President trump secretary is out of a job. Alex acosta announces he is resigng after coming under more scrutiny for cutting a plea deal for jeffrey epstein. Singer r. Kelly faces federal chargeincluding exploitation of a child and kidnapping for activities that stretch back to wo decades. And focusing in on the moon. Ea50 yrs after man took his first steps there, the photography which made it ssible. Nada for those watching on pbs and around the globe, welcome to world news america. All week the pressure has been building on u. S. Abor secretary alex acosta, and today he resign. Acosta said he did not want to be a distraction over his role in a plea deal reached with disgraced financier jeffrey epein at decade ago. Earlier this week, additional charges were brought against epstein in new york for sex trafficking. The labor secretary held a press conference to defend the agreement he made in florida. But today it was alloo much. The president praised him while announcing his departure. A brief time ago, i spoke with jeff mason, White House Reporter for reuters. We saw the president come out with mr. Acosta. What does that say about his departure . Asff it says a lot insofa the president has seen a lot of cabinet secretaries and Staff Members go who he has fired or have resigned, and the fact that he gave him a sendoff suggests that he ike the secretary, does support him, and perhaps was disappointed he decided to resign. But he accepted the resignation, and there were probably political reasons fo. Nada the political reasons i guess being this cloud over the white house of the epstein case, President Trump making it clear he had a falling out with mr. Epstein. How much does the white house have to worry about that . Jeff number one, having his labor secretaryn his way out memeans every here is a news story about epstein, there is is connectionly emphasized about acosta as well. That is one reason he said he t wantleave, that he wouldnt be a distraction. As for president tsamp, h he had a falling out with epstein years ago, but they had one point did socialize in florida and new york. Nadawhat about this revolvin door we are seeing in the white house . Now we have so many cabinet positions filled with acting officials. Jeff the president likes acting. I think he kind of likes the word. Same way he likes thed w tariffs. Tie chief of staff is acting, he has advisors and secretaries. That is descriptive of how President Trump likes to staff exs inner circle. He likes that the bility he likes to have the flexibility to say you are not going to be here that long. This is the former Reality Tv Show persowho used to fire people on a whim on the apprentice. He still does that. He didnt fire acosta, but he wants the next person to be in an acting capacity as well. Nada how much wry is there in washington that this is becoming a pattern with the president not having enough checks on officials before they are anappointethen having to show them a door . Jeff the president has faced a lot of criticism for not vetting his senior staff and cabinetffials enough. That has come up with a multitude of the people weapon in hisabinet or inner circle, who have been in his cabinet or his inner circle, so it is a fair question to ask. There is concern among democrats and critics of the president and his administrati h. On the othd, twoandahalf years into the trump administration, there was also a sense that this is how he does business, this is how he governs, a if you dont like it, americans have a chance to change it up in 2020. Nada thank you so much. Jeff my pleasure. Nada a state of emergency has been declared in louisiana as the area braces itself for Tropical Storm barry. Landfall is expected oersaturday and are fears it could be a major flooding event. Viously, the members of katrina will always hang over new orleans and the surrounding area, but officials are warning residents to prepare and braced for the impact. The bbcs sophie long is in louisiana and joined us a short time ago. Sophie, can you give of how residents and officials are preparing for the storm . Sophie nada, the state governor declared a state of emergency on wednesday, so people have had plenty of time and warning to prepare for Tropical Storm barry. As you can see in neorleans, are experiencing strong wind gusts and it is raining quite teavily as well. The fear is, forec say, that it could reach hurricane strength, windspeeds of 170 over 74 Miles Per Hour before it reaches landfall. Were expecting that late tonight or tomorrow morning. People here are no strangers to big weather events. The state of louisiana has experienced three Tropical Storms and two hurricanes in the last decade alone. But the conditions that proceed precede this one are unique. You see the mississippi riveis behind me, iery high. It has been like that for months because of a particularly wet spring. Forecasters are predicting that there could be a tidal surge in the aftermath of Tropical Storm barry. If that happens, it could bring water levels up to 19 feet. Er that is dasly close to the 20 feet that the citys levees can cope with. That is the big fear, that we could get some overspill. People here know how catastrophic that could be. Pmaple here remember Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath in 2005 when there were major overspills all along the river mississippi. Ofcials are confident it t happen this time, that people are filling up sandbags to protect their homes and businesses. The mayor has told people to get their supplies and be inside by 8 00 this evening and stay there. They could needed to be inside their homes for up to 72 hours. Nada all right, sophie, thank you very much for that from new orleans. In other news around the world, at least 17e peo have died across nepal after torreinial monsoon caused landslides. Nelese whether authorities weather authorities havee warned that heavy rains are expected to continue. This is the guard crew dramatically boardedr a suine suspected of smuggling drugs. The as pof aiesf operations in the eastern pacific ocean. July of this year, they hand marijuana another big story we are following is the arrest of singer r. Kelly in chicago on sre than a dozen federal charges, includi trafficking and child pornography. Prosecutors in illinois and new york have accused the singer in two separate cases of grooming and imprisoning young girls and women and filming the sexual encounters. And filming the sexual he already faces state charges, and has denied all of the allegations against him, which stretch back dades. Brief time ago i spoke with wendy murphy, a professor of nce law at new england law. Thanks for being with us. Looking at these charges, some go all the way back to 1999. What does it say that prosecutors are just bringing this ce forward now . Wendy well, i think what it says is that the public in particular has been veryat dified with the criminal justice systems response to r. Kellys crimes over the years. V the numberictims and the horrific nature of the sex crimes he has commitd especially were talking about young girls being involved as well we have not been able to let it go. I think th is a good thing. Certainly the me too movement has played a role in keeping the publics interest high and c rejuvenatingple years ago. Feeling like somebody got away with something is not a very mfortable feeling. In but felike a guy like r. Kelly got away with an awful lot of bad behavior against a large number of victims, the is intolerable. That is probly the prime reason you saw not only new state charges this year, but two diffent jurisdictions bringi federal charges as well. Nada as you say, new nd illinois, federal charges in both districts. What c we expect now . Will thidefinitely head to trial . Wendy good question. This is the sort of situation where you expect it to go to trial because even if r. Kelly makes a really good deal with all the prosecors involved in the three Different Cases he isl currenfacing, it is still going to be a lot of time behind bars, especially the federal cases. Federal resources, federal charges, the federal rules of evidence are much harsher, much to. Her than the state charg because he probably wont get the kind of deal that would t low him to walk free or even avoid a significison sentence, he may well rolled tht dice and just trial in all of these cases. Nada if it do go to trial, besides the women and girls who are mentioned in the indictment, bly hear from other prior witnesses who said the same thing happened to them . Wendy absolutely. One of the things i have seen in my many years in this business is that when victims dont feel mfortable coming forward because they are afraid, especially if they think theyne are alone orf only a couple of victims, they will stay silent out of fear, frankly. But when this happens, when they look at the news stories and see, wow, that is a lot of lawem enfot support here, there are other victims, im not the only one, this guy did all of ngese horrific things to y oorls and young women, im going to come forward,because i am less afraid now. In fact, im going to feel heroic if i come forward. Frankly, i think it is to say to them, please come forward, you were a child, you were taken advantage of, you were exploited. S not your fault. If you come forward, you will not only be heroic for yourself, you will be for all the other victims. It is a powerful and Important Message in this case. Nada all right, wendy murphy, thank yo in the battle overty border secuperhaps no issue has been as contentious as separating children from their parents. Hundreds of minors are still being held, and there are increasing reports of deteriorating conditions in detention facilities, including overcrowding and an unhealthy environment. Today a House Oversight committee hearfrom some of its lleagues who had recently been to the border, including alexandria ocasiocortez. Rep. Ocasiocortez children aning separated from their parents in front omerican flag, that women werbeing called these names under an american flag. Lo we cannot for this. What will we say to this d neration of children and parents we imprisor seeking safety . We should be the ones begging for forgiveness. Nada democratic congressman Gerry Connolly from virginia sits on the Oversight Committee who held todays hearing and he joined me from capitol hill. Congressman, thank you for joining us. Rep. Connolly my pleasure. Nada we heard a lot oconcern, but what will Congress Actually do now . Rep. Connolly we want to tighten regulations that govern the Homeland Security department and health and human servicesbe departmentuse the testimony we heard from inspectors general of both agenes, which was very, very chilling. They describe conditions that are dickensian. It is like a charnel house, not like a Detention Center that is at all humane. Congress must act, and todays testimony certnly gave vivid evidence of why. Nada your party has also come heder criticism for not in, par example, having enough provisions to make sure that migrants have better treatment in the facilities. Do you think your party could have done more . Rep. Connolly i think we could always do more, but let me say that i think there is an exponential difference between what happed during the obama administration, when there were record deportations, but certainly migrants were treated in a humane way. We have never had teimony like we have had today in terms of the condition of children, the delirate separation of children from their families. That most certainly did not occur under previous democratic or republican administrations. That is unique to donald trump, and it is something that no american can be proud of. In fact, no american should find it acceptable under any circumstances. Nada President Trump has confirmed that this weekend ice will conduct r country to round up illegal immigrants. What do you make of that . What kind of impact will thatun have in coies across the country . Rep. Connolly you know, i think donald trump has engaged by repeating this threat several times. I think, frankly, it is a fascist and demagogic attempt to create enormous fear throughout the immigrant community. I think it is unamerican, i thndk it is antidemocratic, i think it is, frankly, reprehensible. Nada what do you make of the fact that this was announced ahead of time . Rep. Connolly i think it is gned to inculcate fear, which is all part of this administrations policy. U know, make people afraid. Make people afraid by the stories going on at the southern border. Pl make pafraid of cooperating with the census. Make people afraid that a deportation team may arrive your doorstep and take youormom our dad or your brother or your sister or your cousin or your aunt and uncle away. Eada thanks for joining us. Rep. Connolly my re. Nada you are watching bbc world news america. ill to come on tonight program, el salvadors total ban on abortion has sparked a controversial case. We will have a special report. The u. K. S Metropolitan Police has launched an investigation into the alleged leak of official communications from britains outgoing ambassador to the united states. Sir kim darrochs emails which criticized the trump administratisi led to his ation. Reporter who leads laked the documents that Party President ambassador and put tcial relationship under strain . How did o man in washingtons frank assessments and of splahed across the mail on sunday . Within days, the ambassador announced heould leave his washington residency after the president fired back, calling him stupid and pompous and making clear he wasnt welcome. The whitehall inquiry was starting to root out the leader, but the metropolitan police announced they would takover. The commissioner saidm satisfied there has been damage caused to u. K. International relations, and there would be clear Public Interest in inging the person or people responsible to justice. There was even a direct appeal. You can stop this said. He turn yourself in at the earliest opportunity. Explain yourself and face the consequences. Im assuming it is a function of how serious it has been taken, that clearly there has been damaged to Britains National interest here. Obviously, the polic have more tools on their disposal to find the culprit that it is very important to find who is the perpetrator of this leak. Reporter today the president was trying to be nice come with some warmer words for sir kim. Pres. Trump i wish the British Ambassador well, but they have got to stop their leaking problems thereike they have to op them in our country. Reporter stopping leaksle is oe chale. Finding the source of this one will be tough enough. Nada human rights organizations calling for an end to el salvadors total ban on abortion, which has been in place since 1998. The laws are some of the strictest in the world, and on monday, 21yearold woman who asupporters say htillbirth will face retrial on charges on lling her baby. Orla guerin reports. Orla san salvador, a city where catholicism has deep roots, and whe church has had commanding influence and helped to ensure the total ban on abortion. A ban that hasriminalized women like her. She went into laboalone at work and called an ambulance which never came. She says she faint during the edrth and came to surround by police accusing her of killing her baby. Last year, her 30year sentence was commuted, and she walked free to be reunited with her family after a decade behind s rs. Human rights groupy she is one of many women who lost their bies and were jailed for killing them. She was already a devoted mother when she was convicted. Her son, now 15, was just four years old when they were parted. Orla do you fee missed out on a lot of his life, a lot of your sons life . Orla she says she was jailed for a crime she did not commit by society where men still have the upper hand. Some women and girls here doek erminations, but the process has been driven underground. This doctor told me that many of the women who come to him have actually miscaied, but are too scared to go to hospital in case staff call the police. He says most of his patients have been raped. Re ts so much Sexual Violence here. It affects almost 60 of my patients. G many are used g members. I see minors raped by a brother, uncle, father. I am frustrated as a salvadoran and doctor that victims are being punished by the law. Orla and supporters say this r man is being punished foa stillbirth. She asked us n to show her ce. Orla she tolme she was raped as a teenager. She didnt know she was pregnant unl her baby was born in a toilet. She was arrested in hoalital and nelowed to see her sons body. After three years in jai she is now facing a retrial. Campaigners y they will fight on to free 16 women still behind bars becau of the abortion ban. Ma fear it will be a long march to justice and reform of the law. Orla guerin, bbc news, san salvador. Nada the campaign to end the el salvador abortion ban. We are days away from the 50th niversary of the moon landing. Events have been taking place arou the world toark the occasion. In new york, the metropolitan museum of art as of it a massive exhibit with photos and memorabilia related to the moon. It gives us a sense of how our relationship to the earths nearest neighbor has evolved over the years before photography, the moon was basically a pretty disk in the sky that cast a beautiful, romantic light. Once astronomerstarted looking at the moon through telescopes, they discovered that it was a place just like the earth. There were mountains and valleys and craters and there whole landscape there to be discovered and explored and possibly visited someday. This, we believe, is the earliest photograph of the moonm it we by a physician and professor at nyu who set up his telescope, used an exposure of several minutes, and got a daguerreotype, a photographic image on a polished metal plate, that shows the actual cratersf the moon for the first time. Photography played an incredibly Important Role in the history of lunar imaging. It allowed us to go from speculation about what the moon might look like to discovery of what it looks like. I donvt think that we would reached the moon without photography. All of the Nasa Missions of the 1960s were documenting the lunar landscape in order to find a place for the lunar module to land. Without thcareful documentation, they might have just crashed. This is a photograph of the far side of the moon. It w taken in 1959 by the soviet explorer that orbited around the bkside. What is so amazing is it shows us somhing that no human eyes had ever seen before. It is only through the camera that we were able to get this view. It was very important to nasa and to the u. S. Government to send human beings to theoon. They could have just sent Robotic Missions to photograph the moon, and they did. But sending a man to the moon, as jfk said in 1961,he goal of the Space Program of the 1960s. The photographs that they took there allowed us to see this place from humans eye point of view, and that was incredibly important in terms of the cultural understanding of nsat it mo be on another planet. Nada stunning photos from that exhibit. I cannot wait to see the cameras that the apollo 11 crew used. I am nada tawfik. Thank you for watching world announcer funor this presentation is made possible by. The freeman foundation; by judy and peter blumkovler foundation, pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs; and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Announcer now you can access more of your favorite pbs shows than ever before. This is the future with pbs passport, a member benefit that lets you binge many of the lateyo shows and catch up o favorites. We really are living in the modern world. Any timeou want. Man wow how about that . Anywhere you are. Woman theres literally nothing like this in the world. Announcer support your pbs station and get passport, your ticket to the best of pbs. Captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc woodruff good evening. Im judy woodruff. On the newshour tonight, secretary of labor alex acosta resigns amid criticir his handling of a sex crimes case against billionaire jeffrey epstein. Then, fearing a massood, the latest on a slowmtoing tropical expected to drench louisiana, threatening leveesround new orleans. Plus, as theegal Marijuana Industry expands, questions remain about raciadiversity in the business and who will reap the economic benefits. Were hoping that we can correct that by keeping the money within the community, employing people from our community, and allowing themo y to circulate as many times as humanly possible. Woodruf and, its friday. Rk