captioning sponsored by wnet >> thompson: on this edition for saturday, november 11: president trump asks vladimir putin about russian meddling in the election; in our signature segment, farming indoors may be the key to feeding the world's growing population; and on this veterans' day, the struggles of american soldiers returning home from war. next on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. dr. p. roy vagelos and diana t. vagelos. the j.b.p. foundation. the anderson family fund. rosalind p. walter, in memory

of abby m. o'neill. 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, megan thompson. >> thompson: good evening, and thank you for joining us. president trump leaves vietnam overnight for the philippines, the final stop on his five- nation asian trip. before moving on to hanoi, mr. trump attended the asia-pacific economic cooperation summit in danang, where 11 countries said they were going ahead with the transpacific partnership free trade deal which mr. trump has rejected. but talk of the trade deal was overshadowed by a meeting on the sidelines between mr. trump and

russian president vladimir putin. while on "air force one" mr. trump said to reporters that during the meeting, putin again strongly denied any interference with the 2016 presidential election in the united states." he said he absolutely did not meddle in our election. he did not do what they are saying he did. every time he sees me, he said, 'i didn't do that.' and i believe, i really believe that when he tells me that, he means it." president trump also said vladimir putin was "very insulted" by the allegation. the ranking democrat on the house intelligence committee, california's adam schiff, responded on twitter saying," you know who else is insulted by it, mr. president? the american people. you believe a foreign adversary over your own intelligence agencies." and the c.i.a. said in a statement to "the hill" that director mike pompeo, appointed by president trump, "stands by" the intelligence community's conclusions last january that

russia interfered in the election. in their meeting, mr. trump and putin agreed on a joint strategy to defeat the islamic state in syria. they also agreed that the war has no military solution but can only be ended by all sides in peace talks. back in hanoi, mr. trump praised the trade summit's host country before attending a state dinner with vietnamese president tran dai quang, calling vietnam "one of the great miracles of the world." meanwhile, u.s. and south korean warships launched four days of joint naval exercises off the coast of south korea. the u.s. navy says it's the first time in a decade that three u.s. carrier strike groups are operating together in the west pacific. north korea charged today that president trump's asia trip is that of a "warmonger" intent on confrontation with the north. in a statement read on state television, the foreign ministry said, "reckless remarks by an old lunatic like trump will never scare us," and charged he is only trying to enrich the

u.s. defense industry. a troubling report that army sergeant la david johnson, one of the four soldiers killed in an ambush in niger in central africa last month, was found two days later with his arms tied behind his back and a crushing wound to the back of his head. according to the "washington post," two villagers found johnson's body some distance from where the bodies of the other three green berets were found. the army said this week its investigation into the ambush won't be completed until january. in alabama, roy moore, republican candidate in next month's special election for the u.s. senate, today again called allegations of sexual misconduct against him completely false. at a veteran's day event, moore questioned why a woman who is now in her 50s claims he had sexual contact with her as a 14- year-old. he also disputed claims by three other women that he pursued them when they were teenagers. >> to think that grown women would wait 40 years to come

before... right before an election to bring charges is absolutely unbelievable. >> thompson: despite pressure from many leading republicans, the 70-year-old moore is refusing to drop out of next month's special election against democrat doug jones. this week, los angeles county district attorney jackie lacey announced the creation of a special task force to investigate allegations of sexual harassment and assault in the entertainment industry. this move follows a series of serious, on-the-record accusations against a growing number of producers and performers, including producer harvey weinstein, writer- director james toback, actor kevin spacey and comedian louis ck. for more on how the task force will operate, i am joined by laurie levenson, a former federal prosecutor who is now a professor at loyola law school in los angeles. so, first, professor levinson, can you talk to us about how a task force like this might work?

>> well, she just put it together, so we don't know all the details yet. so far, they've actually said they don't have any cases that have been referred to them by law enforcement, but that doesn't mean that they haven't been coming in by private means. so, the first thing to do is to put the team together, then start coordinating with all the law enforcement agencies. we have a police department. we have a sheriff's department. we have out-of-stte departments. and they're going to have to coordinate with places like new york, as well. this will be a long-acting program to try it evaluate what's going on here. >> thompson: incidents of harassment and assault, obviously, aren't just limited to hollywood and the entertainment industry. i mean, do you think that the focus of this task force is just a start? >> i think it probably is just a start, but it's a real statement that here in los angeles, or hollywood land, that there are so many allegations that you could make a priority for our district attorney's office to have a task force focused just on this. don't forget, we have problems with gangs.

we have white-collar crime. we have a wide range of crime. yet, this is so significant that our d.a. feels like she needs a task force. >> thompson: can you talk about how effective a task force like this can actually be? i mean, you are a former federal prosecutor. what are the challenges of prosecuting cases like this? >> yeah, i think people should sort of reserve judgment at this point because we actually don't know if any charges will be brought. don't forget, in california, unlike in new york, we had a statute of limitations on sex crimes until the beginning of this year. then, the next challenge is do you have a victim that a jury is going to find to be credible? because these are old charges, and the longer somebody has waited to come forward, the more difficult, sometimes, it is to prove it. >> thompson: if somebody has been the victim of an assault or some sort of harassment situation, is there any kind of advice that you would give to them if they make the decision that they do want to step

forward and seek help from a task force like this? >> my advice is to contact law enforcement or, directly, the task force at the district attorney's office. and, frankly, if you can do it, bring a lawyer with you. there are lawyers out there who are trained to help victims in these type of cases. now, i know she gets a lot of notoriety, and it's not all good, but, you know, that is sort of what a gloria allred does. she brings the victims forth, and then they go forth from there. and she prevents them from being bullied. there's a lot in the process that's intimidating to victims. they feel like, "i'm just going to put it behind me. i don't really want to deal with it." but they need help, and they also need, i think, some support, some counseling, some victim assistance. and the district attorney's office is actually set up to provide that. >> thompson: professor laurie levenson of loyola law school, thank you so much for joining us.

>> thompson: the united nations estimates that by the year 2050, the world's population will grow from today's 7.5 billion people to nearly ten billion. and as natural resources like farmland and water become scarce, feeding everyone will become an even greater challenge. in tonight's signature segment, newshour weekend's ivette feliciano reports on how there might a solution well under way in the netherlands. this story is part of our ongoing series, "peril and promise: the challenge of climate change." >> reporter: just south of the hague, in the westland region of the netherlands, miles upon miles of greenhouses are spread across the landscape. they've been built by dutch farmers as part of a 20-year movement by the country to pursue sustainable agriculture by growing indoors. dutch farmer hans zwinkel grows tomatoes in two greenhouses that cover 20 acres of land. his annual harvest of

2.5 million pounds of tomatoes is more than double the average yield of an outdoor farm. >> the plant started over there as a small plant, stands about five meters, six meters further. >> reporter: zwinkel and growers like him achieves high yields by controlling the climate and water for their crops under glass. filtration systems allow them to collect and recycle the plants' water supply. crops receive direct sunlight, supplemented as needed by artificial light, and are protected from unpredictable weather events and insects, which almost completely eliminates the use of chemical pesticides. >> it's nice to see the plants grow. you... it gives you energy. >> reporter: these growing techniques have helped foster an indoor growing boom in the netherlands. greenhouses now produce 35% of the country's vegetables despite occupying less than 1% of its farmland. the netherlands' wageningen university has led much of the research on how to best grow

crops indoors. leo marcelis, a professor at the university, says that in the era of climate change, the dutch agricultural revolution needs to move beyond greenhouses, which still rely on some outside forces like sunlight. >> we wanted to control the production process, that we can control the yield, the quality, that we can give guarantees towards the consumers. although we can control a lot, we're still dependent on the outdoor conditions. so, the next step would be to have a further control so we can, in fact, guarantee how much produce we will have tomorrow or on any date of the... of the year, of a guaranteed quality. >> reporter: marcelis is now experimenting with indoor vertical farming-- growing plants stacked on shelves to maximize space-- and completely cut-off from the outside. as in many greenhouses, water for the plants is drained, collected and reused, reducing their dependence on an outside

water source. and instead of sunlight, the researchers use leds, light bulbs that can replicate solar light in a variety of colors and intensities. >> whether we are growing tomatoes, whether it's about getting fruits, or whether it's a lettuce or a leafy vegetables, you can imagine that you want a different type of plant, and that may require therefore a different light. with leds, we can also put them in between the plants, and that's very good because usually there is maybe too much light on the top but insufficient at the bottom. so, we can have a much better distribution of the light in the plant. >> reporter: but growing indoors isn't cheap. marcelis says a quarter of the expenses for indoor growers in the netherlands relate to construction, something farmers who grow in fields don't have to worry about. then, there's the energy costs of round-the-clock climate control and artificial lighting. but marcelis says a key advantage to indoor farming is that by creating ideal growing conditions and maximizing space,

it can produce much higher yields-- in some cases, up to 350 times the yield of a conventional farm of the same size. >> what really matters is if the income is larger than the cost. so, if the investment costs are high and also the other costs are high, well, if the income is then also very high, then it is about the balance. >> reporter: marcelis says one important part of their work is developing techniques that can be replicated anywhere, even in arid climates like the middle east or sub-saharan africa. the united nations estimates as the world's population grows, global food demand will rise 70% by 2050 even as the amount of water and farmable land shrinks due to the global warming. the netherlands is already doing its part to feed the world. propelled by indoor farming, it's become the second biggest food exporter in the world, accounting for nearly $90 billion last year. this is all the more astounding given that the netherlands is

less than 1% the size of the united states, the world's number one food exporter, where indoor farming is also gaining a foothold. here in kennett township, pennsylvania, mushroom growers have been using indoor farming for over 100 years and today produce half the u.s. mushroom crop. an hour outside philadelphia, this small community of 8,000 people harvests half a billion pounds of mushrooms every year, all of it indoors and at a low cost of about $1 per pound. >> we invested nine years ago into a dutch-style farm. >> reporter: chris alonzo owns this indoor farm that uses the vertical farming methods seen in the netherlands. >> we put in aluminum shelving instead of wooden beds. we invested in equipment which made the job less labor intensive. we have heat in the room, air conditioning in the room, and air flow. and we use those tools to make sure that the room environment is specifically controlled for

what the mushroom likes. >> reporter: using these techniques, alonzo's facility alone is responsible for more than 1% of the nation's mushroom crop, growing 11 million pounds of mushrooms a year, protected from potentially harsh outdoor conditions. >> the only day we take off is christmas. and the consumer wants fresh produce year-round, so we're able to meet the needs to have locally grown produce all year- round, as opposed to some crops where they're only grown seasonally. this is our environmental control unit. >> reporter: alonzo says the difficulty with indoor farming, as with outdoor farming, is finding the balance between your harvest's revenue and its expenses. >> so, mushrooms has been sustainable for... for generations. however, land is affordable because mother nature provides rain, mother nature provides sun. growing indoors is very capital intensive. you have the building, you have the infrastructure, you have

energy costs. but if you can maximize productivity and having consistent quality year-round, yes, it's economically viable. but the margins are still very tight. >> reporter: most indoor farmers can't grow at the same scale as mushroom farmers in kennett township. but where they and some venture capitalists see the future of indoor agriculture lying is in small-scale urban production in areas with no farming industry of their own. >> the place where we're stepping in now is to serve demand that is unmet. >> reporter: 3,000 miles west of alonzo's farm, indoor farming pioneer matt barnard heads a major agriculture project in san francisco called plenty. its farm is a retrofitted former warehouse, now with walls of fresh vegetables that stretch for 100,000 square feet. currently, it grows leafy greens like spinach and kale, the easiest and most affordable crops to grow indoors, but it will soon start growing tomatoes and strawberries, as well. the plants grow directly out of vertical columns.

similar to dutch researchers, the company also uses led lights, water recycling and climate control. no genetically modified seeds or pesticides are used in production. instead, it's the environment that's modified, carefully crafted around each type of plant to give them the ideal conditions for growing. >> the advantages that we find are because of that control. we, for example, don't have to use pesticides. instead of using 15 gallons of water to produce one head of lettuce, we use less than one- fifth of a gallon to produce that same head of lettuce. so, we're saving a significant amount of water. and we can actually influence the way the food tastes by making sure it has exactly the right nutrient recipe, the right light recipe, the right water recipe. >> reporter: plenty hopes to become an industry leader in indoor farming. the company recently received $200 million of private funding, which it plans to spend on building farms in the ten most populous american cities and

hundreds more worldwide. but, as in the netherlands, plenty has to overcome certain challenges-- the up-front cost of building or retrofitting indoor spaces suitable for farming, and the energy costs of indoor lighting and climate control. but matt barnard believes that the advances that have been made in indoor agriculture will make it a key player in feeding the world's ever-growing population. >> we've added, you know, six billion people since the tractor came around, and so we believe this is one of the core innovations that'll help us, you know, serve the next two to three billion people that we add to the planet. >> thompson: read more about the region of the united states that produces half of the mushrooms in the nation. visit www.pbs.org/newshour. >> thompson: today is veterans' day, when our nation pauses to honor the service of military veterans in the united states. since 2001, almost three million americans have served in the

wars in afghanistan and iraq. and a documentary called "almost sunrise," which airs on the pbs series "p.o.v." this monday, focuses on the struggles many veterans face when they return home. i recently spoke with the film's director and one of the soldiers whose story is featured in the film. the documentary "almost sunris"" begins with the story of tom voss. he joined the army in 2003, at 19 years old, and spent a year fighting in iraq, where he witnessed the deaths of fellow soldiers and iraqi civilians. >> there was a kid in the in the backseat, a lifeless rag- doll that they pull out of the car. i will never be able to forget his face. >> thompson: after returning home to wisconsin in 2006, voss took college classes and got a job, but he struggled with post- traumatic stress disorder. >> having trouble with sleep. started isolating myself, using alcohol to self-medicate. >> thompson: voss also had

difficulty coming to terms with his participation in a war whose mission, for him, was far from clear. >> what we thought we were fighting for was to bring democracy to iraq. that changed to winning hearts and minds of the people to... i mean, it just kept getting tweaked and tweaked and tweaked. so, at one point, you're just, like, "what are we doing? what's the purpose?" >> thompson: the film explores" moral injury," a condition that voss grappled with. >> moral injury is more of grief, guilt, shame. "was i justified in what i did?" >> thompson: therapy and medication didn't help, and, after years of depression, voss thought about suicide. in 2013, to clear his head, voss came up with the idea of taking a very long walk-- 2,700 miles from wisconsin to california. his friend and fellow iraq war veteran anthony anderson agreed to join him." almost sunrise" chronicles voss

and anderson's five-month journey across the great plains and through the southwest. their goal was to raise awareness about the struggles of returning veterans like them... >> 22 vets a day are killing themselves. >> thompson: ...all while trying to get a handle on their own memories of war. michael collins directed the film. >> we didn't want it to just be another film about post- traumatic stress, you know, kind of perpetuating this stereotype, honestly, that you know we have that soldiers come back and they're broken or they're just heroes. and i was very excited because i saw immediately how open tom and anthony were about the complexity of their experience. >> thompson: collins and his crew would join voss and anderson for a couple weeks at a time, and then would leave them alone. >> they were going to be walking across the country, and a big part of that was to be a little bit isolated. and i didn't want to get in the way of that. >> they're coming down the road! >> how about some marching music? >> thompson: along the way, total strangers fed and housed the two veterans.

>> i think a lot of veterans have trust issues coming home. so, for us, coming and seeing the outpouring of help from the civilian population and people who have no idea who we are as people, just opening their doors and letting us in, i mean, it was just amazing for us. >> oh, i see him! there he is! there's daddy! >> thompson: the veterans finally reached los angeles, but voss continued to struggle. he eventually found relief after learning meditation and breathing techniques. how are you doing now? >> i'm doing well. i'm doing well. >> thompson: voss now advocates for the veterans administration to offer alternative therapies, like meditation and yoga. and he gives talks about the issues raised by the film, which has screened some 300 times since its debut last year. >> for me, it is totally worth it to put my story out there so that people can really see the veteran experience, and a lot of family members are gaining a better understanding of what their loved one has gone through if they're not open to talking

about it. >> this is pbs newshour weekend, saturday. >> thompson: this wednesday, a 500-year-old painting by leonardo da vinci will be up for sale at christie's auction house, here in new york. the very rare find is expected to fetch more than $100 million. newshour weekend's phil hirschkorn has more. >> reporter: there are only 16 known paintings by italian renaissance master leonardo da vinci, and this is one of them. painted around the same time and in the same style as his "mona lisa," this portrait of jesus christ is called "salvator mundi," meaning "savior of the world." >> he's holding up some kind of orb or globe that represents t world, and he's blessing you, giving benediction. >> reporter: alan wintermute, christie's senior specialist f"" old master" paintings, says the work has typical da vinci flourishes.

>> it has that smoky, shadowy lighting effects that create in the "mona lisa"-- the famous mona lisa smile-- they create an ambiguous, very soft, shadowy quality. he looks very directly at you, and you have the sense of him looking sort of right into you. >> reporter: independent consultants say this is a true da vinci. they dated paint pigments and the walnut panel back to the 1500s and took x-rays to study the brush work. also characteristic of da vinci, lapis lazuli, a semi-precious stone used for the blue color. in a stroke of clever marketing, christie's is offering the da vinci in the same auction as this massive re-imagination of his famous "last supper," 60 silk-screened panels by andy warhol. >> we felt that it did sort of indicate this universal genius of leonardo, which affects really every generation and every century and every country, all the way up through the present. >> reporter: but nothing

compares to an original." salvator mundi" is the first da vinci painting ever to be sold at public auction. >> thompson: finally, there was a special veterans day ceremony today in suggesterland springs, texas. the victims of last sundayee church massacre were honored with a full military salute. and tomorrow, online and on the broadcast, my report from hawaii where researchers are testing ways to harness the power of ocean waves for electricity. that's all for this edition of pbs newshour weekend. i'm megan thompson. thanks for watching. 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.

the cheryl and philip milstein family. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. dr. p. roy vagelos and diana t. vagelos. the j.p.b. foundation. the anderson family fund. rosalind p. walter, in memory of abby m. o'neill. 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.

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