captioning sponsored by newshour productio, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: social media under fire. the leaders of facebook and twitter face congressional questioning over alleged political bias on their platforms. the men and women of both parties who do the work atpo ing places across the country confront the condemnation of their service. plus, one year later. a as the worwaits a vaccine for covid-19, we are on theer ground to see things stand at the virus' epicenter. >> reporter: this here behind me is what's left of the huanan wet market, what many people believe to be the original source of covid-. ere are no businesses

operating inside any more, and many of the other businesses arnd the outside, includin eateries in particular, remain shuttered as well. >> woodruff: all that igd more, on tht's pbs newshour. >> major funng for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> architect. bee-keeper. mentor. a raymond james financl advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life, well-planned. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and onnect. we offer a varie no-contract plans, and our u.s.-based customer service team can help find one that fits you. to learn more, visit www.consumercellular.tv.

>> johnson & johnson. >> bnsf railway. >> fidelity wealth management. >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation. fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individual >> this program was made possible by the cooration for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the wave of u.s.

coronavirus infections has hit another high-- 166,000 in the last 24 hours. that is up 80% in two weeks, and it is prompting more states to take action. ohio today imposed an overnight curfew for businesses. and, iowa mandated masks in indoor public spaces. republican governor kim reynolds of iowa gave the order after o montresisting the idea. >> if you can't social distance and you're going to be in a prolonged interactth an individual for more than 15 minutes, then you're required to wear a mask. that's the proclamation. that's the expectation i so i am askians, once again, it's not where we want to t we need everybody to step up and do the right thing. >> woodruff: governors of eat lakes states called today for federal help with testing, contact tracing and hospital testing, plus other funding.ec president-joe biden filled

a number of senior positions onh hie house staff today. one is louisiana congressman cedric richmond. he will resign his seat to become a senior adviser to the president. meanwhile, two weeks after the election, president trump has yet to concede defeat, or start the transition. the elections chief in georgia t sat he is being pressured by fellow republicans. the state is recounting presidential votes after president-elect biden won by 14,000 votes. it also faces two u.s. senate runoffs. but, secretary of state carolina senator lindsey graham implied that he should discardgi letimate blots. raffensperger spoke in a tv interview.nt >> we wa to make sure every legal vote counts, and every illegal vote doesn't count. ivve always been a conserv republican, and i want to make sure we have a lawful process because i think integrity still

matters. >> woodruff: senator graham chairs the senate judiciary committee. the pentagon confirms that it is cutting u.s. troop numbers in afghanistan nearly in half, to 2,500, by mid-january. today's formal announcement came despite warnings by nato secretary-general jens stoltenber he said that afghanistan could again become a base for foreign thrrorists. we will return t, later in the program. central america was battered again today by hurricane iota, on the heels of another hurricane two weeks ago. the storm arged ashore in nicaragua overnight with sustaid winds of 155 miles an hour. the raging wind came with extreme rainfall and heavy flooding. humanitarian groups warned of a long-term disaster. >> continued flooding in countries like guatemala,

honduras, and nicaragua is going to affect the incoming harvest. and this will severely strain subsistence farmers. and already, whilst it's still early days, it is quite-- it is quite clear that this will extend the emergency even into mid-2021. >> woodruff: early reports told of widespread damage, and two deaths in nicaragua. senate blocked judton'she u.s. nomination to the federal reserve board. -esenator and vice presidect kamala harris cast the decisive votejoining her fellow democrats and two republicans. they oppos the conservative economics commentator over her denunciaons of the fed, among other things. and on wall street tod, investors retreated after a disappointing report on retail sales. the dow jones industrial average lost 167 points to close at ,783.

the nasdaq fell 24 points, and the s&p 500 slipped 17. still to come on the newshour: the leaders of facebook and twitter face congressional questioning ov alleged political bias. pollg place officials from across the country discuss their experience in this year's historic vote. president trump continues two weeks after election day., and, much mo. >> woodruff: social media under fire. map executives of tech giants faced off with lrs today. our amna n naz reports. az: a barrage of questions and criticism for the c.e.o.'s

ofwitter and facebook, appearing virtually before a senate judiciary committee hearing on censorship, disinformation, and the 2020 election.t >> widence do you have that these labels are effective at addressing president trump's es? >> it is time we took action against these modern-day robber barons. n az: the tech giants hailed the progress they've made so far. twitter c.e.o. jack do >> the public asked to offer additional context to help make potentially misleading information more apparent. we did exactly that. >> nawaz: the ad of facebook, mark zuckerberg. >> we've taken down more than 100 networks of bad who were trying to coordinate and interfere globally. we establish a network of independent fact-checkers that covers more than 60 languages. >> nawaz: but senator richard blumenthal, decrat from connecticut, insisted that's not enough. >> the destructive, incendiary misinformation is still a scourge on both your platforms, and on others. nawaz: democrs largely focused there-- how to combat

misinformation anddi nformation, even when it comes from the president. two weeks after election day, president trump continues to tweet baseless claims of vot fraud, falsely insisting he won, bothwitter and facebook have labeled some of the president's posts as "misinformation." fnator dianne feinstein, democratm california, asked dorsey about thembresident's no 7 tweet, "i won this election by a lot." twitter has applied to the tweet a label that says "official sources manot have called the race when this was tweeted." >> does that label do enough to prevent the tweet's hat when the tw still visible and is not accurate?" >> i believe it is really important that we show people a broader context, and that is the intention of the lab. it inot just text below a tweet, it is a link to connect to a much larger conversation a and neicles across the spectrum. >> naw: republicans today

focused their fire onac sations of bias against conservative voices. chairman lindsay graham, republican from south carolina, first called the hearing after twitter blocked a "new york post" article about hunter biden that violated its policy on sharing hacked materials. after backlash, twitter reversed course, amending the policy to associates, and ad labelr their to possibly hacked content. rationale behind our actions and demonstrates our ability to take edback, admit mistakes, and make changes all transparentlyhe toublic. >> nawaz: both dorsey and zuckerberg were repeatedlyha w essed t content they'd alloand what they'd take down.t, a facebook pos for example, by former trump advisor steve bannon called for the beheading of dr. anthony fauci a f.b.i. director christopher wray. >> h many times is steve bannon allowed to call for the murder of government officialsre beacebook suspends his account? >> the content in question didat viour policies and we took

it down. having a content violation does not automatically mean that your content-- your account-- gets taken down. and the number of strikes ries depending on the type of offense. >> nawaz: but when asked if facebook would take down bannon's account altogether? >> senator, no. at's not what our polici would suggest that we should do >> nawaz: central to all this, growing cas to reform "sectio 230" of the communications decency act, a 1996 rule which stipulates, "no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as e publisher or speaker of any otformation provided by anr information content provider." >> do both of you support change to 230, reform of section 230? >> senator, i do. >> yes. >> nawaz: with the georgia special elections looming in ofnuary, which will determine controhe senate, both c.e.o.s pledged continued vigilance.r e pbs newshour, i'm amna nawaz. uf

>> woo president trump and his allies continue to sow doubr in the ele process, at times, questioning the in administrators and poll workers. yesterday, wliam brangham spoke to election officials across the nation, both democrats and reblicans, about their work and why they are confident in the integrity t 2020 election. >> my name is ben hovland. i'chairman of the u.s. election assistance commission, which is a federal agency dedicated to studying best practices in election administration. as far as everyone who works in the space, everyone who's a committed professional to elections, this was the safest election we've ever had, and the most secure election we've er had. >> my name is natalie adona, i am the assistant clerk recorder and assistant registrar of voters for the county of nevada. the one thing that we all have in common is that we care really deeply about democracy and

making democracy work. if we need to, for example, register a voter, it does not matter what that voter's opinion is about politics. what we care about is, "is the vote?" quafied to register to >> my name is reynaldoi valenzuela the co-director for maricopa county and i oversee early voting andon elecervices. we're agnostic to the political party when you go through these doors. and we couldn't do it without having that kind of commitment thfrom our staff that know this is important work to do. my name is maggie toulouse oliver, new mexico's secretary of state and president of nass. if you see a state election official who is of one party orh other, and you see the outcome for the candate of the other party, the same at the county level, that just goes to show you, when it comes to these jobs, thaton-partisaattitude of making sure that outcomes are

accurate and that votes are counted and counted fairly is absolutely essential. >> my name is laurie elum, and i'm the democratic director at the kansas city board of elections. don't know that any of us signed up to risk our lives for people to vote. it made me feel really good when i looked in the distance down past the trainracks and ico d see 200-plus cars of covid-positive people that we were ensuring would vote. i realized that what we were doing was huge. it was a part of history. >> my name is james young. i'm a regional manager for inclusion solutions. previously i served as elections administrator in louisville, assistant to the kentucky secretary of state. part of what i do today is iav the country full-time. i work with election administrators. this idea that ballots arein shup in the back alley at 4:00 a.m. is very insulting toit the inteof not just these career professionals, but also to the poll workers that oversee the process. >> when you look at the way our

election system was designed, all of the pieces of it have checks and balances, have bipartisan teams of republicans and democrats working together to ensure that the process is fair andccurate. if there's anyredibility, any cts to these allegations, we should see that. but it needs to be prented in the appropriate place, in a court of law, where a fair arbiter can make that decision. and we just haven't seen anything that rises to any level of real concern. >> arizona has a hand-count audit. we looked at over 47,311, to bex t, ovals. w went from arrows to ovals, our llots, but 47,311, and not one had a discrepancy. that's amazing. and that's a large vole. so that and of itself at ast gives us the confidence that we have checks and balances so someone that says "i don't

believe," we have the data. >> we just want people to vote. it doesn't matter to me what your political leaning is versus somebody else, what i just want you to do is vote. i have nothing but the utmost and deepest respect for people's political leanin and their beliefs. the question is, do people believe that i find that important? i hope so. >> i think like any election, there were hiccups, there were issues that came up. that's not unusual. but i think given all of the threats this election, ether it be from the cybersecurity point of view, to just the fact it covid-19 and spread, and all of the hurdles that that erected, the fact that you had a smoo- flowing election process on election day, that you had record numbe of american turning out to vote? that in and of itself demonstrates the fact that thet election ran jout as well as it possibly ever could. >> it's important to remember m a registered republica

i voted a certain way, that may not be reflective of the outcome of the election. that doesn't mean the process should be burn to the ground and that we should question the individuals who counted the actual ballots. >> i get choked up talking about it because this was really important. my team really stood for something. i'm prd to be a part of this team. at least i know that for a time in my life, i truly lived with a real purpose. >> so, judy, that is just a cross section of thete of thousands of people who work every ngle year, in every single election, to try to make sure our elections e safe and fair and transparent and as equat as possible. and as you mentioned, i talked to all of those people yesterday. and we reached out to them today since this news that senator lindsey graham may have been contactingff

electionials, and may have suggested to one official that he toss out certain mail-in ballots. and many expressed that any political presss e that woing exerted on secretaries of state, especialpe because these le are facing these bogus allegations they're part of some massivens racy. many are receiving death threats and violent e-mails and thingsike that. and the secretary of state from new mexico, mary oliver, said that if these accusations are true, that mail-in ballots were being encouraged to be tossed out, she called that, if it were true,nf dinchisement at its worse. judy? >> woodruff: william, fo glad to hem all of these election officials across party lines andou the country. william brangham, thank you. >> woodruff: hello to and we turn now to our political correspondent lisa desjardins, and white house correspondyat

che alcindor. both of you. and, lisa, i'm going to start with yosewith this ligraham, senator from south carolina, admitting that he did ates where the trumpls in mpaign is challenging the results. this is highly unusual, as we know. it?t can you tell us about >> lisa: it's also significant because he is the chairman of the judiciary committee, which oversees law enforcement, not elections, but law enforcent in this country. chairman graham has spent the last day explaining to reporters what he believes here is a quote how he complains this. he said, "i wanted to find out how you verify mail-in ballot signatures, and that was the extent of the conversation with the secretary of state of georgia." senator graham is saying, essentially, he is not sure that the technology in georgia was uto the snuff for figuring out those ballots, and whether the signatures were actuly accurate for mail-in votes. but the secretary of state said, as part of that conversation, senator s aham implied that large

numbers of ballhould be thrown out in counties where the technology d not meet what senator graham's standard was. i think whe we talk about senators and how they look at this, a lot of senators have been state officials. one of them democrat sheldon white hou long island. he said, if you're trying fine.t information, that's was trying to influence ballot counting, that is problematic. and he said it is hard to tell. this is a sh he said/she said. and this idea if republican senators are accepting accepting election results, they seem to be tiptoeing wards acceptance. marco rubio said it seems to indicate a biden win. d jon cordon says he doesn't think anything can change that ocome. and vice prrsident-elect was on the senate,

and she received congratulations from langford, round, and tim scott, and senator lindsey graham gave her a fist bump. he apparently told reporters, "if it works out, congratulations." >> woodruff: really interesting since these e senators who by and large are saying they challenges. president's yamiche, that brings me to you. what is the latest on the president and his allies continuing to challenge the election results? >> well, dpite a string of failed legal challenges, the president is continuing to fight on, continuing to not acknowledge that he is the projected ser in this election. now, the president is doing a number of things, inudinleaning in on allies, on senators and elected officials, and having his alitlies, seems as though, employing they should be reachingte out to stafficials to see whether or not there can be things done to sway those states in e president's direction.

the president is also keeping up his rhetoric. ee is talking about th fact that the election was stolen from him, and critics say that is going through a lot of money that is going to end up ih a flnd that will at times really help him lead an expensive lifestyle. the president is saying that is part of his legal defense fund. on the legal front, the president is continuing to have lawsuit after lawsuit. today they filed a new one in nevada.aw we also he president go to court in pennsylvania. rudy giuliani expanding his role there, while quit saying they cnotto defend the president's legal challenges. today theni pennsyl supreme court ruled against the trump campaign, saying they didn't have ther prope access, and that that was not founded. and then when you look at the other strategy here, the shiftinrhetoric happening. before people close to the president were saying if we can get recounts an get it together, we can russell back some of these states. now people close to the president say maybe what we're doing is auditing

the system, seeing what could have gone wrong because the presiden might be losing. and one of the things they were saying over and over again, tedey want recounts in each and every state. we're being told on the "newshour" the president is not going to be demanding a recount in wisconsin. that would have cost $8 million. what you see is the trump campaign continuing to say we can win this and have legal hallenges, but whe it comes to actually putting money towards that, the events and the t recouny're not doing that. we should always been watching that space, and the space with the lal officials feeling pressured. hopefully we can get some on what isi going on there. >> woodruff: and the president continuing to say the election is being stolen in most of his statements. yamiche alcindor, lisa desjardins, thank you both. >> woodruff: how to end our longest war?

we heard the white house and the pentagon both promise todayo ring u.s. troops home. nick schifrin has the details. >> schifrin: judy, the u.s. is reducing its forces in three countries: afghanistan, iraq, and somalia. there are currently more than 4,000 forces in afghanistan, and 3,000 in iraq. by january 15, there will be 2,500 u.s. forces in eac country in total. here's what acting defense secretary miller said today about the withdraw from afghanistan. >> this is consistent with our established plans and strategic objectives, supported by american people. it does not equate to a change in u.s. policy oobjectives. >> schifrin:e now turn to a man who was at the center of president trump's decisions, serving as national security advisor.d retieutenant general h.r. mcmaster also served numerous tours in iraq and afghanistan. his latest book is defend the free world." to

>> general, welcome back." to the "newsho thank you very much. let's start on the afghanistan drawdown. as we heard, acting defence secretary chris miller says the mission is not changing. can the u.s. continue the mission if it goes down to 2500? i think it goes beyond the paultry number f troops. in both afghanistan and iraq. i think it is the overa strategy. essentially in afghanistan, nick, what ha've done is partnered with the talibant gets the afghan government. the afghan government officials are sitting across the table fro the taliban in doha, andin they're he we defeated the world's greatest super power. why are wven speaking to you? >> i spoke with a senior afghan official who echoed your fear about the doha ped e talks. he t it will further

"embolden the taliban." and i talked to other taliban officials and they said we don't kif the military's capacities will go down. afghan officials are holding out, and sayg if the capacities that the u.s. military brings to afghanistan today, are continued, which the u.s. military says they will, it is okay to draw do a few thousand. it is not a big difference. >> that remains to be seen. i would like to know what that.iller thinks about the number doesn't matter. i tnk your point is right, the afghan official's point is right. it is more about what is the capability thatis there? and do we have enough capacity to support the afghan government and their security forces in their fight to maintain the freedoms that they've enjoyed since 2001 and to prevent jihadist terrorists organizations from gaining the strength to cmit mass murder again on the scale of 9/11. >> with a due respect, the military has not beeni

able to do t were 42,000 troops, so what does imat er if there are 42,000 or 2500? >> our sustained commitment abroad is what has prevented jihadist terrorists from is attacking on a sca of 9/11. we know it was a safe haven in afghanistan, andis ithis terrorist echo system that exists between afghanisnn and pakis that possess a grave threat because it gives these groups the ability to recruit, train, plan, organize, and also to fund their mass murder attacks against all civilized people.h the argument i would make, nick, is not for hundre of thousands of troops in a region. the american people don't what we do need is support is those bearing the brunt of the fight. about 30 afghan soldiers are police give their lives every day fighting these groups, and i think

they're worthy of our support. when i say our support, it is the u.s. and a coalition of nations. u.s. forces are lower in number than the rest ofe alition that are supporting the afghan forces these days. >> on somalia, they didn't discuss this publicly, but the u.s. is drawingown in somia, where the u.s. trains somaliroops shab .sbab. can the continue that mission if there is a ide somalia? >> i would ask, obviously, the officials who know better. i believwhat is really important, if you just look at the math of it, of the all forces that we have, highly capable forces, extremely courageous servicemen and women, who operate with partners, and compare that small numbero the large number of force you can now access to fight against these terrorist organizations, i think it is a win for us. it is economical for us,

actually. it is very important, nick, to recognize that these groups, many of them are more dangerous today than they were on september 10th, 2001. and the reason we haven't seen massive attacks on our soil is because forces are engaged with them. and the terrorist organizaons have to worry about their own security more than they can worry about what next.re going to do to us i think that sustaining the effort is certainly in our interest. remember, nick, in 1998, declared war on us earlier in that decade. then they committed the first world trade center bombings, and the truck bombings, and they attacked our embassies. and under the clinton administration, we fired a few missild called it a day. we know what happened on 9/11. it is no a theoretical case. we have to remain engaged militarily and diplomatically and amongpa

ners working together to secure all humanity fr these jihadist terrorists. >> you work for president trump, are you concerned about what he might try to in the 60 days before inauguration? >> i hope he priritizes a smooth transition to the biden administration.anyone tima transition, it is a turbulent time. i think our adversaries and rivals look opportunisticly for ways they can advance their interest at our expense while we're distrheted. i think emphasis ought to be on a smooth transition. position in government, they should all be bigger thanny individual's o. should all want what is best for our country, and i hope that sentiment prevails here in the last two months of the trump administration. >> former national security advisor h. mcmaster, thank you very much. >> thank you, nick.

>> woodruff: despite denial by the president, the transition to a biden administration is moving forward. one of his closet allies in the capitol is democratic senator chris coons of delaware. >> woodruff: senator coons, thank you for being with us. before i ex you about the transition, i have a question about the georgia rendunt. senator y graham of phoned georgna said he republican secretary of state, and i'm quoting the secretary of stat says "mr. graham asked about possible ways that ballots could b disqualified, including whether the secretary ofe st could reject all absentee ballots inad counties that a high

number of mismatched signatures." senator graham is denying it, but what is yo your view? >> judy, this election is er. by saturday, every major news outlet s beginning to call the election for president-elect biden. it is long past time for this transition and tot begin moving forward.th e actions by senator graham is certainly coerning, and the count by the republican secretary of state of georgia of that conversation suggests he is mucking around in georgia's electoral politics, and ying to suggest or move theta secretary ofe in a direction that wouldn't be supported by the law in my understanding of these facts. >> woodruff: is this unethical? >> that's a question i can't speak to. i'm rmhe vice chai of the senate ethics committee, so i shouldn't give youan opinion on that. >> woodruff: all right. let me move on. do you, at this point,

know of any republican senators who are at the prepared to acknowledgeen that joe bs the president-elect? >> it has been a striking week on that front, judy. there are qui a few republican senators who have been conveying their congtulations indictly to the vice president-elect, when she the senate this afternoon, to the president-elect. i've encouraged each of them who have reached out to me to do so publicly, to step orward and to say the election is over and it is time for a responsible transition. you just had general mcmast on, and he made clear it is in the best interests of our country, of ounational security, of our troops who continue to serve overseas, that this transition begins promptly and be smooth and propriate. >> woodruff: well, let me ask you about something that general mcmaster just said to nick this move by the trump administration to draw

down u.s. troops in afghanistan t2500 by january. we heard general this is a huge mistake. what's your view? >> well, when i last spoke of afghanistan, an iident i was last briefed on circumstances on the ground in afghanisenn, which has a number of months, my impression was that it was american policy, that we would make a conditions-based decision about when to draw down r troops further. that it wouldn't be driven by a political timeline. this strikes me as an effort by the outgoing administration, by president trump himself, to make a significant change in oururity profile in three critical countries witht consulting with our allies, without the changes on the ground that would justify it, in a way that would fraly put president-elect biden and his incoming administration on their back fin dealing with our security in this critical area of the

world. >> woodruff: do you believe that president-elect biden, upon taking office, would reverse these moves to pull troops out? >> well, i can't speak to o whether he wour wouldn't do that. but it is certainly unsafe and unsound forn outgoing administration, in just their last two months, with an acting se whoary of def has been in that role just one week, to make abrupt decisions or changes. there was also today, judy, some alarming repoing in the "new york times" that there was a meeting in the white house seriously discs a possible strike against iran last week. these are the sorts ofld things that shot be done in the midst of a transition, ere there is no intelligence-sharing with the incoming administration, and where any onef these moves, either a drawdown oan aggressive action in another country, could put us in anp unstablition right in the middle of a

transition. >> woodruff: there is a conversation about you're in the running to be secretary of state under president biden. you have said you would be honored to accept f you were invited. serious consideration?der >> i think the president-y ect is seriounsidering quite a few people to fill his cabinet, from a wide range of bagrounds. is blessed to have a team that includes a number of folks who have ry senior experience in foreign policy, who have served with him when he was here in the senate, when he was vice president. so he has some great selections right in front of him, and i look forward to doing everything i can to work with the biden administration here in the senate or in some other role, if tha btecomes a possibility in the future. >> woodruff: ve very quickly, senator, what is your sense of how theon transiis going, given the fact that the trump administration inot cooperating, not agreeing to move ahead with it? >> well, this is putting

americankives at ris both because we are not seeing a smooth and profesonal transition ound the vaccine and the response to covid-19, or a smooth and professional transition around intelligence-sharing andec nationality matters. president-elect biden,de vice pre-elect harris are continuing to work diligently and thoughtfully. they're consulting experts g security and public health and movhead with their plans. that sort of resonsible leadership should be responded to in kind by the outgoingad nistration and by leaders here in the republican caucus and the senate. but so far, judy, we're just not seeing that kind of responsible behavior out of president trump or the republican caucus here in the senate. >> woodruff: senator we thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: one year ago today, the first known case of

coronavirus infection was recorded in china's hubei province, home to wuhan, now known the world over as the original virus epinter.nd special correst patrick fok went to wuhan to try and piece together parts of the puzzle, and sehow china is shaping the story of what happened there. >> reporter: it's hard to imagine this place was once on coronavirus outbrehina's jinyintan hospital, in the north of wuhan, treated some of the world's first covid-19 patients nearly a year ago. few cars, or even people, come in and out of the premises now. in the early days of the outbreak, wards here were bursting. just a short walk around the m the hospital, authorities converted this expo center into a shelter to treat wuhan was the hardest-hit place in china, accounting for more than h cases, and the bulk of its officially-reported, roughlyde

4,50hs. the center is now housing an exhibition commemorating china's battle against the virus. >> ( translated ): i think pride belongs to every one of us chese, because we have successfully fought against the coronavirus under the call of the party, and the country, and thtively fought against it under the leadership o government. >> reporter: this is an audio- visual journey that details chinese communist party-led efforts against covid-19, tomplete with a timeline of events, accordinhinese authorities, of how they unfolded. there's a tribute, also, to indics who died fighting the outbreak, includg li wenliang, the whistle-blower doctor silenced by officials for trying to warn the world about the disease, and whose death sparked outrage. anger over his fate and a perceived cover-up in e early ys of the crisis has beened

tunto a story of sacfice by a national hero. it's the story of wuhan the government wants to tell.is ere behind me is what's left of the huanan wet market, what many people believe is thef original sourcovid-19. there are no businesses many of the busineroundou, and thide, including eateries, in particular, remain shuttered as well. filming here is not welcome. that's despite the being little to see. peop used to sell everything from live animals to seafood at this market. there's barely any sign, now, that it ever even ex scientists believe the virus may have orinated in bats, and that it was passed on to humans via another animal species. but therare doubts about whether this is where the outbreak began. although many rly cases were linked to the market, no animal here was identified as a source

of infection. lai yun owns a japanese restaurant in wuhan. he lives close to the market, t and befo outbreak, used to buy some of his supplies there. >> ( translated ): hubei is not a province that likes wild animals. tiere is no such thing as bats as med on the internet. certainly not. >> reporter: if true, that would seem to rule out the possibility of any "jump" from ba, at least, in huanan market. chinese scientists have also backed away from assertions they made previously that the market may have been the source of theu meanwhile, beijing's resisted global pressure to allow outsiders access to get to thef bottoms origin. in may, months after that first case and the virus exploded worldwide, president xi jinping endorsed a world health organization-led investigation. reports say a two-person team om the who came in july. but they never went to wuhan, during the entire three-ek trip. to date, there's still been no gidependent probe on the o

of covid-19 conducted from china's outbreak epicenter. dr. bruce gellin is president of global immunization at the sabin vaccine institute, and a regular consultant to the who. he says it's now too late. >> looking at something six months later is maybe hard to reconstruct it, so these kinds of investigations need to be happening as quickly asin possible, gethe teams in as quickly as possible to these understand what's happening and to unveil any evidence that may be there. >> reporter: the lack of access given to outsiders has raised doubt over china's commitment to identifying the source of the virus. it's also helped fuel alternative theories, including the possibility that it might have leaked from the wuhan institute of virology, which had been conducting research on coronaviruses. ere's no known evidence to suggest that happened. professor ivan hung is the chief of hong kong university's infectious diseases division. says he thinks the criticism

of china is unfair. >> the only thing you can probably comment on t the local government in wuhan,ve probably they ot been very masponsive, and they cleaned up y et beforthey are able to have oper investigation being doneoun rms of the reak investigation. >> reporter: in a rush to curb the spread of the virus it's understandable, experts say, that local officialsight have rushed to disinfect huanan marketinstead of preserving evidence. still, china could do much more to shake off accusations of a lack of transparency, and there are calls for the who to be tagiven greater powers to information. >> they are terfacing with their member states and they have to abide by what the member states wishes are. that's obviously a probl if the member state doesn't wish to tell others about that information. i think we need to take a hard look at those to make sure the

regulations which are put in place for things like this, so we have global health security, are they able to do what we need >> reporter: unless that's addressed, the world may be no better off at defending itself against pandemics in the future. for the pbs newshour, i'm patrick fok, in wuhan. >> woodruff: the boy scouts of america's procesof dealing with decades of allegations of sexual abuse has entered aw ase. now that the deadline for survivors of abuse to file clai has passed, the scoutswilly judge to set up a victims compensation fund that could end up nearly $1 billion. john yang reports. >> yang: jy, more than 95,000 people have come forward with sex abuse claims against the

boys scos. experts say that's far more than the number of accusations the united states. church in the oldest is 93 years old; the youngest is eight. for some, even the processf filling out the claims form was traumatic. gill gaylewho is 58 and works in the movie industry, was abused by two separate scoutmasters in the 1970s. >> it was the hardest thing ine have ever it was more difficult than the first time i told a friend orbe family m it was more difficult than the first time i told a therapist, or the first time i filed a police report. it is gut-wrenching, and i believe that is why several men weren't able to go through and join us in this process. for me, it-- it's-- it's colored and informed every decision in my life. >> yang: this is all part of the boy scouts of america'sru bacy filing, which they say is the only way to deal with all the claims. attorney timothy kosnoff is part

of a group that represents thousands of survivorsuse. >> in the boys scouts scais. case. thank you for joining us. one of your colleagues was telling me in the vast majority of these claims, each claim is naming a different abuser, that it is very unusual to find even two claims that name the same abuser. wh does that tell ? >> what it tells me is that even though close t 100,000 men have come forward, there were millions out there that didn't come forward. each one of the men tt does come forward represents one of probably 100 victims that that perpetrator abused. we knofrom statistics that pedophiles have, on average, 100 victims over our data ws that 95% of. our clients identify abusers that have neverev usly been identified before. we have a handful of

people who were abused by common abuser, but the overwhelming super majority were abused by different scout masters. >> what's the next step for the people who filed these claims? what is the next stein this process? >> well, that's a good question. i don't personal -- personally, i don't believe there is going to be a next step in terms of a plan that would allow the boy scouts and go back to business. i think it is inevitable that this will end in liquidation and soon.sc the bouts don't have enough money to continue, and it seems higy improbable that any deal could worked out that would be accepble to the victims. and, in fact, i think a liquidation is the best avenue for victims to receive adequate compensation for what ppened. but with 100,000 victims and the fact that the boy scouts have had no revenue as a result of covid and will have no revenue for the next year, i don't see

there is a viable path for them to go back into. busine i think they're finished. >> would that be just the boy scouts- there are the boy scouts of america, which is the national organization umbrella group, which has filed for bankruptcy, and then will there are the local councils counsel the country that also have assets that are not involved in this bankruptcy. is that the whole kit and caboodle that would go away? soor wouloc the lal councils be able to survive? >> it has been a fiction that the councave been trying to push that they're somehow separate. the assets of the organization, including the councils, are all subject to the claims of these victims. so what i forest is tha all of the councils' assets will have to b sold off as well. the councils maintain they ve a separate existence, but under the rules and regulations and bylaws,

they are totally owned and controlled by .s.a. national. >> but if this were to happen, if they were to liquidate, would the assets go -- would the liquidation go to these 95,000 people who have claimed --iled claims? >> yes, not just the assets, but also the insurance, which is ample. the y scouts are a melted ice cube. months to live. but a few i don't see a deal coming forward in time to save the boy scouts of america. this whole thing was completely mishandled by the boy scouts and theru bacy attorneys. and it will, i predict, turn into a liquidation. and i think that's the best result that these survivors can hope for. >> tim kosnoff, thank youuc very m >> thank you. >> on its website, boy scouts of america saysti sc continues. and today they released a

statement. "we are devastated by the numbers of lives impacted by past abuse in scouting, and moved by theravery of those who have come forward. we are heartbroken that we cannot undo the pain." o>> woodrf: shana fisch arizona pbs reports this story, filmed before covid, for our arts and culture series, "canvas." b reporter: each step tak the dancers inside this arsal room is a victory. a blow against a disease that has caused their bodies anto their minds etray them. >> my husbandied in 2006, and i had become aware of me symptoms at that point. >> reporter: marlene blakeney recalls the momenthe noticed changes in herself.

>> looking back, my first indicator is that couldn't use a mouse with my right hand anymore. >> reporter: she says a few months later she noticed her right leg wouldn't move like her left. >> and i thought maybe i had had a stroke. when i finally went to my primary physician, she sent me to a neurologist that ran all kinds of tests and did an m.r.i., and diagnosed me. t >> reporte diagnosis: parkinson's disease. not one to feel sorry for herself, marlene dove head-first into treatment. she was looking for another tool to fight the disease, and learned dance can help ease some ofhe symptoms. >> it's like saying, "i'm taking control. you know, "i am taking back this >> reporter: the class, which meets twice a week, also gives th other parkinson's patients like ed coyoli. for ed, being back in a dance setting is bittersweet. >> i love dance, and ballet in particular, because my wife and i were dancers. she was 16 years old and i was a ballet in southern california

she was one of the young ladies that was in the core and they asked her to be-- ass d the two of partner each other. >> reporter: they have been married for nearly 50 years. then, about six years >> i woke up one morning. the-- the spring-- spring morning, and felt the trembling in my left arm, and i said to myself, i think i ha parkinson's. >> reporter: it took some time to get the diagnosis, but ed, he was one of the people diagnosed with parkinson's each year. ed has taken the diagnosis har he says he feels let down by his body, and struggles at times to accept what the future may hold. >> i don't feel that i'm in control, that's for sure. i know i can't do what i used to do, but i have a passion for it, and i'd rather do it this way as a dancer and a singer. those are my two passions. so, i'm using those to fight off or manage this disease-- and i

>> reporter: debbie braganza is a former ballerina who teaches the class. >> they've got to keep moving. n'at is one very, very important aspect of parkinthat they're finding out. it's just as important as the medication, to keep moving. eporter: after a warm-up braganza launches into fairly complex routines that include dancexercises like arm movement and footwork. some of it is done while seated; others at the barre. all of it is to improve flexibility and strength. one of the biggest issues with parkinson's is a loss of body corol. >> a dance class is great because it's not like a gy class where you just work your one muscle at a time.u dance takes all different directions and moves a lot of different muscles, wch, they need to move as many as possible. >> reporter: the routines also works their minds. parkinson's is caused by the death of brain cells that produce dopamine. dopamine is a chemical that carries messages between

neurons. as the disease progresses, there is a struggle with memory lossmp and hension. >> what i see is, their brains are working like mad. they are processing.er they are uanding everything that i am asking them to do. so, they've got a lot going on because most of them have not taken a formal dance class. their average age is 70 and here they are-- they find themselves in a dance class learning ballet terminology, which is in french, you know, i mean it's throwing them into a completely different environment. >> reporter: braganza is very proud of her students, and hopeful. she takes their victories and setbacks personally. >> it's meaningful to me because over 20 years, so i'm veryr familiar with parkinson's. >> reporter: about a year ago, her father passed away. watching her students has helped her with her grief. >> the reward that i see every day is these people comingas through what we achieve in the room is, to me, always icing on the cake. >> reporter: and it's a reciprocal relationship. the students see this as the one thace where they can forge

have parksinson's and let go. ha i would just say, if yo parkinson's-- i used to say if you-- i have p.d., i want you to stand up, put one footn front of the other, and move forward. and i still believe that. you just have to keep going and not quit. >> woodruff: wonderful story. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon. ng >> major fundi for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> when the world gets complicated, a lot goes through your mind. with fidelity wealth management, a dedicated advisor can tailor your life. recommendations to at's fidelity wealth management.

>> consumer cellular.oh >>on & johnson.wa >> bnsf ravi >> financial ss firm raymond james. >> carnegie corporation of new rk. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagent, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.g. >> and with the ongoing support of these instituons >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

. hello, everyone. welcome to "amanpour & co." >> i'm optimistic t'lt y see our vaccine be deployed and help prevent covid-19. >> a second vaccine trial for covid-19 showing signs of success. and moreight at the end of the tunnel as research continues, i ask the senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen about this milestone. and i speak to the vaccine trial volunteer walter isaacson about his experience and why he did it. then -- >> change has could that will to georgia. >> the balan of power in the u.s. senate now rests with the state of georgia. i speak to democratic nominee jon ossoff about this high stakes race. plus -- >> i think it's pretty clear th