The freeman foundation. By judy and peter blum kovlefoundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. And by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. City. Striking in support of the protesters, workers in belarus during the public outcry over disputed elections. More stories emerge about torture by police. Politics and the post office. How male has become a hot button issue mail has become a hot button issue. 75 years since the surrender of japan in world war ii. We look at how the past resonates today. For all of you watching on pbs and around the globe, welcome. The scene in belarus this evening is a tense one nearly a week after disputed elections that gave longtime ruler Alexander Lukashenko and overwhelming victory. Anger on the streets has boiled over. Police have arrested thousands. Firsthand accounts of torture are widespread. Unions are walking off the job to show their solidarity with protesters. Reporter the Opposition Movement is growing. Professors have gathered in the main square. They are chanting freedom, freedom. They have flowers and balloons to show that there movement is unprecedented for belarus. I have been living here for 28 years. 26 of them, he was the ruler of this country. I am really tired of it. We need changes. A volunteeread off a list of names of those who remain inside. As detainees leave jail, they show us bruises from vicious beatings. Many recount harrowing stories of torture and abuse. He was arresd on monday. They electrocuted him with a stun gun. One said if i was ordered to burn you alive, i would. They can do anhing to you. The pain was unbearable. Opposition candidate, who earlier had to flee the country, has called on authorities to stop the violence. The people of belarus no wonder no longer want to live with the former regime. Lets defend our choice. Special forces kept an eye on protesters. The president tried to soften the mood today by calling on Security Forces to be more gentle. But this may be too little, too late for the regime. Anchor for some context on the scene there, we heard earlier amid journalists. He fled the country due to security concerns and works with other journalists in ukraine, collecting and verifying footage of the protests. People are very tired of this utilitarian system. It is similar to 1989 before communism has fallen in belarus. People want to change, and t change. Employees of factories, medics, doctors, teachers have joined the protest back then in 1989 and now, similar situation. All the social groups want the president to leave and they hope this transition will happesoon and to be nonviolent but western support and western sanctions can help prevent the president from shooting people, from torturing people in order to have nonviolent transition, the president must stop using firearms. Anchor here in the u. S. , we are facing a potential election crisis. How to cast ballots safely in the medical above a pandemic. Public health and political challenges. How can the post office handle the millions of mailin ballots that are expected . Today the Washington Post is reporting that the usps has warned 46 states that some mailin ballots may not arrive in time to be counted in novembers election. A political reporter at t washingtonost joins me now. Thank you so much for being with us. I want to start without warning from the usps. You have been speaking with postal workers. What did they say about that and th costcutting . The usps sent out a letter to 46 different states today. Several of those being impornt battleground states. Warning that due to delays that have been made, absentee ballots may be delayed. So long as they are postmarked by election day. I spoke to postal workers around the country who have been explicitly affect did. They say the Postal Service has exacerbated and accelerated these moves. Mail is already surging to begin with. Many pointed out that in a normal time of surging, that the usps would staff up. They would allow for more overtime. Instead, what you are seeing is s cut. This is leading to increased delays during one of the busiest seasons potentially ever for the usps. Anchor given up to half of citizens could be voting by mail, how are states responding to this . What is really interesting is while the president has come out and said he is holding emergency funding back, hisampaign is waging a Legal Campaign against many of the efforts to expand absentee and mailin boating. Voting. Some republicans are finally speaking out. This is forechecks to make it to people on time. Especially during this crisis. What y the funding needs toappen. They need to reverse these costcutting measures. Anchor i wanted to ask you out the irony that President Trump himself will be voting by mail. Despite the fact that he has made several statements that ilin voting would hurt republicans and false claims that there could be fraud. That is the ironic part about this. The president is likely to vote by mail again. There is some concern amongst republican officials that because of the widespread can turns and the constant aims the president has made without evidenhat voting by mail leads to widespread rod, it will depress turnout. Even if these changes are made and Republican Leaders continue to speak out against the president about these changes and assure people that voting by mail is safe, a lot of election experts point out that the damage is already done. The rhetoric is already setting in with voters who are concerned that they are opening themselves up to fraud. Anchor this is certainly something we will be continuing to discuss in the weeks ahead. Thank you so much. The battle over the post office isust one of the political lines heading into the weekend. Another, and a bit hard to believe, is birth tourism. That is the racist Conspiracy Theory that began with President Trump claiming that president obama was not act in america. This week, another baseless challenge was made against ice president ial candidate kamala h arris. I wouldve assumed the democrats wouldve checked that out. That is very serious. They are saying wouldnt qualify as she wouldnt qualify. She was born in this country but her parents did not receive their residency. I just heard about it, i will take a look. Anchor joining me now to discuss that is an attorney and Democratic Political analyst. Thank you so much for being with us. We should obviously clearly say that there is no suggestion at all, everyone knows Kamala Harris is able to run for vice president. I think within less than a few hours of joe biden announcing that she would be his running mate, questions of whether or not she was qualified , none of that is surprising. We saw this with barack obama, where he questioned the location of his birth. This is something we expect to see going forward. Coming from the republican as well as donald trump. We are at a point where we can move forwa Kamala Harris being a very historic pick going forward, it will be an exciting time. Her pick has energized the base. They have raised 48 million. I think it will be exciting. I think the camign ought to be ready and prepared for the kind of attacks we have already seen. Anchor obviously we have seen the Trump Campaign used several different attacks. Do you think he risks alienating some of the voters he needs . Independence, suburban voters . Except for white voters who are not collegeeducated, biden leads trump by a large margin. I think he is concerned. The work donald trump is doing right now to sabotage the post office, which is responsible constitutionally for getting mail to all of america. No other mail Delivery System does that. He has already made it plain that he wants to sabotage the post office to get mail. I am astounded that the president of the United States would say that. It is just one of those things where this is where we are in the United States of america. Anchor hard to believe. Thank you so much for joining us. In other news, and access be a lawy is expected to admit falsifying a document that was used into the inquiry agnst the president ial election. His lawyers say it is a honest mistake. Precutors did not reveal any broad conspiracy. The u. S. Says it has taken control of four fuel shipments from iran to venezuela. They said it s the largest seizure of iranian oil. Still to come on tonights program, a lesson in Public HealthManagement Area how images from a crowded School Hallway in georgia reignited the conversation over opening schools. Thousands of british holidaymakers are desperately trying to return home after the government imposed origin measures on france and five other countries. Travelers will have to selfisolate for 14 days as the number of coronavirus cases in rants ticks higher. Reporter there are very few brits around in france this summer. Ere just arent the numbers. British spaces have been taken by elsewhere in earth northern europe. They really are thin on the ground. That being said, the brits who are going home, it is not as pump or year as it normally is. Britain is usually the biggest provider of tourists for france. The Tourism Sector has been really it already. Hit already. Anchor turning back to the u. S. , President Trump has been outspoken in saying that schools should reopen the fall. Those decisions are being made at the local level and it is one of the toughest calls teachers, parents, and students are having to make. Weighing safety and educational development. Take the example of one school in georgia. They are doing damage control after a picture of a crowded hallway went viral. Our u. S. Correspondent has the story. A heated meeting between parents, teachers, and teachers. 20,000 students in this district were the first to remain to school. Is the china virus prevalent in children . My point is that we try to prevent this. This 15yearold was surprised when she returned to school. She was suspended after tweeting out this viral picture. Sharing video crowded hallways, no social distancing, and few students wearing masks. Ive been surprised about how may parents are upset with me. If i was a parent and i was sending my kids to school, i would be upset with everyone. Her suspension was reversed after public outrage. In the school closed. It is reopening next week. Masks are still norequired. Masks have been politicized. So have the virus. It should not be. It is just straight science. This parent is allowing her boys to go to the Elements School for facetoface classes. She does not worry. She says nobody and her family is at risk. I know how important it is for them to have that taste twofaced School Setting with the teacher so they can socially and react. They learn from their peers and from the teachers. Reporter if any of their classmates catch coronavirus, will that change your mind . No, i dont think it will change my mind. I feel like people are going to get it. Reporter she called the public handwringing and overreaction. But he stayed for only three lessons before asking is that to pick him up. He has asthma. His that has an autoimmune disorder. His mom has diabetes. I saw kids and teachers not taking it seriously. I just felt like it was not the safest environment for me. People are saying masks are stupid. Reporter this high school has become ground zero for the controversy of out reopening american schools. It pits parents who think the virus is overblown against those who think administrators adopt doing enough to attack their children. These kids are taking to school what they learned at home. A lot of people here have backwoods southern politics. There is a ku klux klan bar six miles down the road. Reporter they plan to move to a neighboring county where they will feel safe again. Georgia does not have statewide policies for reopening. Local School Districts make the rules. In an election year, even going to school has become a political stement. Reporter saturday march the 75th anniversary of victory over japan day. That was when the countries emperor announced japans unconditional surrender. Even now, the legacy of the conflict lingers. Many japanese see their country as a victim of atomic attacks. China and korea view japans postwar apologies as an elite and insincere. Reporter at thehrine, the brotherhood has come to bow to the spirits of japan. August is a busy month. First they tried to get Japans Parliament emma but the way is blocked. But they start shouting abuse. The liberal Democratic Party is useless, they shout. Japan committed many crimes during world war ii. But by far the worst was the managing massacre. Nanjing massacre. First of all, it does not exist. The civilian population was fine. Where did all of their bodies go . There is no evidence. It is all alive. Reporter china is not the only country these groups claim have wronged japan. Today, their target is russia. This is another piece of highly contested history. Up here is the russian embassy. They believe russia stole a big chunk of territory from japan. Now they are here to demand it back. 75 years on, the wounds inflicted by world war ii remain open and festering. Anchor is strongest in south korea, where japans Prime Minister is a figure of hate and ridicule. This symbolizes the begging for forgiveness that japan has yet to do for the crimes they committed. The United States was the occupying power. They wanted evy buddy to move forward. You had millions, tens of millions, of victims. In china and korea. They were saying wait a second, this is not ok. Reporter on saturday, thousands will gather at this shrine. Others will come here to pay homage to the war criminals who are honored here. Anchor before we go, it has been a long week, so who wouldnt want to put up their feet and relax a little bit . If youeed a bit of inspiration, just look at this guy. He is a black bear who was rescued from a wildfire. He is clearly enjoying his hammock. This foota was posted on twitter. The bears feet were burned in the flames. He is recovering well and he will be released back into the wild soon. For the rest of us, it is the weekend. Time to put up our feet as well. Remember, you can find more on all the days news on our website. Thank you for watching. Have a great weekend. Narrator funding for this presentation of this program is provided by. Language specialists teaching spanish, french and more. Raymond james. E freemafoundation. Was also pded by, by judy and Peter Blum Kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. And by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Girl we are the curious. Woman 1 wow man 1 the adventurous. Man 2 oh daniel tiger grrr woman 2 those venturing out for the first time. All blast off [rocket explosion] man 3 and those who have never lost our sense of wonder. Man 4 whoa man 5 are you seeing this . [quacking] vo we are the hungry. Cookie monster cookie man 6 the strong. Muhammad ali i must bthe greatest vo the joyful. Bob ross a happy little cloud. Man 3 we believe there is always more we can uncover. Girl more we can explore. Woman 3 we believe. Man 6 . In the capacity for goodness. Vo and the potential for greatness. Man 7 the torch has been passed to a new generation of americans. Man 1 pbs. Man 3 pbs. Girl pbs. Captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc woodruff good evening. Im judy woodruff. On the newshour tonight covids toll. The u. S. Records its deadliest day since may, as officials struggle to manage social restrictions. I talk to n. B. A. Commissioner adam silver about the practical realities of Holding Events during the pandemic. Then, pandemic summer. For young people, temporary Coronavirus Response jobs take the place of traditional summer jobs, now in short supply the money that these programs provide seems very likely to help fill a gap between need and income right now. Woodruff and, its friday. Mark shields and david brooks analyze the choice of kamala