amna: good evening. geoff: conflict and instability in sudan. >> major funding for the "pbs

newshour" has been provided by -- moving our economy for 160 years. the nsa. the engine that connects us. >> actually, you do not need vision to do most things in life. people who know, no bdo. >> for 25 years, consumer wireless goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect.

to learn more, visit consumer cellular.tv. >> the walton family foundation. working for solutions to protect water during climate change so people and nature can thrive together. supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org. 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. geoff: welcome to the newshour. the federal reserve is hitting

pause on its push for higher interest rates -- at least for now. the central bank today decided not to raise rates for the first time in 15 months. amna: but, the fed also indicated it may still hike rates by another half a percentage point this year, to slow growth and curb inflation. chairman jerome powell said that's because the latest economic data is stronger than expected. powell: growth estimates moved up a bit, unemployment estimates moved down a bit, inflation estimates moved up a bit, and all three of those point in the same direction, which is that perhaps more restraint will be necessary than we had thought in the last meeting. geoff: the fed's goal is to bring inflation down to a 2% annual level. right now, it's still running at twice that number. now to the day's other news. nearly 80 people drowned off the coast of greece in one of the worst migrant disasters this year. they had sailed from libya on a fishing boat, trying to reach italy, when the vessel sank. as many as 500 people may have en a

more than 100 were rescued as the day progressed. survivors were taken to a warehouse in the greek port city of kalamata. >> it is indeed a tragic situation, a very difficult situation with a very large number of shipwrecked people, a number that i think we have not faced in the past to such an extent and volume. geoff: u.n. migration officials say more than 17,000 people have died or disappeared trying to cross the central mediterranean since 2014. officials in northern nigeria have confirmed at least 106 people died after their overcrowded boat capsized early monday. the boat was carrying up to 300 people back from a wedding when it overturned after hitting a log in the river. police say at least 144 people were rescued, and the search continued today. in ukraine, russia stepped up aerial attacks overnight -- trying to blunt a counter-offensive by government forces. in the south, new shelling in odesa destroyed buildings and littered streets with shattered

glass. in the east, rescuers pulled people from wreckage left by missile strikes. in all, at least 6 people were killed. italy's former prime minister silvio berlusconi was honored today with a national day of mourning and a state funeral. a somber procession took place inside the duomo cathedral in milan. in his eulogy, the city's roman catholic archbishop acknowledged sharp divisions over berlusconi's legacy. >> when a man is a character he is always on stage. he has fans and detractors, he has people cheering for him and people hating him. he was a man with a desire for life. geoff: outside, tens of thousands of supporters chanted berlusconi's name and waved flags for ac milano -- the football club he once owned. berlusconi died monday at the age of 86. china announced a strategic partnership with the palestinian authority today, expanding its ininncfl m te e idhe.eadlst

president xi jinping welcomed palestinian president mahmoud abbas to beijing. they signed an agreement to strengthen economic ties and promote an independent palestinian state. >> going forwae e rdg goartoin ve limits on artificial intelligence. and every time technology advances it must go hand and hand with our democratic rights. geoff: google says it will oppose the move.

at the white house, president biden vetoed a bill that would block new rules on heavy duty truck pollution. republicans in congress have argued the rules will make trucks too expensive for small businesses. the president of the mandates will reduce harmful air pollution and we to few premature deaths. miami mayor francis suarez filed

paperwork today to enter the race for the republican president nomination. he did so just a day after former president donald trump appeared in miami in court on federal charges. the man who discovered that whales caning has died. in 1960 seven he realized the haunting sounds underwater were actually whales communicating through song. he actually produced an album called the songs of the humpback whale. he was 88 years old. still to come newshour, the exiting white house response coordinator on preparing for the next pandemic. killer whales exhibit strange behavior off the coast of spain and the founder of a recycling nonprofit gives a spectacular take on sustainable fashion.

>> this is the pbs newshour from w eta studios in washington. amna: the news of trump's federal indictment comes as the republican primary field is still taking shape and the impact on the 2024 race -- and republican voters -- remains unclear. judy woodruff was in des moines, iowa, yesterday for her “america at a crossroads” reporting project to listen in on a couple of voter discussions led by conservative pollster sarah longwell. since it was the day of the trump arraignment, she made that the focus of the first of two reports on what iowa republicans are thinking. this was produced with our friends at iowa pbs. sarah longwell: how many of you

know that donald trump was indicted last week? raise your hand. how many of you have heard that donald trump was indicted for a second time recently? everybody knows. okay. >> from the 16 republican voters we gathered yesterday evening, there were strong reactions to the second indictment of former president donald trump. >> i think he's been set up. sarah longwell: oh, yeah. tell me why. >> well, it's just too arranged. everything is just too arranged. when the fbi raided his property at mar-a-lago, how do we know what they did and didn't do? reporter: we had asked pollster sarah longwell, who also publishes the center-right website “the bulwark,” to assemble two panels of gop voters in the studio of iowa pbs. i observed from the control room as she asked how they're thinking about politics, policy, and current events at this moment, when candidates are already descending upon their state ahead of next year's caucuses. and as this week's news of the second trump indictment had been breaking. >> it's baloney.

i think i mean, just why isn't biden indicted? just because he gave them back at an appropriate time? i mean, really, he did exactly the same thing. >> you have a current president who is siccing all of the doj on a potential candidate. that's never happened. >> they really feel like the country is going in the wrong direction. judy: what most struck you in these two conversations with iowa voters who have supported donald trump for the last two presidential elections? sarah longwell: i was actually struck mainly by how much they und like every other focus group i do with two time trump voters. they were very clear that the indictments actually made them want to support trump more,

which is really consistent. i mean, we've been asking people for several months, you know, how are you how does it make you feel when you hear that trump's indicted? does it make you want to support more, support him less? out of the 58 people that we've asked, 26 of them said it makes them want to support donald trump more. only two said less. they're a little bit mixed on whether trump is exactly the right person to be the person who comes back. but still, after january 6, after the indictments, after everything, still a lot of support for donald trump. how many of you distrust the fbi? >> the three letter agencies, the doj, the cia, the fbi. i think when the country was formulated, the best of intent was to put some of these organizations or governing bodies in place. but how they're being manipulated now and they're being weaponized is the bigger concern. >> i'm kind of frustrated by it because on one side, you know,

it seems like we're all going all out on president trump. and on the other side, the wheels of justice are going very slow, doesn't seem to be like equal amount of resources being devoted to looking into hunter biden's laptop. >> and what about hillary clinton? >> oh, yeah. >> she had all this stuff and she was never indicted. >> you've got the doj, you've got the fbi reporting up to biden. ultimately, this goes up to biden. so why wouldn't you want to take out your your toughest political opponent? and this is election interference like we've never seen before , and it's disguised as trump's a bad guy. sarah longwell: how many of you wanted hillary clinton to be indicted for her? okay. did you think she should go to jail? >> absolutely. sarah longwell: trump at the time said that she should go to jail for mishandling classified information. do you think he should be held to the same standard that he was setting for hillary clinton, or do you think that it's different for some reason? >> i think he said that when you understand his personality and

how he words things he said that , in jest. i think he's just trying to paint a word picture. but should she have gotten some sort of punishment? yes. yes, i think so. >> he's entitled to declassify whatever he wants to declassify. so in other presidents that have left office have had classified documents, they were not treated the same way as donald trump is being treated. it is a two-tiered justice system in this country for sure. there's no doubt about it. sarah longwell: i mean, the biggest thing is that they really don't have a lot of faith or trust in the fbi or in the department of justice to prosecute this fairly. and i hear this always from republican groups and you hear it from republican elected officials, too. and the, you know, conservative media really talks about this. they say, you know, they're out to get trump. there's a two tiered justice system. judy: and bringing up the hillary clinton -- sarah longwell: right. judy: -- the classified documents that other part that president biden took home. sarah longwell: yeah.

which you can see, actually. i mean, you know, joe biden, there's been a lot of classified documents that they found on his properties, mike pence, they found classified documents on his properties. and so for voters, they oftentimes think, well, i don't understand. it seems like a lot of these elected officials keep taking classified documents home and they don't always see the difference between trump being told, hey, you have to return those documents and then refusing to do so or lying to the fbi when he was asked. judy: that deep-seated distrust extended to the 2020 election results, and their aftermath, too. longwell: how many of you believe joe biden was legitimately elected president of the united states? [silence] how many of you believe that the election was stolen or rigged in some way? okay, everybody. what about january 6? how do people feel about january 6th? >> setup. >> yeah. yeah. >> 100 percent setup. >> you go look at the videos showing the capitol police

walking these people through the capitol, talking, no problems whatsoever. and then they turn around and say they they attacked us. in essence. the videos show a whole different story than what they're saying happened. >> i personally don't think that like he was calling people to like, do, like, i watch like what he said and everything. and like, i mean, he didn't say anything to me. like in watching it, that was like, you know, oh, yeah, he's telling them to go and like, storm the capitol. you know, like, i didn't feel i personally didn't feelike that, that what he was said was so inflammatory that he was just trying to, like, you know, tear the country apart. >> and they are still arresting people two years since it happened. >> he loves this country. i can't believe that he loves this country and want to cause people to fight like that. and he is against wars. >> he is not the typical

politician and his words aren't what we call polished. and he just blurted out. sarah longwell: do people want to vote for a republican candidate who is committed to pardoning the people from january 6? >> yes. >> absolutely. judy: returning to trump's own legal battles, it seems very little of what comes next will sway this group. sarah longwell: so let's say trump is found guilty of these arges. he goes through the courts and they find him guilty. raise your hand if it makes you support himore? raise your hand if it makes you support him less. judy: and president trump retained some measure of support, among even those who think he likely committed a crime. >> i reathe indictment and it's plain as day that he broke the law knowingly. whether the doj came after him. which i think is very plausible, and why they're ignoring hunter biden's laptop, i think is a

separate issue. but it is clear he broke the law, and i think it's time for him to go away. and i appreciated it for what he did for the country during his four years. but i think that he is part of the problem. judy: but when asked if he would vote for trump if he was the nominee running against biden? >> i would vote for him for the third time. i think that it's that significant. judy: so given that and the fact that there are potentially more indictments to come against former president trump, where are we headed? sarah: well, it's a little counterintuitive, but one of the things about donald trump, and this has been true, whether it's his two impeachments or whether it is now his second indictment, there's this thing that happens that i call the rally round trump effect, where republican voters, when he they feel like he's being attacked, they tend

to support him even more. and so it creates kind of a energy that also allows trump to really suck up all the oxygen. we're always talking about trump. and so ultimately, it does tend to help him that if he continues to get indicted, we continue to talk about trump all the time. it's really difficult for some of these other 2024 challengers to make an affirmative case for themselves. you can sort of see why from listening to the voters they , don't like when people attack trump. judy: with so much yet to unfold, and more than six months to go before the iowa caucuses, these focus groups and a consensus of polls suggest president trump, despite his troubles, or because of them, holds on to his lead in a crowded republican field. for the pbs newshour, i'm judy woodruff in des moines, iowa. amna: and in weeks ahead, judy will hear more from these iowa republican voters about the state of the country, our divisions, and what a path forward looks like.

she'll be visiting other states to hear from panels of democratic voters as well. geoff: in just a matter of days, the u.s. supreme court is expected to rule on whether president biden's plan for student debt forgiveness can go forward. it comes at a major moment for borrowers who may have to restart those loan payments this fall. william brangham gets some perspective about those concerns and what borrowers may need to think about. william: the president's plan would forgive as much as $20,000 of student loan debt for many borrowers. before that plan was put on hold, over 16 million people were approved for that forgiveness. if enacted, that could cost the government as much as $400 billion. while that's been playing out, for three years since the start of the pandemic

, interest and principal payments on federal student loans have been paused, but they're set to resume in just a few months. all this has left a lot borrowers worrying about what's ahead. here's what a few of them told us -- and none of these people are just out of school. they work in education, and for local government agencies. >> my name is carolann fry. i live in portland, oregon. >>, located in delaware. >> if the supreme court ends up striking down the biden forgiveness program, it is just going to prolong the things i am looking forward to in life, being able to retire sooner, helping my son who is 11 to be able to go to college. >> won't be able to put money into savings, which is very scary as a person living

paycheck-to-paycheck. >> i think having that burden come back without any type of relief would be almost catastrophic as costs and prices have gone up and the cost of education has gone up over the years. >> paying almost $400 a month for the next 12 or 13 years is a lot of money. >> i think that my payments will be about $400 a month, which is a significant amount of money for me. i live alone. >> finances would have to tighten up. there would almost be a bill due instantly and a lot of money that for me personally is a lot of money. >> i do see the benefits of going to college, however, it needs to be a very financially stable way to do things.

>> getting the college education was key to me having stability in my life. i had to take out the debt. >> undergrad total cost me $25,000. if my children decide to go to university, it will cost $125,000 for the same university. >> even with the $25,000 in front of the supreme court and for i would still have 30 -- $30,000 left over. >> the pause has allowed me to put money other places for the rising cost of rent and food and everything and incorporate a payment of $300 back and by budget every month would be almost the same as if i bought another car.

>> we elected president biden with this promise of student loan forgiveness and i do not know when he promised that if he fully knew he could go through, we were all just hoping, but it is looking bleak and there are a lot of people who are significantly depending on the forgiveness and to have the rug pulled out from underneath them will not be a good look. william: given the potentially significant changes, we wanted to get some perspective on how borrowers ought to be planning. julia carpenter focuses on that for the wall street journal and she joins us now. julia, thank you so much for being here. as we were hearing, the federal student loan payments were suspended at the start of the payment -- pandemic and then they kept getting renewed and renewed. is there any chance they could get renewed again? >> president biden said earlier

this year there is a supreme court decision looming on forgiveness and it is almost impossible we would see another delay. some payments are set to resume. william: how many people are we talking about that will suddenly see payments due? >> millions. fewer than 2% of borrowers continue making payments on student loans during the pause and everyone else took it the pause as an opportunity to get finances in order during the pandemic or break an interest so 30 million people will see accounts resume as of august. william: so what did people do with the savings? did most people just spend more?

inflation obviously chewed into some of it. >> a lot of borrowers saved it. they said this is my chance to put his money away, stop -- put this money away, stock up the emergency fund. but a ton of borrowers said it just disappeared based on grocery bills getting higher and gas costing more and the money they had earmarked for student loans was taken up by day-to-day expenses. william: so separately the supreme court ruling is coming any day. can you remind us what president biden wanted to do and then what the court might do? >> the original plan promised $10,000 to borrowers with federal student loans with

income under $125,000. if you were a pell grant recipient you were up to -- eligible for up to $20,000 in forgiveness so qualified borrowers would see their balance lowered as a result of the plan, -- plan. william: i know you are not a financial advisor but you talk with a lot of them in your job. what should people be doing who might have certain -- sudden payments reappear on balance sheets? what should they do in advance? >> every financial advisor said hope for the best, plan for the worst. if you are a qualified borrower, the financial advisors say to plan as if you will not be getting forgiveness. that way should it be ruled as constitutional, you will -- in

constitutional, you will have planned in advance. look at where you can cut or reallocate or move money in order to free up room for the payment to be reabsorbed is the best case scenario and if it is ruled constitutional and you receive forgiveness, you have planned for the worst and you will be taken by surprise. william: do you think borrowers get enough advice and education to understand how interest payments work and what they are really signing up for? >> i always ask that question when i interview borrowers. when they are 18 and deciding to go to college and how to pay it and every person says they wished they had greater education at that time. william: the point of going into debt is to go to college and you can theoretically get a better

job and better income and pay off the debt. how has not panned out for people? has it been -- how has that panned out for people? >> pple with college degrees attain higher incomes but what we do not know is how student loan balances are stacked against the income over time. if you accrued debt as a result of attending some college, they are often the people who hurt the most. william: critics of student loan forgiveness argue, you know what you were signing up for. it is not the governments job to bail you out. at do advocates of forgiveness say in response to that? >> i speak with a lot of borrowers who say interest is the enemy. they watch the student loan balances grow and income has not

kept up with the payments, earning power is stagnant and they would love nothing more than to be able to pay down their loans but as a result of interest are not able to. william: julia carpenter of the wall street journal, thank you so much for helping us with this. >> thank you for having me. geoff: a pro-democracy regional governor was assasinated today in sudan as fighting intensifies between sudan's armed forces and the rebel rapid support forces." hundreds of civilians have been

killed during two months of fighting; nearly two million people have fled their homes, and hundreds of thousands of people have escaped to neighboring countries like egypt, chad, ethiopia and south sudan. u.s and saudi-led talks to broker an end to the war have so far failed. meantime, as stephanie sy tells us, nearly half of sudan's remaining population is in dire humanitarian need. stephanie the terrifying sound : and sights of civil war : gunfire, explosions, men with guns now rule the sudanese capital.

khartoum is a city burning with thick plumes of smoke. and violence, everywhere. a power-struggle between sudan's armed forces and its rival faction the rapid support forces . residential streets have been turned into a war zone and not even children are spared. the smallest coffins are the heaviest. last month, the state-run al mygoma orphanage said nearly 70 children had died of fever and starvation, including two dozen babies. >> i witnessed most of the children death and funerals. our message the world is evacuate the orphans to a safe city with a safe pathway. stephanie: nearly 300 children who survived at the orphanage were rescued by a team from the international committee of the red cross. but 14 million children in sudan remain trapped and in urgent need of lifesaving support. the warring factions loot aid warehouses. attack hospitals- further crippling essential infrastructure, already on the brink of collapse. more than 70% of medical centers in khartoum and adjoining cities have shut down since the war began.

thousands have fled khartoum. like nada elwasila. >> it was terrible and terrifying. it's on this pick up all those moments that they went through, the hours, the days that they went through with all the sound of missiles and gunshots and screaming and crying. we were hiding under the bed, in the corner. stephanie an american citizen : was trapped in khartoum. she escaped with her 11 year old daughter amira in a harrowing, week-long journey to port sudan on the red sea, and then to saudi arabia. >> if you didn't roll down the window or the car wind real fast, they may kill you, shoot you. it was a scary trip. all my concern was my little girl, like i can fight until i get killed before they rape me. but what about her? what is going to happen to her if i die and she is in their hands? stephanie: it's been impossible to shield her daughter from the horrors of war. >> they were two little girls got killed by missiles. she saw that.

i didn't mean to let her see that, but she didn't sleep all night. and she's like, was holding me and crying why they got killed . why they got killed while this war is going on? why? what's going on in sudan? >> i realized khartoum is not a safe place for us anymore. and i have to leave as soon as possible because i don't know what would happen to us if we stayed more. [00:25:27][10.8] -- stayed more. stephanie muhjah khateeb once : worked at a refugee camp in khartoum, and is now a refugee herself. she fled with her son to juba in south sudan. >> the health situation is so bad. i lost one of my relatives because of asthma because she couldn't get a hospital or treatment. my friend lost his cousin because they bombed his home. sudan is facing starvation. people are starving. no one was ready. stephanie the power struggle in : khartoum has reignited the conflict in west darfur.

western sudan, bordering chad, it has been the epicenter of conflict for over two decades. in 2003, inter-ethnic violence was brutally crushed by the government backed janjaweed arab militia, leaving 300,000 civilians dead. the janjaweed gave birth to the rss, -- rsf, which, along with other arab militias, is behind the recent and ongoing slaughter of civilians in darfur. the newshour received videos from local human rights activists from the worst-hit city of al geniena, late last month, before widespread power outages and communication blackouts isolated darfur. “this used to be a mosque, there are grave human rights violations” the man who shot this video says. satellite images confirm entire villages have been reduced to ashes. crucial civilian infrastructure, government buildings, courts, and markets, all destroyed. today, the governor of west darfur khamis abbakar was killed in el geneina by the rsf. this video purportedly shows the

moment he was taken. he had accused the group of genocide. nearly 100,000 sill billions just civilians have been killed in darfur. getting information from darfur has been challenging, but over the past two weeks, the newshour has been able to obtain pictures and audio messages from people trapped there. >> there is a big catastrophe in west darfur. we aren't able to find water to drink or food. we go 5 to 6 days without finding food to eat. those who are injured have no hospitals to go to. we don' have any of the resources we need here in west darfur. stephanie: the latest reports from darfur-based activists warn of sexual violence and an acute healthcare crisis. >> we were near el geneina when the attacks started. we couldn't even find a midwife to deliver my pregnant sister. stephanie: this message came in monday. >> 17 people are dead and 37 injured right around us. we are all confined to one area of less

than a mile, the biggest crisis is that there's no food or medicines. in hospitals, all surgeries have stopped for the last four days because of a lack of oxygen and anesthesia. stephanie it's an sos call. :>> we have tried to send you photos and videos but we weren't able to. the situation is very bad. the health situation is the worst. we hear of cases of cholera. we are in dire need of help. there's blood and filth and dead animals on the streets and the fires are always raging. stephanie: with international humanitarian organizations having no access to darfur, at least 100,000 refugees have crossed the border on foot and horseback to chad. but with the rainy season approaching there, and services strained in already crowded camps, it is far from a sanctuary. i'm stephanie sy.

amna: in the earliest days of the pandemic, when little was definitively known about covid-19, dr. ashish jha emerged as an authoritative and trusted voice on public health and the controversial issues. today, he's the white house covid-19 response coordinator, a job he has held for over a year. but with the public health emergency officially over, he's leaving the biden administration this week and returning to his role as the dean of brown university's public school of health. but before he leaves washington, he joins us now. the public health emergency is officially over and your last day is tomorrow. should people take it to mean they should no longer worry about covid? >> people should take it that we

are in a better place. infections are at the lowest level we have seen. we have widespread availability of vaccines and treatment. we are at a point where we can end the virus but it can take unexpected turns and we have spent a lot of time in the last year preparing in case that happens so we are ready. amna: over 750 people are still dying per week of covid. is that the new normal? >> it is about 100 per day. it is some of the lowest we have seen in the pandemic but it is still too high. that's 36,000 deaths per year. i think we can drive the number lower. we know what to do. it stay up-to-date on vaccines and treatment. 90% of the deaths that are still happening are people who are not up to date on vaccines. amna: current vaccination rates

among americans are only 17% have gotten the updated booster. how worried are you about another dangerous spike? >> it is hard to predict. none of us would have predicted omicron. but what we kno is that vaccines, as long as people stay up to date, are extraordinarily good. we have to keep the message going. keep educating american people, particularly for seniors and those who are immunocompromised but really good for everyone. amna: the numbers remain so low for the boosters. you have talked about misinformation playing a role and a lot of people saw that when vaccines were not necessarily preventing transmission, they felt like they did not need to get it.

>> not as many people got vaccinated as everyone had hoped. people had gotten a lot of covid vaccines in the months leading up to it. a lot of people felt like they had gotten there two or three shots, maybe they are ok. there has been a tremendous amount of bad information about vaccines and that has made it much harder to break through. we have tried. physician leaders have tried, public health community has tried. my hope is that moving forward we get to a point where we will likely have a new vaccine this fall, people get the annual flu vaccine, this is a routine part of care. when i get the flu vaccine i just think of it as my annual flu shot. i don't think, this is my 28th shot.

so just getting it annually with the flu shot would make a big difference. amna: city states require this forhildren the same as they do for other immunizations? >> this will be a decision by local districts, state spirit flu shots are not largely required for folks except in health care. i was required to get it. i would have anyway. a lot of health care facilities, you see that. but the flu shot and covid shot annually will both make huge differences. i think some local districts might decide to do it but it is unlikely. amna: we don't talk enough about long covid. some studies show 16 million americans have some version of long covid. 65 million people worldwide. what kind of resources and

support should be made available considering the potential health care impact? >> that's a great question. long covid israel. we know -- is real. we know when people are infected some people have substantial long symptoms. there is some evidence that if you are treated during your initial course of infection it might reduce your risk of long covid. but many americans still have it. we need a lot more research and nih is driving a lot of the research on understanding long covid. we will see trials of new therapies against it. and we need to supply -- provide support for people. the president has tasked us to develop a comprehensive plan and the administration is working to take care of it. amna: are we better prepared

today than we were 14 months ago when you took office? >> undoubtedly. we are better off than we were three years ago. we have built up under this administration a national wastewater surveillance system that allows us to have a much better understanding on which viruses are spreading in which communities. we did not have that before. testing infrastructure is better. we have developed on manufacturing and developing new vaccines. we can manufacture enough for the world. we have made substantial investments. we are not fully prepared for future pandemics, there is still work. you need resources to do that work but we are undoubtably better than where we were. amna: when you look back at

where we have lived through since january 2020, over 6 million americans have been hospitalized because of covid and over one million americans have died. the enormity of that data does not seem to line up with where we are now. in some parts of the country, it seems like it has never happened. >> it has been an enormous toll on the american people. family, friends, it has affected tens of millions of americans directly with the loss of life. we are starting to see some people do some revisionism of it was never that bad and i remind people we had refrigerated trucks outside of hospitals because they were full. it has been incredibly costly and we have to learn the lessons to make sure we are better prepared. [inaudible]

amna: dr., thank you so much. geoff: a small group of orcas is causing a lot of damage to boats off the iberian peninsula, raising questions about why the orcas are doing it. stephanie sy looked into it and has this report. stephanie: in the middle of the night last october, artur napoleao was sailing miles off the coast of portugal to deliver a boat to a client. as a professional skipper and sail instructor, it's a journey he's taken many times before. >> at 4:00 a.m., it was my turn

to go to sleep. so i went down, i start taking my nap and 30 minutes later, boom. stephanie: he ran up to the deck to find the boat surrounded by a pod of orcas. >> they mess around for 5 minutes and then they went to another boat more far away from me, like one, two miles. stephanie but the pod returned, : not once, but three times, the visits spanning over several hours, well after sunrise. >> i got really scared until i realized until i saw the orcas and how gentley stopped the boat. stephanie: in the past three years, hundreds of boat and orca interactions have been reported off the coasts of portugal, spain, and morocco. according to the spanish research group gtoa, in 2022 there were 207 reported interactions in the strait of gibraltar alone, a narrow waterway that separates spain

and morocco. and the meetings are not always gentle. just last month, killer whales surrounding a boat sailing through the strait of gibraltar were met with loud noises, an attempt by the crew to scare them off. the pod rammed the boat continuously for over an hour, managing to remove the rudder. with seawater gushing into the boat, the experienced crew of four issued a mayday call, and were eventually towed to shore, unharmed. in another recent instance off the coast of spain, three orcas repeatedly struck a yacht, causing it to sink entirely after spanish coast guards rescued the crew on board. >> we are having one incident every day, on average,kay, there are days we have two or three. stephanie: to better track these events, rui alves started this website last year to log orca encounters. it connects a network of sailors who share geographic locations of sightings and attacks along

the spanish and portuguese coasts. this map shows incidents reported just this month. >> for me it was like, if you spread the word about something that happens in an area, people will avoid that area. maybe they will keep the boat and say i don't sail today because there are many orcas at that point, i will sail tomorrow or maybe i will go in another direction. stephanie: orcas living near the iberian peninsula are a distinct subpopulation, and a critically endangered one. but why these orcas are repeatedly damaging boats is something experts are trying to understand. one theory making the rounds? revenge. some scientists believe an orca named white gladis, suffered a traumatic injury from a boat, and may be teaching other orcas how to attack similar vessels. but monika wieland shields, director of the orca behavior institute, says that kind of activity would be uncharacteristic of the animal she studies.

play is a more likely explanation, she says. >> it's just not something that we have seen, for whatever reason. they're the top predator in the ocean. they're capable of attacking and killing, you know, all kinds of species that are around them. but they have never targeted that talent or that, you know, predator like behavior towards humans. stephanie: despite the “killer whale” nickname, orcas are the largest species in the dolphin family, and no humans have to reported major injuries from the boat confrontations. for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy. amna: camille tagle is the co-founder and creative director of fab-scrap, which is a textile recycling nonprofit. textiles generate 21 billion pounds of waste that goes into

landfills every year, and fab-scrap works to divert that waste, either by downcycling or giving the fabric new life. tonight, tagle shares her brief but spectacular take on textile waste, fashion, and sustainability. >> when i was really young, i think i was always just mesmerized by dresses and gowns and all of the really beautiful elaborate fashion pieces i would see on the runway. looking back i was really fortunate to have made it in the industry as a designer, with gowns going on the red carpet and my designs featured in major retailers but when i was seeing all of the waste that was accumulating from the design process and how much personally i was adding to the waste, it really made me ask myself, what is my contribution to society? commercial textile waste is a huge issue that is normally not

really seen or known about because it is very much industry practice. it is estimated the was is 40 times greater then residential waste. for me it was a very tough decision to walk away from essentially a dream job, a career i had worked my entire life but moving away from design and working towards sustainability is something i have never regretted. this is a textile recycling nonprofit and i started it with my provider -- co-founder. jessica had a background in sanitation so she really understood collection and recycling on my background was in fashion design so i really understood the importance of material. the way in which we keep fabric out of the land falls is to sell -- sort it by hand.

we decide if it becomes insulation or can continue its life. if the fabric is not large enough to be reused we put it towards the thrift store and prices are discounted. one of the biggest barriers to sustainability comes down to awareness, both for companies and consumers. consumers really have a lot of power. one of the best ways you can really make an impact is supporting grants that do more sustainable and ethical work when shopping for an item, thinking about longevity of the piece come up what the end of life would be when you are done with it. it is super important to keep fabric out of landfills and away from incineration. the more we can extend the life of fabric or anything we use or consume daily will be super important for us to combat climate change. this is my brief but spectacular

take on fashion sustainability. amna: you can watch more of our brief but spectacular series on our website at pbs.org/newshour/brief. and join us again here tomorrow night, where the u.n. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief will discuss the war in ukraine. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm goeff bennett. thanks for spending part of your evening with us. >> friends of the newshour, including jim and nancy bildner, and kathy and paul anderson. >> a world of immersive

experiences, entertainment, and british style. all with cunard one star service . ♪ >> the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the frontlines lines of social change worldwide. funding for america at a crossroads was provided by 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 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 to poor company. here is what is coming up. >> no one is blaming the prosecutors. he did it. it is hiconduct. >> former president donald trump is arraigned once again, is time on unprecedented federal charges. i discuss accountability and consequences with historian timothy schneider. you line shall resigned from trump's cabinet after january 6th. also ahead, putin strikes zelenskyy's hometown, a conversation with two prominent exiles on this war.