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narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. announcer: and now, "bbc news". >> this is bbc world news america. gunfire rings out in sudan amid efforts to secure a cease-fire. eyewitnesses describe the terrifying scene. >> obliterated continuously. >> authorities in yemen investigating a crush ithe capital but left 78 people died.

criminal charges are dropped against the actor alec baldwin. he had faced charges in a fatal shooting of a colleague on set. a spectacular start and a premature ending. the spacex starship explodes in midair. ♪ welcome to world news america on pbs and around the globe. in sudan, the sudan -- the turmoil and suffering are getting worse by the day. the fighting started a week ago between rival factions. it has claimed 350 lives. civilians in the capital were trapped between factions and are running low on food and supplies.

some have started to get water from the river nile. our reporter says the situation is getting desperate. reporter: i am here in khartoum. the fiting has not stopped for six days. they are running out of water and food. >> the bbc also spoke to this woman who lives in khartoum. >> today we managed to find a safe place. we are staying with family. since saturday we have not left our home. today we were out and it was the most dead i have ever seen khartoum. even during holidays there is always life or a business open, but today there was absolutely nothing, even the stray dogs that are usually all over the city, there was nothing. >> the department of defense has

said they are preparing for a potential evacuation of american citizens in sudan. all of this is happening during eid al-fitr. the u.n. secretary general appealed for a cease-fire to take place for at least three days, marking the eid al-fitr celebrations, to allow civilians trapped to escape and seek medical treatment and food. this must be the first step in providing respite from the fighting and paving the way for permanent cease-fire. our africa correspondent has sent this report. reporter: another sunrise in khartoum, but no sign of the promise cease-fire in sudan's capital. across this vast country, hospitals are overwhelmed.

the victims of a power struggle between two rival armies. doctors cannot even reach many of the wounded. >> we are waiting for the situation to allow us to go there and provide service to all needy people, including wounded people. reporter: many families are trying to escape from khartoum, but the airport remains closed. and there are growing reports of soldiers and looting. two army helicopters fly low under the river nile. these images filmed by a british businessman still trapped in the city center. >> the buildings have been

obliterated and pounded continuously. >> how far away? just meters away. >> yeah. >> is that i going because we hear talks about a humanitarian cease-fire. >> there is no cease-fire. it is all talk. reporter: on the edges of khartoum, the occasional hint of normal life. for years, people have been hoping for democracy. instead, two generals staged a coup then turned on each other. now they risk plunging a huge and unstable corner of africa into deeper turmoil. anchor: let's move on to yemen, where officials are investigating a deadly crush that killed at least 78 people wednesday night.

the trouble began when hundreds of people crowded into a narrow street to get handouts from a merchant. it happened in yemen's rebel-held capital during a charity event for ramadan. people in charge have been dictating. our reporter has more. you may find the scenes in her report distressing. reporter: desperate efforts here to save people from the crutch. there were calls for people to get back but there is nowhere to go. images from the school show the horror of last night's events. hundreds of impoverished people, including children, had gathered to receive cash donations often distributed during the holy month of ramadan. the crutch had been caused by the rush to get into the schoolyard. so many lives lost for the chance to receive the equivalent of about 8 pounds in a country

where two thirds of the population need humanitarian aid. houthi authority said they began an investigation and arrested those who created the event without coordinating with them. one report says distraught families had rushed to hospitals, but because senior officials were visiting, they were not allowed in. >> we are firstly check in on the injured and those who die. all officials have proceeded with their duties to examine this unfortunate event and to find a solution for this to never happen again. this stampede is a huge tragedy. reporter: aft years of war, yemen is suffering one of the worst humanitarian crises. it has pushed millions of people into hunger. this deadly disaster comes just as peace talks have finally

given them the glimmer of hope of better lives. anchor: yemen has long been one of the poorest countries in the middle east. the fighting they are ranging since 2015 has devastated its economy and led to food shortages and destroyed infrastructure. here is our chief international correspondent. reporter: the holy month of fasting, even in a country where people are one step away from starvation, it is the holiest month and it is meant to to ease some of the suffering and get we have seen in yemen how this is making people even more desperate, but 365 days of the year, the yemenis have been living in one of the poorest

countries in the region and one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. anchor: the u.s. treasury secretary has been sending more friendly signals to china. janet yellen called for healthy economic relationship between the two rivals. her comments come at a time of heightened tensions between washington and beijing. our business reporter joins me from new york. thanks so much. is this a more conciliatory tone? reporter: just think about the time in which the speech comes. we are not only seeing difficult economic relations between the two countries. it has been five years since the trade barriers have been put in place. but there is also difficult diplomatic relations between them. in the speech, we heard a more friendly tone from janet yellen,

emphasizing the need for a more constructive relationship. have a listen. >> we remain the largest and most dynamic economy in the world. we also remain firm in our conviction to defend our values and national security. within that context, we seek a constructive and fair economic relationship with china. both countries need to be able to frankly discuss difficult issues and we should work together when possible fothe benefit of our countries and the world. anchor: and they are china as the world's most populous country by the end of the month. china's population is one point -- 4 billion by the summer. mds will have grown to 1.428, 3 million more. if we get back to the turn of

the last century, we can see how it has grown in size. and yet connection up since the 1950's since china's birth rate has slowed. both countries populations are projected to peak and then start to decline thisentury. from mumbai, reporter. reporter: job hunting in mumbai. they have traveled hundreds of miles, seeking a spot on the police force. just getting in for the test is the competition. india has the largest number of young workers in the world. >> what i find incredible is all of these people have come out for what is not that many jobs. there are 650,000 applicants and only 8000 positions. reporter: third time lucky. she is praying that this will be his chance. >> if i get this job, my life

will change because i will receive a fixed income. i will have job security. i will be able to get married. reporter: if he does not get it, he will still move here. the city is where the opportunities are. like him, many others are leaving rural areas. this is the life they wt to leave behind. here they just cannot make enough money. the float to urban centers continues, transforming big cities like mumbai. this is a deeply unequal society . it is difficult to improve conditions for all of mdl's people, even though its economy is growing at a fast pace. on the outskirts of mumbai, this suburb has expanded by 20% -- 200% in the past 20 years.

migrants hopthis is the start of something better. in some ways, life is harder here, but there are also new freems. she followed her husband to the city for -- to cook for them, but she found work too. >> i can buy myself what i want. i can get something that my child needs. i no longer need to depend on my husband for everything. reporter: she moved here 10 years ago. she is hoping this will open up a better future for her son. the doors of opportunity are entered with hope and desperation. there are challenges, but in india's population, huge potential.

anchor: lawyers for alec baldwin say all criminal charges have been dropped after a fatal o set shooting in 2021. it comes less than two weeks before trial was set to begin. sophie long has been following this story. thank you for joining. they have not set exactly why they decided to drop the charges. what challenges have the prosecution been facing? reporter: we have not heard from the prosecution in this case. what we have heard from his alec baldwin's lawyers. they announced that the criminal charges he faced in involuntary manslaughter will be dropped. this comes on the day that the filming of rust that was being filmed when the cinematographer was tragically shot, that all ceased. it was due to resume after a

hiatus in montana today. we did not know the charges against alec baldwin would be dropped. that came from his lawyers. we have had a statement from them who say they welcome the dropping of the charges and they encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances surrounding this tragic accident. we get to hear from the prosecutors. -- we have yet to hear from the prosecutors. alec baldwin's lawyers have fought these charges every step of the way. they said the charges were wrong, that they represented a great miscarriage of justice and that they would fight them and win. on the day that filming was due to resume, charges were dropped. what about thermorer, the woman was in charge of the weapons on the film set. we do not know what will happen.

anchor: thanks so much. the trail is only two weeks away. let's turn to the war in ukraine. the head of nato says ukraine's future lies within the alliance. he was speaking on his first visit to the country since the invasion. he says nato sands with ukraine for as long as it takes. james waterhouse has more. reporter: this was a symbolic meeting. you have the head of nato, the alliance which bds all of ukraine's western allies together, in kyiv meeting president zelenskyy. what did ukraine's leader want from the meeting? he called for a clear timeline for ukraine to be invited by nato, something it really wants. he would not be drawn on that. he said they would be high up on the agenda at an upcoming nato

summit in july. he pointed out the billions of euros of military aid which have been supplied to this point. but within western allies themselves there is some division over whether ukraine should be allowed to join the alliance. before the full scale invasion it was wried that would provoke russia into an escalation. we have now half escalation in the form of this invasion. he said ukraine's place would be within nato, but we did not get any idea one. we sell similar comments when the head of the european union was here. full of sentiment, but lacking on specifics. anchor: here in the united states, we have had talk about guns. that conversation has concerned

two trends. the first is the crisis of mass shootings this country. we have had more than 160 such attacks this year alone. today, fifth person was arrested in connection to the alabama birthday party shooting that left four people dead. the seemingly random shootings have been happening in various parts of the country, most recently a six-year-old was shot when a basketball rolled into the wrong yard in north carolina. earlier on thursday, man was charged with shooting two cheerleaders in texas who got in the wrong car. before that, a woman in new york was killed for entering the wrong driveway. 16-year-old ralph garrow was shot twice for ring in the wrong door balloon missouri. what is it about america and guns? the incoming updating of the

gail school of public health joins us. i landed in washington earlier this week and it feels like it is story after story about these shootings. is this a general trend? >> we have been seeing more gun deaths since about 2010. let me be clear. gun violence is an epidemic in the united states. there is certainly an aspect of paying more attention. these public mass shootings always garner more media attention than the single deaths , the homicides, the suicides that happen every single day. that has been true for a decade, but what is also true as we saw more gun deaths last year than ever before in the history of the united states. our rate of gun deaths is approaching our all-time high in the mid-1990's. we are paying attention because

it is increasingly affecting all of us. anchor: you call that an epidemic and the american medical association called it a public health issue. what do those designations achieve? >> by calling it a public health epidemic, it calls attention to the fact that when it got his shot, and not only hurts the victim, it also hurts the community and has a ripple effect. the second thing is that by calling it a public health epidemic we can apply public health tools. we have successfully decreased the number of cap -- car crash deaths amount eight steps, even had an effect on cancer. with the public health tools we can have the same impact on gun violence. we can finally start to make progress against this epidemic across the united states in ways that allow us to of course use

legislation, but also talk about the most larger societal and environmental impacts of gun violence. anchor: for you, they started 15 years ago in an emergency room. can you tell us about that? >> as an emergency physician i have taken care of countless victims of gunshot wounds over the course of my career. about 15 years ago, i took care of what was at that time the first ever going suicide they had come through my doors. most gun suicides die long before they make it to the emergency departments. that case changed my approach to violence prevention and got me started thinking on how to approach gun fire prevention.

we have course have to talk about the firearm. we also have to talk about what gets somebody at that moment when they have easy access to a firearm. we have to think about change in the environment in the ways that get them to that moment. anchor: thank you so much. thank you for sharing that with us. the anticipation was great, the takeoff flawless. but the mission was brief. we are talking about elon musk latest space venture. spacex starship exploded minutes after takeoff. there was nobody on the board and mu has declared the takeoff a success. reporter: a tense weight in the final seconds at the big is the most powerful rocket ever built gets ready to fly. >> we have looked up. reporter: starship slowly pushed

up to the sky. so far, so good. a few minutes into the flight, i time for the bottom part of the record to separate, but starship started tumbling. and then this happened. >> starship experienced a rapid disassembly during flight. this was the first test flight and the goal was to gather the data. reporter: despite the explosion, they were still celebrating as spacex. elon musk set expectations low. just getting the rocket off the ground was a major milestone. he tweeted, congratulations spacex team. learned a lot for the next lunch. starship has been in development for years and the plan is to

take people to the moon and eventually mars. this is the starship launch system. it stands 120 meters tall, nearly 400 feet. it has two main parts. at the bottom is the super have booster, which has many engines, 33. spacex says it can carry up to 100 people. both components will be fully reusable. the explosions that spacex are not unusual. they say it is all part of the learning process. >> there has been a lot of develop and fly, design and fly. that has been costly in terms of hardware failures. spacex has said it has been extremely valuable in terms of what they have learned. reporter: there are concerns about the environmental impacts

and damage to the local ecosystem. the u.s. authorities have said it passes all of its checks. spacex will try again. they had more rockets waiting better ready to fly. anchor: that is all for now. to see what we are working narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. man: bdo. accountants and advisors. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪

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>> good. i'm amna nawaz. >> i'm geoff bennett. ice in greenland and antarctica melting faster than anticipated, causing potentially disastrous sealevel rise. >> house republicans push a bill to ban transgender athletes from participating in school sports. >> what the monthly holy month -- what the muslim holy month of ramadan means for those who have lost loved ones in the earthquake. >> when i sit down to eat, i remember how my children were around me, so i stop eating.