captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> ifill: good evening. i'm gwen ifill. >> sreenivasan: and i'm hari sreenivasan.d judy woodruff is away. >> ifill: on the newshouron tonight, >> prosperity and happiness in both our countries will increase if we workn together. >> ifill: donald trump visits mexico for a surprise meetingse with the country's president. >> ifill: donald trump visitsdo mexico for a surprise meeting with the country's president ahead of his much-anticipated immigration speech. >> sreenivasan: also ahead this wednesday, in the shadow of thea fence-- how the people living next to mexico's border feelop about the nation's security. >> ifill: and, training entrepreneurs.thra how one program helps young inventors turn their big ideaslp into the next big thing. >> they're young, so they have a tougher time being taken seriously, for sure. so, having our support in terms of, you know, having someone to bounce ideas off of, check their assumptions, look through theiro materials, and be a coach and a mentor. >> sreenivasan: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> ♪ love me tender ♪ love me true we can like many, but we can l love only a precious few. because it is for those precious few that you have to be willing to do so very much.s but you don't have to do it alone. lincoln financial helps youn provide for and protect your financial future, because thist is what you do for people youe love. lincoln financial-- you're in charge. >> md anderson cancer center. making cancer history. >> bnsf railway. >> xq institute.

>> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation.ed committed to building a more just, verdant and peacefulin world.wo more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting.hi and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: the presidential race took another sharp turn today. republican donald trump flew to mexico to meet with that country's president, hours before giving a major speech ono immigration. trump's tough talk about mexico has made him widely disliked there, but both men said their talks were, "constructive."" we'll have a full report, right after the news summary.

>> sreenivasan: in the day's other news, two republican senators geared up for tough general election fights after sailing past primary opponents. in arizona, five-term senator john mccain handily defeated a tea-party challenger, and rallied supporters at a victory rally last night. >> it's imperative republicans maintain our majorities in congress. it's important to american's future that we have a say over the next president's appointments to the united states supreme court.ou now let's go win one more time. >> sreenivasan: meanwhile, florida senator marco rubio won his own primary, as he seeks aru second term. also in florida, democratic congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz defeated an opponent who had been endorsed by bernie sanders. >> ifill: a u.s. commercial flight landed in cuba today, fo. the first time in more than half a century.inmo it is part of overall efforts to improve ties.s the jetblue flight from fort lauderdale, florida, arrived in santa clara, cuba, with 150 passengers on board.

they included transportation secretary anthony foxx. flights to havana and other cities are also in the works. >> sreenivasan: in brazil, president dilma rousseff was formally ousted by the country's senate for violating budgetaryna rules. she denied any wrongdoing, but the vote against her was 61 to 20. it followed a year-long impeachment battle. >> the senate has just impeached the first elected woman president of brazil. there was no constitutionalo reason to do it. this was just the beginning of a coup that will indiscriminatelyn beat back any progressive political organization,g progressive and democratic. >> sreenivasan: rousseff plans to appeal to brazil's highest court.rogh the drama has played out amid a separate corruption scandal that has landed dozens of business and political figures in jail.l. >> ifill: protests against indian rule flared across kashmir today, as authorities lifted a 54-day curfew. tensions have spiked in the

disputed region, since a rebel commander was killed in earlyin july. today's crowds battled security forces with rocks and wood, and the troops fired back withan rubber bullets. b one person was killed, and about 150 were injured. >> sreenivasan: towns across northern japan are under water from a typhoon strike tonight.on at least 11 people died, most of them residents at a nursing home. aerials today showed the damaged building on the banks of a swollen river. elsewhere, rescue workers pulled stranded victims from rooftops. meanwhile, hawaii's big island is bracing for a hurricane overnight. and, a tropical storm is brewing in the gulf of mexico. >> ifill: on wall street today, stocks fell again, as oil prices sank.ai the dow jones industrial average lost 53 points to close near 18,400. the nasdaq fell nine points, and the s&p 500 slipped five. >> sreenivasan: and, the town of bunol in eastern spain was seeing red today. it was the annual "tomatina" fiesta, marking a 1945 food f fight among local children. revelers pelted each other with 160 tons of tomatoes and left the town covered in red pulp.

some 20,000 locals and tourists took part. >> ( translated ):this was crazy.is the tomatoes hit you very hard but it's an experience that has to be lived.tope this doesn't happen in any other place. many tomatoes hit my face, but i'm happy i've experienced it. >> sreenivasan: organizers hose> the streets down minutes after the event ended. the throngs of tomato-stained warriors were supplied with public showers. >> ifill: i talked hari out ofi it. still to come on the newshour: analyzing donald trump's meeting with mexico president enriqueti pena nieto; a glimpse into life on the u.s.-mexico border; thee controversy surrounding actor nate parker ahead of his new film "birth of a nation," and much more. >> sreenivasan: we begin with donald trump's day trip to mexico city. it dominated the political headlines and drew even more attention to a high-profile

speech he gives tonight onpr immigration. it was the unlikeliest of summits: donald trump, who launched his campaign by speaking of mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals-- and made other inflammatory remarks-- >> it is a great honor. and president enrique pena nieto, who's compared him to adolf hitler. >> sreenivasan: trump has also repeatedly called for building a wall along the border, and made >> we did discuss the wall. we didn't discuss payment of the wall. that will be for a laterd e da this was for a preliminary meeting. i think it was an excellent meeting.

>> sreenivasan: he suggested his stance on immigration could soften. and his visit today came hours before he delivers a major speech on the subject this evening in phoenix. >> this is a humanitarian disaster. the dangerous treks, the abuse by gangs and cartels and the extreme physical dangers and it must be solved, it must be solved quickly. >> sreenivasan: trump's visit to mexico city sparked protestsvi there today. it also turned up the political heat on pena nieto, who's already widely unpopular in mexico. a political rival, former president vicente fox, condemned the invitation to trump and even apologized. >> he is not welcome to mexico. by 130 million people, we don't like him, we don't want him, we reject his visit. >> sreenivasan: pena nieto has invited democratic nominee hillary clinton as well. her campaign says she will meet with him "at the appropriate time."mp today, she addressed the

american legion convention in cincinnati, and dismissed trump's mexican trip as "too little, too late." >> you don't build a coalition by insulting our friends or acting like a loose cannon. and it certainly takes more tha trying to make up for a year of insults and insinuations byio dropping in on our neighbors for a few hours and then flying home again.gh >> sreenivasan: clinton also called for strong americann leadership in the world, and accused trump of advocatingd retreat. >> threatening to walk away from our alliances, ignoring the importance that they still aret to us, is not only wrong, it's dangerous. if i'm your president, our friends will always know america will have your backs, and we expect you to have ours. >> sreenivasan: trump is scheduled to address the same american legion convention,dd tomorrow. >> ifill: for more on the mexico city meeting between that

nation's president and g.o.p. nominee donald trump-- how it came to be, and how it was received-- we turn now to ambassador roger noriega, former assistant secretary of state in the george w. bush administration; and dan nowicki, national political reporter for the arizona republic. dan nowicki, since donald trump is going to be in your town tonight giving this bigng immigration speech, maybe youyo can answer what donald trump was hoping to accomplish with the surprise trip to mexico as well as with the speech tonight. >> right, well i think it gave him an opportunity to looklo presidential and kind of look more serious on immigration. he's been criticized a lot, anda a lot of the criticism that's focused on his proposals as just not very serious or realistic.e first and foremost is his significant -- signature issue of the building the wall and having mexico pay for it. he went to mexico and didn't raise the issue of mexico paying for the wall.wa so i think it's a little

interesting to see if the soft-spoken tone trump took in mexico city will carry over across the border when he comes here in phoenix. i've covered several trump rallies in arizona and one in las vegas and, you know, one of the biggest applause lines is building the wall where he leads the audience in asking them who's going to pay for the wall, and they yell "mexico." so i wonder if he's going to use that line tonight in phoenix. i >> ifill: we will be listeningis to see. ambassador noriega, if donald trump was trying to look presidential, what was presidenn pena trying to do. >> i think enrique peña nieto was taking aña big risk taking n this meeting. he's extraordinarily unpopularxt already in mexico and, in the last 24 hours -- >> ifill: his popularity in the 20s. >> mid 20s perhaps, probably going down. in the last 24 hours, mexican pundits were saying, you know, he'd better confront trump on some of the uglier things that

he said, he better defend the dignity of the mexican people and mexican immigrants. he shouldm make it very clear that mexico will have nothing to do with paying for whatever kind of wall trump wants to build, and none of that happened. >> well, he did talk about respecting mexican people. he did talk about that. >> right, but nothing in the form ofe an apology or some kind of acknowledgment from trump.om so i think, quite frankly, if you're a trump supporter today, you would have to say he achieved his objective by swooping into town with this kind of drive-by diplomacy, buty enrique peña nieto had a very bad day. >> do we think pena nieto had a change of heart, and this was the man who likened donald trump to mussolini and hitler. >> there is no telling how the discussions went, but i'm sure that pundits, the mexican people would have p expected a much moe forceful public statement from

their president while trump was there as a guest of the president in mexico city. >> ifill: dan nowicki, we know that donald trump isn't very popular among hispanics in general, mexican-americans plans in particular, and i wonder whether this kind of appearance, this kind of joint appearance k might open up lines of communication, or is everythingn set in stone at this point politically?ca >> yeah, i don't really think his audience, you know, the latinos in the united states. i think he's aiming more at some of the moderate, republicanpu white people who he's lost especially in arizona. he's hemorrhaged a lot of a moderate republicans who normally would be backing the presidential nominee of their party but are this year making a pretty close race with hillary clinton in what is usually, traditionally a red state, arizona. >> we talked a bit about building the wall idea, the border discussion, but there were other issues which

apparently were raised during this conversation. one they don't agree about, roger noriega, is nafta.a donald trump says he thinks it's a disaster and stolen american jobs and that's not what we heard from president pena nieto. >> well, the very superficial joint press conference really didn't touch on any detail on the terms of nafta and the mutual pen official relationships, and that's because trump, quite frankly, i think, is incapable of carrying on a serious conversation about the details of the benefits that accrue to the united states in terms of our national security, our economic security, the number of jobs created by nafta, 6 million jobs in the unitedun states created by trade with mexico alone, and i think thatha there was a failure on pena nieto to make that in a strong way. as a matter of fact, his suggestion that there are partst

of nafta that could be renegotiated i think was kind of a capitulation because there was a failure to address the genuine benefits that we accrue from nafta and, frankly, challenge trump's failure to command the details and understand those details. >> ifill: dan nowicki, let'sck talk politics. you had a big primary in your state yesterday. john mccain who endorsedn donald trump but not enthusiastically did well. the other senator has been very anti-trump. but in a moment like today and in a turn like he pulled off today, did he manage to trump hillary clinton on a day wherey there was very little attention paid to her big speech?ec >> i think he certainly stole the spotlight, and i think if you're in hillary clinton's campaign, you've got to be scratching your head and wondering if you missed and opportunity here as well. you know, whether or not he's going to win over something like jeff flake, who has been very critical of him, remains to be

seen. but i thinkbe flake has been encouraging him to go in this direction and reach out to latinos in the united states ani kind of cut back on the anti-mexico rhetoric, so it might help a little on that end. >> ifill: what are the expectation tonight for the speech in phoenix tonight?o >> i think everyone wants to know what trump will say about the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants who settled in the united states.te that's a big question.qu i don't think any of thean immigration reformers are really expecting him to change much. i think they see this as a lot of more of the same.me i think if you hear him saying something like, oh, we're going to enforce the laws, we're going to secure the border, i think you're just going to see him basically sticking with what w he's been saying all along, maybe wording it a lit moral moderately. but no one really expects him to go too far in terms of embracing any kind of, you know, comprehensive immigration refore

or anything like that.ha >> ifill: finally, ambassador a nor yea garks was today the test for the republicans and the republican presidential nomineee >> i think trump passed the tests in being able to carry on this moderate discourse and not offend anybody in particular. p on the other hand, i think for pena nieto, a bad day. he's already very unpopular. i think the political implications in mexico will be bad for his party. >> ifill: ambassador roger noriega and dan nowicki, arizona republic, thank you very much.yo >> thanks. >> ifill: online, we take: another look at the stakes behind donald trump's immigration speech in arizona tonight.iz and you can watch a stream of that speech on our homepage, www.pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: perhaps the most repeated theme in presidential

candidate donald trump's t campaign is building a bigger, better, border wall. currently, a fence runs along 652 miles of the almost 2,000s mile border and many residents on both sides doubt a new wall is a solution to the problems they face. special correspondent angelapo kocherga with arizona pbs' cronkite news reports fromre nogales. >> reporter: every evening, melissa biskofsky and her dog take a walk. >> i love my walks and my dog loves them too. >> reporter: her favorite route runs along the border fence in arizona.r: >> the fence, yes, there is a i fence, but i say to hello to everybody on the other side ofon the fence. >> muchas gracias senora. >> we're going to hav a wall. >> reporter: with all the talk

of building a big border wall,ta some americans may not realize illegal immigration from mexico is at a historic low. and the southwest border has never had more security-- including cameras, hidden ground sensors, and other technology. and the border patrol has never had more agents-- 21,000 in all. about 650 miles of fence exist in strategic spots along the nearly 2,000-mile southwest border, from california whereni the structure extends into the pacific ocean-- to texas, where it runs parallel to the rio grande. fernando flores barrera can seer the fence in tijuana from his front yard. the construction worker has crossed back and forth for decades to work on u.s. job sites. he says donald trump should think twice about building a border wall. >> ( translated ): he should let immigrants work, instead ofet blocking their path. just as we help them, by working.

you need us too. >> reporter: on the u.s. side of the border, callai hernandez also questions the need for trump's $25 billion wall, since there's a big fence in place now. >> i don't think there's a need for it. we don't feel unsafe. >> reporter: her son's team played soccer in eagle pass near the rio grande.r: one of longest sections of border fence cuts through the c desert southwest. the fence is found not just along isolated stretches of borderland but right in the middle of bustling border citiei like nogales.or here it's seen as part of the landscape, a fixture, a fact of life. biskofsky has a view of the rust colored fence from her home perched on a hill in nogales, arizona.

>> you can hear parties. >> reporter: she's so close topa the border, people trying tohe sneak into the u.s. sometimes cut through her backyard.in during our interview, other neighborhood dogs noticed thisot man.ce before long, border patrol agents spotted him too. many other border residents doubt a new border wall wills keep people from trying towi cross, or deter drug traffickers at all. biskofsky does not have to look far for proof. two years ago, authorities discovered a 481-foot drug smuggling tunnel in the basement of the house she now rents. >> this is where they would get the drugs. >> reporter: the entrance is now sealed. the previous tenant chose the property because of its proximity to the border. >> when he first arrived, the neighbors told me he was dressed in white and he was carrying a bible. he had a dog called el chapo. and yeah, the neighbors, after

everything transpired, that's when they found it suspicious his dog was called el chapo. >> reporter: as in, the nickname for convicted drug trafficker joaquin guzman, who authorities say has used tunnels-- includini the one in this house-- to move tons of drugs into the u.s., inm spite of a border fence. these days, biskofsky is spending time patching up holess in her own fence.ho >> if you go along the fence, every so often you see a hole, because she's been digging all along the fence to see where she can get out. >> reporter: more proof fencesor are not 100% effective. >> it's still not even addressing the real problems:

>> reporter: so far there has no political will to deal with the root causes of immigration ande the growing demand for drugs.e instead, during this hotly contested presidential race:ly much of the talk has been about building a bigger, border wall. for the pbs newshour, i'm angela kocherga in nogales, arizona. >> ifill: stay with us. coming up on the newshour, college students become inventors solving crucial world problems. and, an author's take on what he calls the end of white christian america. but first, the filmmaker behind one of the more widely t anticipated and potentiallyte controversial movies of the year, is now at the center of his own controversy-- touching on sexual assault, consent, andn race. in a year when hollywood's

troubles with diversity have been well-chronicled, actor and director nate parker's film "birth of a nation" promised to be a breakthrough. but parker's own tangled pastan has changed the conversation. jeffrey brown has the story. >> brown: "the birth of a >> brown: "the birth of a nation" tells the story of nat turner, who led a bloody slave, rebellion in virginia in 1831. >> the lord has spoken to me, visions of what's to come. a rise of good against evil. >> what are we gonna do? >> we'll fight. once it begins, our brothers and sisters will join.er and we'll number in the hundreds, thousands even. >> brown: 36-year-old nate parker wrote, directed and starred in the movie, which first wowed audiences last january at the sundance film festival. parker spoke of his motivation. >> people asked me who i wanted to be like, i'd say nat turner.

about two years ago, i steppedt away from acting and said, the next film i'm involved with will be "the birth of a nation." >> brown: the movie won then. "audience award" and the "grandh jury prize" at sundance. fox searchlight bought itsse rights for a festival-record $17.5 million, and its national release is due in october.e but earlier this month, headlines emerged about a 1999 rape allegation made against parker when he was a student at penn state.de the alleged victim claimed she'd been unconscious.en parker was charged and later acquitted. parker's friend-- and "birth" co-writer-- jean celestin was also accused in the case. he was convicted, but the verdict was overturned on appeal. in a recent interview with "variety" magazine, parker reiterated his claim that the sex was consensual. "seventeen years ago," he said, "i experienced a very painful moment in my life. it resulted in it being litigated. i was cleared of it. that's that. seventeen years later, i'm a filmmaker." the remarks struck a nerve,

especially after the revelation days later, that the alleged victim had killed herself invi 2012. last week, in his first interview since learning about the suicide, parker told "ebony" magazine: "i was acting as if i was the victim, and that's wrong.d my only thought was, i'm innocent and everyone needs to i know. i didn't even think for a second about her." also last week, the american film institute canceled a screening of the movie. and we explore some of the issues surrounding this, with roxanne gay, writer, author of the essay collection "bad feminist", and associate professor at purdue university; and mike sargent, chief film critic for pacifica radio and co-president of the "black film critics" circle. welcome to both of you. let me start with you, roxanne gay.ot you wrote recently, "i am struggling to have empathy for nate parker, a man experiencing the height of his career wile being forced to reckon with hiss past. so explain that.la was there a conflict of emotion

when you first learned of this? >> absolutely. you know, when youis follow someone's career trajectory and you sees them at the height of their career with a critically-acclaimed film thated sold for a record amount of money at sundance, of course,e, you know, i want him to do veryy well, i want the movie to succeed, but i cannot overlook these allegations against him. he was acquitted, yes, but his handling of the incidentd troubles me.e. the fact that the incident occurred at all troubles me, that he's still friends with the man with whom he was accused troubles me, and, so i want to have empathy for him, but i have far more empathy for the victim and for the truth. >> brown: mike sargent, i assume you were first aware of the film asar a filmmaker yoursf and film critic, what were your thoughts when you learned about

this? >> well, i was conflicted on many levels because, as a filmmaker, you know, it's great to see a black filmmaker get to make something. black historical dramas are not easy to get made and they don't generally do too well. as a film critic i want to support black filmmakers, butm i'm also a father of a daughter who's in college so this strikes a particular chord with me. similar to roxanne, his handlind of it and attitude about it, i mean, he is, after all, a story teller and very often we tell ourselves stories that we begin to believe. so i am conflicted. i can't say won't see the film,m i definitely will, but, no, i n don't think that he's doing wha he could and probably should in terms of atoning for what has happened. >> brown: so roxanne gay, what should he be doing and what should we as audience members do? you and others have said this raises an old question, right,

about what -- can you love the art even while you hate or disdain, whatever, the artist? >> absolutely, it's really challenging. i myself as i wrote in my editorial in the "times" cannot separate the art and artist or i choose not to.ot we have to have a conversationer about resortive justice. we do not know how to achieve justice for victims of sexual violence, and i don't think somebody's life should endd because they commit a crime, but i do want to see atonement. i do want to see him having more self-examination about the rolee that he played that night because there was a third man there, and he recognized that ih was a bad situation and that this young woman was probably in no position to consent, and he walked away. >> brown: but can i just interrupt you for a second? >> yes. >> brown: a bad situation, but at least, legally, no crime

committed, because it's worths saying again "found not guilty." >> well, legally, lots of things are allowed that shouldn't be allowed. it was more than a pies take.i i consider it to have been a crime. i think that, when a woman is passed out drunk, she cannot consent and that sex should not be on the table in any way, shape or form.fo i call it rape.ca you know, we don't know what happened that night, but i do think that i would like to see just more acknowledgment, and the interview that parker did with ebony is a step in the right direction, but it was also the kind of interview where youe can tell that he was really well coached by a publicist, and he was saying most of the right things, while also just acknowledging at the he has never really thought about gender and that he didn't realle think about the victim ever, and that troubles me. >> mike sargent, what about this question of the art versus the artist? and especially in a case like

this, as you both have said, the role of race in both the film and the filmmaker? >> well, i think the role of race is undeniable. u i mean, you know, there are definitely filmmakers who havewh done very, very more than questionable things, whether aroma polanski or woody alleep and they've gone on to have long careers and win oscars. but the question is can you separate the art from the artist and should you and at what point do you atone and what could and should he be doing. that is a good question. i have my own ideas of what he should do and how he should s address it but like roxanne said, he's being coached. there is a way he needs to present himself so that they can still do well with this film. >> brown: mike sargent, there was announced today that there is going to be a press conference that he's speaking a at the toronto film festival in

a few weeks. what would you like for him to say? >> for me, as roxanne mentioned, i would like more self-examination. i mean, let's look at this for a little bit.e i mean, even if he himself feels that he did not commit this act, and if he felt it was consensual, you know, she went under, after that, what would be termed bullying after that. she became a victim. now, that is something that, asa a man and a father and he's got daughters, you know, this isou something he needs to address, all of it, how do we handle these things, how should young men treat themselves? there are a lot of things he could be doing and a lot of things he could be addressing in regards to this whole matter because this matter is somethinm that it's not just about race, it's specifically about gender, but it's also about, you know, once you have, let's say, been acquitted of this, that doesn't mean you can turn your back on it. there was still something he waw

involved in that ended up contributing to a woman's deathe >> brown: well, so, let me just ask finally, roxanne gay,y will you see the film? do you think others should see the fill snm. >> i am not going to see the film, no, but i do think that people should do what they want to do. the reality is he's not the only person that worked on this movie. there is an entire cast and crew that put a lot of work and a loa of really thoughtful work intork the making of this movie, and, so, i am in no way suggesting other people should not. i just cannot, personally, do it, for many reasons both personal and just ethical. >> brown: mike sargent, briefly, will you see the film? >> as a film critic, i reallyy have to see the film. f i have to be able to see theh film and judge it on its own merits as a film, but i can'tn' ignore what happened behind it and i can't ignore the history behind theis filmmaker. f

>> brown: mike sargent and roxanne gay, thank you both very much. >> thank you. >> ifill: as students head back to college this year, some will be doing more than just the usual coursework. special correspondent cat wise has a story about a group of student inventors trying to make their mark, part of our weekly series covering the "leading edge" of science and technology. >> reporter: music, wine, and ideas were flowing at an event in portland, oregon that brought together college students from c around the country, who have all been hard at work, between classes and tests, inventing the next big thing. while the atmosphere was festive, there was serious business going on. fourteen teams pitched their inventions to invited guests, who were playing the role of" venture investors" for theve

evening with "venture bucks" to invest in the ballot boxes of their favorite startups. >> back the team you think is going to change the world. >> reporter: there were plenty t of cool ideas to choose from. like a low-cost water contamination detection system from an all-women team ofte engineers at santa clara university. and a device to help babies with respiratory distress syndrome in low resource hospitals, developed by students at western michigan university.ni and there was even a group from a local high school trying to tackle another common problem in many parts of the world-- lack of electricity to charge cell phones. >> we made a thermoelectric generator that can be used in open fire to generate electricity while cooking. the metal rod right here will go directly into the pot they'reil using for cooking, and the heatn will go from the rod into the thermal electric generators that will generate electricity fromth the heat. >> reporter: many of the products on display are still it the early stages of development, and some build on ideas that are already out in the marketplace. but a few of the teams have created things never inventeden

before. katherine jin is part of the kinnos team from columbia university. she and her two co-founders, who are also her classmates, were inspired when they saw a needir for better disinfection methods during the ebola crisis in africa. >> one of the current problems with the way people decontaminate today is that disinfectants are clear and transparent, so you can't seear where you're spraying. they bounce off waterproof surfaces just like rain off an umbrella. >> reporter: after some late nights and a lot of trial and error, they developed" highlight." a powder that adds temporary color to bleach and enhances adhesion to surfaces. jason kang, a biomedical engineering major, gave me a demo. >> what we're going to do is add highlight directly to the bleach. so, i've poured it in here.re so, once you add the powder, it's really simple-- you just j mix it and it just dissolves instantly. >> reporter: so what's this surface here you are going to spray? g >> yeah, so this is a square cui

from one of the suits that doctors will wear when they arei treating patients in the field.e so, i'm going to spray it on here. you can see that it fully covers the surface, it's really easy to see where you sprayed. it has a nice sticky coverage. it will trap viruses and bacteria and kill them. >> reporter: the event was sponsored by a nonprofit called, " venture well," that provide" financial backing and trainingl for student-run startups. the organization is funded by the lemelson foundation, which also helps fund the newshour. over the course of two days leading up to the competition, students and supportive facultyt attended a variety of skill- building workshops. >> the theme today is really around communication and managing how you are perceived. so our theme here is how to hele your ideas shine. everyone is going to have a one- minute pitch and a five-word pitch. >> reporter: teams mixed up and shared their ideas with their peers. luke neese is a former police officer, and a recent texas a&m grad who has developed a system to detect gunshots using

soundwaves. >> i started looking at what was available in the gunshot detection market and everything was ridiculously expensive. >> what physiclo does is we integrate resistance bands and panels into compression tights. >> reporter: keeth smart developed his sportswear product while at columbia businessar school. he also happens to be a former professional fencer who won silver at the beijing olympics. smart launched his company last year with the help of $150,000 in crowd-funding. but, he says, it's still hard to get the word out. >> we know that once we show this product to people, they'll love it, but getting it out there is a big challenge for most entrepreneurs.rs >> reporter: christina tamer knows well the challenges that student entrepreneurs face. she's a program officer with venture well. >> first of all, they're young, so they have a tougher timeso being taken seriously.o so having our support in terms of, you know, having someone tor bounce ideas off of, check their assumptions, look through their materials, and be a coach and a mentor.

>> reporter: for their part, the kinnos team is moving full steam ahead with "highlight," which they've been field-testing in west africa. we caught up with them in new york as they were making a new batch in a columbia university engineering lab.in they also had upcoming exams to think about. >> i think all of us have, at this point, sacrificed a test, grade or even a class at the end of the day, to complete something we need to get doneme for the company. >> reporter: all their hard work is starting to pay off.rk they've got their first customer. not overseas, as you might expect, but here in the u.s. the new york city fire department, which had its own ebola scare. >> as new york city, we are one of the entry points for world travelers, especially world travelers from west africa, sori clearly this was on our agenda to prepare, to be able toab respond effectively and safely. >> reporter: doctor david prezant is the chief medical officer for the f.d.n.y. he says highlight has filled a big need for the department. >> now you have an e.m.s. worker in full protective equipment,

knowing that protective equipment is really good but now he or she can look at their glove and see it's blue. >> reporter: back in portland, as the evening competition wrapped up, the teams who received the most "ventuream bucks" were announced. >> okay, this is what we've been waiting for! the first prize with $96 million venture bucks, they'll be getting $1,000 and it goes to... it goes to kinnos!" >> reporter: the team enjoyed their win and then quickly goten back to work. a few days later, they were headed to europe to meet with the world health organization and doctors without borders. for the pbs newshour, i'm catdo wise in portland, oregon. >> ifill: the kinnos team recently graduated from columbia university and the three are now working full-time on theirow

product. >> sreenivasan: now, the latest addition to the newshour bookshelf. religion has played a significant role in american culture and politics for more than 200 years. but the country's demographics are rapidly changing and so is the dominance of white protestant denominations.an that is the thesis put forward by robert jones in his new book, "the end of white christianew america." judy woodruff talked with the head of the public religione research institute recently.ti >> woodruff: robert jones, welcome to the program. so provocative title, "the end of white christian america." but you say in the book whate you're really asking is why white protestant america has experienced such a dramatic decline. why did you want to tackle that question? >> well, thanks for having me. you know, when i was looking at the data, i realized we had really crossed this very significant threshold in american culture and that is we had moved, just in the last eight years, from being a

majority white christian country, 54% in 2008 when barack obama was running for presidents the first time, to being a minority white christian country. today we are 45% white and christian. when i use the term "white christian america," i ama, referring to this cultural and institutional world built primarily by protestants. so if you think about the cultural center of the u.s. being a waspy, white, anglo-saxon protestant culture, that's the culture i'm talking about and that has faded from the center of american culture.e >> woodruff: and you talk about how influential and powerful it's been in the i history of this country. >> absolutely. one to have the books when i was doing the historical research put it this way, if you were in charge of something big and important in the middle of the t 20th century, chances are you were white, protestant and male, and that really held sway through the latter part of the 20th century. >> woodruff: and then what started happening? you say roughly in the '60s,

'70s and beyond?0s >> we started seeing some of the shift with the cultural revolution in the '60s, but see it sieged demographically in the 1990s. ifin the 1990s, for example, nine in ten americans claimed a religious affiliation.re less than one in ten claimed no religious affiliation at all. today it's 34 ooh 23% and among young people 34%. so we've seen the move away from white christian churches from then to the previous.pr >> woodruff: a change from the previous generation who may hav moved away from churches in their 20s and came back to established religion. you're saying that hasn't happened. >> that's right.ri that's a critical thing. every generation has been less affiliated in their 20s. what's different in this generation is it's more unaffiliated than the previous generations. compared to the baby boomers,

this generation, even if a portion of them comes back, they will still be the most unaffiliated generation the country has ever seen. >> woodruff: you also writeo about the birth rate being lower among white protestants and the phenomenon of immigration.m >> that's right, there is an internal factor, this kind of disaffiliation, but the externat factors are important here as well, that it is rising numbers of latinos immigrating particularly from mexico and lower birth rates among whites compared to non-whites as well. >> woodruff: what are thef: consequences of this?co >> i think it's very important to understand the heat that we're seeing in our politics today. one of the things that put me tt writing the book is it always seemed to melw that, even when there are controversial issues, the rhetoric, the apocalyptic rhetoric, the visceral nature of the rhetoric always outstripped the actual issues we were talking about, and what i thinkn is going on is many of the anxieties that many particularly white conservative christiansns are feeling is being driven by

this real sense of loss and grief of this cultural world that they and their ancestorsc built and that used to hold sway in the center of american culture and is now really passing from the scene.c >> woodruff: you're explaining part of what's going on in the support for donald trump. >> that's right.suha i should say this book was written and closed before donald trump really ascended into, you know, to be the nominee for the republican presidency. >> woodruff: which makes it more fascinating. why is it important wepo understand this? >> one way of putting it is i think that we're at a moment where we are having to come to terms with the passing of this era. it is really a cultural era. i think, to understand trump supporters and the grief, the anger that we see from them and why he's been able to appeal to them, really, his appeal to him has not been he's one of them, his appeal is to appeal to the sense of nostalgia and loss and

grief, and when he says "make america great again," he's saying i'm going to restore power to the christian churchesu we're going to say "merry christmas" again in this country, not "happy holidays,"ho those are about big cultural shifts driving anxiety among white conservative christiansch today. >> woodruff: you make the point throughout the book and an the end that the country is really moving on from this to something else and that there is no going back. >> that's right. so i begin the book with an obituary for white christian america and end the book with a eulogy. at the end i'm thinking of presiding over this complicated loss and death in american culture with some people who are grieving but some people who are very much ready to move on and say good riddance to this era. but i think the real challenge c for us is to figure out how wee tell a story about who americaam is and where we're going as a country that is sort of faithful to its past but makes room, i

think, for the new demographics and the new place that the country is going.oi >> woodruff: and to understand that this is so much -- that this is a big part of what's behind it. >> absolutely. >> woodruff: robert jones, the book is "the end of white christian america." thank you very much. >> well, thank you. >> ifill: and we'll be back shortly. but first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station.mo it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air. >> sreenivasan: for those stations still with us, we takes another look at efforts to stop pandemics before they start. as we've seen in recent cases, diseases like zika and ebola can quickly transfer, and then cross continents and oceans withen uncontrolled speed.

and that's why scientists-- known as virus hunters-- are tasked with identifying areas where infectious diseases are most likely to emerge. >> we're in guilin in southern china, in one of the most beautiful parts of china with these amazing limestone hills and valleys. very scenic and picturesque. >> sreenivasan: peter daszak is the president of eco-health alliance, a non-profit organization based in new york, dedicated to protecting wildlife and public health from the emergence of disease.m >> the reason we're here is, we're interested in the risk of new diseases emerging out of the wildlife trade in china, just like sars did a few years ago, and just like ultimately h.i.v. did in africa forty-odd yearsd ago. if we can get to the source of where they come from, and reduce the risk, we could solve a huge problem, and save millions of lives, rather than waiting for them to emerge and mop it up afterwards.

>> sreenivasan: at markets across china like this one, people come in daily to buy chickens and ducks.ne >> it increases the risk of a pathogen like avian flu spreading because you've got live chickens. g if one of them is infected, it brings the virus in and itbr spreads to this flock over a few hours, and then those animals are taken to different parts ofr the region. now you could see this activity anywhere in the world. it's just like what happens in rural america and rural parts of europe. the difference is here we're in a hot zone for emerging diseases. this is a place where we've repeatedly seen outbreaks from'v poultry, moving into people, and spreading globally. >> sreenivasan: natural habitats can also contribute to the spread of viruses. >> with people fishing in the river, we've got people washing

in the river.n we know there's sewage comingsh directly from the houses into the river, and what looks likees an idyllic country scene is really a human-dominateds landscape.ca there's not much wildlife here,l but wild ducks will come down to this river as well and mix in and migrate with the viruses and spread them backwards and forwards into this mix. it's a big mixing vessel for pathogens. b >> sreenivasan: at a goose farm, deszak and his team are looking, for signs of avian flu. >> the idea is if we can catch the viruses they carry here, we can prevent them going to market and potentially spreading theoi disease. we take swabs from the mouth, and we take cloacal swabs, we put them in a viral transport medium, and ship them off in liquid nitrogen to the lab for n testing. avian flu is a virus that is common in many types of birds, but especially in poultry and

waterfowl, it's a real killer, and some of these strains can also jump directly into people. so that's the problem. >> sreenivasan: viruses that can cross over and infect humans have led to previous pandemics,e including the most devastating in recorded world history-- the 1918 flu which killed more people than the first world war. more than 500 million infected worldwide, and as many as 100id million deaths over a two-year period. >> we're trying to say, "where is the next avian flu going to"w come from? can we see it before it becomes a pandemic problem and stop it?" i look at this a little bit like earthquakes.ke we know that earthquakes can be devastating. we know they're pretty rare, and we know where they happen. r so this is the same for pandemics. we know that this is a hot spot for pandemics; we know why it w happens, but what we're not doing with pandemics that we are doing with earthquakes is

reducing the damage initially. >> this has been going on for five thousand years. >> sreenivasan: working with ecohealth alliance in this part of china is field operations manager dr. guangjian zhu, a biologist trained in the ecology of bats, which are known to beof the source of the sars virus. >> sreenivasan: daszak is: sz >> this is a big tourist cave. shall we go? >> sreenivasan: daszak is>> concerned about a bat cave that is a popular tourist t destination.

you've got the horseshoe bat right here in this cave with all these tourists going through here. bavoi the bats here in this cave are t the same bats that carry sarsa virus. bats live in the cave all day long because they're nocturnal,l and when they're up there theyoc urinate and defecate right on top of the tourists that are walking through, and all you've got to do is be that one person to breathe in at the wrong time and suddenly you've been infected with a virus that is not only potentially lethal to people, it could cause a future pandemic. we sent you samples from these bats. >> sreenivasan: daszak and his team have used mathematicalsz models to try to understand whai is driving these diseases. >> we went back to every known example of emerging disease, h.i.v., ebola, west nile virus, sars, plotting where itpl originated, and we said, "whatin are the things that are going on in those places?" the two big drivers are: growing human populations and land use change, and high wildlife diversity. >> sreenivasan: rapid global response to disease outbreaks is

essential to stopping transmission and saving lives, but daszak and his team of viruv hunters believe that forecasting where outbreaks are most likely to occur is a critical part of a defensive strategy needed to prevent outbreaks before they emerge.de for the pbs newshour, i'm hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: and that's the >> ifill: an update to an earlier story, mexican presidenr enrique peña nieto says he told republican presidential candidate donald trump hisanru country would not pay for a border wall.bo trump had said the issue of payment did not come up during their meeting. >> sreenivasan: and that's the newshour for tonight.'s on thursday, more analysis of donald trump's visit to mexico. i'm hari sreenivasan. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill.

join us online, and again here tomorrow evening.he for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> bnsf railway. >> lincoln financial-- committed to helping you take charge of your financial future. >> md anderson cancer center. making cancer history.an >> xq institute. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> supported by the rockefeller foundation. promoting the wellbeing of humanity around the world, by building resilience and inclusive economies. more at www.rockefellerfoundation.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals.

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