captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc oodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, pro- democracy forces in hong kong deliver a stunning rebuke to beijing at the ballot box, as leaked documents reveal the brainwashing faced by china's imisoned uighur muslims. then, questions of military justice. the secretary of the n out after the penton and white house clash over the proper punishment for a navy seal accused of war crimes. plus: aging italy. as the country's birth rate plummets, anxiety soars-- and the era of the big italiancr family comes tashing stop. >> eventually, the population cotinguish. and when baby boomers will retire, you know, you're going

to have small amount of individuals taking care of a larger amount of old people. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ movingconomy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

>> consumer cellular. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutionso promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with thongoing support these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs n from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: a federal judge inashington this evening ordered president trump's former

white house counsel don mcghan must obey a subpoena and appear before lawmakers. he had been called to testify about the mueller report. the ruling has implications for trump aides who refused to testify at impeachment hearings. separately, the chai the u.s. house intelligence committee, democrat adam schiff, now his panel will have a report schiff said toe report "conclusively shows" that the president tried to force ukraine to aid his re-election campaign. the president today defended hid handling of thrd gallagher case. the navy seal was acquitted of murdering an islamic state militant, but convicted of posing with the body. last week the president rejected forcing gallagher out of the seals. instead he'll retire from the navy. today, meeting with bulgaria's he is sticking up for gallagher and those like him.

>> he was a greafighter. he was one of the ultimate fighters. tough guy. these are not weak people. these are tough people. and we're going to protect our war fighters and i've been given a lot of thank you's. >> woodruff: amid the uproar, the secretary of the navy, richard spenr was fired on sunday. today his boss, the secretary of e mark esper, accused spencer of dealing secretly with the white house in the gallagher matter. we'll discuss all of this after the news summary. the u.s. supreme court refused today to order a new trial for a baltimore man featured in the hit podcast "serial." adnan syed was convicted of murdering an ex-girlfriend in high school. he is serving a life sentence. syed's lawyers had argued the podcast series found new evidence that warranted a new trial. the high court rejated the eal, without comment.

a chinese woman convicted of trespassing at the president's "mar-a-lago" estate now faces yujing zhang wasnced in a florida federal court today. she illegally entered the palm beach resortn march and lied to federal agents. the head of irand line revolutionary guard threatened the u.s. and oers today over last week's protests in his country. hossein salami accused the united states-- plus britain, israel and saudi arabia-- of fomenting demonstrations over a he spoke at a rally of tens of thousands of government supporters in tehran, and he warned that the regime will er its enemies. >> ( translated ): wait for our response. if you cross our red lines, we will destroy you.we will not lee unanswered. we will not remain indebted to

ttany superpower and will scores with all of them. just wait. >> woodruff: amnesty international says at least 140 people have died in a crackdown on the protests. number.has not given an official the concentration of greenhouse the world meteorological organization found that the increase of carbon dioxide in 2018 was above the average for the last decade. current efforts to reverse the trend are mply not enough. russia's athletes may be facing a four-year ban over doping. russia's athletes may be facing a four-year ban on major events, including next year's summer ympics, over doping. instead, they would have to compete as neutrals.a committee- doping agency" made the recommendation today. it said hundreds of positive drug tests are missing from

russian lab data. a final decision is due next month. back in this country, the newest presidential race made his first campaign appearance. rmer new york mayor michael bloomberg announced on sunday. today, the 77-year-old billionaire was in norlk, virginia. >> i will be the only candidate in this race who isn't going to take a penny from anyone and will work for a dollar a year just as i did for 12 years in for years i've been using my resources for the things that matterto me. i was lucky enough to build a succsful company. it has been very successful and i used all of it to give back to help america. >> woodruff: bloomberg becomes the 18th candidate vying for the democratic nomination for president. mcdonald's agreed today to pay $2ion in a settlement with employees in california. a long-running class action lawsuit alleged the company denied overtime pay and timely

breaks, among other things. nearly 38,000 people would be compensated if the settlement wins court approval. thride-sharing giant "uber has lost its license to operate in london for the second time in recent years. city officials said today that unauthorized drivers got past uber security, and carried out thousands of rides. the company will appeal today's decision. it says facial recognition technogy is addressing the problem in britain and the u.s. charles schwab is buying rival t.d. ameritrade for $26 billion ck. on wall street today, that buyout-- and hopes for the china trade talks-- pued stocks higher. the dow jones industrial average ed 190 points to close at 28,066. the nasdaq rose 12 points. d the s&p 500 added 23.

and, a u. military dog named "conan" got a white house the belgian malinois starred in the raid that killedbu bakr al-baghdadi, the leader of the "islamic state" group. today, president trump presented a medal to the animal he called "probably the world's most famous dog." conan was injured during the raid, but has sincvered. still to come on the "newshour," hong kong's protestors go to the polls-- what does it mean for the pro-democracy movement? the military clashes with the president over an accusewar criminal amy walter and tamara keith are hebreak down the latest political headlines. plus, much more.

>> woodruff: after months of protests in hong kong, yesterday brought an extraordinary rebuke of chinese authority by hong kong's voters, in local elections, and another startling revelation about chinese government persecutiuyghur muslims. amna nawaz takes a look at both sides. >> reporter: newly-elected pro- democracy legislators-- walking today through debris from last kong's polytechnic university. sunday's landslide election made ear the grassroots protesters have the overwhelming support of hong kong voters. pro-democracy forces won contr of 17 of 18 district councils in the first election sce the unrest began, six months ago. >> it is a genuine referendum of the people in hong kong. the candidates from the democratic government allies won

democratic party hour chief executive mrrie lam receives the message that the votes make a clear voice of the hong kg people. >> reporter: the increasingly- unpopular lam isacked by beijing. she said in a statement that the government will "seriously reflect" on the results. little power, but hong kongers calling for democracy say the outcome is a turning point. >> ( translated ): i am happy about the election result. the victory in the district council election is the first step for hong kong democracy. i am still rsonably optimistic about hong kong's future. >> reporter: but in beijing, china's cot government insisted today that its "one country, two systems" policy remains firm. >> ( translated ): the country, two systems" is firm. hong kong's affair is purely

china's domestic affair. the chinese government's resolution of protecting china's sovereignty, development, >> reporter: hong kong activists say the election-- with record voter turnout exceeding 70%-- r was a resoundiection of that policy. >> reporter: meanwhile, in washington, the bi-partisan "hon democracy act" awaits action on president trump's desk, after easily psing both the house and senate. the bill would impose sanctions on hong kong officials who abuse human rights, but the president has suggested it could also affect trade talks with china. let's explore the stakes at play susan shirk. she's the chair of the 21st century china program at the university of california, san diego. she returned from a trip to china this week.

susan, tha very much for being with us. there is no doubt, we heard, about where the public sentiment in hong kong lies. from the perspective of the hong kong government and the chinese governnt in beijing, how does this change the calculus for what they do next? >> right before i cto the studio, oeicial media in china had not yet reported the outcome of the election. they did finally report there was the election, but they really haven't reported the results, and there's some indication from people on the ground i've heard from that the have been talking to who say that, in fact, thealsts chleadership was surprised by the outcome of the election and then they are now scrambling to figure out what to do about it. it's really remarkable that, despite these large scale protests fhat have gone on

months, they still were surpriseby the outcome of the election. >> so how do you think these election results changed the dynamic? >> if carrie lam resigns to kind of take responsibility for the outcome, that might diffuse the otests for a while as people wait and see what more beijin will do to meethe other demands, including some progress toward more direct elections, and, of course, if carrie lam has to be replaced, then that also rais the issue of how you select the chief executive. >> you heard in the piece there some people were referring to is as a turning point. do you believe that it could be that? pchange?ng about some real >> well, you know, it's a test of xi jinping's pragmatism. ishe really very dogmatic? did he really believe his o

propaganda? did the internal channels from the liaison officen hong kong actually fearing to giveim bad news give him an unrealistic view of what was happenin kg in hog? if he's pric pragmatic, then its to me he's likelyo do -- try to find a way to respond to of the protesters' demands, at le tt by getting rid of very unpopular carrie lam. really, this is kind of a fork in the road for xi jinping. is he going to double down o oontrol and indoctrination, or is he going be flexible and dive a little bit in the icion of more direct democrlection of hong kong political leaders? >> and that is the latest from hong kong, but i do want to get your take on a different topic we're also covering today. i want to shit now to mainland

party documents sh communist internal workers of internment and reeducation cam used to detain a million people. the china cables are the first ofcial glimpse into the structure and ideology behind these camps in northwest china's xinjiang province, where one million muslim uighurs, and members of other min groups, are detained on industrial scale. the documents show that the chinese government officials designed the camps as brainwashing centers on a massive scale, with multiple layers of security. among the other revelations: camp inmatesdeould be held nitely, camps are run on a points system where inmates earn credits for compliance, weekly e one calls or monthly video calls e only contact allowed and preventing escape is paramount. r the chinese foreign minsid documents leaked earlier this moh by the "times" were fabricated.

>> ( translated ): they are also sensationalising these internal cuments by using poor tactics like taking them out of context and grafting them onto another, to undermine and tarnish china's efforts on anti-terrorism and depolarization in xinjiang. >> reporter: foreign affairs correspondent nick schifrin sat wn with national security advisor robert o'brain over the weekend, at the halifax security forum inoncentration examples,n people that's an outrage. president xi has the power of writ in china, what he says goes, and those camps should be closed, dismantled, but it's not just the camps, it'she surveillance infrastructure that's been built in the region. >> susan shirk, as we reported, that is the second trove of leaked documents to be publisved in a week, the previous backed by the "new york times. going through the documents, what do we learn in terms of the vovment of prident xi jinping in these camps and these

effortne >> well, theyork times" story makes explicit that there's no evidence, no statement in these documents, that xi jinping actually ordered the establishment of the camps. what he did is start a campaign to try to crackn d on terrorism in 2014, after a number of terrorist attacks in xinjiang and terrorist attacks outside of china as well. and he -- so he launched this very harsh ca oaign indoctrination to try to undertake thought reform of anghurs and other ethnic groups in xinji so he himself, we don't have the document yet in which he ordered the camps, but certainly the establishment of the cps which was done by provincial

officials, at least that'shat the documents tell us, was a response to ts campai launched by xi jinping. and what's really remarkable about the campaign is it shows that xi jinping sti believes in this malace notion of thought reform. he really believes thathis kind of intensive brainwashing can change the wayeople think. >> what does it say to you that these documes are even being leaked at all? the fact that these are seeing the light of day? >> well, it shows that not everybody in the chinese anreaucracy and the party government burke bureaucracy ags th this h heavy-handed, oppressive, police state apprch to governing china. in fact, the documents from the standpoint of a china watcher are really fascinating because they show that some of the local

officials objected to this approach and, in fact, some officials released people from the camps because they wanted to make sure that they m their economic growth targets, and without the labor power, they weren't going to be able to do that so i think, you k from utside, china looks so monolithic, buin fact, i think there are a lot of different points of view and not everybody agrees with the direction she is taking they. coun >> that is susan shirk of the 21st century china center at the university of california-sanu iego. thank r being with us. >> my pleasure.

william brangham hack the story. f reporter: at the center all this is the case of >> reporter: at the center of rdl of this is the case of chief petty officer edallagher, a navy seal. previously, he was accused of murdering a wounded isis oflitant in iraq in 2017-- and hooting at civilians. a court martial acquitted him on those charges, but did convict him of posing for a photo with the militant's body. gallagher was demoted. but the controversy since has been over whether the navy should mete out any further ounishment-- like whether he keep his status as a navy seal. this past weekend, while civilian and military leaders-- allow the navy to punishuld t gallagher anymore. st night, secretary of navy richard spencer was forced out of his post by secretary of defense mark esper ove his handling of gallagher's case. here to walk us through the controversy the nanc nanc youssf

with the "wall street journa" rear admiral green who oversees the nav navy seals decides he ws gallagher out of the service. pick up the story. >> he wants to say the military should review whether gallagher should have the distinction or honor of being called a navyft seal this case. he called to a review board, that's whereeers come forward, look at the case, and decide whether he should wear the trident pen that says you're one of the most elite forces in the states military and i think that's what admiral green review process, and that after the president restored his rank and brought back his pay was sort of the last outstanding issue vis-a-vis this ce. >> reporter: explain the process by which the secretary of the navy is out.

>> there was reallycern within the united states military leadership about the prospect of restoring chief gallagher's rank and pardoning two other service members also accused of committing crimes in iraq and afghanistan. the feeling is once you did that and had an outside intervention, it potentially threatened the sanctity of the order and discipline that is so critical to the military, and the other fear is if the u.s. didn't prosecute those accused ofg killivilians in places like iraq and afghanistan, it would send a negative message to key partners. encuse me -- his rank restored, and secretary er was among those who was against the outside intervention. >> so the navy secretary is pushed out by tssht of defense and, in his letter g his resignation, he says, i cannot in good nscience obey an order i

believe violates the sacred oath i took. but the secretary of defense's problems with the secretary of ae navy was something other, was itut a back channel he was doing with the white house? can you explain that? >> sure. the secretary of defense mark esper came out today and said the u.s. military leadership hat agret they would allow the process over his trident's pen to proceed, andt he learned two days ago that secretary spencer had tried to come up with a back channel deal in which the chief gallagher would be allowed to keep his pen regardless to have the finelngs of the p and secretary esper says that he lost confidence in secretary spencer because he w usurping te existing process. >> reporter: and in the middle ofll this, of course, eddie which has been his champion all along and championed h case back when he was in the brig through his court martial, and gallagher is remarkably very critical of some of his

superiors. >> this is all about ego and retaliation. it has nothing to do with good order and discipline. they could havtaken my trident at anytime they wanted. now they're trying to te it after the president restored my ranchts. eporter: late lather he went on to specifically by name criticize his superr officer l ar admiral green. how unus it for a sailor to say those things about his commanding officer? >> it's extraordinarily unusual because there's a chain of command and you're not allowed to criticize your superior ia one-on-one setting one your company and unit and letal e on fox news, but i think it hially gets at how much this case depended o to kind of become a celeb on fox news, john bunry had taken a personal interest before that it's not clear if this case would have gotten the attention it did. gs reporter: what are you hearing amt military community more broadly about this case? does this have lasg impact or

is it one and done? >> no, i think it has a lting impact. like most things around this case, it's very polarized. you look at people look at chief gallagher as a war her criminal, you hear about what happens when the military justice system can be undone by outside intervention, the are perhaps other service members who will ask for outside intervention and seek to undo the rulings of the military court system, so there's a real thight and fear in terms of what aftereffects there are, there is an expectation they those who will think this was the president's prerogative, his right to do and allth falls the proper chain of command. and, so, like most things around this case, it has led to polarized actions withintthe on. >> nancy youssef of the "wall street journal," thank you so much. >> thank you. uf

>> woo stay with us. coming up on the "newshour" italy's birthrate falls to historic lows-- is this the end of the big italian family? the newshour bookshelf-- "the american story: conversations with master historians." and how art can help fight the isolation of alzheimer's. will the latest entrant to the crowded ce for the democratic nomination shake up the standings as impeachme looms above it all? our politics monday duo are here to break it all down. amy walterf the "cook political report" and host of public radio's "potics with amy walter." and tamara keith from npr. she co-hosts the "npr politics podcast." hello the both of you. nso we have a little bit s this evening on the impeachment, the tug of war between the president and the conganess

that is the federal district ldge ruled the president's formal counsel don mcghan should, must testify before laakers, before the congrss. we assume there will be an a precedent for other white set house and administration of cials to be required tgo testify before the congress. we don't know. we haven't hea what the intelligence committee report is, we know the judiciary committee is next, but all this raises, again, the question of the public's perception of thisw and where de go. so, amy, to you, what are we moving at all and how the public is reading this? >> we've had two weeks of hearings which produced a lot of fireworks and a lot of coverage, but it really hasn't produced a lot of movement in the polls. basically, where weave been since -- well, october, basically, since before these hearings began, if you go and you look 538.com has a great

tracking measurement of all the pollinthat's bee done on tissue of impeachment, and if you go back to the day before the public hearings began, support for impeachment was at 48%, 45% said they didn't prove approve of impeachment, today it's 46-46, which ises tially in the world of numbers very little movement to statistical so what we're seeing, i think it's folks who are already deeply engaged who are paying attention to this are paying attention to it because they were already committed to satever outcome they would like . >> so, familiar, how much does this matter to ofmber the house of representatives who are back in their districts, presumably this week? may be heading toward a momentous vote? he if they are hearing about it from constituents, then that could affect behavior, but what we saw right before ty left town is someone like will

hurd, he's a congressman, or retiring is t ke wha like to say, republican retiring has retiring republican, and he's been more moderate and also fairly outspoken aut his concerns with president trump. as the hearings were winding down last week, he came out, he's on the intelligen aommittee, ad he said he wasn't persuaded thiss impeachable, certainly proper. if william hurd is there, feeling pressure.ss are not stephonic has charted a moderate course, allied with paul ryan who had his issues with president trump, well, she became athtar foe hearing for sort of pushing president trump's viewpoint and position in these hearings. so these are two public examples of republican members of congress who are not persuaded and if house members, if these

sorts of republicans are not tempted to vote against the rresident, then there's no way that senators ae going to feel pressure. >> quickly, looks like the two sides arerowing -- >> growing farther apart or tybe they are just feeling more committed heir position or just as committed as they were before this began. the republicans,hohough, should be concerned, and probably are concerned right now, are in thehe senate, on senate side where you have republicans up for reelection in blue siktes colorado and maine and increasingly purple arizona. woodruff: and they'd come into play after the house voted on impeachment. so to the 2020 democratic race, we have a new entrant, as of is weekend. he is none other than the former mayoof new york city, michael bloomberg, and he's out with a splash, tam, $31 million in ads across the country. here'sn excerpt of the first ad they're running. >> and now he's taking on him, to rebuild the country and

restore faith in the dream thate deus, where the wealthy will pay more in taxes and the. middle class get their fair share. veeryone with health insurance can get it,one who likes it keeps it, and jobs will help you get ahead and on l those things bloomberg intends to make good. >> wf: they're running that ad, a short version of it in 46 of the 50 states, wee got a map here. map they're running and spedinge 2-pl million in new york city, 1.6 million in los angeles. this is 1.9 million. this is huge. >> this is going to test some one idea in politics thatiics. emerged after president trump won with far less money than hillary clinton was, oh, wl, maybe money doesn't matter. i guess we'll find out whetheer money ma because he is in the process of trying to buy some love and attention.

the other question, though, is, traditionally, you can't skip the first few states and think that you're going to somehow mccanned, the chain b of. the rnc, said people who plant their flag in states after those first few states often find momentum overtakes them. >> woodruff: he's counting, amy,n money overcoming a lot of this. >> he's counting on a couple ofn . it's good you pointed out donald trump because he also went against conventional thinking because even in the primaries he didn't spend that much money, he and his ability to dominate the mea landscaped. was being covered by cable oxws and took up all the politicaen and the traditional ways of campaigning, go and ortnize, host meet and greets with voters, it didn't matter. it was called freedi he bst sucked all of that up.

the you're michaomberg, it's different, you're paying for media, and the theory being, if you spend an amount of money like we've never ever seen before in american politics, that by the time that we hit post-south colina, so from the very beginning of march, the theory being the process s s just sort ofo whether it traitd field, right, nobody's really a frontrunner, everybody has this baggage, and they can tun to somebody who's just been on eheir air waves and smartphones for last couple of months telling them how great he is. all these other candidates look bad, the democrats have gotten beaten up, let's turno michael bloomberg. that's whose theory, it's a big, bigbu gamble that's what he's counting on. >> woodruff: but is there history of somebody coming in late and making it work? >> not in modern --

>> woodruff: t since we've had these early primaries. >> that's right. >> woodruff: 31 million in one weeks and months to go beforee w get to the post-early primaries. re will watch. amy walt, tamera keith, thank you both. >> you're welcom >> woodruff: family sizes ha been steadily shrinking around the industrialized world for decades. the decline has been jurticularly dramatic in italy. a generation ago it was common for italian mothers to fve more than four children. today, the averaily has fewer than two. newshour special correspondent christopher livesay reports from sicily. the shrinking populaould drag the country into an rprecedented economic crisis.

orter: little saverio is just 13 days old, born here in the sicilian town of nicosia. >> it's special to the hospital, and very, very speepal to us. >>ter: special to them, because it's their first child. special to theospital, because he's the only newborn here. the birth rate here is so low, the maternity ward has risked closing, says dr. maria rosaria vena, who oversees it. >> ( translated ): it's a t sad to see all these empty beds, because when there aren't any births, we feel like we're >>sting hours of our time. eporter: how many births were there last year in total? >> ( translated ): about 200 births. whereas when i started working erhere 20 years ago, there about 400 every year. of reporter: so just in the span 0 years half of the births have gone. . ( translated ): y that's why there's always the risk they could shut us down. to justify a maternity ward, you have to have a minimum 500 annual births. but the nearest other hospital is a very long and dficult ive away. if they close this hospital, some mothers would end up giving

birth on the side of the road. >> reporter: across the hall i meet 20-year-old lorena scriffignano, the only expectant ther in the ward. on ( translated ): i have any friends who are pregnant. it's really hard to raise a family. i don't have a job, an tthe father hdrive for an hour and 30 minutes to work. so he's going toane away a lot. my child isn't going to have many friends his own age. >> reporter: it's a sc repeating itself across italy. census figures show the national pulation is steadily shrinking-- the first time that's happened in 90 years. due in large part to the the average italiamily today only has 1.2 children, says angelo mazza, a professor of demographics at the university of catania in sicily. there's that idea of the italian family with lots of kids. i mean, what could be more italian than that? >> fertility rates have be going down from the mid-60s.

to replace the population every woman should make at least two babies during her life. i mean, that's logic. and 1.2 is kind of far from two. >> reporter: so why are italians just not having as many children as they used t >> well, it is not because they don't want to. they feel that conditions are .ot good enough to have two babi be ause you need to get a jo proper job. and it may happen that this does ilt give you enough time to fuyour wishes, your reproductive wishes, you see. >> reporter: italy's economy has en reeling since the 200 global economic crisis. the youth unemployment rate stands at a staggering5%, prompting young people to both illd off on starting a famy, and leave in search of work. la year, more than 150,000 italians emigrated abroad. factor in the plunge in

pregnancies, and you have the only major european economy wi a population forecast to decline even further over the xt five years. take, for example, the town acquaviva platani in sicily. today it has only 800 inhabitants, down from roughly 3,700 in the 50s. founded four centuries ago, the town's narrow streets and position high atop a hill once made it difficult for invaders to pillage. today, young people find i difficult to live and work here, says mayor salvatore caruso. >> ( translated ): there's a number of young people have gone to live in the north or abroad, either to study or to work. couples coming here if they don't have work. toy the majority of the population is elderly. so there are hardly any births. it's the same in towns of our >> reporter: how many births are we talking about? >> ( translated ): i believe last year there were five or

six, and we'll have arhat this year too. >> reporter: over the years, he says, vanishing families has meant shrinking class sizes, forcing them to combine age groups, and in some cases close schools. but if peoe aren't having ildren anymore, does your town run the risk of eventually dying? >> ( translated here's a gap of 10-15 people every year, between births and deaths. so it's rtainly possible. >> reporter: walking the empty streets, i meet some of those few yog people still living here. they all share the same part- time job, one of the f left in town: caretaking for the elderly. family in my homete to raise a but i don't know if i have a future here. i really think i'll have to leave. i don't want to see my town disappear, but in the end, we have to look out for ourselves. >> reporter: italy is second in te world only to japan for having highest concentration of senior citizens. if more young people leave, it's a vicious circle for the town and the country. if we have less childre today we're going to have less

parents tomorrow and even less children and so forth. >> reporter: so what are some of into?roblems that we might run >> the population could extinguish. and when baby boomers will retire, you know, you're going to have a small amount of individuals taking care of a knrger amount of old people, you . worse in the next 20be even years. >> reporter: only 10 or 20 years? that's right around the corner. that's the emergency. >> reporter: it's an emergency? >> yes. it's a real emergency. exist, he says.t solutions the government could incentivize childbirth, much as neighboring france has done by investing daycare, longer parental leaves, and tax exemptions to parents. >> they have now almt the same population that ity does. you know that they have 65% more

italy.en everyear than in >> reporter: in france? >> yes. 65% more. >> reporter: the other solution: migrants. mostly from sub-saharan africa, the middle east, and south asia. they've been steadily arriving in italy for years, offsetting much of the decline in population. last year, however, italy began to ban migrant ships, and enact other measures to lower imigration to the country. ly continues to block migration from outside europe, then half of the population will century, according to the e.u.'s statistics agency. back in acquaviva platani, alessia boscarini manages a cafe, where she's recently given her shrinking town a bump of hope. >> ( translated ): he's due in just a few weeks. his name is alessandro, our cirst. it's very ng, because n ere are so few babies born from our towevery year. this will only be the fifth this year. it's such a big event th t the town rin church bells

every time a baby is born. ek reporter: but with that birth several away, the bells remain silent, as they have for most of the year for the pbs newshour, i'm christopher livesay in acquaviva platani, sicily. f: >> woodrn 2013, billionaire investor, businessman and philanthropist david rubenstein set out an ambitious plan: to modere a series of conversations with prominent historians, in front of an audience of bipartisan lawmakers. the goal: to make members of congress more knowledgeable about the past so they could better deal with the coury's future. rubenstein is now sharing the best of those conversations a dw book, "the american story." a noteid rubenstein's philanthropy includes public television, and the pbs newshour. i began by asking him if this

work with lawmakers and historians has achieve goals. we have republicans, democrats and people from both guses coming. about 250 to 300 people participating in each interview. they have a reception. we ask them to sit with people som the opposite party in the opposite hou they get to know people they don't otherwise know or get to talk to. there's no press there snoo there'pressure to do anything, and they have an interview that they can watch and participate in the interview by asking questions and they're like any other audience, they bring dog eared copies of the books and want them autographed like anybody else. so the reason is no era of good feels, but the thinking is people who make the laws should know our country's history and it should be known by everybody in the country, particularly the lawmakers. right now we don't teach history orivics in the ited states s ch anymore, and you get survat three-quarters of

americans can't name three branches of government and some can't name one branch of government. >> woodruff: it's a sad situation, when you see the statistic. from this book, you talk to historians from ten different presidents but then to other great americe leaders. the so many things that stood out to me. talking to historian jack warren about george washington and how he was the right man for the moment, why? >> remember, george washington three times turned down, power after he won the revolutionary war as the leading general, he went back to mt. verner, said i don't want to be the leader of the country. second time he provided over the constitutional convention but he didn't want to lead the country, he went back to mount vernon and the third time he was elected beesident, he didn't want t but he served and he said i want to do what i can fomy country and was indispensable. had we not had gege washington, i'm not sure we would have won the revolutionary

war. >>oodruff: franklin roosevelt, you presed jay wenic on why roosevelt didn't intervene to stop the holocaust sooner. roosevelt's decisi to, it was intervene any sooner. >> i think it was combinion of many things going on in the war. i don't think knew how much impact he had would he have been willing to bomb the railroads going to auschwitz. thtried to say here are some of interviews of some of the greatest historians in the country. don't read the books alone. read the books themselves. i'm digestin digesting the inted e think they're readable but you should read ntire book. >> most of the great leaders u write about, of course, are men. in the chaer where you interviewed cokie roberts, deare friend who p away not long ago, because she'd rine severasl boout the founding mothers, what did you take away from that, david rubenstein,

about why women haven't gotten more attention? >> in the early days of our country, women were not allowed to vote, they weren't allowed to own property. rf you were married, you couldn't own pro and obviously you couldn't be an office holder. how did they exercise influence? they tended to do it p through their husban the letters between john abigail and adams, maybe a thousand of them, and she had a second grade jairks andheeducation and she ws educated and literate sounding as her lawyer husband. cokie dug through these and you saw the women had a lot of fluence on the men. >> woodruff: david cullough telling you, he said the best and most effective people in public life without exception have been the people o had a profound and very often life-long interest in hista y. do you maknnection with

today and president trump? >> i think manpeople who understand history are at an advantage, but because of stem, we have taken physics and history out of it. >> woodruff: focused on science and math. >> people are concerned about competing with the chinese, that's a legitimate concern, but i don't thinpeople should take stem courses and not history courses. in the last eight years, history majors in the united states have gone down by 34%. sury few people major in history and the t is very few people know about the history. >> woodruff: have you thought about which great historian will be in a position to write about trump? >> it takes about 40 years for a historian to get ahold of the documents ancome up with a judgment. so i think it's too early. the person who will be the great historian and will write about the president is probably in grade schoole i think peopur age and my age will not be the great historians to write that, but think it's too early to say and we don't know what's going to

happ with hiserm. most presidents are judged as suctions if they get reelected even if the second term is not that successful and many second terms are successful. it will be difficult to say whether his first term is successful unless he gets elected. >> woodruff: two, maybe three billionaires running for the president of the united states. president trump running for reelection, tom stier, maybe michael bloomberg, what about david rubenstein? what do you think about running for office? >> right now, i'm doing the best i can in what i do. i think the country haves enough people who are billionaires running for president. i know many of them. they are very qualified in some ways to be president, but i think my best use for the country is doing what i'm doing now and what i would rather do more than anything else is talk to you about this book. >> woodruff: david rubenstein, the book is the american story, conversations with master historians. thank you very much. >> my pleasure, thank you.

>> woodruff: nearly siion americans are living with alzheimer's disease, and the number continues to soar. for many, this diagnosis is the start of a life wi limitations. but, as an art program in minneapolis shs, a life that can still hold great joy and meaning. the story comes to us from kate mcdonald of twin cities pbin minneapolis as part of our ongoing arts and culture series, "canvas." >> welcome to the walker art center. we have a beautiful day today. we are going to explore the sculpture garden together. orter: taking a tour of outdoor sculpture would not have been a normal activity for most of marv lofquist's life. but when the retired chemistry professor was diagnosed with alzheimer's disease seven years ago, he began to appe art in a new way. >> i like the contrast between the dark coat and the whiteish face.

if i got upset every time i didn't remember something i would be upset all day. i can't remember what i said five minutes ago, but i think then you turn around and say, just enjoy what is there, right i can look at things and preciate them in ways i never epought i would. >>ter: lofquist is among more than 1,000 people who have participated in contemporary journeys, a program designed by the walker art center for peopa with dementid alzheimer's. alonwith a partner, often a family member or friend. >> this artist loved to collect bones, wood pieces, stones, rock >> reporter: ilene krug mojsilov helped found the program in 2009 and leads the tours once a month. mojsilov says that people with timentia are uniquely open and without inhibion when ee.erpreting what they >> oh, marv, you are demonstrating, very good. >> oh, yeah, shake your hand

give me your hand. ( laughter ) he one thing i learned from this group is's always someone that contributes something fresh and new that i haven't considered before. this group is totally in the moment and it, it makes me more sensitive to the world at large >> what is missing from that coat? >> a hat! >> a hat! cool, cool! ( laughter ) >> reporter: tour guides make nts for the needs of the participants. they discuss only the artwork that is rit in front of them, and keep conversation in the present. art.hat's what's so cool about ptat you each bring to the sce is important. your ideas are rmportant. orter: but does art therapy work? it is not as easy as determining if a drug is effectively working. we asked public health professor joseph gaugler to assess the 'rproject. >> ytalking about outcomes kind of more humanoutcomesing, that sometimes you can't always

measure with a scale. art therapy approaches can really help enhance the ivrsonhood of the person ling with dementia. people witmemory loss can still continue to express thoughts, feelings, and emotions in a healthy way. at reporter: in addition to lookinrt, the program engages participants in making their own art, inspired by artworks they've seen on the tour. >> the art making, i think, amplifies the expeence. it's a way to activate cognition, and it's what, what jazzes me, too. i'm looking for meaning in life. and i think care partners and our participants are looking for meaning, too. >> reporter: art-making can also decrease the stress, agitation and isolation often associated with memory loss. elaine lofquist is marv's wife and carrte r. they met in high-school and have been married for 53 years.

>> doing something with just marv and i just alone is fun and we enjoy doing that. tht having an activity that we can go to ther people is ngen more beneficial for us in srms of not feesolated. >> i thif isolation is one .f the worst things you can do in any situati but especily with memory loss. i don't want to be sitting there and not, not feeling like i can't participate. cannot conibute. getting a group like we had together to look at some a work or talk aboutome things-- that's what i still want to keep doing is, you know, what can i find enjoyable? but what can i find to do? what can i find that's meaningful? >> as more people unfortunately get alzheimer's disease, you're going to start, i think, seeing the seeds of a-- really an

advocacy movement of people with memory loss stating that, "i'm ill here and my values, my opinions, my thoughts, preferences matter." >> how can we turn some of the negativity around alzheimer's and say, "let's just get on with it and accept it and deal with it and enjoy in what we can?" >> and that is what art does. it's for the people no matter where you are in your walk of life. >> for a chemist, not too bad. ( applause ) >> reporter: for the pbs newshour in minneapolis, minnesota, i'm kate mcdonald for twin cities pbs in minneapolis. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm indy woodruff. s 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.

>> consumer cellular. >> and by the alfredoan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made public broadcasting.oration for and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. captioning sponsored by newshour pductions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ -"america's test kitchen" is celebrating auge milestone. 20 years on television. the whole cast is counting down the top 20 recipes of all time. -over 1,000 recipes we've cooked on "atk."