i'm william brangham. john yang is away.been more than 120 years since moroccans have suffered an earthquake this strong. the 6.8 magnitude quake has killed more than 1000 people and injured 1200 others, according ptho rise. damage was widespread, from the atlas untains to the old city of marrakech. the quake hit just after 11:00 friday night, sending people scrambling into the streets of marrakech, away from buildings, as fast as their feet could carry them. the city is home to 800,000 people. closer to the quake's epicenter, in the smaller towns and villages in the high atlas mountains southwest of marrakech, there were pleas for help. >> houses collapsed on people. people are suffering here very much. we are in dire need of ambulances. william: many spent the night outdoors, fearful of aftershocks and unstable buildings, many of which were not made to withstand tremors this strong. in the light of day, the scale of destruction became clearer, especially in those small towns nearest the epicenter, like amizmiz. as stunned

i'm william brangham. amna nawaz and geoff bennett are away. on the newshour tonight, the united auto workers expands its strike to dozens more facilities, putting further pressure on the big three nationwide. congress is mired in gridlock as a government shutdown draws nearer and senate lawmakers try to work around a republican's blockade on military leadership. and ukraine's national security adviser discusses the ongoing counteroffensive and the uncertain future of their fight against russia. >> every day, we're inching forward. what i mean is that, unfortunately, it is not only up to us when it comes to the fighting. a lot depends on other factors. which, unfortunately, we have no control. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour, including jim and nancy builder, and kathy and paul anderson. >> consumer cellular, this is sam, how may i help you? this is a pocket dial. well, somebody's pocket, i t

it will be set alight later tonight appeared for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham.eoff: one death has been reported at the festival, a man in his 40's, but organizers say it was not related to the weather. a passing of note, steve harwell, the longtime lead singer of the rock band smash died today at his home in boise, idaho. he formed the band in 1994. they scored two platinum albums. here they are performing the grammy nominated all-star in a music video in 1999. >> ♪ a now, you're in all-star, get your game on, go play all that glitters is gold only shooting stars break the mold ♪ ♪ geoff: steve harwell was 56 years old. still to come on the newshour, the ongoing him italian crisis in sudan becomes even more dire. tamra keith and amy walter break down the latest political headlines. hazardous wildfire smoke highlights the nation's shortage of doctors to treat respiratory issues. >> this is the pbs newshour. from w eta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. >> in the middle of war, a shakeup

that is william brangham reporting for us from maui. william, thank you.anks, amna. ♪ amna: tonight, we go inside ukraine's counteroffensive. the u.s. has sent ukraine tens of billions of dollars of weapons, and senior u.s. military officials predict ukraine has only about a month to make progress before rainy weather makes movement difficult. the counteroffensive's primary goal is in the south, toward the city of melitopol, to cut into russian-occupied territory north of crimea. with the help of the pulitzer center, nick schifrin, videographer eric o'connor, and their team spent a week on the front line and report from south of the town of orikhiv. nick: at the epicenter of an existential war, ukrainians try to move forward by any means necessary. they fire an anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade unconventionally at russian troops 1.5 miles away. this is a rare look at ukraine's special artan special forces unit. the commander's call sign is zachar. he is named for a ukrainian warrior, but apparently knows american movies. what's your message to america? za

i'm william brangham. amna nawaz and geoff bennett are away.ur tonight, the united auto workers expands its strike to dozens more facilities, putting further pressure on the big three nationwide. congress is mired in gridlock as a government shutdown draws nearer and senate lawmakers try to work around a republican's blockade on military leadership. and ukraine's national security adviser discusses the ongoing counteroffensive and the uncertain future of their fight

william brangham is on the ground in florida with this report. from florida's big bend to southern georgia to the carolina coast, devastation across miles of the southeast. residents off the gulf coast were taking stock of the devastation this morning. >> the whole thing fell here. we were inside. william: that must have been terrifying. >> it definitely was terrifying. william: patricia cross has lived here for years. an oak tree crashed into the bedroom where her son and grandson were sleeping. >> i thought we were going to be ok. we did not evacuate. we have been here before, but this was the worst. william: looking back, would you choose to evacuate? >> definitely so. william: holes in the roof let in the rain, losing all of the longings. >> we are just thankful to be alive. things can be replaced. people can't. william: seawater from idalia's storm surge pushed inland for miles, flooding small, low-lying communities, and submerging streets and cars. much of the big bend landscape was left littered with debris and the remnants of homes. the s

william brangham has the story. william: in southeastern europe, torrential rains brought havoc.g in central greece has destroyed entire streets, flooded homes, and destroyed cars. in some greek towns, over 20 inches of rain fell in just ten hours. vasilis: this has never happened before here. there was a lot of water, and for many hours. for 24 hours, it was nonstop, the amount of water was unbelievable. william: greek authorities say this storm, dubbed "daniel," brought the most extreme rainfall on record, up to nearly 30 inches in one day, in some > places. in turkey, rescuers on boats had to save people stranded by the floods. officials say the city was pounded by one month's worth of rain in less than six hours. like toys in a bathtub, people's vehicles floated through the streets. one man's furniture shop was destroyed after water swept cars into his store. erkan: we came here after our neighbors called us. when we got here, there was water up to the ceiling of our store. there was nothing we could do. we were helpless. william: in neighboring bulgaria, an overflowing river

william brangham has the details on this case. the 5 biggest oil and gas companies: exxon mobil, shell, chevron, conocophillips and bp, as well as the american petroleum institute, knew that using their products led to climate change, but then spent decades misleading the public. the lawsuit says extreme weather fueled by climate change has caused billions of dollars in damages in the state and these companies should pay for some of that damage. joining us now is california attorney general rob bonta. thank you so much for being with us. you're claiming these companies knew all along that burning oil and gas would exacerbate climate change. as you cite in your suit, there is plenty of documentary evidence that they knew that, and you are arguing that they were not forthcoming about that knowledge. what are you alleging that their silence actually meant? >> there were actually very active in pushing forward and advancing the deception. they knew 50, 60, 70 years ago that the fossil fuels that they were selling created climate chang

but as william brangham reports, the larger shift toward electric vehicles is also a major factor looming in all of this. william: this strike has brought some simmering, long-held disputes about electric cars into the spotlight. as automakers invest billions in the next generation of electric vehicles and as the federal government provides big financial incentives for doing so, autoworkers fear that electric vehicles, which require fewer parts and less servicing than gas-powered ones, will render some jobs obsolete. so how will this impact america's push toward electric cars and trucks? we're joined by david ferris, who covers this closely for politico and e&e news. so good to have you on the program. before we get into the labor dispute itself, can you tell us how the big three are doing in this shift toward electric cars? david: it's an interesting moment because we are moving from the excited early adopter phase of customers to people who just want to have a new car and are interested in maybe saving gas, because they can plug in their car instead of pumping at the gas station. that i

but as william brangham reports, it's a much different story for the jail's long-term residents. m: john, just this week, two prisoners at the fulton county jail died while in custody. that brings the total to nine who have died there so far this year. these jailhouse deaths are not limited to atlanta, of course. according to the bureau of justice statistics, 1200 people died in local jails in the u.s. in 2019. that is the most recent year there is data. but in fulton county, conditions are so bad that the department of justice launched an investigation this summer into prisoners' access to medical care and the use of excessive force by the sheriff's office. for a closer look at this, we turn to shamain cruz. she's a criminal justice reporter for public media station wabe in atlanta. can you tell us more about these latest deaths? how are these prisoners dying, and under what kind of circumstances? >> i will say that i have not been inside the facility myself, but the fulton county sheriff pat labonte has long said that the county needs a new jail. he says the walls are quite lite

william brangham and our team report from maui on what life is like for those who survived. >> what goes your mind when you see fire that close to your home? >> oh my god. am i going to die? this house is gone. like our life for 50 years here at this home is going to be gone. shawn: -- >> edith jacinto thought she'd always live in her family's home in lahaina, on the west coast of maui. but now, more than a month and a half after wildfires destroyed their house, along with most of her beloved community, she's still trying to process all that's been lost. >> every time i would drive past it was like, i'll either cry or i get goosebumps or just say like, this is not real right now. this is not real, but it is. william: edith cares full time for her parents, her 101 year-old dad, arsenio, and her 83 year-old mom, victoria, who needs oxygen 24/7. on that terrible day, the jacintos were all together at home when edith's nephew sent a startling message, a fire was fast approaching. >> he tried to get a hold of all of us texting, calling, saying, you guys got to get out, like. "aunty, it jumped

william brangham is in west maui and has been talking with residents about these plans.ou. on tuesday, you and the team gave us a glimpse of how people are still dealing with the aftermath of these fires, nearly two months on. officials there are now putting out some more concrete plans for when places will start to reopen. what exactly are they proposing? william: as you mentioned, schools will reopen the middle of next month. since this infernal tour through this community, thousands of students have either had to go to school in other counties or doing remote schooling are not going to school at all. and that just puts an incredible stress on the parents, who are also dealing with all the other aspects of disaster recovery. so, there were four schools in lahaina. one of them burned so badly it cannot be recovered. the other three were damaged, and so they think that they can reopen those. so they've been cleaning them, doing all sorts of safety testing on the soil and air and the water to make sure it's ok for the kids to come back, and that is supposed to happen star