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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 worlds america. the u.s. supreme court upends the college admissions process by saying that race cannot longer be a factor. resident biden says he strongly disagrees with the ruling. >> the mother of a teenager shot dead by french police leads a march in his memory, 40,000 police have been deployed to prevent further unrest. plus, shock waves on the

collectives -- galactic scale, what happens when galaxies collide. >> welcome to world news america. the u.s. supreme court has ruled that it is no longer permissible for universities to consider an applicant's race when deciding on admissions. more specifically, these six conservative justices found that race conscious admissions programs are unconstitutional. this overturns decades of the practice known as affirmative action, aimed at boosting educational opportunities for underrepresented racial groups. this is a lightning rod issue here in the u.s., and cuts across cultural, economic and class lines. the response has been swift and passionate. we are outside the supreme court, and jessica, you were there as this decision was

handed down. how is it being received? >> it is naturally a divisive issue and being received in that way. for some, this is a great victory for meritocracy. but others are describing it as a tragedy. the end of a measure designed to , as you were saying, boost the number of underrepresented groups on university campuses. either way, universities are now going to have to change the way that they admit students to their institutions. so, another momentous day here at the supreme court. a judicial decision sparking a political corruption. the supreme court ruling that universities can no longer consider a prospective student race. immediately, there was anger and defiance. >> it is there today and out tomorrow. >> i am a rising college senior.

after i graduate not only will this affect admissions but employment. equal protection clauses have broad reaching implications. >> here they are celebrated the end of this decades long practice after two cases against harvard and the university of north carolina argued that so-called affirmative action had led to discrimination against white and asian students. my son had the best gpa and he could not get into states go. and the kids that belong to certain races were able to get in even though they had a low gpa. and that happens across. >> the that have been going on are now down here. and you can listen to the noise which is coming from them. both sides to make their voices heard on this very divisive issue. the supreme court has a conservative majority, it overturns long-running abortion access rights last year.

now, once again, rewriting the rules of american society. >> i know today's court decision is a severe disappointment to some of the including me. but we cannot let this decision be a permanent setback for the country. we need to keep an open door of opportunities. >> race was only one factor among many considered by u.s. colleges, but to the extent it might have been deciding wild up some people. this brings a major reset on this issue, but without reconciliation. >> i think the question on a lot of peoples minds is where does this ruling leave students and universities when it comes to the admissions process? >> ultimately things are going to change and there are examples that you can look at. in the late 90's, california effectively got rid of this type of measure and saw a drop off in

the number of underrepresented students. but since then they have used things like outreach programs to actually boost the number of students from hispanic backgrounds, african-americans as well. a lot of people will be looking to see what types of measures universities now take, effectively a workaround given this supreme court ruling today. and i think, as well, we know that colleges and universities have been preparing for this because today's decision has not come as a surprise, given the fact that this court is conservative leaning. >> we heard from the president and he made an address and he was asked whether this supreme court is rogue. he said that this is not a normal court. how is that, being interpreted? -- commented being interpreted? >> presumably he is referring to the fact that this has a 6-3 conservative majority. it has appeared willing to wait

into issues that may have been kept at arms length in the past. i referred to roe v. wade, it was last year that the court effectively allowed states to start banning or seriously curtailing abortion rights access, another landmark decision and now they have made this decision here today. a lot of people seeing this conservative leaning court as willing to go into issues that it would not have done before. >> those dueling protests, some people against affirmative action action and some supporting it, overall in the u.s., how would you describe the level of support for considering race in admissions process? >> this is a complicated issue. i have been talking to a lot of people here today from all sorts of different backgrounds. one of the cases claimed that there had been discrimination against a in the u.s. when it came to university admissions.

but then i was speaking to a girl who said that she was chinese-american and she really felt misrepresented by that case that she felt had been brought in her name but did not reflect how she feels. i think it is difficult to say that one group of people feels one way or another feels another. what struck me was that looking at these protests how the two groups who did feel passionately about it showed up at the supreme court and divisive it was -- how divisive it was. >> thank you so much for your reporting. in response to today's decision, the secretary of education tweeted this saying that today's scotus decision takes our country decades backward. sharpen limiting a vital tool that colleges have used create vibrant, diverse campus communities, all efforts to promote diversity in higher education are undeterred. we spoke with secretary cardona

after that ruling was announced. >> thank you so much for joining us on bbc news. have written that today's decision will set the country back decades. what impact you think that it will have on college admissions. >> the decision today took away if very important tool that university leaders used to ensure diversity on campus. students learn best in a diverse learning environment and the decision took that to away. when it did not take away is the intent to ensure leaders across the country and our colleges are made up of beautifully diverse students like our country.

>> let's talk about our intent. strongly -- the president strongly disagrees and has instructed you to look at ways to ensure that student bodies remain diverse. what will you be looking at? >> president said that we will not let this be the last word. we are committed more than ever. as a latina first generation college student i get it. how important it is to make su that people that do not come e department of education inat the coming days and weeks is within 45 days we are going to have guidance available to the presidents of the universities across the country about what this decision means and what it does notean. i think it is important that we parse out what is in the decision and what is not in the decision. in jy, we are going to convene a national summit of educational opportunity for college leaders d thought partners across the country. responding to the decision that was made today. and then in september we are going to release and publish a report that has promising

practices on college admissions to ensure that we are learning from one another and we stay true to the mission of making sure that all students in our country have opportunities to succeed. >> i want to ask you about what the plaintiffs have said. they have argued to end affirmative action. calvin yang said this: >> today's victory transcends far beyond us today. it belongs to the overachieving son of a recently unemployed west virginia coalminer. it belongs to those with the last names of smith or lee. chan or gonzalez. it belongs to all of us who deserve a chance and can n rejoice over the fact that our kids can be judged based on their achievements and merits alone. >> what do you say to young people who argue to end this practice? >> i respect different

perspectives and i recognize that the perspective of others should be taken into account, but you know, if the field were level and if it were a level playing field i could see that. if some people did not have to work twice as hard to make it to the starting block, i would get that, but in our country unfortunately, as the president said, there still is discrimination and we still have outcomes that are different based on place and race. we have a lot of work to do. and i think the affirmative action tool was one tool that helps level the playing field and i still believe we have the response will need to make sure that our campuses are diverse because the learning is better in environments that are diverse. >> i want to ask you about leveling the playing field. should that happen at the expense of other groups like asian americans? >> no, of course, all students should be able to succeed at a

high level. what is happening is that there are groups of students that have been marginalized more and students that have not had those opportunities and this tool was there to provide that level. i do agree that all students should have the opportunity. historically we have not had that everywhere in the united states which is why it was so important. when it was repealed in 1996, in california, the number of black and brown students that attended some of those top universities plummeted by 50%. and there has been some improvement but it has not fully recovered yet. it is intended fosome of these marginalized groups that are not as represented even with affirmative action. >> we have the new york times reported that after banning race conscious admissions in 2000 six, like graduate enrollment declined at the university of michigan and the sheriff-like students felt to 4%.

what can universities concretely do to maintain diversity? >> thank you for saying that data. across the country, we have to protect our institutions to prevent that slide across the country. what message are we sending to our students when we see a case where it was blocked and they had less opportunity to have access? we will be working very hard today, the decision came out a couple hours ago, we will look at what it does and what it does not say, we will look for opportunities for college presidents and trustees to come together around best practices, we had the president talking about the ability for colleges to taken whether it is a student essay on adversity that included race, that can be taken into account. but we will have an exhaustive process to make sure that we are taking into account the best practices across the country and publish those and continue to push to make sure that diversity

is realized on campus, and quickly in message to the students: we are not going to stop fighting for you. the brian harris team recognizes how important this is. we need -- we need you on your campus, we are going to support you 100%. >> thank you so much for joining us on bbc news, it has been great speaking with you. >> they have been more clashes on the outskirts of paris today following a march for the 17-year-old boy shot dead by police during a traffic stop. a police officer has been charged with voluntary homicide and is being remanded into custody after the incident which led to protests across france, including in toulouse, leon, and paris. most violent competitions were in the suburb or the teenage was shot dead. paris is under curfew until next

monday and our reporter joins us from paris. a potential third night of protests now, what is the latest where you are? >> this is the suburb where we learned that the 17-year-old lived and it is where he died. it has been the scene of unrest for a few nights. there was a march here earlier today in honor of him, more than 6000 people gathered calling for justice for the 17-year-old. that protest march was also addressed by his mother, she spoke to the crowd and it was a largely peaceful gathering. but as i gathering wrapped up, we did start to see some violence they were things satellite, fires, small and large fires. and back here in the suburb, we

passed office buildings which had been vandalized, windows had been kicked in, the insides had been ransacked as well. there were pockets of violence earlier this evening as well. the moment things -- at th moment things are steady and calm and we hear more reports so far from marseilles and other parts of the country where we have seen fairly violent scenes there. again, things being satellite, a bit like what we saw here in the last couple of days where cars were torched in that kind of thing. people are bracing themselves, the night is still kind of young, it's about 11:00 at night here, and people are bracing themselves for another night of violence here in paris. there is a huge police presence here across the country, some 40,000 officers have been deployed, we don't know whether that will make a difference and whether people will take to the streets again.

>> you mentioned how many different cities have had protests. walk us through what is behind this widespread anger right now in france? >> i spoke to some of the people who are at the march here earlier, and i asked them why they had decided to come out in great numbers. it can do to what they. many people feel particularly ethically diverse neighborhoods like this one that the police are not doing their job when it comes to protecting them and they say that this latest incident with the shooting is just one example of what has been a systemi problem in the police force here. one thing that i think will resonate with an american audience in particular are how many peoplhere say this incident was captured on camera, there was footage of that police shooting, but people at the march saturday how many other shootings have happened and we did not know about them?

and that has echoes of what happened in the aftermath of the killing of george floyd which was a police killing in america captured on camera. the issues are different, but here in france those issues are deep and it looks like it is not going to go away anytime soon. >> thank you so much. the kremlin has again refused to answer questions about the fate of a top general following last weekend's mutiny by the wagner mercenary group. he has not been seen since saturday morning, when the short-lived coup began. he had previously shown support for yevgeny prigozhin. our russia editor writes more. >> if you are the president and faced immediately, what you really want a public display of adoration? we are with you.

we all support you, she says. at this moscow event. vladimir putin like that. -- like that. and look at this. mobbed in the south of russia. very uncouth and like, getting up close and personal with people. the timing, though. a few days ago it was the wagner mercenary's being cheered, yevgeny prigozhin, as they ended their rebellion. state tv went into overdrive about putin. even rock stars don't get this treatment, she says. this is a turbocharged putin we arseeing suddenly. he is here, he is there, he's everywhere. ying to show that he is super popular and in control.

having survived this mutiny, russia's president faces another pressing task. trying to work out who he can trust. can he trust this senior commander? the head of the russian you -- invasion force in ukraine. he has not been seen in public since saturday. feeling speculation that he may be under suspicion. many here, the mutiny has added to the atmosphere of uncertainty as russia's war in ukraine grinds on. in reality, few russians are cheering about what is happening to russia. some still have hope.

>> if this storage -- story with finish this way it would be a new beginning. >> would it be better or worse? >> at first it would be worse. and then if we survive it will be a window opportunity. >> a former sheriff's deputyer accused of failing to protect students when a gunman opened fire at a for the high school has been acquitted of all charges. scott peterson stayed outside during the attack in 2018 and marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland miami. peterson was found not guilty of 11 charges, including felony child neglect, culpable negligence and perjury. the bbc understands that madonna has been discharged from hospital and his home and feeling better after a stay in intensive care. her manager shared news of her poor health on wednesday say that she had been suffering from a serious bacterial infection. the singer was set to begin a world tour in the coming weeks but had to press moment. -- postpone it.

scientists have found the first evidence of low-frequency gravitational waves thought to be constantly rolling through space. the theory is that the waves are caused by the merger of supermassive black holes at the heart of distant galaxies. as our science correspondence reports. >> up in the space at the heart of every galaxy is thought to be a gigantic black hole. here is a real picture of the one at the center of our own milky way. it is 4 million times the mass of our son. it became that big by colliding with other huge black holes inside of the galaxies. astronomers across the world think that they have detected some of these cataclysmic events. >> on the dish of the telescope, this doctor tells me that ideas on how galaxs merge and grow have all been theoretical. until, maybe, now.

>> we believe at galaxies have black hole -- and the black holes at the center of them grow by merging. this is the signature of these mergers which teaches us about the formation of galaxies throughout the universe. >> astronomers have made the detections by measuring pulsars. they are flashing stars at the end of their lives. pulsars are the lighthouses of the universe, sending outbursts of radio waves at regular intervals. researchers noticed that something was changing their speed ever so slightly. they think that it is caused by gravitational waves constantly bombarding the earth. and the source, they believe, is giant black holes in orbit around each other all across space. >> at the heart of distant galaxies orbiting each other, the forces between them are so powerful that they distort time

and space and send ripples of gravitational waves across the universe. this is one of many observatories that have picked these gravitational waves. astronomers want to use them to study black holes. >> the signal that we are seeing is a noisy background from all over space. it is a bit like being in a noisy restaurant with people talking all around you. but we hope is that in the near future we will be able to zoom in and listen to individual conversations and take measurements from individual black holes and be able to zoom in and study them. >> the researchers now have a new way to study the cosmos. they hope to learn how galaxies formed and discover new things which may reveal how the universe first came into existence. >> we leave you now with one last note from space. virgin galactic has successfully joined the commercial space

business, sir richard branson's company said that its unity craft was 52 miles above the earth, just shy of space. three people paid 450,000 dollars for their tickets. thank you so much 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, the supreme court says colleges cannot consider race in admissions, a ruling that has widespread implications for the future of higher education. geoff: the texas power grid struggles to cope with system-wide stresses csed by the brutal heat wave. amna: plus, doctor burnout and high costs for patients lead more americans to choose alternatives to insurance-based health care. >> it honestly used to scare me to go into the hospital. not for the needles or the doctors or the sickness or anything, but just for the price of it. ?

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