captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for sunday, may 14: international condemnation following the latest missile launch from north korea in our signature segment, conservative republican voices calling for action on climate change. and, what's behind america's rising maternal mortality rate. next on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. judy and josh weston. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the john and helen glessner family trust-- supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. barbara hope zuckerberg. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america--

designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios at lincoln center in new york, hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: good evening and thanks for joining us. criticism and consternation today following another, and more alarming, ballistic missile launch by north korea. japan's defense minister says the missile may be a new type, and u.s. officials are trying to determine exactly what it was.. though they said it apparently was not an intercontinental ballistic missile. it was launched yesterday from a site northwest of pyongyang. japanese and south korean officials say it flew for 30 minutes over a distance of 430 miles before plunging into the sea of japan, just 60 miles south of vladivostok in russia. the white house said in a statement:"

with the missile impacting so close to russian soil, in fact, closer to russia than to japan. the president cannot imagine that russia is pleased." the statement went on to say in part, "north korea has been a flagrant menace for far too long" and called for stronger sanctions. the u.s. ambassador to the united nations, nikki haley, claimed today that north korean leader kim jong un is in a" state of paranoia." haley also responded to comments yesterday from a senior north korean official that the north might be open to direct talks with president trump under what she called the right conditions. >> having a missile test is not the way to sit down with the president, because he's absolutely not going to do it. and i can tell you, he can sit there and say all the conditions he wants; until he meets our conditions, we're not sitting down with him. >> sreenivasan: the last time the u.s. and north korea engaged in six-party talks about north korea's weapons programs was 2008, and christopher hill led the u.s. delegation. hill was the u.s. ambassador to south korea during the bush administration. he's now the dean of the josef

korbel school of international studies at the university of denver and joins me now from colorado springs. of all, are you surprised that just days after south korea elects a president, north korea does this? >> i'm really not surprised. i mean frankly this is a military testing program, so we they don't really care what the rest of us think. an even though the new south korean president spent a good deal of time on the campaign trail talking about his desire to have some dialogue with the north koreans, frankly speaking, i don't think they really care and so this is the result. >> sreenivasan: what are the interests in north korea right now? i mean, we seem to hear that at least there is some diplomatic gesture to the united states to try to get talks going but neither side can agree on what the preconditions can be to get those talks to start. >> frankly when the u.s. talks about preconditions what they are trying to say is we will talk to the north koreans on the basis of getting rid of the

nuclear weapons, something they already agreed to, way back if 2005. when the north koreans say they will talk to the u.s., it has to do with one nuclear power to another. >> sreenivasan: does the relationship that the united states has with china and russia, are they strong enough to have leverage on north korea? because it doesn't seem to have been working so far? >> well, certainly president trump has invested a lot and a really serious effort to bring the chinese on board. and he's made it clear to the chinese look, we have a lot of issues but this is number one. so i think that's kind of a good approach for the comien ease in kind of keeping at them on this and making sure that at a minimum the u.n. sanctions are fully lived up to. and there china has work to do. with respect to russia, i think it's kind of a secondary issue. they seem to be more focused on whether there is anything they can do together in syria. >> meanwhile our allies, japan and south korea are in the neighborhood and the tension is increasing. >> tension is definitely increasing. one of the downside, of coursek

of talking to the chinese is both the japanese and south koreans get a little nervous about that. especially as we have no am bas dors in the region, so they don't feel reassured all the time. and in particular, the south koreans are concerned when they talk to the chinese, that it appears to be, you are talking about the korean peninsula, you are talking essentially about them without them. so it's very important that we kind of engage with them on a daily basis. >> are starting talks the right step? is that the course the administration should pursue considering that north korea has been so flagrantly violate sog many of the agreements that they made? >> i have serious doubts about starting talks at this point. there is no indication that the north koreans have the slightest interest in denuclearization. i think kim jungun's father did and certainly cared what the chinese thought. but kim jung undoesn't seem to care at all what kinda things, what we think, what any of the other six party participates think. they seem to want to have talks with us as one nuclear power to another. >> sreenivasan: president trump has said he would be

honored to meet with kim jungun on the right circumstances. just that kind of a statement alone, could you have imagined your boss at the time, president bush making it or president obama making it and does it 3at sner. >> i can't imagine anyone using a formlation like that but let's understand, our president, all of these kinds of issues are new to him. and i think he was probably trying to say to the chinese look, i'm willing to be polite to these guys but they have to come forward. so i think it was probably if the context of trying to show the chinese yes, we'll give it the college try on having talks. >> sreenivasan: former u.s. ambassador to south korea, christopher hill, thanks so much. >> thank you. >> sreenivasan: ambassador haley also defended the president's firing of former fbi director james comey last week and commented on reports that mr. trump had pressed comey for a pledge of loyalty. >> the president is the ceo of the country. he can hire and fire whoever he wants. that's his right. i think when you take the job, you automatically assume that you work for the president and

you are part of a team and loyalty is a big thing, it's-- >> sreenivasan: former director of intelligence james clapper said today that actions by the white house over the past week may be eroding the mechanisms of the u.s. government. >> i think, in many ways, our institutions are under assault, both externally--and that's-- that's the big news here, is russian interference in our election system--and i think, as well, our institutions are under assault internally. >> internally from the president? >> exactly. >> sreenivasan: urging that a replacement for comey come from outside the political arena, republican senator lindsey graham said today that the new fbi director's loyalty should lie with the law. >> to me it's like appointing a judge. the president actually appoints a judge, but the judge is loyal to the law. the president appoints the fbi director, but the fbi director has to be loyal to the law. i would encourage the president >> sreenivasan: senate minority leader chuck schumer today endorsed an idea by democratic senator mark warner that senate democrats withhold votes for an fbi director, unless the justice department appoints an

independent special prosecutor to investigate possible ties between the trump campaign and russia. >> to have that special prosecutor, people would breathe a sigh of relief, because then there would be a real independent person overlooking the fbi director. >> sreenivasan: climate change is one of the issues that has divided democrats and republicans. democrats, generally speaking, have pushed policies to address global warming-- reducing the air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels and developing alternative forms of energy. among republicans, there is a vocal wing of the party that has denied climate change altogether as a problem and questioned whether humans are responsible. views also associated with president trump. but in tonight's signature segment, newshour weekend special correspondent stephanie sy reports on the "eco-right," the growing number of conservative, republican voices calling for action on climate change.

>> hey, hey! ho, ho! fossil fuels have got to go! >> reporter: in the rising eco- right movement, you could say these are the eco-righteous. fossil fuels have got to go! >> reporter: among the throngs of environmentalists at the climate march in washington last month, they stand out because they not only chant, they pray. >> i pray that you would help people to listen and to be able to change things around so that we can impact this world, your creation, in a positive way. >> this is what democracy looks like! >> reporter: at 27, kyle meyaard-schaap is the leader of the young evangelicals for climate action, a group that's grown to 10,000 members in the past five years. >> there's a general perception out there that evangelicals are apathetic or antagonistic toward climate change. and that's just not the case. >> we keep hearing that 2014 has been the warmest year on record. >> reporter: that perception comes in part from this moment two years ago when republican oklahoma senator james inhofe who has said that only god controls the weather, brought a snowball onto the senate floor to prove the earth is not

warming. >> for a lot of the more conservative lawmakers who have been able to depend on support from an evangelical voting bloc we want them to hear us saying, "if you want to continue to be able to depend on this voting bloc, you need to start listening to what the next generation of evangelicals are saying is important to them." and more and more, we're saying with a louder and louder voice, "that's climate." >> may our work for climate action be a witness that points to you triune god. >> reporter: after the climate march, his group gathered at the u.s. capitol to rehearse talking points to use when lobbying members of congress. >> let us now offer prayers for our political leaders. >> reporter: the generational shift in republican leaders is personified by 37-year-old florida congressman carlos curbelo. he voted with the party to repeal the affordable care act but he's bucking the party leadership on climate change. we met up with him at a solar- powered farm in his district, just south of miami. >> people here live between the everglades and the ocean, so the environment is always on our minds.

>> reporter: last year, curbelo and florida democrat ted deutch co-founded the bipartisan climate solutions caucus. it now has 38 members in the house of representatives. >> it's what we call a noah's ark caucus. you can only join if you identify a member of the opposing party to join with you, so it kind of forces bipartisanship, and the caucus is equally republican and democrat. i never thought that we would grow so fast. >> reporter: curbelo's constituents are already living with the effects of global warming, such as high tides that reach higher every year and flood residents even on sunny days, depressing property values. they're experiencing the threats of rising sea levels, coastal erosion, loss of wildlife, the zika virus, all of which scientists say are worsened by climate change. curbelo supports continuing and

expanding subsidies for carbon- free and renewable energy sources. >> most members of congress are open to this idea of the united states leading an energy revolution in the world, innovating, creating the jobs of the future today and one of my major priorities in tax reform is to protect the solar and wind tax credits that are in place today. >> reporter: at 96, george shultz, a former cabinet secretary to presidents reagan and nixon, whose administration created the environmental protection agency, is weighing into the debate. >> use the marketplace. do it the reagan way. >> reporter: he's touting a solution to curb carbon-dioxide emissions consistent with what he considers "republican principles." >> you don't have to rely on any fancy science to figure out that the globe is warming. that is a fact. but if you have questions about it, why don't you take out an insurance policy, because the consequences are considerable. >> reporter: for shultz, the insurance policy is a plan he's

put out as a member of the climate leadership council-- "a conservative case for carbon dividends." the proposal is to charge energy companies a tax, say $40, for every ton of carbon that comes out of mining coal or refining oil. the proceeds would be distributed back to americans,"" carbon dividend," worth around $2,000 a year for a family of four. the tradeoff? the plan would strip away much of the e.p.a.'s authority to regulate carbon emissions and cancel president obama's clean power plan. >> reporter: it may surprise you to learn that many of the world's largest oil companies say they'd support a carbon tax, including exxonmobil, which told newshour weekend: "we support carbon policies that would ensure a uniform and predictable cost of carbon across the economy." currently no republican in congress has endorsed shultz's carbon tax plan, although democratic senator sheldon whitehouse of rhode island says privately, some do. he introduced a similar plan in 2015.

>> virtually every republican who has looked at the climate change problem and come to a solution comes to the same solution, which is a price on carbon, a market signal that is revenue-neutral and gives all the money back to the public. and i think our answer is, "yes, yes, we'll do that." so, we agree on the getaway car, we agree on the need for escape, and really the last political problem is how you get republicans through that kill zone that the fossil fuel industry has set up in congress. >> reporter: the fossil fuel industry has actually come out in favor of some sort of carbon pricing. do you view them as genuine allies on climate action? >> no. every part of the fossil fuel industry's and big oil's political apparatus is still lined up to say, "if you dare talk about a carbon price, we are coming after you." >> the carbon tax may be a good idea. it's not doable. even a revenue-neutral carbon tax.

>> reporter: andy sabin, is a longtime republican party donor, who made his fortune from a metal recycling business. he sees climate change as an urgent problem, but a carbon tax as politically dead on arrival. >> kellyanne, house leadership, tillerson. >> reporter: sabin contributed more than $700,000 to republican candidates in last year's election, including those he feels support environmental issues. but he also donated $100,000 to president trump's inauguration, even though trump has called man-made climate change a "hoa"" and is considering withdrawing from the 2015 paris climate accords, when the u.s. pledged to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions. >> i talk to friends in the white house about the paris climate change agreement. i'm constantly texting people very close to the president. i want to be his environmental advisor, so he could at least hear the other side. and i'm hopeful he's going to say, "hey, maybe i should take a

look at the environment?" >> reporter: sabin spends his free time taking care of his menagerie of animals and tending to his organic garden. what do you think the solutions are to lowering carbon emissions? >> i think we're on the track now. i believe in obviously wind, solar, hydro, modular nuclear, all of these things. what's nice is the renewable energy is becoming much cheaper than fossil fuels. >> reporter: an ardent nature lover who buys prime real estate on new york's long island just for conservation, sabin has also given millions to endow columbia university's sabin center for climate change law. >> the real solution, biggest solution, stop cutting down trees and plant new trees. >> reporter: that's carbon capture. >> right. but that's natural carbon capture. >> reporter: florida congressman carlos curbelo disagrees with president trump's attempts to dismantle the clean power plan. and he's considering the carbon tax.

>> i'm trying to avoid going out there and endorsing or rejecting specific ideas. my point is we have to do something, and if we're going to get rid of the regulations like the clean power plan, what's the alternative? there must be an alternative. >> reporter: the political momentum for republican solutions to climate change is overlapping with another reality-- shifting public opinion. a national survey by yale and george mason universities last december found half of trump voters think global warming is happening. six in ten trump voters supported taxing or regulating the pollution causing it. for the varied voices in the rising eco-right movement, it's a matter of making the issue a priority for republicans by speaking their language. >> and the reconciling saving work of christ extends to the entire created world. >> reporter: young evangelical leader kyle meyaard-schaap argues climate action is in line with other christian values, including anti-abortion views.

>> to be pro-life means that you care about human life, you care about human flourishing free from the impacts of a changing climate on people's ability to grow their food and provide for their families. >> reporter: republican donor andy sabin highlights the public health hazards. >> if you really want to relate to a working-class republican, tell him he's going to live longer, tell him his health bills are going to go down, and he may not get cancer or asthma or heart disease. that resonates with somebody. >> reporter: and george shultz, the republican statesman promoting the free market fix, says for the sake of his grandchildren and great grandchildren, he hopes history comes full circle. >> the original guy who worried about the environment was a republican, teddy roosevelt. president reagan did the ozone layer, president h.w. bush did the acid rain problem. the record shows this is a republican issue.

read george takei's thoughts on his new musical and the history of japanese-american internment. visit www.pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: on this mother's day, we call your attention to a very sobering fact: the united states has the worst rate of mothers dying during pregnancy, childbirth, or postpartum than any country in the developed world. the "maternal mortality rate" is 26 women for every 100,000 live births in the u.s. npr and propublica last week published a joint investigation into the reasons behind this problem, and propublica reporter nina martin joins me from oakland, california, to discuss what they found. stirs first of all, put that number into perspective, 26 out of 100,000 doesn't sounder like much. how does that tack stack up against the rest of who we compare ourselves to. >> 26 out of 100,000 translates to 7 to 900 women a a year in

the u.s. which compares to 7 out of 100,000 in canada, a think four out of 100,000 in most of the scandinavian countries. >> you had a scark in this tragic story about a neo nationallal nurse, someone who works around babies her whole life and she is the central character in your story. and it ends up highlighting so much of what is wrong in the system. by exbook she had a very good pregnancy. she was healthy. she did everything right. she had access to good health care. she delivered baby well. and yet how is it possible that she is one of the people that ends up as one of these statistics? >> i think there is a lot of people who assume that women without die in child birth or pregnancy-related causes in the u.s. are sort of poor, they have bad health care, they have preexisting conditions, they are unhealthy, they don't get good prenationallal care, there are all kinds of things that we sort of assume that the explanations.

and lauren had all of those things. i think that one of the big issues that we haven't really looked at in this country so much around maternal care is everybody sort of said oh, look, we're so much better than we used to be. 800 women in this country used to die every day in child birth. we've lived that problem. meanwhile babies are dying, let's focus on the babies. but we've sort of taken the our eye off maternal health. so we don't really think about the kinds of safety, really basic safety things that need to be put am place just to keep moms safe. and that's a little big part of what is happening. it's that 60% of the deaths in the u.s., at least, are preventible. >> sreenivasan: you also seem to highlight that there not a standard hospital protocol to deal with complications, so really the ones that could have been prevent death end up cascading out of control into something much bigger. >> yes. so again, none of this is, you

know, the things that need to be done to prevent women from dying or nearly dieing in child birth in the u.s. are pretty well-known. what lauren had was a condition called prehe clamp seea. 200,000 women a year develop preec lampsia in the suvment. it's text book, everybody knows what you are supposed to do. it is not that her caregivers weren't good doctors but didn't recognize what was going on because they weren't on the same page about, you know, what the standards are. and what we should do when certain standards hit. and overall in the u.s. i think that this is a problem because maternal complications are thought not to be very common but they are actually much more common than doctors and nurses realize. and they're not, and a lot of hospitals and providers, doctors, individual nurses are not prepared for the worst. they expect the best. they're not prepared for the worst.

>> sreenivasan: all right, nina martin of propublica thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. this is pbs newshour weekend, sunday. >> sreenivasan: the european union's police agency said today that last week's massive ransomware cyber -attack was even more widespread than first thought. europol's director, rob wainwright, said the unprecedented global attack impacted at least 200,000 victims many of them businesses, across 150 countries. and he said even more damage could be discovered when people return to work tomorrow. europol said it's still too early to determine who launched the extortion attack. independent centrist emmanuel macron was inaugurated as france's new president today, one week after he trounced right-wing populist marine le pen in the run-off election. at 39, macron, who took over from socialist francois hollande, is france's youngest leader since napoleon bonaparte. in his inauguration speech, macron vowed to fight terrorism, and to work for a "more efficient, more democratic" european union.

>> the world and europe need france more than ever. they need a strong france which is confident in its destiny. they need a france which speaks out loudly for freedom and solidarity. they need a france which can invent the future. >> sreenivasan: macron now must field candidates for next month's parliamentary elections. china's president xi jinping pledged another $124 billion today for his signature economic initiative, known as the "silk road" plan. at a summit of 29 leaders that included russia's vladimir putin, xi said the money would go for ports and railways and other infrastructure and to promote trade with dozens of developing countries. trying to allay concerns in the west that the plan is just a way of expanding china's power as the united states turns inward, xi said china "has no desire to impose our will on others." a u.s. delegation attended the summit, but few others did.

>> sreenivasan: the german state of north rhine-westphalia; where one in five voters live gave chancellor angela merkel's party a big win today, increasing her chances of winning the national election there in september. some voters said they preferred her experience and leadership heading into difficult negotiations with britain as it leaves the european union. and on the "newshour" tomorrow: ahead of president trump's first overseas visit we examine the fate of returning isis soldiers to tunisia, the birthplace of the arab spring. that's it for this edition of "pbs newshour weekend." i'm hari sreenivasan. have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made

possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. judy and josh weston. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the john and helen glessner family trust-- supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. barbara hope zuckerberg. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. station from viewers like you. ank you.

man: for us here in the island, it's very hard financially. none of these players are professional level. they are not get paid. second man: my team, they not really have the skills, but they've got the guts. third man: it's not one person who's gonna do this. we're samoan. together, we can do anything. [crowd cheering]