captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> ifill: good evening. i'm gwen ifill. judy woodruff is on assignment. on the newshour tonight: >> the choice we face is ultimately between diplomacy and some form of war. >> ifill: taking on critics-- president obama's pushes even more aggressively for congress to approve a nuclear deal with iran. then, ten presidential candidates make the cut and tomorrow they appear for the first time with the real elephant in the room-- donald trump. netflix offers unlimited leave for new parents. and, the making of a new opera. love, loss and survival amid civil war deprivation-- the best selling novel "cold mountain" translated into song. 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. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org

>> 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. >> ifill: international experts confirmed today that plane debris found in the indian ocean is indeed from malaysian airlines flight 370. the jetliner disappeared in march, 2014. part of one wing was discovered last week on reunion island-- thousands of miles west of where the plane disappeared. malaysia's prime minister announced the findings today, at a press conference in kuala lumpur. >> the burden of uncertainty faced by the families during this time has been unspeakable.

it is my goal that this confirmation, however tragic and painful, will at least bring certainty to the families and loved ones of the 239 people on board. mh370. >> ifill: investigators will continue examining the wing flap, hoping it can shed light on exactly what happened to the airliner. fire crews in california continued their battle today against a sprawling blaze north of san francisco. they've been helped by cooler temperatures and higher humidity since the fire exploded out of control over the weekend. it has burned 106 square miles so far. the cause of the fire remains unknown. there's been another attack on a movie theater. a man with a hatchet and gun gassed a theater near nashville, tennessee today with pepper spray. he was shot and killed when he traded shots with police. the scene unfolded in the hickory hollow cinema in antioch. police said the suspect was a 51-year old local white man.

three people were treated for minor injuries. the united nations warned today that fighting in afghanistan is taking a growing toll among women and children. just this year, civilian casualties among women have jumped 23%. for children, the increase is 13%. the u.n.'s special representative for afghanistan released the report today at a briefing in kabul. >> we must now call on those parties engaged in the conflict who have it within their power to reduce the number of civilian casualties to affect changes, to try to commit to taking every step that will avoid civilian casualties. >> ifill: overall, casualties rose by 1% in the first half of the year. u.n. officials blame increased ground fighting since u.s. and nato forces ended their combat role last year.

at least 400 migrants were saved from the mediterranean sea today, after their boat capsized off libya. italian, irish and other vessels raced to the scene to help rescue the boat's passengers. they also recovered at least 25 bodies, and warned there may be many more. up to 700 people may have been crammed onto the boat. britain's best-known radical muslim cleric has been arrested on terror charges. authorities today cited lectures he posted online last year, praising the islamic state group. anjem choudary and an associate were brought to court this afternoon in london, accused of inciting support for isis. hundreds of british muslims have left for syria and iraq to fight for the militant group. choudary, a 48-year-old british- born cleric, has been perhaps the group's most vocal defender in the international media. >> people don't come to me to ask me whether they should go to the islamic state. i think that every muslim should do his responsibility. >> ifill: choudary had already

been arrested last fall on suspicion of membership in isis. he was later released, but his passport was seized. in a january interview with the newshour's margaret warner, he was steadfast, but careful, in his defense of the islamic state. >> i'm on record on saying that i would love to go to the islamic state myself. my passport was taken away, but i would love to take my wife and children as well to bring them up according to the sharia. but that doesn't mean i'm going to engage in terrorists activities. >> he is a trained lawyer. he is very careful in his statements and he knew exactly where that line was that he wasn't allowed to cross. >> ifill: professor peter neumann of king's college london runs the international center for the study of radicalization. he spoke with the newshour today in washington. >> he's always been very careful to say that he was not the one actually encouraging them or directly bringing them into these plots, but it is widely felt that he played an important role in radicalizing them. >> ifill: anjem choudary has for

15 years now been running a group that had different names that was very vocal and very aggressive in support for jihadist groups around the world. al qaeda, and more recently the islamic state. >> ifill: last month prime minister david cameron outlined- - to mixed reviews-- the british government's approach to countering extremism. voices like choudary's were in his crosshairs. >> we are going to introduce new narrowly-targeted powers to enable us to deal with these facilitators and cult leaders and to stop them peddling their hatred. >> ifill: choudary remains in custody until his next court hearing, august 28th. in the past, choudary also praised the 9/11 attackers. in 2016 presidential campaign news, the head of a super pac supporting republican rand paul was indicted today on federal charges involving political bribery. jesse benton allegedly paid a state senator in iowa to support paul's father-- ron paul-- in the 2012 republican presidential race.

two other ron paul supporters are also facing federal charges in the case. u.s. companies will have to start disclosing the pay gap between c.e.o.'s and mid-range employees. they'll have to spell it out in the form of a ratio. the securities and exchange commission voted today to require most publicly-traded firms to release that information-- beginning in 2017. wall street struggled for direction again today. the dow jones industrial average lost ten points to close at 17,540, the nasdaq rose 34 points and the s&p 500 added six. still to come on the newshour: president obama's warning to opponents of the iran nuclear deal, the top ten list: republican candidates prepare to take the debate stage in cleveland and much more. president obama today stepped up

his full court press against critics of the iran nuclear agreement. in an address staged at the very place john f. kennedy delivered a speech pressing for an arms deal with russia in 1963-- mr. obama linked the deal's opponents to those who supported going to war with iraq. he also warned that america's international credibility will be lost if congress kills the agreement. >> before the ink was even dry on this deal, before congress even read it, a majority of republicans declared their virulent opposition. >> ifill: in an almost hour-long speech, the president denounced critics of the nuclear agreement in his strongest terms yet. >> if the rhetoric in this and the accompanying commentary sounds familiar, it should. for many of the same people who argued for the war in iraq are now making the case against the iran nuclear deal. it was a mindset characterized

by a reference for military action over diplomacy. a mindset that put a premium on unilateral u.s. action over the painstaking work of building international consensus. >> ifill: and --he warned-- rejecting the iran deal now will set the country on the path to new conflict. >> the choice we face is ultimately between diplomacy and some form of war. there are opponents of this deal who accept the choice of war. in fact they argue that surgical strikes against iran's facilities will be quick and painless. but if we've learned anything from the last decade it's that wars in general and wars in the middle east in particular are anything but simple. >> ifill: the president also argued again that iran will accelerate its nuclear efforts, if congress blocks this deal. but senate majority leader mitch

mcconnell, in advance of the president's remarks, rejected that claim outright. >> it's clear this deal is making members of both parties uneasy, and with good reason. america's role in world, its commitment to global allies and the kind of future we leave our children are all tied up in this issue. it's why i've called for a debate worthy of the importance of the agreement, when the senate takes it up in september. >> ifill: also on capitol hill, senators met with the head of the international atomic energy agency for a private briefing on how the agreement would affect iran's nuclear efforts. >> it was not a reassuring meeting. >> ifill: republican bob corker of tennessee-- chairman of the foreign relations committee-- raised questions about access to iran's nuclear sites. >> most members left with greater concerns about ability the inspection regime than they came in with.

>> ifill: but the i.a.e.a. chief, yukiya amano, said he cannot give congress a copy of his agency's nuclear inspection agreement with iran. and at a separate hearing, undersecretary of state wendy sherman was questioned on that same point. >> ultimately what we are talking about here is the credibility of the international atomic energy agency whether in fact we believe they are credible, independent verification organization, which it is. >> ifill: polls show the american public is also divided over the agreement. a recent "wall street journal"/ n.b.c. news survey found a third supporting the deal, a third opposing it, and a third saying they don't know enough to make a decision. congress has begun a 60-day review, and has until september 17th to vote on it. the president has warned he'll veto any resolution of disapproval. so how successful was the president in making the case for the iran nuclear agreement? we get two views. nicholas burns had a 27-year career in the foreign service.

he's now at harvard university's kennedy school. and ray takeyh was a senior adviser on iran at the state department during president obama's first term. he's now a senior fellow at the council on foreign relations. ray takeyh, the president has tough words today. he talked about how netanyahu was just wrong, he linked the iranian opposition to the republican party, the republican caucus, and he said that he criticized his opponents as arm chair nuclear scientists, but most of all he made this link to people who voted for the war in iraq. was the president on target or off? >> i went back and actually read jack kennedy's speech, and it was idealistic. he said we should not wave the finger of accusation or issue indictments. i think the president was urn yielding, passionate but he did not make a successful pitch to the critics. this is a technologically flawed agreement and the president should have attempted to broaden

the parameters of this, the parameters of the conversation about this agreement. i think in that sense the president missed his mark and i think it was unwise. >> ifill: nicholas burns, what do you think about the president's tone in particular? >> gwen, i thought the president made a very strong case on the merits, an impassioned case because i think this may be, for him, his most important foreign policy issue. i think he made two important points -- one, this deal is going to freeze iran's gnarl program, they have been on the march ten years. it will freeze them ten or 15 years, put them under i.a.e.a. safeguards, and this deal means iran will be set back to a year to being able to produce a weapon and all this done by diplomacy and negotiation, not war. as measures, i think we ought to have the self-confidence to diplomacy first rather than war.

in answer to your specific question, gwen, i think the president ought to have a big ten policy here. to say that if the deal is turned down, if congress defeats the president, if it overrides his veto in december, that leads to war, i think is a little stark. it's much more probable that if a deal breaks down, it will be bad for the united states because we'll be the ones who will have broken the agreement, the iranians will be able to reconstitute a civil program. i don't think, however, the iranians will elect to then go to a nuclear weapon which would invite an american response. and rather than paint the critic as the iraq war critics, i have been up on the hill for three weeks, testified four times, met lots of members, they come in very different forms. there are democrats who are worried about this deal, democrats who are worried about israel. so i think if president would be well advised not to try to paint his critics as warmongers but to explain the case and merits and the merits for this deal are very strong.

>> ifill: let's talk about the choice between unilateral action and diplomacy. those raise nicholas burns' concerns, do they raise yours as well? >> not entirely. the history of arms controls suggest when there are congressional objections, and the president mentioned those, there is an attempt to renegotiate the aspect of this. and i think that's what president should have done when he met the criticism as opposed to just digs miss it. there are aspects of this agreement that are problematic such as the sunset clause which after essentially ten years iran gets to embark on an industrial-sized nuclear program and then there is no inspection modality really that can detect a weapon option. the president essentially after the rejection of the deal should there be one has a chance to go back, renegotiate some aspect of the deal, therefore strengthen it and as he does, i think he can broaden the bipartisan support for it. i would be very concerned if i was a supporter of this deal that this deal is based on such

a narrow margin of public support in the hill. i think the longevity of this deal is crushing by its absence of bipartisan support. >> ifill: nicholas burns, i want to talk about the politics of that but i want to ask you the question about sanctions and inspections and whether those are loopholes that cause legitimate concern. >> well, i think this deal is a benefit, gwen, of a mix of benefits and risks. there are some risks. the primary risk is what this does is freezes the iranians for ten years, but then after ten to 15 years, the iranians do have the right to reconstitute a civil nuclear program. in my view, i support the deal as someone who worked in the bush and clinton administration. i support it because we're not going to be any worse off after having frozen the iranians for 10 to 15 years at that time. we'll still be a lot stronger militarily, we'll still be able to reassemble a sanctions coalition if we have to do that, and i think that the benefits, for me, outweigh the risk, so i think that's what the country

should do. but the critics of this deal, gwen, mainly the republican party, have tried to say there is an alternative, and the alternative is to walkway from these talks and sanction iran further and wait for a better deal. the problem with that is we've built a big global coalition but it's an unwieldy one. i don't think the global coalition will stay together if the u.s. unilaterally walk out of the deal, the sanctions regime will likely erode, and if we walk away, the iranians won't have to live by its restrictions and they will be free to begin to build a nuclear program again. i think that scenario of the republican critics largely strengthens iran and weakens the united states. >> ifill: what about ray takeyh's point that with a narrow window or margin of support on capitol hill and the details hanging over it all, the president is making a tactical, political error? >> well, i think, from my observation, this has become a very partisan discussion on

capitol hill. there are only a handful of republicans who may support this deal. the real debate's in the democratic party and i think that's where the president has to turn his attention to make sure dnr it looks, gwen, that the vote, when it's held in kept, the congress will vote because of republican majorities in both houses to disapprove the deal. the president will then veto. he said he will do that. can the president sustain his veto? i think everything will depend on the democrats in the house. obviously, the democrats in the senate. i would be surprised if the president's veto was overridden just based on what i'm hearing and talking to members in my time on capitol hill this week. >> ifill: ray takeyh, the president and nick burns says there is no better deal. is that true? >> nobody's talking about walking away from the table. at least i'm talking about renegotiating certain aspects of this agreement that are particularly problematic and contention. >> ifill: how do you renegotiate a deal where the

other nations have signed off? >> i think it will be difficult but not impossible because some of the provisions are so glaringly fall i think other countries will want negotiations. the sunset clause, iran's development of i.r.a. centrifuges which produces uranium 17 times faster, the verification on this is extraordinarily imperfect. the president talks about this is the most intrusive verification system and the only other verification system that's more intrusive results from the iraq war and armistice. that's not true. in practice, you had access to military facilities within one day. so we can renegotiate aspects of this agreement, the history of arms controls replete with such exercises, and i think if you do that, this agreement will be strengthened, it will be based on the bipartisan anchor, ensure longevity, ensure the proliferation cascade in the middle east will not take place

and ensure iran will not sneak out to a bomb. the first, foremost and only test of an arms control agreement is does it reliably and permanently control arms. there is questions about the reliability of the agreement. there is no questions about permanence. it's like a carton of milk, it has an ex pirlings date and we should revisit it. >> ifill: nicholas burns and ray takeyh, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> ifill: tomorrow, 17 republican candidates for president will gather in cleveland-- ten of them in primetime-- for the first debate of the political season. political director lisa desjardins is there with a preview. >> reporter: in the long and wonderful history of republican presidential debates, there has never been an event like this one, not in size, not in flavor.

>> well, you need somebody but a politicians are all talk, no action. nothing's going to get done. >> reporter: donald trump, the prediction-defying, border-visiting, self-extolling businessman may be the most colorful republican frontrunner in modern history, but he has never before been in a major debate. ron is among the strategists guessing at what trump will do tomorrow night. >> will just go positive and play nice with the other candidates, but that's unlike trump. once he gets attacked, i think it will be tough for him to stay quiet and positive. >> reporter: for other candidates wrestling with debate pressure, this adds a significant issue. attack or don't attack. >> jeb bush, scott walker or marco rubio will likely stay out of taking trump on. you will act presidential because you're leading the field. you're in the top three or four

positions here. for a lesser known candidate like dr. ben carson or mike huckabee, i would want to take on donald trump. >> reporter: donald trump is not the only element of spectacle in cleaved. the other is the general republican field. 17 candidates is an all-time record and a first i time logistical night mayor. the the result is a tricky and controversial decision to split up the candidates. in the main event, the two-hour prime time debate host fox news invited the top ten candidates in an average of five national polls. that leaves out these seven candidates, republicans whose resumes include senator, governor and a c.e.o. who is it only woman in -- who is the only woman in the republican field. they will hold a separate debate earlier in the date. >> polls mean nothing. this is an arbitrary figure. unfortunately, the networks and the r.n.c. have gone along with

this irrelevant measure of legitimacy of candidacy. >> reporter: as visible at this crowded new hampshire q&a monday, the problem is there are 17 legitimate candidates. it's a problem for them, but tomorrow, it could mean a fascinating fight for voters. lisa desjardins, the pbs "newshour", cleveland. >> ifill: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: the violent backlash against foreigners living in south africa, providing unlimited parental leave to employees and making a new opera inspired by the best selling novel "cold mountain." surrounding the emails democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton sent while serving as secretary of state. clinton's lawyer has confirmed the f.b.i. is looking into the security of classified emails

once stored on a private server. the questions first arose last summer when state department lawyers needed access to information about the 2012 attacks in benghazi, libya. clinton herself has called for the state department to release her emails to the public. a campaign spokesman said in a statement that she "did not send nor receive any emails that were marked classified at the time." the former senator and first lady has not been accused of any personal wrongdoing by authorities. carol leonnig helped break the story for "the washington post" and joins me now. so exactly what is the f.b.i. investigating, carol? >> so the f.b.i. and agents who are working on this are looking at how secure the copies, electronic, digital, paper, how secure copies of that -- of those e-mails are to make sure they don't fall in the wrong

hands. now we know inspectors general at two agencies found classified material in some of the e-mails that went to hillary's server, mrs. clinton's server. now that we know that, the f.b.i. is concerned about whether or not some of that information could be compromised. there are two place this is information is currently stored that we know of. one, on a thumb drive of hillary clinton's lawyer, david kendall in washington, he has said he has electronic copies of all 30,000 e-mails that former secretary of state clinton sent during her time in the department and that he's keeping them so he can respond to congressional inquiries. >> ifill: there is a distinction to be drawn in this investigation as to what's on public servers, what was on the private servers we're talking about here and what's considered to be classified information and

what's considered to be sensitive information. can you sort that out for us? >> yes, and it's the subject of a huge dispute. in many different ways. for example, the state department and the intelligence community have differences of opinion about what material is classified within the e-mails that they reviewing of former secretary clinton. remember, this all came to pass because of revelations that mrs. clinton had exclusively used a private email server, a private email aired for her work -- email address for her work business and that she had set up a private email server at her home to handle those e-mails. critics say that has put this information sort of out of the government's reach, to a degree. anyway, back to the classified issue. there are disagreements about what material is classified, and this is why both the inspector

general for the intelligence community and the inspector general for the state department have asked the f.b.i. to look at this matter and determine whether this material is secure and to make sure that no classified information has been compromised. >> ifill: one of the things that's interesting in this carol is the clinton campaign response which is that she didn't send any e-mails that were classified at the time -- their words "at the time." is that leaving room for the possibility that there were some e-mails, some communication that was later deemed to be classified, that she unwittingly sent? >> i think that this could be basically a debate about semantics and words. the inspectors general have already said publicly that the e-mails they've reviewed that they found classified information in were not stamped "classified." there was no formal stamp saying this is what this is.

but they have said that it was clearly information that was sensitive, of national security significance, material that should have been stamped classified and that senior government officials would presume was classified. remember that, oftentimes, agency officials would have their e-mails reviewed for classification purposes after the fact or when they were being reviewed, and that didn't seem to have been the case with mrs. clinton's e-mails because they were not being sent on a government server, and they were not on a government email address. >> ifill: do we know whether any of the information that's been unearthed so far had anything to do with what started all of this which was the benghazi investigation? >> we have not seen copies of the e-mails. remember, there are four to five of them so far of 40 that have been reviewed by the intelligence community and have

been found to contain classified information. the intelligence community says that these five of the 40 or four of the 40, depending on which they label as classified, that this information in them came from defense and intelligence community agencies. so, again, whether it references libya or benghazi, that i don't know. >> ifill: or whether it's embarrassing or criminal, that's what we're waiting to see as it unfolds. carol leonnig of "the washington post," thank you very much. >> thank you, gwen. >> ifill: we turn now to south africa where a wave of violence against migrants earlier this year left many victims frightened and the government struggling for a solution to the resurgence of xenophobia-- the

fear of people from other countries. newshour special correspondent martin seemungal has our report from durban, south africa. a warning: some of the images in this story may be disturbing. >> reporter: six dead, hundreds injured, 5,000 migrants forced to seek refuge in hastily organized camps, all due to a wave of anti-foreigner violence in south africa. police have watched over this refugee camp for immigrants for two months, guarding people who came here for safety, being told now it is time to return home. this man said the attack on his family was sudden and extremely violent. >> they took my son. they put him, they almost burned

him. that's how they started. >> reporter: this somali immigrant running for his life from a group of south africans also survived. this attack, one of many in april, part of a wave of xenophobic attacks against other africans living and working here. according to official statistics, there are just over 2 million immigrants in south africa and somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million are undocumented. the worst violence was in the durbin area, parts of downtown became battle zones as migrants fought back. it appeared to be part of a systematic campaign against people from african countries, in particularly mozambique, and there is no word when who's organizing the attack. chris van den berg is a city

councillor in durbin. >> there's a group 80 plus, telling people very clearly that they could not be here sunday morning, that they were going to be -- they were either going to be killed or attacked. >> reporter: anti-immigrant feelings also spread to johannesburg. there were large angry demonstrations against foreigners. met by police using volleys of bird shot. south africa's government condemned the attacks. the country's home affairs minister malusi gigaba promising strong action against the perpetrators. >> the attacks against human being and destruction of property are criminal offenses and will not be tolerated. >> reporter: 307 people were

arrested. so far, there have been no convictions. there is a painful irani to what has happened to these people. many fled their home countries to escape conflict. so they are shocked at what has happened to them here in south africa. driven from homes and businesses built after years of hard work, forced into temporary shelters, crowded tents, surviving on food provided by the government and relief agencies. kabanga kaji has lived in this camp in durbin for several weeks. she has four children. >> life here is miserable. we live like animals. the place we slept in is not good. >> i used to think africa is a good country and now i think it's bad because they're killing us for no reason. >> reporter: some blame the

largest ethnic group in south africa for the attacks. earlier this year, migrants living in south africa were criticized, especially small businesses run by foreigners. he ended his speech with a call for them to pack their bags. the king maintains his remarks were taken out of context. xenophobic attacks are not new to south africa. in 2008, attacks on foreigners led to more fatalities. 67 people were killed around johannesburg. jean pierre misago is from the university of witswatersrand in johannesburg and says the violence did not come as a surprise. >> political pronouncements again.

but it showed there were no concrete measures to prevent violence from happening again. >> reporter: the killing of mozambique man was captured in chilling pictures by a photographer with the sunday times of south africa, james oatway. >> they were angry and full of hate. the expression on their faces, they weren't going to be satisfied with anything but killing. that is the one thing i could tell. >> reporter: the attack lasted just 28 second and then stopped. the men fled. this man was still alive an conscious, oatway rushed him to a hospital in a car but it was too late. >> i don't have regrets of my actions taking pictures of the attack, i think i did what i could and i think my being there was an intervention of sorts.

my only regret really is that we didn't get him to the hospital quickly enough for his life to be saved. >> reporter: alexandria is one of the poorest places in south africa. many migrants live here because it is affordable and a perception among south africans here that immigrants are taking their jobs. >> the unemployment, those are not the key factors. if it was, we would see violence everywhere, where there is poverty. overall, you can frame violence as a government issue because we're a community. >> reporter: when south africa security forces escalated operations and visibility against the attackers, the violence subsided. there have been recent

demonstrations against zen xenophobia, but thousands of migrants made the decision to leave returning home to zimbabwe, malawi and mozambique. for the immigrants who stayed, the government is determined to reimgrat them back into the communities they were driven out of. irene is back in the apartment she shares with other african immigrants in durban. i am really worried given what will happen, but we have been told the government and police will protect us, she says. but she is afraid every time she goes outside and told us she was recently beaten at the market. kabanga kaji is deeply worried as well. >> what's going to happen to me. if i go, it will happen again. if they save my life two times,

maybe i will die. >> reporter: it is a frightening prospect for these survivors not knowing in the xenophobic raid that cost so many lives will return again. for the pbs "newshour", martin seemungal in durban, south africa. >> ifill: the decision by netflix, the video streaming service, to grant up to a year of paid leave for new parents generated big interest among workers today. the new and unusual company policy will apply to mothers and fathers of newborns or newly adopted children. hari sreenivasan in our new york studios has more on this story. >> sreenivasan: netflix employees will be able to determine their schedules for up to a year after having a baby. a few other tech giants have also set a new standard in recent years. google provides more than four months of paid leave for biological mothers. apple offers a similar amount. but for most new parents, it's a very different story. just 12% of private sector

employees in this country have access to paid family leave through their job. some context now on the netflix policy and whether others will follow suit at all. sarah jane glynn studies these issues and advocates for greater leave as the director for women's economic policy at the center for american progress. so how big of a deal is this netflix announcement? >> it's a huge teal in that this is the most generous policy i'm aware of any american company offering for new parents that work for them. but you're right to note only 12% of workers currently have these types of voluntary policies through their employers, so while this is a tremendous boon for people lucky enough to work for netflix, the majority of the workforce is not going to be impacted by it. >> reporter: netflix is in a specific cargt, an enormous company, a tech sector where it's competitive to try to recruit people burks what's the ripple effect likely to be on an auto manufacturer or an iron plant somewhere else in the

country? >> i think there were a one couple of interesting things to -- there were a couple of interesting things to keep in mind. tech companies are known for offering these generous leave policies and part of the reason is because they've recognized this is a really effective way to recruit talent and retain the talent. one of the reasons google expanded their parental leave policy is because they knew they were losing so many talented women from their workforce and once they expended the maternity leave, their retention rate was 50%. it makes good sense for the companies to do so who can afford it. the big companies who have a lot of money can afford to offer generous policies to workers, but smaller businesses oftentimes struggle to offer voluntary policies like this, so that's part of why we have been arguing that we need to have a national standard and large-scale paid family leave program like in every other

advanced economy in the world so we're not expecting individual businesses to have the foot the bill entirely on their own. >> sreenivasan: how would something like that get funded? i can hear small businesses around the country watching saying where is that money coming from? if it's not coming out of my pocket, it's coming out of whose? >> one thing that's great is we can look to three states that already implemented these types of policies. california had a family leave program in place for over a decade followed by new jersey and most recently rhode island. in those states, employers aren't expected to pay in. it's a small payroll tax in. new jersey, less than $50 a year for the average worker to fund this type of program and then the wages are there for you when you need them. so like every social insurance program, it requires very, very small premiums to be paid but the payoff is huge for folks who need to utilize them. i'd also like to notes the

policies cover other types of family care giving because certainly new parents need time off to care for babies but people also need time to care for other family members as well. >> sreenivasan: there seems to be a couple of different distinctions when we talk about family leave. sometimes it's just for biology canticle mothers. other times for mothers only. this seems a bit more broad. is that reflect ago different trend? >> yes, and i think it's really important to note that netflix is offering to their workers a plan that's very different and offers the same amount of believe to biological birth mothers, adoptive parents and to fathers. that's something that's very, very different, and i think it's really important and definitely responding to a need. one thing that we've seen, particularly among millennial men who are becoming fathers for the first time, they're reporting being involved with their children's lives is incredibly important to them. they're very invested in

balancing work with family and being there for their children in ways perhaps their parents weren't able to be there for them. so i think this is the new face of this movement, it's going to be men who -- dad need this leave, too. it's about all types of families. >> sreenivasan: considering other countries are doing this for some time and a few companies that have data, what are the outcomes? is it actually possible to prove that this retains employees, that they're happier and work longer or more productive? >> so all of the data we have on paid leave shows that it makes people more likely to return to work. it makes them more likely to return to that same job and salary that they held before they had a baby. it makes people more productive and more devoted to their companies because, frankly, they don't have to worry so much about how they're going to make ends meet. so it really is a win-win for employers and for families. you know, there is very, very few arguments that actually fly

to argue against this. >> sarah jane glynn, centers for american progress, thanks so much. >> thank you. >> ifill: now to the making of a new opera from a story set amid the horror of the civil war. the second performance is tonight in santa fe, new mexico. jeffrey brown was there for the premiere this weekend. (singing) >> brown: in the new opera "cold mountain," we first meet w.p. inman at a confederate military hospital in virginia as he and soldier mourn the loss of yet another fallen comrade.

(singing) wounded and sick of war's horror, inman decides he's had enough and walks away, a deserter, towards ada monroe. (singing) the woman he left behind in the blue ridge mountains of western north carolina. the opera's composer is jennifer higdon. >> the people in the landscape, the language, felt like something i knew well enough to be the subjects of a first opera. >> brown: as in these are my people and this is my land? >> yes, and i thought to myself, well, there's a lot of love and death in this and those are big opera scenes and that seemed perfect. >> brown: she was raised on the tennessee side to have the mountains. her parents loved rock and roll.

no classical music in their childhood. >> no opera, unless you count grand ole opry. >> brown: higman was very known for chaim chamber music but never tried opera. >> if you wanted to try an opera, this is the perfect place. >> brown: the santa fe opera is renowned surrounded by the mountains of northern new mexico. in the scenery and sometimes in the skies above. thunder and lightning -- >> and canon fire! (applause) >> brown: 18 years ago, lightning struck for a then unknown writer named charles frazier. "cold mountain" spent 61 weeks on the top to have the best seller list, won a national book

award and has sold more than 3 million copies. in 2003 came "cold mountain" the film. and now the opera. and frazier and his family were there for the premiere. did you have a sense of the phenomenon you were creating when you were writing this book? >> oh, my gosh, no. i mean, the whole time i was working on it, i was thinking, don't ever go sit down at the desk, worrying whether it's going to be published or not. >> brown: never mind a movie and opera. >> exactly. >> brown: millions of people reading, right? >> i think the biggest thing i ever let myself hope for was that i would get a better teaching schedule out of it. (laughter) (singing) >> brown: the opera is told through alternating episodes. the perilous journey of the home guard militia looking for deserters. (singing)

>> brown: ada and her friend ruby struggle to survive amid war's deprivations. we also see flashbacks to the lovers' early courtship just before the war. getting from page to stage took several years. higdon worked with gene scheer who mad it into a theatrical story which words are now the service of music. >> it's better to structure the story in a way that invites music in. i'm looking for musical possibilities and situations and moments that ask to be sung and then to add the words to it. the the worst thing i think you could do is take the book and put it on the stage. the idea is not to be faithful to the letter of the source but to the spirit of the source. >> brown: that's perhaps seen most dramatically in the set designed by robert brill.

♪ in our beautiful country we're there. >> reporter: director leonard foglia said he wanted an abstract environment suggesting a shattered world as opposed to the rich detail to have the natural world in the novel. >> i can't compete with it. i can't compete with the film and people's imaginations. we've all walked in the woods and know what that is and i knew i couldn't do that, so i wasn't going to even try. so i was going to just try to get to what i think is the soul of the book and the story. the main character in this, inman, he's been gutted, is one of the phrases charles uses in the book and we use it in the opera. (singing) and i want an environment that's been gutted. >> brown: goglia assembled an all-star cast in inman and isabelle leonard as ada and jay hunter morris as the evil and

murderous leader of the home guard. >> you kind of enjoy playing the role? >> it's great fun. i like to put on the outfit and strap on the gun or, you know, a peg leg or a big flowing wig. >> brown: and open your voice, your mouth -- >> and tell a story, yeah. >> brown: like jennifer higdon, morris grew up without classical music in his life and discovered opera in his 20s. the texas native has an advantage here. >> the swing of the southern accent is constantly in my ear. i am so happy to not have to work too strenuously on the dialect, you know. if i take on a role that's russian or czech or even german, i spend many, many hours and weeks and months toiling, trying to get the flavor. >> brown: sound like a russian or italian. >> yeah. >> brown: and this sounds familiar to you? >> it's a lot easier than singing in czech, i'll tell you

that. (singing) >> brown: an hour before opening night, we join morris in, yes, the bathroom. do you always do this in the bathroom? >> it's my favorite spot. there is the best acoustics. >> brown: nearby, isabelle leonard was being transformed into ada. and on stage, some last-minute fight scenes were rehearsed. ♪ >> one more! >> brown: outside in the parking lot, some "cold mountain" appropriate banjo playing as patrons took part in the santa fe version of tailgating. then it was on with the show. the day before i had asked composer jennifer higdon about the prospects for her opera. it's hard to get a new opera launched and into the canon and get it performed again. >> right. >> brown: are you --

apprehensive? (laughter) >> brown: in fact, spoil air letter for those who don't know the story, unlike inman, "cold mountain" the opera has a good chance to survive and thrive. opera houses in philadelphia, minnesota and north carolina have already agreed to present cold mountain, and on opening night here, composer, artistic team, novellest and cast took their vow bows to a standing ovation. for pbs "newshour", i'm jeffrey brown in santa fe, new mexico. >> ifill: the santa fe opera announced another ambitious project to come. the company has commissioned an opera about the co-founder of apple, steve jobs. the work will look at how jobs faced his own mortality and explore the events and people that shaped and inspired him. it's set to premiere during the 2017 season. on the newshour online: it's a

genetic myth that's been perpetuated for decades in countless grade school science textbooks: that rolling your tongue is a genetic trait. no, i'm not going to try it. turned out it's not. we talked to an evolutionary biologist whose mission it is to debunk popular genetic misconceptions. you can read how this one got its start, on our homepage: that's pbs.org/newshour. tune in later tonight on charlie rose more analysis of the president's campaign for the iran nuclear deal. and that's the newshour for tonight. on thursday, we'll look back at years of groundbreaking, topical humor-- and fake news-- as jon stewart says farewell to the "daily show." i'm gwen ifill. 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:

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. this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathisen and sue herera. >> cutting the cord. investors dumped big media stocks on concerning comments from one of america's biggest company. >> on the water front. why it is proving to be a big windfall for those on the east. >> payday. how much do ceos work compared to their workers? we'll soon find out. all of that and more for wednesday august 5th. >> good evening. welcome. it was all about the media sector today and wasn't pretty. disney set the tone when its ceo suggested that more people than previously thought are switching to video streaming from traditional cable or satellite linked television. that set in motion a cin