foreign affairs correspondent nick schifrin begins our coverage. >> schifrin: today in tehran, speaking to a stadium of supporters, the commander in chief of iran's revoluy guard corps delivered a threat, as state tv released video of w what it sa the launch of a missile, and strike of a u.s. drone. e ( translated ): the downing of the american drs a clear and precise message to america, and the message is this: an enemy that violates our borders will not returwill be destroyed.>> schifrin: today at the pentagon, a spokesman introduced the head of u.s. air forces in the middle east, who, by phone, delivered a counter. >> this was an unprovoked sutack on a u.seillance asset that had not violated iranian airspace aany time during its mission. >> schifrin: both sides agre iran shot down an rq-4a drone, whose wingspan is wider than a 737. the u.s. military says this video shows the drone's smokel. tr the he-said, he-said is over the drone's location. the u.s. military released this google map, showing what it said was the sam, or surface to air missile launch site, and u.a.v. or drone locat

for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: we'll discuss the implications of all this, right after the news summary. in the day's other news: the ss. senate voted to block $8 billion in weapoes to saudi arabia. president trump had approved the sales, citing the tensions with iran. but a handful of republicans joined democrats to defy a veto threat, and halt the sales. they cited the killing of saudi journalist jamal khashoggi, and the saudi role in the war in yemen. china's president xi jinping arrived in north korea today, in a bid to break an impasse with the u.s. over nuclear weapons. the red carpet was rolled out for xi and crowds in pyongyang celebrated his arrival. he met later with north korea's leader kim jong un for talks. chinese state tv quoted kim as saying the u.s. needs to meet him halfway on the future of the north's nuclear arsenal. a u.n. report today offered grim new numbers on an unprecedentedi outbreak of n swine fever 6 ross asia. in vietnam alone, llion pigs have died or been destroyed in rec

ambassador, thank you very much. >> thank you, nick. >> schifrin: for being here. fundamental question the white house is asking, canl mexico stop al immigration into the united states? >> no. if the idea is we go from what's going on now to zero, that's not going to happen. you can't enforce your way out of migration crises. you have to understand some of the structural dynamics that have been creating this over the last two, three years. what mexico can certainly d is enhance its operation control of its border with guatemalaput more money and resources in manpower into its immigration agency, o nd intits refugee rgency see that we can bet control those flows, make sure that we're preventing those caravans from reachinthe border with the united states, provide more visas for asylum and work visas for those central americans who do decide to stay in mexico instead ofrying to make their trek to the northern part country. but you're not going to stop this. you know, this idea that, you know, in d sixays, if you don't stop this, i'm going to slap-- i'm going to slap

i'm nick schifrin. judy woodrf is away.n the newshour tonight: tensions in the persian gulfri continue t as president trump announces first-everan u.s.ions targeting the supreme leader of iran. then, a conversationformer speaker of the house paul ryan on the trump administration, the economy, and the next presidential election. plus, with just dayso go before the first democratic presidential primary debate, a look at the state of for 2020. and, stonewall at 50. reflections on the journey and future of the gay rights invement, a half-century after the landmark uprisg that lauitnched the push for equ >> that was a sea change in how we thought about ourselves and

i'm nick schifrin. judy woodrf is away. on the newshour tonight: tensions in the persian gulfri continue t as president trump announces first-everan u.s.ions targeting the supreme leader of iran. then, a conversationformer speaker of the house paul ryan on the trump administration, the economy, and the next presidential election. plus, with just dayso go before the first democratic presidential primary debate, a look at the state of for 2020. and, stonewall at 50. reflections on the journey and future of the gay rights invement, a half-century after the landmark uprisg that lauitnched the push for equ >> that was a sea change in how we thought about ourselves and how we were going to take our rights. if they gave them to us or not, we were here to take them. >> schifrin: all that and more, on tonight'sbs newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language program that teaches spanish,rench, italian, german, and more. >> consumer cellular. >> financial services firm ymond james. >> the wi

for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: and our white houso espondent yamiche alcindor joins me with details on what happened within the trump administration. so, yamiche, what do we know nou the president's decision to call a halt to this mission, this what was going to be a strike on iran? >> well, by the president's own account, this really comes down to him, at the last minute,ch ging his mind and thinking that killing 150 people wasn't going to be a "proportional response" to what iran did to the u.s. military drone, which was, of course, to shoot it down. the president said he was moved essentially by a moral decision by hito say this wasn't going to be fair if we do this. it's important to notehe president laid out different time lines for how this happened. on twitter he said it wa only ten minutes before the mission happened, and some reports said the anes were even in the sky. but in the interview with nbc news, he put the estimate at more than 30 minutes and said there was no actual plan, approved yetat this was all him still thinking about whether or not he

foreign affairs correspondent nick schifrin has our report.nk >> tou very much, everyone. it's a great honor to be with president putin. >> schifrin: the t te was playfu agenda was set. but then, an american reporterif askeresident trump would tell russian president vladimir putin not to repeat its 2016 hacking and disinformation campaign. >>lr. president, will you t russia not to meddle in the 2020 election? >> yes, of course we will. don't meddle in the elon. don't meddle in the election. >> schifrin: if you couldn't hear that, president trump first told putin as an aside, "don't meddle in the election, please," and then pointed to putin's staff and repeated the phrase. the warnings are delivered with a grin-- a contrast to the stone face that british prime minister theresa may maintained in her greeting with putin.es innse to questions about president trump's tone, a senion administrafficial rascribed efforts to improve local election iructure, enhance voter registration and ballot counting, and recognize foreign adversaries' manipulation of social media. "from the begi

foreign affairs condent nick schifrin takes it from >> schifrin: in washington today, the u.s. and european top diplomats presented a unite front, but te sharply divided on iran.ei e.u. forgn affairs chief federica mogherini's visit came less than 24 hours after that ikoop announcement, which secretary of statepompeo described as strictly defensive. >> president trump does not want war, and we will continue to whcommunicate that messagee doing the things that are necessary to protect american terests in the region. >> schifrin: but while the administration's policy is maximupressure, mogherini on monday urged maxum restraint. >> what we would not like to see is a military escalation in the region. we think that would be extremely dangerous. >> schifrin: the u.s. blames an for the most recent escalation by attacking oil tankers in the gulf of oman. the military released these photos it says showing iranian revolutionary guard corps sailors removing an unexploded iranian mine from one of the tankers. inn interview with "time" magazine, president trump called the attacks "very min

but, as nick schifrin begins our coverage, there was little sign that today in beijing. >> schifrin: tonight, on the site of one of modern history's bloodiest political crackdowns-- (♪ chinese anthem ♪) >> schifrin: --the flag raised, the anthem played, and the tourists filmed. ere was nothing out of the ordinary today on beijing's tiananmen square. and that'sow the chinese wanted it. but while chinese police ensured a quiet day... ♪ ♪ ...in hong kong tonight, activists held a somber candlelight vigil. in taipei, taiwanese president tsai ing-wen led a prayer for the dead, and in a nearby cafe, wu'er kaixi re-lived the 1989 protest he helped lead, and the crackdown he survived. b jing city was under siege, and there was a massacre. there is no other word to describe. >> schifrin: may, 1989. for weeks, pro-democracy activists filled tiananmen square, fighting to improve human rights and pol participation, and end porruption. they eved with a statue of liberty, the goddess of democracy. but overnight into june 4, the people's liberion army rolled to crush the protest. , e statue was top

as nick schifrin reports, today the u.n. released new details out how khashoggi was killed, and how the kingdom has responded. >> schifrin: the report erscribes how jamal khashoggi died and was disme by saudi officials. the u.s. has imposed sanctions on those officials and endorsed' saudi aratrials of what the kingdom calls a "rogue" operation without the knowledgep of cronce mohammad bin salman. today a state department official said "we are determined to press for accountability for every person who was responsle." also today the saudi minister of state for foreign affairs " tweeted tport contains clear contradictions and baseless allegations, which challenges its credibility." before that criticism, i interviewed the report's author, u.n. special rapporteur agnesma cald. welcome to the nwshour. we quote those inside the consulate who were waiti for khashoggi's arrival. thge seems to s this was premeditated. >> there's very little doubt that murder was premeditated. you have already identified the presence of forensic doct

as nick schifrin reports, each area faces unique, and immense, challenges. >> reporter: with the war in syria now grinding into the shnth year. baer assad has all but won t war and kept power with much of ssia and the country. the killing and suffering continues especially in northwest ria in idlib province. lillions of civilians and tens of thousands of nts are under constant bombardment. in northeast sia, theyrian kurds with u.s. and european backing destroyed i.s.i.s.'s strong hold nearly three months ago. the kurds control a st area, but many of its major cities are destroyed, and they live with a threat of promise of u.s. withdrawal. to update us on both reons, we welcome two people covering the war, hassan hassan grew up in eastern syria now a director at the center of global policy, a foreign policy think tank, and journalist, gayle tzemach lemmon, adjunct council on foreign relations and frurnder sixth trip from syria and is working on a book about the kurds. welcome to you both. hassan, how bad is the onslaut by is syrian regime and the isssian air force against th last loca

nick schifrin has more. >> reporter: judy, for months hong kong residents have been demonstrating in large numbersth agains extradition law, but the estimated two million demonstrators for sunday's march was unprecedentein recent memory. to talk about that, i'm joined by lee cheuk yan, a former member of the legislative council of hong kong, and co- founder of the labor party. give us a sense, how momentous ha these protests been? >> this time two-million people march, it surprised everyone. the people so angry. we believe that the whole march a turning point for hon kong. our freedom space was being squeezed, and now we are coming back. so, this march, one-million, and in a week time, two-million, and it really shows that people are determined to fight the bill. >> reporter: why do you say people feel their freedom is being so squeezed? and why has this issue especially made people so angry? >> most of us do not trust the judicial system in china. and the stories of china human rightsefender spending four years in jail without going in trial. what if this china judicial system, they

been struck t stem the movement of people, and avoid opening another front in the trade wa but as nick schifrin tells us, the details are important-- and what happens now is open for interpretation. >> reporter: these are the images mexico wants the u.s. to ge: mexican police detain honduran immigrants, preventing them from moving north to the u.s. mexico vows to accelerate the deployment of its national guard to cities and its southern border. on its northern border, with the u.s., mexico promises to accept more central america applied for u.s. asylum-- and provide them with better shelter,ood, and education than they currently receive. and mexico promises to better track central americans currently waiting in long lines at mexican immigration offices, mexico's foreign secretary marcelo ebrard said today. >> ( translated ): we are going to ask them to register, and we will tell them what the options are. mexico cannot permit a flow of a million and a half of people without knowing their names.ep >> rter: president trump told cnbc today the mexican moves could work. eople from guatemala, th peo

that news was revealed in a new stok out today, and nick schifrin has thay. >> schifrin: kim jong-un has gone fm privileged son of a dictator, to mostly-anonymous student in switzerland, to commander of a military with a thermonuclear bomb, to scribe of whatresident trump calls "beautiful letters" to the white house. he is only 35, and leads one of the most opaque countries on the planet. perhaps that's why the c.i.a. recruited his half-brother. the book, out today, reveals that news, and tries to makes clear kim's history an motivations, and also reveals what life is really like in north kore it is called "the great successor, the divinely perfect destiny of brilliant comrade kim jong-." the author is anna fifield, the "washington post's" beijing bureau chief. thanks so much for coming on the newshour. >> thank you. >> let's start with the news today, kim jong-un's half-brother was providing information to the c.i.a. that was something you first revealed. president trump was asked about that today. and he was also asked about a letter he's received from kim stng-un. so let's take a

for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: could texas turn blue? it seemed a far-fetched question until beto o'rourke took on ted cruz for a hotly contested senate race.o' rourke lost, but even in defeat, he was propelled onto the national stage-- and now, a n for the white house. the former congressman joins me now. >> woodruff: the problem of inequality have gotten much news hour. thank you for having me on. i'm grateful. >> woodruff: so out of the 23 democrats seeking the nomination, why should voters choose you? >> you tkedbout texas in your introduction. i was extraordinarily lucky enough to be part of one of the greatest movement. s we've seen in that state, a state that ranks 50th in voter turnout came out in record numbers, notust democrats led by young people who turned out another a rate of 5400% over --r 500% hat they had in the last term, but independents and republicans, as well. i won more votes than any democrat has in the history of our state. we ensured the 38 electoral college votes that had not been won by a democrat since 1976 w

troops will soon arrive in the region, as tensions continue to escalate.ws for the pbs ur, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: we will get perspectives on the shanahan matter and on iran from sides of the political aisle, after the news summary. in hong kong, chief executive carrie lam issued a new apology today, but stopped short of saying she will permanently withdraw an unpopular extradition bill. it would allow mainland china to extradite criminal suspects from hong kong. the measure has sparkeeks of mass protests and clashes with police, and pro-democracy activists said thegy is not enough. >> all of our demands-- carrie lam spping down, withdrawal of the bill, and also holding the police accountable, are all ignored by carrie lam. therefore, the civil human rights front do not accept at all carrie lam's so-called apology. carrie lam can no longer effectively govern hong kong. >> woodruff: chief executive lam also insisted today that she will finish out her five-year term. the ousted former president ofme egypt, mohmorsi, was buried today, under heavy security. that came as the u.n. human r