captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the "newsur" tonight, guilty-- the president's former lawyer, michael cohen admits to multiple cnts, including violations for payinoff women to keep quiet about alleged affairs at the directionf mr. trump. and a jury convicts the president's former campaign chairman, paul manafort, on eight financial crime charges. and, the trump administration reverses a signature obama policy: clean air regulations on coal-fired power plants. all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

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>> woodruff: two major stories tonight involving two men with close ties to president trump now facing time in prison. a jury found former campaign chairman paul manafort guilty on eight counts of financial crimes, while ordered a mistrial on 10 others. but we begin with the guilty plearom mr. trump's former lawyer, michael cohen. he admitted to multiple crimes including campaign violations for paying off women to keep quiet about affairs atn he directof the president. there was a frenzy of cameras wherever michael cohen went in new york today. cohen pleaded guiltychargesgn including campinance violations, bank fraud and tax evasion.

the deal could result in prison time afr the court proceedings, robert khuzami, deputy u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york spoke outside. >> mr. cohen plead glty to two campaign finance charges, one for causing an unlawful corporate contribution, and a second one for personally making an excsive personal contribution, both for the purpose of influencing the 201 election. these are very serious charges and reflect a pttern of lies and dishonesty over an extended period of tim they are significant in their own right. they are parifticularly siant when done by a lawyer, a already who through training and tradition understands what it means to be a lawyer, who engage in honest and fair dealings and adherence to the law. mr. cohen disrerded that training, disregarded that tradition, and decided that he

was above the law, and for that he is going to pay aeery,ry serious price. >> woodruff: cohen has known mr. trump like few others, as one of his personal attorneys for mored than a d he worked on overseas deals for the trump organization iner georgia, and lhe 2016 campaign where he was a frequent surrogate on tv. >> i know mr. trump,stood . him, shoulder to should >> but you guys are down. and it makes sense that there would-- >> says who? >> polls. most of them. all of them? >> says who? >> polls. i just told you. i answered your question. >> okay, which polls? >> all of them. >> okay, and your qution is? >> woodruff: and he stuck with mr. trump as he transitioned to e presidency. >> i'm going to be the personal attorney to mr. trump. i'm not going to be in government.

but i'm going to rain, technically, in the same role for mr. trump, for president trump, as i was when he was president of t trump organization. i will be in d.c. and in new york, anywhere where mr. trump deems necessary, i'll be there. >> woodruff: but in the spring of this year, an f.b.i. raid on cohen's manhattan office, home and hotel would test the relationship. prosecutors had been investigating cohen for business fraud for months and s millions of items. >> so i just heard that they broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys, a good man.is and it's a daceful situation. oodruff: among the files, was evidence of hush money payments to two women: adult film star stephanie clifford, known by her stage name as stormy daniels, and former playboy model karen mcdougal.

and then weeks ago, the relationship appead to reach a breaking point when cohen's attorney shared audio cordings of conversations cohen had with president trump about those payments. for the latest on what we know about michael cohen's pleaeal, i'm joined now by jessica roth. she's a law professor at yeshiva university and a former federal prosecutor for the southern district of new york. and andrea bernstein, a senior editor at wnyc, who was in the courthouse today. andrea bernstein, i'll begin with you. tell us about what you saw, what you hearin the courtroom when this guilty plea came forward. >> well, it was dramatic moment. i mean, we began to hear around the middle othe day that thre might be some activity, and then ld about 2:00 we were something was going to happen at 4:00, but that's all we knew. so the courtroom was packed, and the prosecutors had all come in, four of them stood at their table, and thn there was

michael cohen. he walked in a side door. he stood at the table by himself for a moment, and then the proceedings began, in which the judge oked him, did he knw what he was doing. and it was dramatic, because as you said, he was a lawyer, he was someone who ew what he was doing. he was asked, what is your education. ol."aid, "i went to law sc and he was asked, "are young pleauilty because you are guilty? " and he stopped for ament to sigh, and he said, "yes, your honor," and he proceeded to plead guilty to these eight counts, five counts of tax evasion, one count of misleading a bank on a loan applicion, and two other very dramatic counts of campaign finance nificantns, which is sig both in the michael cohen case, but also in all of theat investns into the trump campaign that he stood in a federal court and said under cth, "imitted these crimes at the direction of a candidate

for federal office." >> woodruff: did the judge say, andrea bernstein, what happens to michael cohen now? >> yes. so the judge laid out the specific sentences for all of the counts that he pleaded guilty to, and en the judge said, you realize that if i choose to sentence you consecutively, it could be up to 65 years in jaiail. and there was a pause, and michael cohen said, "yes, your honor. " the judge said, "you cannot withdraw your guilty plea no matter what you might have heard about what this sentence may be." he said, "yes, your honor." so michael cohen has pleaded guilty to eight counts and he derstands he could fce 65 years in jail for the eightar s. the tax evasion charges themselves c sentences of 30 years some they're very, very serious counts that he pleaded guilty to, and there are a couple times in the proceeding when the judge stopped him ansaid, "did you know when you did this that it

was illegal and wrong?"h and michael en said yes. >> woodruff: so jessica roth, listening to this, describe the severity of what the seriousness of whamichael cohen has pleaded guilty to. >> well, these are all very serious charges, as reflected in the penalties that he is expose as a consequence of pleading guilty to them. these involve fraud, ands andrea said, he has acknowledged that he knew that he was violating the law when he engaged in this conduct. so those are very serious toarges. and with respeche campaign finance law violations, those too are very serious, and ose are the ones, of course, that draw the case most closely in toward president trump. >> woodruff: well, speaking of that, stayg with you, jessica roth, there has been a lot of speculation about whether michael cohen is going to cooperate in some way withhe prosecutor. the fact that he chose inste to make a guilty plea, what does

that say about... he is acknowledging his guilt, but what does it say about any discussions thatay or may not have taken place about cooperation for a pl deal? >> well, the fact that he plead guilty without a cooperation agreement presently doesn't mean that he couldn't go on the coopere at some point in th future. what it means is that at least at the present time his rattorneys were not able ach a cooperation agreement with the prosecutors or potentially that the prosecutors are not interested in cooperation with him. but there is n reason why down the road he couldn't offer testimony that is helpful to special counsel robert mueller or to feral prosecutors in the southern district or new york and other cases and subsequently receive credit, a reduction o his sentence as a consequence of that cooperation. >> woodruff: to what extent, jessica roth, the guilty pleas today and in particular pleading guilty to campaign finanio viol at the direction of

the candidate, and it's my understanding that president trump was not named, but i thint pretty clear who we're talking about, what does that mean in terms of jeopardy fores ent trump? >> well, ctainly now michael cohen has admitted under oat ihn this guilty plea proceeding that ihe was acting at therection of, as you said, a candidate for federal office, ande didn't name president trump, but that's the clear implication of who he was speaking about. what that means is that now somebody who is the president's trusted... who was the president's trusted advisers for years,as acknowledged that he was acting at the direction of it would seem the president, and that could put the president in serious jeopardy i that testimony were to be offered in a proceeding against the president. >> woodruff: so in terms of legal bearing in the mueller

investigation or in any other proceeding, is it clear what that leads to? >> it's in the clear in and of itself, but it's certainly a critical piece of eviif a prosecutor is building a case against president trump that that's possible to bring and against anyone else whoas involved in these activities along with the president, anyone else on his campaign who knew about it, tesmitimony by ael cohen about these events would be a critical part of buildin that case and making that case before a jury.>> oodruff: andrea bernstein, back to you. any comment by the judge or anyone ee in the courtroom today about efforts to reach cooperation agreements with michael cohen? >> no. that wasn't discussed. the only thing that was discussed is what deep consequences were. and the judge at a couple of points departed from his scriptk tosure that michael cohen

knew what he was doing, was pleading. to i think it's important to note that in the courtroom, we didn't know what was gointo happen. so there was this moment of drama when he starts to talk about doing things at the suggestion of a candidate for federal office to keep women from publicly disclosing their affairs, and he said he knew it was wrong. and i think what's striking is that we know that as recently as four months ago in april, michael cohen had as his e-ail signature, "personal attorney to president donald j. trump." they had this very close relationship. michael hen had worked at th trump organization and was intimately involved in business deals across the world with donald trump for a decade.cl so theseness of these two cannot be overstated. michael cohen really felt very dedicated to president trump. and the idea he would be standing there in aourtroom saying i

did these things i think is a significant velopment in these investigations and i don't think it's something we knew at the beginning of today that was going to happen. >> woodruff: extraordinary development. andrea bernstein with wnyc, thank you very much. you're going to be staying with us tonight to talk about our other major story, and that is the jury in alexandria, virginia, finding the president's former capaign chair, paul manafort, guilty ona eight counts ok and tax fraud and failing to disclose foreign bank accounts, a mistrial, as we reported earlier, was delared on ten other counts. so william, you were in the courtroom. you've been following this triao very csely. tell us about the moment when the jury came forward with the verdict. >> well, similarly to what happened with michael cohen, this is a very strioment. this is really the first time a jury, a real, livate, breng jury had a chance to weigh evidence that robert mueller's team has brought. and the jury had give an hinthe

earlier inay that there was some question about... that they might get hung up on some of these charges. they submitted a question to the judge sang, what happens if we can't reach an agreement? what does that mean for aic ve when they came back, they said, we came back to an agreement, bunwe can't come to agreement on ten separate counts, but when the verdict was red and there were eight straight pleas of guilty, it was a striking moment. paul manafort was standing there at the table with his counsel next to him, sort of stoically looking at the jury as they did this. somers of the jury seemed determined to look at him for the first time and rely stare at him as the guilty verdicts were read. several others seemed to be intentionally looking away, look at the floor, looking at the ceiling, and not trying the pay attention. but it was a striking moment. >> woodruff: and what was... you said he was stoic? >> yeah, he was there as his wife, who has been there for much of the trial, as well, and he was rather stone faced the entire time. you couldn't reallread how he

was reacting. >> woodruff: so no particular reaction from family members or others in the courtroom? >> no. w druff: william, we've been waiting for this verdict. this trial has been... we've been waiting for the trial and now for the verdict. did the judge ater the verdicts, plural, were announced, say what happens next? >> the judge is going to have to... there is some forormal papethat needs to be filed. he will pass sentence on these certain counts. there is a minimum sentence requirement and maximumem requt. he gets to make a judgment call on those and the prosecution and the defense get to submitheir decisions on that. but there is a sentencing tral ming up, so that will be some time in the near future, but we don't know exaanctly howy years mr. manafort might be facing. >> woodruff: so ssa roth is still with us. guilty on eight counts of ba and tax fraud and failing to disclose foreign bank accounts. what does that add up to in terms of how serious? >> those are very serious charges. agai these are all felonies

carrying significant prison time. and what they demonstrate is that the jury found, all members of the jury as to these counts, that there was proof beyond a reasonable doubt that mr. manafort engaged these activities of fraud and that he was engaged again knowingly that this was no accident. so they credited the testimony of the witnesses, and as to these particular, for example bank loans and tax filings, they found that mr. manafort had whifflely vie -- willfully violated the law.ex this iraordinary serious conduct, and he faces stiff penalty, even if the government decides not to proceed with another trial on the charges to which the jury could not reach agreement. >> woodruff: it'sorth sharing with our audience what president trump's reaction was to the manafort verdict. he arrived in west virginia a shorted time ago. reporters asked him bot about the michael cohen verdict, which he did not comment on, but he had this to say about the

manafort verdict. >> this has nothing to do with what they started out looking r russians involved inur campaign. there were none. i feel very badly for paul manafort. again, he worked for bob dole. he woked for ronald reagan. he worked for many, many people, and this is the way it ends up. >> woodruff: so jessica roth, the president minimizing the effect of this, and earlier he was saying paul manafort is a good man. but let's talk for a moment about the impact or not this may have on the mueller russia investigation. none of these charges had to do dictly with that. so is this on a completely separate track from what mr. mueller is working on >> well, as you said, none of these charges relateo the russiawhr' however, what th demonstrate is that somebody who was very close to the president and who was managing hismpaign was involved in significant fraudulent activity. so we don't know yet fully how

this might at some point connect up to the rest ofe th special counsel's investigation. what we do know, though, is given that what mr.anafort was convicted of, he's facing, as i said, significant penalty, and he may yet decide that he would likethe cooperate with the special counsel, and if he has information that is useful to thsspecial counse investigation, that could either connect this activity, of which he's already been convicted to, that larger investation, or it may continue to be separate, but he is now in a position whre now having been convicted of ayese serious charges, he yet again have to decide whether or not it's in hs best interests to cooperate. >> woodruff: william, pick up on that. >> brangham:udy, as you wer saying, it is correct, and the president has long said mr. manafort's case was not about russia, but in some ways it is absolutely about russia. none of these charges had to dot with hme working on the campaign. the belief is that robert mueller thinks paul manaforhas some information he wants for his larger investigation, and by

prosecuting paul manafd getting these guilty pleas, he might be able to turn him or extract that information out. now, it's important to say, we ve no idea whether paul manafort has any relevant information. we know he was on the campaign during the earlages. he was there at that infamous trump tower meeng. but we just don't know what information is there. but that's the $64,000 question. what does he have? and is this an attempt to ueeze him to get that information out. >> woodruff: and, in fact, he's facing, william, another trial coming up in the next couple months on another set of charges th do have a closer relationship to the mueller investigation. >> yes, this is a trial that will begin in d.c., another federal districrt, and these potentially have even graver consequences fo mr. manafort if he's found guilty. these are charges of moneyw rawnderingness tampering, failure to disclose that he was acting as a foreign agent as part of his work as a ukrainian political consultant. the potential charges against

him there could be in the range of 1to 20 years if he were found guilty, so that is facing him. he could certainly appeal today's conviction. a lot of uncertainty for mr. manafort. >> wdruff: so we can't, jessica roth, we can't know what's in the mind of robert mueller this evening as these verdicts have come down in the manafort case. but if you are robert mueller and you were trying to get tof the bottom what happened, do you think you are any closer as a result hof te manafort jury verdict? >> i don't know you're any closer in terms of what we've c learned asnsequence of this trial. i think it's a vindication for e special counsel and his team to have obtained these verdicts even if it wasn't on all ofthe charges. it means that the jury credited the testimony of the witnesses that they called and thether evidence of extensive fraud engaged in by mr. manafort. that's important in and of itself. these we significant crimes.

whether it has the consequence of bringing mr. manafort to the table is another question. certainly the's special couns hand is stronger tonight than it would have been had there been no guilty verdicts in tis case. but also as mr. >> brangham: said, weon't know if mr. manafort has information about mr. trump that would be helpful to mr. mueller. so there are a lot of ope questions. but certainly i think that the mueller team must feel ndicated this evening. >> woodruff: a lot of open questions, but we did get someer antoday. former federal prosecutor jessica roth roth, now a professor at shiva university, and william brangham, who has been covering the manafort trial.bo thank yo. >> you're welcome. >> thank you. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, the trump administration veiled its plan to reverse president obama's coal pollution rules. the environmental protection agency's new proposal would weak restrictions on carbon

emissions from coal-fired power plants andive states more control over regulations. we'll have more on the impact of the e.p.a.'s rollback right after the summary. microsoft said it had iled the latest attempt by russian hackers to infiltrate u.s. politics ahead of november's midterm elections. the tech giant announced that it had removed fake versions of the websites of the u.s. senate and two conservative think-tanks, a so-called "spear phishing" campaign it said was mounted by the same russian group responsible for meddling in the 2016 election. kremlin spokesman dmitry peskov denied that russia was behind the attack. >> ( translated ): we do notck know what s are talking about. we do not know what is meant by influence on elections. we hear confirmations from america that there was no influence on elections, who exactly are they talking about? re woodruff: microsoft's president said tere no signs the hackers were successful in obtaining users'en

crals. president trump's supreme court nominee tried to win over senators on capitol hill today-- including a key republican vote. lisa desjardins reports on brett kavanaugh's path to confirmation. >> desjardins: echoing on >> desjardins: echoing on capitol hilloday, photo clicks and footsteps as supreme court nominee brett kavanaughad his busiest day yet: meeting with six senators, including five democrats. one meeting overshadowed them all. maine senator susan collins' vote could be decisive, with 50 republicans regurly voting in the chamber now, the party may need them all to get kavanaugh confirmed. collins emerged still undecided more than two hours later, judge

kavanaugh's longest meeting. >> we talked about executive power. g talked about the "helle decision. we talked about his judicial philosophy. >> desjardins: and, they talked eabout abortion, the issu driving both protests against and praise of kavanaugh, seen as conservative on the issue. collins, supports roe versus wade and said kavanaugh laid oui hi. h >> he saconsidered "roe"ee settled law, awith chief justice roberts, said it was settled law. >> desjardins: these w roberts words as a nominee in 2005 aut roe. >> it is settled as a precedent of the court, yes. >> desjardins: democratic leader chuck schumer today said that answer reveals nothing

>> everything is settled law until they unsettle it. it is different than saying it was rightly deded. >> desjardins: meantime schumer and democrso are focusing on kavanugh's time working in the bush white house-- they want access to hundreds of thousands of pages of his documents. but republicans insist that's political, pointing to the over 100,000 pages already public and that more are ming. >> the reason for the great paper chase is that democrat's other attempts to criticize this nominee have fallen flat. >> desjardins: kavanaugh's confirmation hearings being in exactly two weeks. for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins at the u.s. capitol. >> woodruff: the u.s. hast deported the lown nazi suspect in the country to germany, after he lived in the f u. almost 70 years. the government believes jakiwed palij ses a guard at a

concentration camp in polandar erring world wi, which he concealed to enthe u.s. in 1949. federal agents carried the 95- year-old from his home in queens this morning in a wheelchair. the headf nazi investigations in germany said no arrest warrant had been issued for him there. >> ( translated ): we have to waito see whether there will be a new evaluation or whether new evidence appears to underpin the suspicion. with all nazi crimes we have tremendous difficulties to solve them. because they date back so long, the situation on site has changed. >> woodruff: a judge had ordered palij to be deported 14 years ago. but until now, germany and other european countries had refused to take him. hundreds of protesters conveed at the university of north carolina in chapel hst night to topple a confederate statue known as "silent sam." it had stood on campus since 1913 as a monument to confederate soldiers.

campus police say they've charged one man in connection with the incident. u.n.c.'s chancellor acknowledged the statue was, "divisive," but condemned the protest as "dangerous." and, there's word today that the president's economic advisor larry kudlow recently hosted a w publisher te nationalist content at his home.br peteelow is an anti- immigration activist whose website is alatform for white- identity politics. the "washington post" relorted that briwas a guest at kudlow's birthday party last weekend. wskudlow said brimelow's v were"a side of peter i don't a republican congressman and his wife have been indicted by a federal grand jury fusing n mpaign funds. california's dunnter is excused of improperly spending $250,000 dollars onses like dental work and trips to italy.

the department of justice investigation has lasted over a year, in which the congressman maintained his innocence. on wall street today, the dow jones industrial average gaid 63 points to close at 25,822. the nasdaq rose 38 points to close at 7,859. and the s&p 500 gained six points to close at 2,863. >> woodruff: the trump administra new rules that would reverse course to a cornerstone of the l-ama agenda: regulating emissions from crning power plants.al yamichndor begins our coverage with this report she filed from coal country in west virginia. >> alcindor: the new rule woulde tates wide leeway on whether to limit emissions and by how much.

that includes allowing older power plants to operate longer. the proposal, called the affordable clean energy rule, would replace obtia-era regulaons. those rules aggrsively pushed for accelerated closures of older coal-fired plants by setting national targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and encouragine adoption of r energies, such as solar and wind power. the rules have never taken effect because of lel challenges from 27 states. in a phone call with reporters this morning, andrew wheer, the acting eironmental protection agency administrator, said the new rule would lead to more affordable energy bills for consumers. he also called the efforts from the obama administration an "overreach," of e.p.a.'s authority. a

indor: the trump rule would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by around one percent, compared to no regulation.t at's a big difference from the benefits president obama cited when he rolled out his15 plan in >> with this clean power plan,po by 2030, carboution from our power plants will be 32 percent lowedethan it was a de ago.du we will premature deaths from power plant emissions by nearly 90%. and thks to this plan, there will be 90,000 fewer asthma attacks among our children each year. >> alcindor: but the obama-era role has always drawn fire the coal industry, and in many communities that have traditionally relied on coal to provide jobs and to support the local onomy. here in the coal state of west niginia, where president trump will hold a rally t, we talked to voters about today's announcement to the roll-back of >> there was no jobs with those regulations. i mean, i'm all for the environment, but there is right way and a wrong way. you don't do a blanket approach.

where i live in mango county, we're in the heart of the billion dollar coal field. and literally people were moving out of the state of west virginia because we had no jobs. >> alcindor: democrats attacked the proposal today. ckd environmental groups q condemned today's proposed change. in a statement, the national resources defense council said, "trump's e.p.a. is abaoning any attempt to curb the carbon pollution that's driving damaging climate change. this proposal violates the law and cooks the books on science and economics, all to prop up coal power plants that can't compete with cleaner energy." as the obama-era regulations were, these new rules are expected to be challenged in court.ne for the pbhour, i'm yamiche alcindor in charleston, cst virginia. >> woodruff: forser look at these changes and the potential impact, i'm by juliet eilperin, who covers this closely for the "washington post juliet eilperin, welcome back to the news hour. again, just to clarify, the

regulations the trump administration is rolling back veom the obama administration had nereally taken effect? >> right. there had be... they had been stayed by the supreme court because more than two dozenne attorneys l from republican states and the industry had challenged e.p.a.'s authority to impose such sweeping limits beyond the plants themselves. so as a result they had not taken effect. >> woouff: what is it about the obama f era regulations that the trump administration so objects to? >> so the biggest argument they made against those rues was th idea that they applied not just to the operations of the power nlants themselves, but they went beyond the celine. what that meant is that they said to states, look, we want you the meet these emission targets, and by doing that you can encourage energy effy.icie you can promote the development and deployment of natural gas a plan renewable energy projects, and those are all wayd

that you cane carbon emissions, and essentially the opponents of that rule said, no, that's not what's really allowed under the cleaair act. all you can do is make the exisng plants more efficient, which is what this new proposal does. >> woodruff: what about the practical consequences of this? what do we look for? >> thereare a couple op things. when it comes to greenhouse gas emission, it will slow the decline of carbon dioxide cuts obover time. tha rule would have done slightly more, although we do see the power sector gettingne clover time in part because of cheaper natural gasne and ble energy. in terms of the public health impact, that's where you certainly see a difference, because one thing that the trump administration is now proposing is that utilities that want to make their existing coal-fired planteds more efficient can make those upgrades wit installing the kind of pollution controls on traditional

pollutants that normally are required under the cair about. so emissions of soot, those are fine particle, and smog-forming pollutants including sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide,ea could in over time. the trump e.p.a. estimates that by 2030 there will be an additional, for example, between 470 and 1,400 deaths aear as a result of an uptick in thoseit trnal pollutants. >> woodruff: and how does the trump administration explain that? how do they defend that decision? >> so their argument is that this rule is about carbonox e and not those other polluteneds, and they're adhering to the law and focusing on greenhouse gas emissions and they have other methods of controlling those emissions. so potentially they could, you know, address it in another capacity. what they're saying is that thet o make these plants more efficient, and by definition, if they're going to do that and not impose an additional regulatory burden on these plants, they

wanted tr make it eas do these upgrades, and as a resulth they'rnging the kind of current requirement that exist under federal law.>> oodruff: who is happy about this decision, juliet? >> so utilities fr the most part say that they're happy about it. that thiis... while they still face a number of market pressures and they will be, you ow, for example, changing their fuel mix over time, this gives them breathing room if they want to keep some of these older plants in oeration. certainly you see republicans, the vast majority of republicans in congress and on the ate level, including many of these attorneys general i mentioned that had been suing, they arein welcin. so from those two camps you have a significant amount of supporters who say this will give them more flexibility and it's something that will help them economically. >> woodruff: butlearly the environmental community and others not happy with this decision. what about court going forward? what do you expect? >> so we absolutely expect a

urt challenge from esentially the same groups that were defending the obama-era rule. so that would be environmental groups, as you mentioned, as well as a slew of democratic attorneys general. we've already gotten indications that whether it's from california or massachusetts, they're already preparing a legal challenge, arguing that many of these changes violate the clean air act because the federal government is not basically delegating too much authority to the states and tha it nee be stricter in terms of the emissions reductions it's requiring. >> woodruff: juliet eilperin sof the "washington p" thank you. >> thanks so much. >> woodruff: the hacking of the >> woodruff: the korean war divided more than a peninsula,ep itated families. now, as relations between the north and south improve, we witness powerful reunions

after decades apart.po nick schifrin s on what these family ties might mean for u.s. relations with the north. >> schifrin: this man has made the same walk for 60 years, stepping slowly over seoul's sidewalks and into the offices of the korean red cross, hoping to find a brother he hasn't seen since 1950. that's when north korea sweptou into the, killing thousands of south korean soldiers and kidnapping others back to the nrth. park's brother was a south korean soldier. to thisy, park doesn't know his brother's fate.rt he sthe describe how much time he's spent, how many places he's goe looking for his brother. for so many in korea, 68-year-old wounds haven't healed. but today some wounds are being patched. across town, kim ho also lost track of his brother in 1950n assumed he was dead, but then the south korean government this year told him his brother was alive living in the north.

he packsor a reunion 68 years in the making, a government reunification handb photo so he can show off his wife. >> i was veredy surprnd happy. but i was even more surprised to find out that he was sti alive. i am 82 years old and my brother is 78. my children ke whether or not i'll even be able to recognize my brother. >> schifrin: bubrthe kim others found each other, bound by memories of a once-united family. they sapped old photo, evidence of abera when relatives of the same culture, lan aguage,nd tradition weren't divided. dozens of families unite this anek. a brothe sister who never met each other. a mother separated from her child for 70 years. despite the emeaotion, north k agreed to host these meetings to make kim jong-un seem statesman-like follow summit with moon jae-in says a former c.i.a. alyst. >> it's a little propaganda and it's a lot of optics.th look asmall number of people who are allowed to go.

it measured in the dozens rather than hundreds or thousands. i think kim is tring to say that i am fulfilling my part of that summit meeting that i had with president moon. > schifrin: and north korea says it's fulfilling promises made the president tt the june singapore summit. since then north korea has maintain the suspension onil e and nuclear tests. retued some remains of american troops killed in the korean war. [explosion] blew up the entrance to its primary nuclear testte, and as seen in satellite photos, dismantled an engine testing site that. list is impressive says former state department ficial and long-time north korea watcher robert carlin.s >> when e last time we saw the north korean leader throw away his cards. these were significant negotiating cards. kim could have held them. he didn't. he wanted to lay them down so he could get the process moving.

>> schifrin: but critics say the process isn't moving fast enough. today the u.n.'s nucoglear watcaid there is no evidence north korea has taken any steps to stop its nuclear activity, a sign they're not serious about denuclearization says pak. >> looking at their words, looking at their ac, looking at things they could do, which they haven't done, which is inviting inspectors in, suggests they're not that serious about denanuclearizatio, they're trying to use denuclearization as a dang toll get the u.s. to have a peace declaration. >> schifrin: north and south korea want to convert the 1953 armistice enter armanent peace. that's distraction from the u.s. prioritye of dnuclearization. >> that's one thing the north korean regime has always tried to do is divert attention away tn to non-nuclear issues so tha people just get used to having a de facto nuclear weapon ate across the border. >> schifrin: but from northiv korea's perse, it's the

u.s. that diverting attention away from agreements made bytr presidenp and insisting on too many concessions too quickly. >> kim used the word "syncronous" they'll move son on denuclearization if we'll move some. why are we holding back? secause we're stuck in thi age-old problem, you go first. no, no, no, you go first.e' well, thalways a way around that. if people would just sit down and talk. ifrin: what u.s. and north korean officials are talking about is north korea providing an inventory of its missile and nuclear program. u.s. officials a positive step they could compare to their intelligence on who north korea has to knif north korea were lying. in the meantime, north and south korea will work together, but even those thee reunions feel powerful, their participants know they're temporary. >> ( translated ): it's a bittersweet feeling. i'm happy to see my brother, but there is going to be a moment

when we have to be separated again. i don't know what i'll do in that moment. >> schifrin: a reind their far all the progress that's been made is fragile and reversible. for the pbs news hour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: a personal side we don't often see. and we'll be back shortly with a look at an effort that aims to and we'll be back shortly with a look at an effort thatims to duce single-use take out containers. but first, take a moment to hear o

>>uff: finally tonight, what started as one woman' crusade against styrofoam take-e out cont quickly became a community cleanup effort involving volunteers from all walks of life.

the newshour's teresa carey went to durham, north carolina toet he entrepreneurs behind "green to go." >> reporter: crystal dreisbach d fed up with trash produ from throwaway food containers. at there's all this existing research evidence tyrofoam and other plastics are bad for our health for the envnt for the people who manufacture ngem. why are we still uhem? >> reporter: styrofoam is a form of plastic that contains the chemical, styrene, which can cause impaired memory, vision and hearing loss, and cancer. after cities like san francisco and portland banned business from using styrofoam containers, dreisbach drafted a similar city ordinance with the durham's environmental affairs board. but she ran into too many bureaucratic hurdl, and it failed to gain approval. >> i was disappointed but undeterred and there are many other ways to encourage behavior change not just an enforceable >> reporter: dreisbach decided

to focus on small-scale change. she partnered with amy eller to launch green to-go, a local rvice that is garbage- free. >> most people get takeout food and they don't even they don't think that thiis a problem i'm king on this container and i'm going to just throw it away. and that's just the way it's they wouldn't have designed it this way if it was a problem right. >> reporter: here's how it works: the green to-go team stocks restaurants with reusable take-out containers.em at ar's request, the restaurant packs food orders in checked-out green to-go containers. onceinished, patrons return the dirty container to stations acrosshe city. green to-go volunteers pick up, wash, sanitize, and re- distribute clean containers to the restaurants. >> trash is preventable and we can do this by offering consumers and restaurants another option, a sustainable option. >> reporter: for dreisbach, such an option was long overdue.

durham county landfill filled up and closed in 1999. now, each day the county's trash is hauled 100 miles to a dump in sampson county. assistant solid waste manager, patricia fossum, sees trash as an environmental and economic issue. >> when you put that handful of stuff in your trash can and you set outhe curb and our guys you stop thinking about it because it's no longer your problem. well it comes here to us to me.r orter: green to-go launched last summer after a successful crowdfunding campaign.th by the end osummer, more than 30 restaurants will offer the service. g sess's restaurant was one of the first to sign up. >> i actually had this crazy idea. i went to the health department and i said, "so i want people ti be able to their own tupperware or plastic container in, and we're going to put the food in it for them. are you cool with that?" and they said, "absolutely not." well now apparently green to-go has finally figured way to do that and make the health department happy. >> rep north carolina does allow

consumers to bring in cups to be refilled with beverages such as soda or coffee. for many members, gr-go is more than a container service. >> six years ago it o st occurred t i'm going to try to live without single use plasc. one of the hardest things for me to do was to eat out, yet to eat it all. and now there's like 20 or 30 restaurants in durham where i can eat out no problem. >> i think a little bit more carefully about, do need the plastic silverware and all that other stuff? it's made me more thabghtful t the amount of waste that i'm generating. d >> reportee university's environmental science program calculated the impact green to- go hasn reducing waste. they found that one green togo container replaces the need for on average 1,000 disposable take-out containers. with the average american disposing of four and a half pounds of trash each day, dreisbach and eller said that reuse is a critical solution to

the global waste problem. >> i want to see a future where it would never even occur to somebody to take their coffee in a cup that they're going to throw away. >> the take and trash lionomy that w in is unsustainable circular economy that we believe is the future. reuse of all thingossible. you name it, the sky's the limit. >> reporter: with startup resources provided by siness incubator program, dreisbach and eller plan to upgrade the technology, expanding green togo to other cities. for the pbs newshour, i'm teresa carey in durham, north carolinar >> woof: and that's the 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. m >>or funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

>> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, frenia, german, it and more. >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. of newnegie corporatio york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutionsdi and duals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcastin and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by c newshour productions, captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgborg

foseveral centuries, otland was ruled from london. parliament hadn't met here since 1707. recently, the scots voted to bring their parliament home, and london didn't object. in the year 2000, edinburgh resumed its position as home of scotland's parliament. scotland's strikingly modern parliament building opened in 2004. the catalan architects mixed bold windows, wild angles, and organic themes into a startling complex that would, as he envisioned, "surge fm out of the rock and into the city."

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