four victims.

he was 83. a homeless man, 24-year-old randy santos was arrested soon after, reportedly still carrying the alleged murder weapon. surveillance video shows santos wielding a metal object, beating the men as they slept on the street. police say the attacks were random. the incident has renewed focus on the country's vulnerable homeless population crisis. nationwide in 2018, there were more than 550,000 homeless people. in new york city, there are more than 60,000 homeless people. and in los angeles, it's more than 30,000. in 2018, 39 homeless people were killed in l.a., ten more than 2017. >> this cannot be the best that we can do. >> giselle routhier is with the coalition of the homeless. >> we need deeply affordable housing for people who are homeless. we need the government to step in when our housing market is not fulfilling that gap for people. >> reporter: well, in addition to the four men killed, a fifth homeless man was also injured in the attack.

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this is the "cbs overnight news." >> welcome back to the "overnight news." i'm meg oliver. profits in the craft beer industry are overflowing, like the suds from a pint of your favorite ipa. it's already an $80 billion a year industry, employing more than half a million people. but now craft brewers fear their profits could go flat if a provision in the nation's tax law is allowed to expire. barry petersen has the story. >> and that was really kind of a sugar, right? >> yeah. it's a little different. >> reporter: here is a fun fact from denver craft brewer judd

bellstump. >> it has a molasses. you got a little splash on you. >> reporter: the more sugar you add, the higher the alcohol content in beer. and here is a not so fun fact. a lot of small craft brewers like bellstock are one tax break away from maybe going out of business. >> ended up being about a million dollars to start the place up. >> reporter: and somebody says and by the way, we want you to pay more taxes, what then? >> then i think that for me the only option is to start raising prices. >> reporter: will it cut sales? >> oh, absolutely. >> reporter: the excise tax was $7 a barrel. it was cut in half two years ago but that expires in november. mike kelly is pushing to keep the cut. >> for small brewer, it's really critical that if they can save costs anywhere, they'll do that. they'll take whatever they save and put it back in equipment or put it in hiring more people, recapitalizing their business.

♪ ♪ i like beer, it makes me a jolly good fellow ♪ >> reporter: beer has been part of america before there was an america, arriving on the mayflower. and so did beer taxes. and beer started the first buy american policy when george washington said he would only drink american made. when gold rush prospectors flooded the west, beer came with them. sam bach is an historian. >> people were really happy to have beer during the gold rush. it was social lubricant. it was a sign of civilization. there is a ton of history from the style of the beer to the ingredients we use to the processes to the laws that govern its production and consumption. >> reporter: and today's craft breweries are still making history. this festival in denver focused on hispanic beers, one of the first in the country.

and if it succeeds, it will double as an hispanic community center. judd bellstock's dos luces beer are a step back in history. made from corn, not hops, using 3,000-year-old recipes from peru. >> in general the most popular is our chiche and chicha. it's easy drinking, medium bodied really nice solid beer. >> reporter: it has a little kick and a different taste to it. >> reporter: and to historian bach, there is one more reason to help craft breweries. >> each one of those is not just a place to get a beer, it's a community. it's an entrepreneur's vision. and i think that those things are critical to developing new vibrant communities in cities around the country. >> reporter: for breweries, whose profits are thin, keeping the cut could cut them the break they need to make sure there's

always a beer on tap. barry petersen, denver. the zac brown band is in the middle of nationwide tour behind their new album "the owl." this summer the grammy winning band broke its own record for consecutive sold-out shows at boston's fenway park, but there is also controversy. a lot of his older fans say brown has sold out his country roots vlad mere duthiers got on the tours. ♪ >> reporter: after 22 years on the road, this band of eight still crams together on zac brown's tour bus. ♪ working on their set list. >> what you want to do? >> reporter: brown says they're like a ship full of vikings. their longest break from touring lasted just 60 days.

>> this is a real life and it takes a lot of dedication and it's monopolizing. you can't just go to work and come home every day. you have to be gone a lot. but you don't get the kind of chemistry any other way. you can't fake it. yove to live this life. >> reporter: that lifestyle, though rewarding, can take a toll. ♪ it's been a long time coming, couldn't keep on running, i had to hit rock bottom to know ♪ >> reporter: the latest album "the owl." who is that song about? who is it for? >> well, for me. i decided two years ago that there were just parts of myself that i didn't want to be anymore. some mornings of being on the road you wake up with some headaches, and so that's not anymore. my life's not about that anymore.

♪ i believe >> i think it's important to be vulnerable and be yourself, and just be real. i don't want to be around things that aren't real anymore. i'm trying to engineer my life to things that have soul and things that i create, some of them are fun, and some of the things are like me bleeding my soul and my life and my hardship out in the song. ♪ but the hardest part is leaving love behind ♪ >> reporter: some of those songs tell the story of brown's 12-year marriage, which came to an end last year. when did you know that it was not going to last? >> you know, lots of things that you don't ever foresee. you know when you live in something long enough that it's not working anymore and that the differences that are there are greater and that it's healthier to not live in conflict than it is to try to stay. and no matter how many mistakes

or whatever, and she absolutely was the one. that's -- we have five amazing, beautiful children together. and that was the reason that we were together. it's not how i planned it to be, but it gave me more than i could have ever dreamed of having, you know. >> reporter: brown says creating music about his life is his therapy. ♪ finish what we started, babe >> it helps me to grieve the things that have happened and if i'm doing it right, then other people can too. but when i look out and see people crying, that's us doing our job, trying to. and we're always chasing that, that emotion in the songs. ♪ >> reporter: zac brown doing so means collaborating with artists and producers outside of country music. ♪ woke up in a haze, still a little high, listen to the waves as the clouds rolled by ♪ >> when i put out a record, i have to pick a category to put it? >> reporter: you do?

you feel you do? >> you have to. you release it on itunes, you have to pick a category, one category. ♪ you can't say country, rock, reggae, soul, and whatever. no. you get one bucket to coin yourself in. i am not just a country artist. i'm not. >> reporter: yeah. i love that. >> well, i have to create what moves me. ♪ don't judge a book by its cover ♪ >> and what connects with my fans. i don't really care about the buckets. but i don't like being coined as a country artist. i like being an artist. purists, i get them they should just listen to the songs of mine that are more country, and leave me alone about all the other ones, because i don't really care about what they have to say about them. ♪ >> zac brown also put out a pop solo album last month. it's called "what else the it's called "what else the controversy.

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♪upbeat musieverything was so fresh in the beginning. [sniff] ♪ dramatic music♪ but that plug quickly faded. ♪upbeat music luckily there's febreze plug. it cleans away odors and freshens for 1200 hours. [deep inhale] breathe happy with febreze plug. it was 50 years ago that a bunch of guys from england changed the face of comedy. dan jacobson goes behind the scenes with the comedians of monty python's flying circus. >> now for something completely different. ♪ >> reporter: first years ago today, the groundbreaking

british sketch series "monty python's flying circus" premiered on the uk's bbc 1, and forever changed the world of comedy. >> yes, gangs of old ladies tackled defenseless, fit young men. >> reporter: comprised of graham chapman, john cleese, michael palin, terry jones and terry gilliam, the troop's absurd humor was a subversive poke in the eye to buttoned up british society. sketches like the ministry of silly walks, the dead parrot. >> bunny, bunny! >> reporter: and the spanish inquisition became comedy classics. >> cardinal, poke her with a soft cushion! ha ha! confess! confess! >> reporter: in an interview for "cbs this morning saturday", idle recalled those early days. you really didn't know what you

were doing. >> we hadn't a clue. but we knew what we didn't want to do. we knew we didn't want to be safe. >> oh, i'm sorry. and now a frontal nudity. >> reporter: how was it received initially in britain? >> with massive indifference. >> reporter: monty python's flying circus ran for four seasons before the bbc pulled the plug in 1974, but things were just beginning across the pond. ♪ i'm a lumberjack and i'm okay, i sleep all day, awhack all day ♪ >> reporter: that same year a dallas television station started airing episodes of "flying circus." soon other pbs stations followed suit, giving the pythons a big u.s. following. and that brought the troupe to hollywood. 1975's "monty python and the holy grail", a spoof of medieval film genre was a huge hit. >> one day all this will be yours. >> the curtains?

>> not the curtains. >> every monty python movie has had sort of a similar reception where they get okay reviews, they do okay at the box office, and then people watch them and rewatch them and rewatch them. and they almost seem to age like wine. they don't get old. ♪ >> reporter: decades later, it became a tony-award winning musical. ♪ always look on the bright side of things ♪ >> reporter: more films would follow along with a stage film and comedy album. with chapman's untimely death in october 1989, the rest of the troupe decided to call it quits. but their mark on comedy was already made. >> they found a way to make very smart comedy about very silly things, or to treat very serious topics in a very silly way. and so that's one reason why i think that their comedy has endured. >> look! >> it's just a flesh wound. >> reporter: in 2014, the surviving members reunited one more time for the last night of

the pythons in front of 15,000 fans at london's 02 arena. and an estimated 50

"the joshua tree" is more than just the title of a u2 item. for a lot of people the trees are a symbol of america's vast deserts. but after surviving fire and drought for thousands of years, tiay be running out for these national treasures. jamie yuccas has the story. >> reporter: looking like sculptures in the sand, nature has thrown everything at the joshua tree for hundreds of thousands of years, but its toughest match is man made. >> the ball is sort of already rolling. even if we -- there is a lot of reduction in grown house gases, we're still going to see an increase in temperature and probably a decrease in joshua tree habitat. >> reporter: dr. lynn sweet led

a study in the park. it shows by the end of the century, even with our best efforts to reduce greenhouse gas, 80% of joshua trees will be wiped out. if no action is taken, the species will become nearly extinct. joshua tree national park is the only place you will find the species. there are nearly a million throughout the mojave desert. they survive because their deep roots find groundwater and store it. but rising temperatures are making it almost impossible for them to grow and reproduce. these joshua trees have the best chance of survival because they're at higher elevation within the park. but scientists warn there is a secondary threat. nonnative grasses have inundated the area, and along with the high temperatures, are increasing the risk of devastating wildfires. >> we are currently working right now to remove nonnative invasive grasses. if we didn't have these grasses filling in these inner spaces here, there wouldn't be a continuous fuel bed.

>> reporter: three million people visit the park each year. jane volunteers here and hopes to inspire others to take action. >> i want the kids to see what i can see today. i want them to be able to go out and enjoy all this beautiful land and not have sunlight barren sahara. >> reporter: miles and eva west say their visit opened a whole new world. is this place worth saving? >> yes. >> reporter: why? >> there are only these in this place. you won't see them anywhere else except like on the internet and stuff. >> reporter: the trees' life or death is now up to these future generations. jamie yuccas, cbs news, joshua tree national park. >> that's the "overnight news" for this tuesday is. for some ofme of you, the news continues. for others, c back with us a little later for the morning news and "cbs this morning." from the broadcast center in new york city, i'm meg oliver.

captioning funded by cbs it's it's tuesday, october 8, 2019. this is the "cbs morning news." bipartisan backlash. democrats and republicans blast president trump's decision to pull u.s. troops from northern syria. why some feel the move could help isis make a comeback. a senior diplomat is expected to testify today how he could shed new light on what happened in the moments before president trump made a controversial phone call to ukraine's president. plus, a common germ turns deadly. the mystery surrounding the