♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... woman: architect. bee keeper. mentor. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. george: actually, you don't need vision to do most things in life. it's exciting to be part of a team driving the technology forward. i think that's the most rewarding thing. people who know, know bdo.

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". anchor: i am in washington and this is bbc world news america. >> [indiscernible] anchor: a pounding by the press -- pounding by the press, and their escape, the latest on what prince harry and meghan markle describe as a taxi ride. >> i think they were being chased the whole day. they were nervous.

anchor: hotter planet. wife researchers say world will break a key temperature limit in a few years. plus, taking a 20 person tree looked at a 21st-century tragedy, the wreckage of the titanic as you have never seen it before. welcome to bbc world news america on pbs and around the globe. the duke and duchess of sussex were involved in what their spokesperson is calling a near catastrophic car chase after they left an award ceremony in new york city. the pursuit it said to have lasted more than two hours and resulted in multiple near collisions. new york please confirmed paparazzi made things challenging for the couple but said there were no collisions, injuries, or arrests. our north american correspondent has more, and a warning, the

report contains flashing images. >> [indiscernible] >> [indiscernible] correspondent: tuesday night in manhattan, the duke and leavingd ceremony with meghan markle's mother before the incident in question. earlier, meghan markle had been recognized for her advocacy on behalf of women and girls and it was the first time that the couple appeared in public together since the duchess's absence at the king's coronation. >> [indiscernible] correspondent: not long after leaving in a black suv, they claimed they were involved in a near catastrophic car chase at the hands of highly aggressive paparazzi. in a statement on wednesday, their spokesperson said this relentless pursuit lasted over two hours and resulted in multiple near conditions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians, and two nypd officers. more details are emerging about what happened.

they briefly wrote in his taxi for part of the journey and appeared nervous trying to avoid photographers, but would not characterize it as a car chase. >> they were behind us. they stayed on top of us. that was it. there probably wasn't much more. it is like journalist and everybody else and [indiscernible] correspondent: new york's mayor eric had this to say. new york mayor eric adams: i don't think there are many of us who do not recall how his mom died, and it would be horrific to lose an innocent bystander during a chase like this. correspondent: harry has frequently voiced his fear that history could repeat itself, blaming the paparazzi for his mother's death in 1997. >> [indiscernible] >> [indiscernible] correspondent: their statement is the latest action prince harry has taken to fight intrusion by the press and cited harassment by the british tabloids as one of the reasons

that he moved to the united states in 2020. anchor: let's go live now to new york in our studio standing by as michelle fleury. what more do we know about these details that are coming out of this incident in new york city? michelle fleury: well, they appear to have left the event around 10:00 p.m., got into an suv and then things get hazy. according to accounts given by their spokesperson, they drove around for over two it would appear in which at some point they ended up at a new york called precinct -- them -- police precinct, and they tried to leave and that is when they were picked up by the taxi driver featured inhe report but did not get very far and were stuck behind a sanitation truck and at that point more paparazzi photographers emergence of a return to the police station. all in all, we understand it took over two hours. the account that the new york

police department has given portrays it as certainly challenging, but perhaps less dramatic and they say there were no injuries, collisions, and arrests, so what is emerging is a different account pending on who you speak to, but obviously given the duke's history and what has happened with his mother and the concern he has expressed for his own family safety but this clearly must've been a or medical event for him. anchor: definitely must've been a traumatic event and given all those different accounts that we are getting from eyewitnesses in the taxi driver in the report and the poilce, is it possible to weigh how dangerous the situation was? michelle fleury: well, you know, just imagine for a second that you are in a car surrounded by kind of flash bulbs going off. that would feel different than the perspective of a bystander for example on the street watching from a distance, and so

we have to take into account different perspectives in all of this. the nypd are used to dealing with lots of high-profile visitors to the city whether it is figures like the duke and duchess of sussex or whether it is politicians andorld leaders and they certainly have plenty of expense handling this kind of thing so perhaps that explains the calm tones in which they described it, not necessarily for those in the vehicle who were nervous and given the history might not feel very anxious in that situation. anchor: michelle, briefly if you can, can you put this in a larger context for us in terms of prince harry and some of the battles he has been fighting with the media and paparazzi back in the u.k.? michelle fleury: on one hand, the better with the media and he has long expressed concern for

the safety of his family and said he is worried about paparazzi perusing his family but also the editors and those who publish the photos and their role for creating a market for these photos that are dangerously acquired. the second thing is protection, remember, he is pursuing several cases including the u.k. at the moment arguing that he should be given public protection but at the moment he pays for his own protection here in the united states and that is an issue of concern for him. anchor: all right, michelle fleury in new york for us, thank you very much. well, the united nations has one but the next five years will almost certainly be the hottest since records began and scientists are predicting that a global temperature rise will break the crucial threshold for the first time in the next few years. our climate editor explains the reasons behind it. climate editor: risg temperatures things to global warming are one reason but we are also seeing a change in a crucial weather system in the

pacific ocean called el niño. winds blowing along the equator have been stronger than normal, pushing warmer water to the coast of asia in helping deep cold water well up on the coast of the americas. this phase is known as la niña and is associated with below average global temperatures. we are now moving into the el niño phase with the wind is weaker and warmer water spreads across the pacific patents to increase global temperatures only 0.2° celsius on average. that does not sound much but makes it almost certain that the 98% chance according to the united nations weather experts that one year in the next five years will be the hottest ever recorded. and it gives us a two and three chance, 66%, the global teeratures will exceed the 1.5 degrees celsius global warming threshold between now and 2027.

scientists site it would only be temporary but significant because going over 1.5 degrees celsius for an extended period would lead to significantly greater climate impacts. anchor: of course scientists site a hotter planet will lead to lead to catastrophic weather events, even wildfires like in western canada and seems like this with the skies turning orange with some 90 wildfires active in alberta causing air-quality alerts in calgary and other cities. for more on that warning from the united nations on rising temperatures i spoke with samantha grows the director of energy security and climate at the brookings institution and a former u.s. department official. thank you so much for joining us today. i want to ask you about the major takeaways in this united nations report and researchers saying there is a 6 chance that we will pass the 1.5

degrees celsius global warming threshold between now and the year 2027. what with that level of warming look like for humanity? samantha gross: well, the 1.5 degrees rush holt is not a hard and fast thing where the world falls off a cliff but definitely an area where things concerning to humanity become that much more likely, things like more extreme c rise in more extreme stores and more extreme droughts and flooding in those sorts of things. and so, we are not falling off a cliff, but it is an area where we see these things accelerate and that is concerning. anchor: certainly not a cliff we would prefer to go over, right? samantha gross: no, of course not. anchor: how concerned are you we might pass the threshold by 2027 a few years from now? samantha gross: i wish i could say i am surprised but i am not

at all. if you look at the current level of warming that we are just shy of .2 degrees celsius, so the 1.5 degree threshold is not far away. you don't see emissions going down globally. you see them going down in europe, the u.s., and other markets, but more and more emissions are coming from the developing world including china and not slowing down yet. anchor: this is a question a lot of people would like to know. how difficult could it be if we were to cross that threshold of 1.5 degrees celsius warming, how difficult would it be to come back which we would hope he would be able to do? samantha gross: it is something we can do over time. if you think about the climate system as eyeglass we are filling -- a glass over time are filling. we need to stop filling a glass and remove water from the blast,

or emissions from the atmosphere . you can pull carbon out of the atmosphere and the oceans and through direct removal and sequestration of co2 and other ways to do that, but first we have to stop filling the glass, bring in missions down, and getting to the point where we can think of going back. anchor: is the u.s. or other countries around the world to take that glass and ring it down working not only to prevent future emissions but starting to lower the amount of emissions that a coury emits? samantha gross: oh, we are absolutely working on lowering our emissions globally, the u.s. , all countries in the world have basically signed onto the paris agreement at this point with different levels and goals that were all working on filling the glass more slowly. the problems it takes a lot of time in the energy system is a multitrillion dollar system that

underlies the entire global economy. the easier parts, decarbonizing the electricity sector for instance, we are moving along in wind and solar are some of the cheapest forms of energy right now. anchor: it will take a global effort. you mentioned the paris agreement on the part of it was to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, also mentioned was two degrees, so now that we are reaching a point where we very well could be crossing that line come up what does that say about the legacy of the paris agreement? samantha gross: it is still being written. the original agreement said stay below two degrees and make every effort to be lower. the 1.5 degrees goal came later. we are still within the original boundaries of the paris agreement but we are still writing that agreement as we go as countries bring new goals and more ambitious goals to the table as we go along but what i hope the report does is emphasize how important it is to

bring newer and more ambitious goals and to bring financing for the developing world where a lot of the new emissions are to the climate meeting that is coming up in dubai in november. i anchor: want to ask you about another take away from the report saying there was a 90 8% likelihood that at least one of the next five year and in the five-year period as a whole would be the warmest on record given the heat waves we have been seeing, how prepared are we in countries around the globe for those kind of temperatures? samantha gross: you know, we are doing our best and need to become more prepared because this is our new normal. the last eight years have been the eight warmest years on record, even though we have had a la niña event for the last three years which generally causes global cooling was that these hot temperatures of the new norm and we need to get used to it. the challenge is that getting used to it for many people in baltimore energy use in terms of air-conditioning and that sort of thing, so we need to think

about designing our cities to be greener on the trees and cities for instance help to keep the surrounding area cool. anchor: right. samantha gross: everything we can, particular energy used to make these high temperatures easier to tolerate. anchor: samantha, we have a few seconds up a but before i let you go i want to ask you to end on an uplifting note. can you give us reason for hope given this concerning news we got today? samantha gross: absolutely. i am hopeful, even though some of this news is discouraging, because we see so much push and ingenuity into investments in the greener energy space. a majority of the world scientists are focused on this now and that makes me hopeful. um the thing, that has gotten us out of previous problems is human ingenuity and will continue to do so. anchor: all right, samantha gross, thank you for your time. samantha gross: my pleasure.

anchor: president biden is heading to japan i of the g7 summit friday but coming short of a wider tour of the asia-pacific region and will return to washington on sunday to address the ongoing showdown over the national debt ceiling, before leaving washington mr. biden emphasize that all sides agreed not to default, while the republican house speaker criticized the president for not coming to the table sooner. pres. biden: we had a protective meeting yesterday with all four leaders of congress that was civil and respectful and everyone came to the meeting i think in good faith. i am confident we will get the agreement on the budget in america will not default, and uh, every leader in the room understand the consequences if we fail. >> our debt is larger than alarcon, by more than 20%. if we do nothing, we will pay more in interest in the next 10 years that we paid in the last 83. if we do nothing and you follow along, god forbid you get a biden default because he ignores

the problem just as he ignored the border. mr. president, could we start our meetings? for 104 days he said no. anchor: i'm joined now by our north american correspondent gary o'donoghue. thank you for being here. both sides have agreed not to default, so what are the sticking points that remain? gary o'donoghue: there are a bunch of issues. the democrats want a raise in this $32 trillion debt ceiling without any conditions on the republicans won a bunch of conditions, so for example with the republicans want extra work requirements on some of those public assistance programs and things like food stamps and things like medicaid something that joe biden said is a bit of a redline for him and they want to pull back some of the cid spending they say has gone unspent and use that and also

potential budget caps on some spending comes that there is a lot to discuss yet but both sides know that the stakes are high in time is running out. anchor: yeah, only a few weeks to go here. one person who would not be in the rumba could have an impact is former president donald trump. we heard him say during that televised town hall that republican should let the nation default if biden will not agree to spending cuts. our republicans listening to that message? gary o'donoghue: i think some we'll and there are some hard-core people in the house in particular who would take that as a sign that they can hold up further. rget on the allowed kevin was cohy to become speaker a ming so they are taking a lot of messaging from donald trump but if a deal is done between the leadership in joe biden, a lot of democrats will fall in behind it so he should be able to get the votes. the problem is the timing with memorial coming up shortly and the senate and house are meant

to be going on vacation, and it has to go through both houses in congress in order for this to happen before that june 1 deadline. anchor: and of course with all those holidays president biden on a working trip in the g7 coming up this weekend in japan. look, economies around the world are struggling as well. how worried could these other nations be that the u.s. is headed for a potential default? gary o'donoghue: there does not seem to be as much panic as you might think, and i think that is because they see the u.s. having been here before and this brinkmanship is start of the u.s. system. i think things are different in the atmosphere is different in donald trump saying what he said makes the atmosphere dferent here but there is a lot of calculation around the world that america simply would not allow itself to default, because that would undermine its own economy and send the global economy into a huge downturn, and a lot of economies around the world look at the u.s. dollar as the reserve currency as the main reserve currency.

if you start defaulting on treasuries, government debt, things like that, that would undermine the whole system so it could be potentially catastrophic but i do not think they think that we will get to the point. anchor: gary o'donoghue are north america and the correspondent we may be coming back to you on this topic pretty soon. thank you so much for your all right, a look at some other stories making headlines. the ecuadorian president has dissolved the opposition-controlled parliament admitted a pitchman -- amid impeachment proceedings. he had been accused of turning a blind eye to embezzlement and was facing about that could have ousted him from the offices. one conservative said the charges were politically motivated. president recep tayyip erdogan says the deal allowing the safe export of grain from the black sea port been extended for two, the announcement coming before it was due to expire. the initiative negotiated with the help of turkey was to help

with food shortage is exasperated by russia' invasion. pakistan's former prime minister imran khan says poilce have surrounded his home and expects to be rearrested soon, comics coming after theovernment accused his supporters of attacking military installations in protest of his detention last week and ordered them to hand them over. well, this is the titan as she has never been seen before thanks to new mapping technology. the team behind it has created a full-size scan of the ship which sank in the north atlantic in 1912 and was more than 1500 lives to shed new light on exactly what happened. our science editor rebecca morelle has been given an exclusive look. rebecca morelle: nearly 4000 meters down in the murky depths of the atlantic with the titanic , but cameras can only ever show

a tantalizing snapshot, never the whole ship. now a newsstand has revealed the wreck as an exact full-size replica. to appreciate the scale, we have superimposed it into stadium where the olympics was held in london. the titanic was colossal in this 3d scan reveals the wreck in its entirety. for the first time, we have an exact digital copy of the real thing. what you see here is what is lying on the floor of the north atlantic ocean. only now can we get an idea of the ship's enormous size and disk and gives us a close up view of its smallest details. this is the boat deck, the gaping hole provides a glimpse inside where the grand staircase once stood. and here is what is left of the captains bridge, covered in stalactites of rust. remarkable details are emergin

too like the serial number on a propeller. >> the resolution is phenomenal and will allow scientists and historians to understand how the titanic came to be where it is again and it is a snapshot in time. rebecca morelle: the titanic was scanned using submersibles that took 700,000 images from every angle to build up an exact three-dimensional reconstruction. the wreck is in two parts on the bow is instantly recognizable more than 100 years after it sank. 800 meters away, the stern is a chaotic mess that metal and collapsed into the sea floor. the titanic has been extensively explored but there are still fundamental questions. >> we really don't understand the character of the collision yet. we don't even know if she hit on her starboard side as shown in movies. she might have grounded in this 3d model is one of the first major steps to driving the

titanic story towards evidence-based research. and not speculation. rebecca morelle: the sea is eating away at the wreck and time is running out to find out what happened that night, but the scan now freezes the wreck and time in the hope is that the titanic may yet give up its secrets. rebecca morelle, bbc news. anchor: just stunning images. you can see why it was named the titanic. before we go, one of the world's oldest hebrew bibles has set a record at an auction in new york, going for more than $38 million, more than the 1994 sale of a manuscript which sold for around $30 million by leonardo da vinci. the buyable was written around 900 and contains all the books of the hebrew bibles in a single place.

the buyer was right here in washington, d.c., and the family plans to give it to a museum in tel aviv. remember, you can find more on all of these stories today on our website and of course check out our stories online as well and on twitter. thank you so much for watching bbc world news america. ♪ 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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geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on the “newshour” tonight, an appeals court weighs arguments over access to the widely used abortion pill, mifepristone. geoff: a deal allowing war-torn ukraine to export grain is extended, alleviating fears of worsening food shortages, at least for now. amna: and judy woodruff visits her birthplace of tulsa, oklahoma, where a reckoning over historical racism echoes similar discussions nationwide. >> we've tried to, over the last i'd say 20 years as a community, to start having those conversations around race in our city that should have been happening for a century. ♪