captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> ifill: good evening, i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: on the newshour tonight, a new proposal to lower carbon pollution sparks an imminent showdown over clean power and climate change. >> woodruff: fires burn uncontained across vast parts of bone-dry california, prompting widespread evacuations. >> ifill: plus, from the border regions of sudan, aid workers and civilians caught in the crossfire over contested land, become collateral damage. >> they want us to go away. they want to kill everybody here. they want to demoralize the people. they want to treat everybody like animals. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals.

>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: thousands of firefighters in california looked to the forecast today, for relief from a scourge of wildfires. lower temperatures and higher humidity helped crews trying to contain the biggest fire. it's burning near lower lake 100 miles north of san francisco. thousands of people have been warned to evacuate. we'll have a full report after the news summary. >> ifill: the attorney general of texas, ken paxton, has been formally charged with securities fraud. the tea party conservative allegedly encouraged people to invest in a tech start-up-- without telling them he was being compensated by the company. prosecutors say it happened before paxton took office in january. >> woodruff: a colorado jury refused today to rule out the death penalty for james holmes,

who shot a dozen people to death at a movie theater in 2012. the same jury that convicted him is now considering a sentence. today's finding sets up final testimony, starting tomorrow. >> ifill: in syria, at least 17 people were killed today when government planes bombed a busy marketplace, and one of the planes crashed. it happened in a northwestern town held by rebels. but it wasn't clear if the plane was shot down. at least seven buildings in the market were left in ruins. in addition to those confirmed dead, local reports said many people were missing. >> ( translated ): by god, this market was full of people and the people came to get some money. each person was at his stall but now all of them are under the rubble. all the people are under the rubble. the plane, the pilots and its missile all hit the market, they left nothing of the market at all. >> ifill: the town was captured by opposition fighters and militants in may. >> woodruff: a rift has emerged in the ranks of afghanistan's

taliban over the group's new leader. the militants announced the selection of mullah akhtar mohammad mansoor last week. he succeeds the late mullah omar, but now omar's brother says mansoor was selected by only "a few," and does not have the group's full support. >> ifill: the government of india is telling telecom companies to block more than 850 adult websites, and bar easy access to online pornography. officials said today they want to protect children and social decency. the move touched off a debate in the world's largest democracy over morality versus personal freedoms. >> woodruff: the stock market in greece plunged today after reopening from a five-week shutdown. the main athens index plummeted nearly 23% at the opening of trading. analysts said most investors are just trying to raise cash. >> ( translated ): there is a sense of panic. there is no liquidity in the market and some traders are selling off in their quest for

liquidity. and there are no buyers because the greek economy has been hard hit by the imposition of capital controls and the bank closures. the outlook is not clear >> woodruff: the greek market ultimately recovered some of its losses, but still ended down by more than 16%. >> ifill: closer to home, puerto rico's debt crisis deepened today after it missed a major debt payment. the u.s. commonwealth was supposed to repay $58 million on saturday. all together, the island owes more than $70 billion to its creditors. >> woodruff: detroit automakers posted solid sales heading into the second half of the year. general motors and fiat chrysler saw july business rise more than six percent over a year ago. ford said its sales for the month gained five percent.+++ nissan did better still: they were up eight percent. >> ifill: wall street gave up ground today, as oil prices sankat &f &c1 &d0 &q6 s37=5 n0 &k0 the dow jones industrial average

lost more than 90 points to close below 17,600. the nasdaq fell 13 points, and the s&p 500 dropped six. senate republicans tried and failed this evening to cut off+++ parenthood. they pressed the issue after the release of videos that show planned parenthood officials casually discussing procedures to obtain +++fetal tissue.ath0 the videos were secretly shot by anti-abortion activists. >> woodruff: and, former pennsylvania senator richard schweiker has died.+++÷

>> today after working with states and cities and power companies, the e.p.a. is setting the first nationwide standards

to end the limitless dumping from power plants. today, washington is starting to catch up with the vision of the rest of the country. >> ifill: the rule, to be implemented by the e.p.a. means: power plants must cut carbon dioxide emissions 32% by 2030. that's from 2005 levels. such a reduction would be up from a 30% cut in the original draft. the revised rule also calls for generating 28% of u.s. power from renewable energy, up from 22%. at the same time, it gives states extra time to begin reducing emissions. industry groups, and a number of states, pushed back today, saying the rule will cost jobs and cause spikes in energy prices. and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, representing the coal state of kentucky, promised to block the plan. >> it represents a triumph of blind ideology over sound policy and honest compassion. in kentucky, these regulations will likely mean fewer jobs,

shuttered power plants, and higher costs for families and businesses. i'm not going to sit by while white house takes aim at lifeblood of our state's economy. >> ifill: republican presidential candidates, including jeb bush, also rejected the e.p.a. plan. >> it's typical of the obama administration taking executive power he doesn't have. and i believe it's unconstitutional and i think in a relatively short period of time, the courts will determine that as well. >> ifill: democrats including white house hopeful hillary clinton, generally support the plan. in a statement, she called it: "...a significant step forward in meeting the urgent threat of climate change." and, she added: "it's a good plan, and as president, i'd defend it." before the day was out, a major coal mining firm, murrey energy corporation, filed what's expected to be the first of many suits over the rule. >> ifill: for a closer look at the new rules, and how the

administration plans to defend them, we turn to e.p.a. administrator gina mccarthy. i spoke with her a short time ago. administrator mccarthy, welcome. >> thank you, gwen. >> ifill: the president said today this announcement, this plan is part of a longer, bigger, more sweeping, global climate plan. just talking about the u.s. portion of it, for some people, that sounds like their worst nightmare, that it's part of a bigger plan. for some people, they say this is just the beginning. why is it not too much overreaching? >> i think you know, gwen, we did tremendous outreach on this plan, and this clean power plan is really the biggest step forward we're taking to combat climate change but also to protect our kids' future and the planet. it sets the first ever carbon pollution standards for our carbon sectorrer because they're the biggest generator and it will drive down other

pollutants. we learned how to do it smart around make it legally solid, do this in a way to keep our energy reliable, affordable, provide billions of dollars in benefits over the course of this rule. actually, in the end, it will mean lower energy bills for families. so we think we hit the mark here. we did a lot of outreach. we think we did it right and we know that states and utilities are going to be able to work with us to get their plans in and get the reductions that we really need to protect public health and get the big action you need globally. >> ifill: i wanted to get back to you on several of the points#&

trading across states.

we know that, as a result of this rule, every single fuel will have a place at the table. will there be as much coal as there used to be? no, there won't. we're not driving coal up, we're driving carbon pollution down but they will still be part of the energy mix as natural gas. that's still as valuable as before and we'll drive more renewables into the market because frankly the market is using renewables now. we're following the wave. we need to reduce carbon pollution, not dictate energy mix and you will see everybody has a place at the table in 2030 just like today. >> ifill: how can you be so confident this will withstand legal scrutiny? it's already in the courts. >> i think everybody and their brother told us what we thought was legally vulnerable. we spent a loft time talking to people. we have looked at this and

confident it is legally solid. we listened to comments. if people had a question about legal authority or technical correctness, we've resolved those issues and are confident this will stand the test of time but even more confident that people in this country are sick and tire of being worried about climate change and want leadership. this president has provided that leadership and now it's time to embrace it and act together. >> ifill: e.p.a. administrator gina mccarthy, thank you. >> thank you, gwen. >> woodruff: more than 20 states, mostly led by republicans, are expected soon to file suit against the new rules. west virginia is among those leading the group. the state is part of the heart of coal country and still ranks coal among its largest employers, even as the number of jobs dwindle. patrick morrissey is the state's attorney general and i spoke with him this afternoon. welcome, mr. attorney general. we appreciate your joining us. the president says these tougher

environmental standards are necessary not just to protect the next generation but this one. how do you see them?k

critical is that the e.p.a. and the clean air act, they're designed to regulate the coal fire power plants. they can't force or try to incentivize states in order to put form other forms of energy and to force states to no longer manage their energy portfolios. this is a real problem. they're on very thin legal ice. i think that the statute the very clear. the federal government has a role to regulate power plants. the states typically manage their energy portfolios. >> let me ask you about some of the substance of this. as of two years ago, it's my understanding power plants across the country were responsible for 30% of

greenhouse gas emissions. that being case, shouldn't they be targeted for significant cuts? >> i think anytime you talked about whether there was a policy goal to target a particular power plant, that's a debate best left to congress. i think that if congress got together and decided what they wanted to regulate, they may be perfectly appropriate. that's not what's happened here. right now, you have unelected bureaucrats that are reaching out to some really radical legal interpretations in order to have a sweeping transformation of the american economy. i think the american people deserve better than to just have a few bureaucrats try to come up with a creative new legal mechanism in order to do so much fundamental change. let's have a real debate in congress. keep in mind, this has not been done through congressional action. this is done through the e.p.a. >> woodruff: again, let me ask you about some of the substance here, mr. attorney general. you talk about it being drown up, in your words, by radical bureaucrats.

but in looking at it, we know according to this plan, states can work in conjunction with anotherrers, in compliance and second of all, we know power plant emissions have already dropped more than 15% over the last ten years, which is, what, half of where they would have to be under this plan. so you're already more than halfway there. is this really as radical as what you're saying? >> i think it is for a number of reasons. first of all, i know, in my home state of west virginia, there are so many jobs that have been lost and, in addition, we're starting to see electricity prices so, and that's common sense because if you retire coal fire power plants before baseline and build other non-coal fire power plants, consumers, rate payers will have to fay difference. the other problem is even if you agree with the policy goals of this president, what they're trying to do legally by taking the e.p.a. which is historically

regulated environmental regulation and coal fire power plants and now are innovating the states' place. states traditionally manage their own energy port portfolios. that's not what's happening here because the targets are so severe it's going to bea"

five-hour span over the weekend. all of this is occurring as the golden state, and most of the western part of the country deal with drought and an especially dangerous fire season. jeffrey brown has the story. >> brown: it's the largest of roughly 20 fires burning throughout drought-stricken california. the so-called rocky fire has consumed two dozen homes threatened hundreds more and put at least 12,000 people under evacuation warnings. >> it's like being in another world. it's the smells, the embers. i mean, it's still burning here. >> doomsday. that's what it looked like, kind of. it looked like, it looked like a mushroom cloud that came from a nuclear explosion kind of. >> brown: the fire, about 100 miles north of san francisco tripled in size over the weekend, to 93 square miles.

national guard helicopters battled the blaze from the air while nearly 3,000 firefighters fought the flames on the ground. cooler, wetter weather helped crews gain ground today, but the big fire is still only 12% contained. cal-fire spokesman steve kaufmann called it unprecedented. i've talked to firefighter with 20, 30, 40 years on the job in the fire service, and they've said that this is some of the most extreme fire behavior they've ever seen in their career. the fields are so tender and dry, they're real receptive to fire and when we do have fire in the vegetation, it seems to move pretty fast, more unpredictably than we've seen before. >> brown: meanwhile, fires in other parts of california have killed one firefighter and injured four others in recent days. wildfires have also erupted in oregon and washington state, fueled by drought and summer heat. this nasa image shows smoke from several fires rising yesterday

over oregon and northern california. and as if all that weren't enough, there've been incidents of private drone aircraft interfering with fire-fighting planes, and even forcing them out of the air. >> so we need to be smart, when using drones, if you see our aircraft in the air, don't fly your drones, it's only going to hamper our operations. >> brown: officials in san bernardino, california are now offering a $75,000 dollar reward for information on anyone whose drone hinders firefighters. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: seeking support for the iran nuclear deal from leaders in the middle east. and, in sudan, aid workers and civilians caught in the middle of a battle between government troops and rebel groups.

>> ifill: the political season heads into overdrive this week with a candidate's forum in new hampshire tonight, and with a full scale debate thursday night in cleveland. the debate, sponsored by fox news, will feature the top ten of the 17 major candidates. who gets on stage will be determined by averaging polls. as of today, five candidates seem guaranteed a spot: donald trump, jeb bush, scott walker, rand paul and marco rubio. another three look highly likely to make the cut: ted cruz, mike huckabee and ben carson. that leaves three others to fight for the two remaining spots: chris christie, rick perry and john kasich. what better time for politics monday? tonight, with tamara keith of npr and susan page of "usa today." welcome to you both. >> thank you. >> ifill: so there is an elephant in the room as we always discuss on monday nights. his name is donald trump. let's get past that for a moment. what do these candidates have to

accomplish on the stage thursday night to break through? >> i think they have different agendas facing them. i think for jeb bush, he wants to look presidential, an alternative to donald trump. i think marco rubio who's faded from the scene, he needs to ria cert himself as a player. scott walker needs to work on foreign policy, last time he had stumbles and missteps. so different players have different things they need to do. >> ifill: is there anything donald trump need to do? >> i think he needs to have fun because that's what donald trump is there to do. i think the question is what these candidates do with donald trump. i was doing a little math. the thought is, with commercials and everything else, you will get about 90 minutes of actual talking time for candidates there are ten of them. that means, best case scenario, they might each get nine minutes. how many of the nine minutes do they want to cede to donald trump? it's a big question. i think a lot of them want to be

substantive in their nine minutes or stand out in some way, and it will be a question as to whether donald trump will let them. >> ifill: it's interesting because the rules to get on the stage are important. the names we just threw out there are not by any means official yet. so those in the bubble, those who say john kasich or chris christie, one or the other of them might make it, how important is it the first of the nine debates they make it? >> i think it's important. i think it makes you look more serious than if you make the previous four that fox is going to have at 5:00 with the people who don't quite make the cut. >> ifill: mike huckabee, ted cruz. >> right. i think it's important for them to show they're going to be part of the main.

we know that traditionally there's moment that encapsulates the debate. i'm predicting that moment lynn clued trump. >> ifill: no. she's out on the edge. >> this is crazy. someone says to donald trump and especially for the candidates who are not in that first two or three, for them to be part of that moment would be a break through, it would be something that would make us pay more attention to them. >> ifill: if you're john kasich, the governor of ohio who only got in the race a couple of weeks ago, just being on the stage might be a big enough breakthrough on its own. >> and in your home state to be on that stage. he wants to be there, absolutely. you know, they will find other ways, though. the candidates at the kids' table will find a way to stabbed out at the kids' table debate. there is another forum tonight two more hours of potential to stand out, and every sunday show. there are in opportunities, but,

of course, especially for republican candidates on fox news, this debate is a big moment. >> ifill: today we saw hillary clinton -- or over the weekend -- come out with a couple of ads which are the type of ads you see run by people you've never heard of before. hillary clinton is running these by graphical ads. you see the old pictures of her from the early days of the children's defense fund, governor, first lady of arkansas, married to bill clinton, obviously. why are we doing that at this stage? >> her campaign and good friends feel like hillary clinton is the candidate everyone thinks they know but nobody really knows, and, so, they have rolled out the biographical details in her speeches but that hasn't really broken through. the headlines are still about the e-mails and the clinton

foundation and the e-mails again. so they're looking for the early, primary and caucus voters and say with a soft focus here's the hillary clinton we want you to know without the filter. >> ifill: the other thing hillary clinton has done in the past few days is go after jeb bush who she clearly thinks is first, today, on planned parenthood and whether planned parenthood should be defunded and -- i forget what it was but she went after him last week as well. what is it she's doing that for? >> she's apparently concluded donald trump is not going to be the republican nominee and the most likely is jeb bush and so why not go after him now. she certainly doesn't want to go after her democratic rivals who are not in a position to deny her the nomination, at least not at this point. so i think she's looking a little ahead at the general election but it's interesting to go back to the autobiographical ads. the one focused on her mother is quite touching. it makes her look, it goes to what her motivation has been,

and in working for kids as she did particularly in her early years as a lawyer, and i think that does show a side of hillary clinton that even people who know her pretty well haven't really seen before and it's something i think she doesn't do well herself on stage when she's talking about it, but when you have the pictures narrated by hillary clinton, i think it is a different kind of picture of hillary clinton than we've seen. >> ifill: the person who focused in the political chat world but not on anyone's ballot is joe biden, the vice president, and questions about whether joe biden and whether he should, could or would run for president at this late stage in the debate. what have you heard in. >> well, obviously, there has been reporting his son, as he was dying, said, dad, you should run. what i'm getting is not anything that concrete. what i'm hearing from people is that, sure, there are feelers being put out by people who are close to joe biden. the question, though, is are

feelers enough? i mean, hillary clinton, at this point, has a 50-state organizing strategy. she has 40 offices, 49 offices in iowa. bernie sanders has something like 40 organizers in iowa. there's a lot of infrastructure that joe biden doesn't yet have because he hasn't yet decided what he's doing. >> ifill: how serious trouble is it? >> we know if joe biden wants to run, he will. his head told him at least this far he can't, there's not an opening. hillary clinton is not beleaguered among democrats. democrats like hillary clinton, they're excited about the idea of nominating the first woman. >> ifill: question is whether she can beat the republican in the fall. >> if she imploded in a more serious way than so far, joe biden would love to be the person rushing in there, but it's hard to see the opening being there for him at this time. >> ifill: always a good thing to keep your name in the air.

susan page, tamara keith, as always, thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: secretary of state john kerry was in the persian gulf today, trying to sell the iran nuclear deal to gulf arab allies. publicly, at least, the mission seemed liked an easier lift than his recent to visits to capitol hill but opposition in some parts of the region remains strong. kerry arrived in qatar, with the message that a nuclear deal might change iran's aggressive actions in neighboring states. >> obviously we all know about the support for hezbollah, the support for shia militia in iraq, the support for the houthi in yemen and other involvements in the region, support for terror, historically, which we have opposed and we continue to oppose and we will oppose going

forward in the future. >> woodruff: privately, many of the gulf arab leaders who met with kerry have expressed fear that a nuclear deal will only embolden iran. but publicly, at least, the qatari foreign minister offered mostly support. >> ( translated ): mr. kerry let us know that there's going to be a kind of live oversight for iran not to gain or to get any nuclear weapons. this is reassuring to the region. we hope that we are going to have a kind of a ban of nuclear weapons not only to iran, but to all the middle east. >> woodruff: before his stop in qatar, kerry had been in egypt. he skipped israel, where prime minister benjamin netanyahu has been outspoken in condemning the iran pact. >> ( translated ): the deal permits iran to build as many centrifuges as it wants and to enrich as much uranium as it

wants, which means that iran could break-up in a decade or so to dozens of nuclear bombs in zero time. >> woodruff: defense secretary ash carter did visit israel last month, but netanyahu was not mollified. the israeli leader plans to address american jewish communities in a webcast tomorrow. meanwhile, kerry travels on to east asia, where he'll focus on concerns about china's pursuit of territorial claims in the region. we take closer look now at the reaction to the iran deal in the middle east. i'm joined by former jordanian foreign minister, marwan muasher. david makovsky of the washington institute for near east policy. and, fahad nazer, a former political analyst at the embassy of saudi arabia in washington. gentlemen, we we canal you all. marwan muasher, to you first, what is the reaction in general to this deal in jordan? >> the reaction in the middle east in general, not just in jordan, is on the one side, a

sign of relief that the region is going to be avoiding a war with catastrophic results. on the other side, there is concern about iran's role in the region and what an enhanced or an added financial resources that will become available to iran, what that might mean in terms of iran and its role in such places assyria or yemen or other places in the middle east. >> woodruff: fahad nazer, what about your perception. >> i think one should draw a distinction between the official government position and the prevailing sentiment. initially, the government issued a rather innocuous-sounding statement that that was read as as a tacet endorsement back on july 14. since then, obviously, the foreign minister met with top u.s. officials including president obama and secretary kerry. doctor carter was in

saudi arabiaia two weeks ago and since then the position has shifted slightly but in a significant fashion. the foreign minister after meeting secretary carter said while we are still in consultation with the u.s. government that the agreement does seem to address our corns. >> woodruff: so a sense of reassurance? >> deed. as i said, at the outset the prevailing is different from the official position. there are many insiders specifically who are still very concerned about iran's intentions and, even in looking at the agreement, think that iran in some ways was rewarded for its bad behavior over the years. >> woodruff: david makovsky, what about the reaction in israel? is there as much negative reaction there as prime minister netanyahu expressed? >> prime minister netanyahu set the tone, no doubt. his main point is the objections

of the negotiations profoundly shifted from trying to eliminate the iranian nuclear program to merely deferring it,. as you know, he's been very vocal in that regard. he made the point marwan just made about the cash infusion of the region as a result of the new status, unlocking of their bank accounts that would lead to really perhaps billions of dollars for their allies to engage in destabilizing activities and bold iranian influence in the region. the public, if you look at the polls, the polling data show that you've got about 70 to 80 percent opposed, 10 percent approved and about the same percentage iran's going to get a nuclear weapon under this deal. and the reason why it's so strong is not just because of netanyahu's dominance as a leader, but because they hear

the ayatollah's statement, i want to annihilate israel, and not just rhetorically feel they have been on the receiving end of bombs from hesbollah in 2006 and rounds with hamas subsequent to that. >> woodruff: i want to come back to marwan muasher and the point i think all three of you were reflecting in way, the worry iran will use the money it gets from unfreezing its assets to create more mischief in the region. i'm sure you know u.s. officials are saying this is a concern, that the u.s. is already prepared for it, that it's illegal for iran to do it anyway and if they start to engage in this type of behavior the u.s. will push back. >> yes, iran's role in the region has not been part of the negotiations over the nuclear fight and that remains the weakest part of the agreement. i still think the unbalanced

agreement is still a good one because the lack of an agreement would probably have led to a war that would not have stopped the iranian nuclear program and, in fact, may have encouraged that. having said that, because the negotiations did not involve iran's role in the region, that remains the principal concern of the countries among the region, is iran going to use the that extra money for more mischief and what leverage does the u.s. have to prevent iran from using that extra money. that remains the concern. it is not -- you know, i don't think that countries of the gulf are asking necessarily the united states for more arms, for more security arrangements. they said they do not intend to get into a war with iran but they're asking for assurances that iran's role is not going to be enhanced in the region and, frankly, i'm not sure how the united states can give such assurances to countries of the gulf, in particular. >> well, a couple of points, and i'll come to fahad nazer on that

because u.s. officials have addressed this. they say if iran does this, the u.s. will push back in concert with other nations. they've said if necessary, they will beef up the ability of other countries to defend themselves and they've also talked about how much more money that's been spent by scrabbled for example, other countries like qatar than iran is spending. they're saying there is already enann imbalance which the u.s. is prepared to readdress if necessary. >> i'm not sure about that. it's not just saudi arabia or the u.s. that has expressed concern about what iran could potentially do with the billions of dollars worth of unfrozen assets. there is at least one official in the united nations that estimates iran has provided bashar al-assad regime with

$6 million annually. syria got lost in the conversation but i think syria remains to be the top of saudi arabia's agenda. i think saudi arabia's invested tremendous political capital in syria. i think syria is the main source of destabilization in the region at this point, and i'm sure that they are hoping that the u.s. is well aware of that and there is indication that secretary kerry is now willing to focus more on syria, now that the nuclear issue is behind him. >> and there is some indication of that. david makovsky, is it concern in israel that the u.s. is just not prepared to push back if iran does begin to become more aggressive in the region? >> yes, i think that's a concern. terms like bush pushback or our a game are words that get band idea about and -- bandied about and people say what does that

mean? does it mean the banks and individuals, the moneys going around for terrorist sanctions, are we going to see that enhanced when money goes to hezbollah l.a. no one's talking about a wholesale reimposition of sanctions like there is under this deal, but the question is are we going to do that? are we going to gauge contingency planning for interdiction of ships carrying weapons to some of iran's proxies? people want to know more specifics. i mean, just to say, well, the sunnis give more money and iran gives money, the middle east is going to be more awash in weapons. so the question is, short of giving more weapons to the other side, are there other things we can do very specifically that give, you know, real teeth to the term "pushback"? >> woodruff: could i ask each one of you to comment briefly on

whether you think the u.s. is going to be able to assuage these concerns, assuming congress okays these deals? marwan muasher. >> it's going to take a lot more than what the u.s. is already doing to convince its allies in the region there is serious pushback and i frankly have concern about that given the fact that i think obama is trying to get out to have the region and not be more involved. >> woodruff: david makovsky? i think whether this deal does or doesn't happen, you're going to need an upgrade u.s.-israeli security relationship. this is the most turbulent period the middle east has gone through in 100 years and this deal will add to the turbulence. it's important that these two allies that are bickering right now find a way to put it behind them. >> woodruff: and fahad nazer. the u.s. has been persistent and some of the effort is paying off. however, i do think saudi arabia has major concerns about iran's ultimate intentions for the

region. >> woodruff: gentlemen, we thank you all three, fahad nazer, david makovsky, marwan muasher. >> thank you. >> ifill: it's a largely forgotten conflict in a part of the world marked by hunger and poverty. but for the past three years, in sudan's southern nuba mountain and kordafan regions, a war has been raging. the area is controlled by s.p.l.a. rebels who fought for south sudan in the war that ended in 2005. now the rebels are on the wrong side of the new border. and they've fought the sudanese government to a stalemate. thousands of civilians have been caught in the middle. a group of sudanese journalists, known as nuba reports, have been documenting their plight, and helped us produce the following report with the newshour's p.j. tobia. a warning: some of the images in the story may be disturbing.

(singing) >> these pictures were shot in may 2014 in southern sudan. a seemingly peaceful morning at the mother of mercy hospital and catholic school -- until the priest's sermon ended suddenly with a rain of bombs from above. students took shelter in ditches, some fainted in terror. the next day they were hit with more. medical director tom tom matina treated the wounded. >> the first bomb was dropped close to the hospital. they were yelling and screaming then coming back and dropping three more bombs. there is no doubt they were targeting us. >> reporter: according to the few non-governmental organizations still operating in

the kordafan region, the sued knees government uses cluster munitions and banned inaccurate parachute bombs. this landed in a village in a bombing run that killed a girl and wounded others. one of the 400 patients at the doctor's hospital during the attack is a woman named amal. >> since i have been here, the attacks have been continuous and we don't know when it will stop or when the attacks will start again. we don't know anything. >> reporter: she came to mother of mercy hospital after the government bombed her village, blowing off half her left foot. here, in footage recorded just after that attack, her daughter and niece lie dead, killed while they slept beside her. mother of mercy hospital is the only one for hundreds of miles in any direction. the sudanese government blockaded the region preventing medicines and other aid from getting to krodafan.

the government band other n.g.o.s. doctors without borders is run of the only international aid groups still operating in kordafan. in june, more bombing. >> right when the plane turned around, all the patients that were bed ridden in the hospital and the staff came running from outside to the shelters. >> reporter: the staff were too scared to return to the clinic. they treated the wounded in a ditch. an i.v. bag hangs from a tree trunk. >> this blood is the blood of the patient hit from behind and a staff member whose legs were wounded. >> reporter: in all, three were severely wounded in the attack, six injured, shrapnel blew through the clinic, damaging valuable medicines and equipment, rare tools in this part of the world. in january this year, 13 sudanese bombs hit another

n.s.f. clinic. back at mother of mercy hospital, dr. cay dr. cateena says they're not an accident. >> they want us to go away, they want to kill everybody here, demoralize the people and treat everybody like animals. >> reporter: pbs "newshour" showed bombing of the mother of mercy hospital. >> if we can determine where they are, they probably could be inside the barracks and the camps and they could also be not in sudan. they could be in south sudan or any other area. >> reporter: as for targeting of m.s.f. facilities, he said the group isn't supposed to be operating in sudan in the first place. >> they have been asked to go out of sudan since 2008. so probably they've kept

operating without the knowledge of the government of sudan. if they've done this therapy you don't know if it's the camp. >> reporter: so i'm clear. the sued knees government has not been targeting the facilities or the facilities are aiding the rebels and -- >> we are not targeting at all any facility for sms. and that's but a we're not targeting aid workers. >> we don't work at any particular military body. it's against our core principals. >> reporter: the head of m.s.f. sudan operation said the government repeatedly told the government about the operations. >> we informed them about our

activities there and the location from the very beginning, even before we opened there, we informed them and we kept informing them about our activities through diplomatic channels. >> reporter: n.s.f. all working in sudan despite being ordered out by the government. >> because we can see the needs of the people. we have kids, mothers, elders who are denied care, and we come to look at them. we need to do something. >> reporter: when asked about the parachute bombs and cluster munitions that is sudanese forces use -- >> we're combating aggressive opinion and unfortunately sudan is using a very old technology in its forces and that lead to many things.

>> reporter: says that rebel forces shown here fighting last summer regularly commit atrocities. he sent "newshour" this report from sudanese state television dated april 2013. the report says rebels targeted a school and stole crops in one town. in another, they attacked a power plant and banks. meanwhile, amal's foot is mostly healed and she's reunited with her husband. >> i have arrived here, thank god. however, i can't move around. i might be able to make tea, if i have a guest over i can make tea and food. but say i have to go and bring water or go for long-distance errands, i can't do that. >> reporter: they have left their village and taken reniewnl the caves and rocky slopes of the nuba mountains. many seek refuge here from the bombs among the craggy slopes. natural defenses are the only kind of protection that the people in kordafan can hope for.

for the pbs "newshour", i'm p.j. tobia reporting. >> ifill: later tonight on most pbs stations, "p.o.v." has more on the civilians of southern sudan coping with war in a documentary called "beats of the antonov." >> woodruff: on the newshour online, it turns out that monkeys and humans have a lot more in common than we may think, including an innate sense of economic justice. in a making sense guest column, stanford professor ian morris explains how our perception of fairness, and that of our primate cousins, has evolved to where it is today. all that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. >> ifill: tune in later this evening for charlie rose, with former u.s. ambassador to saudi arabia robert w. jordan. and that's the newshour for tonight. on tuesday, we travel to hungary

for a close up look at the wave of migrants fleeing the middle east and africa, for safety in europe. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

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