captioning sponsored by ll newshour productions, >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, t meeting that wasn't. after president trump cancels a cret summit with taliban afghan leaders, where does america stand in the effort to end its ngest war? then, brexit on the brink. chaos envelops the british government as its options for leaving the european union grow murkier. reus amy walter and tamara keith are o examine the closely watched special election in north carolina, and president trump's latest republican challenger. and margaret atwood, author of the acclaimed novel "the handmaid's tale," returns to he esfamous dystopia in the new sequel, "the tments."

a sequel to "the hd'slet's write tale" of this kind in 2000, or 'vlet's say in 1999, i wou said, why bother? we're not going there. surely peoe are moving away from that. but in the moment in which we now exist, that's not true anymore. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's "pbs nshr." >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been prided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160

years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> consumer cellular. >> financial services firm raymd james. t >>he william and flora hewlett 50undation. for more thaears, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these ititutions: and individuals. >> this program was made bssible by the corporation for publadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs

ation from viewers like you. thank you. n woodruff: president tru says that peace talks with the taliban are dead. his pronouncement today came after he disclosed he was canceling a secret weekend meeting with taliban and afghan leaders at camp david. he blamed a taliban bombing that killed a u.s. service member last thursday. we will get some analysis after the news summary. north korea offed today to restart nuclear talks with the united states this month. e talks stalled after president trump and north korea's kim jong un held a failed summit in hanoibrast ry. mr. trump reacted this afternoon, outside the white house. i have a very good relationship with chairman kim, kim jong un, and it just came out, i just saw it as i'm coming out here, it just came out that they would like to meet, we'll wasee what happens, but i

say having meetings is a good thinnot a bad thing. >> woodruff: kim jong un is widely believeto be seeking security guarantees and relief from u.s. sanctions. israeli prime mister benjamin netanyahu claimed today that iran had a secret nuclea weapons site. he said it had been in abadeh, in central iran, but was destroyed by the iranians after being discovered. iran's foreign minister javad claim.dismissed the israeli he said "the possessor of real nukes cries wolf." the deadly storm "dorian" is non longer a hurrine, but thousands are still struggling the storm lashed at nova scotia and newfoundland yesterday, atlantic.ving into the north meanwhile, seah teams in the bahamas recovered more bodies, as the death toll ere reached at least 45. we'll hear more about the bahamas, later in the program. in russia, voters have handed a victory to opponents of

president vladimir putin's party. owsults from sunday's voting he opposition won nearly half of the moscow city council's seats. ppposition leader alexei navalny had urged t for the anti- kremlin candidates with the best chance of winnin >> ( translated ): in general we can say that the "tactical vote" worked in the country and,or the first time, it worked much better than we had expected. this was an experimed in n ose cities and regions where it was implemented for the fkest time, it wvery, very well. >> woodruff: putin's party won several governorips, but also suffered defeats in several thousands of high and college students in hong kong form support democratic reforms. they held hands outside their schools. it was a show of solidarity after violent weekend clashes s tween protesters and police. on sunday, marchged the u.s. to impose sanctions on hong

kong and mainland china. bac in this country, the u.s. coast guard rescued three of four cremembers trapped inside a south korean cargo ship off georgia's cot. the massive vessel was carrying more tha4,000 new vehicles when it overturned and burnedt early sunday, closing the port c brunswick. today,st guard helicopter landed on the ship's side, and drscuers rappelled down and led a hole in the hull. they found the crew memrs alive and cfe. 20 othw members were rescued yesterday. 50 states and u.s. territories have opened an anti-trust investigation into google. nce bipartan group announc today they are looking into alleged monopolistic behavior. texas attorney general ken paxton was among those speaking outside the u.s. supreme court. >> this is a company that dominates all aspects of advertising on the internet and

they dominate the buyers side the sellers side, the auion side and even the video side with youtube. at woodruff: facebook is facing a similar investn by a separate group of states. three u.s. house committees-- - telligence, oversight and inreign affaire all investigwhether president trump and top aides pressed ukraine for re-election help. at issue is whether they pushed kiev to probe hunter biden's connectis to a ukrainian gas company. his father is former vice president joe biden, now a democratic presidential candidate. a federal judge in california has re-issued a nationwide injunction against barring most migrants from seeking asylum at the u.s./mexico border. the trump administration rule plies to those who pass through a third country. an appeals court restricted the

dge's previous injunctio today, he re-instated his e itial ruling. the white holled it "a gift to human smugglers and and, on wall streedow jones industrial average gained . points to close at 26,8 the sdaq fell 15 points, and the s&p 500 slipped a fraction. still to come on the "newshour," nearly 18 years after the invasion, how close is the u.s. en ending its military involvin afghanistan? dealing with the magnitude of suffering in the bahamas as the ioope of hurricane dorian's destructn becomes clear. the brexit breakdown-- u-k leaders scramble to figure out just how they'll be leaving the ropean union. and much more. >> woodruff: the fallout

continued today from the collapse of the white house plan heto invite the leaders of taliban and president of afghanistan to camp david. president trump's twin surprise- - that he had invited the taliban to the u.s., but was canceling the talks, echoed in washington and kabul. and that's where special correspondent jane ferguson is tonight. >> rorter: leaving the white house today, president trump had ominous words about the taliban peace talks. >> they're dead. they're dead. dead.r as i'm concerned, they're >>eporter: he spoke after canceling separate meetings with afghan president ashraf ghani and taliban leaders plfor this weekend at the camp david presidential retreat. lawmakers of both parties blasted the president for even viting the taliban to camp david, days before the 18th anniversary of the september 11th terror attacks. democratic senator robert menendez of new jersey. >> i think it was ill conceived no the first place. it'ser example of the

trump administration's foreign policy, which is a high-wire act. >> reporter: liz cheney of wyoming-- the third ranking republican in the house-em tweeted, "nor of the taliban should set foothere. ever." the meeting would have come after nearly a year of talks. u.s officials-- led by afghan native and former ambassador zaay khalilzad-- and the alliban had closed in on a peace o end the 18-year american war in afghanistan. as part of that tentative deal, the u.s. would remove 5,000 troops in return for a taliban pledge to reduce violence and prevent the terr groups like isis and al-qaeda from operating in the country. taere would also be follow up s between the taliban and afghan government.th , in three tweets saturday night, president trump announced the camp david talks with the taliban, and said he had "cancelled the meeting and called off peace negotiations." he blamed a taliban attack last thursday that killed a u.s.

soldier-- an attack he said proved the taliban wereib negotiating in bad faith. secretary of state mike pompeo on sunday defended the president. >> when the taliban tried to gain negotiang advantage by conducting terror attacks inside of the country, presiden rtrump made t decision to say that's not going to work. >> reporter: in kabul, afghan presidential spokesmanediq seddiqi welcomed the breakdown af the deal. than government says it has been shut out of the talks completely, and their criticism el the proposed deal had strainedions with the trump administration. >> we strongly beliet that shift in policy is a reflection of the concerns that we have raised towards that peace deal, and there is a true and genuine understanding in the white house of any consequences of any bad peace deal or peace process. >> reporter: mr. trump announced from the start of negotiations that he was determined to pull

the troops out entirely. >> i would have done the negotiations differently. >> reporter: dr. hamdullah mohib is president ashraf ghani's national security advisor. >> showing youcard right at tie outset doesn't make for good neions. tid i think perhaps that's why their po has hardened over e e last nine months since these netiations hen going on. >> reporter: the violence across afghanistan in recens has been staggering as both sides eessured each other on th negotiations. the taliban have killed dozens cidefghan civilians in s attacks on the capital kabul and launched offensives in several provincial capitals as well as killing four u.s. soldiers in the last two weeks. in turn, afghan and coalition forces have pounded the taliban with air strikes and special forces operations. if there is no deal, and the taliban continue to refuse to talk to the kabul government, then the bloodshed in

afghanistan will continue. eadythe taliban have a said they won't recognize your government, if they still refuse to talk to you then what's the plan? more war? >> if they do not accept that and they are still a major threat to the security of us and partners so they will face the consequences. and we have the will. >> reporter: the taliban have reacted angrily, releasing a statement saying "this will harm america more than anyone else." completely off the table, or the current collapse of the talks can be repaired. ai deal at all comes with one cey: that the u.s.' s ngest war will g longer. for the wshour, i'm jane ferguson in kabul, afghanistan. >> woodruff: we take a deeper gook at why the talks collapsed and where thi from here with laurel miller. she was president obama's special presentative for afghanistan and pakistan. ge's now at the international crisup, a global non-

profit. welcome back to the "newshour". we heard president trump say today the peace talks are dead. do you believe that's the case?a >> they don't ve to be dead. it's a question of whether the u.s. has the will to restart the talks. some of the statements that have been made by secretary pompeo, inarticular, have indicated some openness to restarting the talks,nd thtaliban has likewise. it's hard to know how to interpret president trump's latest statements that sound more definitive given he has issues in the pastn similar >> woodruff: and given this is juhi a couple of days after we thought the meetings were on. >> that's right. >> woodruff: what's your understanding of what extly caused this thing to go off the rail? the preside is blaming taliban attacks that killed an ameris cn servicemember in afghanistan. but americans have been killed regularly over many months, and

many people we've talked to say they think there's there's much more here. >> there's no logicu , n say, to that explanaon. the attacks, the ramping up of violence that was described in the earlier piece has been going throughout these negotiations almost a year now. last year, afghanistan was the deadliest conflict in the world. this has been a trajectory over a long period of time, and many americans have been killed before now. so the idea that one particular attack, tragic as it may be, was the unique reason or canceling these last-minute, thrown-together evens in camp david doesn't sound very credible. what's moreha likely is the taliban didn't want to show up uscause it was their understanding that the deal had beenoncluded, that it had been negotiated with ambassar khalilzad. why would they want to come to camp david to reopen the deal?

>> woodruff: they had been in these discussions with ambassador khalilzad and they thought this would be something that's open. >> at a minimum, they thought the meeting would be an invitation to president ghani's questihed as to what wase intention of this meeting given the investigations takn so far have been only been on a narrow issue tween the u.s. and the taliban. >> woodruff: let's talk about what was in the agreeme t. ard jane fergefevered 5,000 troops out of the 13,000 in the coalition, a follow-upib with t talks with the afghan government, what do we know more about what was in this deal? >> not a lot more. the administration and others, the very, very few peoplue who have aly seen the text of the agreement have been extraordinarily tight-lipped about it.

drawdown, the 5,000 over 135e of days that you referred to, veryi little d about what the rest of the drawdown of american forces would look like. we know there would be a commitment to starting afghan talks, and that there would be some kind of assurances from the al quaida and preventreak with afghanistan from ever again being used as ang launcad for terrorism. >> woodruff: but at this point, how much trust is th among these parties involved? >> very litt, but you nevertt negotiate peace on the basis of trust. you negotiate on te baisof interest and of trying to identify common intets, and iae reasons that gave birth to these negoons nearly a yeara ago still exist. the afghan war is a bloody stemate, the u.s. is not oing en defeat the taliban, the afghan goveris not showing signs of being able to defeat d the taliban, and the u.s. was

looking for a way out with as much grace ad potential stability left behind as possible. t> woodruff: is it your understanding t the key figures in the trump administraon believed that if the taliban signed on to any agreemt that they were going to abide by it? my question is do they truly believe that the tall wanbahn was ready to split fromua ala, to stop attacking the afghan government and so on? >> you don't have to believe that they're ready in order tor ento an agreement like this. you have to have mechanisms fore fying, for implementing the agreement, and then provisions that enable you to pull ouof the agreement if they don't abide by it. but you can never know whether that intention is real in advance of actually testing it through negotiation and implementation. >> reporter: is there one party on whom we can say the responsibility for this thing falling apart lies? >> i think the united states. i mean, that's not to say that there haven't been difficulties in the negotiations, or that the taliban hasn't been stubbornly

insistent on its position, but there's no evidence o far at there was any last-minute change of position on their part. there's only evidence that there tos this last-minute initiive old the camp david meeting. >> woodruff: because, as you said earli, they had agreed or thought they had a tentative agreementsith ambassador khalilzad. where do we go from here, laurel miller? >> you kno there's no good alternative to tatying to nego peace agreement in afghanistan, that remains true today as a few days bere this. it's obviously going to be hard to restart the talks if the parties owant because credibility has been damaged and, already, minimal trust has been further lost. >> woodruff: and, at this point, president ghani -- (coughing) soy. gohead. sorry about your cough.

but president ghani ofis afghn was reluctant to accept these talks, but then he agreed to come, and then, i guess on friday,he changed his mind about coming, so there's a factor there. >> yes, it's not clear whether -- >> woodruff:'m sorry about that. >> it's not clear whether or non he's cwith a refuels to talk as much as the cancellation. >> woodruff:sorry about that, laurel miller. it hapns to all of us. thank you very mud we'll have you on again to talk about this. >> thank you very much. >> woodruff: rescue workers toarched for bodies in the bahamay and thousands of ndsidents evacuated to shelters. the abaco iswere devastated by hurricane dorian. relief operations are underway, but it's been a slow difficult process.

mna nawaz gets a report f the islands. >> reporter:udy, it's been a week since dorian struck the abaco islands and part of the grand bahama. enough food, water and supplies to these places. as m o ildings and structures on the abaclands appear to have been destroyed. areas like marsh harbour, where there were many haitian immigrants, may not be habitable for any real length of time. there's also been difficulties in getting supplies to people in need and there's been talk of possible strains between the local government and somrelief groups today, government officials were asked about why some flights aren't getting to the hard hit islands. priority is given to those entities that made contact with diwnema.

it is to cote. we are not preventing persons from gettrsing in, but it has to be phone done in an orderly .e don't want disaster upon disast >> reporter: unicef began delivering water supplies th a weekend, aftlane landed with 1.5 tons of supplies. naqib safi is an emergencyni specialist forf. he was in marsh harbour omsterday. and he joins me assau by skype. naquib safi, welcome to the tewshour". you were just in marsh harbour. some of the hardest hit areas tell me what you saw and heard on the ground. >> devastation. almost all infrastructure, how this was affected. d the airport, when we arrived, we saw a long queue of children, women and of the families who were evacuating. we drove almost for fe t seven hours in different

locations, we talked to people. we saw destructionwe saw desperation, and, when we talked to individuals andifferent g sheltero were takin in churches, school and, in one case, in the complex, they were help.d and desperate for >> reporter: there have been dozens of accounts of people fleeing, evacuating. when it comes to basic needs, water and food, are those getting through to people who need them and if theyt, aren' why not? >> what we have observed in all of these areas, at least in nine specific centers that i can refer to, food and water was provided through eithe private donation, government, and whoever was, you know, working and providing assistance. what t have seen,re were food available.

of course, it's not known for how long, but it's serious concern at the given moment. >> reporter: we heard from the bohemian management officials. there have been criticisms that there have been difficulties of some of the organizations working with the bahian officials on the ground. is it more difficult to work with this government than others? >> are realistic challenges on the ground, especially in the crisis of this scale aanditude, which was unexpected and bigger than initially thought. the stress, those who are dealing with it, arhey are p of the affected population, and there are occasion that we see some level of destruction that' actually a normal nature of this crisis. i have been to many crises around the world and i don't see anything different in addition

actually here. the government are relocating sources and they are giving an extensive vel of commitmant direction toacilitate other access to the people in naquib, briefly, it's been one week since the hurricane struck. e people onthat th the islands, the people of the bahamas will get the aid that they need or will leaving be the best option for many of them rit now? fe in abaco, which mostly has been ated, i think, 90, 95% of the populion has already left. remember, the percentages should be taken io context because we are still figuring out -- we, the government and their partners -- to see what are the exact number of people stng. the return of these people would need a significant level of atinvestment of rehabilitn of water system, power supplies,

infrasucture, et cetera, and, most importantly, from our perspective, a sense of normalcy and education for child so i don't think it will happen at least in the very near futurl because it require a sifght frvel of investment and tructure effort. >> reporter: naquib safi joining us from nassau. thank you very much for your e me. >> youlcome. f: woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the "newshour," amy walter and tamara keith break downhat congress is up to now that it's back in sessonn. a conversaith margaret atwood on the sequel to her claimed and controversia best-seller, "the handmaid's tale." plus, remembering the life and legacy of pioneering disabilities rights activist, e rca bristo. itish parliament was as

ur of activity today. done before they aced toet work disband until mid-october. ey approved a bill that requires prime minister boris johnson to delay brexit. now just over six week away if he doesn't have a deal. they were also voting on his effort to force snap election next month. his critics say it is a ploy to prevent further anti-brexit machinations. special correspondent maolm brabent has this update: >> rorter: boris johnson began his day in dublin with his irish counterpart leo varadkar. he was addressing e of the key brexit issues, the border between northern ireland, which is part of the united kingdom, the south, which is part of the >>u. want to get a deal. defu you, i've looked carefully at n. i've assessed its consequences

both for ourountry and yours, and yes of course we could do it. tae u.k. could certainly get atrough it, but be in no doubt utcome would be a failure of statecraft for which we would all be responsible. >> reporter: johon wants an alternative to what's known as "the irish back stop," a mechanism designed to prevent a hard border between the republic ntd the north. the governn london opposes it because it claims it could keep the u.k. tied indefinitely to the e.u. >> in the absence of agreed alternative arrangements, no backstop is no deal for us. >> reporter: as he returned to westminster, johnson's hands final approval of designede to stop the government leaving the e.u. without a deal. the prime ministerry toggested circumvent that new law. the bill'suthor, hilary benn, has threatened a legal challenge e that happens.

>> if vernment tries not to do what the bill, which will become an act on monday, says very clearly they have to , then it provides time to go into court. >> reporter: lawmaker tommy sheppard's scottish national party is fighting to thwart johnson. >> there really is a case of the lunatics having taken over the asylum here. i mean, the people that seem to number 10 downing street are not playing by t normal rules. >> reporter: at the institute of government, historian catherine haddon said the current state of ish politics is the most meaotic in centuries. r rl is the creator of law, so for them to even be talking about the idea of, you know, not obeying the law or trying to find ways to disrupt the intention of that law is an t we arele situation finding ourselves in. one of the loudest voices ofhe brexit campaign will soon be silent. house of commons speaker john bercow promised to step down on

october 31, the date britain is scheduled to leave the e.u. the reality is he jumped before he was pushed. his departurfollows that of pensions secretary amber rudd yestday. she cused the primminister of an assaulon decency and democracy. meanwhile more and more e.u. member states are warning that a no deal brexit is looking more likely. >> ( translated ): the british parliament has deced that it wants to prevent a no-deal, and we remain ready for discussion in principle. we must also make an orderly exit possible, which preferable, but for this to deppen we finally need a sion and proposals from london. s reporter: as parliament began hest debates before being closed down byrime minister, rival factions outside tried to make their voices heard. of i am very afraid. this smack930's germany. hitler closed down the parliament. is what boris is doing. i >> in god's name, will the

traitor m.p.'s go! >> ts is it, do or die. we're leaving on the 31st of october. >> reporte with parliament shuttered for the next five weeks, boris johnson is not going to be uistracted by ng daily fights in the chamber. despite his lack of a parliamentary majority, he remains in charge of the country and can now concentrate on trying to persuade the european unl.n to give him a brexit but at the same time his government is preparing for crashing out of the e.u. on october 31st without an agreement. re uncertainty hobbling btain is no nearer beiolved. for the pbs newsesur, i'm malcolm brabant in london. >> woodruff: labor day ibehind us, schools have started and the political calendar is ramping up. lisa desjardins fills in the picture. >> reporter: north carolina is the first hot spot, hosting president trump for a campaign

rally tonight ahead of a special congressional election. and congress is also back, with democrats in the house shedding the spotlight on gun violence and impeachment. that's plenty for our weekly "politics monday" round-up with poy walter of the "cook political " and host of public radio's "politics with ofy walter" and tamara keith of "npr" and co-hoshe "npr politics podcast." it's election day tomorrow, just one inspection, the north carolina -- special election, the north carolina 9th congressional district. fiscal conservative running against dan mccready, a marineme invest and former manager, running as more of a moderate. why are people paying such attention to this race and what does it tell you? >> the people, the partiesnd outside groups are spending a lot of money, over $10 thmillion outside groups have spent in this race for one congress seat. it's because it's symbolic.

this is a district that thety democrat p lost gnar low roy, vote fraud allegations,ut throwna do-over election with a different republican, bue ly it's about is donald trump still as strong of a force for republicans and republican -- in republican' leading districtss he was say, in 2016? the president there trying to urge republicans to turn out in a district that gave him 54%, but recent polls from that district show that the president's approval ratin ng there down to 47%. the race is within single digits. if the democrat were to win here, if dan me ready weto rine here, it would send a pretty big shock wave that no i ona district that the president pretty handily carried endangered, it would also say to the democrat, you better put north carolina in play and, trumyou can't count on winning north carolina again. that would blia very biget u. >> this a partially suburban

district around charlotte. >> right, partially suburban. it has a mix of rural and case of a trump district andapst whatns there. in a lot of ways, even though this is the last vote of 2018, it is the first voote f 2020, and lot of pple are treating it that way, including the prident, who, as you said, is there holding a rally tonight. although, he, you know, doesn't thnt to put too much of his political sway oline or, you know, hdoesn't want to admit that, you know, he's putting a lot into this, he is putting a lot into this. the most valuable that a candidate and a president has is the president's time, and he is tdicating his time by going dore, holding this rally and hoping that he can, you know, declare vicry in less than 48 hours. >> the other interesting thing about this district, if a democrat should win, it would be one of the most repubt lican

districts held by a democrat. n know democrats won a lot of seats 18, they netted 40 seats, but mostly districts trump narrowly on ot. there aren't mr. districts he woby 54 or 53% that democrats hold, so this would be one of the most republican. >> moving the line. yeah. someone else trying to move the line, anrkrd who announced he is also a capt. for. t's take a listen to what he said, why he's doing this. >> those people were core to the republican party and what it used to stand for. they haven't been talked to here lately, and the president said those concerns you have with regard to spening, we're not going to worry about them, the economy is great, but i belve they're still there. >> reporter: he's talking republicans unhappy wit the direction of the party, think this is not the party they recognize. he's a cedplicigure, he's got a complicated party, but, amy, is there a possibility of republicans who don't like trump

breaking with from him and going with someone like mark sanfo? >> idoesn't look like a possibility of trump losing the nomination or any of the thre candidates running now getting much of the vote, especially true in south carolina where the republican party canceled the wimary there and four other statre the primary has been canceled on the republican side. >> reporter: just in the past few days. >> in the past few days. in 2004 when george w. bush was running for reelection, about ten states nceled their republican primary, so this isn't all that new. the really interesting thing about san fard is he's running on this fisca conservatism, the debt is too big, the deficit is too high, this is something we heard republicans talk about all the time during the obamast admition. if you look at what priority republicans put on the issue of debt and deficit, it peaked at 82% in the middle of the trump -- i'm sorry -- the obama administration. since then it's beening back

down. so if you look at the arc of republican concern, voter thncern with debt and deficit, really high whee democrats are in office, pretty low when georggeorge w. bush s in office, pretty low when donald trump is in office. >> bill wells and joe walsh and mark sanford are all entering this knowing they basically hava noe of winning e nomination and less of a chance becoming t united states. t that's not their only goal. sanford is saying i want to have a conversation. he doesn't feel the republican party has had an internal debate about who they are since esident trump became president. mark sanford tried to have that congress and startticizingn president trump. president trump endorsed his primary ppsent and that pon won and went on to lose in the general election to a democrat, which was a pretty big surprise is that direcctist

these candidates are hoping to have a conversation or damage the incumbent bent presidents who have had primary challenges in the past, there is a histo try there em going on and being nied a second term. but it is hard to say these three are at the same several as a ted kennedy or a ronald reagan or a pat buchanan in 1992. >> so congress also back. i feel like we need to take a deep breath. i think things will start moving odickly. it started with house democrats holding a news conference on guns. this is issue number one f them and they invited to that news conference the mayorf dayton at the u.s. capitol today. you've done a greatob helping us understand we don't know ere the president is on guns. but talking about congress, many are trying to coalesce around

backgrnd checks, perhaps helping states with red flag siws that give congress more power in cs situations. these are very popular ipolls with the american people. >> they stand a great cnce in e house of representativ where democrats are in power and they've alreadpassed bills that do the things essentially. but on the senate side, it's much more difficult. majority leader mitchi mcconnell has that he not going to put up something for a vote that the president won'sign, and they don't yet know what the president will sign. >> this is one of the issues that, again, if you're oking at this, you're president trump, you know suburban women are going to be very tapor in this election. this would be an issue to take and to support to winhose aters back, but this is a president who's always been about his base and keeping them happy. >> still a lot to watch. eramy walter, tkeith, thank you. >> you're welcome.

>> woodruff: a dystopian vision that is capturing the public's attention-- margaret atwood's "the handmaid's tale" is now a cultural touchstone for readers and viewers. her much anticipated sequel "the testaments" is out tomorrow. and is already on the short-list for this year's "booker prize" and green-lit for a series on hulu. jeffrey brown sat down with atwood recently in toronto for a preview. it is part of our ongoing series on arts and culture, "canv." who is>>ault was it? is rl reporter: in a harrowing sceny in the tv series," t the handmaid'se", young women are being forcibly "re- educated" for their subservient roles in a united states that has become a fundamentalist theocracy. one of them, played by actress h moss, is suddenly struck. the perpetrator, in a surprise cameo appearance: none other than celebrated author margaret atwood. >> we had to shoot i times

because she kept saying, "hit me harder" and i said, "no, i don't nt to injure the leading lady." "come on and give me a whack." >> reporte it was atwood who e arted all this in 1984, when shote her classic novel of a near-future takeover of the s. by religious zealots who force fertile women into sexual servitude as child-bearers. you will bear children for them. >> brown: the new nation is called gilead. >> reporter: the new nation is called "gilead." what did you think you were doing then, at that time? >> i tught i was getting in trouble. reporter: you thought y were getting in trouble becae of the story? es well, it answered the qution, if the united states were to become totalitaria t what kind ofalitarianism would it become? >>deporter: atwood, now 79 author of more than 60 books, is canadian, but traces part of her ancestry to early american puritans. "the handmaid's tale" struck a deep and lasting chord for millions of readers the world over.

we talked this summer in her toronto neighborhood. you've got to be amazed by what enhe handmaid's tale" has grown into as phen. >> it's out of control. ( laughs ) well, i can't do anything about it. come back! >> reporter: not a chance. the story has been made into a 1990 film, an opera and ballet, a graphic novel and, reaching millions more, the emmy awd- winning hit hulu series, which has completed its third season. atwood served as a consultant. and with her bleing the series moved well beyond her original ending. now atwood has written her own sequel, "the testaments," in part a response to her reader's continued interest. >> it was a lot of unanswered questions that either they kept asking or they kept making up hiswers to. there's a lot ofs left hanging at the end of "the

handmaid's tale," such as what happens to the central character. >> reporter: so adu decided to dress that? >> investigate it, yeah. >> reporter: the new book, set some 15 years after the previous reending, is told through testimonies: two young women and an older one, aunt lydia, familiar to viewers of the series as the most powerful woman in gilead. played by ann dowd, she's gone along with evil and, for t young handmaid's, become their principal enforcer. but atwood had her own questiats: >> is she really evil? is she totally evil? the question is: how do people sitions?n those ad remember, when i was born, which was 1939, body born i was a war child. so i've always been pretty interested in those totalitarianisms, how people bought into them, how people rose in them, you know, how they became membe of the hierarchy. >> reporter: you're always looking to these historical analogies? >> the series as well as the

testaments, follow one axiom, and that is: you can't put anything in that doesn't have a ayecedent in human history. so, yes, i'm alooking. >> reporter: it has to have happened somehow or sometime? l, in these books, yes, because i didn't want anody onying "you're just weird." somebody asked mwitter recently, "how do you come up with this ( bleep )?" comes up with it, he human who race over the past 4,000 years"" >> reporter: and that leads to the othereason for the sequel: the times we're living in today, wood and others again see women's rights under threat. >> if i had thought, let's write a sequel to "the handmaid's tale" of this kind in 2000, or let's say in 1999, i would've said, "why bother?" re're not going there. people are moving away from that, but in the moment inn which exist, that's not true anymore. >> reporter: in 1999 you

would've said "why bother," 7 t in 2016, 2 you're writing this... >> i'm going to bother, it's t me to bother! you canore the fact that there are a number of regimes that have come into power that have these kinds of ideas in mind. they all have one thing in common. the thing they have in common is they all want to roll back women's rights. >> donald trump is not a gileadean leader figure. ere are some other peopl kicking around on the u.s. enlitical scene that would be much me like one of those figures, but he is not that kind of figure. >> reporter: gilead is a theocracy. >> we are probably pretty close to it in some states. >> reporter: you wrote that readers bombarded you over the years with questions, right? is it a feminist novel? is ia warning? you're going to be asked the me things of this sequel >> yes. you say it is a minist novel?uld

t it makes women front and center andts reproductive rights front and center, but it does not say all women are ever do anything wrong, because ngas we know from having been in grade four, that's not true. >> reporter: in what sense is it a prediction? don't go there. don't make those choices. don't go there. >> reporter: atwood's handmaids have become part of the protests. lture, popping up in and the frenzy around the new book is intense, unusual for any novelist this side of j.k rowling and another "harry potter" book. >> see you in september. >> reporter: it includes a live event in whichtwood and various guests will take part tuesday and telecast in more than 1,000 theaters around the world. and atwood herself, an celebrity, has been glammed up for magazine and othereatures. you are in rare air for a

novelist, for a writer. >> i'm in rare air for an old thtty writer. it's a goog that i'm old, because if this happened to unger people, it would probably ruin their life. where do you go from here except down? >> reporter: are you enjoying it? >> of course i'm enjoying it. wosed be lying to say otrwise. you saw the pictures of me with hair extensions. who wouldn't enjoy that? ( laughter ) >> reporter:hoor the pbs ne, i'm jeffrey brown in toronto. a woodruff: finally tonight, we rememboman who helped changed the law and the lives of teh of millions of people w disabilities. marca bristo may not have been u household nameher workol seep into many u.s.

households. paralyzed from the waist down after a diving accident when she was 23, bristo becamng time disability rights activist from her home base in chicago. she worked on imoving access and rights-- no matterow small or how large the issue. bristoought against discrimination, helped create a better model for independent ving, and d strikes an helped file lawsuits that led to the creation of bus lifts in chicago. she was a pivotal voice in the shaping and passage of the 1990 americans with disabilities act. bristo died yesterday of cancer at the age of 66. former u.s. senator tom harkin with her when he helped writed the americans with disabilities act. senator harkin, than byou so much fng here, and we're sorry for your loss. we know how close you were to

marca bristo. you have worked fr decades in the disabilities movement. >> mm-hmm. >> woodruff: how should we see marca bristo? that movement? >> i think she wilnshrined in the future as one of the great leaders ofa global disabilities -- civil rights movement for persons with disabilities. when you think about the civil ghts movement for african-americans, you think of malcolm x and martin luther king and john lwis. think when people in the future look back at the disability rights civil rights movement, they will think of, of course, justin dart and george h.w. bush that signed the law but also of marca bristo who really made it happen. you were pivotal in writing and putting together the americans with disabilities act. you worked on it. a lot of people re involved in that. it was a late 1980s into 1990 when president george h.w. bush signed it into law.

what did marca bristo do that others weren't doing at that time? >> just -- she was justin dt's protojay. >> woodruff: he, of course, was one of the -- >> one of the real advocates of the americans with disabilities act. he in his wheelchair went to all 50 states. but then h ogot aholdf this young woman from chicago, marca bristo, and sort of got her to move all over the country getting young people involved. young people who may have been born with a disabity or, like herself, had been injured in an accidet , and she gothem stimulated to think about themselves not in terms of someone that just had t take what was given to them, but to stargetting young people to ccmand better as to all rms of living in america. she was a foot soldier in that effort. >> woodruff: i met her at aoon access living i vent in chicago.

that was aanization she ndlped to found all around pushing forendent living for people with disabilities. what do you think drove her? what pushed her to do what she did? >> she wrote about this once and toke about it often, and i've often talked abo fact, after she had her diving accident when she s 23, as you mentioned, she thought, how am i going to cope? how do i have t change my life? well, she r io judy human, another advocate for disability rights and others in the to change, they've got to't have change, society needs to change. they need to change the way they build the wallings, the way they make doorways, the way they have bus lifts. you're still the same person. they've got to chae how they're doing. so that sort ofot her thinking that, yes, society has built in all these barriers to people with disabilities. if we break down the barriers,

people withisabilities can do anything. accept the idea that anything was closed to someone with a be able to. >> marca bristo did not wat to be paternallized. she did not want to have people tting her on the head a saying, now, you goff and we'll help you. she said, take the barriers down, i can help myself. u> woodruff: she was tough. oh, she was , she was very tough, but had a heart of gold.ne she was just f the most unique persons i've ever knowne w my lifetime. druff: well, she certainly left a mark on lives, as we said, of millions and millions of americans. >> she was a mentor to so mag younwomen. o e was also a feminist, so she int young women with disabilities to of themselves in a different light. she was just a wonderful mentor to so many young people. >> woodruff: formenator tom harkin who worked with marca bristo, thank you for helping us remember her. >> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: thank you.

>> woodruff: we close with our l going honor roll of american service personlled in combat during u.s. military operations overseas. we add them as their deaths are made official and photographs become available.le here now, are 16 more. ♪ ♪

e honor ea and every one them. that's the "newshour" for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us on-line and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> bnsf railway. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> consumer cellular. sl>> and by the alfred p. oan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century.

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♪ everyone, and welcome "o "amanpo & co." here is what's coming up. giant oil companies helped get the world into this climate isis. are they prepared to help lead the way out? i speak to lord john brown, the former ceo of bp. then from liberator to dictator. robert mugabe dd at 95. zimbabwe's strongman in his own words. and the african singer fled dictatorship in her home country. i speak with her about the liberating power of music. also -- >> recognize that emotions r matter. >> the abcs of managing our feelings with the director of the yale center for emotional intelligence.