judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight. covid concerns -- the first case of the omicron variant is detected in the u.s. as world governments impose more travel restrictions. >> this is the most visible way in which politicians can be seen as being responsive to a public health crisis, because it's a lot easier to shut your borders than to get your vaccines out. judy: then -- abortion battle -- the supreme court hears arguments on a restrictive mississippi law, setting up what could be the most important decision on the issue since roe v wade. and -- the nuclear issue -- indirect talks resume between the united states and iran, but hopes for a return to the 2015 agreement remain low. all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour."

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judy: we have two major stories tonight. the first case of the omicron variant of covid was detected in the u.s. today -- something most health officials had said was inevitable. we'll delve into the implications of this a little later. but first, the future of abortion rights took center stage at the u.s. supreme court. the justices heard arguments this morning over a mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. and outside the court building, recognizing one of the most consequential cases about the issue in decades, dozens of protesters on both sides gathered en masse. to break down the arguments and the potential fallout, we turn to marcia coyle, chief washington correspondent for the national law journal. she was in the courtroom today for the oral arguments. and mary ziegler, a florida state university law professor and author of "abortion and the

law in america." welcome back to the program. hello to both of you. before we get into the specifics of today, remind us what the justices are being asked to decide. >> the state of mississippi in 2018 and acted a ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. lower courts struck it down. mississippi came to the supreme court asking, are all prohibitions on pre-viability abortion unconstitutional as roe and kc have said they are? it also asked the court to overturn roe and casey, the landmark abortion rights rulings. judy: it grew. >> it did. judy: we can't always tell from what the justices are saying what might happen, but what did you hear today from these justices? >> going into this case, i

expected the focus to be on viability and while i was convinced the court would eventually overrule roe, i was not convinced they would do so in this case. i thought they might limit viability and then work their way up to overruling roe in a later case. what i heard today is that many of the justices seemed potentially ready to overturn roe now. amy coney barrett asked questions stating that women did not need access to abortion. i don't think these are questions you ask if you are not seriously thinking about overturning roe. judy: let's talk about some of the specifics of what we heard today. it was clear in the first few minutes of these oral arguments that this case was one of great consequence. we heard justice breyer race the critical question of overturning precedent.

he spoke in reference to the 1992 abortion decision, which you just mentioned. we have an audio recording of that. he makes a comment and then you hear from the mississippi state solicitor general. >> what the court said follows from that is that it should be more unwilling to overrule a prior case, far more unwilling we should be, whether that case is right or wrong, than the ordinary case. it is particularly important to show what we do in overturning the case is grounded in principle and not social pressure, not political pressure. >> i would not say it was the people that called this court to end the controversy. the people, many people vocally really just wanted to have the matter returned to them so they could decide it locally. judy: i want to now have

everyone hear another comment on precedent, this from justice kavanaugh. >> i want to ask a question about starry decisiveness and thinking about how to approach that here. if we think that the prior precedents are seriously wrong, if that, why then doesn't the history of this court's practice with respect to those cases tell us that the right answer is actually a return to the position of neutrality? judy: precedent is everything. >> it absolutely is. justice breyer, he was quite passionate in reading the section of casey on the latin phrase to standby the thing, to standby the prior decision. he said that casey went through

step-by-step by step all of the factors that the court applies when trying to decide whether to overrule a case. in kc, they were looking at overruling roe. the court came to the conclusion that these factors did not justify overruling it. justice breyer was saying, what has changed here? nothing. and if we do this without being principled and with reason, the courts legitimacy is going to be at stake. justice kavanaugh is saying, well, if it is egregiously wrong, why don't we go back to what our prior practice was, which is to be neutral? the other lawyers for the clinic, the abortion clinic, they made it clear that the court has never really said that a precedent being egregiously wrong was enough to overrule it. chief justice roberts has even said that. judy: we know in addition to precedent, there was one

consideration thatame up a number of times this morning and that was the viability of the fetus in a pregnant woman. the conservative justices, and i'm going to come to you, mary, here is an excerpt from the chief justice john roberts followed by a later comment by the u.s. solicitor general, who is arguing against the mississippi law. >> if you thik that the issue is one of choice, that women should have a choice to terminate their pregnancy, that supposes that there is a point at which they have had the fair choice, opportunity of a choice, and why would 15 weeks be an inappropriate line? viability it seems to me doesn't have anything to do with choice, but if it really is an issue about choice, why is 15 weeks not enough time? >> the question is why would

women need access to abortion after 15 weeks and what is the effect on them? there are any number of women who cannot get an abortion earlier. they do not realize they are pregnant, especially true of women who are young orho have not experienced a pregnancy before or their life circumstances change or they lose their job or their relationship breaks apart or they have medical complications or for many women, they don't have the resources to pay for it earlier. judy: we were saying that the chief justice seems to be searching for a middle ground here? >> right, i think that going into this, it is a stretch to call it a middle ground because to get rid of viability as the dividing line would be to reverse a dimension of roe v. wade which is been there since 1973, but that seemed to be the solution chief justice roberts was interested in. he returned to this question of viability several times, suggesting that if there is a right to choose abortion,

doesn't really have to go until 24 weeks? why couldn't it be 12 or 15 when most abortions take place relatively early in pregnancy? that was not surprising in and of itself. what was more surprising is that more of the justices didn't seem interested in that question. judy: the one other thing i definitely want to get the both of you to comment on is to the extent politics is the undercurrent here. that was brought up very early in the oral arguments today by justice sotomayor are. here is just a part of what she said. >> will this institution survive the steh that this creates in the public perception that the constitution and its reading are just political acts?

judy: she flat out said that these cases were brought because the court now has three new conservative justices. >> she did point to the fact that the mississippi legislators who enacted this law said they were doing this because there were new justices on the court. she also picked up on what justice breyer had said earlier when he was reading from the casey decision and that was very clear that the court had to be concerned about its legitimacy when it comes to overturning precedents without justification, that it cannot bow to public pressure, it cannot be because there are new justices on the court. she picked up on that and basically ran with it. judy: mary, reminding us that if the court does make that kind of changes that both you and marsha say could come from this decision, it will have a profound effect on women across the country. >> it will. it will have the most obvious effect on women in the south and midwest, where we expect to see

not just entire states criminalizing abortion, but entire regions, which will make it much harder for people who don't have a lot of money to travel to get an abortion. that would require getting an illegal abortion medication and hoping nothing happens to you are getting on a plane, which is not possible for people with limited resources in some instances. it is going to have effects on people in other states, as well. for example, blue states like california are already expecting to see a surgeon abortion patients because people will be seeking those services elsewhere from other state. >> can i say one other thing? although i came out of the arguments feeling that a woman's right to an abortion was in serious trouble here, i covered casey in 1992 and i remember at that time many of us also thought that roe was doomed after those arguments and then justice anthony kennedy was going to be the deciding vote, but you never know what i going to happen from the time of the

arguments until the justices sit down, vote, and start drafting opinions. judy: we needed to hear that reminder that we don't know until the decision comes out. thank you both. we appreciate it. >> pleasure, judy. >> thanks for having us. judy: in our other major story, the u.s. joined at least 2 dozen countries reporting the arrival of covid-19's omicron variant. a case was confirmed in san francisco on the eve of new requirements for travelers arriving in the u.s. william brangham begins our coverage. >> we knew that it was just a matter of time before the first case of omicron would be detected in the united states. william: confirmation of that first case came this afternoon at the white house from infectious disease expert, dr. anthony fauci. >> the individual was a traveler

who returned from south africa on november the 22nd, and tested positive. the individual is self-quarantining and all close contacts have been contacted, and all close contacts thus far have tested negative. william: the news of omicron's arrival here broke as the biden administration plans to announce new travel restrictions tomorrow. the cdc says it will soon require a negative covid test 24 hours before departure for all international flyers coming to america. the agency also reportedly has asked airlines to share the names and contact information for passengers recently arriving from one of the eight southern african countries where omicron is present. but even as concerns grow over the new strain, the delta variant remains dominant in the u.s. and in europe. south korea is experiencing a similar delta surge, reporting its highest number of daily infections since the pandemic began.

it also confirmed its first known case of omicron -- linked to passengers traveling from nigeria. in japan, a second person tested positive for the variant today, and officials blocked new reservations for all incoming flights through the end of december. the world health organization today said data on how contagious omicron is could come within days, and it warned again that travel bans could do more harm than good. >> our concern here is that we apply public health principles, not political principles, to selecting measures that are used to control the spread of disease. william: instead, public health officials again stressed the need for more vaccines to be sent to vulnerable countries. for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham. judy: -- >> i' vanessa ruiz in for stephanie sy. we'll return to judy and the full program after the latest headlines. in the days other news a fourth , student has died of wounds

from tuesday's school shooting in michigan. hours later, the suspect -- 15-year-old ethan crumbley -- was charged with murder and terrorism. he was arraigned via video link this afternoon. authorities said he talked about killing students in a recording monday night -- after he had trouble at school. >> the schools did have contact with the student the day before and the day of the shooting for behavior in the classroom that they felt was concerning. in fact, the parents were brought in the morning of the shooting and had a face to face meeting with the school. >> the teen was ordered held without bond. the prosecutor said his parents may also face charges. the house select committee investigating the january siege on the capitol voted tonight to hold jeffrey clark in contempt of congress. the former senior department of justice official under president trump appeared before the committee in november, but

refused to answer any questions. the full house will now consider formally charging clark, he is expected to plead the 5th amendment at a hearing on saturday. published reports today said former president trump tested positive for covid three days before his first debate with democratic rival joe biden in 2020. that was 6 days before the white house announced he was sick. the reports stem from an account by mark meadows, who was then the white house of chief staff. mr. trump today called it "fake news". atlanta city councilman andre dickens will be the new mayor. he won a tuesday runoff after a campaign dominated by the issues of crime and affordable housing. and oregon congressman peter defazio became the 19th democrat to announce he'll retire from the u.s. house of representatives after next year. he is and was first elected in 74 1986. russia has ordered a number of u.s. diplomats to leave the country by january 31st.

the move affects u.s. embassy staff who've been in russia for more than 3 years. it follows the u.s. order for 54 russian diplomats to go home in the next 6 months. the women's pro tennis tour -- the wta -- is suspending all tournaments in china, over about concerns about the player peng shuai. she largely dropped out of view after accusing a former government official of sexual assault. the wta said today there's still serious doubt that pung is safe and free of government coercion. back in this country president , biden predicted store shelves will be well stocked for the holidays. and he said inflation will cool as pandemic disruptions ease. but, at a congressional hearing, federal reserve chair jerome powell said it's not certain that prices will ease in the second half of next year. >> we can't act as though we're sure of that, we're not at l

sure of that. inflation has been more persistent and higher than we've expected. we have to use our policy to address the range of plausible outcomes. >> at the same hearing, treasury secretary janet yellen rejected republican claims that pandemic relief spending has fueled inflation. still to come in of the newshour. india takes the covid vaccine door to door to prevent a surge from the omicron variant. vaccinated americans voice their frustration with those resisting the shop. a new song lifts the collective voice of the disability community. plus much more. >> this is the pbs newshour from washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: now, let's return to the

other major story of the day -- the first case of the omicron variant detected in the u.s. -- and the concerns over what may lie ahead. william brangham is back with that. william: judy, that first case was a person who'd been vaccinated, but had not received a booster shot. dr. fauci said it was a mild infection. still, there are many questions about how omicron will affect the u.s. michael osterholm is the director of the center for infectious disease research and policy at the university of minnesota. and he joins me now. great to have you back on the newshour. omicron is here. we seemed to us on was going to be here sooner or later, but there are things we don't know about its contagiousness, its virulence, whether it can escape the protections from our vaccines. among those questions come into those three stand out in equal importance? >> i think they do and i would

add under the seriousness is the issue of do they challenge our current monoclonal therapy? using monoclonal antibodies has been a very important tool in reducing serious illness. it is about the vaccines, the therapy, is it more infectious, and will the virus evade the protection we already have from vaccines or from having had natural infection. william: do you have a sense when we will get answers? >> i thing it will start to become clear even in the next few days what is happening in terms of the transmissibility. we have seen what appears to be widespread transmission in south africa and best we look further, we will see even in these countries where we now have individual cases that we have substantial transmission. i'm convinced we will know and i'm concerned that the early evidence points out that this is highly infectious and likely will knock delta off the viral hill in terms of the top of

everything. the other thing we will see soon is the increase in serious illness. as you have been following in the last 12-24 hours, we are seeing an increase in the number of hospitalizations in the johannesburg, pretoria area, which is tied to omicron. >> if we have one case, we should assume there are many cases in the u.s. given that, does it change anything about how we ought to be behaving as far as trying to curtail this virus? >> i wouldn't say it changes, but it should reinforce the fact, please get vaccinated. we know from studies that were conducted earlier this year and the last part of last year in south africa and south america where the beta and gamma variance were very common, these were the ones that had those mutations that enhance to the immune invasion, but they were

not very infectious relative to the alpha and delta virus, so they in a sense got beat out. when we get the vaccine studies, we found that the level of protection to prevent infection was very low. they did not prevent infection very well at all. what they did do was actually prevented serious illness, hospitalizations, and deaths. getting ready for this particular variant now in the united states, the most important thing we can do is get people vaccinated for he first time. we have over 100 million people who have not been vaccinated at least six months ago who are now in that period of waning immunity that we need to get boosters into. that would be a major reinforcement against the arrival of this particular variant. william: on that booster question, we know all three major manufacturers are researching potential omicron boosters. if someone is considering whether they should get a

booster, should they wait for an omicron booster or should they get the one that exists today? >> absolutely do not wait, get it as soon as possible. the reason for that is even if we do have omicron specific vaccines arriving, they won't be here for at least three and a half to four months. on top of that, availability will not be automatic. it will take weeks and even months of production to produce enough vaccines for everyone to get. in the meantime in the next three and a half to six months, this new variant could cause hell in this country. now is the time to get that reinforcing protection, get the booster, get the first dose now with the vaccines we have, and at least know you have a much, much higher likelihood of not having a serious illness, hospitalization, or a death. to me, that is everything we are trying to do right now. william: while we wait for some

of these questions to be answered, we have to recognize we are still struggling with delta, certainly in states like yours in the upper midwest it is still a real serious problem. why do you think we are still struggling against that variant? >> in fact, if i could actually add to the very important point you just made, today was a really very sad day in this country in terms of what is happening with the delta variant in that the state of vermont reported the single highest number of hospitalizations they have ever had throughout the entire pandemic. they also happen to be the leading state in this country in terms of level of vaccination, over 78% fully vaccinated. they are experiencing a largely unvaccinated population driven situation. so, we've got to get people vaccinated now. why we are seeing these surges from the four corners area up

through the central plains and to minnesota across the northern united states is unclear to us. why did they start, why do they stop? why did one start in the south in the middle of the summer and then suddenly end? we don't know. what we do know is that the height of the surge can be tremendously minimized if we get people vaccinated. william: director of said rep, always good to see you. thank you very much. >> always good to see you. bye. ♪ judy: the trajectory of omicron infections is being watched closely in india, where the official death toll from covid-19 is approaching 500,000. memories are still fresh of the devastation caused by the delta variant last spring. special correspondent fred de sam lazaro has a report on efforts to combat this new variant.

>> in the nooks and crannies of this vast nation, the omicron variant has brought new urgency to india's ambitious goal of fully vaccinating all adults -- some 940 million people -- by the end of this year. door to door vaccination campaigns, like this one have been extended. >> i hope that omicron does not come, that the third wave does not come. >> arvind kejriwal, the chief minister of delhi, was among several elected officials calling on the federal government to ban international flights or imposing their own local testing and quarantine for travelers from so called high risk countries. for its part, the government stepped up screening for international arrivals but stopped short of a full ban for now. prime minister narendra modi, said he's asked officials to review the current plan to fully

reopen the country to vaccinated tourists, now scheduled for mid december. and he urged people to get their shots. >> i think the government is keen on not being taken by surprise again. so they are overreacting to some extent. >> ramanan laxminarayan is a princeton economist and epidemiologist. i reached him in delhi. >> this is the most visible way in which politicians can be seen as being responsive to a public health crisis, because it's a lot easier to shut your borders than to get your vaccines out. >> the nonprofit doctors for you is among those taking on the task. dr. prakerti kashyap and a team spent monday in gurugram, a lower middle class delhi suburb. >> this campaign is specially launched so that we can get people vaccinated who have been left out. left out, maybe because they were afraid, or maybe they didn't think that vaccination was important.

>> dr. kashyap convinced a nervous patient to get her first shot. >> you might get a fever, but not necessarily. we will give you some pills for. >> a key challenge for the campaign is making sure she gets the second one to complete the dose. elsewhere in this neighborhood, vaccinators met people who had not. >> a lot of people got vaccinated on the heels of the second wave simply because they saw death all around them and therefore they went and got vaccinated. >> that second surge, from april to june, was driven by delta, a variant first identified in india before becoming the dominant strain globally. it overwhelmed the country's health care system, as morgues and crematoria r out of space and hundreds of deaths were reportedly caused by a lack of basic supplies, like medical oxygen. but after the devastating wave, there was a collective sense that covid could do no further

damage, says laxminarayan. >> during the second wave, at least in urban india, upwards of 90% of people had already been exposed to the virus. close to 40% of india's already fully vaccinated. and, you know, that's probably giving sense to some sense of complacency amongst the public. >> if a new surge were to occur, experts say india would likely be better prepared than it was during the devastation caused by delta. there has been a large increase in oxygen capacity and growing surpluses of vaccines. the british astrazeneca shot produced under license in india and a world health organization-approved shotza developed in india called covaxin. scientists say that is critical for the global effort to contain the coronavirus. india is the world's largest producer of vaccines but amid , its delta surge stopped exports for six months. exports the u.n.-backed vaccine

sharing initiative covax was counting on for developing nations. just six percent of africa's 1.2 billion people have been fully vaccinated. >> india's simply done what all the developed countries have done, which is first vaccinated its own population. one could argue that this is short sighted and possibly contributed to the emergence of this variant if it did, indeed, originate in africa. so, i think india did with the global playbook seems to be on this. >> he hopes the omicron scare prompts renewed efforts to vaccinate the world's underserved regions. but amid uncertainty over just how deadly the new variant will actually be, he says reaction in india, as in rich countries, has been to just restrict travel. for the vaccine campaign, meantime, the big task -- finding an estimated 100 million indians who have not yet had that critical second dose. for the pbs newshour, with rakesh nagar in delhi, iâ™m fred -- i'm fred de sam lazaro in st paul minnesota.

judy: fred's reporting is in partnership with the under-told stories project at the university of st. thomas in minnesota. back here in the u.s., even as people are trying to prepare for omicron, many parts of the country are still reeling from the delta variant. more americans died of covid this year than in 2020 -- despite the wide availability of free vaccines. and as viewers told us, the continuing resistance to vaccinations has led to distress among those who are vaccinated. >> my name is jenn moore, and i live in mont clare, pennsylvania, right outside of philadelphia. >> my name is jeff yang. i'm an author, journalist and strategist living in ladera heights, los angeles. >> i'm loretta cochran. i'm an associate professor of

management at arkansas state university in russellville, arkansas. >> my name is leslie douglas. i'm a teacher and i work in washington, d.c.. >> i lost my grandmother to covid on october 1st. she caught covid. she was shipped to a nursing home on the other side of the state where we couldn't talk to her. and when she was returned to us a month later, she had dementia and passed away within a few weeks. she was in an assisted living and she caught it there. i believe they really cared about her, but there was no way to guarantee the people there were vaccinated. >> my sister is a physician. she's an urgent care frontline physician, so she sees 30 or more patients a day. she let us know a couple of months ago that she had gotten breakthrough covid. and my mom and dad actually found out they also had gotten a breakthrough covid. while my mom was quarantining at home, my dad had a fall, and even though it wasn't something

that was that was too problematic, i mean, just in case my mom had him taken by ambulance to the hospital. well, because my dad was covid positive and tested as such, when he went in, they put him into quarantine, into isolation. as a result, it just felt like he was receding us farther and farther away. i think the fact that he was vaccinated for the fact that he's alive and that my mother is alive but i am enraged at the fact that this pandemic has continued so long. >> i contract illnesses very easily, though i am not considered immuno compromised. personally, the most dangerous illnesses for me are respiratory illnesses. this makes covid extraordinarily dangerous for me. >> my father, who is 89, has been in assisted living for a couple of years now and we had been very careful. my sister and my brother and all of our children had all been

vaccinated before seeing my dad. in fact, no one could go see my dad if they hadn't been vaccinated. i had gone by to pick him up and take him for a checkup, and we end up going straight to the e.r. and he was diagnosed with covid pneumonia. the only way he could have contracted covid is someone coming into that assisted living facility, either unvaccinated or vaccinating asymptomatic and not wearing a mask. i think that only because he had the vaccines is he still alive. >> my grandma, she she lived a good long life and we were just sad that her last few weeks were away from us like they were. you know, it just pandemic is almost like a natural disaster that you know is here and it's happening. but i'm just frustrated with the people who won't help mitigate it. >> seeing him in in the state that he was in just it, it shattered me. every single day we we talked to him. i was afraid that it was the last i mean, again, i thank god one. that so far we've had a good outcome. and again, i don't think it

would have been the case if my parents had not been vaccinated, but it's just so infuriating. >> i have developed a very strong case of pandemic anxiety. it makes it difficult for me to do activities that seem simple, such as going to the grocery store or even just interacting with my neighbors. it makes me fe anxious about going to doctor's appointments, because i'm not sure that people that are also in the waiting rooms or waiting outside are vaccinated or unvaccinated. i don't know how to create a sense of normalcy or a sense of hope for the future if i am too afraid to go out of my home. >> i get angry at the attitude that has taken over. it's all about me and it's not

freedoms and the government shouldn't impose. i've got news for you. we got speed limits out here for a reason. we don't let you drive drunk for a reason. ok? you don't get to endanger other people's health. i'm not here to intrude on your rights, but you don't get to stomp allver my dad. you don't get to kill my dad. that's not what you get to do. judy: and we are so grateful to each one of you for sharing your thoughts with us. thank you. today for the first time, the recently elected iranian government is negotiatingts nuclear program with the world powers who signed the nuclear deal in 2015. iran wants relief from economic sanctions. the u.s. and europe want iran to rollback nuclear advancements. nick schifrin is covering those talks and joins me now.

you have been following all of this. how are the talks going? nick: they are meeting low expectations. it took months for the iranians to return to the negotiating table and they are sticking to hardline demands that the ussr impossible to meet. the biden administration is prepared to lift many trump era sanctions and unfreeze billions of dollars of iranian oil revenues currently locked in overseas accounts, but iran says it wants more. it wants the lifting of all sanctions since 2015, including on all human rights issues, and a guarantee that the next president can't reimpose those sanctions. the biden administration says that demand is particularly unrealistic, but it is real. >> what does iran want? iran wants the next american president not to be able to leave the deal as easily as trump did. any deal that could be reversed in two years literally has no

value for them. for iranians, this is not just a ploy to block us off. for them, it goes to the core of what is the point of a deal? what are we going to get out of it? nick: u.s. officls say there are creative ways around the demand and they say they are willing to negotiate an entirely new deal, but only if iran shows flexibility, and so far it hasn't. judy: what is known about how far along iran now is in its nuclear program? nick: the international atomic energy agency said for the first time iran was enriching uranium with advanced centrifuges in a plant buried in a mountain. it is just the latest string of moves iran has made that breakthrough the caps set by the iran nuclear deal. that includes enriching up to about 60% of uranium, that is a small step away from weapons grade. it is spinning more advanced

centrifuges in a more effective configuration. it has stockpiled more than 10 times the amount of uranium allowed by the nuclear deal and it has started producing uranium metal, used in the core of a nuclear weapon. all of that dramatically shortens the time iran would need if it decides to pursue a nuclear weapon, but it also gives them nuclear knowledge that is irreversible. >> it can produce enough weapons grade uranium in its existing centrifuges with its existing supplies of enriched uranium in as little as three weeks. the equipment, the piping, all the things you have to do when you adjust the centrifuges to make weapons grade uranium, they are practicing that. that can't be taken away. nick: the problem is that makes the limitations imposed by the original iran nuclear deal much less valuable, especially since those limitations were set to

expire starting in 2026. judy: if they are not able to reach any kind of agreement this week, what happens? nick: u.s. officials have begun to talk about less for less. lesson sanctions relief for less nuclear rollback. they have talked about increasing pressure on iran if iran sticks to a hardline. diplomatic isolation with europe. centering iran at the iaea. and als trying to cut iranian oil exports to china by punishing china. there is also a wildcard. israel has made it very clear that it is willing to take over action -- covert action to try to restrict iran's nuclear program and to get iran to make a deal at the negotiating table. in the end, the predictions for what comes next comes down to a fundamental question -- is iran serious about making a deal? there is disagreement about

that. the country's economic woes threaten a handover of power. >> the conservatives are not going to be able to hold onto power if they come into the office and rule over a pop or eyes iran. the supreme leader need stability. i do think they are motivated to arrive at an agreement. nick: others disagree and say there is no evidence sanctions or protests inside iran threatened the regime and david albright urges the administration to increase pressure. >> i think we should probably step up and apply substantial sanctions and literally match it. iran does this today, we do this tomorrow. in the end, we don't have any sense from iranians that they intend to negotiate a substantive deal that moves u.s. interests forward. nick: this round of talks is expected to end in the coming days, but

experts are pessimistic about the chances of progress and they fear there is a real serious chance of escalation in the coming months. judy: tough decisions. nick: thank you. judy: we will be back shortly with a look at a song created by the disability community, but first take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it is a chance to offer your juda

song called spaces, it is one made by and for the disability community. while the song highlights a disease known as spinal muscular atrophy, it also celebrates the talent of the much broader disability community. it is part of our arts and culture series "canvas." >> i have spinal muscular

atrophy type three. it pretty much affects all physical aspects of my life. spinal muscular atrophy is a neurodegenerative muscular condition that weakens your muscles over time. >> ♪ things i want to do i'm going to make them true ♪ ♪ >> my name is james ian, i'm the singer of the song spaces. i also wrote spaces along with members of the sma community. it is a song created by the community for people with disabilities, for the sma community. >> ♪ spaces, spaces i leave my mark in these places ♪ ♪ >> have always been a singer, i started playing piano, i started picking up other instruments as i got older. sma does make playing instruments difficult due to

fatigue. >> ♪ i'm an original i'm so much more than what you see and what you bargained for spaces, spaces ♪ ♪ >> i was interested in the concept of spaces. >> having that brainstorm with the sma community, having our voices be heard and be the ones who created this thing, i don't think that has been done before. we often don't think that we are seen or considered or heard. you look over us or look past us. we really wanted to be seen, so spaces is about that. we have disabilities, but we are out here in the world doing really cool, amazing things. i teared up when i saw those photos come to life. dominic evans was the director

who came up with the concept for the music video. he was directing from home via ipad and then the director on the ground, it was really cool that even though dominic could not be there in the room with us, that everyone made sure that dominic was the guy who was the voice and very included. i hope this also shows that you can do projects with people with disabilities from inception to finalized product. they can create it, write it, sing it, act in it, model in the project, they can be amazing projects that the whole world will love and consume and want to emulate. judy: really love that. what a wonderful piece of music. the song, sponsored by the pharmaceutical company genentech, was just released and

can be found online at smamy- way.com and on youtube. to an night. for all of us, stay safe and we will see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular skull has been to provide wireless service to help people communicate and connect. we offer a variety of no contract plans and our customer service team can help find one that fits you. ♪ >> johnson & johnson. bnsf railway. financial services firm raymond james. the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the

frontlines lines of social ange worldwide. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

emergency planning for kids. we can't predict when an emergency will happen. so that's why it's important to make a plan with your parents. here are a few tips to stay safe. know how to get in touch with your family. write down phone numbers for your parents, siblings and neighbors. pick a pce to meet your family if you are not together and can't go home. remind your parents to pack an emergency supply kit. making a plan might feel like homework, but it will help you and your family stay safe during an emergency.

♪ dohrn: this is bristol, england... and this is my garden. it's not really that special. we've just let some of the wild back in. but as a wildlife filmmaker, i knew there were revelations here that could be just as amazing as anything i'd ever filmed across the globe. in the spring of 2020, as the country goes into lockdown, outside, the garden is coming alive. suddenly, there are bees emerging all over. these bees, they just go zoom, you know, zoom. ♪ but if they're nesting, i can't get near them. i can see these little antennae come up, but they look over, and i'm absolutely sll,