♪ judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight. a controversial trip -- house speaker nancy pelosi makes a stop in taiwan, sparking immediate retaliation from china. then the aftermath. questions arise about al qaeda's influence in taliban-controlled afghanistan after a u.s. drone strike kills the terrorist group's leader in kabul. we speak to national security advisor jake sullivan. and a rapid spread -- local health authorities race to contain the highly contagious monkeypox virus, declaring it a public health emergency. >> it's very hard to ensure equity in an environment of deeply constrained supply, but i'm optimistic we'll see the results in the coming weeks

ahead. judy: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans designed to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can find a plan that fits you. visit consumer cellular.tv. ♪ and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the newshour, including kathy and paul anderson and camil and george smith. -- camila and george smith. >> more at kf.org. ♪

♪ >> this program was made possible for the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: the speaker of the u.s. house of representatives, nancy pelosi, is in taiwan tonight, and china is already responding. pelosi's late-night landing was quickly followed by news of chinese military drills all around the island. john yang has this report.

john: the stars and stripes aglow on the tail of her plane, house speaker nancy pelosi arrived in taipei just before 11:00 p.m. local time. taiwan welcomed her with a message displayed on its highest skyscraper. outside her hotel, dozens of people awaited her arrival. some to salute the visit. like 29-year-old finance worker, simon lin. >> thank you, u.s. speaker of the house pelosi, for ignoring china's threats. john: others to protest it. the trip has drawn the ire of beijing, which considers taiwan a breakaway province, and sees pelosi's stop as a threat to chinese sovereignty. today, a chinese foreign ministry spokesman repeated threats of military action. >> if the u.s. is bent on going its own way, china will take resolute and strong measures to safeguard china's sovereignty and security interests. john: across the 100-mile-wide

taiwan strait, it's a battle of drills. as soon as pelosi arrived, china announced the beginning of air and sea military exercises around the island. ahead of the visit, china put its military on high alert and flew fighter jets close to taiwan. this past weekend the people's liberation army conducted live fire exercises and released a highly produced video showing off its ability to defend the mainland. taiwan responded with its own set of military exercises. but today the official websites of taiwan's presidential office and foreign ministry were both hacked. amid threats of escalation, the united states has deployed four warships to waters east of taiwan. u.s. officials maintain the speaker's trip is a routine congressional visit. officially, the united states recognizes "one china" and has no official diplomatic relations with taiwan. but u.s. law commits the united states to help taiwan defend

itself. in a statement after her arrival, pelosi, a longtime critic of beijing, called the visit "one of several congressional delegations to taiwan and it in no way contradicts long standing united states policy." for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. judy: we'll speak with president biden's national security advisor jake sullivan on taiwan and other issues in a few minutes. in the day's other news, five more states were holding primary elections, headlined by a key vote on abortion. voters in kansas decided whether to allow new restrictions on abortion, the first such vote since the u.s. supreme court overturned roe v. wade. meanwhile, in missouri, eric greitens sought the republican nomination for u.s. senate. he resigned as governor in 2018 amid scandal. we'll take a closer look later in the program. at least two more people have died in northern california in the state's biggest wildfire

this year. the "mckinney" fire is now blamed for four deaths since it burst to life on friday. the flames have forced thousands to evacuate and destroyed more than 100 homes and other buildings. meanwhile, in eastern kentucky, search teams continued looking for flash flood survivors and victims. the death toll stands at 37. the u.s. justice department filed suit today against a state abortion law in idaho. it's the first such action since the u.s. supreme court overturned roe versus wade. attorney general merrick garland said the lawsuit is not meant to challenge the high court. he argued the idaho law criminalizes treatment protected by federal law as medically necessary. >> the supremacy clause is a decision made in the constitution of the united states. federal law invalidates state laws that are in direct contradiction. this has nothing to do with anything that the supreme court saidnd certainly nothing to do

with going around the supreme court. judy: the idaho law bans abortions after 6 weeks of pregnancy. the u.s. has hit russia with yet more sanctions, including a woman linked romanticallto president vladimir putin. she runs media company that has promoted the war in ukraine. she now faces a freeze on her u.s. visa and other penalties. also today, the first ship carrying ukrainian grain arrived off istanbul, turkey. turkish and un officials will inspect the cargo tomorrow. back in this country, president biden has tested positive for a fourth day after his covid-19 infection rebounded. the white house physician also said today that the president has a mild cough again, but does not have a fever. under cdc guidelines, mr. biden is required to remain in isolation at least through thursday. and on wall street stocks lost ground amid uncertainty over the market's direction and speaker

pelosi's visit to taiwan. the dow jones industrial average was down 402 points, 1%, to close at 32,396. the nasdaq fell 20 points. the s&p 500 slipped 27. still to come on the "newshour". voters head to the polls in several key primaries as former president trump's influence is tested once again. months of political infighting in iraq prompt widespread protests and instability. american singer rhiannon giddens becomes the second artistic director of the international silk road ensemble. plus, much more. ♪ >> this is the "pbs newshour" from weta studios in washington and in the west from the wonder cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: we return now to the u.s. killing of ayman al-zawahri. president biden last night

announced the u.s. operation that killed the 71-year-old al qaeda leader in kabul. nick schifrin reports on zawahri's background and where this leaves al qaeda and the taliban that harbored him. nick: today in what used to be kabul's most exclusive elite neighborhood, with some of the country's most wanted houses -- this was as close as journalists could get to an area now known for housing the world's most wanted terrorist. in the heart of the capital on sunday morning a cia drone launched dropped two hellfire missiles that u.s. officials say destroyed the patio where ayman al-zawahiri was standing. these photos taken by a neighbor of the house that u.s. officials say zawahiri's family moved to this year. the intelligence community built a model of the house, kept in a box in front of president biden during a key meeting last month, before he authorized the strike on al qaeda's leader. for three decades ayman al-zawahiri provided al qaeda's organizational and inspirational backbone.

he never had osama bin laden's wealth or charisma. but he gave bin laden the vision of targeting not only what they considered pro-western muslims, but what they called "the far enemy," the u.s. that ledo the 1998 east africa embassy bombings, the 2000 attack on the uss cole in yemen and 9/11. >> instead of focusing on local enemies. nick: hassan hassan is a longtime terrorism analyst, and the editor-in-chief of new lines magazine. he says zawahiri came a long way from this upper-middle class cairo neighborhood where he grew up, and trained to be a medical doctor. but he was radicalized young, and in 1981 his orgazation jihad group participated in the assassination of then-president anwar sadat. he was arrested and held in a cage, then 31-years-old. >> we are muslims! nick: zawahiri vowed to make an islamic state, and claimed he was tortured.

>> they kicked us, they beated us, they worked us throu electric cables. nick: decades later, as head of al qaeda, u.s. officials say he was no longer involved in day-to-day planning, but continued to call for more attacks on the u.s., calls that hassan says went unheeded. >> for many years i think zawahiri and zawahiri's messages never resonated on the ground. i think his greatest achievement over the past 10 years since he took over al qaeda in 2011 after the killing of osama bin laden really was to stay alive. he lost control over the two biggest branches of al qaeda in iraq and syria. nick: what is next for al qaeda? >> i think al qaeda as we know it is over. al qaeda, you know, this is a name, but really it has almost zero effect on the ground. both osama bin laden and zawahiri helped internationalize that cause. before and after them, i think

the core story of jihad will always be focused on local fighting. nick: for the taliban, al qaeda has always been local. and the strike made that clear, that home where zawahiri was killed was controlled by the chief of staff to the taliban's acting interior minister. these days that interior minister, sirajjudin haqqani, walks openly through kabul, despite a $10 million u.s. bounty on his head, and despite his haqqani network targeting the city and western troops for years. >> the symbolism of that fact of where it occurred is pretty hard to escape, even if it doesn't necessarily mean very much analytically. nick: laurel miller directs the international crisis group's asia program. she rejects the administration's efforts today to distinguish between haqqani and the rest of the taliban. >> the haqqanis are definitely inside the taliban government and are occupying key positions. there are reports of differences

of view, including over the issue of girls education. but again, differences of view don't necessarily mean that they're going to be some kind of splits within the organization that are going to fracture it and are going to weaken its grip on power. nick: and the taliban's providing zawahiri safe-haven could further slow already glacial western movement toward normalization. despite a humanitarian crisis, just today, the defense department watchdog said nearly 6 million afghans face near-famine, a 60% increase since last year. >> the biggest victim here is the afghan population. because not being able to work towards a slight normalization of the relationship with the taliban, that is just going to be further felt by the population that is in tremendous humanitarian distress. nick: but today it is one of the world's most notorious terrorist

groups that's lost its leader, the man who helped guide it for decades. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. judy: and now to jake sullivan, assistant to president biden and national security adviser. i spoke with him about al qaeda and other international issues in a wide ranging interview late today. beginning with speaker pelosi's controversial trip to taiwan. jake sullivan, thank you very much for joining us. so much to ask you about. let's start with taiwan. there are a number of china experts looking at speaker pelosi's visit to taiwan and say it is not only provocative, but it is dangerous. do you think it is dangerous? mr. sullivan: first, thanks for having me. speaker pelosi's decision to go to taiwan was a decision she had every right to make. in fact, the speaker of the house previously traveled to taiwan without incident and members of congress travel to taiwan all the time. it does not single a change in u.s. policy, it does not

threaten china in any way. for china to turn around and try to turn this into some kind of crisis, or use it as a pretext to take aggressive action around taiwan, that is on china. from the u.s. perspective, what we intend to do is indicate to china and the world, we are not looking to escalate, but we will of course to continue to assert our right to defend our interests to support taiwan's self-defense and to continue t operate as we have in the western pacific for decades. that is how we are approaching it. we hope china will in fact take an approach that demonstrates restraint rather than overreaction. judy: but this is a moment when tensions are higher than normal, the chinese are already saying they see it as a provocation. they have announced stepped up military drills in the area, military training exercises. how is the u.s. going to respond? mr. sullivan: first, we have

indicated over the past couple days what we expect china would do, to include live fire drills, potentially to include things like missile launches and scrambling of aircraft and so forth. over the last 24 hours, what we have seen has been exactly in line with what we predicted. our position is clear, we are not looking to escalate, but we will continue to demonstrate that the united states will not be deterred from operating as we have operated, meaning we will continue to assert freedom of education, we will take steps to support taiwan's self-defense. one of the key things we will do in the face of stepped up military activity by china is show that this will not alter the u.s. approach, which is consistent with how we have approached this issue for some time. we believe that shows resolve, clarity, and the kind of commitment to a free and open indo-pacific that president

biden has spoken about. judy: do you believe the prospects at least from this calculation are now higher given what the chinese are doing in reaction, and given that the u. carrier group is now in the neighborhood? mr. sullivan: from our perspective, one of the critical things that we have to s in the days ahead is open lines of communication. we have means of communicating directly to the people's republic of china, and we have done so. as one examp, our ambassador to beijing, a very seasoned diplomat, has had the opportunity to sit down with chinese officials just in the last hours, to hear their perspective and to be clear in sharing ours. in doing so weeks eked to avoid -- so we seek to avoid miss calculation but also establish clearly that we will operate as we have operated. we think that is the most responsible way to deal with this situation we find ourselves

confronted with here. judy: the other factor pointed out is that president she of china -- xi of china under increasing pressure to look strong with the party congress coming, and frankly democrats in the united states under pressure to look strong. how much of a factor is all that ? mr. sullivan: i can't speak to president xi and his calculus. i can speak to what president biden's calculus is. from president biden's perspective, we are in a significant strategic competition with china. the competition should not be conflict. for that, as we were just talking about, it requires us to manage the relationship between the u.s. and china effectively, in times of calm and in times of elevated tension. we are going to be study, resolute -- steady resolute, we will communicate directly to beijing. that is how we are going to defend america's national

security interests and our values. that is the only thing president biden is thinking about and that is how he directed us to operate in the days ahead. judy: let me turn you know to the u.s. strike on the leader of al qaeda inside kabul just in the last 24 to 48 hours. the tele-band is responding by saying what the u.s. did is a violation of the doha agreement, which the u.s. signed before he left afghanistan. is it? mr. sullivan: there is a violation of the doha agreement. it is a violation by the taliban. at least some senior members of the network affiliated with the taliban were aware that their leader was in kabul and allowing him to be based there, in our view, as a violation of the commitments they made. the u.s. took direct and decisive action to remove him from the metal peeled -- from the battlefield and to send a

clear message to terrorists and the telephone that the u.s. will not allow for safe haven, will not allow anyone to use afghanistan as a launching pad for terrorist attacks against the u.s. or american interests anywhere. we demonstrated that with this strike and will continue to stay vigilant in the period ahead. judy: you have said several times today that the administration believes that senior accounting leaders -- senior leaders knew zawahiri was in kabul, but the taliban didn't. what is the distinction in that knowledge? do you have evidence that there is a distinction? haqqani is the interior minister for the taliban. mr. sullivan: i have not to stink which between the haqqani network and the taliban per se because you are right they operate within the same government that at this point we do not recognize. they are all part of a single

entity at this time. we think that it is certainly possible that some senior leaders in that entity were not aware, and others were, and that that is one of the things unfolding in kabul right now as the haqqanis have to explain themselves to others in the taliban to why they brought zawahiri into kabul. from our perspective, we are not dwelling on those specifics. we are focused on the fact that the taliban as an organization is responsible for upholding its commitments, and we will hold them accountable for doing so. it is not merely their word, but their actions we are going to judge. and we will take action, decisive action, if we need to to dend our interests. that is what we did this past weekend. judy: while this was going on, the attack and the killing of al-zawahiri, you have a very real humanitarian crisis going

on in afghanistan with half the population being food insecure. we are told they are living below the poverty level. we see pictures regularly of children who are severely malnourished. is the biden administration prepared to look actively at ways to support the people of afghanistan, even as the taliban continues as it is? mr. sullivan: we are not just repair to do that, we are doing that -- just prepared to do that, we are doing that and have been. we have supplied a significant amount of resources to avert the worst consequences that some expes had predicted last year would come from a humanitarian disaster. there are people suffering all over afghanistan, but what we have been able to do is to a certain extent stabilize the floor of being able to provide lifesaving food, medicine, and other humanitarian necessities to people across afghanistan,

including in areas we could not previously reach because they were on the others of the battle lines with the taliban during the war. we have obviously got a long way to go to get the afghan people all that they deserve in terms of security, in terms of their basic level of prosperity. we will keep working on that with the rest of the international community. judy: two quick things i want to ask you, one has to do with ukraine. it has been reported that president biden and you and others implored the chinese not to provide weapons to the russians while this war with ukraine is going on. do you know that the chinese have not given russia weapons? mr. sullivan: one can never know of something like that for an absolute fact, but we have seen no indications to date that the chinese government supplied the russian government with weapons to be used on the battlefield in ukraine. since the conversation president biden had with president xi some months ago, those kinds of

transactions have not moved forward. that is somethg we need to be vigilant about. we are watching that daily. judy: finally i want to ask about saudi arabia. the president was there a matter of weeks ago. it was reported at the time when he met with crown prince mohammad bin salman that the saudis agreed to increase oil production this summer that would alleviate oil prices. we know there are opec meetings coming up. how confident are you that we will see an increase in production? mr. sullivan: first i will just say because it is relevant today, one of the other things president biden discussed with the crown prince is extending the troops in yemen, which had been producing the worst humanitarian disaster in the world. today there was an agreement to extend that truce, extending the longest period outside of conflict in that country in seven years. that is a major a compliment coming out of the president's

meetings in saudi arabia. to your point about energy, let's see what happens tomorrow. opec plus has to make its own decisions about whether they will increase production. we have confidence they will make a decision that is in line with the world's energy needs. i will leave it to them to lay out what they intend when they meet tomorrow. judy: you do believe they will do that? is that what they ar -- what you are saying? mr. sullivan: i believe they will follow through on their commitment to address adequate energy supply. what that looks like i'm going to leave to them to talk through. judy: jake sullivan, president biden's national security advisor. thank you very much. mr. sullivan: thank you. judy: tonight, an administration official tells the pbs newshour "pbs newshour u.s. ambassador to beijing nicholas burns, who mr. sullivan just mentioned, was in fact summoned by beijing's foreign ministry to object to

speaker pelosi's visit. ♪ voters in five states headed to the polls today to pick their nominees in major races. the races include key congressional primaries in arizona, missouri, michigan and washington, while voters in kaas are deciding on the future of abortion policy in their state. our political correspondent lisa desjardins breaks down what to watch for tonight. there is a lot to look at and we will be here late tonight looking at it. let's start with the big picture. look at these votes today tell us about the midterms in november? lisa: two important trends we are watching for tonight, one is the power of trump, for demo -- what that could mean for democrats, especially for control of the u.s. senate. the other is whose base has more energy? for trump, one race we want to highlight is in missouri.

there is a very hot senate race on the republican side in missouri. let's look at the four candidates. two current members of congress in the middle, former governor eric greitens and then the attorney general eric schmitt. president trump just made an endorsement in the past day or so in this race. here is what he wrote he said he is endorsing eric. there are two erics in this race. we know president trump likes to pick winners. he might be hedging his bets. this seat could be one that democrats think they could win. it could be an important seat that helps democrats keep or lose control of the u.s. senate. turnout in missouri today is mixed, but across the state, the secretary of state said it is terrible. different case in kansas. turnout there nearing or breaking records. why? because abortion is on the ballot.

voters there are voting on whether or not the state of kansas should be able to change abortion law and add more restrictions. we will be watching that closely to see if either side is more energized by the other by that vite -- tha vote in kansas. judy: we know former president trump has talked a lot about his endorsements, but you've also seen in your reporting that what is happening today is a test for those candidates who have opposed former president trump. how so? lisa: this day more than any other on the election calendar is a test for those who voted to impeach trump. 10 house republicans voted to impeach trump. four are retiring. there are not many on the ballot at one time. today, three of those 10 republicans are up in primary challenges. some of her viewers may be familiar with peter, dan newhouse in washington, and

jamie herrera butler in washington state. all of these candidates' profe ssional and future careers are on the line because they voted to impeach president trump. he tweeted out today calling them impeachment slime. we know the republican has routinely been tested. those behind the scenes who told me they believe perhaps president trump deserved to be impeached, we will see a message and whether these three candidates survive tonight. judy: a lot to watch, but if you had to pick one state where we are going to see some key questions answered, what would it be? lisa: it is arizona. it's got everything. it has senate races up and down the ballot. in the top two races for governor and senate on the republican side, president trump endorsed one candidate. his vice president pence endorsed a different candidate. there are a number of election deniers in position to win primary races tonight, including

for the secretary of state's office, a leading candidate there. that is a four-year seat for secretary of state for arizona, which could be decisive. we looked at some stats overall about where election deniers are in terms of this primary season. this comes from the blog 538, which does a lot of data-driven analysis. they say there is 120 republicans so far for key offices, meaning governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, congress, senate, that fully deny the 2020 results. that is a large portion of the republican nominees, about half of those. this isn't a fluke. this is a big part of who republicans are putting on the ballot. judy: something that is important for us to keep an eye on. we can't let you get away without asking about the senate in session, you watched congress closely. give us an update. lisa: i've got my video feed

right now of the senate chamber where they are preparing to pass the veterans bill that would greatly expand coverage, especially for victims of toxic exposures, including burn pits. finally looks like it will be getting final passage tonight. the inflation reduction act, that is that schumer-manchin compromise bill. the plan is to start that thursday and end sunday. they don't have kyrsten sinema onboard get. a vote on nato expansion. that is going to pass easily in the senate, however you need 100 senators to do things quickly. they don't have all 100. we are watching the timing on that nato expansion. expected this week, we just don't know when. judy: we know there is covid and other issues. lisa: why aren't these senators all masking at this point? i don't know. judy: good question.

lisa desjardins. thank you. you can keep followg tonight's elections with up-to-the-minute results on our website, pbs.org/newshour. ♪ the monkeypox outbreak continues to grow faster than many initially expected. nearly 6000 cases have been reported in the u.s. since may. in the past week, three states have issued emergency declarations over the outbreak. criticism has grown as well about the den administration's response. and yesterday the president named a coordinator for the federal efforts and shipped another 737,000 vaccines to states and cities. stephanie sy has more on the moves to contain it in one of the epicenters of the country. stephanie: judy, new york was

the first to declare a state of emergency last friday as monkeypox cases there have reached over 1000, with the majority of cases being in new york city. commissioner, dr. ashwin vasan -- the new york city health commissioner, dr. ashwin vasan is the point person there and joins us now. thank you so much for joining the newshour. i understand that since june, new york city has had a hard time meeting the demand for monkey pox vaccine. a few months into this, wher are you in having a handle on monkeypox in new york city? dr. vasan: thanks for the question. you know, new york, as ever, was really leading the way. we were the first in the country to start vaccinating people against monkeypox, people at risk of getting or risk of transmitting monkeypox because we knew we needed to do our best to get ahead of it. and certainly vaccine supply has been constrained throughout this rollout, and that's limited the number of vaccines that we're able to deliver to slow this down. but i'm encouraged because we're

starting to see that supply increase. we just got the announcement of our allocation from against the 800,000 doses or so that are now in the country. and, you know, we're grateful to our federal partners, who i hope are now looking ahead to the next batch that this country is going to need. we are certainly the epicenter of this outbreak. we have 25% of the cases in the country, and we estimate that there are up to 150,000 people who might be at risk of getting or transmitting monkeypox according to the current criteria. so we have a lot of work to do. stephanie: we spoke earlier with joe osmondson, and he is a microbiologist. he's a queer activist who's been in touch with a lot of folks impacted by the outbreak. and he told us that new york city's response to monkey monkey -- response to monkeypox is "not only not equitable, it is stressed to the point of not functioning for most people, both on the treatment and postexposure vaccinations."

what is your response to that? dr. vasan: look, we've tried from the beginning to prioritize urgency. getting shots in arms and equity. what we talk a lot about these large vaccination sites similar to what we did for covid mass vaccination sites. but what's talked about less are the thousands of doses that we're reserving for community based organizations that serve men who have sex with me that serve communities of color, that serve the lgbtq community, that we're reserving appointments for them in order to ensure that equity is built into this approach. it's one of the lessons we learned from covid. we and many places across the country got vaccines into arms as quickly as possible, but then we were left kind of working on equity for the weeks and months thereafter. we are trying to prioritize this from the beginning. it's very hard to ensure equity in an environment of deeply constrained supply. but i am optimistic we'll see the results in the coming weeks ahead.

stephanie: it's be suggested at maybe having mobile vaccine at clinics that would go dictly to queer spaces, directly to lgbtq circuit parties, that that might be a better way to get to the most vulnerable populations. is that something that your office is considering? dr. vasan: absolutely. we're actually working on this right now. we've learned through covid that you can deliver vaccines in a targeted way to places where they're needed the most. and that has to compliment an approach that also delivers vaccines at scale. it also complements an approach that, as i mentioned, works with community based organizations that have long term relationships and that works with trusted providers like hiv providers and lgbtq affirming clinical providers. so we're trying to take a really multidisciplinary approach to this. again, it's really tough to do all of that in an environment of constrained supply, but i think we're seeing those gears turn. stephanie: why has it been so

difficult to get enough vaccine within new york city, which, as you say, makes up 25% of the nationwide cases? dr. vasan: well, we make up 25% of the nationwide cases. and if you look at the last vaccine allocation, we got 10% of that allocation. while we are extraordinarily grateful to our partners in washington and atlanta and elsewhere further efforts, we need more vaccine and we need vaccine commensurate with the scale of the problem here. we also need the allocation between w york state and new york city to be in line with t burden on new york city. we represent over 90%, almost 95% of the cases in the state are here in new york city. and yet we only got in the last round about 70% of the allocation from the overall state allocation. soe have work to do on the basic math of this. stephanie: let's talkbout the biden administration's response to monkeypox.

if you were in a room today with the just appointed monkeypox coordinator, what would you want toelay to him? dr. vasan: number one, i really am encouraged by these appointments. mr. fenton and a former colleague here from new york city are really an embodiment of balancing operations and science for the best of both worlds. and that's really what we need. we need a science driven response with speed and logistical efficiency. i would kind of emphasize to them once again that, you know, we've been running a covid response for two and a half years on emergency funds. we need emergency funds now and a declaration of an emergency now from the federal government to access those fema funds and other funds in order to mount the kind of response. and i would hope that this would trigger a longer term conversation about what a permanent public health infrastructure looks like, because we can't keep running these responses off of emergency funds.

we need that permanent, flexible, nimble public health infrastructure that can meet people where they are and respond to what people expect of us. stephanie: the new york city health commissioner, dr. ashwin vasan. thank you so much, doctor, for joining the news hour. dr. vasan: thanka lot. ♪ judy: iraq has been reeling from unrest after the powerful shia cleric muqtada al sadr called for a revolution, taunting his shia rivals and demanding sweeping changes to the current political system. special correspondent simona foltyn reports from baghdad. simona: after nine months of political deadlock to form a new government, shia cleric muqtada al sadr has taken his fight to the streets. [chanting]

on saturday, his followers stormed the heavily fortied green zone, home to the american and other embassies, and many iraqi government institutions. >> we are ready for any emergency that affects iraq and the iraqi people. we are following instructions. maybe there will be a sit in, maybe we will withdraw, no one knows. our leader muqtada al sadr is the decision maker. simona: and he decided to flex his populist muscle. the rioters laid siege to parliament to show their rejection of the post-2003 political order. >> the iraqi parliament is just a succession of corrupt parties, gangs and militias who are looking out for their followers, while the poor are struggling to survive. simona: ironically, sadr has been part of the very system he now wants to upend. the descendant of an influential family of clerics, he first gained notoriety for fighting the american army following the 2003 invasion of iraq, but then transformed his movement into a

dominant political force. his party won last october's parliamentary election. in a bid to tighten his grip over the state, he broke with the previous custom of sharing power with other shia parties, but ultimately failed to form a government. after months of fruitless negotiations, the mercurial cleric instructed his 73 members of parliament to resign, thus forfeiting his electoral victory in what some observers called a strategic mistake. now his followers are occupying parliament, and blocking the election of a new president and prime minister. sadr may have officially withdrawn from the political process, but this protest is a reminder to his shia rivals that he remains a pivotal figure in iraqi politics who commands a devout following of hundreds of thousands of iraqis and one of most powerful armed groups.

on the opposing side is a grouping of shia parties called the coordination framework. on monday, itsupporters staged a counter protest just a few hundred yards away from parliament, with security forces forming a buffer zone between the two sides. the framework includes iran-aligned parties and former prime minister nouri al maliki, who has been sadr's arch-enemy ever since he launched a battle against sadr's militia in 2008. the trigger for the sadrists' insurrection was the framework's impending nomination of mohammed shia al sudani as prime minister. sudani served in maliki's government, an unacceptable affiliation for the sadrists. >> he is rejected. it's the corrupt ones who chose him, not the people. he has been part of this political system. simona: i ask him what he thinks about the coordination framework. >> they don't represent the shia and they don't represent the

iraqi people. they represent only themselves. simona: prime minister mustafa al kadhimi, who rose to power with sadr's backing, asked security forces to protect the crowds and appealed for calm. >> we must all cooperate to stop those who accelerate this sedition, and everyone must know very well that the fire of sedition will burn everyone. simona: the framework's leadership has called for dialogue, which could pave the way for a compromise that would leave kadhimi in office for another term. but with both sides armed to the teeth, there's fear that the tiniest spark could ignite violence. for the pbs newshour, i'm simona foltyn in baghdad. judy: this summer, rhiannon giddens has been on her first

tour as artistic director of "silkroad." the ensemble was founded in 1998 by famed cellist yo-yo ma, who joined her on stage at the tanglewood music center in massachusetts this past week. jeffrey brown spent a day with giddens and the cross-cultural group recently to see how they aim to make a positive impact across borders and here at home through music. it's part of our arts and culture series, canvas. ♪ >> a japanese flute. indian drums. ♪ a celtic harp. a cssical cello. and a north carolina born singer best known for american roots music. ♪ 45-year-old rhiannoniddens is now weaving these many sounds,

both temporary and ancient, as the new artistic director of silk road. >> i love getting thrown something that i've never done before but that i think i have the goods to do, but i have to figure out how to do it. and i always say yes first and figure it out later, you know? [laughter] >> giddens is herself a boundless bridger of musical worlds and styles. trained at oberlin conservatory of music as an opera singer. she then learned the fiddle and banjo, and turned to the often-overlooked role of african-americans in appalachian folk music. as co-founder of the grammy-winning carolina chocolate drops. ♪ she lives in ireland with her italian musical and life partner, multi-instrumentalist francesco turrisi, with whom she wrote the music for a ballet. and she co-composed an opera titled "omar" about a 19th century senegalese scholar who was sold into slavery in the u.s.

its next stop will be in los angeles this coming fall. >> i'm just always curious, i guess. i get this, you know, 'ooh, i haven't done that. how do i do it?' you know? and then, who can i work with to do it? my next question is who do i get to work with? i love collaborating and i love finding out new things. ♪ >> starting with a tour called "phoenix rising", here at wolftrap, outside washington, dc, she's now working with the famed grammy-winning international collective. ♪ originally founded to highlight the music and culture of the historic silk road, the trade routes connecting the far east and china with the middle east and europe, the group has put out 10 albums and performed around the world. giddens wants to continue to widen the lens tthis country. >> when you look at the

globalness of, you know, where the silk road starts, you can actually look at the united states as just the next stop on the silk road, when you consider all the folks from china that ended up on the west coast, building the railroad, the gold rush and, of course, all the other immigration patterns there were. and one of the things that i felt really attracted to was the idea of telling silk road's story through america. >> silk road sort of expands the map in a sense. >> definitely. it expands the map in a way that i feel like is where i've been needing to go. and i just realized that actually my story is just part of a larger story. ♪ >> her favorite example, one of her own instruments, the banjo. >> the banjo is, you know, an african american instrument. a lot of people say it's invented in africa, it was was invented in the caribbean, but it is connected to west african instruments, which are themselve lute instruments, which were brought over by arabic traders, which are connected to the

larger instrument family of ouds and renaissance lutes and guitars and all of this kind of stuff. and you realize when you keep going back and it goes to the middle east, then it goes further back to china, and you go -- >> central asia to china. >> exactly. 's a very, very solid through-line. >> the "phoenix rising" tour features new works composed by silkroad musicians, indian tabla player sandeep das, who's been with the ensemble from the beginning. and, newer to the group, scottish harpist maeve gilchrist. both melding their original traditions into the larger framework. >> when i joined this ensemble, i was just an indian musician, very proud of my cultural and historical heritage. but i very happily say that i lost my identity in a beautiful way, only to realize that nothing i thought as only mine is actually only mine.

it's something that i shared with everybody else. ♪ >> in ireland and scotland there is a thing called a thin place. and a thin place is neither heaven nor earth. it's the in-between areas. and it feels like the musical journey of silk road is this parallel where we're trying to create in this thin place, we're trying to find the intersections of all of our different cultures. ♪ >> in recent concerts giddens highlights the american blues tradition directly. her most ambitious plan for tying the silk road to this country is called the american railroad, a multiyear multiplatform project, music, documenty, books and more, that will explore the impact of african americans, chinese,

irish, mexican and indigenous communities on and from the creation of the transcontinental railroad. >> ultimately the idea is you never meet a stranger. the metaphor of the silk road is, you know, you have a path and on this path you change and you are changed. >> of course giddens knows she steps into this role at a time of extreme divisions in the country. but she's determined to push forward with silkroad and other new roles she's taking on, including writing a musical drama, hosting a pbs series called "my music" and a children's book based on a song she wrote during the pandemic, due out this fall. >> it's an awful time. but what other time is art needed in but the awful times? [laughter] i am a bit of a pessimist, but the right kind of pessimism can kind of keep you going. it's kind of like, yeah, it's all going to hell in a handbasket. therefore, we need to make every

day the best day that we can make. and we need to tell these stories now. ♪ >> in what can feel the worst of times, then, the best sounds of all worlds. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in new york. ♪ ♪ judy: there's a portly new pinniped in the waters off oslo this summer. a walrus has slowly made her way around several ports of call in the baltic sea. her favorite pastimes, sunbathing, seafood, and crushing seafaringessels. her face has launched 1000 tweets, and even some fan art. and we must now beg forgiveness from john, george, ringo and

especially the walrus, paul as we bring you this tribute to her from our scandinavian wildlife correspondent, malcolm brabant. >> climbing on a nordic vessel, waiting for the sun, man you've been a naughty girl, you made the boat go down. you aren't a deckhand, call out the frogmen, freya the walrus. apologies to the beatles for butchering their classic psychedelic hit, but here in the baltic, there's a new walrus in town who's causing mayhem in her quest for the perfect pleasure cruiser. >> you can see she's a big lady. and that she is curious and she's not afraid of people. and she loves to rest. >> nadia jdaini from the norwegian directorate of fisheries is part of a team trying to take care of freya's welfare and security. >> the main thing is to observe

and and make people get the information how to be safe fe around people.so make her >> named after the norse goddess of love and beauty, freya weighs in at 1300 pounds. freya was also the goddess of war. no wonder boats send out distress signals when she clambers on board. i sympathize, i know what it feels like to be a shipping hazard. freya's adventures have garnered fans amo the twitterati. freya is quite the traveler. she has been spotted in britain. she's been seen here in denmark and in sweden. her natural habitat is the arctic, but the baltic sea is lake-like and it is hard to find the exit. perhaps that's why she's trying to hijack the perfect boat. rune aae is a researcher for norway's south-eastern university. he encountered freya in march

and since then has been tracking and mapping her movements. >> she is really fat. and she has a lot of food in the area. she's eating scallops, mussels, so there's no problem with feeding. she comes from from svalbard and i guess she want to go back to her flock. >> here's hoping freya makes it home. my advice, keep swimming. i'm really getting too long in the tooth for stories like this. for the pbs newshour, i'm malcolm brabant in the baltic sea. judy: freya's story has never been told in the way malcolm has just told it. we will never think of you the same way. that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and here tomorrow evening. thank you, please stay safe a we will see you soon. >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> architect.

beekeeper. mentor. a raymondjames financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. ♪ >> carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement ,and the advancement of international peace and security, at carnegie.org. the target foundation, committed to advancing racial equity and creating the change required to shift systems that accelerate equitable economic opportunity. 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.

♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] ♪ ♪ >>

♪ hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. >> it is not uncommon for congressional leaders to travel to taiwan. it is very much in keeping with our policy. >> are u.s./china relations at a tipping point with nancy pelosi expected to visit taiwan, i ask former australian prime minister kevin rudd. plus -- >> lift that trophy. >> oh! >> england's lionesses inspire a nation with their euro victory. but what does it mean for the future of women's football? i'm joined by legendary english player kelly smith. also ahead -- >> it does sometimes feel like we are in a never-ending race to the bottom. >> democratic political