Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by and by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ifill the death toll from stunning explosions in northeastern china rose to 50 today, and was expected to go higher. The blasts erupted last night in tianjin, at port facilities packed with petrochemicals. Jonathan rugman of independent Television News has this report. Reporter this was the Warehouse District of tianjin, one of chinas biggest ports in a country proud of being the manufacturing and export hub of the world. Today, tianjin was exporting over 700 injured people to local hospitals. And the fires raging here are feared to be so toxic. That firefighters withdrew this afternoon to let them burn. The first explosion happened just before midnight. One eyewitness said it sounded like the start of a war. The second was several times bigger. Seismic monitors registered the detonation as the equivalent of a 2. 9 earthquake. This industrial disaster in a city of 15 Million People some of them living less than a mile away. China often tries to stifle bad news. But how to stifle this . When its filmed on a mobile phone and posted online, this just a hundred miles from beijing itself. I heard the explosion. I laid down immediately. The security bootd was destroyed completely. Chinas president has demanded any culprit be severely handled while the Warehouse Manager has been detained. Troops trained to deal with chemical disasters have now been sent. translated we are facing a very complicated situation. We have a very short time the handle this accident. We want the prevent further loss before we are absolutely clear about materials in the explosion sight, we must be very prudent and cautious, so we asked the military for their help. 10 hospitals are treating the injured. 18 firefighters are reported missing. Some 6,000 people have been evacuated. These extraordinary pictures suggest transparency rather than cover up. Shipping containers crumpled like used drinks cartons. The skeletons of hundreds of brand new cars in this the tenth biggest port in the world. But the august heat is intense here. And if chinese authorities fail to provide answers, local anger could soon boil over. Ifill chinese authorities did partially limit social media posts about the explosions. And, they warned there would be zero tolerance for creating rumors. Woodruff the other story today out of china was their move to ease fears that the value of their currency could drop even more. The yuan has fallen nearly 3 this week, roiling world financial markets. But Chinas Central Bank dismissed talk that it might allow a 10 decline. A top official said, this is sheer nonsense. It is totally unfounded. Ifill the Greek Parliament moved tonight to push a formal bailout agreement through parliament. Lawmakers spent hours debating a rescue package worth about 93 billion. It mandates unpopular new austerity measures, including more spending cuts and tax hikes. The ruling syriza party has faced a rebellion in its ranks, and its relying on opposition support to approve the deal. Woodruff iraq today strongly criticized general ray odierno, the retiring chief of the u. S. Army, for suggesting the country may have to be divided. A spokesman for Prime MinisterHaider Alabadi called the generals comment irresponsible. Odierno was asked about the iraqi situation yesterday, at his final pentagon news conference. I think there might be some alternative solutions that might have to come into this sometime in the future, where iraq might not look like it did in the past. It might be the only solution, but im not ready to say that yet. Woodruff chunks of iraq are already controlled by Islamic State militants, kurds and shiites. And today, an Islamic State bombing in baghdad killed dozens of people. Well have a full report, after the news summary. Ifill back in this country, the Supreme Court of connecticut has ordered an end to executions. That decision today spared the lives of the 11 inmates still on the states death row. They were sentenced in advance of a 2012 law that abolished capital punishment. The court ruled, 4 to 3, that carrying out those executions now would amount to cruel and unusual punishment. Woodruff u. S. Customs officials returned a stolen picasso to french hands today, more than a decade after it was stolen in paris. The work, known in english as the hairdresser, is valued at 15 million. Customs agents recovered it in december, and their director handed it over today, in a ceremony at the French Embassy in washington. While we recognize that there is certainly a value thats been attached to this particular painting, we take pride in the fact that art like this is truly priceless. And were so glad that its going to be shown to the world again. Woodruff the painting was found in a package shipped from belgium to new jersey. The shipping label described it as a handicraft worth 37. So far, no ones been arrested. Ifill sightings of drones by Airline Pilots and others have more than doubled in the last year. The federal Aviation Administration says its received more than 650 reports this year. Some of the drones were spotted as high as 10,000 feet. Just yesterday, a medevac helicopter, with a patient on board, had to dodge a drone near fresno, california. I think people just need to remember that were up in the air as well. Its not a toy that theyre flying around, you know, its up in our space, and if it were to contact the aircraft, it would create a pretty catastrophic situation. Ifill also this week, four commercial flights spotted drones nearby, as they came in to land at newarkliberty International Airport in new jersey. Woodruff wall street spent the day looking for direction, but didnt find much. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 5 points to close near 17,410. While the nasdaq fell about 11 points, and the s p 500 slipped 2. Ifill after 45 years, the pbs mainstay sesame street is getting a new partner hbo. The producers of the iconic Childrens Program announced the fiveyear deal today. It calls for new episodes to air first on hbo and then, nine months later, on pbs stations. Woodruff and, its confirmed president warren g. Harding did, indeed, have a daughter out of wedlock. The New York Times reports d. N. A testing now proves the 29th president fathered a child by a mistress, nan britton, before he was elected. The daughter, Elizabeth Ann blaesing, died in 2005. Ifill still to come on the newshour the fight to take down the Islamic State and stop sex slavery. The damage done by wildfires in the west. And much more. Woodruff the fight against the Islamic State hit another setback today, as the Extremist Group claimed responsibility for the deaths of more than 60 people in a baghdad truck bombing. Its one of the deadliest attacks in the iraqi capital in years. Just after dawn, a truck bomb ripped through the jameela food market in the mainly shiite neighborhood known as sadr city. translated it was around 6 00, and the market was very crowded. Here basically everyday from five to seven is crowded, especially at this side. There are many bombings in the world, but that like this at such a crowded place is quite rare. This is why its such a tragedy woodruff smoke rose from the charred debris, as rescuers pulled bodies from the wreckage. And at a nearby hospital, families tended to wounded relatives. The Islamic State group, dominated by sunni extremists, claimed responsibility. In a social media post, it said shiites must, experience the same harm as their bombardments cause to our muslim people. The attack came as iraqi Prime MinisterHaider Alabadi is under pressure to drive back the militants. Hes pushed reforms through parliament this week to root out corruption and bolster the military. Meanwhile, the u. S. Military says it launched its first manned air strikes from turkey yesterday on Islamic State targets in syria. But the Turkish Foreign minister disputed that statement today. translated yesterday, u. S. Forces did not hit Islamic State targets after taking off from turkey. Air strikes against Islamic State are currently being carried out from other countries in the region, like jordan. Jets taking off from turkey have not yet joined the operation, those are reconnaissance flights. Woodruff turkey has stepped up its own involvement in the fight against isis, but the foreign minister said today his government does not plan to send Ground Forces into syria. Now, to the human toll exacted by the Islamic State during its rule over parts of iraq and syria. For that, we turn to New York Times reporter, rukmini callimachi, who wrote today of a brutal, ritualistic sex slave trade that the Islamic State has imposed on thousands women and girls. They belong to the yazidi sect, a persecuted religious minority. And rukmini joins me from Northern Iraq via skype. Rukmini, welcome. I think people can tell from the subject that this is a really horrific thing that you were writing about. I just want to warn our viewers before we go any further, but remind us how this all started just about exactly a year ago when isis was on the move in iraq. It was exactly a year ago on august 3, 2013, isis has recently taken the secured mosul and they then set their sights just to the north. They invaded the mount. People assumed initially it was just another part of their expansion strategy, but from the very beginning it was clear that there was Something Else going on. Survivors tell us that men and women were immediately separated within the first hour, and the fighters arrived with fleets of buses and empty trucks and that they were used to herd the women away. So they came with a plan to take the women and girls for the sexual conquest that then followed. Woodruff what did they do with these women . You write how they transported them and took them to different locations. How did they treat them . What happened is they were initially taken to a series of, if you will, holding pens. Most of them were in the city of mosul inside the galaxy wedding hall, inside the ministry of youth, inside a former prison. And the women say they arrived at these enormous halls. They were already outfitted with plates with accoutrements, with food, so they had planned to put large numbers of people there. And they very soon after isis fighters showed up and they began doing a very Detailed Survey of the people in their possession. The women were asked to give their first, middle and last name, their village, their marital status, the number of children they have. And then they were asked incredibly personal questions, such as how long ago did you have your last period, and they then divined that the fighters were trying to figure out if they were pregnant or not because there is a sharia ruling about not being able to have sex with a pregnant slaism from there the women were further separated into young and old, beautiful and unattractive and in batches they were taken away and then bought and then further sold to fighters who use them as sex slaves. Woodruff and you had some im sure very Difficult Conversations with these women who were able to escape the isis fighters. What kinds of things did they tell you . You know, judy, ive done interviews with rape victims all over the world in congo, in guinea, in mali, and these are some of the hardest interviews that ive done. The horrors that these women were forced to endure really challenged the imagination. What they talk about is how systematic the rape was and how they tried to, you know, protest and they tried to ask the fighters why are you doing this to me, and everything was cloaked in a religious justification. They told them, we are infidels. You are unbelievers. They are not muslim. They do believe in seven angels and are therefore considered polytheists by isis. The fighters explained to them because of their lack of faith, the koran gives us the right to rape you, and whatever we do is not only justified in scripture, it is considered virtuous. The most interviews to do were with the very young women, one was 12, another was 15, and they described how the fighters got on the floor and prayed before getting on top of them and raping them, and then after the rape, they would go and take a shower and then pray again. So the acts of the Sexual Assault itself, the acts of rape were book ended in an act of religiousness. Woodruff this was repeated. This went on for months and months. Hundreds of these women are still being held in captivity. This is still happening to them. Just quickly, rukmini, you wrote about one woman whose captor gave her a paper of emancipation. What happened . This is whats really curious about this, judy. It really reminds you of what happened in the American South in the preabolition times. There is a scripture for release of slaves considered very virtuous. So what we found that was in the case when a woman was bought by a suicide bomber, at the moment when the suicide bomber was getting ready to set off on his final mission, in two cases that i spoke to, that i interviewed, the women were given a certificate of emancipation and they were freed, and they were, in the case of one of the girl, i was actually able to see the certificate and we were allowed to photograph it, it gave her basically the right to be a free muslim woman. It says that she is under the rule of the Islamic State and has all of the duties and responsibilities of being a muslim woman. And this certificate that she got laminated allowed her to pass the checkpoints that finally allowed her to go to safely and return to her family last month here in iraq. Woodruff there is so much more to this story. It is just incredibly disturbing and we really only have begun to touch on it. I highly recommend it to anyone, to everyone to read more of this. Rukmini callimachi joining us from iraq. We thank you. Thank you. Ifill 12,000 firefighters are battling 14 active wildfires in california, and the state, which is in its fourth year of drought, is on track to have one of its worst fire seasons ever. The newshours cat wise spent time this week in one of the hardest hit areas lake county, north of san francisco. Is there a fire by you . Someone just called one in. They said there are flames and black smoke. Reporter rancher lonne sloan is keeping a close eye on the horizon these days. For the past week, sloan and her husband larry have been on the frontlines of wildfires raging across california. Their 340 acre ranch, near the town of lower lake, went up in flames last wednesday during one of the states biggest fires so far this year called the rocky fire. This was our equipment shed. The fire started over the hill. Reporter the sloans, who managed to save their home with the help of nearby fire crews, estimate they lost about 150,000 dollars of equipment, most of it uninsured. This was my horse trailer that is melted. I ride horses professionally in parades reporter their property, like so many in the area, is now a moonscape totally devoid of any vegetation. A sign of the intensity of the blaze that went through here. The rocky fire began july 29th and burned nearly 70,000 acres and 43 homes. Its is now almost fully contained. But on sunday, a new wildfire, called the jerusalem fire broke out nearby and quickly began spreading. Its only 30 contained, and has burned 20,000 acres. The fires, which have now merged, are burning in hilly terrain with heavy brush known as chaparral. High temperatures, unpredictable winds, and extremely dry conditions in the area have been a bad mix for firefighters. Weve seen some pretty dramatic fire behavior. Reporter captain Steve Kaufmann is a firefighter and Public Information officer from Ventura County who has been assisting on the ground for the last two weeks. Because the fuels are bone dry and theres no moisture whatsoever in most of our fuels, is its like theyre explosive. Its almost like they all catch fire at once. Ive been a firefighter for almost 20 years, ive heard 30 year firefighters and 40year firefighters say theyve never seen this kind of fire behavior in their career. Reporter california, like many states throughout the west, is no stranger to wildfires. But the ongoing drought is creating conditions that fire crews are having a tough time managing with their standard tools. Fires are burning intense, so intense that theyre going beyond the capabilities of the models. Reporter jeff shelton is a fire behavior specialist. We met up with him at the command post for the rocky and jerusalem fires. Shelton uses a Sophisticated Software program that models fire behavior so he can keep fire crews informed about what the fire might do. But shelton says