♪ william: tonight on "pbs news weekend," the latest on the leak of documents revealing u.s. spy secrets and intelligence about the war in ukraine. then, a look at the innovative tools bangladesh is using to predict and respond to climate change. >> the attitude that i've found in bangladesh is not one of woe is me unfairness, victim, victimhood. it's one of, ok, we this is our lot. we have to deal with it and we're going to survive it. william: and how hugely popular video games e being turned into tv and movie hits. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs

news this past weekend has been provided by -- >> for 25 y, consumer cellular arthur ashe goal has% been writing no contract wireless service that helps people connect. our customer service team could help by the 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. ♪ good evening. i am william brangham. john yang is away. more details are emerging about how an apparent trove of intelligence documents leaked onto social media sites over the last few months. with the justice department investigation already underway, the washington post is reporting that these files, many seemingly from the pentagon and highly classified, provide details about the war in ukraine and how the u.s. additively spies on its allies and its foes. it includes details about the near downing of a british spy plane, by russia, near ukraine last year. for the latest on this, we are joined now by dan lamothe. he covers the pentagon and the u.s. military for the "washington post" and has been reporting this story. dan, thanks so much for being here. before we get into the content of what these documents say, is there any question as to whether

or not these are legitimate intelligence and military documents? darren: there is no question that there are some legitimate military and intelligence documents that have been posted online. the problem has become, as we sort through these, some of ese as they have proliferated across the internet, have been doctored. so you are trying to sort through what is a real document, but is a document that has been altered, and whether there might be any things in here outright. william: how would you describe what is the bulk of whais in these documents? >> the majority of the documents that i have seen appear to be from probably the same packet of information. many of them are stamped with "joint staff," chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. one of the reasons these documents spread is there is a lot of information on current

up-to-date operations. that is ok so long as it stays within the world of the people who have clearance to se them. william: as i mentioned, there are ditches about how the ukrainian military is holding up against the russian operation, but there are also details about how the u.s. spies on some of its allies and its foes. in particular, what dohey reveal in that regard? guest: there is a number of traveling thin terms of being out in the open and even as we sort through how to report this, there is at least a discussion you have about when do we put this on a newspaper or in a television broadcast. but we have reached a point where these things have proliferated through telegram, twitter, discord where the documents seem to have been first uploaded. so and then they've also been online for weeks, so they have spread a great deal. at some point you need have a conversation out in the open about what these things are and

what problem it presents to have them there. in this case, the topics ranged from iran or north korea, hungary, a number of different countries. it references satellite programs, signals intelligence, basically radio intercepts in many ways. things that you don't necessarily want the sources and methods in terms of how this information has been gathered, out inhe open. willm: can you give us a sense from talking to all of your sources, how big of a deal they see this as? we have had leaks in the past -- wikileaks and the pentagon papers and the afghan papers. some of those were retrospective looks. but this is about ongoing, current conflicts and crises all over the world. how troubled our administration and military oicials about these leaks? guest: to my knowledge at least i don't think it is in the same bucket as wikileaks leaks, or tn

things are conflicted. but it is nonetheless troubling to have some of the stuff in the open, particularly open assessments of ukraine's combat capabilities, gaps in their capabilities, you know, and the idea that these have been out and available for weeks and in some cases doctored the doctoring often favored russian russian point of view, so you start wondering who has viewed them how they may have shaped their operations around it. there's a number of troubling consequences that go with that. william: as i mentioned, the department of justice is investigating. what do we know about who might have stolen these and leaked them out? guest: very little in terms of the initial source at this point, i mean, the assumption would be the initial, um, source would have had the clearance. but there's also the possibility that the initial source was negligent with the documents as opposed to deliberately putting them online, and they somehow

ended up in somebody else's hands. in terms of the way this might look, anything that is printed out in the documents that have been uploaded, at least the ones that i have seen, are basically photographs of printed pages. so the assumption would be that the u.s. government are going to go back to look and try to figure out who had printed copies. who may have printed it out and shouldn't have and kind of trying to backtrack with a universe of people is that had these printed copies in their hands back in february and march. william: what is a possibility, how concerned are your sources that the leak of these documents could hurt u.s. interests? in the sense that we either are revealing how we gather intelligence or it gives other adversaries the opportunity, then, to combat that surveillance? guest: in terms of the specifics, they have been very careful about talking about that and the steps they may take, other than acknowledging that they are trying to take steps to combat that and deal with that.

the other thing is that they will have to be have hard conversations with allies and partners. when you are referencing the spying you do on a long time ally or basically there is some encouragement here that we are closely tracng both russia and ukraine, both in terms of what they are doing, but also what they are saying and how they are thinking, to the extent we can. those are difficult conversations to have with somebody, even if you are partnered. william: dan, thank you so much for being here. darren: thank you. william: in other news today israeli warplanes and artillery , hit targets inside syria, in retaliation for rare rocket fire coming from syria yesterday. night vision vid from israel's defense force showed some of the strikes, including one on a syrian military compound. but in jerusalem, things remain calm as both jews and palestinians gathered for simultaneo religious rituals. hundreds of jews prayed at the western wall for the passover holiday.

and at the al-aqsa mosque compound, just above the western wall, palestinians prayed as part of their observance of the muslim holy month of ramadan. on this easter sunday, pope francis kept the middle east in his prayers, appealing to israelis and palestinians to forge a "climate of trust." tens of thousands attended the pope's traditional address in st. peter's square. the pontiff spoke of troubles across the globe, including a message for ukranians and russians, as fighting over russia's invasion continues into a second year. >> halep the beloved ukrainian people on their journey towards peace, and shared the light of easter upon the people of russia. comft the wounded and all those who have lost loved ones because of the war, and grant that prisoners may return safe and sound to their families. william: pope francis appeared in good health. the 86 old pontiff was hospitalized three days last

week with bronchitis. workers in the los angeles unified school district of voted overwhelmingly to approve a new contract increased wages and better benefits. the vote comes after thousands protested last month, causing schools in the nation's second-largest school district to close for three days. the contract still needs approval from the district's board of education. and a passing of note tonight -- benjamin ferenz, the last surviving prosecutor from the nuremberg war trials has died. he was one of the first outsi witnesses to document nazi atrocities in their forced labor and concentration camps. at age 27, and with no prior trial experience, ferenz served as the chief prosecutor in the case against 22 nazis who led hitler's roaming extermination squads. those 22 were responsible f killing an ested one million jews, romani, and other people who were considered enemies of

the third reich. here is a portion of ferenz's opening statement at the 1947 nuremberg trial. >> vengeance is not our goal. nor do we seek merely a just retribution. we ask this court to affirm by international penal action man's right to live in peace and dignity, regardless of his race or creed. william: all the defendants were convicted. ferenz went on to fight to get compensation for victims and survivors of the holocaust, and to have their stolen goods returned. for decades, he also advocated for the creation of an international criminal court, which was eventually established in 2002. he pressed the united states to recognize ensuring that court, but it still hasn't -- recognize and join that court, but it still hasn't. benjamin ferenz was 103-years-old. still to come on "pbs news weekend," the innovations developed in bangladesh to fight climate change.

and, how hollywood is turning video games into hit tv shows and films. ♪ >> this is pbs news weekend from wta studios in washington, home of the pbs newshour, weeknights on pbs. ♪ william: the low-lying nation of bangladesh emits just one half of 1% of the world's carbon emissions, but it suffers disproportionately from the climate change that's caused by that pollution. ali rogin has more. even in the most isolated parts of bangladesh, communities have devised ways to stay ahead of potential weather disasters like floods and cyclones. and they are discovering new ways to use the natural resources around them to build

resilience. npr reporter lauren frayer just returned from bangladesh and joins me now. lauren, thank you so much. first, what are the factors that make bangladesh particularly vulnerable to climate change? >> so it's really a geography. i mean, bangladesh is a low-lyincountry. essentially the whole country or almost the whole country is a river adulterer just south of the himalayan mountains. i traveled in the north of the country, which is essentially like -- think of capillaries, kind of crisscrossing the country. so these are tiny, muddy, narrow, shallow rivers in the dry season. but in the wet season, they just become like a shallow sea. and so people are dividing their livelihoods between agriculture in the dry season and then adapting to basically living on watein the wet season. so adapting to fishing and kind trying to keep their agriculture alive through raised gardens. i did some interviews with some villagers where instead of

growing squash and vines on the ground, they raised them like eight levels high. so they live under a canopy of shade provided by their vegetables. but also those vegetables survive when the area floods. >> the methods that you just laid out. ose were adaptations, right? those were methods that they've employed in order to adapt to changing weather patterns. >> yeah. so, i mean, these are indigenous communities solutions. i mean, bangladesh does have some high-tech solutions. they have one of the most advanced flood warning systems in the world. they're using satellite technogy to track cyclones. they have buoys that are measuring water levels. using solar powered buoys but what scientists have been telling me that even more important than the high tech solutions in bangladesh is what they call "social capital." so for example, i went out to a village that is a two hours boat

ride from the nearest road, and even without phones, without radio or television, we are able to get these flood warnings through this sort of human chain of communication. and in this village which saw some of the worst floing in 2022 that bangladesh had ever seen, everybody survived. so the human chain of communication really worked. reporter: that is incredible read and you called it a one-timer percent awareness of climate change which is incredible when talking about a remote community like this. talk to me about how that works on a person-to-person level. yo talked about the high-tech side, but what it really comes down to is word-of-mouth. >> so what happens, in dhaka, there is a flood forecasting and warning center and that's a government facility. and those scientists are tracking meteorological data and saying, ok, how is that going to affect this system of riven the north of our country? i met with one flood obsvation worker who is a housewifin her early twenties with a mobile phone, and she has this side gig reading river gauges in her local river.

and so she is literally just reading the water levels and sending that data by sms -- by text message -- to the scientists, in dadhaka. they are taking meteorological data. they're taking that real time water level data. they're plugging it into a hydrological model, and then they're trying to figure out where flash floods will be. and so they send out that flood those flood warnings by smartphone push notification, but also by audio recording. in the village that i went to, there were people without even phones. but at least one relative or in this case, a neighbor's relative had a phone, got that audio recording and then passed the word by word of mouth. so it's those kind of like very small, you know, practical solutions that villagers are creating on their own to help them survive and adapt to the changing climate

>> what, if any, lessons can we in the united states learn from these communities and potentially implement here? >> one of the top climate scientists in bangladesh told me, hate, if the u.s. has any climate skeptics, send them over here. it will cure them of that. because i und and he's found like 100% awareness of climate change because people have experienced it in their own lives. and one of the things that bangladesh does better than any other country is this communication, this human chain of people to people communication, so that it's not just high tech solutions, it's low tech, community based sotions. >> and lastly, lauren, there's a big debate right now about the responsibilities of countries who are responsible for more of these emissions. what sort of assistance exists for bangladesh from wealthy countries, if any? and what's the conversation like

in bangladesh about the responsibilities of other countries? >> yes, so bangladesh is often called the clima victim because, as you say, it it creates a fraction of 1% of global carbon emissions, yet it suffers disproportionately from the effects. but i have to say, the attitude i found in bangladesh is not one of woe is me, unfairness, victimhood. it is one of, ok, this is our lot. we have to deal with it and we are going to survive it. it is really one of empowerment. and and i found that both on an official level, talking to scientists and talking to government officials, but i found that on the local level, too. >> fascinating lauren frayer with npr, thank you so much for your time. >> thanks for having me. ♪ william: video games are a huge booming business, raking in nearly $100 billion a year in the u.s. alone.

but turning those videogames into successful movies and tv shows? that has been a bit of a bust -- until now. the hbo series "the last of us," based on a video game of the same name, was a runaway hit this year with both audiences and critics. and the new "super mario brothers" movie, based on the long running nintendo franchise, is set to gross $368 million in its first five days. so what has changed? jeff kealey is a longtime gaming reporter and creator and host of the wildly popular the game awards. jeff keeley, thanks so much for being here. how do you explain this transition? because i think it is safe to admit that most adaptations of videogames into the visual arts has not and all that smooth or successful so far. why do you think this is changing now? >> you arebsolutely right. people refer to it as the castle

that ested with, you know, many, many video game franchises over the years. just haven't been successful movies. i mean, there was "prince of persia" with jake gyllenhaal. there was "assassin's creed" with michael fassbender even way back in the day. there was a "super mario brothers" movie starring the late bob hoskins, and none of them worked, in part bause i think they weren't authentic to the game. what we are seeing now is that the game creators are getting involved with hollywood, they are helping in writing a directing and creating these worlds, which i think creates an authenticity for the game fans, but also creates a very rich, detailed world for folks that may not even have played the games. william: do you think it is also because hollywood producers are always desperate for good, compelling stories, and a successful videogame franchise in some ways proves that point, that this draws people in, this storyline is compelling and thus it might make the transition. guest: right, i think that was the old view -- this game has a built in fan base of you know, x , million people played the

game. for a long timit was sort of like the license slap that hollywood producers were doing because they saw these successful games and then ultimately they didn't really work out. because they weren't great movies. i mean, there was one i think the game "doom," dwayne johnson starred in, and it was really just an0 action movie with dwayne johnson that happened to be called "doom" because they thought that would bring more people into theaters. and i think now we are really in this renaissance of video game adaptations -- i think in the next three or four years, i think video games are going to be as popular as superhero franchises. william: really? that's wow. that's an incredible predicti. i mean, "the last of us" in particular seemingly achieved a ton of success with an audience like myself who had no idea it was even connected to a game. and again, i thinkhat speaks to -- and no wonder if you think the same -- that this speaks to just a very strong character and a very compelling story, and thus it's a natural. >> yeah. guest: yeah. i mean, "the last of us" is really special. it's an incredibly detailed, rich story that came out over a decade ago, is a video game, won a ton of awards then.

and i credit craig mazin, the creator of "the last of us" series alongside neil druckmann, the creator of the game. they teamed up together. they teamed up together. craig did "chernobyl" at hbo, and hbo was kind of looking for the next show from him. he was a big fan of "the last of us" and said i want to figure , out how to adapt this in authentic way at hbo and actually partnerinwith the game creator. but there are scenes in that show that are dire dialog lifts from the video game. so they are moments. if you haven't played the game, you might not know this, but it's like this the moment with the giraffe or other things like that, those are like iconic, seminal moments of the video game they really captured in the show. but they also built it -- to -- in a way that appeals to many people that had never played in the videogame because it is a great story at the end of the day. william: on the flipside of that, how do you explain the success of "super mario brothers?" because that, unlike "the last of us," doesn't necessarily have such obvious human characters, doesn't have an obvious built in plotline. there's no offense to the

brothers [laughs] but how do you explain that success go? guest: well, i think that's, you know, very different. }nintendo really, for the first time ever, partneredh elimination -- chris moore gondry, who had done the "despicable me," the "minion" movies. and shigeru miyamoto, the creator of mario, actually worked with them to build out this world. so what i think is so great about that movie is that it looks so beautiful and it's so rich. and, you know, for anyone that's played a super mario brothers game at some point in their life, everyone has, this is on the big screen as a movie and an animated movie, i think is just incredibly novel. so it's just it's a fun movie. it's got a great voice cast and it just looks beautiful. i think that is that thing. it really looks like the videogames, which is incredibly special. william: we are talking here about videogames moving into movies and television shows. do you think the reverse can happen as well, that people might watch "the last of us and think, at the origin story for

this exists on a video game and i want to go there. any sign that that is happening too? >> yeah, there have been huge success stories in that regard over the past few years. the first game that really did that was a game called "the witcher," which was a netflix series, and that holiday season, when the first season of "the witcher" came out, the video game sold millions of copies and the game had been out for four or five years. and this year, with "the last of us," that's been at the top of the sales charts on amazon for a game that came out ten years ago , because people are rediscovering it. so tha is part of the benefit to the game companies, is that when these adaptations are done well, it actually drives more awareness and sales of the, you know, the original game. william: and lastly, is there any particular game that you're wondering why hollywood hasn't grabbed it yet that you want to see on the big screen? guest: there are a bunch. one that i am really excited about is a game called "bioshock." that is just another like "the last of us," a really great story with equitable characters. editing that is a good videogame story is up for adaptation now.

if anything, there are probably going to be too many of these things made, and not of them are going to work. but i definitely think the curse is broken and the fact that the biggest movie of the year and the biggest series of the year so far are both based on video games is pretty incredible. william: all right, geoff keighley, keeley, so good to see you. thanks so much for being here. >> thanks for inviting me on. ♪ william: now online, this piece where you can test your own gaming knowledge. all that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. and that's our program for tonight. i'm william brangham. for all of my colleagues at "pbs news weekend," thank you for joining us. see you tomorrow. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] ♪ >> major funding for pbs news week and been prevented by? >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been providing no

contract wireless service that helps people connect. our customer service team could help by the plan that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to pbs stations from viewers like you. thank you. ♪

(upbeat music) - i love easter. it's one of my favorite times of year, full of new life and hope. it's a time when food is at the very heart of our celebration. in my family, easter isn't easter without hot cross buns, simnel cake and, of course, roast lamb. so, as well as showing you how to cook some of my easter favorites, i've been finding out how britain's many vibrant christian communities commemorate easter. - put this bad boy... - i think it's a good boy. why cooking has such an important place. - do you think the almond bunnies are superior? - it's another dimension for me. - found one!