The freeman foun. Ti by judy and Peter Blum Kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. And by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. Ank you. America. Nese leader waseafter the le killed. One man is found guilty. From ground zero tparty centra this is wuhan, china, if you can believe it. Madness, or a glimpse of what is possible . And when home becomes your workplace and in a classroom too. How School Closures and covert concerns are affecting parents in new york. I am the mother of two small kids and my husband and i both work fulltime. We are also struggling with what to do. Welcome to world news america on pbs and around the globe. 15 years as a long time to wait for a legaldi v, but they finally got one. A special u. N. Backed crt convicd a man accused of killing the former Prime Minister in a truck bomb in 2005. The three other men accused were acquitted. Almembers of the shia military group are still at large. Reporter leading praye atis grave in beirut, their note doubts about who killed his brothe the family and their supporters blame has ba heh,zbolla because he was challenging its backers in iran andyria. He was killed with 21 others on the 14th of february 2005. When his motorcade was in beirut in 2000, i asked him about syrias poweebanon. He chose his words carefully. Syria s h much. They have influence beyond any doubt. Reporter the trial was held in the hague beirut was too dangerous. It cost almost 1 billion and produced a single conviction. He is a wellconnected hezbollah operative. Like all the suspects, never arrested, not in crt, always protected by his organization. The acquittal of the three others disappointed supporters. Thbut no have a leader against the Trial Chamber is of the view that syria andezbollah may have had motives to eliminate mr. Hariri and some of his political allies. But there is no evidence that hezbollah leadship had any involvement in his murder, and theres no direct evidence of syrian involment in it. Reporter demands fhange have redoubled in beirut since the port explosion a fortnight ago pushed lebanon closer to national collapse. Another hariri son believes power is slipping away from hezbollah and its lebanese allies. We need the heat of the intenal community. That there is a full divorce d between us e confederation. Reporter you mean hezbollah . Hezbollah and the warlords and all that supported them. We have massive economic collapse, massive financial collapse. We have beirut in taers. And now this judgment. Reporter rafik hariris statue beirut, the cit he built. Hezbollah and its backers deny any part in his assassination and as always, they push back lets go to the hague where i am joint by our foreign correspondent. Listening to that report, the zbdge chose his words carefully when it came to lah, saying that it not find evidence that the hezbollah leadership was involved. Is the implication just that this was a bunch of rogue bad apples . So, basically, they said this did not happen in a political vacuum, so they took into consideration all th events running up to rafik hariris assassination on valentines day, 2005. The fact that he had held meetings and vocalized h opposition to syrias continued military and cli lcal presence anon. This all really censored unserved some upthey relie telecoms data. There was a secret network of anonymous call phones that were used to colocate the defendants mobile phones. And using them, they were able to trace the people in the vicinity of the blast csurying out theillance. It was only one of them that they found enough evidence beyond reasonable doubt be able to confer confirm all of these chargers. What it came down to in the end theai judgeswas the knowledge that the aim of this whole conspiracy would in the end be to assassinate rafik hariri. Host it has taken 15 years and i do not know if this is just a strange coincidence ofouiming, but ofe this verdict has come as lebanon could not be more on ed. What is the Impact Likely to be back in beirut and lebanon . Guest it is already such a fragile state. As you heard jeremy mentioning, the economic crisis, coronavirus cases are rising. It is two weeks to theth day sie blast that killed 180 people. There are links. As people are pushing together the pieces of their shattered lives, many ofki them are l at what has been happening in the hague, even thougit was 15 years ago. They are asking for some kind of international intervention. What the tribunal here, the ultimate goal is to find justice for victims, but also proves some level of accountability is possible in lebanon. So they are saying look, this is exactly what we need. At theame time you heard about hariri, who was in court, as was i and relatives. It is a complicated case. If he is to go for reelection as Prime Minister, he will need the support of hezbollah, which of course is a powerful political and military organization inside the country. Soth althoug was 15 years ago, its still almost just a relevant today, this judgment. Host 15 years in the making, a result that is still bendg watched arhe world. Here in america, the first night of the unusual democratic conventionas dominated by a speech by the former first Lady Michelle obama. Toght it is the turn of the woman who would like to follow her into the white house, dr. Jill biden she is the wife of presumptive nominee joe biden. In a few hours time she will make the case for her husband and introduce herself to voters in a recorded speech from wilmington. We take a look at the educator who has already become second lady, and may will become first lady. Report joe bidens favorite diner in wilmington,tehes ex about her famous customers white house bid. The cheeseburgerloving biden, who persuaded presidenobama to drop by here, is a people person. People love him and respect him here. Reporter do you think youd be a good president . D i think you a wonderful president. He has been doing this for many, ny years. He knows exactly what he is doing. That is what the country needs. Repoer the Star Attraction of tonights Democratic National convention will be jil biden, the wife of joe biden. She will speak from here inside the classroom where she once taught. This comes at a time whennt pa and teachers across america are struggling with how to go back to school in the era of coronavirus. Jill bid willpeak about why her husband should be president g coot off the heels of Michelle Obamas direct attack on president trump. The train station name for wilmingtons famous son, michle obama speech made an impact. You have to have deaf ears not to hear what she was trying to say. I think overall, people are just tired. They are drained and they want something better. And she brought that in her speech. Her attesting to the character of joe biden, and that he will be a good president , a good man. And hes able to work with people acros aisle, and i think that is a real asset. I do not think trump can work with people even in his own aisle. Report delaware is safe democratic territory, of course. Senator chris coombs hope the Virtual Convention will resonate. I am real missing the balloon drop and the parties and the cheering crowd. Tbut if saves a few american ilives, am happy that we are doing it virtually. Reporter that is the message thobiden campaign is trying contrast with the frenetic trump presidency, hoping to win over the ters. Host joe biden walked workfu time through her husband was Vice President , carrying on an educator of a Community College in the region. I wonder if she would do the same if joe biden gets elected president. As the coronavirus continues to disrupt our lives, a series ofim es coming out of wuhan, china is shocking people with what look like scenes om the world we used to know. You can see it. Op hundreds of enjoying themselves at a music festival. But where is the social distancing andheasks . Is this really safe . Wuhan was in tight lockdown between january and april. Apart from one bri outbreak, authorities have reported that the area has largely been coronavirusfree ever since. So are these photo crazy, or is this life as it could be . Joining me forore is an epidemiologist and senior fellow of the federation of american scientists. Thank you very much for joining me. Ats going on here . Is this because wuhan has fectively suppressed the coronavirus to such a degree that they can have these kind of ma celebrations . Or is this just really reckless . Guest wuhan suffered a really bad epidemic back in december and january, as everyone remembers. But as aesult of the virus burning through souch, i believe that a lot of people may have developed some degree of immunity. But im not advocating for herd immunity because it is so dangerous. If you peel few places in the world have been hit as hard as wuhan new york city. And china does an enormous amounton of testin daily basis to make sure that any new cases are quickly contaid. And their lack down back in the day was also much tighter. This is why they basically suppressed it and life is going back to normal im including full parties. Normal, including pool parties. Host so is this what we could be having if we had a much sth cter lockdown and mre testing in the west . Guest absolutely. Ainstead willynilly, lacks a disco lockdown, whether it is the u. K. Or the u. S. , wuhan had aco lockdown that no ond leave their home, not even for food. Basically the Chinese Government delivered food. Here you go, do not leave your house. We will remove people from your family who also testositive. There is was a very serious luck down. Lowockd and their volume of testing was incredible. E we did what they did, we would have the sthing they do right now. But unfortunately we did not commit to that level of commitment. Host t i supposehe fly in the ointment might bthat could pe outside. Come in from even if you had a lot of testing in the city, you had that lockdown, i heard they are even offering tourists a cutprice ticket to join them. What is toe stop thople causing a new outbreak . Guest very vigilant testing. Very vigilant Contact Tracing. And by vigilant, i mean they know where your cell phone sim card has been. It kno every single cell phone tower you have been. So it is a very different kind of voluntary Contact Tracingth that we have iwest, versus obligatory Contact Tracing and strict testing they have in wuhan. This is what wuhan for the most part has basically not only burnt out a lot of the susceptible people, but kept it in check. And i wish we had that, but right now our epidemic is just raging here in the u. S. Host ly brido we trust the data . Are you trusting what you are seeing . Is this a real picture we are getting out of wuhan . Guest i trust it in terms of i think thatverall epidemic is gone. But whether there are still a few pockets of a few dozen casre that pop up nd there, i think it is still possible. Member, asymptomatic is anywhere from 30 to 50 of everyone. So unless you break that chain of transmission with a very hardluck testing and tracing, you cannot be for short. But i tnk wuhan for the most part has defeated it. In contrast to the west, where florida has more cases than all of the eu has an among. Host ok. Thank you for joining us. So interesting to see those pictures of how wuhan was, and now those massive parties. Not sure anything would convince me to go into crowds like that right now. The u. S. Postmasteras general said he is suspending changes to the Postal Service which had led to claims that he was trying interfere in novembers president ial electn. Dejoy, a financial donor to president c trump, said nonges will be made until after the poll, and hel expects pos ballotto be delivered on time. A government spokesman in mali has confirmed that the president and Prime Minister have been arrested by the military. The coup attempt is reportedly being led by a colonel and comes hours after a setiny in which or military personnel were detained by disgruntled nior officers. The u. N. Secretary general has condemned the military action and called for the release of the president and the Prime Minister. The United StatesSenate Intelligence committee has issued a report today whh concludes that the russian government was behind an Extensive Campaign to help mr. P trump becosident in 2016. Egreport a that russian president Vladimir Putin himself ordered the hacking of democratic email accounts. Aito says that members of president trumps inner circle were open to the help. Our correspondent has the story. Reporter it is a lot of it is nearly thousand the conclusions of the mueller investigation, that was the opecial counsel that was looking into the similar. And it concluded, this report, that russia did expect to benefit fro a trump residency. That the presidency. That the Trump Campaign was eager to accept russian help. And the Trump Administration obstructed an investigation into from what we can t theres not any new meaningful expert evidence, but there is a lot of new detail about the web of contact between these two parties. But like the mueller investigation, it does not colude that there was an illegal conspiracy. Host youre watching bbc world news america. Still to come, we are going to trap down the plastic. How decades of pollution has caused lasting damage in our oceans. Nadahost the country has seen a spike in the coronavirus, with average cases doubling in recent weeks in france. Lucy williamson has more. Reporter er the gent has been expanding its precautions over the last few weeks and months. Masks are now compulsory in shops and offices. It has given permission to local authorities to make masks compulsory in some crowded streets. There are hundreds of places across france wear masks are compulsory in public. But this is another move again, thinking about it me time. N th work minister met unions en she came out, it was confirmed. She said that the government was policy from the end of august, wh everyone gets back from holiday, kids go back to school, parents go back to the real crunch time. Hae said this policy covered putting much alld office spaces. Not just t open planned offices, but anywhere where more than one person is working. Host the problem of plastic pollution in the seas is well known, but new suggesting there could be many more tiny particles of waste floating just t beneath surface of the Atlantic Ocean than scientists had previously realized. The findings based on analysis of samples and computer modeling, highlight be largely invisible scale of the pollution clogging the worlds secondlargest ocean. Reporter a common site on any beach. Plastic that we have thrown away, litterinthe shore. In the decades that our discarded mastic waste has been finding its way into the environment, some of it has broken down into tinys that wildlife can mistake for scientists set o to find all that michael plastic. Particles smaller all of that micro plastic. Particles smaller than a human hair. On an expedition, researchers and found between 12 million and 21 mlion tons of plastic is floating in the upper lays of the atlantic. By measuring the mass of very smalmicro plastic particles in the top 200 meters of the Atlantic Ocean, we arrived at a new estimate of the load of plastic in the entiretlantic, which is much larger than the previous estimate of 17 million tons that we thought we had put vein in the past six he fi years. Reporter the team only searched for the three most commonly used packaging plastics, so they say their estimate is likely to be conservative. But what all these microscopic fragments shout that decades of our plastic pollution has been washed out of riversonr even blown the wind into the ocean. Some of that is plastic waste. Years ago. We buried years ago. This hump of earth is a landfill site not in use anymore, but all the rubbish that was burd here, you can e a lot of it is plastic, it is just coming out of the ground as the sea erodes this away. So even when this plastic is disposed of formally and put into landfill, it is finding its way out of the ground and into the sea. Reporter even through the coronavirus pandemic, volunteers have continued to pick up plastic litter from beaches. Some environmental groups say the ndemic itself has reignited our addiction to single use plastics. The disposable mask is now more pervasive than ever. We find more disposable masks p thstic bags on beaches. What we are really asking is that, if as much as possible, people can reduce their use of single use plastics, and people n dispose of it carefully. Reporter over e years, much of this pollution has become too small to see. But as this search reveals, it is not going away. St we have known about ts for a weeks, millions of supposed to go back to school. But with covid still spreading, many schools have decided not to reopen, or are opting for a hybrid model, meanings students would go to school for just one day a week. The rest will happen online. But even that is not as easy for parents as it sounds. Reporter when new York City Schools are probably closed in march, nancy went from being a mom to teacher for her three kids. Their school became their twobedroom apartment she shares with her husband, a fulltime health care worker. Good job reporter she admits teaching at home was hard. A local charity helped by givin the kids laptops so they could keep up with her lessons online. And this fall, she has decided they will not attend school in person. m going to keep my kids at home. I choose 100 remote learning, because now i know i can manage better. S i ruggling in the beginning. I was trying to do stuff on m ow but i learned to ask for help. Reporter fullhi disclosure, story is also personal. I am the mother of two sma kids and both my husband and i work fulltime. We are also struggling with what to do come autumn. Given the abnce of many Viable Options for working parents by the city or the state, Aaron Gilbert is taking matters into her own hands. She is pooling resourcith other families and hiring a private teacher. It comes at a significant financial cost,te but the ative is not sustainable. Me and my husband are both able to work at home, so we are very fortunate. But we are both working from home, so the home is now the office. We are both on Conference Calls all day. Our apartment is 500 square feet. So including a first grade srclm, and curriculum on top of that, we just cannot do it. This is not a woman problem. This is an economic problem. Reporter a she is not wrong. A study last year by a coalition of Business Executives suggested economy because of childcare issues like absenteeism costs 57 billion a year. The covid19 pandemic has turned a financial headwind into a hurricane. But nancy is an optimist. Althoughdsuggling the nee of three kids of different age will not be easy, she feels better knowing her kids are home and safe. Host spare a thought to the parents of young child they are doing heroic work. Before weo, coronavirus has stopped a lot of us from being able to visit our favorite beaches this summer. As much as we might miss getting out on the water, seems some of the beachs animals maybe imagine the surprise of these jet skiers when they got some unexpected and very from the company. Theyere part of a rescue teamin he u. K. Were dispatched to put out a fire on a jet ski this weekend. Luckily no one was hurt. Rthe dolphinsortedly stayed for about 15 minutes before moving on. They just seemed happy to have someone to play with. Very nice. I like that. Makes me feel a little bit calmer you can find more of the days all on our website. R i am on twit well. You can think you can see i will see you back here tomorrow. Narrator funding for this presentation of this program is provided by. Innguage specialists teach spanish, french and more. Raymond james. The freeman foundation. By judy and Peter Blum Kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglecd needs. And by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Nat theeight of the conflict. Into vietnam he tecame a single parent of younchildren. We moved a lot. We slept in restreas. We slept in our car. I didnt realize that we were actually homeless. It makes your world really small. Happened to have a tv, it was really special. We loved nova. Especially when it would be about space. We would talk for hours about the universe. Watching nova, i felt big, like, my mind was big, g. My ideas were bi the trajectory of my life changed. I could see a world outside of our poverty and i felt like things were going to get better. Pbs opened up a world i didnt know existed. Captioning sponsored by cnewshour productions, ll woodruff good evening. Im judy woodruff. On the newshour tonight Virtual Convention. Democrats launch a froated attack on the president as they prare to officially name joe biden as the partys president i nominee. Then, the russia file. The senate intellince Committee Says the 2016 campaign chairmans ties to russian intelligence and kremlin aies posed a grave counterintelligence threat. Plus, rmoil in lebanon. The militant Group Hezbollah after the beirut blast and an International Murder trial. And, 100 years later. We examine the state of womens power in politics with gloria