♪ >> good evening. geoff bennett and i'm then the vase our way. on the news hour tonight, the country of georgia is rocked by protests over his decision to suspend a bid to join the e.u.

on the ending of the federal cases against donald trump and his transition back to the white house. and a look back at the outstanding career of rafael nadal, whose retirement signals the end of an era in professional tennis. >> he suffered physically over the years. but of course he made a lot of his opponents suffer in another way particularly on the red clay where he was basically unbeatable for years and years. >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by -- the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour including jim and nancy biltner and the robert and virginia schiller foundation. the judy and peter bloom kovler

foundation, upholding freedom by strengthening democracies at home and abroad. >> the john s and james l knight foundation. more at kf.org. >> and end with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> welcome to the news hour. the more than decade old civil war in syria appears to be

reigniting as rebel fighters breached aleppo, the second largest city following a surprise large-scale offensive this week. it's the first time they have set foot there since they were ousted by a brutal military campaign eight years ago. and it marks the most significant challenge to president al-assad's government in years. videos released by the syrian civil defense or white helmets show the city and villages in ruins. syrian government forces and their russian allies have countered the attacks with air strikes. the u.n. says 27 civilians including eight children have been killed in the fighting. there are also simmering tensions elsewhere in the middle east. the fragile cease-fire between israel and hezbollah militants appears to be holding but the israeli military conducted

another air strike today after it says that identified " terrorist activity." this video claims to show the destruction of a hezbollah rocket launcher and more footage shows israeli troops operating in southern lebanon where they can remain for up to 60 days. a senior israeli commander said their focus for now is enforcement and they are watching hezbollah closely. >> if hezbollah makes a mistake, it would be a big one. we are prepared to return to offense and return to competent. -- to combat. we can very clearly in a very short time give the office in order -- the opposite order move forward again. >> lebanon has accused israel of breaking cease-fire several times. there have been no reported casualties in these airstrikes. iran plans to expand uranium enrichment and its two top nuclear site sparking concern in the west it added -- if added

enrichment capacity can bring them up to weapons grade levels. the iaea says tehran has acquired centrifuges. but he says they only plan to purify to 5% levels. recently the iaea reprimanded iran for not cooperating. ukraine's military said it struck an oil depot in russia overnight. cellphone video posted this morning claimed to show the atlas oil facility ablaze. it comes amid repeated russian strikes targeting ukraine's power grid, as freezing temperatures start to set in. meantime, russia's new defense minister met with his counterparts in north korea today. he noted that military cooperation between the two countries is expanding.

regarding u.s. assistance to ukraine, russia's military claims to have shot down 10 u.s. made attack comes missiles fired by ukraine over the last week. heavy monsoon rains have malaysia gearing up for what is expected to be the worst floods in a decade. more than 90,000 people have already been displaced and three have died. in many parts of the country, roads and villages are underwater and officials feel the flooding could be more severe than in 2014, when 21 people died -- and 250,000 were displaced. the monsoon season starts in november and it could last until march. at home, thanksgiving has left a chill across the eastern half of the country. temperatures in the midwest and especially in the south are well below normal. it'll plunge near to below freezing tonight for 13 million

people in places like louisiana, mississippi and northern florida. meanwhile, up north, the cold is more visible. snow has fallen places like new york and ohio. in greater buffalo, new york, were over a foot of snow is expected to blow in from lake erie through the weekend, officials say they are prepared but ask people not to take unnecessary risks. >> snow total through monday are significant but these are not amounts we cannot handle. because it is falling over basically a two day period, we should be able to handle these as long as vehicles are not on the road they do not need to be on the road and getting stuck. >> for those returning home from thanksgiving in these areas impacted by lake effect snow, the national weather service cautions travel could be very difficult to impossible. stocks finished in the black with across gains on this black friday. it was a shorter trading day today. the dow jones industrial average still managed to reach a new record high.

tech stocks drove much of the momentum sending the nasdaq up over 150 points. and the s&p 500 also climbed into new record territory. and a passing of note. robert dixon, the last known remaining soldier from the all b lack unit known as the buffalo soldiers has died, according to the new york times. the buffalo soldiers were formed after the civil war and continued until 1948, when the u.s. army was desegregated. during world war ii, corporal dixon was stationed at west point where he trained cadets to be skilled horsemen. after retiring from the military, he went into ministry. robert dixon died in albany new york in mid november. he was 103 years old. still to come, new york city removes the outdoor dining spaces that became a hallmark of the pandemic. notre dame cathedral is rebuilt

five years after a devastating fire. and joe boyd pens a book on how pop has been shaped by global sounds. >> this is "pbs newshour." from the david m. rubenstein studio at weta in washington and our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. >> the ruling party of the country of georgia has suspended talks to join the european union causing an upper. the opposition says this is because of a pro-russian effort to rig recent parliamentary election and turned the republic back towards moscow. georgia is a nation of 3.6 million people between russia and turkey on the black sea. as protesters continue to fill the streets, nick schifrin reports on the future of a pivotal role in u.s. influence

across the region. >> on the streets of the capital a fight for the country's future. last night, georgian police charged. arrested by the dozen. pepper spray. and even assaulted protesters and journalists. thousands of georgians demonstrate the government's decision to end talks with the european union. armed only with flags. multigenerational indignity. and aspirations for a european future. >> the government has been using excessive and disproportion violence against the peaceful protesters. >> standing in front of a huge demonstration. >> ana is chair of the opposition for the people party.

she and other opposition leaders -- denouncing the institution meant to represent georgians is instead denying the desire of 80% of georgians to join the eu. >> this is been the cornerstone, membership in nato, and there is a description in the constitution that all government officials to aspire to implement georgia's pro-western courts. now we are standing in front of a clearly pro-russian power and a pro-russian representative in the south caucasus. >> more than 20 years ago, georgia was the first ex-soviet republic to launch a pro-democracy revolution. in 2008, russian troops invaded and occupied 20% of the nation ever since. the ruling georgianream first won elections in 2012, financed by the billions of former prime minister -- who made his fortune

in various enterprises in post soviet russia. in last month's election, georgian dream argued that aligning with the e.u. would lead to ukraine. and yesterday called e.u. demands that georgia make reforms to its institutions insulting. >> they are asking from georgia not reforms but steps that would mean a rejection of our dignity. >> that idea echoed today by the head of the russian parliament's international affairs committee who wrote "the georgians do not allow the country to be made a puppet of the west." >> in no sense this should be minimized to a local democracy or authoritarianism -- it's a geopolitical issue. either we will be looked down -- locked down in this camp that is pro-russian, using georgian territory for russian projects or we will remain a western ally. >> election observers argued

that the georgian dream government is illegitimate because last month's election was marked by widespread fraud. >> elections have been always rigged under the georgian dream. but this time -- it was rigged on a much larger scale. >> he's the executive director of transparency international georgia. in anticorruption ngo that helped oversee more than 1300 election observers. >> most of them have reported the endemic violation paving way for the georgian dream. >> his organization found instances of bribery, intimidation and physical violence inside polling stations and repeat voting, even ballot stuffing. when the section election committee considered controlled by the georgian dream, validated the results, an opposition party

member through -- threw ink. both of e.u. and u.s. have called for investigations. >> the protest will continue. we'll continue to work internationally and domestically but with all due respect, what power do you have? >> yes, the only power we have is high moral ground. so, that is people's choice. people'svoice and the peaceful nature of resistance. so, we will continue channeling the voice and the choice of the georgian people but we definitely need international attention and assistance. >> and so, protesters will keep fighting georgian dream to achieve their own european dreams. but so far, nothing is stopping the authorities from forcing the country's fate. i'm nick schifrin.

>> with the dismissal of the two federal cases against them, president elect donald trump has bypassed some of the most serious legal jeopardy he has faced. he's now assembling a cabinet to carry out his agenda. on that and other matters shaping the transition, we turn to the analysis of brooks and capehart. david brooks and jonathan capehart. gentlemen, so nice to see you. happy thanksgiving. day after. david, on the dismissal of these federal cases, on the one hand, the election cast that die. if he is the sitting president, the doj says we don't prosecute a sitting president. ergo, they go away. on the other hand, all this evidence that went went down on january 6 and the attempt to

overthrow that election, all of that evidence at mar-a-lago and the classified documents in the bathrooms, all of that goes away. i just wonder how that sits with you. >> i've thought a lot about that this week. i think in general, obviously no person is above the law. in my view, if a sitting president has committed a murder, extortion, some horrible crime like that, then the precedent that we -- we don't prosecute sitting presidents should be overridden. in this particular case, some of the trials, in new york and georgia look political. donald trump ran saying they are attacking me with the law. kamala harris talked a lot about the trial. it was in the center of the election and 75 million americans decided it was not disqualifying. my view, and i understand there is a danger in putting him above the law, but to be the greater danger is we use trials as political weapons in the years ahead. on balance, jack smith did the

right thing. >> he was sort of forest. he had no choice. but you would've said that january 6 should not have been pressed even if your president. this is the doj policy but you would not want to see that pushed back. >> that was like a political event. and at this point, when the american voters have spoken, respect for democracy and to the precedent that we do not use trials as political footballs. once we start eroding that president we are very close to the point where we start using trials as political footballs, and that would be terrible for our judicial system. >> how do you see that? >> not the way david does. i don't see the january 6 trial or the classified documents case as trials as political weapons. they were not political weapons. our system was attacked, literally attacked. and there needed to be accountability when it comes to january 6. there needed to be

accountability for former who took national security secrets and stored them in various places as you noted in the opening of the question. so, i don't begrudge jack smith or attorney general merrick garland for proceeding with the cases. we can argue as they are arguing on the democratic side on the left about the speed with which the attorney general moved. he should have moved faster, some people say. other people say he did the right thing in being very judicious and very cautious in proceeding. but to say, to put them in the category of political weapons, i don't think is, is right, because once you allow something like that to happen without going to the process of trying to get some sort of accountability, that it just gives a green light to the next person to just go ahead and in essence that is what has happened now. >> david's point is that the

voters look at all of that, as much as you could, the charges, they do not see all of the evidence but they looked at it and they sized up donald trump and said, we pick him. >> right. and that is what is among many things i found troubling about the 2024 election. it was all out there. he talked about it, everyone talked about it. yet the american people looked into, gas is too high, grocery store prices are too high. leave aside all sort of other things he said, such as mass deportations. folks seem to put that to the wayside. >> david, there has been talk from trump and his allies that they ought to go after jack smith and his entire team. to, to get retribution for this law-ware. >> that is a terrible idea. jack smith is being criticized for being too cautious, for following the rules too much.

there is no way jack smith did anything to subvert the rule of law. what he did was not recriminations, not eventual. it was just trying to uphold the law. he moves slowly and judiciously. and if trump does that which i expected to do comic it would further undermine the legitimacy of so many of the institutions and the rule of law. >> let's talk about this transition. we are seeing trump's cabinet start to take shape. he certainly seems to be in an emboldened mood, jonathan. when you look at the cabinet and his cabinet to be, does it give you a better sense of what trump 2.0 will look like? >> yes. trump 2.0, as we can see right now, at this point in 26 and, he did not have his entire cabinet or 90% of it chosen. he was shocked himself that he won back in 2016. now, much more organized,

everything he said on the campaign trail he's doing it. we should not be surprised that rfk june's his choice for -- jr.s his choice for hhs. the one surprises senator marco rubio as secretary of state. that is what a few people who are looking go, actually that is plausible. do not agree with them politically. >> you could've seen that ann romney presidency. >> or mccain presidents. donald trump said reelect me. i'm going to go after the quote unquote deep state. he's putting people in agencies who have no qualifications, most of them. have no standing in these agencies and he's putting them there for the very purpose of metaphorically blowing them up and in essence saying to the american people, the government is broken and by putting in people who do not know how to run the agencies, they will prove, the governments broken. >> what do you think the

democrats should be doing vis-à-vis this, if they do resist? >> first, they have to stand for institutions. i'm an institutionalist. i believe we are born into an institution, the constitution, the military, the news hour. we enter these institutions, we achieve our moral progress such as we have it by adhering to the standards of these institutions. we become stewards of institutions and try to pass them along better. it is a world ethos. trump things all institutions are illegitimate and therefore the people that are the most destructive to institutions, the manly men who take what they want to break the rules, those are his paragons of virtue. they are my paragons of vice. restraint which i regard as a virtue he regards as a vice. it is a complete transvaluation of values what he's doing. and the democrats need to stand up for the institutions but what they do not need to do is be defenders of the status quo. i'm afraid they will see the

salt and institutions and say we defend it. they have to be like a lot of institutionalist, like george marshall, steve -- he was an institutionalist and he was a reformer. to love an institution and you have to change it. democrats cannot defend the institutions, they have to be reformers, not revolutionaries. >> do you think they will do that, make that distinction about saying maybe there are things the dod we ought to look at about covid policy or do you think they will put this a much stricter wall? >> it depends. well, and i agree, to a certain extent with what david is saying but it all depends on what, say, a secretary hegseth does. if he is doing things that are ruinous to the department, and to challenge him means to defend the status quo, well, then i guarantee you democrats will try their best to defend the status

quo. but we're talking about a washington when you were the party out of power where there is nothing you can do except scream from the sidelines. things that will happen it dod and these other agencies, they are going to happen. and democrats all they can do is, at this point is just stand back and scream. >> lastly, we are here the day after thanksgiving. tell me what you guys set around thanksgiving table? what are you grateful for? >> having martinis and a great conversation about politics but i will not talk about that. what i'm thankful for in general are black women. they've stood for this democracy. they've stood fast for this democracy in this last election. so, i am thankful for them but in particular i'm thankful for two specific black women. one is my mom who turned 83 a couple weeks ago. >> happy birthday. >> the longer i get to spend time with her the more grateful i am for her. and then the other person or

grateful for his vice president harris, who in the vice presidency and her 107 day presidential campaign example fight black excellent and for those of us of us in the black community, and those around the country who love us, seeing her on the campaign trail was something to truly be thankful for. >> lovely. david? >> we talk politics but 95. percent of elections is not politics it's family and relationships and faith, whatever. i've found it so important to have -- be in touch with the arts with music. i got to see a davinci etching. >> david brooks, jonathan capehart, so great to see you both. thank you. >> thank you. >> the holiday season is a time

of reflection. so we will spend a few minutes talking about a memorable era in mens tennis when rafael nadal retired last week he left a remarkable two decade legacy. rafa was beloved on the court and off by players and fans alike. >> throughout his career, rafael nadal known by fans as simply rafa claimed 92 single career titles including 22 grand slams and a record 14 french open titles. the two olympic gold medalist played his last match in the davis cup last week, which was held in his home country. tributes for the spaniard have poured in ever since including from patrick mcenroe who you might recognize from his time as a tennis champ. he's an espn commentator and president of the international tennis hall of fame. patrick mcenroe, it is a pleasure to have you on the news hour. you know, i first saw rafa play

in 20 10 at the u.s. open. i just remember this guy with the modest demeanor that really belied the fire and intensity of his tennis. over the years, you have seen it all. how would you describe his game and was there a specific moment when you realize he was going to be one of the greatest? >> we were all lucky enough to be blessed to watch me. to me, stephanie it was the fact that rafael nadal was one of the most intense competitors, may be the most intense competitor that the sport of tennis is ever seen, one of the greatest athletes that we've ever seen. but i think it was his demeanor off the court and the fact he was so humble. when he talked about his game and he talked about the moment, you really felt that what he said was so true. he wanted to be in the fight. he wanted to work hard. it was not just about the wins and losses. a lot of athletes say that but

they do not really believe it. but with nadal, i believed that he just loves the fight, he left the competition. of course, he loved to win, but he also had a saying. he used to say i have to be willing to suffer when i go out on the court. he suffered physically over the years, but of course he made a lot of his opponents suffer in another way particularly on that red clay where he was just basically unbeatable for years and years. i saw him for the first time in a competitive match and the davis cup final when i was the captain for the u.s.. we were playing in seville, in a soccer stadium, and they put in this young teenager. we thought to ourselves, maybe we got a shot. this is before he won the french. maybe we can beat this guy. and when i saw him beat andy roddick in that match in front of the home crowd of 35,000 people, i thought, wow, this guy is different. and he sure turned out to be very different. >> he was barely driving eight

at that time, patrick. we were bracing for the last few years for his retirement. i do not think anyone wanted his run to end. i want to play of what he said recently about his decision. >> the end of the day, i'll relate to the question on myself is about, ok, i can hold for one more year, but why? to say goodbye and every single tournament? i do not have the ego to need that. >> ego is something one seldom associated with nadal. roger federer said the one word he would use is kind. patrick, what kept him so grounding, and what impact has that had on the game? >> he is a real family person. his uncle was a legendary football player, soccer player for spain. his uncle, uncle tony, became his coach at a young age. and he really guided him. he made it more about being a

sportsman and being disciplined as a player but also as a person. that's what made him so popular, not just for what he did on the court but who he was as a person on and off the court. >> he was known as the king of clay, surface which you also know very well, patrick. dominant on that surface at the french open. he is also the lefty. if his style of tennis, his grip on the racket, his approach, something we are seeing generations? is it impossible to imitate? >> i've never to this day, stephanie, seen another player been able to do what rafa did on that slingshot forehand which created all that top spin which is what made him so incredibly successful especially on clay. he had all the other attributes. a great to handed back in an excellent volleyer. he also became a great off court player. he won two wimbledon titles,

including that epic final when he won the first beating roger federer and what many think is the greatest match ever played. what also sticks in my mind is the last major he won outside of paris in australia. i was in the studio in bristol, connecticut for espn because it was just after covid. and he was 2-0 down and a breakdown and i remember saying to myself, this is over. medvedev will win. nadal came back and one that in five sets. he had other five setters against djokovic in australia but that one late in his career really kind of epitomized the desire, the tenacity, the ferocity that nadal brought to the court every single time he stepped out there, win or lose. >> you talk about roger federer, nadal, federer, djokovic they

were known as the big three. had men's tennis ever seen an era like this? >> absolutely not. roger federer set the bar. nadal was right there with them. and then djokovic who is number three behind those big two, kept creeping up and eventually surpassed all of them now with 24 majors. the one regret that i think nadal probably has that he will never admit to, but he missed a lot of majors because of injury. and he played with so much intensity, so much physicality that when we first saw him we thought this guy will not play until maybe his late 20's. he ended up playing into his mid and late 30's. but i think his dynamic style of play and that ferociousness that he played with, eventually caught up to him, but it was still remarkable to see that both roger federer and he and now djokovic have been able to play at a high level into their mid to late 30's.

and i always knew, stephanie, that when rafa knew that he could not compete, it goes back to the sound bite you played from him, that he would not be able to be competitive in the big tournaments, that he would walk away. he probably could've won a few matches but he did not think he could actually win. and that is why he finally said, no mas. >> patrick matherne broke, thank you so much for truly the insider's view on this. >> thank you for having me. >> there are many ways to may defined american culture. the music and art and literature, our politics and also the food we eat and where we choose to eat it. my next guest has been chronicling that slice of america in new york city in particular for over a decade. but now, after countless restaurants and hundreds of reviews, pete wells is moving on

from his job as a new york times restaurant critic. in a parting column, he wrote " a funny thing happened when i got to the end of that eating, i realized i was not hungry and i'm still not. at least not the way i used to be." pete joins us now. such an honor to have you on the program. your reviews and guides to eating have been critical for new yorkers but for people who come to the city and want to experience its bounty. how has it felt for you since you hung up your pen and pad? >> you know, i have real mixed emotions. i'm really glad to be staying home at night, almost every night and eating maybe a vegetable or something. when i hear, when you say, people are looking for guidance when they come to the city i think, oh, i've got something to

say about that. it is a little bit hard, but i don't miss the routine but i do kind of miss having the megaphone. i'd like to be broadcasting my thoughts once in a while, maybe not every week. >> i get that. for those who did not read your last column can you explain why you left? again, to people on the outside, you had what is arguably one of the great all-time jobs, to search out the new and the best restaurants in new york city and write about them and bring them to the masses. why did you step aside? >> it is a great job. i really really loved it. i had a conversation with my doctor that was very serious. and unwelcome at first. and then i just realized that i needed to become a healthier person. and if i stayed on the restaurant beat, maybe i could

do it through enormous discipline ,but i don't even have a little discipline. i have zero discipline. i needed to eat a little more sanely. >> one of the pieces that you wrote looks at how new york city is going through this process for code reasons, taking down the sheds that became ubiquitous, outdoor dining sheds. i understand the code violations as to why they need to take them down but it seems like something precious is being lost. new yorkers got a chance to eat outside in a way that they never had before. i wonder what you think about that. >> i agree that something's being lost. sitting out on the pavement in what had been parking spaces, that was totally new. and that was amazing, i think. i loved a lot of the structures. a lot of them were a complete

mess, but a lot of the restaurants put love and care into them to make them into something that was contributing to the street life, contribute into the neighborhoods. and then they, i came to love the experience of eating out in the cold weather. which at first i thought, who wants to sit in a parka and eat a salad? as time went on i fell in love with that experience, being a little house on the street with a space heater and a speaker, playing the restaurants playlist. i thought that was wonderful. >> what do you hope the people take away from restaurant criticism? how do you see your job over the last 12 years? >> i came to see it more and more as a sort of an ongoing sketch of the city, you know? and what new york city had to offer. who new york city fed. and who came to new york city. and the different reasons people cooked in new york city from the

chefs who want to become world famous. then the chefs who have no ideas of fame and just wanted to feed a community. maybe it was the thai community on the west side or maybe just people who lived five or six blocks away but they would still pour their hearts way to it. and everything in between that, i came to find that very interesting. it encapsulates something about new york. it is a magnet for all kinds of reasons. people may come here for a better job, for a better life. and some people come here to write their name on the big wall for everybody to see. and that, to me, somewhere in the midst of that is what makes the city great. >> pete wells we will all miss reading your reviews in the new york times but look forward to

whatever you do next at the paper. so great to have you on the program. thank you. >> thank you. >> five years after a devastating fire gutted a world icon, notre dame is days away from reopening. france's president toward them on me today in his visit provided some first glimpses of this extraordinary restoration. our special correspondent went to paris to meet some of the expert artists whose skills have preserved our lady. >> scaffolding is removed, the scar on the parisian skyline heals a bit more. after 2063 days, parisians will finally reclaim their cathedral.

it's taken 5.5 years and three quarters of a billion donated dollars for this world heritage phoenix to rise from the ashes. after the fire, president macron set a five year deadline for its restoration which some people thought was insufficient time. but a dedicated and skillful army of artists, artisans, and craftsmen have succeeded. and today, a week before a service of rededication, the french president came for a final inspection. >> the cathedral as you will rediscover is very different from the one everyone remembered. >> archaeologist -- led teams catalog and collapse so they could be correctly used. she is a founder of the artisans choir. this is one of their last rehearsals before notre dame reopens for worship. >> ♪ >> the masonry in particular was

very dark. it was the dust of centuries that had finally accumulated. me and my memory i really had the image of a very very dark, very dark cathedral. the stained-glass windows had not been cleaned for a very long time as well. there we will find a stone that is very very blonde. ♪ >> it's true that is a good teacher of light today that we will rediscover. which does not correspond to the image we had of it. but i'm sure it will really please all ofhose who will have the chance to rediscover it. >> one imperative was to reconstruct the distinctive ornamental spire, fashioned from 500 tons of timber and coated with 250 tons of lead. patrick was the lead carpenter. >> it's going to come back to the parisian landscape for many years to come. it is truly a source of pride, personally and for the group of

carpenters who worked with me. it's really an honor. ♪ >> as flames consumed the spire, sixth sense gave him an idea to give up his job. >> i 'm a believer. i always felt that i was the one to rebuild the spire. i never doubted it. when i left my job, i did not have confirmation that i would be working on the rebuild but i always felt like something was guiding me. ♪ >> he says about re-creating the 19th century vision of architect violet le duc. >> we had to use exactly the same techniques as before or at least assemble things as closely as possible to make it look 100% like what was there before. so, i look back the documents from 1858 by the carpenter at the time and what an honor to touch the papers drawn by the former workers involved in the project. it was really moving.

>> mission accomplished, the workers gathered to listen to the president singing the praises. >> we owe this metaphor if this is -- this metamorphosis to you. you changed charcoal into art. [speaking french] in france, there is a very very important historical heritage. there are schools dedicated to preserving this know-how. >> dominic is renowned for modern designs in repurchasing historic buildings. >> and the know-how of all of these crafts people is a marvel. i treasure, and notre dame is a perfect demonstration of this. it is wonderful what has happened to the cathedral, the new life in a country truly a country behind this restoration, behind this ambition of

restitution. at last france has risen up as one to say let's rebuild. let's rebuild, let's rebuild right away. >> thanks in no small part to the leadership of this man, whose royal sense of humor disguises a passion. it's the domain of the chief architect of france's national monuments. >> when i was young, i used to build my model of notre dame out of water cardboard. when i closed the vault of the north transept, i felt like i was still 16. but then i was working on the real thing. and i cannot get over the fact that i'm the one in charge. >> he insists that no corners have been cut in the drive to meet the president's deadline. >> when you look at the photos

just after the fire, when you look at the way it works now -- it looks now, you say there is no way we could have done this in five years. in fact we were able to do it because we had the means and the donors both large and small and we have to thank them because this is the first time we have been able to say that we have built a cathedral almost entirely from the inside out. >> so, what is the judgment of his peers? >> perhaps if we had been under napoleon, we might have imagined something different. and maybe in 50 years, 200 years when notre dame catches fire once again, maybe there will be other ideas. but today, as we've seen with the olympic games, paris is a city that puts great importance on its heritage, restoring notre dame to its original form was certainly the right choice. >> but is there anything you would have done differently? >> no. >> notre dame lives up to the

old we motto of paris that she floats with the waves but never sinks. >> the professor of art history at the american university in paris. how do you think history will judge the reconstruction of notre dame? >> i think they did a very solid job. they've really preserved a lot of the monument and kept it in a way that is recognizable to people and also preserving the medieval building techniques and materials, and this is something that hopefully will last for hundreds of years. >> even in driving snow. people come to feast their eyes. he's senior pastor of the american church in paris. >> we are all inherently spiritual and there something about this space in a secular state late france that brings people together. and calls together both the

historical and also the revolutionary past that brings us to higher ideals of equality and unity and wealth. [bells ringing] >> the bells, the bells, the sound fours are making their presence felt after a long absence. this was the return of the medieval stature known as the virgin of paris. >> thousands of parisians sang songs and held candles and processed to notre dame. to me, it was just the epitome of, y eah, things burned down, and the world can feel very divided, and we fall down, but we persevere and we stand back up again. and so notre dame to me is a simple of the perseverance of hope. ♪ -- a symbol of the perseverance of hope. >> these past five years may seem like an eternity but view through the 860 year long

history, the fire and her renaissance are just a moment in time. i'm malcolm blevins in paris. ♪ ♪ >> western pop music has always been influenced by artists and styles from around the world. a new book aims to give those varied influences all of them their due. special correspondent -- has our story as part of our arts and culture series canvas. >> a literary event in new york city, at the french consulate's villa where the topic is musical influences. >> i'd grown up listening to the beatles. things like that and then i realized much later, oh, that is a cuban rhythm. >> that is david byrne talking -- and the gentleman to his right. >> one way of looking at the

history of american music is a series of shocks. >> his name is joe boyd and he has a name of -- a way of showing up where history was made. he was in paris when in 1964 film captured a tour introducing blues artist to europe. >> sonny terry. >> ♪ i'm a stranger ♪ >> that is him in the hat and sunglasses while bob dylan is rehearsing "like a rolling stone." boyd would become a producer with extraordinary -- from the psychedelia of pink floyd. to the pensive folk of nick drake. to the jazzy pop of maria moldor. nowadays, he's a writer. his book as this would be a look at how salons the world over have influence the pop music of the west.

>> salsa, reggae, bulgarian music. >> the western temperate scale was not absolute. >> from brazil to pakistan, jamaica to south africa and more boyd probes the foundations of the familiar. for example, you might know robbie schenker a highlight of the film pop festival. he taught the sitar to beatle george harrison but boyd gives us his older brother. >> udai was at this incredible looking guy. and he formed an advanced company and little robbie, became a star dancer. he occasionally would pick up the sitar and start playing. >> but it was teacher kahn who got ravi to be serious. >> he said you really talented kid and you are throwing it away if you're just practicing once in a while. come and live with me.

ravi turned out to be the ideal ambassador for indian music. >> he would go on to influence the giants from a violinist to john culturing. >> coltraine felt liberated by indian music. exploring this new world of open tune. with the cornea's most western song you can possibly have. >> corny to some. "my favorite things" -- he applied what he learned from it ndia. >> if you listen to that crazy guitar solo, it is ravi shankar meets john culturing. >> his book shows how music

takes is acute is p-- a circuitous path. as you slide a metal bar across the neck. it's variations including steele guitar would become staples in country and blues but the slide style also made its way to india by way of bm bott. >> he was a student of ravi's. he discovered hawaiian guitar and thought, hmm. >> in his work, you can your strains of what came before but the sound is still unmistakably his own. to create it, he would develop an instrument played on his lap of the slide barbara have an additional string like a sitar. >> the indian classical music establishment did not like it at all. but it became very popular. and now he is a big star in india. >> the mainstream culture of the west. >> and they give-and-take of

cultural transmission, some of his stories invole a lot more take than give. pick the case of south african -- linda, who would come from the countryside to johannesburg where he would record the 1939 hit embube. ♪ and there's a moment where he starts improvising. ♪ da da da ♪ >> and with that improvisation, the famous melody was born. the record became huge in south africa. >> the weavers misheard the term, which means "you are a lion" as weemaway in 1951. ten years later a version went all the way to number one. there was another hit version in

the 1970's and another in the 1980's. >> ♪ in the jungle, the lion sleeps tonight ♪ >> ♪ the lio sleeps tonightn ♪ >> the amount of money generated was astronomical. he was dead. >> a 2006 summit would pay some royalties to his heirs, but more dispute would follow. >> that is one of the worst examples of influences across culture that does not get paid for correctly. that happens a lot, but there are lots of different ways to mo ve across cultural connections. >> we're all connected in the great thing is, when anyone tries to replicate the music of another, it always -- they always fail but they very often fail in a wonderful way. something wonderful comes out of the act of emulation. >> for the pbs news hour, i am

cassano in new york city -- tom cashado in new york city. ♪ >> remember, there is a lot more online, including our digital weekly show that takes a look at finding joy and connection as you get older. that is a pbs.org/news hour. be sure to watch washington week with the atlantic tonight on pbs. jeffrey goldberg and his panel discuss why donald trump is among the most powerful and emboldened u.s. presidents ever to take office. on pbs news weekend, the story of one woman's fight to end hunger for millions of malnourished children around the world. that is the news hour for tonight. on behalf of the entire news hour team, thank you for joining us. we hope you have a wonderful weekend. >> major funding for the pbs

news hour has been provided by -- and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the newshour including jim and nancy -- including kathy and paul anderson. the walton family foundation, working for solutions to protect the earth. the william and flora hewlett foundation. hewlett.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the news hour.

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪ >> you are watching pbs.

>> donald trump and his allies say he has a mandate to overall the federal government after winning the popular vote, but his victory was far from overwhelming. how will americans react if he. is out even some of his contve