captioningponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, senators demand to hear directly from the c.i.a. after secretary of state pompeo claims there is no link to saudi arabia's crown prince in the murder of a journalist. then, one-on-one with the trump administration's point person on afghanistan amid a spike of violence in the united states' longest war. plus, to catch an asteroid-- inside nasa's mission to further understa >> osiris-rex will be the largest sample-return from a planetary body since the apollo missions, so we're really are redefining the next stage of planetary exploration. t >> woodruff:t and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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solutions the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the lemelson foundation. commit through invention, in the u.s. and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarth foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world.ma more infon at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for blic broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: this has been big day in both branches of the u.s. congress. the house side, democra nominated nancy pelosi to be

speaker when they take majority control next year. but with 32 votes against her in her own caucus, she has work to do to win over enough votes when the full house votes in january. pelosi acknowledged that and calls for new leadership, but said today's vote wag boost. >> i'm talking about scores of members of congress who just gave me a vote, who are giving me a vote of confidence. that is where our focus is. are there dissenters? yes, but i expect to have a powerful vote as we go forward.r >> wf: pelosi vanquished several would-be challengers to prevail today. she was speaker once before, and is the only woman to ever hold the pos on the senate side, the trumpti administ touched off a new storm of criticism over the g of saudi writer jamal khashoggi. it began when two top officials showed up foiefing, but a third did not. congsassional correspondent li

desjardins begins our coverage. of the capitol, senators arrive for a tee and critical briefing.: two topis. support of the saudi-led war against houthi rebels in yemen. and the murder of journalist jamal asoggi in october. multiple outlets have reporteds the c.i.a. belsaudi crown prince muhammad bin salman ordered the assassination. but c.i.a. director gina haspel was not at today's briefing, something infuriating both parties. >> it's outrageous that the senate can be stonewalled fromin hefrom the c.i.a. director. >> i cannot recall a briefing on such a sensitive measure where we have been denied access to the intelligence agencies of the united states. >> desjardins: republican senator lindsey graham, often an ally of the president's, has broken with him on muhammad bin salman, or m.b.s., and says he will withhold his vote on other issues to try to get answers.

>> i'm talking about any key vote, anything that you need me r to get out of town, i ain't doing it until we hear from the c.i.a. >> desjardins: secretary o p diate mikeompeo, who helped lead the briefinnot answer why the c.i.a. director was absent. >> i was asked to be aere and here >> desjardins: it is a critical moment-- saudi issues have forged an unusual allian between some senate republicans like mike lee of utah and independent bernie sanders. they co-authored a resolution to end u.s. support of saudi action in yemen. >> the passage of a low months has d people to think about this a little more, les allowed peo see the war progressing, continuing to result in a lot of awful i casualtiluding casualties of a lot of innocent civilians and children. >> desjardins: pompeo defended trump administration policy. >> we are on the cusp of allowing the u.n. envoy martin griffiths toin december, gather the parties together and

hopefully get a cease fire in yemen, something we have diplomatically been striving for for months, and we think we're the view of the administration, secretary mattis, and myselfas that psing a resolution at this point undermines that. >> desjardins: as for the saudi crown prince, pompeo told setors: >> there is no direct reporting connecting the crown prince to the murder of jamal khashoggi. >> desjardins: but several republicans were unswayed. >> we know the truth if he wasn't directly involved he knew and those involved were underdi hiction. e in a sign of some defia towards the white house and saudi arabia, in the just the past two hours the senate voted overwhelmingly to take that sanders-lee resolution to end u.s. summit of fighting in yemen out of cmmittee. >> woodruff: so, lisa, what happens next in the senate on the issue of saudi arabia? >> we have to keep a very clo eye. what we expect is a vote likely next week.

it's remotely posblthis week, but more likely next week, to see if they will get a full dete on this resolution. i expect we will. then after that, it could be open to amendments. that's when we could have a-f fr-all. some like lindsey graham are saying they want to add thieang, things to bring more republicans on board. today, 14 republicans voted to try to get to this resolution. that's significabi, a verg difference from a similar vote that happened in march. >> woodruff: now, this was not the only drama today in the senate. there was this effort to prtect the russia investigation, the special counsel robert mueller, there was a bipartisan move to do that. tell us what happened. >> that's right. senators coons, flake, and others had a bill that would make sure that only the-- the only reasons to fire the special prosecutor in this case would be for cause, essentially, and that not everyone could do it. there was a hope that this wou actually get a hope today. but no, senator jeff flake tried to bring it up.

there you see robert mueller, and it was obj oected tothe floor by another republican, mike lee. that's important, judy, because now tht only way thais mueller protection bill can get a vote is if senator mcconnell allows it to get a vote, or if every senator agrees.e that's beca how senate rules work. and it seems that senator mcconnell does not want to a bring it ut this time, even though it may, in fact, have a majoty of senate votes. >> woodruff: now, you were telling us this has a direct connection to another important vote today in the sen this was a down-to-the-wire vote on a controversial judicial nominee. and it was a difficult vote for the only african american republican in the senate. >> that's exactly right. i mentioned seefatorflake. he has said he will not vote in naifer of any judicial min until the mueller investigation bill gets a vote. so he was a "no" at theart on this judicial nominee. thisa man'sme is thomas far. it's important to talk about him. he has been nominated for the

eastern district in north carolina. since 2006. he's controversial, judy, i want to show you a couple of things about him. he is currently an attorney. he works on workplace and employment law in north carolina. u see one of the issue with him is that he has worked for years for stricter voting laws, including identification and other laws in north carolina that courts haved orgeted minorities. he also worked for jesse helms senate campaign at one point, sending out postcards t african americans that they were not eligible to vote, falsely. so he's very controversial, but the president supports him. today, it came down to one vote. the vote was 49-50, and the outstanding vote was tim scott of south korea. i. i sat in the senate chamber as he sat in the back trying to sort out his vote. in the end he was ae "ys" for moving forward on this nomination. but he said he hacsn't dee his final vote yet. that's a very big issue, of course, about how you perceive

race and how the republican party perceives issues of race. and i think it will be decided tomorrow when we ha the final vote on this nominee. >> woodruff: so, as you say lisa, all three of these issues revolve around one thing, and that is thee prdent. wean republicans in the senate, in the house, have had theirio frustr with the president. are we seeing that frustration turn into something mor >> i think that's right. we're seeing the senators be a little bit more bold here on saudi arabia. wever, one good longtime senate source of mine who has sort of gone both ways on thene president,awmaker told me it has to be a very serious matter for us to take on the president directly. and what you see this week, clearly, w serious matters, things like saudi arabia. >> woodruff: maybe some kind of pae has been turned. we'll see. >> we'll find out. odruff: lisa desjardin thank you. >> woodruff: in the day's otwsr wall street shot higher on signs that interest rate hikes might slow down.du the dow jones rial average

surged more than 617 points to close at 25,366.ne the nasdaq rosly 209 points, and the s&p 500 added 61. all of that, after federal reservchair jerome powell said in new york, that the fed might ponder a pause in raising rates. >> we know thamoving too fast would risk shortening the expansion. we also know that moving too slowly, keeping interest rates too low r too long, could risk other distortions in the form of higher inflation or destabilizing financial imbalances. >> woodruff: powell's comments came a day after president trump blamed recent stock market declines and general motors plant closings on fed moves to raise rates. today the president had another warning, for g.m. he retweeted a suggestion that the automaker shld pay back the federal bailout money it received, after the 2008 rcession. president trump using to rule out a pardon for his former campaign chair paul manafort, in

the russia probe. manafort has pleaded guilty to money laundering and lobbying violations. but mr. trump told "the new york post" today that a pardon is "not off the table." meanwhile, presidential attorney rudy guiliani confirmed thatrt mana lawyers have shared information with the president's lawyers. and, the president reportedly denied knowing, in advance, of w 2016 trump meeting between wmpaign aides and russians. the denial came tten answers to the special counsel, robertueller. russia's military announced todait is sending more anti- aircraft missiles to occupied crimea, amid a new crisis withra e. russian vessels seized three ukrainian ships and 24 sailors in the kerch strait on sunday, claiming they illegally .tered the ar today, president vladimir putin charged that ukraine's president provoked the crisis, to help his

re-election chances. all( translated ): now, a incident occurred and martial law was introduced in the country.ne this is being bviously in the run-up to the presidential poll. this is an absolutely obvious fact.a now this iovocation for sure. >> woodruff: also today, the kremlin sa it still expects putin to meet with president ump at the g-20 summit. mr. trump threatened yesterday to cancel thateeting, over the russian actions against ukraine. in afghanistan, the taliban staged new attacks, as a summit convened in geneva to garner new support for the afghan government. at least 30 civilians died in ting, in helmand province. afghan officials said most were killed in a u.s. air strike. a separate attack, in kabul today, killed 10 people. we'll examine the state of thear afghanand peace efforts, right after the news summary. the people of australia grappled today with extreme fd

extreme rainfall. sydney was inundated with a month's worth of rain in a ngle morning. the deluge flooded homes and streets, and claimed at least one life. >> we've had storm events before dn new south wales, we've had storm events in before but not this widespread, not over this continuing period of time. we've had in excess of a hundred millimeters of rain already in some areas of sydney, but one of the things we're happening is the rain is flooding different areas at different times. >> woodruff: meanwhile, in northeastern australia, firefighters in queensland state battled an unprecedented 138 fires, as temperatures soared to 104 degrees. authorities said the fire danger has gone to "catastrophic," the worst on their scale. a chinese scientist who says he engineered the first genetically edited babies, now says anotherd pregnancy isway. he jiankui made the announcement

today at an international conference in hong kong. there has been no independent confirmation of his claims, but scientists have condemned his experiments. back in this country, the final u.s. senate race in this year's elections has been decided. republican senator cindy hyde-wo smittuesday's run-off in mississippi. she fended off a challenge from mike espy, a former democratic congressman. republicans will hold 53 seats in the new senate, a net gain of two. and the's finally a champion at the world chess finals. norwegian magnus carlsen defeat american fabiano caruana in london today, to hold on to the title for th4th time. they had fought to 12 draws before the tie-breaker round. no american has won the championip since bobby fischer in 1972. and, the national christmas tree was officially lit this evening, ushering in the holiday seasonn.

in washing the president and first lady did the honors, lighting up a fraser fir from newland, north carolina. that carries on a nearly century-old tradition, started under president calvin coolidge. still to come on the newshour: the trump administration's point person on afghanistan amid a recent increase in violence. an increase in u.s. women behind bars sparks reform. prison how an asteroid can reveal secrets to the origins of life, and much more. uff: new flashpoints in america's longest war. nick schifrin reports on how a nispike in violence in afgan collides with a renewed push to negotiate peace with the taliban. >> schifrin: after 17 years,

more than a trilon dollars, and tens of thousands ves lost, the violence continues in an inconclusivand grinding war in afghanistan. after another week of deadly attacks, today a massive suicide bomb rattled a foreign compound outside the afghan capital. this year is poised to be one of the deadliest for afghan civilians, and increased taliban attacks have led to territorial gains for the militants. in 2016, the taliban controlled of afghanistan's territory, and contested 25%. by this year, the group gained control of 14% in red, and contest 30% in yellow. that helps keep the government weak, and elections in question. u.s. officials admit last month's parliamentary election went poorly, leading some to consider a delay in the presidential election plannedap fol. that's the stated cut off point for peace talks with the

taliban, led by zalmay khalilzad, special envoy for afghanistan and the former u.s.a ador there. >> i hope that the taliban andd afghans wouse the election date as a deadline to e a peace agreement before then. >> schifrin: the international community is encouraging that push f peace. at a u.n. conference in geneva, the e.u. pledged $535 million, and afghan president ashraf ani asked for patience. he said a peace plan would take at least five years. >> as the saying goes, we have been building a house whe putting out the fire. we have exercised strategic patience in the face of unspeakable horrors and have t extend hand of friendship and delivered concrete proposals for cooperation to all our neighbors. >> schifrin: the most important neighbor is pakist, where taliban leadership live. this week, pakistan's primeni mier imran khan, who's sparred with president trump,

promised help. he said in a speech along the afghan border, "we shall play our role in afghan peace process along with other stake holders as peace in afghanistan is critical for achieving enduring peace in pakistan." president trump has long doubted the u.s. mission in afghanistan. he told the "washington post" yesterday that he keeps the u.s. there because "virtually every expert tha say if we don't go there, they're going to be fighting over here."bu over there, afghans are desperate to end the seemingly endless violence, said t u.n.'s top officer in afghanistan, toby lanzer. >> for the vast majority of the country, they have grown up knowing conflict and nothing doelse, so there is a trem hunger for peace. >> schifrin: zalmay khalilzad is u.s. special representative for afghanistan reconciliatian. he was borgrew up in afghanistan. e ring the attacks on 9/11 he was working for orge w. bush administration on the national security counl staff.

he was involved in the planning of the u.s. invasion and then constructing a government. ambassador welcome back to the newshour. >> well, it's great to be with you. >> schifrin: we just heard you in kabul using the word "deadline." have you been given a deadline by the president or anybody on his staff? >> well, everyone, starting with the president, would like to see the war in afghanistan end, that there be reconciliation and peace among the warring factions. sut we want a peace that i worthy of the sacrifices that have been amend for the past 17 years, meanwhile, especially, that afghans do not become a platform for international terrorists against tited states. so, yes, we are in a hurry to end the aghan trgedy. the afghan people deserve peace. they have been at war for 40

years displik you said you're in a hurry. there has been talk internally, six months, nineonths, how much time you actually have. as you know, there is criticism of past policies that have deadlines. so are you setting yourself up for failure by neeng to hurry so much and finishing something next year? >> we are in a hurry, but we are realistic, also. we believe that warring factions, including the taliban, they're saying they cannot winwa th, and the afghan government says that they want o tical settlement. we say we want a political settlement. we lead the international forces afghanistan. so given that, this maybe a moment of opportunity displiko what needs toe first, reconciliation with the taliban, or the presidential elections currently scheduled for april? >> ideally, of course, it would be good to have an agreement wist the taliban fiand then have the presidential election. becae then theitalibs wll

also participate in a possible election, whatever road map the afghans agree to. >> schifrin: and you think that's possible, that time frame? >> it is possible. is it likely? we will have to see. its possibl given what both sides are saying and we will have to wait and if there is no agreement, if there is no progress with theb, tahen, of course, the timing of the election has already been announced tod the presidential elections will be in april. >> schifrin: but could they be pushed back? >> well,f there isn agreement among the afghans--in metalibs and others to do so-- that's really a decision for the afghans to make. >> schifrin: the number one demand of theital barng of course, has always been the withdrawal of u.s. forces. what is the u.s. willing to give up? what is the u.s. willing to concede in order to achieve peace? >> stying infghanistan militarily is not an end in itself for us. our objective has been the

preclusion of use of afghan territory by terrorists against us. so ifwe can be satised that we can handle the terrost threat with less force, ultimately, of course, we want an afghanistan at is sovereign, self-reliant, with no foreign forces on it.w but get from here throfor us, the ke requirement would be satisfaction that afghanistan will never become a platform to threaten us. >> schifrin: you're trying to get to talks between the taliban and the afghan government, but how can the afghan government possibly negotiate with the taliban when they, themselves, have so many issues internallyd n't really agree with eachorg how they run the country? >> for peace top hapen, afghans must accept each other, must o respect eaer, and must agree on a road map to end the tragedy of the last 40 years in

afghistan of o party imposing or seeking to impose its will, its world view on the rest. and i hope that, given what the talib leadership are saying, that they do not sek e monopolize power. that there has to be a political settlement. therefe, afghans have to sit together, including the talib, to come to an arrangement. >> schifrin: you visited pakistan a few times in this thiew job. you of course very years have been very critical of the pakistani administration. that has not changed pakistani behavior. so is there something you're offering pakistan in order to try to stop them from hedging? >> we want to assure them-- and i have engaged them, as you said, repeatedly-- to lt them know that we are not seeking ana afghanas the result of a political settlement that's hostilanto them. weafghanistan to be at peace with itself, but also at peace with the neighborhood, and

at pwith us in terms of the terrorism threat. and we are engaging the taliban. that'shat they have been advocating. so, therefore, i believe that the time is now for peace inan afghanista in pakistan to ylay a positive role. >> schifrin: zal khalilzad, special representative for afghanistan reconstruction, thank you very muu,. >> thank yhank you very much. >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: nasa seeks to take samples from an asteroid in an effort to understand the origins of life. author katie kitamura discussesr her novel "a sion," the latest entry our newshour book club. and how one company us t military pano employ people often overlooked for a job.

but now, the u.s. incarcerates more people than any other country. more than two llion people are in jails or prisons here, and more than 200,0 of those prisoners are female. amna nawaz takes a closer look at the condions faced by women behind bars. >> nawaz: judy, nearly 30% of all incarcerated women worldwide are in the united states. and the number of women in u.s. prisons has risen more than 700% in the last 40 years. with that increase came a recognition that men and women in custody have different needs. earlier this year, the department of justice's inspector general conducted a review of how the federal bureau prisons handles female inmates. apaders from both organizations testified today onitol hill, where democrats and republicans expressed concerns about prison conditions. the report, released in september, made several commendations. among them: provide better training for staff on needs of women d trauma victims. more than 85% of women in prison reported somphysical or sexual trauma in their lifetime.

increase awareness opregnancy programs for inmates. just 37% of pregnant inmates participate in programs.cr se access to feminine hygiene products. to talk about hothese recommendations would affect women in prison, i'm joined by andrea james. she's an attorney who served two years in a feder prison in danbury, connecticut. after her release she founded the national council for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated wen and girls. andrea james, welcome to the newshour. as we mentioned, before you were an advocate, before you served your time, yo were an attorney focusing mostly on criminal defense. i'm curious, when you rst got to prison, what was it that struck you about the people and the conditions inside? >> in terms of what struck me when i walked in eto the fderal prison for women in danbury, connecticut, as an incarcerated woman was to see a sea of predominantly black and brown

women who were being warehoused in a prison. coming from the extensive background i have with my family as civil rights folks, it just heally made me realize that what i was seeing was result of policy that had disproportionately affected poor women, women of color, and that a prison will never be the place for a woman or a girl to begin to heal and advance your life. >> nawaz: let me ask you about something else you mentioned abouthe relationship between incarcerated mothers and their children. there's a strike statistic, itns more t0% of women in state prisons have children under the age of 18. when you served your time, you left behind some young children as well. tell me about what it's like to be serving ti in a prison and try to maintain that bond. how easy is it? well, it's not easy at all. i was very fortune. i was ry privileged as an incarcerated person. i had a husband whobrought my children to see me every single

visit. i left behind at theime a 12-year-old daughter and my son was six months old when i lked to that prison. and for me, i had the opportunity-- and that was incredibly heartbreak. it was incredibly difficult to be searated from them. and i walked into a prisothat was crammed full of women who had not seen their children. and then even after incarceration, phone call callse lttraordinarily costly. it's very diffio be able to stay connected to your children, particularly if when you were doesn't t prison, your children were separated and sent to different households to liven and so mothers often had to make a decision as to which child she was going to call, and often had only enough money-- we made 12 cents an hour in then, prior the most part-- only having enough money to call e child or make one phone call to a chd a month. >> nawaz: andrea, some will

say lack of resources, access to resources, that's a problem systemwide, not just for women but also for men. so why do you think this is a specific issue that needs addressing for women who are incarcerated? and, also, why do you think we're talking so much about it right noav? >> womene very specific-- gender-specific reans as to what leads them into the behavior that lands them on a prison bunk, aoften the system does not recognize those things as mitigating factors, or even pays attention to what those things are. so we need to do a better job oa ng attention that. and, yes, there are men, obviously, who arera incard, and they make up the majority of the prison population in the country. but the fact othe matter is that for many of the reasons that women are incarcerate rward, we need to find other solutions, because they are di wctly in relation toomen being victims themselves. >> nawaz: you advocate for prison reform, making conditions better. we heard the push-back in

congress earlier today. some will say prison it meant to be comfortable. people who are serving crimes-- serving time for committing crimes don't need to be that comfortable and have all these resources available to them. what do you say to that? >> well, listen, if prison was the answer, we wouldn't haev the-- we wouldn't be the most incarcerating country on thepl et right now. prison is not the answer. and i think we need to learn from the mistakes that we've made. we've increased the incarceration numbers in this country for four decades now. that's long enough for us to realize that is not the lulution. the on needs to come from within the communities that have been most directly affected. we need investments, not in mores prison and prison building d investing in those prisons. we need to invest in the communities where folks areco ng from where they are disproportionately represented in the prisons, and that includ social and economic resources that currently are vastly lacking in many marginalized communities.ea >> nawaz: andrames, thank you very much.

>> thank you. >> woodruff: a more than two year journey is about to reach its target next week, when a nasa spacecraft, launched in 2016, connects with an asteroid hurtling through space. scierrespondent miles o'brien has an insidt the mission of the "osiris-rex" probe and the researchers behind it. it's our weekly science and technology series, "ading edge." >> here's a couple of pictures we've got today ndr just eye ca >> reporter: briefings like this are becoming more equentand intensefor this team of scientists and engineers at the university of arizona.n more thatwo years after it launched, their spacecraft is homing in on an asteroid named bennu, wch they hope will tell

them more about our origins, and our possible demise. >> it's one of the m potentially hazardous asteroids that we know of within the solar system. >> reporter: planetary scientist dante lauretta leads the mission. its name is a mouthful: origins, spectra interpretation, resource identification, security, regolith explorer. or osiris-rex. >> osiris-rex will be the largest sample-return from a planetary body since the apollo missions, so we're really are defining the next stage of planetary exploration. >> okay, the contingency sample is down. >> reporter: apollo astronauts collected 842 pounds of lunar rocks from 1969 through 1972, which scientists are still actively analyzing today. but beyond the moon, sple return missions remain the province of robots. in 2006, nasa's stardust m msion returnedligram of dust

from the tail of01he comet. in the japan's hayabusa mission brought back a few micro grains of an asteroid, even though the probe's collection device failed. the osiris-rex team is hoping for a much bigger payload,t least 60 grams, or about two ounces of loose asteroid rock- about e weight of a snickers bar. scientists believe carbon-rich asteroids like bennu carry the key ingredients of life amino and nucleic acids which make up our proteins and d.n.a. >> if we can show the building blocks of life are contained in these asteroids, then those got delivered all ov the solar system, and we don't think the chemistry of our solar system is vastly different than the thousands of other solar systems that we are finding elwhere in the galaxy, so the likelihood that lifis out there i think it goes up exponentially. >> reporter: landing on an asteroid is big engineering challenge.

bennu is about 500 meters, or 1600 feet across, it generates only a wisp of gravity, about a 100,000 times less strength than thhe of earth. soeam has devised a novel sampling method. instead of landing, the spacecraft will touc surface of bennu ever so briefly, pogo st ak style. it's touch and go just long enough kick up and grab some dust. carl hergenrother leads the astronomy working group. >> so about 30 meters up, we kind of go into a free fall. we slowly fall with our arm extended out. c soon as it touches the surface, there'sanisters of nitrogen gas that will blow into the surface. it will kick up all of the material in the rface, which then gets caught by the air filter. the whole time this is going on, the spacecraft contihe kind of descend and shorten up the shock absorber. god then, we kind of like stick off.

>> reporter: but the team is not rushing into this bold maneuver. once osiris-arx is in orbit nd bennu, they will spend more than a year scanning it with various instruments, to increase their chances of success. selecting a good sample site is a top priority for lead imaging scientist dani dellaguistina. >> we're very excited about starting to look at bennu with our color imager. and in particular, we're going to be seeing how rocky the surface is.am so, thnt of rocks or boulders on the surface is going to have a really big impact on where we chose to sample. >> reporter: while the team f search a touchdown site, they hope to measure how the asteroid tumbles through space, orwhich slightly alters itt. the goal: a better understanding of h big a threat bennu pose to earth. the odds it's on a collision course with us in the next 200 years are 1 in 2,700.

if bennu hit earth, it would not send us the way of the dinosaur that 65 million years ago was about the size of manhattan. but smaller asteroids are not to be ignored. in 2013, an asteroid 66 feet in diameter buzzed the russian region of chyabinsk. it didn't impact the surface, but caused numerous injuries, mostly from the thousands of windows it shattered. empire state building-sized bennu would cause widespread regional damage if it hit the surface. >> we are paying attention to bennu. we take it-- it's important to understand this risk and to mitigate the risk. >> reporter: of course even smaller fragments of asteroids hit earth all the time in the form of meteorites. so why is it scientifically necessary to return a piece of one still in space? >> what actually survives passes through the earth's atmosphere

that hit the ground may not be representative of what material it's out there bust of the meteorite, 99% of its mass probabls off. so, it's a good chance of what you're actually finding is just the strongest material. so, by actually going to an asroid and bringing back everything we can from at leasts thittle area and surface. you end up with an unbiased sample. >> reporter: if all goes as planned, osiris-rex should leave bennu with that sample in march of 2021, returning it to the utah desert in september o23 and for scientists that's when it's game on. the precious cargo will keep them busy for many years, trying to understand the origin and possible ubiquity, of life. for the pbs newshour, i'm miles o'brien in tucson, arizona.

>> woodruff: all you readers out there, get ready. jeffrey brown has the latest installment of our newshour/"new york times" book club, "now read this." >> brown: a young couple separates. the husband disappears. the wife travels to greece to find him. "a separation" is a mystery in which she and we only learn so much. and it was our noember book club pick. author katie kitamura is here to answer some of th questions our readers sent in. welcome to you. thanks for doing this with us. >> thank you for having me. >> brown: i called it a "mystery." i've seen it a "thriller." how do you think about this book? >> it's funny, i think it kind of comes on lie a mystery or comes like a thriller but ultimately for me it's a book about grief, about letting go of past selfs and people we have lost as well. >> brown: a thriller is the way in for a lot of us. >> i think so,es. >> brown: let's go to some of the questions we heard. >> the narrator demonstrates a

level of self-awareness and honesty that is, quite frankly, admirable. why, then, did she marry such an >> brown: okay, we have to let in those who haven't read it, the un.vable man but this is about picking your characters, right? the narrator is the won going to find this man. she doesn't really want to find him, but she does. yes. i mean, i think in a lot of heys, one thing that the book grapples with isact that it's really impossible to fully know another person. and i think that includes ourselves. it's hard to really know ourselves 100%. and i think one thing they thought about a lot as i wrookte the as the fact that we do things that are mysterious toth ourselves, w it's being with somebody who seems less an wholly admirable. so in a lot of ways, the tone for the the book is of a erson who is trying to understand something that happened in the past. >> brn: a person she's decided not to be with. >> yes. >> brown: and now she has to figure out well, who was he anyway >> yes, that's right. and i think that can happen even with people you feel you've

known very well f much-- you come across them again and you think, "whof that? and who was i when i was with that person?" and that caib friend or a partner or a parent. it can be anybody. but you kind of access pasvet ions of yourself through other people sometimes. >> brown: another let's go to r second question. >> your narrative begins by plunging into a dy, fire-blackened landscape, and ends contemplating a nameless black pool. what connection should we draw between these bookends of devastation? >> brown: bookends of devastation. that's dramatic. sebut he's getting at thse of place. and for those, again, who haven't read it, set in this far-off greece which-- well, you tell us. why that setting? >> sur it's in a very remote part of greece which is kind of famous even within greece for being quite rugged. it an incredible, beautiful,

desolate landscape. off-seasont's the so nobody is is there. >> it's off-season so nobody ish e. it's really sublime in the real sense of the word. i went there probably 10 years ago now. it was a particular time in my life. my father had been sick for quite a long time when i had been there. he would die two years later, but it was while i was there a thatepted the fact that he was going to die. so for me, that landscape was really saturated with grieving itmething that was going to happen. more than just a kind of landscape a beautiful picturesque landscape around the character. ch's a psyogical terrain. >> brown: let's go to the next question because i think that goes to yorsur al experience, okay. >> right >> what personal experiences prompted her to write such a heart-wrenching story about fidelity, separation, an death? >> brown: okay, well you started to answer that. >> yes, i did. i wrote it in the years after mh died. when i started writing it, i didn't think it was a book necess when i finished, i looked back,

and there are mourners, there's loss, there's the rituals of grief are really fundamental to the book. i think in that sense, it's really rooted in my experience ofhat loss, which is a very kind of central one for me. to brown: another let's g our next question. >> i'm curious about your literary influences. >> i read a lot of fiction translation, and my character's a translator, and i thi that's-- that idea of words being shifted from one language to another isc really fainating to me. >> brown: why is that? >> i grew up in a household that spoke jaanese and english. so i grew up kind of surfing between two different languages, d forth.ack a and i think that's fundamental to the way i think about language and the wayhink about storytelling. >> brown: okay, let's go to one more question. >> thank you. >> my question isid she kill her husband? >> my question for you is who did it? who killed christopher? >> brown: okay. ( laughter ) we put those two together, the odunit.

now, you are not going to tell us who done it. did you know who did it? >> you know, ion't eyeon't know, but it's really funny >> trevor: you don't know. >> i don't know. because also the narrator has her name. she's unnamed, and people say what's her name. i wrote a version of this novele in the thirdson before putting it aside, and i think she must have had a name in that verson, but i never loked back. >> and don't know what her name is, either. >> brown: all right, we'll continue this online, and you can find the entire conversation there later. for now, katie kitamura, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> brown: and our next book for december is garnering much attention. it's called, "there will be no miracles her" author casey gerald tells his up-to-the-moment of obtaining and tioning the american dream. as always, we hope you read along and join of join the discussion on ou facebook page for this "now read this," in rtnership with the "new york

times."oo >>uff: and we'll be back shortly with a company that uses its contract to make pants forry the milio employee those often overlooked for a job. s t first, take a moment to hear from your local pbstation. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours oair. >> woodruff: for those stations with us, lack of access to running water is an issue in many developing countries, buts itso a problem in the united states. special correspondent fred de sam lazaro has this encore report from new mexico on new efforts to bring basic amenities to the navajo nation reservation.

>> the payload literally a lifeline. >> the kids would be yelling, running to the water truck when i'm coming up to their house. >> reporter: she's known as "the water lady," nay region where 40% of reidents have no access to running water. many live in such extreme poverty, they can't even afford large containers. often, darle delivers mo than just water. working with her church and other charities, she helped this family at the onset of last winter. >> i brought them food. i saw the trailer, the small se. we gave oume blankets, moards to cover the window. at that tie, it was snowing. >> reporter: so it gets pretty cold here. >> yes, it gets very cold. despite the harsh conditions, she wanted to raise heive

ildren, including six-month-old twin girls, on the navajo reservation. >> i wand to have my chldren have more open space for them to run around outside. >> reporter: what they gave up are two of life's mostsic amenitieses: electricity and running wat water they use in their new home ente'sried in from vic mother's home, a mile down the road at the other end of their homestead. even using the toilet invtrolvea ip to grandma's house. p >> i'nning to look into getting a porta potty or an outhouse. as for the shower and the bath, i can't really do anythinga unless i a main water line, until i have a septic service, and all of that. but, like i said, i can't get that. >> reporter: due to a long waiting list, getting co to the main water line could take up to 15 years, and itill wst more than $12,000. although vicenrks full time, piped in water is a luxury she cannot afford. >> for a long time, we told

those people, "justait. infrastructure will catch up with you." well, infrastructure is not coming. >> reporter: george mcgraw found a group called "dig deep" that used to work on water projects in africa but isnow direct its efforts to help some of the two mie lion peopln this country, like the vicente family, who lack access to clean water and sanitation. >> when the backhoe is active, everyone nee to have a har hat on. >> reporter: that includes 18,000 homes in the navajo nation. wells are not an option for most homeowners. they're deep, expensive, and there's no guantee of clean water. >> a lack of clean water in the united states does exactly the same thing to families it does around the world-- it impactsr thalth, their ability to hold down a job, to get an education, their ability to spen, time with their ki e.ay, to have a happy lif >> reporter: dig deep's solution is an off-grid system that don't require a utility hook-up. tina vicente is one of nearly

300 homes being fitted with large water storage systems and solar-powered pumps to bring drinking water directly into the home. >> it's going to be good because we don't have to haul water. we'll have it here. will allow us to give the girls bath in the sink because they're still small. and it will allow good drinking water. >> reporter: as more of these 1,200-gallon cisterns are involved, there is a need for a more convenient water source. so dig deep is looking for spots drill more community wel like this one. it's a costly and time-consuming process. the first task when water comes out of this hole is to make sure it's preof contaminants, uranium from old mines is a common one. if it checks out as clean, this well will bring huge savings for hundreds of families who com from miles around here. on average residents of the navajo reservation pay 13 ces for a gallon of water.

that is 72 times what a typical rate payer paints in suburban arizona or new mexico. >> we spend a lot of our time out here working on water projects but a lot more time in our office in los angeles, for instance, trying to convinceri everybody in they should pay attention to this problem, care about it, and want to do something about it. >> reporter:ast year dig deep did manage to convince some nearby rotary club, which pledged some $75,000, which will fund about 18 installations like this one in tina's home. the company has long beenin lved in water projects around the world, but jim bissonnette from scottsdale, hiizona, said they never imagined doing twork in their own backyard.t' >> is a shock to think people in the united states don't have running water.ch we'lge the lives of this family dramatically fromer carrying wn pickle jars to actually having running water. that's a great feeling. >> reporter: they will have a few small luxuries with the

rooftop solar panel and also some basic l.e.d. lighting. >> lights. we have por. >> reporter: projects like these also help train and provide work tt can keep local talent local. 23-year-old annie's skills can fetch a job anywhere in america, but she's thlled to be able to stay in the place she calls home. >> you get to know the families when you put in the system. you get to know their background.w it's where i g, so it's a good feeling knowing that you're helping where you grew up. >> reporter: finally at the end of a long day, the water lady arrived for her big delivery. and annie tightened the last screws. it was time to gather around the sink for an impromptu celebration as tina turned on the faucet. a mundane and giant leap for

this family into the modern world that many of her neighbors are still waiting to join.fo the pbs news hour, i'm fred de sam lazaro in the navajo nation. or woodruff: producing uniforms for our nation'sthan one million member military is a big , b. in cleveland, ohe company hires people who might otherwise have difficulty finding work. from the pbs station in cleveland, darrielle snipes has the story. >> reporter: like the women who vow to fight for our freedom, the employees at vocational guidance services fight their own personal battle eachay, that comes in the form of a physical or cognitive disability. >> i am visual impaired i was born legally blind with sight. >> i have mild autism and having some struggles growing up.

>> reporter: barbara moore and david ogletree both work at v.g.s., a non-profit that trains those living with disabilities by giving them hands-on experience. v.g.s. is currently producing 3,000 pairs of trousers a month and these aren't just any pair of pants; they are made for the women who serve in the army and marines. in the basement of v.g.s., the fabric is first cut into panels to make pants. next, on the second floor, it takes only 40 minutes for employees to transform the panels into trousers, passing rbara sews on the buttons but also folds and presseshe pants. she's worked at v.g.s. for 16 years. she doesn't let her disability stop her.>> don't have a disability. i have a different way of life. when i first got here i had to have brighter lights and raise ornower the machine but whe you are comfortable do it for so long you can do it in your eep. >> reporter: david inspects the pants, and is as meticulous as if he re in the military. i

lways believe it is good to help those who served the country. >> reporter: sabrina selinka, general manager of sewing, says they are able to produce high quality garments, by a group some may underestimate, with a lot of time and training. >> it is something that makes all of us proud.th some o had dreams of wanting to join the military but they couldn't. so being here gives them that sense of pride of having a bantribution to the military. >> reporter: bar says she loves giving back to the women in the military and loves seeina >> i love de is the military and i get so excited when i see because i tell who ever is t sitting neme. hey, i helped make their uniforms and they are like wow >> reporter: v.s. is working on expanding its government contracts to include other garments for the military as well as securing contracts. that way it will keep these employees producing quality clothing and potentimploy more individuals with disabilities. for pbs nehour, i'm darrielle snipes in cleveland.

>> woodruff: and three cheers for them. 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, thk you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> consumer cellatar believes ireless plans should reflect the amount of talk, text and data that you use. we offer a variety of no- contract wireless plans for learn more, go toytnphone a consumercellular.tv >> kevin. >> kevin! >> kevin. >> advice for life. life well-planne learn more at raymondjames.com. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals.

>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pie station fromrs like you. thank you. captioning sponsored bws ur productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

. hello, everyone. welcome to "amanpour & company." here's what's coming up? is ukraine'sresident preparing for a war? i'll ask him. uster ra escalates a onfrontation at sea and seizes sailors and ships. plus general motors slashes jobs and factories. w the man won pennsylvania for trump tells me what it means for blue-collaramerica. and -- ♪ > and a power couple gets real. how they normalcy and ballot in the ultra-successful lives.