captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. m judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, parts of the north carolina are cut off as other towns deal with the effects of floodwaters after being battered by hurricane florence. then, new investigation into sexual assault allegations against supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh throw his confirmation vote into question. and a last minute deal to create a demilitarized zone in syria hopes to avoid a potential humanitarian disaster in the last rebel stronghold. >> the implementation of this agreement, or the fact that the agreement exists at all, does stave off what could have been i of apocalyptic humanitarian disaster in northwest syria. >> woodruff: all that ond more on tight's "pbs newshour."

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woodruff: two major stories tonight: members of the united states senate wrestle with an accusation that supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh committed sexual assault in high school. and, hurricane florence leaves a growing disaster in north carolina. we begin with william brangham, on the situation after the storm. >> reporter: all across eastern north carolina, water has drowned out roads -- more than 1,500 of them. the flding has steadily worsened since the storm made landfall near wilmington early friday. over the weekend, this riverfront city-- home tope 120,00le-- was completely cut off by land. today, north carola governor roy cooper said crews managed to open a single supply route,t bu warned evacuees against using it to return because theep water rising. >> we've got one limited routen into wilmingd it's being used for supplies and necessary

emergency material, and utility workers and law enforcement, and we don't need people going back right now particularly when this route madisappear tonight. >> reporter: insope the city, waited in lines today for ice, gas, food and other supplies. >> we were able to go get groceries so we have food, but we have no power. so whave to be able to keep the food cold. and we've had tthrow out a lot of food, so we're trying to keep what we have left. >> hoping we can get some gas, then we're running out of ice at home. been out of electric about four days now. >> reporter: over two thirds of the city's customers lost power, and utility companies are working to restore it. jeff brooks is with duke energy. he spoke to the "newshour" from wilmington. >> since the storms we've moved

reporter: 50 miles to the north jacksonville, north carolina is also hard-hit. the new river burst its banks over the weekend. jason padilla paddlein a canoe, through what had been streets. >> this is-- it's bereal, n. like i aid earlier, man, you only see this in tv. i never thought i'd see this. >> reporter: and it's expected to get even worse. forecasts show heavy flooding could reach 250 miles inland in north carolina-- and with it, tragedy. today, 170 milesest of the coast in new salem, police found the body of a one-yearld boy. the child was swept away in floodwaters on sunday when his mother lost her grip on him. >> they searched and searched and searched for the child and the child was found this morning.

>> reporter: in another inland city-- fayetteville-- 100 miles from the coast, the downtown is largely under water. officials have ordered new evacuations, worried the cape fear river will go higher still. >> basically, i just stacked up the chairs because i thinking maybe if we did flood, it uld probably just come up to here, just to save a little bit of what i have. >> reporter: waheeda reese and her daughter anissa rode out the storm initially, but by sunday, they were forced to pack up and leave. officials in south carolina are a coal ashlandville owned by duke energy has also been breeched. officials in south carolina are also wlarning of flooding after a long weekend of heavy rain from florence. for the "pbs newshour," i'm

william brangham. >> a person killed in an apartment tornado spawn by florence. we'll take a closer look at a part of north carolina suffering in the wake of the storm and that's later in the program. first, though, the questions about brett kavanaugh. after first being oud in the press, college professor christine blasey ford came forward this weekend as the woman accusing judge brett kavanaugh of sexual assault more than 30 years ago. ford alleges that at a highho party, kavanaugh-- while inebriated-- forced the teenager into a room and attacked her, before she was able to escape. as lisa desjardins reports, the allegation has drawn strong responses from the white house to capitol hill. >> judge kavanaugh is one of the finest people that i've ever known. >> reporter: president trump defended his nominee today, but said brett k should be heard out. >> at the same time, we want to go through a process. want to make sure everything is perfect, everything is just right.

they'll go through a process and hear everybody out. i think it's important. >> reporter: he issued a strong denial days-- saying, "i have never done anything like what the accuser describes to her or to inanyone," adding he is wito cooperate with the senate judiciary committee. kaenaugh's accuser-- christ blasey ford-- detailed the alleged attack in a letter to decratic senator dianne feinstein in late july. cnn reported theetter says of kavanaugh and a friend, "they both laughed as kavanaugh tried to disrobe me in their highly inebriated state. with kavanaugh's hand ov my mouth i feared he may inadvertently kill me." judge kavanaugh to be heard in sworn testimony about these >>e're talking about a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land of a

supreme court justice who could be the decing vote for a generation or more. is it worth an extra week or two? for goodness sakes, rse it is. >> reporter: a handful of republicans also voiced concern. senator jeff flake-- a key judiciary committee told "politico" ford should testify before any committee decision on kavanaugh, saying, "i don'tin think i'm alonhis." alaska senator lisa murkowski-- another key vote-- agreed. >> if there are more questions that need to be asked and answered then i think it would be appropriate to allow for that time. >> reporter: senator susan collins of maine echoed calls for kavanaugh and ford to testify. >> having the opportunity to observe her being pledged is so importt. obviously, if joh judge kav anaugh has lied about what happened,ou that w be disqualified.

>> key senators who will decide kavanaugh's fate. for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins. >> woodruff: and for more on how that story came to light, i'm joined now by emma brown. she's an investigative reporter at "the washington post" who has been in touch with ford for months before publishing her account last night. how did you first have contacts with professor ford? >> she first reached out to "the washington post" through a coidential tip line that we have, and she did that in early july. that was point at which kavanaugh had risen to the short list of trump's poential supreme court nominees but was not yet the nominee. and she reached out and wanted speak confidentially. she really wanted to tell somebody what had happened to her, she said, but she was not ready to go public, she understood that that would come at a great personal price, i

think. we spoke off the record, you know, and i stayed in touch with her throughout the summer, as she reallyth struggled what to do about the story she had. she felt she had a civ duty to tell what had happened to her but she also, again, was try bg ance that against the realities of what it would mean for her if she came forward. by late august, she had decided she would not comte forward, tha it wasn't worth it. she said she would be annihilated and it wouldn't matter for the confirmation vote, and that was a calculation that changed in rect days as information about this confidential letter she had sent nator feinstein began to leak out. so sr e sent a let feinstein detailing this incident and asking it be kept private, and she says, you know, feinstein honored that request and that's why it didn't come out sooner. >> woodruff: the teline of

what professor ford says happened has become more familiar. how confident is she that hists definitely breautt kav? did you question her about that? >> this is something she's never wavered on. she said that, you know, she knew him from social interactns before, that her friend group and his friend group had intersecond for a tim. she said most her high hool career her friends were hanging out with other boys, but se never voiced any doubt it was brett kavanaugh. >> and the denial om the oer boy, now man, who was in the room, mark jge, you reached out to him, and his reaction has been what is this.to >> he decline comment, when i reached him yesterday. on friday before her name became public when this was still an anonymous allegation, he flatly

denied it. he said jge kavanaugh had never, as a young man or when he was ol'er, engaged in any kind of behavior like that. >> woodruff: just to be clear, she took no notes or told no one at theime contemporaneously. is that right? >> that's correct. she didn't tell anybody for a very long time, in fact. she said she didn't tell anyone in any detail until 2012 when she was in couples therapy with her husband and she talked about it then. her husband recalled t the recot conversation and said he even recalled her using kavanaugh's last name and voicing concern that he might be elevated some day to the supreme therapists notes from that session don't name that kavanaugh but do show that sh talked about an assault by boys an i heatist school, it said, who went on to becomeki high-r members of washington society. so there are those not are notes from the following

year, an individual therapy session where she reported an attempted rape in her late teens, and, so, those are the pieces of widence that re able to present outside of her own recollection a testimony. >> woodruff: emma brown,ig inveive reporter for "the washington post." thank you. >> thanks. >> woodruff: christine blasey ford's allegation has scrambled the picture-- for senators deciding whether he is fit to join the bench and for the white house aides who have been shepherding his nomination. we cover both ends ofnu pennsylvania awith lisa desjardins, who continues her whporting from capitol hill and yamiche alcindorhas been tracking developments at the white house. lisa, we just heard your reporting and, in the last fewv minutes, we heard senators are now confirming a publicne hearin week. what do you know is this. >> that's right. we can confirm the senate judiciary committee will hold a public hearing on ths exact

matter next week. we've confirmed it will be w withink. others are reporting it will be on monday. the reason we're finding outu now,y, is republican members to have the judiciary committee are just walking out of senator mcconnell's office after meeting together to figure outheir plan and after, we're told, having a phone call. others very won the argume and say let's put this out in the public >> woodruff: the president at the white house, the president st kding by judvanaugh, but, at the same time, he wants this story out. how do you explain their thinking right now? >> the president is trying to be reserved but frustrated in the fact that th the appointment is hampered. he said everyone should be hea

in this instance and that's somewhat uncharacteristic for this presidentecause there are times when he lashes out and gets angry and tweets about democrats. he hasn't at all attacked the accuser. he said he's sticking by judgeh kavanat wants to know more. judge kavanaugh said he's happy to sak before a hering and wants to clear his name. all that happened, but the presidensays this nomination is on track. there are a lot of republicans who disagree. >> woodruff: bk to you, lisa. you interviewed senators one by one, especially the ones who haven't announced yet whatey e going to do on kavanaugh. what are they saying and what sense are you getting? >> by and large we'ng tal about susan collins and lisa murkowskespecially on the republican side who said they want to hear more under oath from both kavanah and hs accuser ms. ford. it looks like they're gng to get that opportunity. i think we have to pay attention to what the format of the aring is, precisely, who

speaks. both sides are trying to gather corroborating evidence for both of these individuals who are concerned, but, also, . kavanaugh isying things private to senators in private which i think will be important. nenator hatch said in a pho call with brett kavanaugh, kavanaugh insisted not only did this never happen, but he sad he was never at this party. now, this is something that's unclear, how would he know because the details of the party were vague in and of themselvesh in additione are questions about if he was ininebriated, how wou he kw. so the details, he is being very firm that this story is not remotely like anything that ever happened to him, however he'sg tellnators more details int private thall indicated his stories will be tested as his accusers. >> woodruff: yamiche, the white house, no question they know the political stakes involved here?>> hey absolutely understand the political stakes involved here, but kavanaugh spentl

seveurs at the white house today. wouldn't say who he was mee with. trump says he hasn't spoken directly with brett kavanaugh, but we know there is $2 million on te left with an ana-kavanaugh group thatid it will spend more than $700,000 fighting his nomination, but the judicial cisis netrk, a group of conservatives, say they will put $1.5 million behind defending brett kavanaugh. so a lot of money at stake. >> woodruff: we thank you both. senator patrick leahy >> woodruff: senator patrick leahy of vermont is one of the ten democrats on the judiciary committee calling for chairman chuck grassley to postpone this week's committee vote on brett kavanaugh's nomination. i spoke with him a short timeo d began by asking him if he's more inclined to believe judge kavanaugh or dr. ford. >> i think it's very courageous

when somebody comes forward like this, we know she talked to a therapist about this years agoi, shilling to come forward publicly. i was a prosecutor. i saw a lot of peoe would have been assaulted as young women and held it inside for years before thecomerward. that's not unusual. but let's fiend out, both for judge kavanaugh's sake and s dr. fordke, let's find out what happened. right now, they're trying to rush it behind closed doorss not there to the process, not there to the senate, but mostly not fair to the american people. >> woodruff: we heard senator ixrin hatch that he believes professor ford is up, suggesting that maybe she has the wrong person. you think that the possible? >> he said that without even talking with her, without evenfa knowing thts.

let's get the facts. let's not speculate. i think there is another republican jeff flake said, whh?'s the rus let's get all the fact. that's all i want. when i was a prsecutor i, dealt with facts. here we have to deal with fats because we're saying, depending upon how we looaat the fcts, somebody could be on the supreme court for the rest of their life. think of the effect that has on 325 million americans. at least for them, we ouht to be doing it, but also, i think it is an outlerageous reion on the u.s. senate if we're not willing to take the time to gett it ri >> woodruff: do you believe,to se that senator feinstein could have handled this any differently, that she should have come forward to you, to her members of the coittee sooner to share what she had?

>> i've known senator feinstein for a long time, she is a woman of great integrity. i'm not sure what happened, as the complaint was made first to a member of the house of representatives, then came tons senator feiin. i heard about it last week when i was managing an appropriations bill on the floor. but no at democrats, that's irrelevant.fa ths are the only things that are relevant. let's get them. let's take the time to do it. another week, another two weeks, what difference does it mke if, in the end, we have the truth? >> senator, you are one of the very few members to have the committee, judiciary committ who were serving at the time of clarence thomas' confirmaon to the supreme court when anita hill made the allegationsm against for sexual harassment. people were not inclined to

believe her then, 27 years ago how hames changed? e 1991. is this a different time? >> as you may recall, i said publicly that i did belrieve h, but i spent a lot of time listening to her, listening to what she had to say. listening to clance thomas' reaction to it, looking at it, again, as i would have when i was a prosecutor, and i stated publicly, ani think some other senators did, that they believed anita hill, and we should. certainly, that should reind us to take the time to find out what the facts are. again, would say, you know, dr. ford showed a lot of cocourage. she uld have just said, to the heck with it, i'm not coming forward. instead, she did. let's let her be heard. >> senator, finally, il goes as indicated right now, though, the republicans plan to go ahead with this vote. what ca t democrats doo stop

them? >> no more than we could stop them from tmost outrageous, unprecedented thing of blocking a supreme court nominee for a year, merrick garland, a man most republicans said hey' vote for. it was pure partisanship, it damaged the united states senate, it will always be seen by historians as a shameful mark sn the u.s. senate, and thi would be, too, if they rush it through. >> senator patrick leahy of the senate judiciary committee, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: to get the white house perspective i'm joined by kellyanne conway who served as a counselor to president trump. kellyanne conway, welcome to the "newshour". this nomination of judge kavanaugh was on track for a vote these thursday, then come these allegations. now they will beolding yet another public hearing next week. how much has it been thrown

off-track? >> to judge kavaugh, not muc because he has said that he would -- he's ready tostify tomorrow. if the senate changes its mind and wants to call immediately, he's here in washington and is ready. he wants to, as he puts it, clear his name of false allegations. he said today he wasn't at the good to hear from both the it's accuser and the accused here and allow the senate to weigh what they learn in those exchanges along with th mountains of other testimonial evidence andot r statements of support and endorsement of brett kavanaugh by the women he's known all throughout his life, judy, i's high school, college, law school, his female law clerks, the moms of the young girls he's coached in basketball, the people who have stood shoulder to shoulder with him feeding the hungry in washington as part of

his charitable work. so all of this needs to bedg together -- the academic, credentials, the judicial temperament, the character and integrity of smeone who's been through six f.b.i. vetting processes over the years and served for 12 years in the second highest court in thi country. >> woodruff: so what is the standard going to be for professor ford? how will you a others at the white house judge whether she's telling the truth? >> well, that's fo the senate judiciary committee to judge. they've called her to come and testify. they choose the process, they choose the timing, and they choose the forum for which that testimony will be heard. at is up to them. we respect that process here at the white honte. the presiaid as much today and also said that it's unfortunate that senator feinstein sat on this for so long. i respectfully disagree with ewedtor leahy just inter before me that it doesn't matter, it does matter because senator feinstein had ampleit opportto raise this

privately with judge kavanaugh or pulicly, ho however she chose to do. there wre private phone calls where sensitive matters are normally raised in the coursesof hese pre-hearing conversations and there were 1300ritten questions. so if president says today there will be a little delay, but that is a ridiculous question that judge kavanaugh would withdraw his nomination at this point. >> woodruff: quick are you saying senator feinstein should have award professor'sfoequest anonymity? >> no, i didn't say that and whoever breeched that guarantee to her ought to, i believe, either come forward or others should recogze that they did her a disservice and they're doing judge kavanaugh a disservice as well, i thi they're both being treated unfairly by that individua sent that information to the press and her work and other places. so the president sai the process take hold which includes testifying through whatever

form the senate judiciary committee decides. i also want to say all the evidence will be weighed ander? leahy and others weren't being honest because sayinghey weren't going to vote for judge kavanaugh in the first place. >> woodruff: a couple other questions in the time we have, is president trump open to believing professor ford if she comes across as credible, if the coittee believes her? >> president trump has said let them both be herd. we've said that all day, and i just want to reiterate thatka judgnaugh said he's ready. he just learned the accuser's name yesterday, andyet, he's ready right here and right now to testify under oth the way he already has for about 24 or 30 hours as part of this hearing to be the next justice of the united states supreme court. >> woodruff: so th psident and the white house is prepared

to accept her testimony f it comes across as true, full and credible? >> the white house is watching e process play out. i'm not going to -- you're asking me a hypothetical testimony about future testimony. we believe that she should be hearsh we believe hld be heard and they both can be heard quickly without derailing the very important process that's in front of us. >> woodruff: final question, if her testimony does come across as credible, asab beli, is this something that should derail his nomination? should it set aside a nomination? >> i can't pre-judge a testimony y haven't heard. i simarned this woman's name yesterday, i read the accounts in the nwspaper, i know that they are 36 years old. she says she doesn't remember large pieces of it, and ios suppose the questions will be asked of her as well. do you he says he wasn't there. could it be someone else?

if he was there, we'll ask hime why u saying you weren't there, can you tell us where you were if you weren't there? judy, i must remind everybody, this is a senate hearing, not a court of law, so i'm not sure as a attorney for many decades what the different standards for those will be. they will be under oath. judge kavanaugh testified more than 24 hours under oath already. we now want to hear from the accuser under oath. tyshe'll have an opportuo say what she wants to say, but we respect the process of the senate. th is the senate and th senate judiciary committee's process and we'll be watching that from the white house and the president will stand ready to act accordingly.ui >>ly, you're not prepared to say, if it were true, if it werebelievable, you're not prepared to say what effect that would have? in i'm sorry, you're asme if that were true.

in other, worhaven't heard that testimony under oath. i know judge kavanaugh today said the allegations were false, he wasn't at the party. i'm looking at the character and intelty testimony he's had in his favor including about hundreds ofen who have known him clout his career and personal life and this cuser has also come out late in the game to say she would like to be heard. we respect they will both be heard under oath. that what the dmocratic wocess allows and we're all for it. druff: kellyanne conway, counsel to president trump. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: we return to the other major story: the flooding in north carolina. death toll has reached 21. the rain kept coming today as the water keeps rising, closing major arteries and threatening

to swamp towns, cities aay counties for maybe even weeks. william brangham continues his reporting, focusing on the cn y that has be hardest hit. >> reporter: as we reported earlier, wilmington is largely cut off from the outside world. waters have flooded nearly every entrance to the city, strandingo mothe city's 120,000 people. earlier this afternoon, i spoke ilwith wilmington's mayor, saffo to get a sense of how were going in the city. >> we're getting some supplies in here. we're airlifting some medical supplies and was airlifting some food supplies in here for the shelters. we've got a truckload that was brought in here using trucks that could get through high water. they've got 20 trucks in here and brought in some food and some water and some fuel into the area which is desperately needed at this time. the roads coming into the city to the county are still impassable. now we expect the river to crest

tomorrow at about midday and then after the river crests we feel that we'll be able to access some routes into the city t we still have to expect inspect th there that they're stable and they're good to drive over. is being established as speak, but is spotty in different areas of the city. >> reporter: do you have a sense of how many people are in the dark? >> i would probably say 80% to say 90% of the city is stillt withwer. o t we are slowly getting there. but, i mean, power, of course, was to establish power to the hospital make surthat the cost would have power police stations and power stations had power our emergency opns center had power so those were our first priorities. and then from there is getting power to some of the grocery stores making certain some of our commercial corridors have some power so can get some grocery stores reopened. obviously we've got peop that

haven't been able to go to the grocery store for over a week. and of course trying to get some fuel seems to be one of the main things that we currently need right now because of the people. they are have been running generators, havbeen running generators quite some time and they're running out of fuel. >> reporter: are there still rescues going on or are people that need to be rescued or is >> i think the vast majority of people that needed to be rescued have been rescued. we're getting a lot of callsic from medal calls, currently but we will still get thesi ocal rescue call to come out here and get me from my house. i think what you're going to see in the coming days is a significant amount of flooding in the surrounding areas we know that each of our rivers that are coming into the cape e ar all of those rivers are going to experiecord flood stages.

>> reporter: there's a curfew going right now. wh else are you telling residents that far as sticking it out. >> the first thing we were telling is we had a lot of people that evacuated the area, heeded the warnings of the emerge and left the area.ials obviously we have a lot of those folks that want to come back to their homes get back to theon city, checheir property. and we're telling them don't come until you've heard from us d ether the roads are passable and there's no n even try because you're going to be turned away by the highway patrol. that's number one. number two, we're telling your citizens you know for the most part stay on your property stay at home with possible i know apl lot of pgetting a little stir crazy at this point time because they haven't been out and about for days just to please stay put until we can get these roadways cleared of debris and it's safe for you to go out and walk around cause we've got a lot of power lines that are entangled with a lot of the debris in our case in our neighborhoods and what has happened is we're coming across some wires that are hot.

we don't want anybody to gethu or electrocuted. you know what we have foundth historically i we lose a lot of life to hurricanes after the event passes.ti and so i c folks that when you're getting out in the community of getting out in your neighborhood. be very cautious of doower lines. be very cautious of downed trees because it may be e line that is entangled within it that you may not be able to see. so you know we, we want to list a curfew as soon as possible, but we also don't want tdo it and jeopardize somebody's safety so we're we've got it in place again this evening and then it's just, you know, slow glowing getting thibeing cleaned up and getting electricity turned back on and getting you know the staples of life back here. and of course wh has made this is really hit hard here is that the storm sat over for two straight days and st dumped a tremendous amount of water on ice and rain. >> reporter: all right, mayor saffo thank you so much for your time. >> thank you. >> woodruf florence's powerful winds and storm surge also

devastated the small city of new bern in north carolina. founded in the earlys, it's one of the oldest cities in the state-- and was briefly the state capital. as p.j. tobia discovered, somet of the mood-prone parts of new bern also house its mostle vulnerabesidents. >> reporter: the rivers began to swell and the rain didn't stop. by friday afternoon, much of new a city of almost 30,000, was under water. opcrews rescued about 500 . thousands of homes and buildings are damaged. it is among the most devastatedo areas innce's path. in the days since, boats s t on the shores blocked streets, debris everywhere. but over the weekend, the historic downtown-- with its old mansions, yacht club and attorneys offices-- already showed signs of recovery. just mines away, however, in" ent court," residents expect the cleanup process to take g nger. this public housvelopment was built in 1939 and regularly floods with the ters from the

river behind me. during hurricane florence, those waters came to where i'm standing now. residents here are frustrated by the terribleiving conditions and say that hurricane florence's storm surge have only made those conditions worse. >> these are the conditions we have to live with because we have no choice. where else are we gonna go? >> reporter: over the weekend, we met these women as they were grilling their perishable food. like many across north carolina, their power was still out. but the water rising around their furniture on friday just compounded existing structural problems: peeling ceilings, crumbling walls, issues with lead pnt. and as florence neared, these residents say the only information they got came from the media-- and in this flyer on hurricane readiness. sht even then, because they didn't have cars, r public transportation, they felt stuck. >> if you just walk around, youe ca you know a lot of people just sitting around trying to figure out what the hell the was, too. do because i >> reporter: during the storm

more than a dozen families would have to be rescued from trent court. sabrina bengal represents this ward on the town's board of alderman. ter the storm, she came to check on her constituents. was there an evacuation plan? >> no. i'm just gonna be blunt. no. i called on monday and talked to , e executive director and my first question wan you please tell me what your evacuation plan is for trent urt," and he said, "well, we don't have an evacuation plan, we have a hurricane readiness plan." and i said, well, that wasot acceptable to me i felt that was not strong enough. we knew it was gonna flood, we knew the waters were coming in and i felt very strongly-- at the least the front ro, the rows closest to the water-- should be evacuated, period. >> reporter: new bern mayor dana s city'sefended efforts to get the word out to it's poorest residents. >> city of new bern with our paid channel, along with fire

truck going out into the communities, broadcasting on p.a. system and having theon na guard truck behind it to kind of get people's' attention. first responders going out and knocking on doors, putting flyers on doors, the mayor and alderman physically going outle and putting pen shelters. i think we did a pretty good job. >> reporter: we caught up with outlaw at another public housing development, just down the street. the craven terrace here recently renovated, to the tune of $27-million. >> they're better than they were though, right?ot >>eally. >> reporter: mayor outlaw says his government's doing what it can for these residents. >> we are certainly working with them to make positive changes in fordable housing that meets minimum property standards and is safe, sound, without le paint and asbestos >> reporter: all this comes as new bern considers contentious plan to demolish trent court-- which sits right near the trent river-- and relocate its residents. >> for people to feel like this is gonna get torn down and they're gonna put uf condos and and sell it to the highest bidder that doesn't look like them, yeah, i'm definite against that. >> reporter: alderwoman jamisha harris represents a neighboring ward.

>> now, i can't speak for the rest othe city officials and do know that they support the plan of the redevelopment, which is getting these individuals into an area that doesn't flood, but honestly what is that plan? because what you're doing is taking them from here and putting them in another community that i feel you're just compacting poverty. r reporter: late in the day saturday, the lighurned in trent court, but residents say the local government had not. have any city officials come down here, have you spoken to any of them or seen them in this area? >> no, no. you're the first person we've seen or talked to. no. >> reporter: i am the first person from out of this neighborhood to talk to you? >> right, right. se reporter: has anyone el been here? >>e haven't seen nobody. >> reporter: so residents kept each other cpany... and well fed. for the pbs newshour i'm p.j. tobia. >> woodruff: now, to the day's her news: a powerful typhoon weakened over china-- with a growing death toll in ke.

earlier, the storm killed att leas people in the northern philippines. today, crews searched for up to 50 people missing there. ki afghanistan: multiple taliban attacks overnighed at least 27 members of the security forces. the assaults targeted police and military bases and afgn checkpoints across three provinces. officials said at least 42 taliban fighters also died in the attacks. there are new allegations of sexual abuse and cover-up by roman catholic crgy in the netherlands. the dutch newspaper "nrc" reports half of the country's cardinals and bishops were linked to the scandal between 1945 and 2010. the newspaper did its own researchnd drew on a church report from 2011. it found up to 20,000 dutch children were abused at church institutions over 65 years. the government of australia has ordered an investigation

into sewing need packaged strawberries. the scare started last week in queensland state. since then, there've been cases in all six australian states. the nation's health ministerto y called in australia's food safety agency. >> we have also tasked the federal agency to investigate whether there are supply chaines weaknewhether there are actions that we can take to assist the police, whether there are systemic changes which are required. but at the end of the day, the job is very, very clear: protect the publ and keep them safe. >> woodruff: so far, one man has been hospitalid after eating a berry with a needle in it. back in this countrythe trump administration is cutting in this country the president directed the justice department and the f.b.i. tofy declasore information from the russia investigation including text messages from former f.b.i. director james comey and from former agent

peter strzok who sent disparaging messages about mr. trump. house republicans have pushed for the release.ni the trump adration is cutting refugee admissions to 30,000 next year. that's down from 45,000 this year and frm 85,000 in 2016. secretary of state mike pompeo announced the change. he said the focus will be onin provaid in frontline states to keep refugees from leaving. a chicago jury heard opening statements in the killing of laquan mcdonald in 2014-- a case that has roiled the city. white police officer jason van dyke is accused of first-degree murder prosecutors played a video showing van dyke firing 16 times. the 17-year-old mcdonald was seen holding a small knife, and walking away. the de feared for his life. gad, on wall street, stock in economic news president trump

just announced major new tarif on $200 billion in chinese goods starting next week. they will start at 10% and reach 25% by the end of the on wall street, stocks gave ground on expectations of new tariffs on china. the down jones industrial average lost 92 points to cle at 26,062. the nasdaq fell 114 points and the s&p 500 slipped 16. still to come on the "newshour," russia and turkey create a demilitarized zone in syria around the last area of rebel- held syria. and our politics monday team joins us to discuss the accusations againsthe supreme court nominee. >> woodruff: russia and turkey today made an agreement that seems to save the syrian province of idlib from an assault. the two countries agreed to create a demilitarized zone,

averting, for now, what was expected to be a humanitarian disaster. nick schifrin reporthe importance of idlib, and the signific ce of today's agreement. >> reporter: for years idlib has been the syrian rebels' beating heart. and this past friday, hundreds of tusands of demonstrators demanded defense from what seemed like imminent assaulter the syrian gent and its ally russia call these people terrorists. they demonstrated to prove the regime wrong, says local community leader raed ras, who spoke via skype. >> four-million people are civilians here, they want to live, and they are demonstrating to show that, we are not terrorism, we are not terrorists at all. >> reporter: idlib had become the opposition's melting pot. rebels, but also islamist fightersled here from all over the country as bashar al-assad and his military recaptured territory. that made idlib the final rebel holdout.

but turkey closed the border-- the only escape route. and so the opposition was trapped, and felt liy were waiting to get bombed, like in this air strike last month. waiting for their children to be brought out of the rubble, waiting for the horror of seven years to end in defeat. >> we know exactly the warplanes and the barrel bombs, what does it do in the ground.d saw the pieces of bodies. you will feel again the samel feeling, you we the warplanes again, you will see the deaths again, the death andn the death, and again, and then you can ima one the feelinthe people now. >> reporter: but then-turkish anesident recep tayyip erd opposed the offensive, and deployed tanks to idlib to give himself diplomatic leverage. hd today, erdogan announc and russian president vladimir putin had made a deal. >> ( translated ): we have decided to form a demilitarized n zone between the oppositd areas under regime control.

>> reporter: putin predicted that demilitarized zone would lead ta political solution. >> ( translated ): we both agree that implementation of the planned step peace returning to the syrian soil. >> the implementation of this agreement, or the fact that thea agreement exisall, does stave off what could have been a kind of apocalyptic humanitarian disaster in northwest ria. >> reporter: charles lister is a syria expert at the miast institute. he says russia supported the agreement because it didn't want the burden of a difficult military campaign. the agreement's hinges on whether turkey can keep not only rebel groups, but also extremist groups, away from regime-held territory. >> all groups except for the most extremist ones do remain solidly under turkish influence. that can be called upon to make this agreement work.ti the big qu as i say, still remains, the most extremist groups in that area, will they abide by whais in a sense a compromise for the sake of surviving into the long term.

>> reporter: the path to turkey and russia controlling northwest syria's fate follows the path of english teacher sala hawa. in 2012,e helped lead an anti- assad protest in haratan, just soutest of idlib. rebels had fought the syrian army and pushed them out, and ouwa was a hopeful local cil leader. >> we are looking forward to a better future. >> reporr: but then the russians intervened and haratan was bombded by russian and syrian js. a'd when we spoke to him against in 2016, saleh hhope, and hometown, were gone. >> most of the population of of hraytan left the town, you know, because there is no single house which is safe right now. we were let down. america let us down. >> reporter: and as everyone el let them down, turkey became the redeemer, as he told us today: >> the syrian people see that the only savior for them is turkey. you know maybe a few years ago they hoped that america would do

that. >> reporter: and with that herkish backing came defiance that idlib showed during those protests last friday. >> right now even if the russians use nuclear weapons we are not going to lhove our es. there is no other place to go to. >> reporte and that is still true despite the agreement. those who oppose assad willre in isolated and kept away from the regime by turkish and russian troops. but that means, at lor now, the people en idlib, have pared. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: back in this country, today mks the 50-day mark until the november mid-term elections. samna nawaz has our polit monday segment. >> nawaz: r a look ahead at the midterms and more fallout from the kavanaugh accusations, i'm here with tamara keith of npr, and amy walter of "the cook

political report." welcome to you both. >> thank you.l sorry such aw day, nothing to talk about. (laughter) i wa to get out ahead of what we knoe w to bue over the course of the week but let's talk about where we are now. tam, remind us about the significance of thisor confirmation judge kavanaugh, kind of a foregone conclusion a couple of days ago, the fact it's delayed and could be derailed, what does that say to you? >> that is really significant. republicans want the seat and want it done quickly. republicans want to be able to go to the midterms, go tthe base voters and say look what we did, we got you two supreme court justices, ad if this gets delayed, stalled, if he drops out or is pushed out, that is going to be a significant problem for republicans. >> what's your take on this, amy? >> yes, we also don't know g

whether ts confirmed in this, where the votes are, but also what are the perceptions of judge kavanaug dr. ford and the senators questioning her. with the anita hill hearings, there was just as much criticism on the senators and the way they approached anita hill as there was about the actual, younow, judge clarence thomas and anita hill hernd perceptions of all those folks were changed bey tharings. so there is a lot of unpredictability in this, and if you are trying to gain politically, it's very hard to do at this poi tnt. re is going to be a public hearing. how much does that matter? >> it matters a lot, and how the public receives the hearing and how the senators are perceived, as smy wying, in 1991, there were only two female senators, none on the judiciary committee, and many more and many elected that

following year in 1992 as ath result oway people reacted to that 1991 hearing, there are four women on the judiciary committee this time, all democrats. >> let's talk about the the mid transportation you mentioned. there are new numbers from an npr marist poll i want to look at that kind of opinion form how that, are approachi too, this is a question about how much trust people have and the fact that elections are fair or not. 38%, tam, say not very much or not at all. what does that say to you? >> and there are soe some partin abreakdown under that t democrats don't feel the election was fair, that trump is president and hilary isn't the results are colored by how partisans see the last election. >> and sees how the trust will

be protected, that their vot will be accurately counted and reflected. andthing democra republicans agree on is they omust state and local elected officials when ites to protecting their votes more than the federal government, tan the other thing is they really do see that facebook, twitter, they don't feel like th groups, those social media platforms have done enoug 2016 to protect against interference by outside specifically foreign influence. >> and, tam, to your earlier point, it's not surprising people have more faith in a system that benefits them. 91% of self-identified republicans say they think ections are fair, but the groups with thest doubts, wom, non-white voters and democrats, what does that mean for them movi forward? >> one fascinating thing is president trump is the one 16ading into ho kept saying it's going to be rigged, the system isn't fair, but, in reality, a lot of non-white vote havexperienced

difficulties getting to the polls. this poll tell us non-white voters have a more diticult time vg and that affects their view of the fairness of the process. >> stunning numbers. latinos had to wait twice as long as white voters, traveling twice as long as well. this is the current makeup of e senate, of course, 49 democrats and independents, 51 republicans, it's a tight margin. we have about minute left. >> here is the math for democrats, it's always been challenging because they're defending many more seats than republicans are. most -- not most -- half to have fethe seats that they're ding are in red states, that democrats are defending, so this is a very, very difficult place to start. if democrats are to pick up theo seats to foot control into democratic hands, here's what

they need to do. they need to either hold on to their most vulnerable sea, there are five of those, win 100% of those and then two out t ee of the most vulnerable republican seats. is that possible to do? >> sure. is that difficult? yes. and that's holding on to seats. by the way, missouri, north dakota, west virginia, indiana, florida. >> states where president iump -- popular. -- carried by a lot in 2016. interestinthings to watch. possible, very possible. amy walter, tamera keith. thank you very much. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: lots of political wisdom this monday. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here morrow 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: >> consumer cellular.

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hello everyo well-won and wellancome to "amanpour and company." as paul manafort pleads guilty, we explore unchartered, unsettled legal questions about sitting president the la veteran professor and his former student hammer out their opposing views. then a forgotten story. the palestinian wan who led the first interfodder only eto be left out enough peace process by their leaders. a new film tells their story at last. also today our michelle martin tu martin talks to an american legend on finding