nick schifrin is here to explain. so nick, hello, tell us what exactly did the u.s. trade representative announce. >> that biden will not move away from trump era tariffs, will not launch a full scale negotiation with china and will instead enforce president trump's trade deal with china. that trade deal is known as phase one in which beijing promised to buy about $200 billion of american goods. but the peterson institute says china has only bought 62 cents for every $1 it promised. ambassador tai said she would hold china accountable to its commitments but it was very restrained criticism and took pains not to say that she supported a trade war. >> our analysis indicates that while commitments in certain areas have been met, that certain business interests have seen benefits, there have also been short falls in others. our objective is not to enflame trade tensions with china. durable coexistence requires accountability and respect for the enormous consequences of our actions. >> ambassador tai said she would allow u.s. companies to appeal to remove tariffs. the u.s

nick schifrin has this look back at his life and career. : as statesmen and soldier -- >> our strategy to go after this army is simple. first, we are going to cut it off, and then we are going to kill it. nick: powell became one of the country's most favorite candidates. >> we've gone to a time when a black man can be a serious contender for the presidency. nick: he was the son of jamaican immigrants and grew up in a hunts point, a diverse neighborhood in the bronx. his 35 year army career began in rotc at city college of new york. he became a platoon leader in the cold war in germany and served twice in vietnam. he became the country's fourth black four-sta general, and the first black national security advisor. >> general colin powell he. was the first and nick: the first to serve as first principle military advisor to the president. >> is important that the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff be a person of breath, judgment, experience, and integrity. collin powell has all of those qualities and more. nick: by then, he was a proudly pro

nick schifrin has our report. nick: today in the eternal city, the u.s.to make sure its oldest alliance, would endure. president biden and french president emmanuel macron tried to mend a relationship that's been strained since the u.s. excluded france from a deal to provide australia nuclear submarines. today, president biden delivered a mea culpa. pres. biden: what happened was, to use an english phrase, what we did was clumsy. it was not done with a lot of grace. france is an extremely, extremely valued partner. nick: president macron seemed ready to move on. >> for me what's important is that we built during the past weeks some very concrete actions in order to strengthen the partnership. nick: those actions include additional u.s. drones and other military support for french troops fighting militants in western africa. and endorsing increased european military capity and industry. pres. biden: you are the most significant warrior for peace i have ever met. nick: earlier in the day two of the world's most prominent catholics discussed climate change,

nick schifrin has one of their stories. on the morning of august 15, when the afghan government still led the country, muqaddesa yourish was where she always was on sunday, a workday -- in her office as the commissioner of afghanistan's civil service. >> i was in my office when my mom called me and told me she wanted me to be home. i told her, listen, i have to be in office because i have to wrap up a couple of things so i might be home around 6:00, and then she told me, it is over. nick: for 20 years, yourish had worked to create a modern, conclusive afghanistan. she'd been a public servant, a former deputy minister of commerce, an ngo leader, a voice of her generation. but that day it all unraveled. the taliban seized the presidential palace, the city, and the country. muqaddesa and her family moved from house to house to avoid taliban fighters now on patrol. did you feel like your life was in danger if certain members of the taliban found you? >> once they took over, reports started coming in about trying to identify form

nick schifrin has our report. >> schifrin: he was once one of the world's most dangerous men, shunnedown government. but this weekend, he was hailed a hero. on sunday, pakistan hosted a state funeral for dr. abdul qadeer khan, known as a.q. khan, who helped create pakistan's nuclear weapons program and the muslim world's first nuclear bomb. >> today a great man died. he was a great scientist. he served this country, he served this country with emotion, dignity, respect and with hard work. >> schifrin: in the 1970s, a.q khan was a metallurgist working for european companies that designed centrifuges, equipment that c create nuclear fuel. by then, pakistan had lost a portion of its territory when bangladesh became independent. by 1974, india tested its first nuclear device. khan started stealing centrifuge designs for the pakistani military. by 1998, they were ready. he and pakistan's leaders tested their first nuclear weapon. for pakistan, he had helped assure the country's survival. just days before, india had tested its own nuclear devices. >> a.q. khan was acting as a patriot as he

for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: for more on the legacy of colin powell, we talknew him well. richard haass has known him since the carter administration. haass was the director of policy planning at the state department when powell was secretary of state during the george w. bush administration. he's now president of the council on foreign relations. and michael gordon is a long time reporter covering the defense department, and author of several books about u.s. military operations in the middle east. he is now a reporter for the "wall street journal." >> woodruff: welcome to both of you. richard, i want to start with you. as we said, you knew colin powell going back to the 1970s. what made him who he was? what made him so successful? >> well, he began with a tremendous advantage, which was extraordinary intelligence. he also had great curiosity and open-mindedness. he would spend time every day absorbing information, integrating it with the information he already had, and putting together a new understanding of things. on top of that, he had people skills that

now, nick schifrin speaks with a former top american diplomat who spent much of those 20 years helping america's role, and ultimately, its withdrawal from aghanistan. >> schifrin: from the beginning to the end of america's war in afghanistan, no american played a larger role than zalmay khalilzad. back in 2001, zalmay khalilzad helped write the afghanistan constitution. he was president george w. bush's special representative and then ambassador to afghanistan until 2005. for the last three years, he negotiated the agreement with the taliban that led to the u.s. withdrawal. and in the last few months, has been intimately involved with the scramble to evacuate americans and allies from afghanistan, the country where he was born. zalmay khalilzad, welcome back to the newshour. >> great to be with you, nick. >> schifrin: you resigned just a few days ago, why? >> well, i thought that we were in a new phase in afghanistan with the taliban takeover and my job was reconciliation between the republic and the taliban and to bring american troops home and make sure we get-- on terrorism, succeed

for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: the blowback to dave chappelle's latest comedyproduced by netflix, has reached a boiling point. today, several dozen of netflix's ousands of employees walked off the job, demanding the company better support its transgender workers. amna nawaz has the story. >> nawaz: judy, this all goes back to "the closer," dave chappelle's highly-watched special. but employees at netflix-- including some who walked off the job today-- criticized the special, arguing that it's offensive and could lead to harm of transgender people. in it, chappelle compares trans identity to blackface, and jokes about killing a woman. netflix's co-c.e.o. ted sarandos initially doubled down on his support for chappelle and the special. yesterday, he said the special will remain online, but apologized, saying“ i screwed up” and “i should've made sure to recognize that a group of our employees was hurting.” joining me now is imara jones. she's the creator of trans-lash media, a media non-profit that focuses on the transgender community. she also co-chaired the firs

nick schifrin explains. urnalist whose government convicted her of crimes to try to force her silence, today was validation. >> when the state's power is focused onournalists, that the way you fight back, is by doing your job. nick: for an editor whose newspaper lost six journalists to murder, today was a symbol of journalistic sacrifice. >> this award is for our fallen professionals who gave their lives for our profession. nick: maria ressa was a cnn correspondent and "time" person of the year who started the independent news outlet, rappler, in the phillipines dead. -- >> shoot, and shoot dead. nick: rappler exposed filipino president rodrigo duterte's drug war and its brutality. the u.n. calls it an extrajudicial, murderous crackdown that's killed 12,000. duterte also waged war on the media, and last year shut down the country's largest broadcaster. ressa has faced 10 arrest warrants and still has seven legal cases pending. >> we are fighting for facts. nick: today in a conversation with a rappler reporter

nick schifrin has more. nick: we are in the midst of an energy crunch on like we have ever seen.the u.s., the price of natural gas has more than doubled. in europe, it has increased more than fourfold. the price of crude oil has gone from an all-time low of -$37.63 in april last year to over $80 a barrel today, the highest it has been since 2014 and the pain is universal. from the consumer in france to the factory owner in china, which for its own reasons launched unprecedented power cuts. >> if you go to the poorer areas where there is suffering, no one puts on the heating because everyone knows they will not be able to pay for it. >> the power curve lasted for four days. to be honest, we can afforit but if it goes on longer, than the costs are to much and we will not survive. nick: today in moscow, the energy ministers responsible for more than one third of the world energy spoke on one panel at russia's annual energy we conference. it was moderated by ryan choke off, who joins me now from moscow. good to see you. why has the market gone crazy? >> the reason the market has gone

nick schifrin has the latest. ck: in central khartoum, weeping, and wrath, under the shroud, mohamed abdelsalam, killed this week by a military sniper during anti-military protests, his mother's heart burned and broken. >> may you suffer as much as you have made us suffer. nick: activists' anger pointed at the top. >> i accuse general burhan personally. he killed our brother and continues to destabilize the security of the sudanese people. nick: on monday, general abdel fattah al-burhan, the nation's top general, deposed the transitional government that he led with prime minister abdalla hamdok just weeks before burhan was supposed to step down. at first, general burhan detained hamdok himself. gen. al-burhan: the prime minister was in his house. however, we were afraid that he'd be in danger, so he has been placed with me at my home. nick: the transitional government and a new constitution was the negotiated settlement of the 2019 overthrow of longtime autocratic leader and accused war criminal omar al-bashir. mil

and, as nick schifrin reports, as fighting continues, the very real specter of famine looms. >> schifriny, children are dying. >> when you see malnourished ildren, you will see a very distended abdomen and you will see some swelling also in the extremity. >> schifrin: until a few months ago, dr. hayelom kebede was the acting director of ayder university hospital in mekelle, the capital of tigray. he shared photos that were taken last month. >> the one in the ventilator is unable to breathe properly, because he is getting weak and weak. you see a very pronounced head. the other kid is, if he cannot get a continuing supplement, of then the kids who will die. >> reporter: kids are dying already. in the last three weeks, tigray tv-- which is run by the tigrayan government-- broadcast these videos from outside mekele. the children are in rural tigray, where conditions are even worse. the u.n. says 400,000 are facing famine. the crisis began late last year, when tigrayan forces who used to run the country attacked a federal outpost. federal forces and their allies from neighboring eritrea, and

nick schifrin explains. >> schifrin: the stars were out on pyongyang's red carpet.continental ballistic missiles. a new surface-to-air missile. a new hypersonic glide vehicle. and, behind kim jong-un himself, what north korea calls “new type gigantic rocket.” a flashy flaunting of years of north korean military and nuclear advancement. and outside, human weapons. demonstrations of taekwondo, and north korean soldiers' toughness. fighters flying by, to the delight of kim and a sea of military leaders. the audience for the weapons exhibition-- both global and local, says ankit panda of the carnegie endowment for international peace. >> kim has been quite open about the fact that these are not good times for north korea. >> schifrin: but despite all of this, their national defense program continues. their defense scientists continue to be innovative. that's really the message here for the internal audience, that kim jong-un continues to ensure that north korea will sustain its autonomy. >> schifrin: these weapons are the highlights of north korea's missile and nuclear

nick schifrin has that story. >> schifrin: just in the past six months, ransomware hackers debilitatedf the u.s.' largest meat producers, and a crucial pipeline. they disrupted ireland's national health system. and, they are currently wreaking havoc in an israeli hospital system, which had to cancel all non-emergency procedures. at this week's virtual conference, the countries pledged to improve cooperation in law enforcement; inhibit, trace, and interdict ransomware payments; and harden infrastructure. anne neuberger is the deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology. she organized the conference. and she joins me now. anne neuberger, welcome to the "newshour". so talk about this conference. this was the largest multi-national gathering to discuss ransomware. what specific commitments did you get from these displunts. >> ransomware is a transnational threat. i'll unpack that with the example you used, the israeli hospital. in that case, you could have the human attackers in one country, the exchanges that they use to facilitate the movement of elicit currency in

he spoke with nick schfrin. >> schifrin: for years, afghanistan has been heavily dependent on internationalcial assistance and humanitarian aid. one of the largest organizations that has been working in afghanistan is the norwegian refugee council, which provided help to hundreds of thousands of afghans. but with the taliban takeover, the council's ability to help has been severely disrupted, as thweather is beginning to turn cold. jan egeland is the secretary general of the norwegian refugee council. he recently returned from a trip to kabul. he joins me now. jan egeland, welcome back to the newshour. we have seen these scenes in kabul, not only of the internally displaced, but of entire families, selling all of their furniture simply to stay alive. how desperate is the situation there? >> it is beyond desperate, really. listen, i've been to afghanistan many times over recent years. always the crisis, violence, horrors, displacement. but this time, you feel like the whole population is in, like, a free fall. the mothers and the children, the fathers i met in the camps around kabul-- these