♪ geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on the “news hour” tonight, the first american pope is elected to lead the catholic church, robert prevost, now leo xiv. geoff: the united states and united kingdom announce a trade framework that would alleviate some of president trump's tariffs. amna: and we speak with billionaire bill gates about why

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this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: welcome to the “news hour.” a new pope has been elected, and in a major surprise, an american has been chosen for the first time. geoff: robert francis prevost will now be known as pope leo xiv. in his first remarks as the leader of more than one billion roman catholics around the world, the pope spoke of peace and building bridges, to a crowd in st. peter's square. in rome, a wave of emotion as the newly elected pope emerged from the balcony of the vatican.

>> la pace sia con tutti voi. geoff: the new pope's first words, peace be with all of you. after two days of voting, white smoke poured from the chimney of the sistine chapel. and the bells of st. peter's basilica rang out. announcing the election of cardinal robert prevost as the 267th leader of the roman catholic church. choosing to take the name, pope leo xiv. >> dear brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the risen christ, the good shepherd who gave his life for the flock of god. i too would like this greeting of peace to enter your hearts to reach your families to all people everywhere to all the earth, peace be with you. geoff: the 69-year-old is the first american-born pope. born in chicago, he graduated from villanova and would go on to live in peru, where he became a bishop, and in 2015 a naturalized citizen. pope leo, who speaks multiple

languages, was considered a close confidant of pope francis. >> this is the peace of the risen christ, a disarmed peace and a disarming peace. humble and persevering it comes from god, god who loves us all unconditionally. we will keep in our ears that weak but always courageous voice of pope francis. geoff: before being named pope today, he held one of the most influential vatican posts, running the office that selects and manages bishops globally. >> it is an exciting moment, i did not expect it, and on this sunny day i feel a great energy in this square. i hope he will be the great successor of pope francis. geoff: the election of the new pope comes at a delicate time for the catholic church, as it navigates lingering sex abuse scandals, internal divisions over lgbtq inclusivity, and financial difficulties. but today rome, and the world,

celebrates pope leo xiv. and the historic nature of the moment. for more on pope leo xiv and what he means both for the church, and for the world's 1.4 billion catholics, we turn now to two guests, both in rome. kim daniels is the director of the initiative on catholic social thought and public life at georgetown university. she is also a member of the group overseeing communications for the vatican. amna: and father tom reese is senior analyst for religion news service and author of inside the vatican, the politics and organization of the catholic church. welcome to you both. father, i want to start with you. for the first time in america -- in history, an american pope. what was your reaction? tom: it was a real shock to have an american elected as pope. we never thought this would happen. i think he made a very good impression. especially by picking the name leo.

leo xiii, his predecessor, was the one who started the church on the road for social justice and social teaching. because in the 19th century he was on the side of the working class, on the side of labor unions, on the side of poor people in his time. i think that is exactly what the new pope leo is also going to do. geoff: kim daniels, what does the rather quick election of pope leo suggest about the cardinals' priorities and the direction they hope to set for the church? kim: i think it is a sign of how much catholics share in common. there is a lot of focus on division but it is a sign of the consensus that built very quickly. it is also a sign of what their priorities are and that is to continue pope francis's vision of spiritual renewal and structural reform. pope leo has the skills, the experience, and the heart to be able to implement those reforms and also is part for mercy and

accompanying the poor and going outward but not inward. that was at the part of pope francis's vision. so it really is extra ordinary. geoff: as the first american-born pope in the history of the catholic church, how might he be able to address the growing disability of catholics in the u.s.? tom: well, of course he has been elected pope for the whole world so he has to deal with the whole world, not just the united states. but because of his knowledge of the united states i think he will be focused on it. what can we do to reach out to young people? how can we make the church more inviting? pope francis was wonderful but the problem was everybody said to themselves, gee, i wish i had pope francis as my pastor. then they would go into their parish and they often didn't find pope francis. so i think that what pope leo

has to do is help the clergy in the united states get on board with the vision that pope francis had and now the vision pope leo is bringing to the church. amna: among the many challenges ahead for the new pope will be of course addressing the sexual abuse scandal. we saw today a statement from the survivors network of those abused by priests saying allegations of the times leo failed to induct adequate tech -- investigations. also allowing a priest to fake his own abuse allegations to live near a catholic elementary school in shakopee we don't have any information other than these allegations. but can he faced these allegations and still lead the church on this issue? kim: of course the first and we have to say whenever we talk about this issue is the priority is to listen to victim survivors and make sure we put accountability and transparency

front and center. so of course that is our responsibility here. i will say there many publications that have looked into this and have talked about pope leo responding in a way that was the standard at the time. i just saw yesterday another group out here talked about the fact an american coming into this position brings the kind of sensibility around this issue. meeting zero-tolerance, meaning an idea that we really need to have accountability in a way that many others might not because we have really focused on this issue very much so in the united states. much more to be done but my understanding is pope leo took the steps he did at the time and brings that sense of accountability and transparency to the conversation. amna: what do you see ahead as some of the biggest challenges for this pope? kim: --

tom: there are so many huge challenges. you have to look at the pope as a leader in the world. but also a leader in the church. in the world we have all these problems of war, of climate change, of refugees, of people starving. and the world governments seem to be not caring anymore about what is happening. so he has to be a prophetic voice for peace, justice, for the disenfranchised, for protecting the environment. and then he has to look at his own church. in the global north we have a declining number of clergy, we have young people turning away from the church. we have to figure out how to preach the gospel of jesus to the people in the 21st century. to get across his mission, his message of mercy, compassion, and how we should respond to

god's love by loving one another. this is a big task that he has. amna: when it comes to some of the other divisive issues the church has grappled with, things like birth control, divorce, lgbtq writes, do you see this pope moving further towards the progressive side as his predecessor pope francis did? tom: pope francis was unusual in that he allowed open discussion of these kinds of issues. but even more important he was welcoming and embraced people who disagreed or couldn't follow the church's teaching. on the other hand he never changed any church doctrine. i would not be surprised if pope leo followed the exact same pattern. geoff: to the degree that these challenges present opportunities, what do you hope to see from pope leo's leadership moving forward? kim: i was really struck by how much pope leo talked about her and suppose of catholic social

teaching in his remarks today. and of course taking the name leo the 14th is really a sign that principles like a commitment to human life and dignity, the dignity of rights and the rights of workers, and workers for the poor, making sure we prioritize that, are all going to be key considerations. i was also struck by the fact talked about walking with the people of god. this to me single -- signals -- it was about walking with people, make sure we increase participation and include laypeople and women, those excluded in decisions in the church. so i am very hopeful about that. geoff: we thank you both for your insights this evening. tom: good to be with you. ♪

amna: turning to the day's other headlines, tensions in south asia are running high tonight after india and pakistan accused each other of firing at their military sites. geoff: secretary of state marco rubio called leaders in both countries and pushed for what he called immediate de-escalation, and direct dialogue. but tonight, there is heavy shelling on both sides of the disputed border. our nick schifrin has more. nick: in the fog of war tonight, there are blackout air raid sirens. indian air defense firing into the kashmiri night sky. and long lines of people in indian-administered kashmir, fleeing out of fear. today, india and pakistan traded volleys and accusations. first, india accused pakistan of a major attack. >> pakistan attempted to engage a number of military targets in northern and western india using drones and missiles. nick: but pakistan insists it didn't fire any missiles or drones.

>> it is such a fantastic and cooked up story. nick: but india and pakistan did acknowledge indian drone attacks across pakistan, against air defense systems in lahore, near india's border. rawalpindi, where pakistan's military is headquartered. and karachi, pakistan's largest city, where an indian drone crashed into the home of faizan ali. >> it hit my house and broke my rooftop, everything became dark below. everything is broken, there was dust everywhere. nick: the nuclear armed neighbors have fought four major wars, three over the disputed territory of kashmir, where in april in pahalgam, gunmen killed more than two dozen mostly hindu tourists. india blamed pakistan. and overnight on tuesday, launched its most widespread aerial attack on pakistan in half a century.

pakistan once again today vowed to respond. >> when pakistan will strike -- you and i, don't need indian media to tell us. the whole world will come to know. reverberations will be felt everywhere. nick: to which indian foreign minister subrahmanyam jaishankar, threatened escalation. >> if there are military attacks on us, there should be no doubt that it will be met with a very, very firm response. nick: but already, both sides are shelling across the de facto kashmir border. in pakistan-controlled kashmir, authorities say at least a dozen have died. in indian-administered kashmir, villagers say at least 15 have been killed. >> it is a terrible loss. we appeal to the government that there should be a ceasefire as soon as possible. nick: neither side wants war, but tonight, there's still fear of escalation, and the mood in cities near the border is darkening. for the pbs "news hour," i'm nick schifrin. amna: back here at home, the

trump administration is asking the supreme court to allow it to remove deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of migrants. they want the justices to block a district court order that upheld temporary legal status. the order relates to more than half a million people from cuba, haiti, nicaragua, and venezuela. those protections were granted by a biden-era policy that allowed people to fly to the u.s. if they had a financial sponsor and passed security checks. in their filing, justice department lawyers argued that the lower court nullified one of the administration's most consequential immigration policy decisions. secretary of state marco rubio says his agency is reviewing the visa status of protesters who clashed with security guards at columbia university. >> free, free palestine. >> free, free palestine. amna: pro-palestinian demonstrators chanted and hung flags at the school's main library, as students were studying for finals.

police say at least 80 people were taken into custody. columbia's acting president called the protest utterly unacceptable, adding that she is quote, deeply disturbed that at a moment when our international community feels particularly vulnerable, a small group of students would choose to make our institution a target. president trump is pulling his pick to be the top federal prosecutor for the nation's capital, after it became clear he did not have the votes among republican senators. ed martin junior has been acting u.s. attorney for the district of columbia since trump's first week back in office in january. a leading figure in trump's stop the steal movement following the 2020 election, martin represented several january 6 defendants in court. he also stirred controversy by firing and demoting a number of prosecutors who worked on politically-sensitive cases. the trump administration is replacing the acting head of fema.

cameron hamilton was removed from his post just a day after making the case for the agency's relevance before a congressional committee. president trump has floated the idea of getting rid of fema altogether. hamilton's dismissal comes less than a month before the start of hurricane season also today, the national oceanic and atmospheric administration says it will no longer track the cost of major natural disasters. those are weather events that cause at least $1 billion in damage. scientists say such disaster are becoming more frequent due to climate change. ukraine and russia are accusing each other of violating a three-day ceasefire called by russian president vladimir putin to mark the nation's victory day holiday. a ukrainian official says russia violated its own truce more than 700 times, starting at midnight last night. meantime, putin welcomed chinese leader xi jinping to the kremlin today. he's referred to xi as the main guest for tomorrow's military

parade, marking 80 years since victory over nazi germany. in kyiv, that anniversary was marked as a somber day of remembrance. president volodymyr zelensky highlighted the difference between ukraine's observances, and the show of force that's expected in moscow tomorrow. >> it will be a parade of cynicism. a parade of bile and lies. as if it were putin personally who defeated nazism. thank god ukraine has not forgotten that, 80 years ago, dozens of allied states fought against nazism. and more than eight million ukrainians, sadly, died in that struggle. amna: elsewhere, the anniversary of v-e day was marked across europe.

german leaders laid wreaths in berlin, where this year's anniversary was marked as a one-off public holiday. president frank-walter steinmeier then warned parliament that russia's invasion of ukraine, and america turning its back on alliances, are defining concerns for this century. in france, president emmanuel macron led a military parade down the champs elysee, before lighting the flame at the tomb of the unknown soldier. and in london's westminster abbey, king charles and britain's royal family attended a service of thanksgiving, where they too remembered the lives lost in the war. on wall street today, stocks rallied amid hopes that president trump can firm up trade deals with other nations. the dow jones industrial average added around 250 points. the nasdaq jumped nearly 200 points, or about 1%. the s&p 500 tacked on about 30 points on the day. and, america's current first lady made a rare public appearance today, by helping pay tribute to a former first lady

at the white house. >> one, two, three. amna: melania trump hosted the unveiling of a new postage stamp featuring barbara bush. as wife to george h.w. bush, she served as first lady from 1989 to 1993. mrs. bush was also the mother of george w. bush, the nation's 43rd president, who was notably absent from today's event. as such, she joins abigail adams as the only two women to be wife of one president and mother to another. barbara bush died in 2018. presales of her stamp begin on saturday. still to come on the “news hour,” the real-world impact tariffs are having on global supply chains. the transportation secretary announces plans to update the nation's air traffic control system. and a brief but spectacular take on training the next generation of builders.

>> this is the pbs “news hour” from the david m. rubenstein studio at weta in washington, and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: president trump and british prime minister keir starmer announced a new trade agreement today. many of the details are still being hammered out. but mr. trump said he believes it will be the first of many in response to his tariffs. as william brangham reports, other countries including china remain open to negotiating with the u.s., but it's far from clear how many will strike a deal. >> this is a very special day because it is victory day, world war ii. william: on the 80th anniversary of world war ii's victory day in europe, president trump sought to claim a different kind of victory in the oval office. >> incredible that that day is the same day we signed a tremendous trade deal for both

countries. william: surrounded by british diplomats, the president announced the rough framework for a trade agreement with the united kingdom. the first deal since he imposed sweeping tariffs on countries around the world last month. >> the deal includes billions of dollars of increased market access for american exports. especially in agriculture, dramatically increasing access for american beef methanol, and virtually all of the products produced by our great farmers. >> i am delighted to welcome you to say a few words. william: from a factory in the u.k., british prime minister keir starmer praised the arrangement which is seen as a political victory for his centerleft government. >> i have wanted to come to you to announce it. we have agreed on the basis of an historic economic prosperity deal. a deal that will protect british businesses and save thousands of jobs in britain. william: while trump and starmer

called the framework a deal, the specific details are unclear. the agreement will leave the 10% tariffs trump imposed on all nations including the u.k. in place. but it will eliminate the existing 25% tariffs on british steel and aluminum. in return the u.k. will open market access for billions of dollars of u.s. goods including beef, poultry, ethanol and other products. the trade relationship between the u.s. and the u.k. is far more balanced than with many other countries. by some measure the u.s. even has a trade surplus. and however this final deal shakes out, it could be more important for the u.k. than the u.s. for while the u.k. is a relatively small trading partner for america, the u.s. is the u.k.'s largest and it is a critical market for some goods including automobiles. while the fundamental details are still being negotiated,

those gathered today were quick to praise the president's dealmaking prowess. from members of his own administration. >> he is the closer. he gets deals done that we could never get done. william: to prime minister starmer who phoned into the white house event. >> i want to thank you for your leadership and for the way in which your team have negotiated this. william: but amid the praise from one ally, threats of retaliation from another. the european union announced today that more than $100 billion worth of u.s. goods could be hit with tariffs if trade negotiations fail. the list includes agricultural products like metes and burden along with manufactured goods like airplane and car parts and more. all this ahead of talks around the much bigger trade war between the u.s. and china that are happening this weekend in switzerland. it comes after weeks of beijing resisting talks, saying it won't kneel down to a quote, bully.

today, the president said he would consider lowering the 145% tariffs he levied on china if the talks bear fruit. >> i mean, we're going to see. right now, you can't get any higher. it's at 145, so we know it's coming down. uh, i think we're going to have a very good relationship. william: so as the trump administration continues these negotiations with trading partners, those higher tariffs are already having real impacts on american businesses and their supply chains. joining us now is ryan petersen. he's the founder and ceo of flexport, a supply chain management firm. thank you so much for being here. many of your clients are small american businesses. how are they responding to these higher tariffs? ryan: it is tough for these businesses. the ones that are buying from china i would say are hit with a mix of paralysis and panic. they don't know much what to do

so a lot of them just paused importing goods from china. we see is 60% decline in ocean freight from china to the u.s. since april 9 when this went live. but businesses can't just pause. at some point they have to sell products in order to make money and pay their employees and stay in business so that is where the panic comes in and they are looking for relief. william: that 60% pause is your client saying penny face of these tariffs we are going to stop our orders from china temporarily and try to figure out what on earth is going on? ryan: yeah. there is also some degree of scrambling. those who are continuing to ship goods, a lot of them have moved cargo into what is called a bonded warehouse. it is a bonded warehouse that allows you to defer your payments of customs duties so you don't have to pay your tariffs until the goods leave the warehouse. so there are a lot of people putting goods into storage expecting duties are likely to come down and when they do they will be able to pay that lower

rate. so businesses are creative, they find a way, but en mass you see a 60's percent the client in shipment. a lot of people are saying let's just sit this one out and see what happens. william: what is the impact on u.s. ports? those are a critical artery for traffic in and out of the united states. what is happening to american ports? ryan: the first to be hit is the west coast just because the transit time is so much shorter than to the east coast. so those have already seen a big drop off. we have seen a 35% decline in l.a. long beach in a number of containers being unloaded this week versus over the prior weeks. so that is fewer workers who need to unload ships. the west coast has come out in opposition to the tariffs. fewer truck drivers are going to be needed. warehouse is downstream, it is going to flow through the whole logistics industry. william: the president was asked about this at the white house

today. a reporter said what about these slowed traffic at american ports. he seemed to imply that it was a good thing, that it was somehow less about us being screwed over as he put it i take it your clients do not see it that way. ryan: definitely not. the reason you do global trade, the reason you buy stuff overseas is it makes your company better off. no one is compelling you to force you to buy goods. you buy it because you can make money doing that. so it is really hurting these businesses. american companies that buy goods overseas causing them to make a lot less money and hurting their ability to hire people. it is definitely sad to see that. the president came in with promises of deregulating things, creating a very pro-business environment, but he has done the opposite. william: what is the impact as far as you can tell on consumers and the prices they pay? ryan: thus far we have seen a

big increase, around a 10% increase in prices for stuff sold on e-commerce, sold online. that has already taken place. if you go to buy things you will see higher prices. famously amazon tried to show those higher prices and was called out by the president, who didn't like that. but you are seeing companies, whether they show it or not, whether they have it on the checkout page, they are raising prices already. william: there was what was called the de minimis exemption and it was suspended recently. can you explain what that is and what the impact has been? ryan: that has exley been one of the biggest impacts so far. de minimis exemption says anything imported into the country that is less than $800 in value can be imported duty free as long as that item is being sent all the way to the final consumer, to your house. and so that was ended on may 2.

for goods from china. and it is a huge impact. lmost 4 million packages per day being imported under the dominium is exemption. 70% of those are coming from china. now, it is not all being shipped from china. a lot of companies had put fulfillment centers in mexico and canada. and so if you order from a lot of e-commerce websites, your goods are being shipped from mexico to your house directly and they are being shipped duty-free. so that is a huge impact. those companies now have to pay duties like everybody else. and that is a big part of these price increases you are seeing. especially in the apparel sector. people buying clothes. there are some famous chinese e-commerce places doing this but a lot of american companies were doing this as well. william: you have likened tariffs to an asteroid coming at the american economy. where are we, in your view, of

the trajectory of that asteroid? is it coming, as it hit, is it about to hit? ryan: i think it is still coming. i think we are at the point that if the administration changes course, or starts to deescalate on these 145% duties from china, which all indications are that they will do that, but it is a question of how loaded they bring it and when do they do that. so, there is still time. if they were to change course quickly and bring the tariffs way down we wouldn't have to worry about this. but every week that goes by you increase the chance of businesses failing en masse. some of the rumors they will bring it down to 50% duty on china. that is still really extreme and a lot of companies will still be at risk of failure. it is very hard to know what is the right duty level. we have seen duties on the rest of the world come in at around 10% during this current pause. that seems like a nonissue. the market has been able to that.

volumes from rest of world into the united states are up about 5% since april 9 when this was announced. seems like companies are ok with the 10%. somewhere between 10% and 145% is where the system can really break. william: that is ryan petersen. thank you so much for being here. ryan: my pleasure. ♪ geoff: transportation secretary sean duffy unveiled a new plan to modernize the air traffic control system, aimed at improving safety and reducing delays by 2028. the overhaul would cost tens of billions of dollars and replace more than 600 outdated systems, including old wiring, the kind of wiring that affected computers at newark airport, which has led to hundreds of cancellations and triggered new questions about the safety of the air traffic control system.

>> so what we use today is copper wires. we're one of the last institutions, one of the last businesses that actually use copper wires. we shop on ebay to replace parts to fix our equipment in the system that keeps you safe. geoff: but the plan faces big hurdles. we're joined now by our aviation correspondent, miles o'brien. it is great to have you here. is what he said true, that you have air traffic controller is going to ebay defined parts to fix the system? miles: i have not heard that detail but it does not surprise me a bit. we are talking about technology that looks like it belongs on the set for apollo 13 or a computer museum. literally floppy disks, which people of a certain generation wouldn't even know what those were. copper wire of course is what carried phone lines into our homes for many years. all of this is outmoded by satellite and fiber technology.

learly that achilles heel needs to be addressed quickly. geoff: this technology that duffy is talking about as a solution at least by 2028? miles: some of the things you have to think about are the radar systems. these old radar, some of them are 50, 60-year-old technology, or 60-year-old radars. they have a built in latency, some as long as 12 seconds for the whole radar to spin around. that is what we are talking about here. that latency is what requires aircraft be separated further than they would be if it was replaced by a satellite-based system, gps-type system. the faa has been slow to move in this direction. and that is one thing. it would be a lot better if air traffic controllers were not

keeping track of aircraft in paper strips which they used to keep track of flights coming their way. there is an awful lot of verbal communication. the use binoculars to make sure the aircraft at the right place at an airport and there are automatic sensors that can be installed that can warn them of a potential collision. all these things are what you need for a modern air traffic control system with the capacity this system requires not now. geoff: wasn't there funding passed into law by president biden for this very thing? miles: yes. the bipartisan infrastructure legislation did in fact have $25 billion over five years for the faa. but if you read the fine print on that one, the money was not allocated for air traffic control. it was for things like airport improvement. so the air traffic control system is in dire need of a fix.

and to see the industry come together as it did today, in a unified way like i have never seen before, proves that that midair collision at reagan national airport in january has been a real galvanizing event. the trick here is you really need to spend the money more or less all at once in order to fix the system efficiently. if it takes too long it costs more, and you have to keep those floppy disks and copper wires and paper strips going simultaneously with the new system. geoff: that is a great point. so what is the interim solution, if there is one? miles: well, improving the communications system would be a good, easy, interim way to get started. what we saw at newark is completely avoidable by just upgrading to fiber and satellite. that is a good start. i think it is important for the industry to come together with

the faa and recognize that the system is beyond capacity. those delays that you saw at new work, if you really think about it, are a way of indicating that the system is responding safely. the faa reduced the amount of traffic into the system because it didn't feel it had layers of safety. so the airlines need to be on board with this as well and the faa should probably be limiting the operations at some of these airports until those cables can be wired in, and those radars can be more reliable to ensure safety. geoff: that is miles o'brien. our thanks to you as always. we appreciate it. miles: you're welcome, geoff. ♪

mna: billionaire bill gates announced today a major change to his philanthropic gates foundation, a doubling of their giving, to more than $200 billion over the next 20 years, when the foundation will close its doors permanently in december of 2045. gates and then-wife melinda french gates created the foundation 25 years ago, and have given more than $100 billion since then, dramatically reshaping the global public health landscape. the announcement comes at a moment of significant cuts to foreign aid from the u.s. and other nations, including to vital programs that fight disease and malnutrition. joining me now from new york is bill gates, and the foundation's ceo, mark suzman. and a note that the gates foundation has previously been a funder of the “news hour.” gentlemen, welcome to you both. thank you so much for joining us. so bill gates, i want to begin with you. this doubling down, quite with you. -- this doubling down, quite

literally, on your philanthropy, giving away virtually all of your wealth over the next 20 years, why this decision and why now? bill: well, as i contemplated this year where i'm turning 70 and microsoft turned 50 and we've had 25 years of amazing work at the gates foundation, you know, i thought, you know, why not bet on the team we have and, you know, get all the way to elimination for a lot of these diseases. our pipeline of innovations is better than ever, whether that's vaccines or using ai to do health delivery. and so we're gonna do as much as we can, and, you know, it's very exciting that we can probably do more good in the next 20 years than the last 25, where we surprised ourselves with how much we were able to achieve. amna: yeah, i do have to ask because you do have children. did any one of them say, are you sure you want to give all this money away?

bill: well, my children are very supportive of this work. you know, they've been -- had a great upbringing and i've given them some resources, although it's a percentage of this fortune that i'm lucky to have, not a high percentage. the vast percentage will and goes to charity. amna: mark suzman, the work done by the foundation over the last generation, among other things it's helped reduce global childhood debts from 10 million a year down to 5 million, helped to save 82 million lives through vaccine support and disease prevention. but as you've previously noted this year, 2025, is the year for eign aid, as you put it, fell off a cliff. so in this new environment, where specifically will you and the foundation focus to maximize your impact. mark: yes, well, as bill said, the main decision to actually accelerate the spend down date

and have a new sunset of 2045 was actually a discussion that bill and i and the board started having well over a year ago, when we were trying to look back and say, where have we had the greatest successes over the last 25 years and how can we have the greatest impact over the next two decades? and it really was in exactly that area of global health you're talking about. so the provision of vaccines for kids was the main reason for that reduction in preventable child mortality, but we've also seen a halving of deaths and the incidents of hiv aids, of tuberculosis, of malaria, and that we really think by that 2045 deadline, there's a plausible pathway to actually eradicate some of the diseases like polio, like malaria, like potentially measles, and bring the other big ones like hiv and tb under control. but that really does require partnerships a big chunk of the success we had in the first two decades was because we did have

fellow travelers coming along like the united states and the united kingdom and france and germany and others. and as you say rightly, they'd already been started to have cutbacks, and then this year, we've seen dramatic cuts from both the u.s., the united kingdom announced cuts of 40%, there are cuts elsewhere in europe. and so we want to strongly make the case both that you can rely on the gates foundation to be a stable, reliable force at the scale we currently pay and our payout is moving up to $9 billion a year, and this will allow us to be at, you know, $9 billion a year and above for the next two decades. but we also want to bring those other funders back. we want to show them that this is the most impactful set of investments they could possibly make to save and improve human lives. amna: bill, on that point, there is really an assault on foreign aid that we're seeing right now by this administration. you yourself have called some of those cuts stunning, saying that you didn't expect them. as you reflect back on the enormous progress made by the foundation, how worried are you about some of that progress being undone, those goals of elimination or eradication not

being able to be met because of these cuts? bill: well, we're already seeing the deaths of children go up. and that's tragic, where after 25 years, it's been constantly going down. now it's going back up and, you know, unless we act very, very quickly to reverse this, it will mean millions of additional deaths. in the end, the congress has set these budgets, the congress was persuaded by president bush back in the year 2002 to do this pepfar for hiv. it's been very supportive of the vaccines. that provides vaccines to the poorest children in the world. and so the chances to go to congress and say, you know, this is only less than 1% of the budget, it's morally beneficial,

it provides stability, it creates health systems that'll help us stop pandemics before they come to the united states. so it's a lot of justification for this and we'll make the case. you know, the cuts have been so far much worse than we'd expected. amna: you seem to be saying you hope that congress will act to reverse some of these cuts. so we should note you did meet privately with president trump not long ago and since then we've seen the dismantling of usaid, dramatic cuts to the cdc and nih. are you continuing to make the case directly to the president, and is he responsive to your concerns about the impact of those cuts? bill: yeah, i've had a long meeting with him in late december and then a short meeting february 5, you know, where i said, hey, some of these cuts are a real problem and are not -- are being mischaracterized. and so, you know, i'm going to continue that dialogue with

president trump and secretary rubio. this is our full-time work, so, you know, we want to have that discussion and, you know, then it'll carry over to what happens with the congressional budget. amna: and mark, i guess the big question is if these cuts continue, is the gates foundation in a position to step in and fill the void that's left? mark: the sad truth is no philanthropy, even one of our size and scope, or any combination of philanthropies, can possibly fill the gap that's left by the u.s. government and donors. to put it in perspective, the u.s. total aid last year was around, you know, $69 billion. usaid's budget was over $40 billion. you know, even with our $9 billion a year, that doesn't remotely fill that gap, and we're not even counting the cuts from other countries. it's also important to stress that we think it's critical that philanthropic capital, which is scarce capital that doesn't

enjoy tax advantages, really should be spent on where we see the public sector and the private sector unable to invest. we can take risks the government cannot take. so we're investing -- when bill talks about that pipeline of innovation, we're investing in the first new tb vaccine in over a century. we're spending nearly $700 million on that, which may succeed, it may fail, but if it succeeds, it will be transformative. that's something only we can do, but then we need government. we need partners like the u.s. government to then help ensure that that vaccine or that new seed for a smallholder farmer to get more productive crops reaches the people who need them. and so, we can do a lot on our own, but we cannot possibly fill the kind of gap that the u.s. government risks leaving if it follows through on these proposed cuts. amna: i have to ask because for years you have asked wealthy people to give away more of your money. you had a pledge many years ago

and many people signed onto it. even elon musk signed on to it back then and then recently the man who's been pushing for a lot of these cuts you described to the new york times as the world's richest man who's now been involved in the deaths of the world's poorest children because of those cuts. do you still hold out hope that more wealthy people will follow your lead when that hasn't been the trend that we've seen? bill: well, philanthropy is going up. there's 240 people have joined what we call the giving pledge, where wealthy people commit to give away the majority of their money. there's some real standouts in that group, including michael bloomberg, you know, who's been successful and also supported us in things like polio and tobacco . and we're just talking today about more things that we can do together. philanthropy is a positive element here. even the rich people in many of these countries like indonesia

and vietnam and nigeria are coming along to partner in these efforts. but the rich countries, we're asking them for 1% to 2% of their money for this. without that, we won't be able to achieve our goals. amna: are you hopeful the rich countries will step up? bill: well, they did step up and they should be proud of that. the short term pressures have us going in the wrong direction. and, you know, i think the moral cause and the other benefits are strong enough, we'll see some restoration in the years ahead. amna: bill gates and dr. mark suzman, thank you so much for your time. we really appreciate you joining us. bill: thank you. mark: thank you. ♪

geoff: tonight's brief but spectacular shines a light on three aspiring builders from a hands-on vocational construction program in salinas, california. many of the students there are pushing past significant personal obstacles as they learn to frame walls, pour foundations, and design homes with sustainability in mind. amna: in a state grappling with a housing crisis and the constant threat of wildfires, these young builders, julietta, ezekial, and jesus, are gaining the skills to confront two of california's greatest challenges, while constructing a brighter future for themselves. >> i believe what makes a good construction worker would be someone who actually cares about what they are doing. >> building this house helped us. we can accomplish things in life. >> after you build something you feel really proud of it. you are just like, wow, i built it.

i can't even believe it sometimes, you know? >> i'm a student in the construction program. >> i'm a senior here, in my last year. >> a hands-on vocational school. >> right now we are standing in the nexus 01 house that was built here by construction and design students. >> first you learn how to do the foundation, then you learn how to do the framing, then you learn how to do the chassis. >> growing up i didn't really like school. i would get the lead when i was -- get bullied when i was little. school was never a thing i would look forward to. >> i loved school, i never missed a day. it was just a space for me to get away from where my troubles were. >> growing up in salinas, my family was struggling with financial issues. at the same time, my dad had gotten locked up. >> a lot of houses i grew up in

were kind of messed up, or not put in place correctly. there was air coming in, a lot of mold. growing up would cause me to get asthma. right now we are standing in this beautiful house, a sustainability house. 850 livable's grace square footage. my role in here was construction management. i had to supervise other students, making sure they were doing everything correctly. >> this house was made completely off grid. i had a backup battery system and panel so you can check it on your phone. but it was also affordable. >> fireproof outside so if there is a fire outside, he won't set fire. >> we took this home down to orange county in l.a. to compete in the orange county decathlon and we took first place. >> when we got called up for the prize, it was just a feeling of

our hard work paying off. >> getting first place meant everything to us. >> it made me realize i could probably be good in the construction management or architecture area. >> now that i am building homes and makes me want to build a home for my mom. >> this is the future. we are trying to build houses that will keep our families safe. >>i felt like i hadn't him something that i was proud of, but this is really something that helped bring meaning. this is my brief but spectacular take on building a home. amna: you can watch more brief but spectacular videos online at pbs.org/newshour/brief. and in late-breaking noticed, president trump says he is naming fox news host and former judge janine pirro as interim u.s. attorney for the district of columbia. her selection comes after trump

told his previous pick for the job, and martin junior, who represented several january 6 insurrections in court and faced too much opposition from republicans who were needed to confirm him. geoff: and that is the “news hour” for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire “news hour” team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs "news hour" has been provided by. >> a successful business owner sells is company and restores his father's historic jazz club with his son. a raymondjames financial advisor gets to know you, your passions, and the way you bring people together. life well planned. >> certified financial planner professionals are proud to support pbs "news hour." cfp professionals are committed to acting in their client's best interest. more information at letsmakeaplan.org. >> carnegie corporation of new

york, working to reduce political polarization through philanthropic support for education, democracy, and peace. more information at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the "news hour," including leonard and norma klorfine, and the judy and peter blum kovler foundation. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. and friends of the "news hour." this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

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hello everyone and welcome to amanpour and company. here's what's coming up. strike and counterstrike between india and pakistan. fears mount in one of the world's most volatile neighborhoods. i get a report from islamabad. there is no food, no water, and no aid reaching us.