captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc good evening, i'm gwen ifill. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight: presidential candidates surge and stumble. why some front-runners struggle to appeal to voters on the campaign trail. also ahead this monday, lebanon's stinking political crisis after basic services like garbage collection go unmet, protesters demand solutions from a divided, failing government. plus, as president obama becomes the first sitting president to visit the alaskan arctic, we examine how rising temperatures are threatening ocean life in the pacific. >> it's not a problem that you can just turn around very quickly. once it gets really bad enough so it's having an incredible global effect, there's nothing

you can do about it. you have to stop it before that point. >> ifill: 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. >> ifill: the mass migration crisis in europe escalated today, as austria held up traffic and trains on its border with hungary. that came as charges and counter-charges flew over the human wave streaming into europe from the middle east and africa. we have a report from fatima manji of independent television news. denied violating europe's

passport free zone saying this is about far getting traffickers after the bodies of 71 people were found in a laurie last week. >> this is not border controls, of course, we have diverse focus points which the policemen are looking for. >> it was a scene >> reporter: it was a scene replicated in germany, the country that now expects to take 800,000 refugees this year, far more than any other e.u. state. but faced with its own backlash from far right anti-migrant groups, german chancellor angela merkel warned all of europe must share the responsibility. >> ( translated ): >> if europe fails on the question of refugeeism, its close connection with universal civil rights will be destroyed. it won't be the europe we imagine. >> no help. no help. the chirp no help. why i don't know. >> hungary has now installed a

sensor, accusing germany of having boosted hope among migrants that it's more permissive policy. in turn this is what the french foreign minister thinks of hungary's policy. >> extremely harsh, hungary is part of europe which has values and we do not respect those values by putting of fences >> reporter: quick to fire back, hungary summoned the french ambassador over those comments. and so as the sight of migrants heading westward becomes an everyday scene at european borders, there are extraordinary exchanges between e.u. countries. >> ifill: e.u. foreign ministers plan to meet in mid-september, to discuss the crisis. one of the world's largest food companies announced a major push today on climate change. general mills said it plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions 28% by 2025. the plan will cost about $100 million. climate change is also the centerpiece of president obama's trip to alaska this week, and

we'll talk about that, later in the program. tropical weather dominated today's climate news. the caribbean island of dominica struggled to recover from tropical storm erika. it killed at least 20 people, and inflicted major damage last week. farther out in the atlantic, hurricane fred blew toward the cape verde islands. and, pacific hurricane ignacio weakened, and bypassed the hawaiian islands. police in thailand are now hunting two more suspects in the bangkok shrine bombing that killed 20 people. they're looking for a thai woman and a foreign man of unknown nationality. on sunday, police and army troops searched an apartment that the female suspect had rented. they found bomb-making materials inside, and said today it's not just a home-grown plot. >> ( translated ): first, there is the issue of the route in and out of thailand. second, the preparation of accommodations. third, the route of escape. fourth, the process of the bomb

and components. foreigners alone cannot do all of this. there must be thai people supporting them and involved in the process. >> ifill: a man with a turkish passport was arrested on saturday. the islamic state has targeted yet another ancient site in the syrian city of palmyra. this time, it was the 2,000- year-old temple of bel. local residents reported a large explosion there sunday. but the extent of the damage is still unknown. it's the second palmyra temple the militants have attacked in a week. back in this country, wall street skidded again, finishing its worst month in more than three years. the dow jones industrial average lost 115 points to close below 16,530. the nasdaq fell more than 50 points, and the s&p 500 dropped 16. meanwhile oil prices soared nearly 9%, as new data showed u.s. production has fallen. the price in new york trading settled at just over $49 a barrel.

and, two deaths of note, tonight. former maryland governor marvin mandel, who served prison time for political corruption, passed away sunday. the two-term governor was widely seen as an innovator, but he was convicted in 1977 for mail fraud and racketeering. his conviction was later overturned. marvin mandel, who succeeded spiro agnew as governor in 1969, was 95 years old. and horror film aficionados mourned the loss of wes craven today. the writer/director died sunday, of brain cancer. in 1984, craven's "nightmare on elm street," and its villain freddy krueger, carved a new path for the genre. he scored again with "scream" in 1996, setting off another wave of sequels. in 2010, craven spoke to abc's "nightline" about the changes he wrought, especially in depicting heroines. >> neve campbell in the first scream says, "why should i be interested in a horror film? they are always about some big breasted girl with no brain, no

acting talent who runs upstairs instead of out the front door." so its that awareness, it's that sort of intelligence that is informed throughout these films. >> ifill: craven was 76 years old. still to come on the newshour: the week ahead in politics with amy walter and tamara keith. a trash epidemic triggers protests in lebanon. and much more. >> ifill: over the weekend, republican and democratic presidential candidates were out mpaigning, dodging slings and arrows, and positioning themselves for the fall. with labor day in sight, presidential candidates are surging and stumbling. >> i love nashville! >> ifill: republican donald trump, in super tuesday state tennessee over the weekend, still leads in early state polls. but the biggest surge belongs to rival ben carson.

in a des moines register iowa poll, trump attracts 23% of likely caucus goers, with carson now just five points behind him. a new monmouth poll, also of iowa republicans, today shows a trump-carson dead heat. as they surge, wisconsin governor scott walker slows in iowa, dropping from first place a few months ago, to third place now in one poll, fifth place in another. on "meet the press" this weekend, he talked tough on immigration, suggesting new controls be placed on u.s. borders, north and south. secure the border, enforce the laws, no amnesty, >> ifill: jeb bush, once the prohibitive favorite, is also struggling, as an increasing number of voters begin to view him unfavorably. on the democratic side, bernie sanders' surge is expanding. the "des moines register" survey has him just seven points behind hillary clinton. both appeared at the democratic

party meeting in minneapolis, with sanders taking aim at establishment leaders. by contrast, clinton courted them while focusing her attacks on the top republican. >> trump actually says he would do a much better job for women than i would. >> ifill: meanwhile, many eyes remain on vice president joe biden, who paid a surprise visit to a democractic party event delaware this weekend, and announced plans to travel to pittsburgh on labor day. a perfect time to turn to politics monday, with tamara keith of npr, and amy walter of the "cook political report." late hillary clinton the state department release latest round of hillary clinton's e-mails. this is the drag that keeps on dragging. >> exactly. nine p.m. eastern time, great time to start pouring through thousands of pages of e-mails, the state department said that about 150 of them have been retroactively classified and

have been redacted there will be black marks on them. that of course just adds to the swirl around hillary clinton. she's not going to be testifying before the benghazi committee until october 22 is the latest date this is going to just keep dragging and dragging. every month there will be another round of e-mails geep if they were retroactively classified that isn't keeping with her defense on this that they were not classified at the time. >> that's correct. she continues to say that she never knowingly sent or received anything that was classified at the time, nothing was marked classified. >> ifill: let's talk about this souring bernie sanders, hillary clinton has dropped 20 points in iowa. that is small potatoes. >> no. hillary clinton people will tell that you they have showed you time and time again, we knew this race was going to tight then should be a competitive race, it always has been. the interesting thing about tightening of the race in iowa and new hampshire as well with bernie sanders is that it's not

because voters in either place democratic voters think that hillary clinton is less likable or that her negative ratings have gone up appreciably. it's that they see in bernie sanders somebody that i think they connect with emotionally. that they see as more authentic, genuine, somebody who is enthusiastic. he looks happy when he's out there campaigning. sort of the happy warrior. let's put it that way. she still doesn't look as comfortable and as -- like she's having as much fun out there. >> ifill: yet we see her getting, maybe expected in doorsments from new hampshire. tom former governor of iowa a key state. not counting her out, a little soon. >> goodness, she's not actually losing in these polls yet. but as the pollster in iowa anne selzr said starting to look like

2008 all over. that's not something that hillary clinton's campaign wants to hear. they're not doing a major course correction, starting to announce these big name endorsements that somebody is a fan of barney sanders isn't going to say, gene sheheen supports hillary clinton. maybe i should change. they point to things that hillary clinton has. which is she has money. she has infrastructure. she has the top democratic campaign staffers in the country, she has armies of volunteers who they are working, they have a system, they have organization. and they promise her campaign promises this time around they know how to count delegates they especially know how to count superdelegates like gene sheheen. >> ifill: joe biden, should she be worried that he might run or might not run, amy? >> gosh, that is a puzzle, isn't it? the theory of joe biden getting into the race, one theory is that he will help to engage this race and engage her. right now she is fighting against herself.

it's like boxing up against this e-mail server versus against a real campaign. a real candidate. and they can go out and have debates. the focus on the media will be about the two candidates, what they're saying, what bernie sanders is saying as opposed to the vacuum being filled with stories about hillary clinton's problem. >> ifill: let's talk about republicans the 17 of them. actually just four or five of them because all of a ud senn ben carson is looking strong in iowa. what's happening there? >> it's a good question. most likely what's happening is that the evangelical voters, voters who in the past voted for rick santorum and mike huckabee, they aren't going for rick santorum and mike huckabee -- >> ifill: or ted cruz. >> yet. they're going for ben carson. and he is just like donald trump he's not a politician. he's just a regular really talented neurosurgeon who became a candidate for president because people told him he

should run for president. he has ads running in iowa and right by the airport in des moines, at least last time i was there, there was a giant billboard. i don't think his campaign put it up. >> ifill: all around the state fair when i was there. does that mean that donald trump made it easier or harder for people who thought of themselves as outsiders? he is the ultimate outsider. >> he's the ultimate outsider. ben carson is as well. none of them have any political experience, haven't been elected to anything. if you add up in national polls and iowa polls the percent that is going to a candidate with zero political experience is about 40-45%. you can argue that this point republicans 4:00% of the republican base is looking for somebody who is not just an outsider like, oh, i've been a governor or i have been part of washington for awhile. but really never been in public office. >> >> ifill: let me ask you an interesting thing about the two insiders, perceived insiders are one current governor, scott

walker, jeb bush, donald trump out there taking real shots at jeb bush it seems to be working. what is happened to jeb bush and scott walker who were seen to be strongest people in the race just a minute ago? i think with jeb bush certain element of not wanting to be told who the inevitable candidate s. i think there's been resistance to that all along. jeb bush has the money, he has the infrastructure, but he hasn't gotten people excited. and school walker initiallied that that bump, but then he hasn't been getting people excited much lately, either. >> ifill: is perceived as having committed some unforced errors. >> stumbles, as well as he was the committed conservative. he was the guy with the record in wisconsin, taking on labor unions, succeeding both in beating them back as well as being re-elected. since trump's success what we have seen it look like he's just not as committed to his own position, that he's moving away

from some of the positions he ok a year ago or two years ago, there's a question about, where is his center, number one. why is he moving away from the message that has helped him get this far. >> ifill: does that leave room for anybody else who is in the race to get in in that little split between trump up here and say bush and walker kind of not doing so well? >> i think marco rubio still fits in a very interesting position. because if you look just on paper, he has the most room to grow in terms of people who say they like him versus people who say they don't. and he appeals to broad range of voters within the republican primary. the problem is nobody is paying much attention. >> ifill: maybe we'll start to pay attention. amy walter, tamara keith. >> thank you.

used by china and russia to target u.s. spice. today "los angeles times" reports that intelligence services in two nations are aggressive ly cross-referencing leaked information including security clearance, airline records and medical insurance forms to reveal the identities of intelligence officers and agents. jeffrey brown has more. >> >> brown: we hear about these high-level data breaches all the time. today's story connects some of the dots in a chilling way. claiming, for example, that at least one clandestine network of american engineers and scientists who work with u.s. undercover agents overseas has already been compromised. one of the articles author, "los angeles times" reporter brian bennett, joins me now. welcome. this is about what happens afterwards, right? cross indexing and putting together the information, what kind of clues are they looking for? >> right now, countries like china and russia are collecting

massive amounts of data on lives of americans and government workers. and this is going to allow them to get a dos isier on people and know about their medical history, banking information if they have financial difficulties and might be vulnerable. to blackmail or something else. any indiscorrections they had come out, connections overseas all this information put together massive databases and powerful computers can crunch them and give a very detailed view of people traveling. >> you seen cited things -- we all remember like u.s. office of personnel management databases last year, millions and millions of amounts of information on people. and then there's the more recent, the ashlee madison database, right? you can put all these things together is it difficult to do? >> it is difficult to do. it's technical to do. but computers have become so advanced now that countries like

china and russia are fully capable of doing this, and not only that but they can work with criminal networks in their own countries, chinese hackers and chinese companies and they can collect the data and put it together. >> this is one of the things that struck me in your article, you were talking about governments, china and russia specifically but working with mobs, mob groups, working with private companies in their own countries to do this. why would they be working with such groups? >> in the case of china, for example, intelligence officials have analyzed the data breaches that have been associated with china and they determined that there's a hacking ringa criminal hacking ring that is working at the behest of china's government. that ring, for example, was behind the data stolen from anthem health insurance that was 80 million files different people stolen from that. and that information never made it to the black market. usually when there's a big data breach the information would be sold to the highest bidder. it never appeared.

so intelligence officials are confident that the hack was done at the behest of foreign government and that china is using that information combined with other information they have stolen from u.s. government computers. >> now, speaking of using, because that's what also is coming out here is not just the gathering and then the cross indexing but the using of this information. you say there's been -- some evidence at least one network that has been compromised, what do we know about that case? >> this was described by the officials i spoke with in the article was that they aren't concerned so much about the trained spies. more concerned about network of american scientists and engineers who have day jobs, but occasionally they moonlight for the intelligence community. they have an expertise, and when asked they help opt and they have a security clearance. well now because chain that was behind the opm data breach that was able to dig in to the security clearance files, they now know and can cross index

information on people's travel records, people's health care records and whether they have security clearance. >> and compromised in this case means do we know how it was the information given to these scientists or presented to them? >> intelligence officials say that they have evidence that china has this information is using it, we don't know exactly how they are using it. and in the espionage world spy agencies try to hide their tracks, so they won't necessarily detain or hold on to an individual. one warning was given out to government officials, for example, was if you're at an airport someone approaches you they seem to have a lot in common with you, be very weary of that sort of these soft at advances is what the intelligence community is talking about. >> authorities telling you that suspect this is happening in other cases, that there are other compromises? >> yes. they're very concerned about that. particularly concerned about the

russian government doing, this the chinese government, also concerned about iranian government being able to collect this massive amount of data and use it to identify people working with u.s. intelligence do we know what steps the u.s. is taking or able to take to counteract any of this? >> right now, u.s. is aggressively trying to educate the government workforce, tell them, look, when you travel overseas here is what you need to be worried about. when you're sitting at your desk and receiving e-mail thatl like it's from aunt mae it has attachment you very carefully because, these foreign intelligence services know so much about you they can carefully tailor these and convince to you click on a link that may damage or collect information off of government servers. >> all right. brian bennett of the "l.a. times." thanks soap. >> good to be with you. >> ifill: stay with us, coming up on the newshour:

why chemical changes threaten the mass extinction of species in the world's oceans. a critic's take on the nuclear deal with iran. and, how the young and old are learning from one another in the green spaces of detroit. >> ifill: but first, president obama made history today simply by becoming the first sitting u.s. president to set foot in the alaskan arctic. in anticipation of the trip, the trip the white house made another kind of history, announcing that mount mckinley, the nation's highest peak, will be returned to its native name, denali. william brangham has more more on the president's trip. >> brangham: on his three day trip, the president will attend a meeting of what's known as the arctic council. and, to stress for action on climate change, the president will visit some of alaska's glaciers and then meet with native alaskans whose lives have been affected by rising tides and temperatures. for more on the president's trip i'm joined by journalist elizabeth arnold who's in anchorage. three days salon trip for a president to make.

we know he's go stressing the need to act on climate change but why now and why alaska? >> well, it started out as just a drop in by secretary of state john kerry then turned into this three-day visit by the president when the house saw this as great opportunity for the president to build a sense of urgency for addressing climate change and build momentum for the upcoming meeting in paris with world leaders will try to negotiate agreement to cut carbon emissions. the idea, obviously to, put a face on the impact of warming climate and more than few officials have described it as show and tell. alaska is the place where coastal villages are eroding into the sea and have to be relocated, glaciers are receding at a rapid rate, severing happening here much faster pace, almost like a time lapse. and the u.s. has just assumed chairmanship of what is called the arctic council, eight nations are involved in it. most americans don't even know

we're an arctic nation we've been a member of the council for 13 years before we ever sent a representative to the meeting. but now because of the warming climate, everyone suddenly interested in the arctics for variety of reasons and u.s. is now in a leadership position for the next two years. >> alaska is obviously a very interesting place to talk about climate change, as you describe there's huge impacts in the state because of climate change, yet it's also a state that is hugely dependent upon the fossil fuels that drive climate change. >> absolutely. the impact of climate change are devastating for some and an opportunity for others. here in alaska it's extreme weather, fall storms, permafrost, permanent walrus on shore and hundreds of thousands, this is really impacted indigenous people here, alaska natives who live on the coast and depend hunting and fishing on the other hand less ice means open water if you're in the business of extracting oil it

means a good thing. means safer season, better transit for shipping. kind of a blessing and curse depending on your perspective. >> it seems like another contradiction as well that the president wants to talk about reducing fossil fuel usage but criticized for just granting shell a permit to dig up more fossil fuels another of las alsos he giving a bit of a mixed message there? >> they don't see it this way. they see it that the rational is as they reiterated repeatedly that we need new sources of oil, domestic order for gradual transition from dependence on fossil fuels. it's risky, william i was just out on ice breaker several week in the high arctic, in 20-30 foot seas. there is a storm this past week that forced them to suspend drilling, the coast has been pounded by a storm surge. secretary kerry last night described it as a test, he said he's always been leary of

off-shore drilling but in this case the leases were sold, president was convinced it could be done safely and basically they're saying shell now has to prove it's that it's a test. other nations, though, such as russia are looking to exploit oil and gas opportunities offer the arctic as well. we're not the only ones. >> as you mentioned russia is obviously been taking -- staking own claim as seas and shipping lanes open up will that be part of the coverings at the arctic council meeting this week as well? >> it will. russia sent delegation, not the highest members of the delegation, they are by far the most aggressive nation. they put on recently unannounced military exercises which involves thousands of vees else and troops in the arctic. they also just resubmitted claim to almost 500,000 square miles ever the arctic ocean including the north pole. denmark, norway, japan also member of the council are

submitting clips to the u.s. russia also man search and rescue stations all along the northern sea route and rebuild military bases all across the arctic. i asked secretary kerry about this posture last night, it was interesting he said the u.s. should be cautious and vigilant about what the russians are and are not doing which is really an important point. a lot of this is theatrics. i was up and down the coast just recently on this ice breaker some of the very places where these stations are to be located, william, are old abandoned buildings with polar bears denning inside. some of this is talk. russia is in the midst of a severe economic recession, oil prices are low and as much as we all in the media want to portray this as race to control the arctic and the u.s. is lagging behind, not really what is happening. russia is cooperative in the arctic council thus far which operates by consensus. and any kind of territorial claims also have to be settled

by consensus. all of the arctic nations at the end university day. >> all right. elizabeth arnold from anchorage. thanks so much. >> thank you. >> ifill: while global leaders meet to discuss action on climate change, one new threat has emerged in the world's oceans. as scott shafer from our san francisco station kqed reports, the threat may not be visible to the naked eye, but it changes the very chemistry of essential parts of the marine ecosystem. >> reporter: coral reefs like these, vibrant and teeming with life, may hold clues to the future of the world's oceans. >> coral reefs make up a fraction of 1% of the ocean, but they hold 25% of the ocean's species. not only that, they feed hundreds of millions of people and a billion people or more get income from coral reefs. so this is an ecosystem that is really fundamental to human on the planet. >> reporter: steve palumbi is the director of stanford university's hopkins marine

station. he has studied coral reefs around the world. for decades, warming ocean waters have damaged, even killed coral. but palumbi says reefs are now facing an insidious threat from a chemical change that is making ocean water more acidic. >> ocean acidification affects the entire globe's oceans. it affects organisms by reducing their growth rate, by making it more difficult for them to grow shells. we know that fish actually react >> reporter: with ocean surface waters now 30% more acidic than they were two centuries ago, protecting the reefs from acidification is no easy task. >> it's not a problem that you can just turn around very quickly. it's a problem that once it gets really bad enough so it's having an incredible global effect, there's nothing you can do about it. you have to stop it before that point.

>> reporter: the increase in acidity is largely the result of people burning coal, oil, and other fossil fuels. that pumps massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which then sinks into the ocean waters at a rate of 9 billion tons per year. the carbon dioxide robs the oceans of an essential element that corals and other animals need to thrive. >> corals make skeletons. it's the white part of the coral reef those skeletons are made of calcium carbonate. calcium carbonate tends to dissolve if the acid level in the water gets too high. >> reporter: this model shows how the ocean chemistry has changed since 1885, and how it is expected to change over the next 80 years. the blue represents ocean conditions good for shell and coral growth. the orange represents conditions that make it difficult for many animals to grow shells or skeletons.

jim barry is a senior scientist at the monterey bay aquarium research institute. he is looking at the effects of ocean acidification on a variety of sea life, including deep sea coral. >> the ocean critters out there are faced with a faster and larger change in ocean chemistry than they've seen for 30 to maybe 300 million years through much of their evolutionary history. >> reporter: barry says if one species suffers, an entire food web can suffer. walking in the rocks, barry and researcher charles boch are studying how ocean acidification affects abalone. specifically, whether it interferes with the ability of the shellfish to reproduce. >> reporter: inside a chilly lab, boch is inducing female abalones to spawn. each female releases streams of small green eggs through its respiratory holes. an abalone can spawn tens of an abalone can spawn tens of thousands of eggs at a time.

in one tank are the females. in another, the males. >> what you are seeing here are puffs of clouds or streams of clouds. and what you are seeing is sperm being released. >> reporter: boch and barry are putting the eggs and sperm together in water with varying levels of acidity to examine how it affects fertilization. >> maybe what we saw in the last experiment, where fertilization was lower in low ph. maybe it's because the sperm are not swimming as fast. >> reporter: their research suggests that ocean acidification significantly reduces the abalones' fertilization rate. abalone are an important source of food for sea otters, who in turn help keep kelp forests in balance. >> we know that ocean acidification is huge. this is one of the biggest things that has happened to this earth in the last many tens of millions of years. and its happening right in front of us. >> reporter: terry sawyer runs hog island farms, an oyster farm on tomales bay, 30 miles north of san francisco. sawyer says ocean acidification

is already affecting his business. the wake up call for him came in 2005. that's when there were massive die-offs at oyster hatcheries along the oregon and washington coasts. those farms supplied sawyer and many other shellfish farmers with the seeds and larvae they needed to grow their oysters. >> the larvae was completely dying and the seed was completely dying. >> reporter: sawyer says he is concerned not only for his business, but for all the animals who live in or depend on the oceans. >> it feels like we're in the position of being the canary in the coal mine. the thing is, yeah, i am holding a canary and i have to a responsibility to say "well, all right. we have symptoms here. that animal just died. what are we going to do now?" >> reporter: sawyer and researchers from the university

of california, davis, are now monitoring the water quality in real time. >> reporter: the data helps sawyer and other oyster farmers in the area adjust planting schedules. to prepare for changing conditions, hog island is building its own hatchery. >> jim berry fears it may already been too late to save coral reefs. four of the last five big extinctions on earth included ocean acidification. scientists say it's unclear if ocean acidification has reached a tipping point. >> some people think we might be 80 years. now probably the last generation where we can actually change the trajectory. >> for the pbs news our i'm

scott schafer. a look at the recovery of in a bbc co-production over the next three nights, "big blue live" will tell the story of whales, sea otters and other marine animals who have returned to the bay after they almost disappeared decades ago. support for iran nuclear agreement. his backing puts president obama three votes away from winning a veto proof majority in the senate that would derail any resolutions of disapproving the agreement. tonight we continue our series of conversations on the iran nuclear deal, last time we heard from a former head of israel mossad intelligence agency who supports the agreement. tonight we hear from an opponent, stephen rad maker was an assistant secretary of state for the bureaus of arms control

and international security and nonproliferation under president george w. bush he's now principle at the podesta group in washington and advisory to the bipartisan policy center. thank you for joining us. in a nutshell, what is your opposition to this deal as it is written now? >> i believe there are number of major flaws with the agreement. busing earl most important one is that it basically locks in that iran will be threshold nuclear weapon state. that means that iran in very short order to produce nuclear weapons. >> ifill: explain to people the difference between thresholds for definitional question and actually having the weapon? >> being on the threshold means country can be very close to actually having a nuclear weapon but hasn't actually produced one. the term is often used they can be a screwdriver's turn away from actually putting together a nuclear weapon. and experts have said for years for decades that if iran is

allowed to become a threshold nuclear weapon state that will stimulate a cascade of nuclear proliferation in the middle east which is a very dangerous region of the world. other countries if iran was allowed to have that capability they want that same capability. >> ifill: you're reading of this agreement is that by doing this, we are empowering iran instead of weakening it. >> exactly. you need to distinguish between the short term and the long term. the president in his efforts to has focused on the short term. his main arc ument in favor of the agreement is that it will reduce iran's nuclear break out time from two or threements today to a year. i guess i should say extend their dark dash take longer for them to produce a nuclear weapon. to produce the material, highly enriched uranium they need for nuclear weapon. that is true in the short term. but in the long term president obama conceded that starting about 1 years break out time will reduce almost zero. >> ifill: when you testified about this to congress, you

described it as a -- >> exactly. faust was a mythological figure who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for magical powers for i think 26 years. for 26 years he had magical powers, at the end of 26 years the devil came to claim his soul. and i think that is a pretty good analogy to what this deal provides for ten years, not a bad deal. after ten years it becomes a horrible deal and it gives rean everything they have always wanted. after president obama concedes after 13 years break out time is almost zero. >> ifill: when you were congestion understand aide you were party to the conversation about the involving nuclear. is this different or the same or are they ales and oranges? >> i think they were similar they were both faustian bargains. agreement framework with north korea was a good deal and very bad deal in the long term. the difference, however, was in the case of north korea there was a reason to believe that

when the devil came to claim our soul, when the deal, benefits was deal reversed went to the other side that there would be a very different government in north korea. remember, this was in 1994 when communist regimes were collapsing all over the worldment it was not unreasonable to believe in 1994 that in 15 years or whenever the bargain had to be delivered to north korea that it would be very different regime. communism would be gone from north korea just as it was gone from russia and all of east urn europe. we know today communism is still, there it would have been a bad deal. i think the difference with the iran deal there's absolutely no reason to think that in ten or 15 years we will have a fundamentally different regime iran, quite the contrary. this agreement is going to result in almost immediate transfer to iran of somewhere between 100-150 billion dollars. which for iran is enormous amount of money. relative to the size of their

economy and budget. >> ifill: let's talk about the economic problem. part of the argument, part of the stick and carrot in this deal the sanctions would eventually be lived that iran would be able to feed their people again. you're saying that's exactly the incentive, perverse incentive that would empower iran. part of the empowering. >> well, i'm saying lot will be empowered because of the restrictions on nuclear activities will go away. that's why they're going to be empowered in the security sense. in economic sense, yes, they will be empowered economically as result of -- in the first instance get huge cash transfer because there's money that is being held in foreign banks they will get that money. then they will get increased trade, increased ability to export their oil, increased foreign investment in their economy. many other economic benefits. i'm not saying it would be a bad bargain to trade that for

meaningful, long-term permanent restrictions on iran's nuclear program, the problem i have is we've traded those benefits to iran in exchange for very short term. imagine if 13 years ago 15 years ago president bush had cut a deal with iran that said for 15 years you behave, but at the end of 15 years you can pretty much do whatever you want. you can ab screwdriver's turn away from having having a nuclear weapon. had 39 bush did that we'd be cursing them today. >> ifill: you think that this deal in some way because of those economic incentives, because propping up the current regime, they do not provide disincentive for this regime or political environment to change. >> i think ending u.s. sanctions , significant economic benefits to the iranian regime will tend to support the regime which is why i said this is not all like north korea where there was a reason in 1949 to believe that the tide of history was

running against communist regimes in asia. there's no reason to think -- no objective reason looking at the situation in the middle east to that i that the iranian regime is going to be in big trouble after this deal. >> ifill: as we reported the president seems to be rolling up support one by one by one, there's some distinctions about whether -- where he needs to get to make sure that he wins this deal in congress. assuming this passes for a moment, assuming that you can't quite make your case strongly enough to members of congress before the vote happens, what can be done, if anything, to make? a less harmful deal in -- through your perspective? >> i don't think i'm alone is saying the biggest problem is the sunset clause, the fact that beginning ten years and years thereafter the restrictions go away. everyone who studies this, sort of expert on subject, yes, that's the biggest weakness. there was group of experts

convened by the washington institute nor near east policy, included president obama's former advisors on iran, his nuclear nonproliferation experts. they agreed it was a big problem. the united states should tell the iranians that notwithstanding what is in this deal as matter of our national policy we're not going to allow them to produce the material in quantity that they can use to produce a weapon. >> ifill: if the u.s. could just say that have it happen wouldn't that have happened? >> you know, i've had this conversation with -- these are very former national security advisors, senior people who signed on to this policy. and i think the signers should be held to it. i think if we're trying to make the best of a very, very bad deal which is what i think we may be forced to do if the votes are not there and congress disapproves this, then advice we got from this group is probably pretty good, tell the iranians that notwithstanding what you think you won in the negotiation you will be in a world of hurt

if you try to produce a nuclear weapon. >> ifill: stephen rad maker of the bipartisan policy center, thank you very much. >> ifill: we turn now to the middle east and lebanon, where a crisis surrounding trash and what to do with it has sparked a political movement that's shocking the country's leadership. newshour special correspondent jane ferguson reports from beirut. >> reporter: people here are angry that their government cannot provide them with even the most basic services. >> we want to say this is enough. no electricity, no water, we are in 21st century and we are asking for our needs. >> reporter: the lebanese government is increasingly so ineffective, people cannot even rely on trash collection. after years of water shortages

and rolling power blackouts, the halting of garbage collection was the tipping point. whether you are christian, muslim, or druze, life without basic services is a struggle. these popular protests are the first in lebanon's modern history to not be centered around religion or political parties. keeping it that way will be the biggest challenge for their organizers. >> when you walk between the people you can see people from everywhere. you can see people from all the religions, you can see people from all the regions in lebanon: from the south, from the north, from everywhere. >> reporter: is that unusual in lebanon? >> reporter: lebanon's government is carved up between the country's muslim, christian and druze factions.

after the brutal sectarian civil war from 1975 to 1990, power- sharing became even more important. it keeps the peace, but at a cost. when politicians disagree, government grinds to a halt. this summer lebanon's main garbage dump reached capacity, and it was shut down before the country's leaders could agree on a new one. in the midst of a heat wave, piles of stinking garbage are everywhere. an online movement used the hashtag "youstink" to call for protests. after violent clashes with protestors outside the main government building, a large concrete wall was erected. some poked fun at the move. this sign in arabic reads: "thank you for this wall, it helps us express our opinions." the wall was quickly removed. the government did get the

message, and have tried to deal with the crisis. a temporary solution to keep trash off the streets of the capital is to truck it out into the countryside to various areas and illegally dump it. lebanon's landscape is one of the most stunning in the middle east. but illegal dumping is turning a political crisis into an environmental one. shocking images like this are also drawing people to the protests. nadine mazloum lives in a rural area near an illegal garbage dump. >> it's basically because the government has a monopoly over the garbage . it's a multi million if not billion dollar industry. it creates so much money for the government and that's why it doesn't want to let go of the privatization of the garbage dossier.

>> reporter: like many in lebanon, she blames corruption. saying the companies that are bidding to get the contracts to manage waste are connected to the politicians. >> of course, of course, i mean until now we have had garbage on the streets for over a month. its like they cannot find a solution. it's not that they cannot find a solution, they don't want to find a solution. they just want to be able to divide that pie, that garbage pie among themselves. it's really obvious. >> reporter: fabulous wealth is on display in lebanon, and the income divide is getting much wider. the civil war in neighboring syria has caused over one million refugees to flee to lebanon, a country of less than five million. people here are worried their government is too weak to run the country. >> all the people, they are fed up with the insecurity, with instability, with garbage, with corruption, with the lack of electricity, with polluted water, with the absence, the

paralysis of the government, the closure of parliament, which means a non-functioning country, as if we are becoming a failed state. >> reporter: protest organizers have given the government until tomorrow night to find a solution to the crisis and fire the environment minister, otherwise, they say they will hold protests across the country. but calls for wider changes are also being made, like demands for fresh parliamentary elections. it will be a significant moment in lebanon's history if a grassroots movement that includes people of all religions and sects can make real political change here. jane ferguson, pbs newshour, beirut, lebanon.

>> ifill: and finally, a last blast of summer from the southwest corner of detroit. for generations, clark park has offered young people opportunities to grow and learn from community elders and passionate mentors. student reporting labs fellow evan gurlock produced this story while interning at detroit public television. >> for this community, this is our central park. a lot of people call it the bureau. >> it's the best kept secret. it's a jewel for everybody that comes. >> we didn't know if we were going to be successful in keeping it open without city's help. but we did it that first year and i think the city got the message after that. they closed seven other parks, the state closed, they noticed clark park was different because the community went to bat for the park. >> running a program here after school and during the summer, youth programs here at clark park.

it was always based by clark park over a hundred years, since then we've added tennis, lacrosse, a garden program, try to say, while you're playing, recreating, guess what, school is right around the corner, what are we going to do here. graduation at western high school which is right behind us here at southwest detroit has improved dramatically. we see it every day with our kids, every semester more and more kids are graduating from high school. we have programs for kids that are thinking about going to college. we help them with their a.c.t. exam, prepare them for their seases or s.a.t. exams also take them on college tours within michigan. >> i want to get looked at by a lot of colleges. has helped me in more ways that i can imagine. clark park is who i am.

>> yeah, i still feel that the reason i'm still here at age 84 is to help these children out and to keep them away from drugs and gangs. and to give them a positive option in life. we want them to go to college and make something of their lives. >> everybody around here is so supportive and they want you to do good. they want you to succeed. it's good feeling knowing that there's people that actually care. >> good job! >> teach the younger girls and younger girls they teach the it tee bity girls as i call them everybody works for progress here. nobody is to be denied anything. >> whether it's diversity or economic diversity they just want to be a part of the community. there's no amount of money in the world that can give you that sense, that feeling, that family. >> that's all you want. given that opportunity. to better your life. there's no place i'd rather be.

than at clark park. >> ifill: on the newshour online, hurricane katrina scattered thousands of gulf coast foster children across the country. a decade later, are some of these most vulnerable children any more safe in the event of a disaster? pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. tomorrow, we launch "rethinking race," a year-long series on solutions to some of the country's most pressing problems, with special correspondent charlayne hunter gault. we begin with how to improve academic outcomes for all students. 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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america." >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits from newman's own to charity and pursuing the common good, kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs, and mufg. they say the oldest trees bear the sweetest