it is a full docket, and he sat down with nick schifrin this morning. >> schifrin: general frank mckenziemmander of centcom. thank you very much. >> i'm glad to be here today. thanks for having me, nick. >> schifrin: what is the threat, as you see it, from iran, and how is centcom postured to confront it? >> so, i think iran is, first, the most serious threat we face in the region today. and i think the threat manifests itself in several dimensions. first is their expanded ballistic missile force, which they have developed carefully over the last few years. and just over the past couple of three years, we've seen the addition of land attack, cruise missiles, and u.a.s.'s. >> schifrin: u.a.s. is drones, >> unmanned aerial systems. can be drones, typically of different sizes, that they could choose to employ. the other thing that is very concerning is their proxy forces. principally in the region, but also has the capability to manifest itself globally, now, the iranian nuclear program is also another-- another area of concern. the diplomats are working very hard to find a way to reenter an

here's nick schifrin with more. >> schifrin: on chinese army videos, the world's largest military practicessiles quickly. chinese navy drills improve ships' ability to fight combat. and a slickly produced package shows off soldiers rehearsing amphibious assaults, and beach landings. the unmistakable target: taiwan. the island is across the taiwan strait, about 100 miles wide. and taiwan has its own islands, just off mainland china's coast. taiwan worries china could turn these exercises that chinese tv releases with english-language subtitles, into a surprise attack to reunify taiwan with china, which has been a dream of beijing's for decades. 80 miles from the china coast, chang kai shek presides over his nationalist remnants. in 1949, general chiang kai-shek and his kuomintang party fled to taiwan, then called formosa, after losing a civil war to mao zedong's mainland communists. communist china never controlled taiwan but has always considered taiwan a breakaway province. for decades, taiwanese lived under martial law, and the island was a one-party state. but in the last 30 years, taiwa

nick schifrin talks to the veterans affairs secretary about those goals and how former servicemembers have responded to the administration's efforts. >> schifrin: last month the white house announced a new model designed to provide benefits to more veterans who were exposed to toxic air. many of these veterans lived and served next to so-called burn pits, where service members incinerated everything from tires to batteries. veterans groups argue the pits created toxic smoke that afflicted service members with higher-than-average rates of asthma, bronchitis, even cancer. but many veterans' claims, that their illnesses were caused by their service, have been denied. the man tasked with changing that is denis mcdonough, secretary of the v.a. welcome to the newshour. welcome to the newshour, thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. >> schifrin: i want to imin with statistics that show the scope of the problem. since the gulf war in the early '90s, through this year, of 1.31 million veterans who filed a claim for a respiratory illness caused by their service, more than 40 percent o

and as nick schifrin reports the there is another significant step in china's hong kong crackdown. >>wntown hong kong senior editors were arrested. boxes of computers, materials confiscated. with police, one step closer to being silenced. two hundred officers raided strand news' offices, seen here back in june, one of hong kong's few suiving independent media outlets. their crime: “inciting dissatisfaction and contempt” for hong kong's government, said the head of the police's national security department, steve li. >> ( translated ): don't be biased. don't be biased. you know well how to report,ow to be a responsible reporter, how to make a non-biased report to your readers. >> schifrin: deputy editor ronson chan visited his offices after the raid, and stood by stand's journalism. >> ( translated ): stand news has been doing professional reporting, there's no doubt about it, the whole world sees it. >> schifrin: but the world has also seen hong kong target that professional reporting. the largest independent media outlet apple dly shut itself down this august, after a plainclothes po

nick schifrin reports. >> schifrin: in eastern myanmar a line of cars was trying to escape nearby violence. but soldiers torched the vehicles and burned 35 people hoping to flee, possibly including two staff of save the children. other photographs of the christmas eve massacre, too horrific to show. it's the second time in four weeks, soldiers are accused of burning their enemies' bodies. the junta that re-seized power in february has ruled through horror and fear. it's helped spark an exodus. on christmas day, families in the southeast saved only what they could carry and fled to neighboring thailand. thousands have become refugees to escape military airpower, even if they had to walk across rivers. myanmar's military ruled the country for half a century before civilian leader aung sung suu kyi came to power in 2015. her national league of democracy party easily won the 2020 election. but on february 1st, when the new parliament was supposed to sit, general min aung hlaing declared a state of emergency and arrested suu kyi and hundreds of pro-democracy activists. earlier this month suu ky

nick schifrin explains. >> schifrin: the last known air strike of 20 years of war conducted before u.st afghanistan did not kill its intended isis target. instead, a drone missile killed ten civilians, inclung seven children. yesterday, the pentagon said it will change procedures, but would not discipline any troops for the strike in kabul. >> what we saw here was a breakdown in process and execution and procedure. not the result of negligence; not the result of misconduct; not the result of poor leadership. there was not a strong enough case to be made for personal accountability. >> schifrin: secretary of defense lloyd austin endorsed that move, based on a recommendation from the commanders of central command, whose responsibilities include afghanistan and syria; and special operations command, whose personnel ordered many of those strikes. in the last few weeks, i have asked both commanders whether these incidents expose structural issues, including in how service members call in air strikes. both said no. are they too quick to call in air strikes? >> categorically no. there'structu

. >> schifrin: jovenel moise was a political unknown before becoming haiti's president in 2017. but in july, a hit squad walked into moise's house unchallenged by his security, and assassinated him. he had been presiding over a country compared to a narco- state, rampant with drug smuggling, corruption, and widespread impunity-from powerful gangs to oligarchs to the government itself. moise was a product of that world. but as the "new york times" reports, he was also apparently taking major steps to reveal it. the article was written by maria abi-habib, who joins us via skype. welcome to the newshour, tell us what information was moise preparing and what was he intending to do with it? >> well, jovenel moise was preparing a document that basically broke down the intricate network of drug trafficking and arms struggling-- smuggling and also the powerful people whether the oligarchs or plitd kal figures who support those networks. and he was preparing to hand it over to the u.s. government. >> so if i understand the story, let's take a step back. how entrenched is the drug trade a

as nick schifrin reports, the ruling comes almost exaly 30 years after the fall of the soviet union and is part of the kremlin's battle over story. >> reporter: inside russia's supreme court the verdict was swift. russian judge ordered three decades of historical and human rights work "liquidated." outside, supporters of "memorial" yelled "there is no law." police showed whose law runs today's russia. memorial came together as the soviet union was falling apart. the late '80s, andrew sack rav teamed up with then soviet president mikheil gorbachev. the goal, document the truth about soviet repression and collect the memories of millions of people who were marched to their death and forced to work in soviet gulags, a history that memorial says today's russia is trying to erase. >> all the branches of memorial were very active opposing the te attempts of authorities to forget about the repressions of soviet. >> reporter: this documents today's political prisoners including alexei navalny labeled the equivalent of al quaida. >> russia is mott a safe place now. we have seen the list of forme

nick schifrin is here to talk about the conversation. good to see you, so you have been talking to your sources in the administration, what are they saying about that call? >> amna, senior administration official who just briefed reporters called the call quote serious and sub san tiff, a kind of setup for the tone and tenor of in person discussions between the u. snd and russia and allies in early january, that lasts about 50 minutes and made at the request of tin swi unusual and took place after 11 p.m. in moscow. putin has made it clear he wants fundamental changes in u.s. and allied policy, a guarantee that ukraine can never join nato. a reversal of nato expansion since 1997, and no u.s. exercises in much of eastern europe. that would reverse deed cades of u.s. policy and u.s. officials made it clear some of that is dead on arrival. but today the senior administration official reiterated that the u.s. is eager to hear russian concerns and priorities and in return will share u.s. concerned and u.s. priorities, most notably that huge m

nick schifrin is covering the talks and joins me now.you have been following all of this, tell us how are the talks going. >> they are meeting low expectations, it took months for the iranians to return to the negotiating table and they are sticking to hard line demands that the u.s. says are impossible to meet. the biden administration is prepared to lift many trump era sanctions on iran and unfreeze billions of dollars of iranian oil revenues that are currently locked in overseas accounts. but iran says it it wants more. it it wants the lifting of all sanctions since 2015 include canning on all human rights issues. and a guarantee that the next president can't reimpose those sanctions, the biden administration says that demand is particularly unrealistic but it is real says johns hopkins professor. >> what does iran wants. >> iran wants the next american president not to be able to leave the deal as easily as trump did any deal that could be reversed in two years literally has no value for them. for iranians this is the no just a floor

here's nick schifrin. >> schifrin: afghanistan is on the brink of mass starvation.gle afghan province is considered food insecure, or even in crisis. 23 million afghans need food assistance. 8.7 million are nearing famine. one million children face severe, acute malnutrition, and could starve and die this winter-- far more than died in 20 years of war. schools have no money to pay teachers, because the banking system is inoperable. and the health care system is near collapse, because international assistance that was the source of funding has been frozen. to talk about u.s. policy, i'm joined by tom west, recently named the u.s. special representative for afghanistan, in his first broadcast interview in this role. tom west, welcome to the newshour. the u.s. is providing hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid, but it's frozen all other assistance and kept in place pre-existing sanctions on the taliban that have beco basically de facto sanctions on the afghan government. why? >> nick, thank you for having me. let me first say the humanitarian crisis unfol

it is a full docket and he sat down with nick schifrin this morning. thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. nick: what is the threat from iran and how will they confront? >> it is the most serious threat in the region today, and it manifests in several directions. versus their expanded ballistic missile force, which they have expanded and in the past three years we have seen the addition of unmanned aerial systems, can be drones, typically of different sizes they could employ. the other thing that is concerning his proxy forces. principally in the region, but it also has the capability to manifest globally. the nuclear program is also an area of concern. diplomats are working to find a way to reenter agreement with them, we try to do everything we can to support our diplomats as they pursue that. nick: nuclear program, proxies and missiles. tens of thousands of u.s. troops you command, dozens of bases can't deter iran from advancing, what can? >> we have deterred iran from state on state conflict over the past couple of years. that is a testa

nick schifrin begins our coverage. today, from european capitals where omicron spread earlier than previously thought, to eastern africa, where health workers rushed to administer mrna vaccines, the world wrestled with worry. >> i overheard fears about the omicron variant, which is ravaging the world, so i decided to come for the jab. nick: many countries aren't relying only on jabs. at least 56 have imposed omicron-related travel restrictions. but more than 20 countries have detected omicron cases, from canada to australia. yesterday, japan closed its borders to foreigners and increased quarantines, but today reported its first omicron case. the world health organization has denounced travel bans, but today it also warned omicron numbers could double or triple this week, and suggested people over 60, at high risk, postpone -- you are not vaccinated, postpone travel. and moderna warned its vaccine would likely be less effective against omicron. chief executive stephane bancel told the financial times, "all the scientis

here's nick schifrin. >> reporter: this week, president biden hosted leaders from over 100 countrieserritories for a virtual summit for democracy. the president called safeguarding rights and freedoms in the face of authoritarianism the defining challenge of our time. >> government of the people, by the people, for the people, can at times be fragile but also is inherently resilient. will we allow the backwards slide of rights and democracy to continue unchecked? >> reporter: as the president said, the state of democracy around the world is not good. the nonprofit freedom house is tracked 15 consecutive jeers of decline in political rights and civil liberties worldwide, only 39 countries are fully free. i'm joined by three experts, miriam kornblith, senior director for latin america and the caribbean at the national endowment for democracy, a foundation promoting democratic institutions, helen kezie-nwoha is an activist in uganda and executive director of the woman's international pears center an organization that promotes women's rights in conflict setting and heather conley is abou

here's nick schifrin. >> good to see you again?porter: in a virtual meeting over a real life standoff, president's biden and putin started with smiles, but jake sullivan said biden delivered a firm warning. >> no finger wagging but the president was crystal career on where the united states stands on the issues. >> reporter: senior congressional officials tell "pbs newshour" the administration is threatening economic sanctions including removing russia from the international swift banking system freezing russia's assets and blocking international transactions. the u.s. hinted any russian invasion could threaten russia's in order stream two pipeline disigned to deliver natural gas to europe. biden today told putin the u.s. would increase military support to ukraine just as ukraine recently deployed hundreds of american made javelin missiles and turkish made drones that can target russian tanks. the administration also said president biden told putin n.a.t.o.'s eastern allies would receive more u.s. troops and training similar to the

here's nick schifrin. >> good to see you again.a virtual meeting president biden and putin started with smiles. but the national security advisor said biden delivered a firm warning. >> the president was crystal clear about where the united states stands on these issues. nick: senior officials tell pbs newshour, the administration is threatening economic sanctions including removing pressure from the international swift banking system, freezing russian banks' international assets and locking international transactions. the u.s. hinted any russian invasion could written russia's oil pipeline, and ukraine's military is stronger than it was the last time it faced invasion in 2014. biden told putin the u.s. would increase military support ukraine just as ukraine deployed hundreds of american made missiles in -- and turkish made drones to target russian tanks. the administration said biden told putin nato's eastern allies would receive more u.s. training. for weeks, russian military drills and regular deployments note they are ready for