chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner reports. some of the images in her story may be disturbing. >> warner: the arrivals hall at the airport in geneva was filled with diplomats and negotiators, including the head of the opposition "syrian national council". he made clear his goal: >> ( translated ): we hope that the people of syria have great confidence in us. we are here to achieve the aspirations of the syrian people and the demands of the syrian revolution. and we will not accept less than removing the criminal bashar al- assad and changing the regime and bringing the criminals to justice. >> warner: that seems the longest of long shots at the moment. syrian president assad has made it equally clear he has no plans to give up power. moreover, the sessions planned in lakeside montreux, amid tight security, already hit a diplomatic speed bump with the u.n. secretary general ban ki moon inviting iran sunday night, and then dis-inviting tehran yesterday. today, iran said it never wanted to go in the first place. >> ( translated ):

chief foreign affairs margaret warner is in geneva. i spoke to her earlier. given all that happened yesterday are these two sides lickly to meet face-to-face tomorrow? >> they are, hari, and we've been told that ryu hinei had meetings with both sides and they have agreed on an mo for tomorrow. they will meet at the palace denational right here and they will start in the same room. and he will proposed to them what he is thinking of. they will speak through each person, each side's representative too him. great care has been taken to make sure nothing eck plodes. you don't have a situation like yesterday. then once that's happened they will each retire to different rooms. and from there then, the question is will that then amount to turning to shuttle diplomacy going from room to room or will they return and again in this very structured way exchange ideas through brahimi. >> even though they are in the same room they will speak through brahimi. how much from what happened yesterday impact the conversation. >> well, interestingly, hari, the opposition which ha

margaret warner looks back at his life. >>> in our signature segment the rise of poverty in the suburbs. >> we see one of the few food pantries but it's multiplying on a level that it's hard to comprehend. >>> and we'll examine how wages have not nearly kept up with inflation. next on "pbs newshour weekend." >>> "pbs newshour weekend" is made possible by -- lewis b. cullman and louise hirschfeld cullman. judy and josh weston. joyce b. hale, the wallach family, in memory of miriam and ira d. wallach, cheryl and philip milstein family, rosalind p. walter, the annie e. casey foundation. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america. designing customized, individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. additional support is provided by -- and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios, hari sreenivasan. >> good evening. ariel sharon one of the most important military and political figures in modern israeli history died today. he was 85. sharon suffe

still to come on the "newshour", margaret warner on averting a breakdown of the syria peace talks; the standoff between protesters and police in ukraine; poverty in one of america's richest counties; a new landmark study on economic inequality and mobility; shields and brooks on the week's news; plus, remembering a poet who spoke truth to power. >> wooduff: the united nations' lead envoy on syria struggled today to hold talks together aimed at ending the country's civil war. as hari sreenivasan reports, he may have reached a breakthrough >> sreenivasan: demonstrators from both sides of the syrian conflict highlighted the diplomatic divisions, as the assad regime and the opposition failed to meet face-to-face today. then, came this: >> tomorrow we expect, we have agreed that we'll meet in same room. >> sreenivasan: u.n. envoy lakhdar brahimi made the announcement after hours of meeting separately with the delegations. >> the discussions i had with the two parties were encouraging. and we are looking forward to our meetings tomorrow morning and tomorrow afternoon, as you know the whole p

our chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner will have more on all of this, later in the program. >> sreenivasan: pennsylvania's attempt to impose a photo i.d. requirement for voters has run into a legal roadblock. a state judge struck down the 2012 law today. he ruled the statute does not further the goal of free and fair elections, as republicans had argued. the ruling likely will be appealed to the state supreme court. >> sreenivasan: republican senator tom coburn of oklahoma will retire at year's end, with two years left in his second term. in a statement, coburn said he's shifting his focus elsewhere. he said a recurrence of prostate cancer did not affect his decision. coburn is 65 years old. he's been a fierce advocate of cutting federal spending. his announcement is the latest in a spate of congressional retirements in recent days. >> sreenivasan: the surgeon general's office has significantly expanded the already long list of diseases caused by smoking. today's announcement follows the 50th anniversary of the 1964 report that formally declared smoking a human health hazar

as the ns for this pause deal showed. >> ifill: margaret warner, thanks so much. >> warner: thank you. >> ifill: finally tonight, we update the situation in haiti, four years after it was hit by a catastrophic earthquake that killed more than 100,000 people. efforts to rebuild the poverty stricken island were led by the united nations. but in a cruel twist, u.n. soldiers sent there to help are thought to have inadvertently started a cholera epidemic one year later. now a lawsuit is being brought by more than 5,000 haitians. we have this report by inigo gilmore of independent television news. >> reporter: the artibonite river is in many ways haiti's life source. for generations, people have come here to bathe. it had always provided a natural and safe source of drinking water, too. that is, until it was poisoned with cholera, just over three years ago. people around here started dying. >> ( translated ): this is where we take water to wash our clothes, to shower, to drink. and the u.n. is up there dumping their bathroom waste into the water. we got infected from the water. >> reporter:

plus, margaret warner has the latest on the syria peace talks in switzerland. i'm gwen ifill.all of us here at the "pbs newshour," thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> charles schwab, proud supporter of the pbs "newshour." and by bae systems: inspired work >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> this is "bbc world news america." >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits to charity and pursuing the common good for over 30 years, and union bank. for nearly 150 years, we have believed that commercial banks

. >> wooduff: and margaret warner reports from germany on the growing outrage over u.s. spying. those are just some of the stories we're covering on tonight's "pbs newshour." >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> i've been around long enough to recognize the people who are out there owning it. the ones getting involved, staying engaged. they are not afraid to question the path they're on. because the one question they never want to ask is, "how did i end up here?" i started schwab with those people. people who want to take ownership of their investments, like they do in every other aspect of their lives. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: they called out helicopters and humvees in atlanta tod

margaret warner has our update. >> woodruff: plus, the story behind this giant collection of towers andirrors. part of a sprawling solar energy complex in the mojave desert. >> we need to take the carbon out of the world's largest economy and do it in a very short time

but as margaret warner reports, tensions over iran's exclusion are still in the air.g, i'm gwen ifill. judy woodruff is away. also ahead, thousands of newly released documents reveal how the chicago archdiocese dealt with priests accused of sexually abusing children. and from the philippines, the story of a group encouraging young people to stay in the country, build their careers and help bring their nation out of poverty.

. >> wooduff: and margaret warner reports from germany on the growing outrage over u.s. spying.just some of the stories we're covering on tonight's "pbs newshour." >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

but, as chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner reports, the parties stuck to their battle lines. >> reporter: lake geneva-- next to the montreux palace hotel-- was calm and serene this morning. but inside the hotel, the talks on how to bring peace to syria were anything but. when it came to syria's future and the role of the country's president bashar al-assad, secretary of state john kerry didn't back away from washington's longheld position that the aim of this conference was to carry out the so-called geneva 1 communique of 2012. >> bashar assad will not be part of that transition government. there is no way... no way possible in the imagination, that the man who has led the brutal response to his own people could regain the legitimacy to govern. one man and those who have supported him can no longer hold an entire nation and a region hostage. >> reporter: and the head of the opposition syrian national council insisted all parties must accept that stance, or there's no point in talking. >> ( translated ): any talk of assad staying in power in any form will be a derailme

margaret warner spoke with her in washington last fall.after she had been shot in the head by taliban supporters who boarded her school bus in pakistan's rural swat valley. here is a second look at that interview. >> warner: malala yousafzai, thank you for joining us. tell us what inspired you at such a young age to start speak out for girls' education, and really in such a dangerous environment. >> first of all, my father inspired me because he's a great father and a great social activist and women's rights activists. at that time, when they were suffering from terrorism, he spoke, he spoke out. and he spoke for women's rights because at that time, more than 400 schools, people were slaughtered, markets were closed. there were bans on women to go to market. girls were not allowed to go to school, and in that hard situation, he inspired me because he spoke and that's what i learned from him. >> warner: did you ever think, though, your outspokenness, and the fact you became a media star in pakistan would make you or your family a target? >>

state john kerry prepares for his visit to germany tomorrow, chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner takes another look at the country's outrage over u.s. surveillance programs. tonight, she talks to a rising star in german politics who tells her that many in his country are disappointed with the american president who at one time spurred so much hope. >> warner: german chancellor angela merkel criticized washington for its surveillance of german citizens-- including herself. >> ( translated ): the program with everything that is technically possible has been done has harmed us. in the end there will be more not less security. >> warner: though their center right party has long stood by the u.s./german alliance, he's been a blunt critic of n.s.a. surveillance and is now the point man dealing with washington on tough issues facing the two allies. we spoke this morning in the parliamentary office building in berlin. philipp missfelder, thank you for having us, congratulations on your new job. >> thank you very much. >> warner: in your speech yesterday chancellor merkel said not only wa

newshour chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner reports. >> reporter: for the second time in little more than year, egyptians lined up today to vote on a new constitution. they seemed eager, but anxious. >> ( translated ): many people have been lost, and may god >> reporter: the campaign for the balloting, which ends tomorrow, was intense, with advocates for the current government urging a yes vote. >> ( translated ): no one will ever agree 100% with any i would say if you are agreeing with just 60% of it, say yes. >> reporter: and the government's nemesis, members of the islamist muslim brotherhood, denouncing it. >> ( translated ): we had a transparent election that elected morsi and it was blown away. it is impossible to say that now there is democracy or a fair referendum. >> reporter: there are high stakes in this week's vote. it's the first chance for egyptians to formally register their verdict on last summer's stunning developments, when millions took to the streets june 30 to protest the economic failures and heavy handed rule of elected president mohammed morsi a

. >> ifill: next week, chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner will report from switzerland on the latest round of international peace talks. and right now on our world page, you can read how organizations like save the children and unicef are setting up kid- friendly spaces in countries like syria, which are caught up in natural disaster or conflict. >> ifill: now to the country's nuclear arsenal and new questions about those who sit at the controls of some of the world's deadliest weapons. >> this was a failure of some of our airman, it was not a failure of the nuclear mission. >> it may >> ifill: it may be the biggest cheating scandal in air force history, detailed yesterday by air force secretary deborah lee james. >> 34 missile launch officers at malmstrom air force base in montana were involved in the compromise of answers to a launch officer proficiency test. some officers did it. others apparently knew about it, and it appears that they did nothing, or at least not enough, to stop it or to report it. >> ifill: the accused officers are among those entrusted with the n

chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner examines why. >> warner: as the fourth year of theb spring begins, the middle east is seeing fresh waves of violence of widening scope. in syria, sunni-led rebels long fighting president bashar al assad's forces are now battling jihadi extremist units, as well. in iraq, where sunnis are protesting the shiite-dominated government of prime minister maliki, militants linked to al qaeda have seized key western cities. and in lebanon, spillover from the syria conflict has triggered car bomb assassinations of top sunni figures and bombings of shiite neighborhoods in southern beirut. marwan muasher, former foreign minister and deputy prime minister of jordan, takes a long view of all this in his new book, "the second arab awakening and the battle for pluralism." we sat down for a conversation about it at the carnegie endowment for international peace. marwan muashering thank you for joining us. would you call the second arab awakening has so far seemed town leash, basically, chaos and violence in syria, and in libya, and new forms of undemoc