captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshr tonight, at the brink-- the u.s. ramps up sanctions on russia for what president biden called "the beginning" of an invasion of ukraine. will the measures be enough to deter vladimir putin? then, the verdict-- a jury finds the three men who murdered ahmaud arbery in georgia guilty in a federal hate crimes trial. an at the extreme-- multiple cyclones and a historic drought wreak havoc on madagascar, prompting widespread food insecurity. >> people do not have enough food to eat. these people have not contributed to climate change but they are paying probably the highest price. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and foundations. and friends of the newshour. and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: president biden, the european union, and the united kingdom all lodged new and harsh sanctions against russia today, as the russian parliament authorized vladimir putin to further invade ukraine. it was an active and urgent day, from ukraine, to moscow and wider europe, and washington.

nick schifrin starts our coverage. >> schifrin: along the line that separates ukrainian troops from russian-backed separatists, the war has already entered residents' living rooms. this woman's house was attacked yesterday. people here, fear the worst is yet to come. >> ( translated ): i am very worried. from this situation, we cannot expect anything good to happen. >> schifrin: nothing good from the troops that russians listening to music in their cars, are increasingly posting on social media. near the border with ukraine, russian convoys are on the move. some vehicles are marked with insignia like a “z” in a square. these are prisoner transport trucks. experts say they're likely to be used to occupy cities. >> schifrin: at the white house, president biden announced new sanctions in response to yesterday's announcement by vladimir putin to recognize the independence of donetsk and luhansk, partially controlled by russian-backed separatists since 2014.

biden imposed sanctions on the russian state banks v.e.b. and p.s.b., which is focused on defense, russians close to putin, and restricted dealings with russia's sovereign debt. >> that means we've cut off russia's government from russian financing. german chancellor olaf scholz further suspended authorities n. >> it is now up to the international community to react to these one-sided incomprehensible and unjustified actions by the russian president in close coperation well coordinated and targeted. >> reporter: the european union sanctioned russian lawmakers who recognized separatist republics, banned trade with the republics and limited russian access to european banks. top foreign policy official -- >> we are strongly united in

this front. >> thank you, mr. speaker. >> reporter: in london, prime minister boris johnson announced british sanctions on five russian banks and individuals with close links >> this is the first tranche, the first barrage of what we are prepared to do, and we hold further sanctions at readiness to be deployed alongside the united states and the european union if the situation escalates still further. >> schifrin: the west fears, and russia is signaling, that escalation. today the upper house parliament voted 170 to zero to authorize russian forces to deploy“ abroad.” which putin, for now, described as the republics he had just declared independent. >> ( translated ): in these treaties with both donetsk people's republic and luhansk people's republic, there are articles about us providing those republics help, including military help. >> schifrin: in kyiv today, ukraine tried to stand by its partners. president volodymyr zelensky met with his estonian counterpart, and warned ukraine could break

off diplomatic ties with russia. but despite the massing of the largest force europe has seen in 70 years, zelensky repeated his disagreement with dire u.s. assessments. >> ( translated ): we believe that there will be no war, there will be no powerful war against ukraine, and there will be no wide escalation by the russian federation. if there is, then martial law will be introduced. >> schifrin: but the u.s. is concerned war in ukraine could spread into nato. so the pentagon today is moving more army soldiers currently in italy, to the baltics, and f-35's and helicopter squadrons, to across the eastern flank. and secretary of state anton blinken canceled an upcoming meeting with his russian counterpart, and will instead consult with allies. the u.s. remains convinced, russian troops could launch a larger invasion, at any minute. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: for a closer look at the new sanctions the biden

administration placed today on russia, and how all of this could impact the u.s. economy, we are joined by wally adeyemo. he is the under secretary of the treasury department. >> secretary adeyemo, thank you very much for joining us. let's start with the sanctions on the two major russian financial institutions. whom do these sanctions hurt and how does it hurt them? >> judy, thank you for having me. these sanctions hurt vladimir putin and the kremlin. one institution is the institution that the kremlin used to project power within russia. the second institution is an institution the kremlin used to project power outside russia by funding their defense center. the president charged us to use sanctions to have a significant impa on russia while mitigating the impact on the united states and our european allies which is exactly what we did today. >> woodruff: the president also announced sanctions, punishments on five so-called elite individuals. we understand three of these

individuals have already been sanctioned. how is this going to influence mr. president? >> judy, as you know, mr. president derives a great deal of his wealth from a set of elites around him, and many of these elites we previously sanctioned, they have moved their money from themselves to their children. by today taking this action to be able to resanction some of those individuals, it allows us to get at our family members to whom they have moved their wealth to further deprive president putin and the kremlin and the wealth they are using to project power around the world. >> woodruff: i want to ask you about the sanctions imposed on russia's central government debt and how that's going to work. what our understanding is is that over the last several years, people who study russia's economy say mr. putin has structured russia's economy so they're insulated from these kinds of outside sanctions. for example, they have enormous

currency reserves, they don't depend as much on the u.s. dollar. so how do you know that he is going to feel hurt from this? >> so, judy, you are right. the kremlin has tried to take attempts to structure their economy in a way that avoids the dollar, but, still, today, the financial system in russia, on a daily basis, does about $46 billion worth of foreign exchanging transactions, 80% involved rvolve the u.s. dollar. so they have not succeeded in their goal. these sanction also today will have significant impact on the russian economy by cutting off their sovereign debt not only in the primary, but in the secondary market we are starving the state to have the resources they need to prospect power within and external to russia. >> woodruff: howceutical is russia going to feel the pain of these sanctions because, as you know, events moving very fast on the ground in ukraine. >> judy,ussia is already feeling the pain of our sanctions in the fact we have threatened them.

to date the russian economy is the worst performing emerging economy in the world in terms of the ruble, and the russian stock market has already lost 20%. over the course of the next several days, the actions we've taken today in collaboration and coordination with our allies will have a significant immediate impact on russia but, over the long term, equipment impact their ability to project power around the world. one of the key things is the united states didn't act alone today. europe is responsible for 40% of russia's trade. the decisions europe has made now will constrain russia's economy not only tomorrow but fothe years and years to come. >> woodruff: how concerned is the administration at the same time, secretary, about how russia could retaliate? we know they export essential commodits like copper and wheat. how do we know that there won't be a restriction in those exports? >> judy, an important thing to

remember is russia makes money from those exports. those exports are critical to russia's economy going forward, but we are concerned about potential responses and that's why the president is taking steps to mitigate them by talking about steps to take in the united states to reduce cost and steps we can take to help our european allies deal with some of their energy restraifnts by working with our partners in the region. our overall goal is to use sanction authorities to target the russian economy and to mitigate the impact on the united states and europe while taking additional steps to make sure to reduce costs on our economy an that's what we're doing. >> woodruff: speaking of that and the president's already spoken, in fact, about the higher costs that could come from all of this for oil and gas and energy in this country. spifically, can the biden administration take steps that are going to prevent, gasoline, for example, from going even high than it is right now? >> as the president said in his remarks, we're focused on

reducing costs across the economy for the american people. when it comes to the sanctions and the actions we're going to take with regard to russia, our goal is to have a significant impact on the russian economy while mitigating the impact on the u.s. and european economy. in addition to doing that, new e of our sanctions today targeted the energy markets or infrastructure. in addition we're committed with working with allies and partners to make sure the energy market remainwell supplied. as the preside made clear, there will be costs associated with president putin's decision to invade ukraine and our goal is to mitigate the costs as much as possible for the american people and that's what we're focused on doing. >> woodruff: two other areas i want to ask you about, mr. secretary, and one as you know criticism already coming from republicans and others that this should have happened much sooner, that if it had, frank y, vladimir putin might not have moved on eastern ukraine as he has. >> from the very beginning, when we saw russian troops amassing

near the ukrainian border, president biden set us off to do work in the united states and with allies to make it clear to president putin that if he were to invade ukraine there would be clear and divisive costs for the russian economy. we said president putin could choose diplomacy and discussion or sanction also. president putin is clearly making his choice, and our goal now is to make sure we take actions to restrain the russian economy and make sure he is unable to project power going forward. >> woodruff: you are saying you don't wreef the sanctions would have a deterrent effect. the other question is what about vladimir putin's own? he is believed to have in the hundreds of billions of dollars worth of assets scattered around different parts of world. can the biden administration ultimaly go after his personal assets? >> so, judy, vladimir putin doesn't have a bank account. vladimir putin makes his money from by taking money from the

elites around him and the russian economy. that's why it's so important we target these elites and cut them off from the u.s. financial system and work with our european allies and partners to have them also constrain these elise that exist outside russia. the actions we're taking today and we'll continue to take if russia continues to invade ukraine will cut off vladimir putin's sources of funding and his wealth. >> woodruff: the deputy secretary of the treasury wally adeymo, thank you very much for joining >> woodruff: for more on the potential impact of the new sanctions as well as the broader u.s. and european response to russia's moves, nick schifrin is back with two views. >> schifrin: thanks judy. we take a deeper look at the situation with stephen hadley. he was national security advisor during the george w. bush administration. and andrew weiss. he served during as director for russian, ukrainian, and eurasian affairs on the national security

council staff, and as a member "newshour". so we just heard from deputy treasury secretary andrew weiss. let me start with you. do these russian banks have exposure to the u.s. financial systems and does targeting russian oligarchs and sovereign debt have any impact? >> let's talk about what vladimir putin uses to fund his economy. he sells raw materials on global markets for dollars, so every day russia sells 4 million barrels of oil. oil right now is fluctuating around $100 a barrel. that is a remarkable cash flow president putin is able to harness for whatever person and money is always fungible. since 2014 crisis, the russian economy, broadly speaking, has taken the reliance it once had on foreign capital markets and basically tossed it aside. so the russian economy today is increasingly cut off from the global economy and far less dependent on western capital markets to fund itself.

it is clear that putting sanctions on well-connected people in russia is annoying and frustrating to them, but, remember, they're very hawksh figures around vladimir putin who actually benefit. the less russia is globalized, the less it's connected, gives them more control. if you think about who's sitting in the war with vladimir putin, it's not people thinking about their 401k saints. >> reporter: steve hadley, let me get you to respond to not only the u.s. announcement of sanctions today but the german, the british and the german announcements largely coming at the same time. >> well, i think it's a good step. i'm afraid my own view is that it's not going to be enough to deter vladimir putin. he didn't bring over 150,000 troops to the border of ukraine to settle for putting peacekeepers in the two

breakaway provinces, if you will. i think how it will unfold is something like this, he said he recognized an area that is broader than just the territory occupied by his proxy forces, but it includes territory occupied by ukrainian forces, and i think it could go in two ways, russia either tells the ukrainians to get out of that territory or protected by russian peacekeepers, russian proxies move on the ukrainian forces and, at that point, ukraine will have to either back down or chooses to fight. if it chooses to fight, that would be an excuse that putin could use to move these 150,000-plus forces into ukraine. that's the scenario i worry about, and i don't think the sanctions today regrettably will deter him from doing so. >> reporter: andrew weiss, let me ask about the scenarios in a minute. first, about germany, how significant is it that germany pulled one of the most significant cards it has which

is to essentially cancel the nord stream 2 pipeline, the german-russian pipeline susended but still could have gone forward had they not made that announcement today? >> i think the western world joes german chancellor a debt today. it's good to see western governments including the white house moving swiftly and responding to the outrageous things vladimir putin said and did yesterday so all that's welcomed. they showed they could move quickly and clearly. we're only seeing a down payment on a sanctions package that as the crisis gets worse is going to get more broader and far reaching. so the administration is going to basically make sure the european union comes in alongside the united states. the united states sanctions will be more far reaching and significant than what the european partners are prepared to do, but particularly when it comes to vladimir putin's sense that the germans are the soft

spot, i think that's been dispelled today by what the germans have done by basically putting that pipeline project on indefinite suspension. >> reporter: steve hadley, let me ask you about the idea of further u.s. sanctions. the u.s. is withholding some sanctions most notably the idea of export controls that would cut off u.s. technology that rust needs. is that the right thing to do in order to try and deter putin? >> i think they've got the right approach to have a portion of their ultimate sanctions package now hold something in reserve if, as i fear, putin does something bigger in ukraine. i think the other thing, though, they need to think about, and i'm sure they are thinking about, of whether they should do further reinforcements of our n.a.t.o. allies that now find themselves on the front line with russia and, again, the pace and the nature of the kind of supply that they are providing

to ukraine for their military forces to give them and put them in a position to resist a more massive russia incursion, i'm sure the russian administration is thinking about both those things. >> reporter: andrew weiss, the u.s. is saying it's less likely to sanction the oil exports that give putin such an economic cushion now. is that a mistake? >> i don't think so. the challenge here whenever you're coming up with a sanction also regime is to remember you want to hurt the other guy more than you hurt yourself. we heard secretary adeyemo talk in those terms now. the challenge is that the russian economy is built around a system where they bring in their revenues in dollars and then their domestic liabilities are denominated in rubles. in 2014, russia did not have a free floating exchange rate and they blew through some currency reserves trying to defend their

currency. they are not going to make a mistake this time. they salted away $630 billion in varying hard currencies to deal with rainy day situations and they're not going to basically use that to defend a currency rate that isn't tenable. what they'll do though is tighten their belts, they will use their receipts from selling various commodities on global markets to bolster the regime and to make sure the people who matter the most, particularly the people in the military and security services have what they need. it's the average russian consumer who will be squeezed. they've done this in previous cycles where they basically said to joe in russia, sorry, you're going to lose out. so russians are getting used to crummy economic reality, decline in average incomes for the people, and the russian government doesn't care. we're seeing the divide between the ruler and ruled widen in russia. it grows as a long-term challenge with putin but at the

moment there's nothing on the political landscape that makes his uncomfortable or worried about his hold on power. >> reporter: steve hadley, take us a back to the assessments you were laying out at the beginning and zoom out for us. you have been in national security space since the mid '70s. how dangerous is this moment? how concerned should we all be about some kind of conflict in ukraine speading? >> i think it's a very dangerous moment, and we should be concerned. i think, if the russians do what we fear that they are going to do in terms of taking a good chunk of ukraine, recognizing what they want to do is to have a pro russian government in kyiv that will put ukraine under the russian sphere of infruition and maybe accept some kind of confederation between belarus, russia and ukraine. that's really what president putin is about is the restoration of the russian empire.

if he moves in that direction, the question is what does it mean if you're in the ball tick states, romania or bulgaria. for example, one of the questions will be on the table is there is a portion as you know of russia that is disconnected from russia, it is separated from mother russia, if you will, by poland and lithuania, and the question is does russia bull dozthe corridor with russia. that means taking territory from the baltic states, from poland, invokes article 5 of n.a.t.o., that invokes war. so we have a serious situation in europe, and i would say, at the same time we try to manage this deteriorating situation in europe, we've got the challenge of china, and we all still have the challenge of iran in the middle east. this is a huge agenda for america, raising a real risk of overstretch, and we're going to need a lot of friends and allies and help from others if we're

going to manage what i think is going to be a very challenging time going forward. >> stephen hadley, andrew weiss, thanks to you both. >> nice to be here. add yamo >> woodruff: in the day's other news, stocks plunged early on worries about the russian incursion into eastern ukraine. they recovered partially, but major indexes still lost one percent or more. the dow jones industrial average fell 482 points close at 33,596. the nasdaq shed 166 points. the s&p 500 slid 44, and is officially in a correction, down more than 10% from its all-time high in january. in georgia, three whe men convicted of murdering a black man, ahmaud arbery, in 2020, were found guilty today of federal hate crimes.

the jury concluded that greg and travis mcmichael and their neighbor william bryan targeted and shot arbery because he was black. in washington, u.s. attorney general merrick garland welcomed the verdict, but said it goes only so far. >> the only acceptable outcome in this matter would have been mr. arbery returning safely to his loved ones two years ago. his family and friends should be preparing to celebrate his 28th birthday later this spring, not mourning the second anniversary of his death, tomorrow. >> woodruff: we'll return to the verdict, after the news summary the federal civil rights trial stemming from george floyd's death wound down today, in st. paul, minnesota. three former police officers are charged with violating his rights. in closing arguments, prosecutors charged that they chose to do nothing as floyd lay pinned and pleading to breathe.

defense attorneys said it was a tragedy, but not criminal, and that the men were victims of poor training. the u.s. supreme court has agreed to hear a new case involving religion and the rights of l.g.b.t.q. people. it involves a colorado website designer who cited her religious beliefs in refusing to work with same-sex couples. she challenged a state anti- discrimination law, but a lower court found it did not violate her first amendment rights. on the pandemic, hong kong ordered compulsory covid testing today for its entire population, it's driven by a surge of omicron cases. the outbreak threatens to overwhelm health care services. under the order, hong kong's 7.5 million people havto be tested three times, starting in mid-march. but on the streets today, there were doubts.

>> i don't think that the government is prepared to do the universal testing. it is such a waste of time. i think the government should consider increasing the hospital manpower and facilities to better support the health workers. >> woodruff: since the year began, the densely populated city has reported nearly 54,000 cases and 145 deaths. researchers project nearly 100 deaths a day by late march. and, back in this country, the u.s. women's national soccer team has reached an equal y settlement with the u.s. soccer federation. in all, 28 players will split $22 million in damages. another $2 million will benefit retired players and aid in boosting the sport. the federation also committed to equalizing future pay for women. they've received far less than the men, despite winning four world cups since 1985. still to come on the newshour: homeland security secretary mayorkas discusses challenges at the border and countering domestic extremism. the u. women's soccer team

wins a multi-million dollar settlement in the fight for equal pay. multiple cyclones and a historic drought cause widespread food insecurity in madagascar. plus, much more. >> woodruff: as we reported, the three white men who murdered ahmaud arbery have today also been convicted of federal hate crimes and attempted kidnapping. his murder is one of several major flashpoints that has triggered protests, dialogue and new laws regarding racial justice, policing and the treatment of black americans. john yang has a closer look at this verdict. >> reporter: judy the convictions come a day before the second anniversary of arbery's murder. outside the courthouse after the verdicts were red, arbery's

murder wanda cooper jones said nothing can make up for that loss. >> healing? i as a mom will never heal, and they gave us a sense of a small victory, but we as a family will never get victory because ahmaud is gone forever. >> reporter: the convictions mean all three men will likely spend the rest of their lives in prison. thamargaret coker, editor in chf of a nonprofit news organize, covered the trial. this jury did not take long to reach their verdict. tell us what it was like inside the courtroom this morning. >> it was extraordinarily emotional, first off, because it's been such a struggle for the arbery family to see justice. two years ago when awe maude was murdered -- ahmaud was murdered on a sunday afternoon on a jog,

it took 74 days for anyone to be arrested in large part because local law enforcement, both police ant the district attorneys here, accepted the version of events that the defendants, the killers had given them, which was that they were acting in self-defense. so the arc of justice has moved quite steeply since then. the face of justice in georgia today looked like this -- there was a black man who's the lead f.b.i. investigator for the government, the lead u.s. attorney was a black woman, and on the jury the 12-person jury the foreman was a black man who got to hand over to the judge the unanimous verdict of guilty on all counts. >> reporter: you're a long-team georgian, margaret, the significance of this arc of justice taking place in the deep south -- not the metropolitan south, this is brunswick, georgia -- what's the significance of this?

>> brunswick is a majority minority town surround i a majority white county and for decades blacks have felt racism in the police force. we have done a deep dive investigation into the police department in charge of this case. years have gone by without black people seeing meaningful justice in criminal and civil cases here. so people in brunswick are celebratory. my goodness, they have gone through an extraordinary amount of struggle in order to feel defend bid law enforcement instead of targeted by law enforcement and now their town is going to go down in history as the place where georgia has secured the first federal hate crimes victory in soho history. >> reporter: the justice department says most federal hate crime investigations don't result in prosecution because of

insufficient evidence. what's the evidence the pros ciewrtle introduced. >> the prosecutors in the first trial left out a lot of the evidence about race and kept racial issues as a very, very small part of the case that they secured their murder convictions on. here the federal hate crimes trial, everything depended on the prosecutors being able to prove that the defendants weren't just killers but racist killers. so we saw a barrage of social media postings, text messages. what one defense attorney called communications with like-minded people. it is the stereotypical racist white south, and they show themselves and their true colors and they show themselves with their n words calling black people for years names like monkeys and savages. it was just extraordinarily har to hear for both i think the arbery family but for all of us who are sitting in the court as

well. >> reporter: what was the defense's argument? >> the defense hardly put up an argument. now, you know, in u.s. courts, the defense doesn't have to mount a defense. the burp is all on the prosecution, so there were three separate defense attorneys. only one presented a witness, and the brunt of the arguments went like this, that the defendants, all three white men, all of whom lived in this majority white neighborhood, they weren't racist, they were vigilantes. they were aggressively trying to patrol their neighborhoods from all threats, whether it was suspicious white person or black person. so the argument of being race neutral but aggressive toward strangers was the only real defense they put up. >> reporter: outside the courthousefter the verdict, arbery's mother was very sharp in her criticism of the justice

department. they had reached a plea deal which the family opposed and the judge rejected. talk a little bit about that. >> that's right. before the trial even started, a plea deal had been worked out between prosecutors and two of the defendants, travis and greg mcmichael. in that plead deal they agreed to plead guilty to the main hate crimes charge so they could serve that sentence in a federal penitentiary. and arbery's parents vociferously argued against that deal. they did not want any special measures or leniency to their son's killers, they did not want the mcmichaels to be serving the sentence in a federal prison, they wanted both of them to stay in a georgia state penitentiary which is viewed by people here in georgia as one of the most terrible places to spend your -- spend a sentence. >> reporter: margaret coker, editor and chief to of the counter-, tcounter--- of "the c"

thank you very much. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: amid the rising tensions with moscow, the department of homeland security has been warning that russia could carry out cyber attacks against the united states. amna nawaz picks up the story from here. >> nawaz: that's right judy. and with president biden's announcement of new sanctions today, there are new fears russia could retaliate soon. to discuss this and other issues, i'm joined by alejandro mayorkas. he is the secretary of homeland security. mr. secretary, welcome back to the "newshour". thanks for joining us. your agency has warned that as tensions in ukraine rose, so could the likelihood of russian seiber attacks on the u.s. with the russian invasion beginning and president biden said earlier today, how likely is that kind of cyberattack? >> we have to information to suggest a specific credible cyber threat against the u.s.

homeland, but it is our responsibility to be prepared, and that's what we the department of homeland security do. we have the cyber security and infrastructure security agency, or sisa, as it is known, and what we do through that agency is disseminate information throughout the federal enterprise to state and local governments and officials and, importantly, to the private sector to make sure that everyone is aware of the threat landscape, everyone is doing what they can to prevent a threat from materializing, and, importantly, if, in fact, an attack occurs, to be able to respond as swiftly as possible and remediate the situation. >> reporter: is there any concern the new sanctions imposed today could actually trigger that kind of attack? >> well, i think we have to be on guard. that's our responsibility, as i expressed earlier. in fact, we have been

disseminating information, providing resources to the private sector for over two months, now. once the prospect of a russian attack against ukraine materialized, our job is to be prepared to prevent, to respond to and to be resilient against all sorts of attacks, whatever their or gin, whatever their cause. >> reporter: i'd like to shift to immigration because your agency gets a lot of attention because of what's happening at the u.s. southern border and you face criticism on all sides, i think it's fair to say. but just the numbers as you at them are unsustainable. in 2021, 1.6 million encounters at the southern border, more than quo grouping the prior year, the highest in any year. that's a major stress on any system. what needs to change in your view? >> it is a major challenge for any system, no question about

it, amna. but let me take a step back and remember where we were, the cruel policies of the past administration, the inhumanity that it executed, the disregard for human life. what we have had to do in the biden-harris administration is build from the ground-up our humane, orderly and safe immigration system, and that is, ideed, what we are doing. it does not happen overnight, but we have thousands of personnel dedicated and talented in the department of homeland security committed to that very mission, and we are, indeed, doing that. not only have we ended the cruel policies of the past administtion, but we have passed new regulations, we have promulgated new policies to restore the best of what america

is and rebuild the system that was torn down in its entirety. >> mr. secretary, you haven't ended all the policies. one, you've had to reimplement under a ourt order the migrate protection protocol program which a lot of people remain in mexico, but you have kt in place policy 42 put in place under the trump administration that immediately expels the vast majority ofeople who present at the sonar border. when will that end? >> we did indeed the migrate protection protocols, m.p.p., remain in mexico, as it is commonly referred to. i did actually issue a memo, rescinding that policy. my memo was challenged in court, and we continued to litigate the court proceeding, but we are under a court order to reimplement that program, so that is mott a voluntary connell weighs of a trump policy with

which we profoundly disagree, and i articulated the reasons for our disagreement quite fulsomely in my me memory -- memorandum. policy 42 is a public health policy and it is authority rests in the centers for disease control, and we are making significant progress in battling the covid 19 pandemic, but certainly, as we know all too well, by seeing the spread of most recently omicron, the number of deaths that this country has suffered, and the world has suffered, that it is not yet behind us and, therefor we continue to exercise the public health authority that the c.d.c. holds for the health and safety of the migrants themsels, for the health andafety of our pernell, and for the health --

our personal and the health and safety to have the community of which the migrants enter. >> reporter: you must be in consultation with the c.d.c. about that. how will you know it's time to end title 42? >> that is a decision the c.d.c. will make following the arc of the covid 19 pandemic and the data that it has. the c.d.c. follows the science, and we abide by their determination, as is appropriate for our administration. >> reporter: finally, mr. secretary, i'd like to ask you about concerns over rising levels of violence here in the united states across a number of different isss, but you issue terrorism bulletins warning state and local partners about threats to look out for, and if your most recent one you cited specifically the covid 19 pandemic restrictions are easing and that raising concerns about opportunities for individuals looking to commit acts of violence. why do you foresee an increase in violence in the weeks and months ahead? >> i think it's very important

at the outset to articulate the fact that we don't respond to expressions of speech. we are obligated to and very proud to stand by one of the most foundational principles of our country, and that is freedom of expression. but we are seeing -- what we are seeing is the propagation of false narratives with respect to the covid 19 pandemic. we are seeing false narratives with respect to the 2020 election. we are seeing ideologies of hate. we are seeing antigovernment sentiment. it is not those expressions that really call for our focus, but it is their connectivity to violence that triggers our involvement. and, so, we are seeing, for example, individuals who protest the mask mandatehat is

operativin airports and on airlines to conduct themselves in such a way that they risk other passengers' safety and like, and that's where law enforcement authorities come into play. it's the connectivity between particularly ideologies and acts of violence. when somebody crosses the line and violates the law, we in the government become involved. >> reporter: secretary of homeland security, alejandro mayorkas, joining us tonight. mr. secretary, thank you for your time. >> thank you so much for having me. >> woodruff: let's return to the u.s. women's national soccer team, and how a six-year fight over equal pay may finally have ended today. the team has reached a $24 million equal pay settlement with the sport's national

governing body, the u.s. soccer federation. stephanie sy has more. >> sy: judy, besides the compensation, the soccer federation has promised equal pay between mes and women's national teams in future competitions, including the world cup. that has generated a lot of excitement, even though the deal won't be final until a new collective bargaining agreement is ratified by the players' association. for a look at this big step toward equity, i am joined by julie foudy, retired two-time world cup champion and olympic gold medalist. she is now a sports commentator for espn. julie foudy, it's a pleasure to have you on this momentous day for women's soccer. who have you been talking to? were you jumping for joy when you heard the news? >> who have i not been talking to? we've got a 99ers text chain going on, abbey b wawbach becaue

texting thanking the older gals for their contributions as well. it's a glorious day not just for soccer, it is beyond women's sports, what this current group hastood for and spoken up for and what they're going to set a global standard for how we should be treated particularly as it relates to women's sports. >> reporter: you talk about the 99 team. for those folks out there that may not remember the resounding glories of the u.s. women's team from 1999 culminating in the world cup win, of course, at the rose bowl, you were part of that team. talk to us about the adverse at this you faced over the years, given how winning your team and the two decades of teams beyond that were, how big that disparity was between the merits and what you had achieved and the pay. >> well, back in the day when we were playing, way back in the

day, we used to say we were fighting for equitable pay, not equal pay, and, back then, it was, hey, we just want to be able to make a living. we're not asking for what the men e giving, but we can't live off tend a day, like we are, and continue to play. so the fight was for better marketing, more staffing, more support, more grassroots support, all those things. today the fight is for equal pay as it should be. but, yeah, it goes back decades to where we have been doing a a lot of rattling for years in u.s. soccer. i think the great news today and with the assessment of the lawsuit is, as you said, stephanie, at the top, it's going to be extended to the cba. so this lawsuit doesn't actually get settled until the collective bargaining agreement gets settled and that will guarantee and lock in the week alpay for future generation also. that's what we're so excited about as players and athletes who have been fighting for this. a lot of women in sports equally

excited as well, a lot of women in general. that's what will stick with all of us is a equal pay going forward. >> reporter: plays like megan rapinoe who filed suit about pay discrimination in recent years, what do you think about the way this came about today, that it ended up being a settlement and not a court ruling, a settlement between the u.s. soccer federation and the women's team? >> i think in large part a lot of thanks should go out to ciy, the president of women's soccer who led the charge in wanting to get this settled. a lot of people would argue the u.s. soccer didn't have to settle. they actually won the last rulingy the court actually dismissed the economic claims for equal pay on the women's side. they didn't have to make this move in u.s. soccer but i think it speaks lark largely about

where u.s. soccer and cindy parlo wants to go. it is a volunteer position, shea's put in a ton of work. beyond the players and the current team for how much they had to fight, she should get a lot of credit for setting equal pay going forward. >> reporter: she is coming up for reelection which is not lost on the context here. so you have equal pay now. it had earlier been worked out, things like working conditions, transport to tournaments and matches for the women. what else is left in the equity fight for women's soccer? >> well, the big sticking point had always been that fifa words cup money. for men, if they won a world cup it is many fold more than the women. the men's team got 38 million, if the women win a world cup they only collect 4 million.

so that gap is something the u.s. soccer and the women have been fighting for with their success. so what it means is actually for the first time, and i think this is huge as well, the men have agreed and obviously this is still to be handwash out with the collective bargaining agreement, but they agreed they will split that evenly with the women and that will be equal. fifa hasn't agreed to that. the men and women have come to an agreement and saying we're not going forward without that piece of the puzzle, the last sticking point, being equal. the men as well deis ever a ton of credit because they're setting a standard i hope a lot of other men's teams will follow and saying if fifa is not going to take care of it, we're going to help the women here because we'll benefit about their success, commercial success and all of the other things when we collectively share that pot. >> reporter: julie foudy, two-time olympic gold medalist.

thanks for your contribution to women's soccer. >> thanks, stephanie. >> woodruff: extreme weather events are wreaking havoc on madagascar, including multiple cyclones that have already hit the island nation this year. sitting off the east coast of africa, it's one of the poorest nations in the world, and as john yang reports, it's ill- equipped to deal with the climate threats it now faces. >> yang: the cyclones that hit madagascar in rapid succession were a doubledged sword. in late january, cyclone ana hit. in early february, cyclone batsirai. their damaging winds and punishing rain washed out bridges, triggered landslides, and inundated large parts of the indian ocean island nation's coast. >> ( translated ): we were in a bad situation, all the houses

were destroyed. watefrom the river and water from the sea rose, all the houses collapsed, we were really scared. >> yang: at least 175 people died and hundreds of thousands were displaced. crops nearing harvest were destroyed; alow for a nation with one of the lowest median incomes in the world--nly $471 a year. >> we know for sure that rice fields, that rice crops will be damaged, will be lost so, this is the main crop, main crop for malagasy people and they will be seriously affected in food security in the next three to six months if we don't do something immediately and we don't help them recover. >> yang: but for the southern part of the island the rainfall came as a relief, after intense drought for six of the last seven years. >> ( translated ): it was abundant rain, and there was a

lot of wind as well. when rain falls, the hole that we get the water from keeps water for about a week. >> yang: people and cattle alike flocked to the watering holes created by the rain-- the cattle to drink and the people gather water to sell. >> ( translated ): my job is to sell waterif i manage to sell water, we eat, if i don't sell any, we go to sleep hungry. my children don't go to school because they are hungry. >> yang: part of what's happening with madagascar's weather woes has to do with the rising temperatures in the world's oceans. >> 90% of the energy that's being added to the earth due to climate change ends up in the oceans and it moves around and it produces extreme climate conditions in eastern and southern africa. >> yang: chris funk is the director of the climate hazards center at the university of california santa barbara. >> this is not something to believe, this is just basic physics that when the atmosphere

warms up, you know, the oxygen and nitrogen molecules that mostly make up the atmosphere move further apart. and so, that allows more room for molecules of water vapor and water to be in the atmosphere. it can explain, or at least partly explain both the intense drought there and also, you know, the increased frequency of extreme precipitation that we're seeing in a lot of places in the world, not just magascar. >> yang: southern madagascar's droughts have dried out vegetation, driving a food crisis affecting more than a million people. with food options scarce and expensive, some resort to eating cactus, cactus flowers, even locusts. >> because of the drought, because of the sandstorms, this is a new phenomenon that has manifested in the last couple of years itself. prices are skyrocketing because

of the very poor agricultural production and people do not have enough food to eat. they don't have the money to have access to the food and malnutrition rates are augmenting. these people have not contributed to climate change but they are paying probably the highest price. >> yang: madagascar's share of global carbon dioxide emissions is .01%, or one-one hundredth of a percent. u.s. emissions by contrast are 13.5%. as world leaders met last fall at the climate summit in glasgow, scotland, the president of madagascar pleaded for help. >> ( translated ): we pollute the least compared to other countries in the world. this part of madagascar is a victim of climate change, except they have not participated in it, and what we expect today from the superpowers is that the countries that pollute the most must help the countries that

pollute less so that we can, in my opinion, mitigate the impact of this climate change, and also help the population in this part of the country. >> yang: for now, the focus for many is rebuilding after the storms. and waiting to see how many more are on the horizon. tonight, a fourth cyclone was expected to hit the island tonight. and tropical storm season in the region lasts until may. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> woouff: disturbing. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> consumer cellular.

>> bnsf railway. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these 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.

♪ hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & company." here's what's coming up. >> russian forces continue to mass on ukraine's bored while macron of france brokers a summit in principle between presidents biden and putin. we have the details. and -- >> we are told that you have several days and then the war will start. i said, okay, then apply the sanctions today. >> my conversation with ukraine's president volodymr zelenskyy. he says he will not respond to putin's military provocation, even as his country faces catastrophe. then -- >> a special report showing life on the contested front lines in eastern