geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. tonight on “pbs news weekend,” countdown to the midterms -- with a little over two weeks until the election, we get the latest on some key races for governor and senate that could help tip the balance of power. then, ethiopia in crisis -- with peace talks set to begin tomorrow, we look at the fighting in tigray. and a closer look at how the role of women on screen and behind the camera is shaping the hbo hit series "house of the dragon." >> there is a reason to revisit this world of these characters and to really closely examine how women are treated in this society and how those systems either fail them or prop them up, depending on how the power is swinging. geoff: all that and the day's headlines on tonight's "pbs news

weekend." >> major funding for "pbs news weekend" has been provided by. >> for 25 years, 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 help find a plan that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the "newshour."

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: good evening. it's good to be with you. tonight, chinese president xi jinping has been named to an unprecedented third term, cementing his role as the most powerful chinese leader in decades. speaking in beijing today, xi touted what he sees as china's role on the world stage. >> china's development is inseparable from the world, and the world's development also needs china. a prosperous china will create many more opportunities for the world. geoff: this is all unfolding after the unexpected removal of president xi's predecessor, hu jintao, during the closing session of the party's congress last night. the incident prompted questions

about whether xi is trying to push out other party leaders. the video from saturday shows hu's apparent reluctance to leave the ceremony, but chinese state news media claims hu left because he was not feeling well. his current whereabouts have not been reported. in somalia, authorities say gunmen detonated a car bomb and stormed a hotel earlier today in the southern port city of kismayu. police there ended the siege after hours of confrontation. the attackers are said to be dead. at least eight people were killed, and dozens more were left injured from the suicide blast, according to officials. the islamiextremist group al-shabab claimed responsibility for the attack. iran's atomic energy agency claims that foreign hackers accessed its email system today, and stole troves of information about the country's only nuclear power plant. the hacking group, called "black reward," is demanding the release of political prisoners arrested during the ongoing nationwide protests.

the hackers have already posted gigabytes-worth of the information online. iranian officials have not disclosed whether y classified information was stolen. peace talks to try to end a two-year war iethiopia are set to begin in south africa tomorrow. fighting between ethnic and political groups increased over the summ, particularly in the northern region of tigray. international agencies warn that this instability has led to risk of famine in the region. ali rogin has the story. ali: in ethiopia's northern tigray region, hospitals are filled with young witnesses to war. >> so, we can say that the under-five mortality during war time doubled compared to the pre-war era. ali: they are victims of both a regional blockade where the government only allows in a fraction of needed humanitarian aid and renewed violence between tigrayan forces and the federal government. in august, tigray's leaders accused ethiopian prime minister abiy ahmed of breaking a five-month ceasefire, striking civilian targets like a

playground in the regional capital, mekelle. in september, satellite images showed forces from abiy's ally eritrea bilizing on the ethiopian border. and this week, the ethiopian government said it had captured shire, one of tigray's biggest cities. meanwhile, even during the ceasefire, smaller ethnic conflicts persist, like one between tigrayans and their southern neighbors in the afar region. >> the situation in ethiopia is spiraling out of control. violence and destruction have reached alarming levels. the social fabric is being ripped apart. ali: at the vatican sunday, pope francis appealed for peace. >> once again, i heartily reiterate that violence does not resolve problems but only increases their tragic consequences. i appeal to political leaders to enthe suffering of the defenseless people and find

equitable solutions for lasting peace throughout the country. ali: the fighting began almost two years ago, pitting tigrayans against the prime minister's forcess well as his allies from eritrea and the amhara region. federal forces waged a scorched earth campaign and occupied parts of tigray. they withdrew in june 2021 and began their blockade. a report last month from the united nations accused all parties, including the tigrayans, of hun rights abuses. it blamed the abiy government for crimes against humanity in tigray which it said may be ongoing, including the use of starvation as a weapon of war. abiy maintains he is simply defending ethiopians from the tigrayan militia and political party known as the tplf, which ran the country for almost 30 years. this week's ceasefire talks will take place ahead of an ignominious anniversary. on november 4, the conflict will turn two years old. for “pbs news weekend,” i'm ali

rogin. geoff: our thanks to ali for that report. and here at home, former president donald trump appeared at a political rally last night in texas. speaking publicly for the first time since being subpoenaed by the january 6 committee, trump criticized the committee's actions, but would not say whether he'll comply. and today, representative liz cheney, thcommittee's top republican, said if the former president agrees to appear, the committee will not let him testify live in order to prevent trump from turning the matter into a, quote, circus and a food fight. still to come on "pbs news weekend," a look at some of the key midterm election contests that could help tip the balance of power. and the on and off-screen representation of women on the hit series, "house of the dragon.” >> this is "pbs news weekend," from weta studios in washington, home of the "pbs newshour," weeknights on pbs.

geoff: one of the closest races for a seat in the evenly divided u.s. senate this election year is in pennsylvania. d that's where judy woodruff is spending the weekend reporting. she joins us now from kennett square in the suburbs of philadelphia. it's great to have you with us. and judy, give us a sense. what do you what do you seeing as you've been doing this reporting over the past two days there in philadelphia? judy: hello, geoff. well, the first thing you need to know about pennsylvania politics right now is that the philadelphia phillies are ahead in the running to get to the world series. just about everybody who pays attention, whether they pay attention to politics or not are following the games right now. in fact, there is one underway at t phillies stadium. everybody is glued to the set, and we know that that's competing with politics. having said that, as we get closer to election day, vote are watching, they are paying attention. and they can't miss the fact that the television airwaves and everywhere they look are filled

with ugly advertising. these ads are coming both from the campaigns of democratic lieutenant governor john fetterman and the republican candidate, who is dr. mehmet oz, the celebrity tv doctor. both of them going after the other one. >> john fetterman wants to release convicted murderers from prison. he appointed a staffer who wants to eliminate mandatory life sentences for first and second degree murderers. we all know fetterman loves free stuff, but we can't let him free murderers. >> i have sat with women who have had to make the difficult choice to get an abortion. it can be traumatic and life altering. but dr. oz calls it murder. judy: dr. oz entered this campaign. he was seen as an outsider, not having spent a lot of time in pennsylvania, also someone presiding over a very divided republican party. but as the months has gone have gone by he's consolidated the party, he has consolidated his support.

republicans have put a lot of money into his campaign running these negative ads against john fetterman, accusing him of being soft on crime. now, for his part, john fetterman says that his record as mayor and as lieutenant governor shows that he has demonstrated compassion on his part and common sense. geoff: so john fetterman, we know he's recovering from a stroke that he suffered back in may just before the democratic primary. that's become an issue in this race. how exactly is he addressing it? judy: it is the case that earlier this week is dr. issued him a statement saying he has made good progress and saying he is good to go, in effect, to continue in public service. but having said that, questions linger. this morning we saw john fetterman on the campaign trail, he was speaking to supporters in downtown philadelphia.

we watched him along with the rest of the press and the public listening very carefully. >> elephant in the room. we had a stroke back in may. and despitall that, i survived to be back, and that means i am going to fight for you all because i am back out on the trail. judy: those questions are still out there, and not only about his ability to serve in the senate, a very demanding job, but his ability to communicate. and all that, frankly, has centered even more attention on the one and only debate these candidates are having. that is thursday night. there will be visual aids, something that fetterman needs, and this debate has become even more critical beuse it's the only one, is the only debate that federman would agree to. geoff: the governor's race there in pennsylvania is also close. it's also contested. what's the latest on that race?

judy: well, there you have the current democratic attorney general josh shapiro, who was running against a state senator doug mastery on al. he is seen as someone who is on the more shall we say, extreme and of the republican party out of the mainstream of the party. he is not endorsed or supported by a number of republicans in the state. mastriano acknowledges that he took part in the riots at the u.s. capitol on january 6, he said he didn't go into the building but that he was there. certainly questions about that. he argues that donald trump actually won the 2020 election. he's taken other extreme positions that have given a lot of republicans pause, and as we said, they're not supporting him. so that has all in all been a problem, to put it mildly, for him. a number of republicans not giving him money.

they're directing all of the money that they're giving to mehmet oz, which, of courshas helped his campaign. but you put it all together, this is seen as a campaign by an attorney general who had made a name for himself up against a republican who is very much struggling. still a campaign but a very different set of dynamics from what you see in the senate race. so a lot going on here right now. geoff: judy woodruff covering the pennsylvania senate and gubernatorial races tonight for us from the suburbs of philadelphia. it's great to see you. judy: thank you. geoff: time now for our weekend briefing. there are just over two weeks left until voters decide who controls congress and dozens of governors mansions across the country. this week, we focus on two close contests in arizona. in the open race for governor, republican kari lake, a former phoenix news anchor, faces democrat katie hobbs, arizona's secretary of state. and democratic senator mark kelly is running for reelection against republican blake masters, who happens to be a

venture capitalist. kelly was first elected during a special election two years ago. andrew oxford has been covering these races for arizona public media and joins us now. it's great to have you here. and let's start, andrew, with the governor's race. of this year's entire slate of pro-trump candidates, i think it's safe to say that kari lake seems to have the best chance of winning. the democrat in this race, katie hobbs, has been criticized for running a low key caaign. so how is this race shaping up with just a few weeks left to go? andrew: hobbs is running a relatively muted campaign. and of course, by comparison to lake, a former television personality, it was always going to be difficult to top, i think, for hobbs. but i think her campaign would argue that she's trying to focus on the fundamentals. she's not holding big rallies. she's trying to reach voters at the doorstep, on the phones, trying to win votethat way. and i think that's a point democrats are trying to make, is they're trying to create a contrast between hobbs, who's a

social worker, who's been a legislator and is now secretary of state, and lake, who has never been in government before. they're hoping to draw a contrast that will cast hobbs as really the candidate with the most experience, who's most able to govern. i thi the question going forward is going to be if this focus on fundamentals is running a more low key campaign is really going to be enough. i think there are some democrats and some independents who want hobbs to succeed who would argue it's not enough given the stakes of this race. geoff: and kari lake, we mentioned she's a trump supporter. she's also a known election denier. and last weekend on cnn, she made some headlines for refusing to say that she would accept the results of her own election in arizona if she lost. >> will you accept the results of your election in november? >> i'm going to win the election and i will accept that result. >> if you lose, will you accept that? >> i'm going to win the election and i will accept that result. geoff: how is the issue of

accepting election results, whether it's in the presidential race or the governor's race, how is that factoring into tt contest? how is it resonating? andrew: a lot of democrats in arizona would argue that that is the issue in this race. right? they would argue that the slate of republicans running this year is extremist. this is not john mccain's republican party anymore. and that democracy itself is on the ticket. i'm curious, though, how many republicans we actually are able to see democrats peel off in this election. much as trump was able to convince a lot of republicans who maybe didn't like him to come along and support him ultimately, because they reasoned that he was at least closer to them on policies that they cared about than his democratic opponents. i think we're seeing many republicans in arizona make a similar calculation. geoff: well, let's shift our focus now to the senate race, because blake masters is another far-right candidate, somebody

who has opposed america's involvement back in world war ii. he suggested that the attack on the capitol on january 6 was a false flag operation designed by the fbi. the democrat in that race, mark kelly, the current sitting senator, he has a small but shrinking lead over masters. why has masters been able to make this race more competitive, even though objectively he has flaws as a candidate? andrew: i never expected this race would be a blowou right? i thinit was always bound to be close. arizona is not a blue state. arizona is -- arizona is complicated. we have two democratic u.s. senators. yes, joe biden won the state in 2020, but he only won by about 10,000 votes. mark kelly won his race in 2020 by just a couple of percentage points. that's the key, though, right? mark kelly outperformed joe biden and that's what he's got to do again this election year if he wants to hold on to this seat. he's had some success at being able to establish himself as -- or define his identity, sort of separate from politics. here in tucson, people know him

as gabby giffords' husband or they know that he's an astronaut. and i think he's going to have to continue to convince enough republicans and independents that he is separate and apart from a lot of the things that frustrate them or turn them off about the democratic party. geoff: yeah, to your point, senate races typically aren't as closely tied to the president's standing as house races are. and as you mentioned, mark kelly trying to create some space between himself and president biden. that's particularly true on two key issues, the economy and immigration. he's called -- kelly has called the southern border a mess. how are those two issues, the economy, inflation, and immigration, what are voters saying about those two issues based on your reporting? andrew: well, let's talk about inflation and the economy. i mean, that's one that i see kelly running ads about right now. it is a central issue here in arizona. i thinone of the appeals of arizona to a lot of folks who move here is that we've long been able to say that this is a really affordable place to come

and live, to come and retire. a lot of arizonans now are finding that that that's just not the case rents and home prices are rising here, just as they are in other parts of the country. and that's really taking a bite. that's an issue that candidates of either party are having to speak to, i think, if they want to really convince independent and republican voters to give them a look. geoff: andrew oxford is a politics reporter for arizona public media. thanks so much for being with us, andrew. andrew: thank you. geoff: hbo's "house of the dragon," a prequel to the popular "game of thrones" series, is a massive hit, setting records for hbo and averaging nearly 30 million viewers per episode. and the series is drawing attention for its representation of women. gender, power, and sexism are among the central themes, and women are key, both onscreen and behind the camera. ahead of the show's season finale tonight, kim renfro is

with us. she's entertainment reporter for "insider" and author of "the unofficial guide to the game of thrones." thanks so much for being with us. kim: thank you for having me. geoff: so the series has had women directors, cinematograprs, female writers. we should mention, though, that the top line job titles, creator and showrunner, belong entirely to men. still, though, women are overrepresented behind the scenes as compared to "game of thrones." how does it stack up? and from a creative perspective, why does it matter? kim: absolutely. i think what matters the most in this case is that "house of the dragon" is an entirely different story that the showrunners needed to adapt from author george r.r. martin's writing. so with "game of thrones," they were pulling from these very long, very detailed point of view, character-driven novels. and with "fire and blood," which is the book upon which "house of the dragon" is based, an entire

book was written by martin as a sort of fictional history, and that fictional history itself was penned by fictional male characters. so it had a very male-biased point of view to start with. and what ryan condal and miguel sapochnik, the showrunners for "house of the dragon" have done, is made the choice from the outset to sort of rework the perspective that the audience is getting here and make a sort of correction to the history that was put forth in "fire and blood." and they did it all from a very female-centric perspective. and so i think bringing in female directors and female writers and story consultants from the get-go really helped shape the story in a way that we're seeing the effects of and how people are responding to these female characters. geoff: well, tell me more about that. i mean, how is how has that been apparent in both the way that the characters are written and the ways in which the storylines unfold? kim: yeah. for one, we're now almost finished with the first season, and even before the season began, miguel sapochnik and ryan

condal both sort of let everybody know, hey, we aren't going to show any examples of sexual violence on screen for this serie they felt it was important to address the way that women are stripped of agency or controlled through patriarchal societies, which westeros, the fictional society that george r.r. martin created, is indeed a patriarchy. so inste of seeing simply sexual violence or assault or mistreatment against women unfold on screen, we are seeing scenes of childbirth. we are seeing scenes of women speaking with other women about a sexual assault that happened to them without having to actual actually witness the assault ourselves as the audience. and miguel sapochnik and ryan condal have both said that they were very intentional about wanting anything that involved assault, violence, control over women in the story, to really have a point bind it, to have a very compelling story reason

and not to be there to simply titillate, in their words. "game of thrones" kind of became known for this thing that was called sex-position, where often characters would deliver important information or context about what was going on in a brothel scene or in a place where they hoped the audience would be both paying attention to the sexy nudity going on and also getting some information about characters. we haven't had scenes like that so far in "house of the dragon." geoff: typically, a replica of a thing is usually lower quality than the original. i mean, using your critical eye, how does "house of the dragon" stack up against "game of thrones," at least so far? kim: i think that they've been doing a phenomenal job of, like i said, telling a really different type of story. "game of thrones" is very sprawling. benioff and weiss, the showrunners for "game of thrones," had the task of showing multiple continents of activities unfolding all at the same time, and trying to kind of draw all these threads together. what "house of the dragon" has going for it is a much more intimate scope of story. we're really only focusing on a

handful of families. so many of the events are really only taking place in one of three locations. and so i think that that intimacy and that ability to really stay with just a small group of characters, episode to episode, to watch scenes and the effects of choices unfold in real time as those episodes continue has been really cool, and i don't think that i was expecting that from this prequel series. as you say, it could have gone in any number of directions. i think that a lot of people had a little bit of apprehension going into the prequel, wondering if it was really necessary to see a prequel story being told. and i think that what ryan condal and miguel sapochnik have pulled off is proving that there is a reason to revisit this world of these characters and to really closely examine how women are treated in this society and how those systems either fail them or prop them up, depending on how the power is swinging.

geoff: kim renfro is an entertainment reporter for "insider" and author of "the unofficial guide to game of thrones." thanks again for your time. kim: thank you so much. geoff: and that is our program for tonight. tomorrow, florida made it easier for ex-offenders to vote but many who have reregistered are now at risk of lending back behind bars. i'm geoff bennett. for all of us at "pbs news weekend," thanks for spending part of your sunday with us. have a great week. >> major funding for "pbs news weekend" has been provided by. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public

broadcasting a 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.] >> you're watching pbs.

from kqed, this is the 2022 california gubernatorial debate. california's governor has vast powers and decisions over the lives of the 40 million residents. governor newsom is running for his second term. the former san francisco mayor was elected governor in 2018 and has led california to fight climate change, and ask tougher gun control and the ban access to abortion services. his challenger, brian dahle, who has served it 10 years in the state legislature in the northeast part of california. he has criticized nuisance policy