The freeman foundation. By judy and Peter Blum Kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. And byontributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. This is bbc world news america. Reporting from washington, im jane obrien. Ceremonies are held across the United States to markve the 19th anrsary of the terror attacks of 9 11. After neay two decades of war, between the Afghan Government and the taliban. Brazil continues to grapple with the coronavirus and as cases increase, the Indigenous Community is at even greater risk. It has been six months to that date since the who declared covid19 aandemic. What have w, e leaand what do we still need to do . For all of you watching on pbs and around the globe, welcome to world news america. Its been 19 years since the 9 11 hijackings killed nearly 3000 people in what remains the deadliest attack on u. L since the second world war. Throughout the country today, move memorls memorials were held in remembrance of the victims President Trump attended a ceremony in pennsylvania. Rmer Vice President joe biden was at a ceremony in new york, where planes crashed into the world trade center. Our north america correspondent nik gowing has this report. Nik not 11, the day that separated the past and the future. Methis city beround zero. John f. Gamboa. Nik families of the victims wore masks, but on a day of such high emoti it was hard to maintain social distance, at a time of mass morning in america. Lddona trump marked the solemn day in shanksville, pennsylvania, where ulited airlinest 93 crashed into a field after passengers tried. To overpower the hijacke f the heroes ght 93 are an everlasting reminder that no matter the danger, no matter the threat, no matter the odds, america will always rise up, stand tall and fight back. [bagpipes playing] nik joe biden began his day by playing by paying respect at the 9 11 memorial and suspending campaigning in the president ial race. T has prented himself as empathy candidate, a father who has suffered enoieous personal and understands the bereavement of others. In the aftermath o 9 11, america came together in the face of a common enemy. But that hasnt happened in response to covid19. E pandemic has exposed the polarized state of this nation. This anniversary is hard to detach from the looming president ial election, but i the waters of lower manhattan, some supporters of donald trump made theirresence felt. Political no go zones are a thing of the american past. Bbc news, new york jane t as the first formal peace talks between afghan officials and the taliban are set to begin inatar tomorrow. U. S. Secretary of state mike pompeo will be attending. Joining me for mos former defense secretary for mores former defense secretary william cowan. Almost two decades on william cohen. After two decades on, a we finally the point where these talks could conclude a long and costly war . Mr. Cohen next to the bbc for having me on. It is a solemn moment in the United States. It has been world transforming. Im delighted you marked opening your program with it. With respect to afghanistan, there isnt anyisuestion that war has run too long. And we have to focus now on really reducing the size of that force, to make it to counterterrorist type of policy or force structure, and that is make sure that al qaeda doesnt come back or that the talibanin doesnt do some th again poses a threat to the reon and ultimately all of us. So i think that the time has come. I think the agreement is near, and i think all of us should celebrate that. Jane you mentioned the taliban. There is a lot of concern that with any former taliban rights could be se back, how do you stop thpening . Men. Mr. Cohen we are not going to stopt happening. Most of it is going to have to come from them. And to the extent that afghanistan is in any waynd depet on outside forces, that means social, economic, diplomatic, that will eventually take place. It is not something we can impose. We found that in the past 19 year. We cant impose our structure upon them. We cant impose our values upon them. Othey will have continue to evolve. The best we can hope to do is to try to bring about an effort to counter the terrorist activity, andhen hope the Afghan People will see that it is in theires best intto become a modern nation and not left in the backwash of history. Jane after all these years, how would assess american involvement in afghanistan . Has it been success mr. Cohen i t has been successful to the extent we were go in and basically decimate al qaeda units who were there. Longterm, we will he to wait and see. There is no immediate end and you can never say it is finally over, mission accomplished, we can walk away. I think ware always goi to have terrorist groups. They will locate, whether in afghanistan or some other country, to gain a foothold and try to radicalize others. As we are winding down our effort, we are going to keep some presence, i hope, on a much smaller basis, but nonetheless to be able to respond quickly and regenerate forces if need be. It would be misleading on our part that we are out, it is, ov dont think that will be the case. We have to have other countries, india, pakistan, other countries in the middle east. Jane re sry, before we run out of time, i want to turn to the middle east. Bahrain has become the latest arab nation to normalize relations th israel. Do you think that this is going to bring the palestinians to the negotiating table . Mr. Cohen i cant say. As more countries establish relations with israel, bahrain is one, we have the uae, who led the way. I expec saudis wevl have to uate what they are going to do in the future as well. They all really look at iran as the most existential threat. This ivos a relationshiping between the saudis, bahrainis, uae and others. They are seeing iran as the threat,l. Not isr so that is a good thing, seeing more golf states saying more gulf states saying we need protect ourselves and those who want to move forward in this century and a positive and productive way. Jane sec. Cohen, thank you so much for joining make yourrn ls o brazil, one of the countries worst affected by the itsenous communities are particularly vulnerable, but eny tribes may less exposed to coronavirus because they are reluctant to engage wit outsiders. It also means they have very little immunityou to diseases. South american correspondent katy watson is in brazil. Katie between searing heat and covid19, people stay indoorsiln thisge come away from the outside world as much as possible. Signs are pted reminding them of the invisible midst. T in their today, the Community Health team has registered a new case. One of the village leaders has caught the virus. In the very beginning, gyre Bolsonaro Jair bolsonarohe broff the virus, saying it was mo really th mostl elderly. Ndra, who invited us sandra oh, who invited us sandro w invited us into the community, said the deaths if we lose a leader, if we lose a member of the community. We are losing everything, medicines, culture, language. Katie this village hasnt escaped the virus, but nobody has died. In more remote communities where illegal mining and logginare rife, and were criminals have no respect of protected land, Indigenous People have paid a price. There are some lifelines, though. There are shelters in towns across the amazon where people can seek help. And this, a crucial way of communicating with remote villages. A woman is on the line, asking after a relative who has been admitted to hospital. It is good news. She is fine, she is told. A nurse for indigenous communities works here at the shelter, looking at those with the virus and everyone else on top of that. It has not been easy. 175yearold matriarch one 75 eur matriarch called covid19. A c colleagueled for a plane to pick her up but when it arrived, she didnt want to go. Neither did the family. They think that when a patient is admitted to hospital, they die. They asked for another plane, but it was too late. They needed a casket instead. Kati for those who accept t medical help,here are other challenges. This is a special indigenous wing with two patients, but they wont come without their families, so doctors have to accept that isolation is an impossible ask. Indigenous people Indigenous People have low ruresistance to some especially the flu. They ended up coming here to the hospital, and they came into contact with white people. The main thing was to isolate thems much as possible, children especially. Katie brazils indigenobe people shoul safer than the rest of the population, their land protected fwom the outside rld. But ts disease has crept in andan pinned the blame on the bolsonaro government for not doing enough to shield them. Katy watson, bbc news. Jane today marks six months since theorld Health Organization declared covid19 a pandemic. Across the globe, over 900,000 people have died and 20 million have been infected. Joining me is the dean of Brown University school of public health. Thank you very much, for joining me. It has been a steep and metimes ertic learning curve. How would you rate global progress in trying to combat the coronavirus . Thank you for having me on. A difficult questn fo a couple of reasons. We can talkbout some things at have gone very well. The scientific advancement around the virus is extraordinary. T the lx months, we have mede incredible progress and therapies, devel of vaccines, diagnostic tests. So that has been a real bght spot. And there are some countrith have taken lessons we learned and applied them in managed to supess the virus and managed to suppress the virus. And then there are a large number of countries that ignored many of those lessons and gentinue to see very l outbreaks. So very uneven progres the globe, but definitely bright spots for the scientific community. Jane here in the u. S. , travel has started to take up to tick up, people are engaging with coronavirus storie are you worried americans are becoming apathetic or complacent about the virus i am wried, for a few asons. One is, i think there are people, all of us want the pandemic behind us, but some eve theme to be pandemic is behind us, partly because they listen to some political leaders who are saying as much. The problem is, we have 40,0 cases in the United States a day. That is a high number. Eg kids go back to school, travels again, the fall season arrives, i exhose numbers are going to go up. So people becoming apathetic is not the way to manage our way through this pandemic. We are nowhere near done. Weadave as many days a of us as we do behind us. Jane i need you to put your College Administrators hat on. We have seen a number of colleges reopening to in person classes, but also spikes, and sending students home if they have been infected. Our colleges and universities ready for the challenge are colleges and universities ready for the challenge . It depends. Some colleges and universities are acting irresponsibly. Th are not doing quarantining when students arrive. They dont have tesanng and survei programs for their students. And then they do exactly what you described, which is completely unconscionable,ich is when kids become infected, sending them home, so they can tthen spread the infecti their parents and grandparents. That is completely responsible. Ere are responsible, sciencedriven ways of doing this,in quarant, keeping people on campus who become infected. But in fortunatel too few universities unfortunately, too few universities are taking that appro jane what you see as being the next milestone . In six months, will this b over . Laura i do think we will be in better shape. In sixmonth come i he we will have a vaccine that is safe and effective. Will be tested, but my will be tested. There are many hard months to go between now and then. Ja thank you very much indeed for joining me. Lets have a quick look at some of the days other news. At least seven people have been killed in protests in colombia as outrage spreads over the death of a man who was pinned to the ground and repeatedly tasered by police in bogota. The unrest has seen hundreds of protesters clashing with police. The countrys dense minister has said more than 1600 extra officers will be sent to helpck the protests. Foreign ministers of india anh china say the agreed troops from the two countries must quickly disengage from their border standoff. They held talks on the sidelines it was their first meetinghs sie mont of tension along the border turned deadly in june. Britain has signed its first trade deal wi japan. The British Government set the deal with will significantly reduce tariffs on u. K. Pork and beef exports. You e watching bbc world news america. Sto still to come tonight, the boss of one of the world is biggest mining compani i, rio tinto,s forced to quit over the destruction of ancient aboriginal sites in australia. Jane as countries in europe and nortamerica struggled with the coronavirus, theco number of new d19 cases in africa continues to go down each week, withverall numbers remaining consistently low. Here is the bbc in nairobi. The number of cases in africa has been producing by 10each week over the past month. Hethey are baffled whyumber of cases collectively is so small compared to the rest of the world. E caseload here concert constitutes about 5 the number of people who tested positive for covid19 globally. 3. 6 of people who died from the disease are he in africa. Hypotheses have been advanced, a large youthful population, older people ling mostlarin rural s that are sparsely populated, but experts have not arrived at one expla is the cause of these low numbers. Jane officials in oregon have said more than 500,000 people have not been ordered to evacuate because of wildfires. That is more than 10 of the population of the state. T our correspond there and he st to this report. These wildfires is staggerin and as paper, more lives are being lost. Seven bodies were covered from this community alone after the flames were fought back. But around 100 major fires are now burning across the northwestern United States they are doing what they can, but erratic winds are hampering efforts, threatening many communities in three states. Overnight, two othe biggest fires in oregon urged, and manyo more evacu orders have been put in place, including right here, such that now, more than 500,000 people in this state have been told to leave their homes. Those who fled medford, oregon, told of having just minutes to grab what they could their homes were completely engulfed and destroyed. In the last 10 years, we see an avege of 500,000 acres burned in an entire year. We have seen that nearly double in the past three days. We have never seen this amount of uncontainedro fire our state. Correspondent the governor talked about this being the acutempt of climate change. And warned that unprecedented as these fires have been coming to expect more of the same tpe of t devastation future. There is still such a long way go in the fight against this deaths to come. Rs of many more bbc news, sandy, oregon. Jane the chief executive of one wof theld is biggest mining companies, rio tinto, announced he is aving the firm after second everett leaving the sites in australia werel destroyed. The company went ahead with the demolition despite the opposition of original aboriginal owners. Correspondent a land that dates back millennia, destby mining giants. The blast of the shelters was legally sanctioned for the expansion of a rio tinto iron ore mine. It went against the lands original owners, who were shocked and devastated. The caves were seen as one ofst lias most significant Archaeological Research sites and had shown evidence of continuous human habitation dating back 46,000 years. They also sat on nearly 8 million tons of highgrade iron ore with an estimated valuef under 100 million. It was approved by the last liberal National Government in 2013. It a w disappointing decision, and as we said from the very beginning, iunas very unfoe this took place. These caves and this history cant be replat d. Correspond rio tinto has been heavily criticized for its handling of the scandal. Last month, it was slammed for not going far enough when it stripped three executives of multimillion dollar bonuses, but kept them on. Now, after months of escalating pressure from aboriginalroups on top shareholders, ceo jean sebaian shock and two other sebastian . Jeaques and to others step down. But there are still cor action. I am calling for a forensic review of their since the there systems and policies. It needs to be aboriginal led. Correspondent the scandal raised questions about government responsibility to ensure protection of historical ancestral areas. It also highlights the great imbalance of power bween austrias influential Mining Industry and traditional landowners, difficult tonsil for a untry with a wealth of natural resountes, and anc sites dating back tens of thousands of years. Bbc news, sney. Jane another blow to the worlds culturalitage. Before we go, climbing ice in africa may seem unlikely. But atop Mount Kilimanjaro, africas highest peak, you can find i this canadian weimer traveled to the glaciers around Mount Kilimanjaro in a race against time, before the ice melts permanently. This is his second climb up the mountain, in an attempt to achieve thrdls and underst why the ice is melting. He and his team found that since his last trip in 2014, glaciers have lost over 50 of their ice mass. He made it up the peak safely effects of climate change, soh there ce probably more wanting in his futu. No ice cliing for me in mind, but have a good weekend, everybody. Narrator funding for this presentation of this program is provided by. Language specialists teaching spanish, french and more. Raymond james. The freeman foundation. By judy and peter blumovler foundation; pursuingions for americas neglected needs. And tributions to this pbs station from girl we are the curious. Woman 1 wow man 2 oh daniel tiger grrr man 2 those venturing out for the first time. All blast off [rocket explosion] man 4 whoa man 5 are you seeg this . Cking] vo we are the hungry. Cookie monster cook man 6 the strong. Muhammadeali i must be the grtest 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 belie. Man 6 . In the capacity for goodness. Vo and the potential for grtness. Man 7 the torch has been passed to a new gs. Eration of americ man pbs. Man 3 pbs. Girl pbs. Y judy j good evening on the newshour tonight, the fire burns on. 10 of oregon under Evacuation Order amid a rising death as officials look to better weather. Then,. Vote 2020 President Trump holds a rally with thousandsf mostly massless maskless supporters. Plus, 19 years later, children born on september 11, 2001 are w eligible to vote in a country and world forever shaped by the events of that day. It is friday and we consider