captioning sponsored by wshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, president trump signs off on a defense spending plan with a new focus on china and rusa. then, "unhinged"-- we sit down with former "apprentice" star and white house adviser omarosa manigault newman about her new book that takes aim at her former boss. plus, the value of a good idea: inside the effort to provide expertise on food storage to african entrepreneurs. >> unlike the developed world where a lot of food is wasted after it reaches the table or thrown out of the refrigerator, in developing countries a lot of the waste happens before it reaches the table. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewersike you. thank you. >> woodruff: president trump has signed a sweeping defense policy bill, authorizing more than $700 billion for the military in theg comi fiscal year. ay spoke to soldiers at fort drum, new york tust before signing the measure. he called it the most significant investmethe blitary in modern history. >> i'm very proud a big, big part of it. it was not very hard. i went to congress and said let's do it, we got to do it,

we've got to strengthen the military like never ever before and that's what we did. after years of devastating cuts we're now rebuilding our military like we never, ave befoer. >> woodruff: we'll take a look at what's in the bill right after the news summary. gns paul man a footer, it followed ten days of wtestimony from 27itnesses, on charges of bank and tax fraud. the cris allegedly occurrein the years before manafort lead the trump campaign. >> the fbi agent f.b.i. agent peter strzok has been fired. his lawyer says heot the word on friday. strzok had been criticized for sending anti-trump texts while investigating hillary clinton's private e-mail server. he also worked for a time on the edecial counsel's russia probe. president trump hahe firing, with a tweet that said "finally." he also charged that, "the list

of bad players in the f.b.i. and d.o.j. gets longer and longer." in syria, activists say at least 69 people were killed sunday deen a weapons cache exploin the basement of an apartment building. it happened in the northwest in the rebel-held town of smada in idlib province. the blast leveled two five-story buildings. an international observer group said the munitions belonged to al-qaeda-linked militants. the two koreas today announced a third summitetween south korean president moon jae in and north korean leadekim jong un. they said it will take place in the north's capital, pyongyang, some time in september. officials met at the border, but north korea's lead negotiator also hinted at potential snags in future talks. >> ( translated ): if the issues that were raisedt the talks aren't resolved, unexpected problems could emerge and the sues that are already on the schedule may face difficulties.

>> woodruff: the summit announcement comes amid growing questions abouwhether north korea is still expanding its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile progra. the government of china has rejected allegations that it sent millions of muslims to detention and indorination camps. a u.n. representative had said more than one million ethnic uighurs and others are being held in so-called "counter- extremism centers." other two million are reportedly in "re-education" camps. beijing denied any such centers exist.is back in ountry, the so- called holy fire in southern california is now more thandalf containe. that's up from just 10% on friday. firefighters made considerable progress ovethe weekend with e help of cooler temperatures. the fire has been burning for a week. anwhile, two huge fires northern california are also more than half-contained. the west virginia house of delegates voted today to impeach

the several justices on the state supreme court over a spending scandal. a iteged that they misspent $3.2 million for office furniture and renovations. trthe state senate will no the cases and decide whether the justices are removed from the court. a fifth justice has retired, and agreed to pleafrguilty to wire d. the congressional budget office has cut its economic growth forecast for the rest of 2018, from 3.3% to 3.1%. the report cites, in part, president trump's tariff wars. and, on wall street today, the dow jones dustrial average lost 125 points to close at 25,187. the nasdaq fell 19 points, and the s&p 500 slipped 11. still to come on the newshour: the president signs the nationae e authorization act.

our politics monday team breakst down the news day. plus, how american companies share food storage techniques with african entrepreneurs, and much more. >> woodruff: as we reported earlier, the president signed a major defense authorizion bill today, a statement of policy and spending priorities.n so, what'sis massive measure? and what will those $700-plus billion buy, once congress dispenses the money? amna questions and more now. >> nawaz: the john s. mccainen national d authorization act is named for the ailing chairman of the senate armed rgrvices committee. it's one of the t bills passed by congress, and sets policy priorits for the nation's defense on everything from china, to russia, to civilian casualts, and soldiers' pay.

with me now is foreign affairs and defense correspondent ni schifrin to walk us through some of its many, many provisions. nick, there are a lot, let's stoort big picture, for the last 17 or 18 yers a t of our national security defense spending has been kind of driven by terrorism or anti-terror efforts, is that still true in this bill.i >> it is driven by iraq and afghanistan and defind by ate wars there. what this adminisn has tried to do in its official strategy documents is get away from thaand say we are no longer focused just on iraq an afghanistan and counterterrorism missions throughout the world, we are focused on long-term strategic threats and those are china and russia. so you see tht really seep throughout all parts of this bill. about you also see one more thing espe cially when es to russia. that san expression of congressionalonrn. almost a means of restraint on the president of the united states, the are many concerns that you know from democratic side but also the republican side on the president's policies and rhetoric toward russiweas as south korea and a little

on china. so you see that combination of trying to change the strategy lit also trying to restrain the president le bit. >> let's talk that shift to those two big superpowers now. russia in particular. there are me elements that stood out to me. they seem to challenge some previous assertions fromathe president eing friends with russia is a good thing. what do you see in here thatre tes to russia. >> there is about half a dozen, almost, highlights in here. and again tring to a little bit restrain the president but also trying to shift towards the asrategic shift. extending militaristance to ukraine by a couple of years, requires reporting on sanctions, the president has to confirm he imposed sancons and subit to congress additional sanction, extends probigs against milatity coopn with russia, forgses the treasury department to brief congress on vladimir putin's assets and its $6.3 billion for the ropeandeterrent initiative, this is thrgest money spent by the u.s. on u.s.

troops since the d war. and really re-creates some of the cold war-era positioning of stocks of materials also increases the presence of army and air force troops throughout europe, and the air and missile defense forces for ground forces. and the idea here is y and get a path toward perm nance. these troops are there because of the crimea invasion by russia and annexation by rusa in 2014. what congress is trying to do is make sure those troops stay in e long-term and there is language in this document that really gets to tho troops perm nentdly stationed in europe. >> what about the other country you mentioned as a priority, china. there has long been concern about the predatory action that congress says they want the u.s. to better protect itself from. what do we see that relates to that bns we see actions or tempts to alter china's actions both in the united states and regionally. so regionally you see strengthening support for tie want's military capacity. combating predatory behavior in the u.s. by strengthening

ngmmittees that protect u.s. investment, and gi dod defengs department of defense export ctrol when it comes to china trying to invest in u.s. companies and requires the whole of government strategy on china an bans vte and-pu- from hasing by u.s. government, these are technology companies, chine technology companies that u.s. officials are concerned about and while the original draft said they would ba band entirely from the u.s., this one does u.s. government from purchasing them thd congressional officials are said to hope changes chinese behavior. >> let's go quickly through some of the other countries you meioned, korea, their act sets a floor on the u.s. troop presence in south korea, where is that significant. >> the floor is 22,000. and if the u.s. were to go below, that the dartment of defengs would have to prove that it is in the national interest of the unitestates to do it. this is a direct response to the president saying that he believes joint operations joint exercises with the south koreans

were quo wargames and questioning the u.s. presence in south korea. congress does not want him awto withmore troops wants about turkey, congress threatened tof- block an deal for a number of reasons, did they make good on that threat. c>> almost. thtainly tried to the f-35 right now is blocked until secretary matis submits a report on turkey. basically congress is worried that turkey getting the f-35 and also getting a russian surface to air missile that could could actually destroy the f-35. >> finally in yemen the u.s. supported e saudi led coalitions in conducting missions over yemen, is there continued funding for that i here. >> there is. but it restricts some of what the s. can do with that coalition. and the fear is that the coalition is frankly carrying civilians. at we have seen a lot of supports were with sowdee 3argeting or hitting things leai hospitals and what congress is trying to go is tell the military hey, we're not that comfortable with it, you need trin crease our reporting and you need to ret what you do and that operational detail a

real sign that congress suno happy withe of the things that that coalition is doing. >> very quickly, just step back for me, is this a big major military buildup the president promised. r> st the largest pay hike in nine yes, the soldiers, marines, would be very happy with that. efforts tovo imreadiness as well and reforms to pernl, but no, this is not the majoril p that the president is promising. here is what one analyst told me. this is thsame force that we had last year. the airplanes won't break as much but that does not equal the greatest military buildup ever and it is not a mobilization byf any stretcthe imagination. >> nick schifrin, thanks very much. >> thank you. >> and >> woodruff: nick will be backk later with a l the men and women who have served in iran and afghanistan. >> woodruff: "a racist, a bigot those are just some of the explosive claims made against prestrump by his long-time

associate and former white house advisor omarosa manigult newma ip her new book, "unhinged." her relationith the fiesident began in 2003 as a contestant on tht season of the reality tv show "the apprentice." she joined the trump cn in 2016 as director of african- american outreach and went on to become the highest ranking african-american woman in the west wing until she was fired and omarosa manigult newman joins us now. nick thank you for joining o . >> so glade here with you, judy. >> woodruff: you have gotten the president's attention todays and yeterday. he has come out with a string of comments calling you low-life, i'm quotingwacky, thathe rarely saw you. he heard were you nasty to people, tha youconstantly missed work. white house press secretary desarah san says you lack character and integrity and the book isrided with lice. and you are trying to profit off of him.

>> it's fascining that the book isn't even out, so she hasn't read it. s she wouldn't know what the book. but moreover i think that it is interesting that he also insults a lot of african-amerins with those same types of slurs and unrds that that is the ways he he is,ortunately. >> woodruff: but after all of those years of knowing him, surprised that do would come so hard on you. >> yes, some what. because we had a very close relationship, as you stated at the open.t i m in 20036789 i was still in my 20s. and i wanted to be like him. i grew up in poverty so i thought i want to be a billionaire one day. i will go and work for donald trump. u will go try to be on the apprentice and becessful. but 15 years later, i never would imagine that he as the president of the united states would call me al low-e. >> woodruff: what about what sarah sanders is saying, these are very strong words coming from her, sh mislead or purposefully deceiving because the president is asking her to.i >> i that she is taking guidance from him.

i mean she says whatever r tells say. and i would hope that she would kind of reconsider that position promisinghe is com herself every single day that she lies from the pod crumb to the american people. s take some: let' of the charges you made one bye, on calling the president a racist. >> uh-huh. >> woodruff: we know there have been a number eaments from donald trump over the years calling judges mexicans who are of mexican heritage, the years that he spent challengin president obama about where he was born, those things that you-- you were involved with the president. you were working with him, near him, close to him during all that time. those things didn't bother you enough to cause u to separated yourself. >> that is one of the most dramatic scenes in unhinged where i talk about taking him to task for the birther movement. and he just kind of wrote it off as kind of political hyperbole and he said it's par for the

course when are you in politics. s want it to be clear that in some wayi was very complicit by going into the white house and continuing some of those 34s conctions and the lie that h continued to tell. >> but you believed his explanation? >> did. because i had a blind spot where it came to donald trump. we were very close. and if he said it, in some ways i believed it. >> you know, just following up on that, evenwa when, after hs president, the charlottesville incident, the comment that itey're talking about both sides bear blame, you in the book about being troubled by that but not nufer to do anything about it. you went on television and defended him. >> yeah, i was asked by thepr ident to go on television and defend him because there weren't many people from the administration that would. and it was before he quif kateed both sides, good people on both sides, it would a day or two later after that interview that i gave that he said those things and sov course behind sight is

20230-- 20 but when we look at s e one year anniversary of charlottesville i st completely-- over the iekend think g heather heier the young won woman who lost their atfe because this adminisn refused to act because there was a democratic gov ther and he said let them deal with it, they will get it under control. >> woodruff: a lot of people w are sayi didn't you do something at the time he made that statement. >> i describe very cled,y what i nd how i reacted and responded. and as the only african-american voice, as loud as a screamed there were 29 others who had ain different on as to how we should approach car lotsville. >> speaking of being the only african-american voia the former man of the republican national committee, michael steel said yesterday that he was among the group of people without put together a list of highly qualified african-american republicans who worked in previous white houses who were prepared to go to r for donald trump but that you blocked any of them from hav a job opportunity. >> i find that fascinating

because on one hand they say i didn't have any power i wasn't effective. i couldn't influence what happened in the white house. and then on the other hand they said i have the abilityto p people out of the white house. you really can't have it both ways. in fact he ommitted that list during the transition. i wasn't in the white house yet. i wasn'tcmaking deisions, so that really actually undermines reince preebus ability to actually put together an effective ministration, not me. i wasn't the head of president 58 personnel in the white house. and that assertion is kind ofan sushed when you think about it. >> women, the president's vies, on womou write a number of ghdisturbing things thrt the book, misogynistic things but again you write you had a blind spot. >> i did. e after time after time. >> i did. >> you seem very calm about it now but. >> well, because you know, i also write about beingt of what i call the trump world cult, the cult of personalii ans caught up in it. and i sns it being brain warve washed, what is h. >> i think are you part of

a cult you don't realize that what you are didding is completely against the gin and undermining the very fabric of a democracy. hi no idea that supporting donald trump and the way that i was was causing s much damage until i was on the outside and i had a good way to takee a viw of what was happening. i accept full responsibility for what i dideand i have regret for that. >> but is it-- again looking at it from the outside, ilooks as if you are a woman of intelligence, a woman who could make her own decisions but it's almost as if e saying you were blindly following instructions. >> i was. i loft my-- lost my father, i talk about this in the firs few apters, my father was murdered when i was seven. in some ways i was looking for a father filling and found that in donald trump. here was a very sucssful llionaire, a real estate mowlg, i wanted to model myself after him. i waas operational in a sense of looking after his success. so yes, i followedafter come of the tenan he outlined in so many of his successful books and

some of the thins at he enforced to be successful. but i was going down the wong path following donald trump. >> you write, ths has got answer lot of comment about what you describe as the presalidents me decline, setting aside questions about whether are you qualified to make that assessment. inat are some specific examples of the differencdonald trump that you knew when you first heat mim-- met him in the early 2,000 and recently. >> we would sit in the board room and the board rooms on the apprentice would be four or five hours nang. and trump was sharp, he was very per septe was engaging. he had this expansive voak any lear, he v seldom took breaks, he could about four and five hours witnkut blig, fast forward to 2017 and we're in the white house and donaldre trump couldn'ember basic words or phrases. he couldn't read theis legtion that was put in front of him. >> woodruff: how do you know there? >> because i was in the room, in the oval office trying to brief him, for instance, when we were getting ready to pass the executive order for hbc youth,

for instance, we're briefing him for that famous listening session where he hought frederick douglas was still alive, historicalack colleges and universities. >> woodruff: but how do you foe-- were you there with him. >>d'm not a tor. i can only assess that donald trump that i knew in 2003 andtr the donaldp that i knew in 2017. and he not the same man. in the morning he would say one thing, by the afternoon he was contradicting himself and he wouldn't rather that he said the first thing. ju recently he encouraged republicans to pass an immigration bill, a fairat immin bill and the next day he said he never said to pass an immigration bill. i don't believe that that is just him lying. i really do believe that he mes ort of mental impairment. and decline. >> woodruff: you alssay that you saw a lot of cor rawption in thu white house. n give us one specific example. >> one of the biggest exesam is this nda that they came us to with and said that we couldn't

talk about certain things tha we saw. they wanted us to sign it and they wanted to use that to kinda of putin us that if we saw things to not blow the whistle, for instance, on tthat we saw. and they demanded that every one sign that. they didn't allow us to take it to lawyers to review. they wouldn't even allow us to email it particularly to my lawyer. they said i had to sign it in the roomright there, then and there. and i thought that that certainly was unethical if not illegal. >> woodruff: but the president tweeted that you signed a nondisclosure agreement. >> i signed a nondisclosure agreement back in 2003 for the apprentice. i also signed one for the campaign. i never signed th draconian nda that they presented to me when i walked floo thehite house because i knew from my prior time in the white house, this was my secretary tour duty working in the white house, i worked for the clintons prir, that this was not soething that was acceptable. >> but again, you say a lot of

corruption in the white house, at are you referring to, and do you have evidence that you are going to bring to the authorities. >> absolutely. but i will reserve that for the authorities, i will not havean opportunity to till the expanse of corruption that i observed while i was there.th >> not icourt of public opinion but in the court of law because it is very, very >> woodruff: so you are going to hire. >> i have a very, very incredible, capable legal team which is why i spk so strongly and assertively about the things that i have seen. and the things thai intend to share with the american people in coming days. >> woothdruff: you int you close out the become by writing rest assured there san army of people who opposesident trump and his policies. they are working sigh lenly andl tisly to make sure he does not cause harm to the republic. many are in his party, his administration and even in his own family. >> uh-huh. >> woodruff: you can say who they reasons i prefer not. i think is important that as ey continue to do theiwork to make sure further damage to

this country is folt done, that they do thoo without become exposed and i'm very prowfd the peoplesorking behind the sce to make sure donald trump is not allowed to continue to lead thio try in an unfit manner. >> you can't identify. >> i would not ever. >> woodruff: the first lady, anyone. >> compromise them in this way because they are working tireilessl mto just reallye sure that this country isn't damaged further. >> woodruff: have you heard from people in the white house since you went public about the book? >> oh yeah. i haveeard the threats, the vailed threatsthe very explicit threats. i have heard about the damaging that they have done and stroying of my personal property that they never returned to me in december. have i been waiting forb them to return it but they decided not to after i did not sign that 15,000 dollars a month agreement to go work in a fake job in the campaign. >> woodruff: they seem determined to shut you down. m> oh yeah. >> woodruff: in e way. do you believe they will. >> they won't be successful because on i have the trth on my side but i have a significant

amount, in fact, a treasure trove of multimedia backup for everything that is not only in unhinged but everything that i assert about donald tru. >> woodruff: omarosa mani gult-newman, the booblg s unhinged. >> and are you in the book, from when we worked at cnn. y>> woodruff: thank you v much. >> thank you. thanks for having me. does it give you comfort that yourar critics come interesting both sides. >> no, i could still be belong. >> this is now how border crossers have people cop together u.s. using a sigh lum, what it usually looks like, but this may be her best clans to get passed these guards right w. >> mr. tru won overwhelmingly by about 20 points but now the enthusiasm for president trump will it convert into enthusiasm for. >> theerference in the 2016

election and possibly the mid 2er78ss an attack on democracy ? >> woodruff: from explosive allegations made by omarosa to anothecoming day of primary elections, it's another busy week in politics. a perfect time for politics monday, with tamara keith of npr and amy lter of the cook political report, we are happy to have you both back together ain. you together in a long time. >> yeah. >> tamara back from having a baby. >> yes. he's cute, three months ago. >> we're so glad to you have back. >> thank you. >> wdz and have the two of you gether, omarosa, ou heard, amy, you heard hner comtses about everything from the president being racist to the white house trying to shut her down what did you make ofit? >> i'm not really particularly surprised by this, this is somebody who has made ra caeer out of being a reality star, i

think she is doing an excellentk job ofping that persona going of i'm going to reveal only a little bit and reveal a little bit more and reveal a little bit por about the drama. i thought it wa fascinating the way you talked to her, over and over again about this blind spot or this pernl at that she saidon sh became aware of once she was out of white house. but remember shma did notke a decision to leave willingly. she was fired from the white house. so now all these months later she can see the blind spot but she couldn't see them time and time and time agai n whileshe was there. that to me seems like a very big hurdle to come over.uf >> woo what did you hear? >> certainly she is-- she is doing the reality contestant thing. just as president trump did. in fact, the tweets from president trump today give the story of her book moreuel. and give people things to ask

her about in the next interview and the next interview, in some ways the president gave her a gift today in terms of pulicity for the book. it is facinating the way she has been dribbling out little bits. audiotape and here on your show teasing that there musting more, that theree is mor, a multimedia treasure trove she says. the challenge with the book and i have read it from cover to cover is that there are a number of items in the book that are simply unverifiable. and some of them are pretty outlandish. and you just sort of stuck with it. it is part of a genre of books coming out of this administration or about this administration that sort of strad el that line between fantasy and reality and there are not a lot of reliable narrators in the trump administration to be able to say what is fact and what is

fiction. >> woodruff: so given that, amy, does a book like, this and add it tthe other books, does it move the need e8. >> does it movthe needle politically in anyway? >> i think you get a bunch of people saying this is exactly, is he exactly what we knew we were getting when put him in the office. and you know, structures, they reflect their leaders. and so when you see people coming out of the white house saying what they are saying or the ways in which they are interacting with the media, it feels very similar to the person who happens to be siting behind the big desk at 1600 pennsylvania. >> there as been incredible turn over in this white house. ymarosa is just one of man people looking back, 40% of the people on the payroll last year aren't othe payroll ths year. >> woodruff: 40%. >> 40%, that is according to a reuters analysis. there has been incredible tum ult and when she talks in her book and interviews about sot of the backstabbing and the sort of toxic nation of that

workplace, certainly we've seen that reflected and sen it reflected in the turnover in personnel. >> and this comes the weekend amy where we observe one year since the death of a woman n charlottesville after the whitey supremacist ra there. there was a demonstration in washington that pretty much fizzelled out, the anti-fa white supremacist protest was much, much larger. are we at a point now though where this has just become part of the fabc of our politics? we're going to keep on having this dispute about race and >>tremist views on race. eah, so the cbs did a poll on the wake of the anniversary and found that 61% of americans said they thought raciteal ions have actually increased in the last year. and who is to blame r, that of course, depends where you sit, both what your race is and what your party is. african-americans, hispanics believe what it is, inmore than

60% of them lieve this nd they blame the president. whietd votersre evenly-- evenly divided and if you are a republican whitvoter versus a democrat white voter, whether you think that the president is doing a poor job of handling racial issues but judy it gets to the bigger question which is handling race and politics is not new to americans, our amen riciety it didn't start with donald lessp and the reality is un and until white politicians decide it is an important issue, will keep coming back to this place, this wound that has never healed,maybe put a bandaid on it but underneath it is ill festering. >> the president over the week end tweeted about being opposed to racism of all kienlds. and that ian inresting signal. because for different peoplens racism medifferent things. while i was out on maternityi leavent a fair bit of time listening to conservative talkt radio ande point heard a

host talking about how nancy pelosi had said that want there to be five white guys at the table and the host wasy an can be at the republican leadership for not going after her hard enough tor her racism and sexism. >> are you right, both of you watched american politics for a long time and it feels like we are a cy that just isn't stopping. very quickly tomorrow, another round of primary elections, to both of you, ina men or so. what are we watching for. >> minnesota is going to be, that is the state where this isa ening, it will be a fascinating microkosm. i'm especialllooking at the house races, for years the rural parts of the deocratic stronghold, and the suburbs were republicans had aho stro, now fast forward into the era we are in, it is democrats who arel traying to on to their rural districts to see if they can go against the trump tree and no places and republicans trying to hold on to the minneapolis suburbs, all of

the divides in this idea ofer suburbs rural going to happen in one state, all within a ne primary so if you want to check it out. >> eyes on minnesota >> watch minnesota, there are two senate seats up becae of the al franken situation. >> and a few more of these to gf and we're f to the races for november. >> yep. >> we're so glad to have the two ra you back, welcome back tama keith, amy walter, great to sigh, politics monday. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: now a look at the value of kwledge. volunteers from some of the world's biggest food producers are working to help africanco nations less dependent on imported goods. special correspondent fred de sam lazaro reports from kenya as par of his series, "agents change."au

>> reporter:ne kamau has survived against tall odds-- owner of a successful 20 yea old milling business called sopa, with 30 employees producing half a dozen blends of the staple maize flour. but 15 years ago, when her husband and cofounder, peter,di suddenly, she was devastated and struggled forto yeareep afloat. >> it was the darkest moment of e and i didn't know what to do. i had to remain focused and had to continue with the work. >> reporter: she found help from an unlikely source. a nonprofit organization drawn from six of the world's largest food companies advised her onho to expand, offering things like a business plan, waste reduction strategies and better hygiene practices. fo>> the neerunning water in the factory itself, the need to

the need to mark different areas for safety purposes. just basically good manufacturing practices. >> reporter: the mentoring group is called partners in od solutions. it's membersnclude well-known giants such as cargill, hershey and general mills, companies d thades ago took food- making from the kitchen to the s ctory. >> physics is physether in kenya or minnesota. >> reporter: jeff dykstra co- founded the group ten years ago >> we find that a lot of the stuff we work on is very similar to the same issues that general mills or cargill or hershey's is ing with, it's just usually at a different scale. a lot of the technical problems we're solving are universal. but that local staff like johnson are very key to makiop sure it's apate technology. >> reporter: johnson kiragu isre kenya or for the group. >> let's talk about the expansion plan you're looking at.ag >> reporter:u, who has a food science degree from britain, sayhis team advised

mau on fortifying her products .with vitamins and minera >> 35% of ildren don't get enough iron and zinc and other micronutrients which are very important for their development, their brain development. >> reporter: anothere partners group's early clients was soy afric, when it was a small family owned milling company >> we saw a very successful business person but we saw a company that needed technical capacity on everything from quality to like image and branding. >> reporter: this cooler is a critical piece of equipment in the manufacturing process and is perhaps the most tangible example of what the partnership has delivered to this factory. it was designed by engineers in minneapolis but put together by welders in nairobi. the net result? a cost savings of 50%. cornelius muthuri is the company's founder. >> this was a godsend, i would say. without it, we would have been

producing, passing bad product out there. >> reporter: soy afric has grown rapidly in recent years into a five million dollar a year company, employing 70 people full time. critical to the succ companies like soy afric are good quality raw materials. e t getting those raw materials to factories canchallenge. unlike the developed world where a lot of food is wasted after it reaches the table or tout of the refrigerator, in developing countries a lot of the waste haens before it reaches the table. there aren't enough silos to store a grain harvest, so it can keep mold or rodents away. the roads aren't adequate so that a get his milk to a dairy to be pasteurized in time. farmer peter kimotho has just two cows. the partners group helped develop improved feed for his animals, which in turn allowed him to become a reliable supplier to another client: the classic foods company.

now he has a steady income from a customer just two miles away. >>as translated ): if c wasn't there, i'd have to sell to individual homes and that would be aig challenge. when i supply classic, i'm paid on a regular basis and that helps me with planning. >> reporter: almost all of the planning and consulting work done by partners in food solutions is done electronically, by telephone and email. julie wavenik is a food scientist at minneapolis-based general mills. >> if there's one piece of equipment i could give my p.f.s. clients, it uld be this. >> reporter: for one client, she tried to find a low tech solution for equment she has that can distinguish among various types of flour. it's critical the quality of baked goods. >> the client i worked for was a co-op. they were essentially milling c whld be a cookie flour and what could be a bread flour and using them interchangeably and it's going to perform pretty terribly.

>> reporter: working with her distant clients is a two way street, she sa. not just sharing her expertise but gaining insights in return for her and her company. still need solve the problems and your own preconceived k tions don't apply. knowing how to wth those that are from cultures other than your own or changing a formulation and understanding of what does the ethiopian palette look for in a sweet roll, it is different than what our coumers want, and you stil >> reporter: for members, companie dykstra says allowing employees to volunteer, which is done on company time, makes a statement about the employer's ethos. and he says it's a tool to attract and keep workers >> particularly with millennials more and more they are asking how is this companliving its values out. and they want to participate in that wh their core skills, their education and know-how. >> reporter: so far more than 1400mployees have volunteere some 90,000 hours for partners food solutions, helping

nurture some 250 businesses. h >>rd someone say it once that a farmer without a market is a gardener. we need companies like soy afric to become that market and take those materials and turn them into goods that consumers can eat. whether that ia middle-class business person in nairobi or a kid in a refugee camp. >> reporter: it's a small first step toward self sufficiency, dykstra says. africa imports about $40 billion a year in food and almost all of it, he adds could some day be produced and processed in africa. for the pbs newshourthis is ed de sam lazaro in nairobi, kenya. >> woodruff: fred's reporting is a partnership with the under-told stories project at the university of st. thomas in minnesota. >> woodruff: a pitched battle in

afghanistan between taliban fighters and afghan forces continued today in ghazni, southwest of the capital, kabul. at least 100 afghan security shrsonnel have been killed in this lates of force by the insurgents. he baimg the fifth american to die there this year, almost 17 years after the united states entered afghan stand, nick schifrin is back now with the author bock schifrin is back now with the author of a ne that looks at this war, the war in iraq, and some of those who have infought them on the front. >> schifrin: more than three million men and women have fought in afghanistan and iraq. the country asked them overthrow the taliban and saddam hussein, rebuild shattered countries wracked by terrorism and sectarian war, and prop up governments that sometim actively undermined their efforts. no matter at you may think about the war's policies, these

men and women are america's sons and daughters, wives and husbands, brothers and sisters. and their stories are told intimately, with understanng, rsd with empathy in a new book called "the fighamericans in combat in afghanistan and iraq," by "new york times" reporter and marine veteran, chris chivers. is my pleasure to welcome you here. m thank you for havine. >> why is it porn to write a book foat about the purse of operations but about the experience of executing those operations. >> because in the time of the volunteer military, as a countra we don't go t any more, the military goes to war. and we as citizens live to a rge degree separate from those experiences and without much cess to them. and over the years that i covered american combat ants in both wars, i saw them thrumought as beings, whatever the policies were, however the policies were fairing, i thought

as i spentmemore and more at it that we needed to understand their experiences and perhaps we t then be able to understand the wars. you have written 3wu68fully about those experiees and from journal entries from some of these men and women and you tell their stories so intimately, let's go through just two of the stories to give everybody a sense of who the people are sergeant leo gurchevski. >> he was a special forces ncl, sarnlg ent first class, a career soldier en the attacked happened in 2001 in new york city and the pentagon. and leo was almost immediately dispatched to central asia and was involved in the operati at tora borea in which osama bin laden escaped over the money tain passes. and very shortly after that, he was back in the states preparing forth invasion of iraq which he prepared in in a special forces yoont a different capacity as

ehe forward screening for th largest thrust up from you can wait. and then leo went home and he returned as the war evolved to build, to help build and set the special forces headquart as at t base, at the old iraqi air base and one day while essentially doing office duties he went to lunch and then went to the post exchange with two other soldiers, special foces soldiers. and while walking up the steps of the post exchange iraq had struck just tohis left it killed the major beside him, it gravely woundthe other senior sergeant, dar written crowder and also wounded leo. now that was a long time ago, 2004. so for almost 15 years. lerebuilt himself, returned to the war multiple times in multiple different capacities. first as a special forces nco orain and then later as a

contrand kept going all the way into 2015. and when he came home leo as you might imagine was struggling. and was afflicted by ptsd, anxiety and had really a psychological toll along with the physical toll. and he esseially was saved by his wife who has brought him into counseling and hheas lped him let's say unpack some of these experiences and moved forward in his life in a way at i would say is very satisfying to see. >> how is he doing today? >> he's been a lot better thanks to his wife. i have to say you said the book s written intimately. this is a very violent book. and inlaces it's very, very graphic. it was hard to write and some people will find it hard to read. but thfrlesson i learnem leo and his wife is how tho who recover, those who make it, are brought along by love. >> petty officer dustin kirby

enlisted after 9/11 and ended up in some of the worst.ti >> to dudoc kirby, let's call him doc, is different than leo. hehe is and after 9/11, he enlisted to serve in the wars and arrived after the wars were really rolling and spent much of 2006 in e fallujah in the agriculture outlands you are amiliar with there and the outlyieas, those areas were loaded up with militants who had survived the two aerican offenses in fallujah and escaped into the countryside. d they were at the time flagged under aqi, al-qaeda and iraq. and they are the early group that formed the islamic state. and doc was in a unit that had r economy of force mission and that is notlly a very good term. it means-- we dot haveenough people and doc's unit didn't have enough people and they were put on a ribbon of asphalt to patrol it and suffered many casualaes and had very

difficult time influencing the surrounding areas. doc saved lives, diclu his former roommate who was shot through the head. and then doc ochristmas day in 2006 was shot through the mouth while on a rooftop post. cn he has spent 12 years now trying to over from that. and it didn't go well for anc of years, as you can imagine. dozens of reconstctive surgeries and procedures, also a very, very difficult psychological journey. and then jt a few years ago in 2016 he received probono medical care and his face was rebuilt. and he has new dental implants and he's smiling again anhe's different, much different in hih aspectn he was only three years ago. >> amazing resilience. i want to zoom out a little bit because you have a straj i believe critique of these wars. let me just read you one sen sense that you write 6789 these

veterans have the knowledge that their live prses harnessed to wars that ran far passethe pursuit of justice and ultimately did not succeed.di wh't they succeed? >> for a number of reasons 57bd we couldake a number of critiques and arguments about that, but they were too ambitious. in some cases. they were subject to ever-shifting ambitions and time lanes that were unrealistic. we're not going to be able to make iraqi or afghan security forces in a few shorlt years and have them be competent. you don't make an army in a few years and we tried to if both countries and these ts have not faired w-8 and have not given us security parers tha we can pass off the responsibility of extremlyn traumatized, erous, violent countries to. you know, we changed tial administrations. we changed doctrines, we changed time lines and we ended up with incoherent and you can't have a war without an end state.

we never really had an end state and if we did we certainly didn't realize it. and so we are at the moment we are now which is, you kw, a mense of drift and that these veterans had comitted to something, they gave their all to in good faith. but that as a country we hadn't sorted out for them. and so theesults arcertainly disappointing. >> and yet does that take t ything away from their experiences or whey sacrificed in many ways. >>o that is where isconnect the two. national protect-- projects are national projects, individual aks are individual aks and w whatevthink of these wars, i spent a lot of time in them th people trying to the right thing, with everything they had. and you can see that, i think i this book. >> and i think that's exactly the book you've written.e ok called the fighters, thank you for being here. >> thanks for having me.

>> >> woodruff: rarely a day goes by without a highly publicized twitter fight between celebrities or politicians, or some kind of a confrontation that spills into the public conversation. what if we all learned how to take t temperature down? tonight author lauren groff shares her humble opinion on how to act with imagination in this o,e of division. >> not long was out in the prairie where i jog every cly when a man rode up on a biand started critiquing my running form.t i had licited his advice. i don't enjoy mansplaining even when i haven't already run five miles. i asked him to go away repeatedly, but when he persisted, i gave him a verbal yeding that i'm sure he ha to recover from. something in me at that moment just snapped: i felt two feet taller and as vast as the prairie itself.

if you've ever had a moment of road rage, or acted impulsively to fend off a pickpocket or bully, you know the feeling. the constraints of selfhood fall away and you feel as though you could breathe fire. the truth is, all humans have the capacity to snap. neurologists telus that deep the brain, beneath the center of consciousness in the cerebral cortex, there's a cluster of neurons at causes sudden gression in lab animals when stimulated with an electrode.hy it's a heautomatic function for self-preservation, the cause of the fight in fight or flight. but just because it's natural to snap in moments of tensionha doesn't meanwe have to do so when we're not being physically threatened. our age is an extraordinarily polarized one. it can seem as though we arell yelling all the time. w whenter into rage, we nter a space that turns people into others who deserve the same respect or courtesy

that we expect extended to us. in rage, we can refer to human beings as animals, a way to psychically distance us from them enough to deny them basic human rights. after i raged at the man on thet bit morning, i ran home feeling nauseated. he had been elderly and had seemed a little lonely. by the time i came in the door, i haimagined an entire life for the man, down to the kinds of mugs herank his coffee out of and the cat he owned. i wished i could reverse time to fact differently; instead yelling, explaining calmly why what he was doing was unwelcome. empathy is an act of radical imagination. through empathy, we can understand the full scope of the humanity of those whose actions ideas offend us. we acquire empathy throughin img ourselves into the lives of strangers, through narrative, the books and films and television shows tn't reinforce our knowledge of the world, but rather challenge what

we already know. empathy is a muscle that is stronger than our neurological reflexes. if we exercise it every single i dawill be so strong that it can override reflexive anger. in this world, kindness must prevail. so let's give our em rigorous daily workouts-time spent imagining the lives and hearts of others-unt become better than our basest impulses. >> woodruff: on the newshour online right now, the h.p.v. vaccine can prevent illness and death from cervical cancer, and a udy finds that promoting its use doesn't lead to more risky sexual behavior by teens. you can read more on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. later this eveing on pbs, frontline presents the first of a two-part look inside iran. s"our man in tehran" is try of "new york times" tehran

bureau chief thomas erdbrink, one of the few western journalists currently living in iran. over the past 17 years he has thered front-page news fr isolated nation, revealing stories about the country, and its people. part 1 of frontline's "our man in tehran" airs tonight on most pbs stations. he newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, li spanish, french, german, italian, and more.bb 's 10-15 minute lessons are available as an app, or online. more information on babbel.com. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation.

supporting scien, technology, d improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> supported by the erhn d. and cae t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like yo thank you. ni capt sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned bydi meaccess group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

♪ ♪ ♪ -today on "america's test kitchen," julia and bridget share the secrets to perfect boston cream pie, adam shows julia his top pick for silicone spatulas, and erinridget foolproof chocolate sheet cake. it's all coming up right hste on "america's itchen." "a rica's test kitchen" isbrought .