geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on the newshour tonight, republican presidential candidates looking to unseat donald trump, as the gop frontrunner prepares to debate for the first time this election cycle.

geoff: an airplane crashes in russia, killing everyone on board. on the passenger list, the leader of the russian mercenary group responsible for an attempted coup. amna: and, india becomes the latest nation to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon, visiting previously untouched terrain. miles o'brien: the more we know about what the situation is there for water at the south pole, the more scientists get interested in this place. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour been provided by -- ♪

moving our economy for 160 years, bnsf, the engine that connects us. ♪ >> the walton family foundation, protecting so people and nature can thrive together. supported by the john deere and catherine t macarthur foundation. more information at macfound.o rg. 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 stations from viewers like you. thank you.

amna: welcome to the newshour. we began with two major stories tonight -- yevgeny prigozhin, the head of the wagner mercenary group, was on board a plane that crashed in russia today, leaving no survivors. that's according to russia's aviation agency. the crash comes two months after prigozhin's attempted coup against the kremlin. we'll have more on this shortly. geoff: but first, republicans are set to hold the first presidential debate of the 2024 election season tonight. a field of eight challengers is gathered in milwaukee for this first faceoff, as the current frontrunner, former president trump, is notably absent. our own lisa desjardins is at the debate and joins us now for a preview of what's to come. lisa, you have been talking to the various campaigns all day. what are they telling you? what should we look for tonight? lisa: i have to stress, this is the first republican primary presidential debate in several years. a lot of players have added up.

it is 100 degrees here in milwaukee. this could be a fascinating stage of dynamics. eight candidates should be on stage tonight. six of them current or former governors, and ron desantis, the florida governor. his camp says they expect it to be seen and a different league. he has double-digit support in some polls. however, there are cap man's -- candidates lining up against him, and they believe ron desantis have the most to lose tonight. this will be a test for him and also a test of former president trump. everyone is talking about him tonight. can the stages still be spotlight from him. former trumper plans to have his

own event, a prerecorded -- former president trump plans to have his own event tonight, prerecorded interview with tucker carlson. geoff: debates are not just important to gauge the candidates but also to see dividing lines on issues. what about policy? what issues do you expect to hear debated tonight? lisa: there could be some foreign policy discussions. that upstart businessman getting a lot of momentum and attention right now has come out with some foreign policy decisions that his opponents are criticizing. one says he believes the united states should give less aid to israel. expect former south carolina governor nikki haley to go after him on that. that is one policy issue i think we should watch for. another one, schools. ron desantis is well-known, and we have covered on this program the changes in florida's curriculum, specifically

regarding african-american history. senator tim scott, one of the candidates, has openly criticized candidates about that and the idea that the enslaved benefited from slavery is wrong. that could,. finally, not policy but more politics, i think former president trump will come up as an issue, especially what these republicans think about what they former president said, including about the election, and governor ron desantis will be in the middle of that. his words last week about trump and his supporters we will probably hear about tonight. i want to play when he said right now. gov. desantis: if you are not rooted in principle, if all we are is vessels that have to follow whatever comes down the pike on true social every morning, that will not be durable. lisa: now, the status began his -- desantis began his career, he

was elevated because of his drum supported i spoke to some trump supporters here who said they do not believe desantis' words were intended for them. they said they do take that personally. geoff: lisa, you have been talking to donald trump's campaign. what is he hoping to achieve with this interview he reported what dr. carlsen -- tucker carlson? lisa: he wants to convince voters the republican primary is over. look at the statement today. they wrote, "president trump has already won the savings debate." "expect the fox to show a natural a session with president trump." i raise this because this is another importantly rub debate tonight. what is going on is what is happening between former president trump and fox news.

headquarters of the conservative candidate. with him not showing up here tonight, it means a choice for conservative viewers. are they going to watch eight republicans on stage you want to be president, or are they going to watch him with tucker carlson, or are they going to just watch video clips tomorrow morning? geoff: lisa desjardins reporting for us tonight in milwaukee. lisa, thank you. lisa: you're welcome. ♪ amna: we return now to our other lead story, a plane crash in russia could have ramifications around the world. a jet went down flying from moscow to st. petersburg. outside of moscow, a plane falls

from the sky, the possible fiery fate of a former kremlin soldier turned traitor. yevgeny prigozhin rose from the st. petersburg underworld to become known as vladimir putin's chef, thanks to kremlin catering contracts. he helped cook up the 2016 u.s. disinformation campaign from this st. petersburg building. and then prigozhin's kremlin catering turned violent. his paramilitary empire wagner group deployed thousands of mercenaries to a dozen countries to do the kremlin's bidding. in ukraine, wagner helped russia capture the center of bakhmut, in the war's longest and deadliest battle. >> [speaking another language] translator: base to put in giving us the high honor to defend our motherland -- thanks to putin for giving us the high honor to defend our motherland. amna: but he also turned his ire toward russia. he questioned the war's goals and blamed military leaders by name for his men's deaths. yevgeny prigozhin: we have a 70% shortage of ammunition. shoigu!

gerasimov! where is the ammunition? amna: and then his most notorious act, a july coup attempt and march to moscow. it was aborted, but putin called it "a stab in the back." >> it has led to treason of the trail of the country, its people, and its cause. amna: today, president biden said he couldn't confirm prigozhin's death but suggested the coup attempt sealed his fate. pres. biden: i don't know for a fact what happened, but i'm not surprised. >> do you believe putin was behind this, sir? amna: for more on prigozhin, and the plane crash we get two views. angela stent worked in the state department during the clinton administration and served as a top u.s. intelligence officer on russia during the george w. bush administration. she's now a professor at georgetown university. her latest book is "putin' world." and candace rondeaux is a senior director at new america, a washington, d.c.-based think

tank. she's written extensively about the wagner group and prigozhin. welcome to you both. candace, so far, we have russian authorities as well as some social media accounts linked to the water group, saying for goshen was killed. -- wegner group, saying prigozhin was on board and was killed. what do you think? candace: it is always a question, whatever comes out of the kremlin. we know it past situations, prigozhin has been predicted as dead. back in 2018 2019, there was the congo crash. i think this time, we see the reaction on telegram from prigozhin's fans, wegner fans, seeming to confirm. he is the -- he and the namesake of wagner group, along with

others. amna: angela, you are the comments there, cia director bill burns said he would be surprised if prigozhin escaped retaliation after the coup attempt. could putin be behind this if it was planned? prof. stent: he challenged the conduct of the war. he had a populist message to russians that while their children were dying and her husband were dying in ukraine, the children of the elite were in the south of france enjoying themselves. so that extract we saw from the television appearance on the day of the coup was certainly very angered by it. it also may be,, if indeed it was an attack at the plane was shot down by russian air defenses -- and. we don't know that yet. that is the speculation.

it is also to try to deter people in the elite, in the military, from challenging putin again. amna: candace, what about that? if this was an assassination of some kind, how would that be received and perceived in russia? what is the message that is meant to send? candace: the message is, you know, mess around and you will find out, basically. i think the timing was interesting. we are just recently that sergei surovikin, "general armageddon," as he is known, a number of different commanders who i think will be dealt with or are being dealt with, so that will be key to watch. but in terms of what we're

hearing out of places like belarus, where vino there are -- where we know there are some contingents still operating, there are reports of internet being cut off, you know, cell phones also being cut off in that suggests, in fact, that there is some concern from the kremlin that there could be some retribution or revenge plan, that prigozhin had in place in case of death. amna: angela, it was up until recently, we should remind people, that wegner group, led by prigozhin, played an absolutely crucial role for the kremlin. if prigozhin is dead, what kind of impact when his death have owned that war? prof. stent: i think we already saw the wagner group withdrawing was instrumental.

we don't quite know the numbers. what is interesting is just on monday, a video came out with yet get a promotion reportedly -- with prigozhin reportedly in africa saying that the recruitment was going on and they want people to go and fight in africa, to join the who, people in niger and things like that. for the time being, it looks like it will still play a crucial role in other theaters in the world, particularly in africa. amna: what about the other operations, though? they have mining operations in a number of countries. is there someone else who could step up and take prigozhin's place? prof. stent: well, there are certain me -- certainly other people in wagner, but nobody has the charisma he had. whoever is running wagner in the

future, and like you said, his right-hand man was also killed. there will not be someone to rouse the public to criticize the war. that we another impact of his death, that he will not have other people criticizing the war, and yet, and has already been mentioned, the military blogger's and the pro-prigozhin people will have a feeding frenzy in the next weeks, maybe months, criticizing the kremlin, and that could lead to greater instability, at least in the short run. amna: candace, we have to reflect, prigozhin is such a unique figure, right? he went from a kremlin caterer to a disinformation force to the head of experimental -- this paramilitary empire. if he is dead, we have not confirmed, how do you look at his power and also agenda? candace: his legacy is putin's legacy.

they came of age really almost exactly at the same time. there's only 10 years between them. they are both native sons of st. petersburg. and they really kind of together grew into them and they are today, were today, you know, in this mafia culture, in the wild 1990's. had it not been for that fusion of interest back in the 1990's and the overlap between the maa and the kgb, maybe we would not be talking about yevgeny prigozhin today. but i think it is a stain, certainly on russian history, on putin's legacy as well, and enormous amounts of death and destruction and the loss of many innocent lives, including journalists, human rights activists, who tried to expose his misconduct and his wrongdoing over the years. so, anyway, perhaps it is a --

in a way, perhaps it is a moment of justice and closure for those who have suffered at his hands. amna: candace and angela stent, thank you. candace: thank you. ♪ amna: in the day's other headlines, tropical storm franklin lashed the dominican republic and haiti, triggering heavy flooding and landslides. at least one person died. forecasters say it could dump as much as 16 inches of rain on some areas. the storm packed maximum winds of 40 miles per hour. many of those impacted live in poor and overcrowded communities. litane: i don't know how to survive here in a storm. i have already escaped death from gang violence, and a bad storm will just kill the rest of us. we don't have a good life here. amna: meantime in texas, the remnants of tropical storm harold brought more downpours

that inundated streets. authorities on maui are desperately urging families to provide dna samples to help identify the remains of those who died in the wildfires. 115 people are now confirmed dead, but more than 1000 people are still unaccounted for. officials say only about 100 dna samples have been submitted so far. julie french: we need family members to come forward and donate their samples so that we can compare them to these dna profiles we've already generated from remains. this is a critical step in order to make an identification based on the dna testing that's already been done. amna: maui's police chief conceded that the devastation is so bad, they may never be able to find the remains of all the wildfire victims. meanwhile, crews are racing to contain hundreds of active wildfires in greece. the death toll there has climbed now to 20 people.

outside athens, strong gusts fanned the flames toward people's homes. more than 200 blazes have ravaged greece in the past two days alone. across the border in turkey, dense smoke filled the sky as fires burned in the northwestern part of the country. firefighters struggled to control the flames amid winds up to 40 miles per hour. former trump campaign lawyer rudy giuliani turned himself in at an atlanta jail today. the former new york mayor has been charged with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results. giuliani spoke to reporters this morning in new york before heading down to georgia. mr. giuliani: i'm feeling very, very good about it, because i feel like i am defending the rights of all americans. and i'm fighting for justice. i have been from the first moment i represented donald trump -- innocent man -- who has now been proven innocent several times. amna: lawyer and trump ally sidney powell was also among the handful of co-defendants who surrendered today, ahead of friday's noon deadline. former president trump is expected to turn himself in tomorrow.

south carolina's new all-male supreme court rolled back abortion rights today, upholding a ban on the procedure after about six weeks of pregnancy. the decision reverses the court's ruling earlier this year that such a restriction was unconstitutional. it's the latest move in a larger effort across the south to limit legal access to abortions. part of a railway bridge under construction in india collapsed today, killing 26 workers. it happened in the town of sairang, in india's northeastern mizoram state. the incident is under investigation. authorities say the bridge has been under construction for nearly two years. and, stocks rallied on wall street today. the dow jones industrial average gained 184 points to close at 34,473. the nasdaq rose 215 points. the s&p 500 added 48. still to come on the newshour, canada struggles to combat

devastating wildfires. the biden administration's latest plan to relieve student debt. embattled northwest syria struggles to recover six months after a devastating earthquake. we examine the plan to release treated radioactive water from japan's fukushima nuclear plant into the sea. plus, much more. ♪ >> visit pbs newshour, it in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: it's been an historic day for india, as it became the fourth country to land on the moon, after a failed attempt in 2019, and just days after a failed russian lunar landing. india's prime minister narendra modi watched alongside the team at the indian space research organization as the chandrayaan-3 touched down in the moon's south polar region.

pm modi: this success belongs to so many people, and confidence that all countries in the world, including from the global south, are capable of reaching subspace. amna: joining me now to discuss this monumental moment is science correspondent miles o'brien. good to see you. tell us about this indian mission. what are its goals? miles: his primary goal has been accomplished. the indian space research organization wanted to prove vacant land their -- they could land their land or softly on the moon, the first at the south pole of the located has already accomplished mission goal. now we are waiting for the tiny

rover, which weighs about as much as a check on bag, to roll up the ramp of the lander and spend about of time, conducting experiments to understand its elemental composition, and the biggie is icewater. the more we know what the situation there is for water at the south pole, the more scientists get interested in this place. amna: as you mtioned, the russians tried earlier and failed. they wanted to beat the indians. what went wrong? miles: this is a bit of tortoise and heyer story -- hare story. the indian space program takes a much more fuel-efficient and generally efficient approach. their launch was more than a month ago, and they slowly but surely nudged their orbit closer

and closer to the moon, to save fuel, to save weight, to save cost. the russians tried to spread. we don't know exactly what happened, but as i descended, something went wrong, and it made yet another crater in the moon, as if it needed that. it is probably a reflection of the financial issues that the russian space program phases, certainly in the wake of ukraine invasion, but before that, it had lost a lot of its commercial space enterprise and business to the likes of spacex. the russian program is a shell of what it once was, for sure. amna: talk a little bit more about why the south pole of the moon in particular is attracting more visitors now, and is this what is basically fueling a moon race 2.0? miles: yeah. it is kind of fun to watch. it is very different this go around. it is interesting that in 2009, the moon orbiter carried in instrument built by nasa, which made the first discretionary of

water ice at the -- discovery of water ice at the southwold of the moon, and that has set off quite a race, because it changes the way you have discussed operating an outpost on the moon. if you have water, h2o, you can certainly sustain life, but you can also create electrical energy, and you could conceivably fuel up rockets to go back to earth or perhaps even go farther beyond. so with all that in mind, people who want to explore space find this an intriguing spot as a launching time, if you will -- pad, if you will. amna: what does it do for a country when they are able to do this, and tell us about america's efforts to return to the moon. miles: yeah. i think you can make an argument that to attain superpower status, having a space program as part of the home mix. i think that is something that

india has discovered and has made a huge investment. really in the past three years, it has unleashed private enterprise, about now 140 small space starbucks in india, attracting several hundred million dollars in investments. what india has discovered is not only does it give you that soft power prestige throughout the world, space is a huge wealth generator, and as things get smaller and cheaper in space, you can imagine using space to provide great value to people here on earth, not just ago that a -- to go plant a flag on mars, but about farmers college to better understand climate change, to better understand our earth. boasting rights for nations, and i think india has discovered that, along with china, the u.s., and of course the soviet union initially. amna: you cover all these details of all these different efforts.

seeing something like this, does it ever get old? miles: no! this is so exciting to see a new generation of people at a new group of people succeeding in this realm. to see india ascended and succeeded so well, it hardens those of us who care about space exploration. truly the more the better, and nobody is enjoying any moment of schadenfreude over the russians failure. certainly the u.s. and other nations succeed, the more the earth as a whole do better, by using space as a tool to make life better here. amna: miles o'brien, thank you so much. always great to see you. miles: you're welcome, amna. geoff: it's been a very difficult summer in canada as that country has battled

one wildfire after another. more than 37 million acres have burned. the smoke from those fires have , at times, affected air in the u.s. a new analysis out this week found that warmer conditions from climate change made those fires more likely to break out. dan rivers of independent television news reports. dan: this is a glimpse into the heart of canada's wildfire crisis, an inferno consuming everything in its path, with flames leaping hundreds of feet into the air. this new video shows a blaze near kelowna, just one of more than 1000 fires raging across this vast country. it ripped across the hillsides so fast, people had to evacuate across a lake. the blaze then jumped more than a mile across the water. >> one of the embers crossed the

lake, and now this side of the lake is on fire. dan: those who escaped still struggling to comprehend its speed and destruction. dan b: i can't imagine. we always say, "it's just a house," but when you almost lose it, it becomes a lot more. dan: blair savege has been battling the fire from the air but couldn't save his own house. blair: we lost our family home. dislodged many friends and farms behaviour of fire unprecedented. dan: it's left families camping in carparks. frederica grooters got out with her dogs and her parents but not much else. the family car business was incinerated. this video shows that their house, amazingly, survived, thanks to a sprinkler system, but nothing else in their neighbourhood did.

>> oh my goodness, yeah, it's devastating to see that video, from that helicopter view, to see that all of our neighbors' houses are just to the ground, to the cement floor. that is horrific, horrific to see. dan: wildfires are nothing new here, but it is the scale and ferocity of this one which is different. those on the frontlines are clear about what's happening. chief lee: we had really unprecedented drought conditions, so everything is just a tinderbox, ready to go. dan: for now, the firefighters think they have the upper hand here. they'll be bolstered by the canadian army this week, but canada's summer of fire is still a long way from being burnt out. ♪ geoff: student loan borrowers

might find some relief under the new biden administration's income-driven repayment plan. launched this week, the s.a.v.e. plan, which stands for "saving on a valuable education," could benefit borrowers, with the potential for lower or no monthly payments. but there are questions about who will benefit from the plan, and who it leaves out. for answers, let's turn to cory turner, education correspondent for npr. cory, it is always great to speak with you. what is different about this planned, and what should borrowers know about it? cory: yeah. as he said, it is an income-based repayment plan, which we had for roughly the last 30 years. this is, by far, more generous than anything we say before. it is not because of one change or two changes the biden administration has made a mate is a handful of changes. -- made, it is a handful of changes. we will see roughly half a

million more low income borrowers qualify for a zero dollar monthly payment. there's another one borrowers will feel, which is for folks making those low payments or even a zero dollar monthly payment, in the past, on previous plans, interest kept accumulating. that won't happen on this planted any interest that is not covered by a monthly payment, the governor -- the government is going to forgive month after month. in the past, plans have had a countdown to forgiveness overall, 25 years for graduate borrowers, 20 years for undergraduate borrowers making payments. this plan includes a 10-year countdown for forgiveness for borrowers with smaller loans, like college borrowers who take out well thousand dollars or less. geoff: what is the white house think this -- who take out $12,000 or less. geoff: why does the white house

think this one will hold up when others have not? cory:cory: it is interesting. i for this is a replacement, this is plan b. interestingly, president biden announced this income driven repayment plan on the same day, at the same news conference that he announced the other planned that the court has since struck down. i think, geoff, to answer your question, the legality of this income driven repayment plan is just clearer than what the biden administration proposed with its previous sort of outright student loan forgiveness plan. this authority, the education secretary's authority to create an income-based repayment plan was delegated to the secretary by an act of congress. in the early. 1990's. . the language of the law is fairly clear. folks, republicans especially, who are really not happy about this plan, and they say it is

too generous. geoff: borrowers can be forgiven, if they are a bit confused about all the back-and-forth about which plans are correct, bottom line, what should people expect to sign up, what qualifications in terms of family size or income level? cory: it's pretty quick. once folks get enrolled, they should get a fairly quick sense of what the monthly payment would look like, and for folks who enrolled in the previous income-based repayment plan, they should roll over this new plan. and, you know, they can expect it to be, in effect, when repayment starts in october. there are a few of the things that i mentioned that one actually going to affect for one more year. i believe the countdown to forgiveness for borrowers with $12,000 or less, the cutting undergraduate borrowers monthly payments and half, those are in,

but several of the benefits are immediate. geoff: between 1980 and 2020, the average price of tuition, fees, and room and board for an undergraduate degree increased nearly 170%. other in any broad conversations happening, whether in congress or the administration, about how to rain and tuition costs? cory: that is usually the first question i asked policymakers, every time i get on the phone, and that was one big knock against biden's previous sort of loan forgiveness plan as it was all backward looking. it is arguably a knock against this income-driven repayment plan. it will definitely make life easier for borrowers moving forward. it will improve access for low-income borrowers and many low income americans who might not have considered college. it will make it easier for them to pay for it.

it is hard for them to imagine that this influx of federal dollars is going to somehow distance and by school from lowering prices. geoff: do you know how much this s.a.v.e. program will cost the government? cory: the most recent estimate i thought actually pegged the cost at equal to or more than the $400 billion price tag of the out ryan bowen forgiveness program that the supreme court struck down earlier this summer, so it is possible this income driven repayment plan can cost as much as not more than biden's previous plan, that is obvious enough going to go into effect. geoff: cory turner, thank you so much for your reporting and analysis. great to talk with you. cory: as always, geoff, my pleasure. ♪ amna: in early february, a

7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked rebel-controlled northwest syria, killing more than 7000, people, injuring thousands more, and destroying livelihoods. cut off from the rest of the world by the assad regime, survivors there have struggled to rebuild. earlier this month, special correspondent leila molana-allen traveled to idlib and jindires, some of the worst-affected areas, to speak with survivors still coping with the emotional and physical scars left behind. leila: another day, another pile of rubble. in the months since february's devastating earthquake, the community in the rebel held northwest of the country has slowly cleared the degree of cap wesley -- debris of countless destructive homes, but in the days after, international rescue teams with high-tech missionary to save lives.

-- machinery to save lives. here, no one came. it is extremely difficult for journalists to get into this part of northwest syria. we managed to get a rare visit. human beings living here, trapped in this crisis, are increasingly being abandoned by the world. syrians trapped in this besieged enclave, 4.5 million people were left to the local people's dissent -- defense, known as the white helmets, who worked for years to save victims of airstrikes and shelley attacks -- shelling attacks. facing such widespread description with next to no equipment, many relied with little more than their hands. pre l 4500 people died here. this woman survived because she going to the hospital, but the

rest of her family was still inside. for three days, she could hear the voices of her children and husband, calling for help from within the carcass of their shattered home, but help never came. eventually, the voices stopped. >> i was hearing the sounds of my kids and could not help them. i tried but i could not. to see my sons die in front of me and i could not save them, how do you feel if your son dies and you cannot save them? leila: now miriam, her daughter, and granddaughter are living here, using this as shelter in the 115-degree heat. they get by with help from friends and neighbors. >> i had many dreams come but my life was ruined. now i just want to find a home. leila: jindires is one of the

worst hit areas by the earthquake. people are living in tents. it is difficult to get materials here, because everything has to be brought from turkey,, at either they can manage that, many are simply cannot afford to rebuild. with f widespread construction along turkey, the demand has nearly doubled. the economy was already struggled before the earthquake. most casual workers only earned a couple dollars a day. many did not only lose their homes, but their ability to bring it even that meager salary. mohammed is a therapis sincet the earthquake. , they spent each day. going house to house to deliver physical therapy. >> we go to houses of people to help them when their financial situation is not good or they cannot travel. we go to them and given therapy and given tools like wheelchairs. leila: the team does as it can,

but with thousands of people facing life-changing injuries here and limited resources, the need is overwhelming. they are desperate for more funding and support. this person as seven children. the oldest is just 12. he used work as a vegetable seller, arctic enough to get by. but as he rushed his children out in the middle of the night, the stairs collapsed, crushing his leg. he woke up in hospital with an annotated leg. >> what can i tell you? i had my legs so i can walk. now i have no legs. i used to stand in the street selling, but now i can't do anything anymore. leila: like many of the injured, he is in need of a dired procedure and extended therapy, but that would cost hundreds of dollars for even the most basic model. with their home destroyed and

living on the charity of family and friends, afforded one without help is unthinkable. >> i just want to have my own life. now my situation is very bad. now the only thing i need is to have a prosthetic leg, so i can work and take care of my children and my wife like i used to. leila: he hopes one day he will be able to provide for his kids again, but many more children have been left without apparent to even try. this orphanage opened just a couple of months ago in idlib city. >> when children first came to the center, they were so afraid. they had been terrified. it is a big responsibility, and we try to do the best we can. >> bay, strong. leila: 12-year-old mohammed and his 11-year-old sister lost their entire family and earthquake when their home collapsed. >> we were sleeping and the earth started shaking and we ran

outside. we ran to my grandfather's house. the white helmets took us to our grandfathers house. then the white helmets took us to a camp, and we slept there, and then the teachers brought us here. leila: every child here has a similar story, and there's only space for 100 children here. many hundreds more have been left without parents or a breadwinner to care for them. distant family members doing what they can to support another mouth to feed, and alongside the emotional devastation brought by the earthquake, many children left with physical scars, too. >> this is my room. leila: this eight-year-old was buried under a mountain of bricks and mortar for 36 hours. >> that's my sister and that's me. leila: she is the only member of her family pulled out alive. her mother, father, and sibling

died immediately. now her grandfather hopes to make up. >> she needs someone to replace that father's kindness now. leila: his legs were smashed to pieces. this kind of injury was so common in the quake that it has become known as "crush syndrome" among doctors here. several painful surgeries later, they have managed to piece her legs back together. >> she can walk but another he well. she has a difficult road ahead. she needs to do everything for her, to address her, to take her to the bathroom, she needs everything. god give me the strength to help her. leila: her legs maybe coming back to life, but her psychological ones we more difficult to heal.she rarely sleeps there the night , terrified her home wall come crashing down around her again. >> in the night she cries "earthquake, earthquake!"

she wakes up and starts screaming. leila: this is the searing emergency task force. for a generation of kids who've lost everything so early in their young lives, trapped in his embattled, forgotten corner of the world, hope may not be enough. for the pbs newshour, i'm leila molana-allen in idlib, syria. ♪ geoff: japan is expected to release treated radioactive water from the wrecked fukushima nuclear power plant, and that may begin as soon as tomorrow. the government and the utility operating fukushima says it is safe to do so and the release is being closely monitored. but nearby countries oppose the move and worry it won't be safe. that's also a real concern for

japanese fisherman. miles o'brien recently traveled to japan for a series of stories with exclusive access at fukushima. he's back with this latest report. miles: at the toxic waste site that was the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant, the plumbing and the pumps are now in place. all that's left is to open the valves and start releasing diluted, yet radioactive, water into the pacific ocean. lake barrett: this is where all the water comes together, before it would be discharged to the ocean in a controlled manner. miles: my guide for this extraordinary tour was nuclear engineer lake barrett. he led the cleanup campaign for the nuclear regulatory commission in the wake of the three mile island meltdown in 1979. he is now a paid consultant to the owner of fukushima, the tokyo electric power company, tepco. lake barrett: if it was fresh water, i would drink it and have my grandchildren drink it. ok. so it's not a risk that i

believe -- and most people believe -- is one of concern. miles: but fisherman haruo ono is not convinced. homeport for him is 30 miles to the north of the plant in soma city. after the tsunami and subsequent triple meltdowns in 2011, he and the others here were put out of business, unable to sell seafood for fear of contamination. haruo ono: we couldn't sell fish in the beginning, but we tried hard and eventually resumed. but this time, we may not be able to sell fish because they will release the water forever. miles: forever, in this case, is about 35 years. that is how long tepco says it needs to safely drain these tanks into the pacific ocean. the company is anxious to make room to remove and secure all the radioactive materials the meltdowns left behind, a chore that will take decades. the tanks contain 340 million

gallons of water that flowed through the melted remnants of the reactors. it is tainted with tritium, a mildly radioactive form of hydrogen that occurs naturally. it is luminescent, used to light watch dials, aircraft gauges, and exit signs. it reacts with oxygen, just like regular hydrogen, creating water that is radioactive. it cannot be practically separated from h20 in quantities this large. yasutoshi nishimura: i deeply understand the fishermen's anxiety and concerns. miles: yasutoshi nishimura is the minister of economy, trade, and industry. yasutoshi nishimura: the experts concluded after six years of research that the most appropriate way is to purify and dilute the water, then discharge it to the ocean, in line with the international standard, or even lower. miles: in july, the u.n.'s international atomic energy agency released its assessment of the fukushima daiichi water

discharge plan, calling it "consistent with relevant international safety standards." and concluding "it would have a negligible radiological impact on people and the environment." the agency vows to "continue its review during the discharge phase," "having a continuous on-site presence." ken buesseler: the health consequences are low for tritium, but there is debate to be certainly a factor of 10 what the level should be in drinking water. miles: marine radio chemist ken buesseler is a senior scientist at the woods hole oceanographic institution. he says every nuclear power plant in the world releases tritium-tainted water. ken buesseler: with 400 or so nuclear power plants around the world releasing tritium, it would be hard to single out this particular site and say, no, you can't, the others are ok. the other 399 sites are releasing it, and the ocean contains tritium already from those atmospheric nuclear

weapons testing going back 1950's and 1960's. and miles: regardless, japan's neighbors are crying foul. >> japan has yet to produce solid scientific proof to convince the international community that it's safe. >> if it were china going to release some radioactive water into the ocean, the western media will be explode. miles: state-run media in china has led a chorus of condemnation, along with pacific island nations, and, until a recent election, south korea. but japan says the critique from its regional rivals deliberately ignores the science and is hypocritical. china is the fastest growing nuclear power producer in the world. nishimura says just one of its plants discharges about seven times more tritium a year than what is planned at fukushima. yasutoshi nishimura: through intensive outreach, we are trying to win the understanding of stakeholders. miles: to do that, japan must dig its way out of a hole, which it started at the outset of the

disaster. azby brown: the government failed to inform people adequately about the spread of radiation, about the risks. miles: azby brown is an american expat who has lived in japan for 37 years. he is lead researcher for safecast, a nonprofit created in 2011 to address the communication meltdown. they distributed 1000 geiger counters all throughout the stricken region and beyond and installed fixed sensors as well. they still maintain 17 near the plant. they say tepco and the government of japan lack transparency and inclusiveness. azby brown: if they do what they say they're going to do, the risk will probably be very low to health and to marine life. but they're not transparent enough about what's actually in those tanks. they haven't made water samples available to independent researchers, of whom there are many very, very qualified people around the world.

they haven't done anything that really would actually help build trust in what they want to do. miles: scientists like ken buesseler would like some academic rigor. ken buesseler: you would want to have someone other than the operator in charge of disposing of this check those numbers in the tanks. and, equally as important, as an oceanographer, i would want to be out there now measuring for this suite, this range of different radionuclides in the seawater, on the seafloor, in the sea life, just to establish those baselines very clearly. miles: water from the tanks containing tritium will flow to this spot at about 100 gallons a minute, where it will be mixed and diluted. lake barrett: clean water is brought in from the ocean through three 1000-horsepower pumps. each flow about 33,000 gallons per minute. miles: the water will flow through this large tunnel to a discharge point two-thirds of a mile offshore. a two-square-mile area around it will be closed to fishing.

inside the plant, tepco has built fish tanks filled with flounder. some are exposed to the diluted tritium. the utility says it will closely monitor their health. it's an effort to assure the public. but that is of little consolation to fisherman haruo ono. haruo ono: if you throw garbage or anything else in the sea, you will be punished. why is only tritium different and allowed to be dumped in the sea? really, the politicians in office now are stupid or something else, i don't know. whatever they say, we can't recover our jobs. miles: the politicians apparently have reckoned with this possibility, creating a 50 billion yen -- $340 million -- fund to compensate fishermen for potential losses. scientists may not be worried about properly diluted tritium, but perceptions driven by fear

and fed by misinformation can become reality at the seafood counter. for the pbs newshour, i'm miles o'brien in soma-city, japan. geoff: and that is the newshour for tonight. i am geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the newshour, including jim and nancy and kathy and paul anderson. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] >> before foundation, working

with visionaries worldwide. funding 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 by viewers like you. thank you. ♪

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[bright music] - [christiane] hello, everyone, and welcome to amanpour and company. here's what's coming up. [person speaks in foreign language] - [interpreter] i do not even know how to describe it. my son was killed in the war, and now this. - as the war continues to take a deep human toll, the question is, has the time come for ukraine to join nato? ahead of its crucial summit, we debate