captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good eveng, i'm judy woodruff. s the newshour tonight, athe death toll from coronavions in the u.s.nues to climb, the federal reserve reacts with the most significant emergency collapse.nce the financial then, we are on the ground all across the country, bringing you the latest democratic primary updates as ballots areast on super tuesday. plus an epicenter of the outbreak. a report from iran, where cases of covid9 are skyrocketing and distrust of leaders mounts a government officials come down with the virus.

>> this is theesult of the chronic weakness of the management of our country. when you lose people's trust, even when you tell the truth, people won't believe you. >> woodruff: all that and more r.on tonight's pbs newshou >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> on a cruise with american cruise lines, you can experience historic destinations along the columbia river and acrs the ited states. american cruise lines fleet of small ships explore american landmarks, local cultures and calm waterways. amican cruise lines. proud sponsoof pbs newshour. om

>> when it c to wireless, consumer cellular gives its customers the choice. our no-contract plans give you as much-- or as little-- talk, text and data as you want, and our u.s.-based customer service to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation. fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: s >> togram was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station om viewers like you. thank you. he >> woodruff:oronavirus outbreak has claimed more american lives, and more

american wealth. the death toll reached nine today, with more than 100 cases nationwide. and, as economic damage spread, federal reserve chair jerome powell announced the central bank is cutting a key interest rate by half a point. >> the virus and measures being taken to contain it will sury weh on economic activity both here and abroad for quite some time. of course the ultimate solutio to this challenge will come from others, particularly health professionals. we can and will do our part however to keep our economy strong as we meet this challenge. >> woodruff: the fed's emergency move failed to rssure wall street. instead, the market mired itself in doubts about whether the rate cut ll help, and stocks gave up much of monday's record rally. the dow jos industrial average lost nearly 786 points to close at 25,917. the nasdaq fell 268 points, and the s&p 500 slipped 86

all of this came amid mounting questions about whether federal agencies are ready and nimble enough to confront the outbreak. william brangham has that part of the story. >> brangham: concern is mounting across the u.s. today, as the novel coronavirus known as covid-19 has now emerged in at top u.s. health officials took center stage before a senate l in washington today, t face a barrage of criticism and defend their response. democratic senator patty murray represents washington state, where the first american deaths were reported. >> the administration has had months to prepare for this and ti is unacceptable that people in my state and wide can't even get an answer as to whether or not they are infected. >> brangham: the head of the food and drug admistration, dr. stephen hahn, said more testing kits will be mader available lais week. the company that'sng thisking to

up is that we should have the capacity by the end the week to have kits available to the laboratories to perform about a million tests. >> brangham: but other officials later walked back that number, saying the number of tests might be much lower. republican senator mitt romney voiced concern about the lack of protective equipment for health workers. >> what percentage of what we would need for our medical professionals is in the strategic national stockpile? >> 10% of what we need right now if it were to be a severe event, we would need 3.5 billion n-95 respirators. we have about 35 million. >> it strikes me that we should have substantially more than 10%, what would be needed for a substantial pandemic that we should have that in stock. i can't believe that we, congress, i'm not blaming themi adnistration, this is congress and appropriating and it's prior administrations as well. >> brangham: congress is workine to pass mergency spending measure of potentially up to $8.5 billion to help bolster the u.s. response

overseas, the virus continues to spread through more communities. italy, the ecenter of europe's outbreak, now has the highest number of virus-related deaths outside china, 79. iran's death toll also rose today to at let 77 people. meanwhile in south korea, drivet through g centers were set up across seoul, thus minimizing as much human contact as possible. the country reported its large i daily increaofficial cases, more than 850 new inctions. elsewhere in the capital, troops fanned o to spray streets and alleys with disinfectant to helr ent the spread of the virus. president trump today said he'd consider cutting off travel from other nations with large outbreaks: >> we're watching italy very closely, south korea very closely,ven japan very closely and we'll make the right determination at the right time. we've cut it off as yoknow with numerous other countries. >> brangham: in china, where the

virus originated, the number of new cases today fell to 125pe le. china's ambassador to the u.n. celebrated that news in new york. china's fightgainst the coronavirus is indeed making huge progress. >> brangham: thousands of patients in china have recoveree and released from the hospital. for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham.dr >> wf: we will take a look at the toll of coronavirus in iran later in the program. in the day's other news, millions of voters have spent this super tuesday making their choices the democratic presidential field. five hopefuls contested primaries in 14 states about one-third of all the we'll hear from around the country, after the news summary. or least 25 people were killed early today whendoes tore through central tennessee. the storms blasted downtown nashville and damaged or

destroyed at least 140 buildings, and some super tuesday polling stations. antional correspondent ste sy has our report. >> we've been through lots of tornado warnings, and never thought that this would happen.p >> rter: nashville is in shock today. residents emerged from a night of deadly tornadoes that ravaged neighborhoods. the tornadoes were part of a band of storms that stretched across four states late monday night into tuesday morning. more than 40 buildings were damaged in nashville alone, some beyond repair, as tornado cut through the through the heart of the city. four tennessee counties reported storm-related deaths, andsh lle hospitals treated dozens of people for injuries. bill lee is the governor.ck >> let me justwledge tragedy. we have had loss of life all across the state. that are missing in different areas, many that are injured and being transported.

>> reporter: in the hardest hit areas, which included some of the most expsive neighborhoods in nashville, the tornado reduced homes and otheres structo a debris field. search and rescue teams went door to door overnight in some neighborhoods, looking for trapped or injured people in damaged buildings, as road and power crews worked to clear downed lines. still, the closure of more than a dozen polling stations didn't stop many voters from lining up at alternate sites to cast their ballots. >> woodruff: president trump talked by phone today with a top taliban leader, in a first for a sitting american president. it followed saturday's signing of an agreement for a u.s. troop n.withdrawal from afghanis mr. trump said today's conversaon was "a very good talk." in israel, prime minister benjamin netanyahu waited for final election results, to see if he had eked out a majority in

parliament. netanyahu celebrated last night, but exit polls indicated his bloc fell two seats short.th could prevent him forming a government. the prime minister also faces u.n. inspectors reran hases. almost tripled its stockpile of enriched uranium since november. will not answer questions aboutn three possible nuclear sites. iran has slowly violated the 2015 nuclear accord since the u.s. pulled out anreimposed sanctions. e military confrontation between turkey and syria intensified again today in syria's idlib province. a turkish soldier waed overnight, and today, the turks shot down a syrian fighter yet, the third since thursday. u.s. specialnvoy james jeffrey visited the turkish-syrian border today, d offered military equipment for the

turkish military. >> turkey has asked for help from nato, they have asked f help from . as the president said recently, we will provide supplies and other things to turkey. we are also looking at other requests that turkey has made either to us or to nato as this conflict goes on. >> woodruff: turkey intervened in idlib to stop a syriane offensat has driven almost a million people to the turkish border. refugees already in turkey are now trying to cross into greece, with turkey's support. so far, greek authorities have blocked most of the attempts. back in this country, the u.s.ur supreme agreed today to let states prosecute immigrants who use fake social security numbers to get a job. in a 5-to-4 decision, the court's conservatives said nothing in the law prevents such tion. the kansas supreme court had barred state action. president trump's re-election campaign has filed another libel suit, this time againstas ngton post." it accuses the paper of falsely,

reports fact, that the 2016 trump campaign conspired with russia.on the organizalready filed a similar suit against "the new york times." and, a passing to note, former asn anchor bobbie battista died after a long battle with cervical cancer. she joined cnn headline news as one of its original anchors in 1981 and remained with the company for 20 years. bobbie battista was 67 years old. still to come on the newshour: the latest from the 14 states casting ballots in the super tuesday primaes. to iran, where the death toll from coronavirus swells as trust in the government plummets. and a naturalist gives his brief and time.acular take on forests

>> woouff: it's the biggest contest in the 2020 primary season. esacross 14 states, the stre high to decide who will be thede cratic nominee come november. at a polling center in northern virginia, anthony and neia drayton said the choice today was clear. >> bernie. >> definitely bernie as weas. i think heike the other demoatic ctes.orm than the like i've always been a bernie fan ever since 2016. hoping for this time! >> woodruff: more than 500 miles away, senator bernie sanders arrived cast his vote at another polling center in his >> to beat donald we are going to need to have the largest voter turnout in the history of this country. we need energy, we nee excitement. i think our campaign is that

campaign. >> woodruff: ...while an energetic massachusetts senator elizabeth warren greeted supporters in cambridge.. >> it is a moment not just to get rid of donald trump, it is l moment to the america of our best values! >> woodruff: in all, voters ross 14 states cast their primary ballots today, as the u.s. territory in the pacific, american samoa, held caucuses. over 1,300 delegates are at play, more than a third of all democratic delegates to be chosen this year.. north carolina is the third- biggest contest state voting, with 110 delegates at stake. raleigh resident keith miller opted for joe biden, but only after the former vice president secured some critical late support. >> my original intention was buttigieg. but with klobuchar's and buttigieg's endorsement of

biden, i went back tn, who was my first choice many months ago. >>,oodruff: former south be indiana, mayor pete buttigieg offered his endorsement last night, after quitting the race. minnesota senator amy klobuchar soon followed suit, joining biden at a raucous evening rally in dallas. >> it is up to us, all of us, to to heal this country and then to build something even greater. >> woodruff: former candidate beto o'rourke of texas also offered his backing: biden himself underlined his pitch to voters: >> democrats want a nominee who's a democrat. a lifelong democrat. proud democrat. and obama-biden democrats. >> woodruff: ...seeking to contrast himself with sands, a self-styled democric socialist who invited klobuchar and ieg supporters to join

him. >> tall of amy and pete's millions of supporters, the door is open. comen in! >> woodruff: but former new yorh mayor l bloomberg said today that calls for moderates to consolidate behind bidenul not deter his own campaign. >> have you asked joe when he is going to drop out? when you ask him then, then you can ask me. i have no intention of dropping out. we're in it to win it. >>oodruff: for some in nor carolina, no otherandidate is as well-sued to beat the president in november as bloomberg, who was on ballots today for the first . >> joe biden is a great guy. i voted for obama twice and biden. but i think we need somebody that can really go toe to toe with trump and he can be just as nasty as trump, i believe. and i think he's got the money to do it.

>> woodruff: we have a host of public media reporters spread out in super tuesday states across the country-- from texas, to minnesota, to north carolina, massachusetts, and virginia. but we start with california, the biggest prize of the night, where 415 delegates are at stake. and that's where amna nawaz is now. she joins me from san francisco. na, hello. so, yes, the focus is on all those delegates, but there is a metric people are also looking tell us about all that. >> that's right, jue dy. y for all the candidates tonight is to get to that 15% threshold ma y. without th don't get any delegates at all. so that 415 number really doesn't matter that much. that's to get any delegates at e statede level or at the congressional district level. that's where the bulk of the delegates are, 271 total. one of the big questions we're looking to answer tonight is, yes, senator sanders has been

polling well across the entire state. biden has a lot of support stayed white. in some of those more specific districts across the state, senator warren and micha bloombvg have shown they hae support. if they can start to chip aw ns the delegates, that mea those delegates aren't going to the other campaigns. if they even get 1%, that could mean dozens of delegates are going to other campaigns. at's one of the key metrics we're watching here tonight. >> woodruff: we know one thing that sets california apart is that a majority of t ballots coming in by mail. what effect is that expected to have? >> it means there's a lot of uncertainty and it means a lot of excitement,oo. 16 million ballots were mailed out to calif niavoters weeks ago. the vast majority of them have b yet returned. last time i checked 3.5 million d been returned. the big question is who is waiting and why? if they are younger voters waiting until the last minute to

vote, we know they tend to break for senator sanders, but we have talked specifally to a lot of voters who thought they wanted deratewith a more mo candidate and were waiting to see who was left in the race. that's why they were holding on to their ballots. down the street i met a couple filling our their ballotsner waiting to turn them in because they were waitinng to see who drops out and who is still in. millions of ballots are still out there. that means there could be counts in the days a weeks ahead. >> woodruff: so much to report on. amna nawaz in sancisco, thank you. another key state, north carolina, which has the third largest pool ofeg deles being decided today. yamiche alcindor has been talking to vots there. she joins me now from raleigh. we know, yamiche, joe biden did very well in thrie neigh state of south carolina. what's it looking like where you are? >> well, what we've seen is the coalescing around joe biden by

modern democrats as an alternative to bernie sanders, who is seen as the more prvressive candidate, is hing an effect. we're talking to people who were looking at supporting amy klobuchar or pete buttigieg, but when they endorsed joe bidaen, theyed to then vote for joe biden. that being said, there is a lot of support for bernie sanders. what we saw was a race that used to be a thee-person race. it used to be michael bloomberg jrsus bernie sanders vers biden. what we've seen in the last few days is a tightening of the race.de now it's joe b or bernie sanders. the other thing to note is we're here at a polling station at ali ary here some people are eager to be able to cast their ballots and have a say in is after waiting for a long period for all the other states to vote. >> woodruff: we n't make you talk very loud since it's the library. mpt yamiche, we knowles that north carolina,ortant obviously for the democratic party, but it also looking ahead elr the generaction, as well. >> that's righ north carolina is going to be a key battleground state come november and the 2020 election.

democrats have been wanng to wretrl the state back fom republicans. president obama won in 2008, but senator mitt romney won in 2012 and president trump won by three points. one in three voters are african american, a key constituency for democrats. the person who wins north carolina igoing to be able to talk about the thing that democrats have been talking about for a long time, and this is electability and who can beat president truml so what youe is if bernie sanders or joe biden wins the state, i can imagine they're going to say, m the best person to beat president trump, because i will also not only beat him, but i'll also take back north carolina. woodruff: of cours tnorth caroli state where the republicans are holding their national convention this summer. yamiche, thank you. we'll come back to you later tonight. nosawe hear from desjardins, who spent the day in northern virginia. so lisa, you're telli us you've been talking to a lot of late deciders? t t's right. this is the home state of george washington. the flight path for washington, d.c., and this part of virginia

is bright blue democratic. o the whole starall is purple but judy, here in this bright blue rart, tunout has been strong. it could be a record turnout here in virginia, and as yamiche has been reporting, we're finding the same thing, lat deciders breaking for joe biden, telling us that his margin in south carolina and the endorsements he receier the last few day, including some notable endorsements in virginid have made a bifference to them. the michael bloomberg campaign saw this as a potential win. at one point, judy, but talking to his campaign tonight, they tell me they neo longere thi ations.

>> that's right. the biden campaign says th is all about the dell combat map. this goes ta what amna was ing about. it'sot about winning a number strictsion but winning the ve larger delegate halls that will the assumptiohere in texase is critical. beaters were supportinieandinhg

sanders or elizabeth warren. >> dawndy: dan, you were also telling us that you were seeing reaction and reverberation from the fact that this democratic race has been changing so rapidly just in the last 48 to 72 hours. >> it has. establishment coalesce around joe biden. houston's mayor endorsed bloomberg. congresswoman sylvia garcia, ana influeforce here in houston who has endorsed joe biden. garcia told me that nders uld put the house majority, the democrats' majority at risk, and juhat message is filtering down to voters. i spoke to a lot of people at know what, i like som of bernieu sanders ideas, but at the end of the day, i'm worried tt if sanders leads the ticket, that would hurt democratsll down- at the congressional level and

at the state level, as wl, so they voted for either biden or bloomberg. >> woodruff: really buteresting. da joining us from texas. dan, we'll come ban to you throughout the night. now joining us from minneapolis, mary lahammer from twin cities, minnesota. the state of amy klobuchar. she jht dropped out of te race yesterday and threw her support to joe biden. how are voters reacting to thatw >>l, the question is what voters who have alrea voted are doing.es mia this year moved to a new presidential primary procesh ruugh the state election system. and that means early voting has been going on for some time. and presumably many of those democratic voters have already cast ballots for their home state senator, amy klobuchar, who got out of the race after sunday.av so you may seen that rally she was supposed to have in her home state a tually at high school i graduated from in the suburbs. we were ere waiting when

protesters took to the podium, kind of took over the whole stage. they were protesting her work as the county attorney when she prosecuted a black teenager for a murder and now the evidence is being questioned. she could not reach ae comprom to get to the podium, so she canceled her rally here. the next y she pulled out of the race, got behind biden. voters follow suit and moveota their vote to biden? he was in about a distan fourth place in the last pol we had, and the second-place person wasser bernie sanders, who happened to be here last night holding a rally. so it will be fascating to see if there was a sanders surge that klobucharaw coming here. >> woodruff: and whether it's down to a two-man race. as we know in soany other states, mike bloomberg has put a lot of money into ads there. what are y hearing about him? >> i talked to a voter moments ago who was getting a call from bloomberg. infrastructure.of he's been sending out social

media, text message,ho calls. he's trying the move folks. i talked to a panel of swingvo rs. what were they thinking with klobuchar out of the race. theynly wanted tovote for klobuchar. they lean republican, but they have always voted for her for we do have those voters that cross their ballots. they're fascinating here. any interest in moving t t bloomberg, ay said, no, one of the voters said that she'll hold her nose and vote for biden. another wanted to cast a blot for a woman but didn't think warren could get. there we'll be watching closely to see if biden's numbers improve here and if sanders can run ay with it. >> woodruff: mary lahammer in minneapolis, st. paul, thank you, mary. the night is is youngen we'll be coming back to you allow now back to the east coast. i'm join but wgbh's adam reillyn boston, massachusetts. adam, from the home of one candidate tonother one. of course, that's elizabeth warren. she's still in the race. bout her a talked a

great deal tonight. we know bernie sanders has been giving her a run for the money >> she's still in the race. she could use a win. she has yet to win a state. it woulde nice if she could win her home state. it has looked for a long time like this was a two-person race with warren and sanders running very close together, and sanders reet.ng by a little he came the massachusetts over the weekend and held this huge rally on boston common. the question now obviously is whether the defections or the withdrawal of the moderates, buttigieg a d klobuchar, is going to give biden fuel and maybe make it a three-person race. it's too early to say i think at this point in the day. i was at warren's polling place toda. i talked with a lot of people who were enthusiastic about her, also had good things to say about sanders. there wa some biden support, but it didn't seem wildly enthusiastic. it's not clear where the voters whose candidates have left the race, where they're going to ed. i taith one woman who had been with buttigieg, and now she was voting for warre

another guy had been with buttigieg was now casting a vote with warren. pardon me, with biden.oo >>uff: i was going to ask you about biden. i should have mentioned the other candidate born in massachusetts, mike, bloombe much discussion about him. >> not much about him. he'sade a point of courting the business community, the bloomberg campaign cut here after that disastrous debate where elizabeth warren really went after him effectively. they came out and tried to reassure his potential t supportet, okay, this was matter of preparation. it's not going to happen again. he h been right there with buttigieg and biden as sort of one of three in thi second tier. there is no sense that i got that his campaign is picking up i spoke with one gentleman who was ting for biden very grudgingly again at warren's polling place. he said he loved the ideaf bloomberg but he didn't see path for him to become the democratic nominee. woodruff: all right. we're hearing it now. adam reilly, boston,

massachusetts, wgbh. youl be coming back to throughout the night and to all of our colleagues, and with m te now here i studio for more in-depth analysis is stu rothenberg.'s a senior editor of "inside elections" and a longtime friend of the newshour. so stu, listening to all of these reporters around the country, i know y were constantly reporting about this you feeling?is primary, what are >> they touched on everything that i was going to touch on. >> woodruff: uh-oh, i'm sure you got more. >> the are hal a dozen things i'm looking at, judy. obviously who ws what states, what the margins are and what the delegates are. the february contest constitute -- accounted for55 delegates. this is over 1,300. the february contests were mor about momentum and introducing candidates to voters, but this is really about delegates. i will be looking at african american voters particularly in the south but everywhere to see how they're performing for joe biden. there is no jim clyburn as

was in south carolina. are those black voters touurning and turning out for him? i want to look at bernies sandbase, particularly younger voters, are they surging, are they coming out in bigumbers, as senator sanders says he's going to be able to do? and also the latino voters, fourth, bloomberg, is he relevant or not? isdid he waste all money or not? and fifth, i'm going to look for a developing narrative. two weeks ago the narrative was can anybodyp srnie sanders? and yesterday w itas, wow, the biden comeback. what will the narrative be tomorrow? and the narrative may be formed early in the evening rather than late when california comes in. t woodruff: you meanhe states that close early, the virginias and the north carolinas. >> right, the 7:00, 8:00, 8:30 states. >> woodruff: tennessee was closing at 8:0 buthey proved itack to 9:00 because of that

through. tornado that proved but stu, what election can you compare this to? there has been so much change given biden's huge win in south carolina. hours after this you had three candidates drop out, two of them endorsed him and jus a whole lot of movement in joe biden's .irection just hours ago. how does that affect what could happen today? >>nk te have to believe that our politics has changed, that t tenor and tone of our politics have changed, that donald trump changes the election; that there's a lot of uncertainty. you shldn't expect anything. keep an open mind as to what will happen. and in terms of joe bidt, w his recovery reminded me of was do you remember john mccain en he was carryin his own luggage through airports? >> we wrote that off. >> woodruff: joe biden has had that sort of comleeback. s see if it continues. but a lot of questions, judy, a

lot of yes, sir. >> woouff: but justhe volatility here at the end. i mean, i have been tryingo ink of a race where you had this much change. candidates in it until just a few days ago and the numbers have shrunk, but yoha stil five candidates. >> new york and we have a candidate who is just startingri t now with michael bloomberg. i don't think there's any comparison. this is a unique situation and a unique political environment. >> woodruff: what about -- youpr mentioneident trump. he certainly is a backdrop. so many voters this year saying, i just want somebody who can defeat president trump. how much do you tnk that electability argument is figuring into what we'reeeing? >> i don't. i think sanders voters hethink he'sost electable and biden's voters think he's the most electable and bloomberg vors think he's theost electable, and if you look at surveys conducted over the last few weeks, sanders and biden both beat the president by coarable numbers. so i don't think that's

relevant. i think it's really a fight between the ogressive wing of the party and the more pragmatic wing of the party and we'll know in a few weeks. remember, this is big call, 1,300. more than 1,300 delegates. but in a week there are 357 delegates available. the week after this 510.ha april 28t the northeast prary with over 660 delegates. >> woodruff: could go on for a while. quickly on the amount of money mike bloomberg is spending, we are told over $500 million so far, even though he's the last persono get in. do we have anything in history to compare that to and wheer the money makes a difference? >> the only thing we have to compare it to i tom steyer's $200 million he spent. money apparently can't buy a presidential nomination. it might be be able to buy senate seat or a house seat but not a presidential nomination. >> woodruff: we haven't seen it happen before. are you saying it couldn't

happen again? >> i think you need more than money. you need... the candidate has to have certain ctididate qua and put together a campaign and have an appeal ande running in the right party. i think michaelloomberg has a very tough call here. let's see how he does. maybee'll surprise. >> woodruff: and the democrats know they're president trump, who wi have a huge amount of money. stu rothenberg, you're with usal evening. >> i am, thank you. >> woodruff: and please join usr right back htonight at 11:00 p.m. eastern for our vote 2020 pbs newshour super tuesday election special. uf >> woo as the coronavirus spreads globally, few places have been as hard hit as iran. 23 members of the parliament are sick; the director of emergency services is infected; and a

third iranian government ofcial died from the virus today. special correspondent reza sayae s us from tehran how the country is handling it, and whom they blame f their travails. >> reporter: at a popular gym on the hearehran, workout music blares, but the weight room is nearly empty pl ( translated ): pare a little scared. attendance has definitely dropped. we've seen at least a 50% drop. >> reporter: on tehran's usually bustling streets, the bumper to bumper traffic has suddenly vanished. everywhere you look, surgical masks, and remalders of person hygiene. and at offices throughout the capital, desk after desk: empty. >> ( translated ): tehran is frozen, it seems. it's le we're stunned. >> reporter: what's stunned this megacity, and much of iran, is e coronavirus. the outbreak hit here two weeks ago.

e numbers of people infected and the death toll have climbed ever since. today, iran is one of the global epicenters of the virus. iran's ministry of health confirms more than 1500 cases in all but four of iran's 30 provinces. the death toll remains the highest outside ofhina. everywhere you look, people are trying to figure out how to contain the virus. 're entering maybe the most posh shopping center he in tehran. and as you can seeou have volunteers taking everyone's temperature here in r indoor parking complex, so we're going to take my temperature taken. my temperature reading 35.5 centigrade which is normal, up until a few weeks ago, moad reza vakiyan was a parking toll collector here at the palladium shopping center. never did he think he'd wearing a lab coat and taking temperatures.

>> ( translated ): hopefully this will soon pass and we can get rid of thirobe and no one el faces any problems. >> sometimes i have nightmares about corona. >> reporter: faezeh khorasani is an english tcher. she teacs r students online from home these days because, like the rest of tehran's schools, hers is shutdown. >> i feea bit worri i can say scared. you came here you put the keychains on the counter, i was thinking oh my god i should remember to disinfect that. >> reporter: amir parvandar doesn't have much trust either. he's looking for proive masks for his family, but he can't find a pharmacy that has them in stock. >> ( translated ): these are the results of the chronic weakness of the management of our country. unfortunately, when officials come and speak on television, it seems as if everything is great. but that's not the case. when you lose ople's trust, even when you tell the truth, people won't believe you. >> reporter: many here wanted to believiran's deputy health

minister when he appeared on television last week. in a heavyweat, he said the outbreak was under control. one dalater, he was diagnosed with coronavirus, one of several government officials whove tested positive. the growing number of cases have led some to question if the svernment is hiding thepread of the virus. it didn't help that just two months ago it took the government three days beg re acknowledg shot down a ukrainian passenger plan7 killing all board. but many iranians say, in the struggle to contaithe coronavirus, the government is they say crippling u.s. sanctions against iran have put severe pressure on the public health sector. the trump administration insists sanctions don't target humanitarian trade. but man rights groups sa banking restrictions limit iran'sability to buy hunitarian goods. tehran pharmacist ali mazlomi

says sanctions have made it impossible to purcl se vital medioducts. >> ( translated ): the sanctions that are in place by america, without a doubt it's the people they are the most vulnerable. >> reporter: last week, the u.s. treary eased some humanitarian trade restrictions against iran. secretary oftate mike pompeo said washington was ready to in his weekly press conference, streamed online due to the coronavirus, the iranian foreign ministry spokesman's picture was fuzzy, butois message washington was clear. >> ( translated ): we have doubts about the united states' intention and we do not count on its help. >> reporter: many iranians feel the same. >> a few days ago, u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo said we care about the iranian people we want to help them. what was your reaction? >> b.s.

>> reporter: b.s? >> yes. >> ( translated ): america is one of the root causes of this problem. i have no expections at all that america will help solve problems that america itself played a key role in creating. no i don't have any expectations. >> reporter: tehran-based economic analyst saeed laylaz that the trump administration doesn't care about the iranian people. a couple of days ago u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo said we care about the iranian people, we're worried aboop the iranian . why are you laughing? >> because he makes a joke. i don't. i know that he's lying. he's a big liar. mr. pompeo doesn't like ironian nati. >> reporter: laylaz says the trump administration's maximum pressu campaign has escalated tensions between washingn and ir, crippled iran's economy, and led to a sweeping ctory by anti-u.s. hardlirs in iran's recent parliamentary elections.

>> this current radicalism which you are aneing in n recent elections, radicals who are governing the coun atry, w occupying parliament, next coming parliament and so on, directly is a fruit or consequence of united states sanctions againsiran. >> reporter: but somehow many iranians remain ho better days. ): i hope oneed day these two countries can be friends. this is our wish. i am serious. life, after all is for happiness and peace. >> reporter: with challenges mounting amid what could be a deadly pandemic, happiness and peace llr many iranians have to wait. for the pbs newshour, i'm reza sayah in tehran. >> woodruff: and we'll be back

shortly with a brief but spectacular take oren how s reveal the beauty of the natural world. moment to heake a from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like oursn the air. career in dance had to anking innovative approach to health and aging. jeffrey brown went t american ballet theater to stay in step with twyla tharp. this encore look is part of our ongoing arts and cultuas coverage, ca >> sternum up, breathe deep, shoulders back, and now we stri. >> brown: a lesson from twyla tharp in allowing our bodi to take up space, even as we grow older. what she refers to as amplitude. >> amplitude: moving out,

constantly feeling that you can move out. as age becomes reality, i thin we start to retreat, we retract, we bece protective, we become seuded, and we begin to ossify and decline and degenerate, as >> brown: but the body becoming smaller, in a wa it is becoming aller. >> well, that's its problem. let's just get on with it, shall we? >> brown: tharp isne of the great choreographers of our age, and at 78 she's got a new dance. we met at a rehearsal at the american ballet theater, and a new book: "keep it moving: lessons for the rest of your life." >> i wrote this to evlp others bethat constantly you can be evolving. that you do not stop learning. that you don't accept the rumor that as the body asss it becomes it becomes different. hopefully, more. >> brown: so do you think of this as a self-help book? >> i look at it as a self- survival book. >> brown: as a girl, tharp took

dance anllmusic lessons of kinds. in the 1960s she was dancing and choreographing as part of an important experimedantal modern e scene. and by the '70s, she was creating groundbreaking works like "deuce coupe"baor the joffreet. it brought together elements of both ballet and modern dance. she made "push comes to shove" for mikhail baryshnikov, part of an acclaimed partnership that included the award-winning pbs special "baryshnikov by tharp" in 1984. dance after dance,r combining rid boundless energy. including "hair" and "amadeus," and the broadway hit, "movin' out" to the music of billy joel.

tharp has been recipient of pretty much every sprestigi artistic award, including a kennedy center honor in 2008. in her new book,he provides a series of exercises, and says:" age is not the enemy. stagnation is the enemy" >> we all have that laid on us by our culture being squirmy is not really-- you can't do this at dinner parties, but this is how you keep your system, your metabolic system rolling. you don't do it like this. >> brown: you can't do this but you want me to, you want us to. >> yeah, because if you keep doing this, chances are your body is going be more productive in the moment and you'll have something left in particularly as you become old and you buy into this reality that older folks can do less. okay, prove it. >> brown: her own physical regime is legendary.

we watched an early morning workout at her homstio: breathing and stretching...cy ing... and various kinds of strength and resistance exercises. >> i could bench my body weighti for three anead-lifted 227 pounds. >> brown: wow! >> which is twice my bodyweight, but i developed core strength that the classical dancer doesn't have. now, in making a piece of this sort, i can bring that kind of physical intelligence to them and say, "try it this way." >> brown: in fact, her new dance, notated over three months in intricate detail, directly addresses aging. titled "a gathering of ghosts," it's made for dancer herman cornejo, now 38, who's being honored this season for 20 years at the a.b.t

beyond talent, tharp says, the quality she most looks for in a dancer is optimism. >> have a sense that you can do it, and if you don't you'll fix it. you'll make it work and you're going to laugh this time. no, you haven't failed. you'd turn it into comedy. >> brown: you've had, of course, great success. but you've also experiencede- fail >> really? are you kidding? >> brown: i'm sorry to tell yo but you advise us in this book to accept those failures, right? to take risks. >> they're not failures. >> they're adventures of a different kind. seout to get, but there isat you something to be learned from everything. >> brown: there was a profile in the times that says, i'm quoting: "miss tharp remains among the very few female hers..." >> oh, please! give me a break. >> brown: "...to have had a lasting influence on ballet." >>kay, fine. why don't they say, "one of the few short choreographers to have an influence on the ballet"?le the feomenclature is highly abusive. it's ghettoizing and it's irrelevant to what i've done.

>> brown: you don't want to hear it at all? >> i'm not interested. i'm a worker. i'm an artist. i make dances. end of story. judge me with the best, don't judge me with the best women. >> brown: you wrote in the book that you're always asked, "how do you keep working?" and the subtext, as you say, is" at your age."we what's the a >> day by day, daily. do it every day. it's what i do. that means i look at the past to see there whatworks and let go of what doesn't work, and build on what does work. >> brown: and in the meantime, the final piece of advice that you give all of us in this book is, "shut up and dance." shut up and do what you love l d be gratefud keep doing it and stop second guessing it. "i'm getting old. i can't do what i love." bull ( bleep ), in a rd it's going to change, that's all. it's not going to be the same. it's going to be differe. >> brown: the dance is "a gathering of ghosts." the book is "keep it moving."

for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown at the american ballet theater in new york. >> woodruff: tonight's brief but ectacular explores old-growth trees and the natural history of wisconsin's north woods. author and naturalist john bates takes us there. 's worked in the area for more than 30 years, helping people understand the diversity and beauty of nature, and our place within it. bates's most recent book is called "our living ancestors." >> my interest in old growth took off about03. i'd been wking in older forest and fod that they were quite rare and wondered why. why did weut so many down? they're a filter for air. they're a storage of carbon. they provide shade to our streams.

i felt humility walking into these sites in a place where trees are four or 500 years old. i found myself feeling a deep atitude that these trees were resilient enough to still be here. my job as a naturalist is help people gain environmental literacy, so tt they have a deeper understanding of place based on this enrched understanding of where they arer if y standing under an old white pine here in wisconsin that's four or 500 years old, you e standing underneath a tr that native american cultures had stood under. the trees are living tissue. they're not hardened amber. they're no.t footprin they're not stories people have told with all the biases that we have as human beings. they're avelers through time and standing next to them you can get this feeling of time having taken place and you can't find that in any other settingra liy in the world. when you think about the history

ofisconsin, in 1830 we had our first census. there were 3,000 people. we became a state in 1848 and by 1870 there were 1 million people here. wood. one those people needed and so we ended up cutting and then burning all of northern wisconsin. so 99.8% has been cut. rare to find a big white pine like this. this is a crown jewel of the north woods. most of this land that was sold, on the dream of land that couldn't support farms. we have very poor soils compared to southern wisconsin. we also have this thing called winter, which lasts for five months. and we had almost no market. so even if you could miraculously grow something, who were you going to sell it to, so farmers went belly up. the land bueecame tax deli and in the early '20s, 1930s, six million acres of northern wisconsin was made io public land because we couldn't figure out what else too with it. my old age now, my job, as i

understand it now, is to help people fall more dee love with the world. i can't think what else i'm here for. my name is john bates, and this is my brief but spectacular take on connecting time through old growth forests. >> woodruff: you can find all our brief but spectacular segments online at pbs.org/newshour slash brief. on the newshour online right now, michael bloomberg has spent millions on an aggressive media strategy in an effort to upend the democratic primary race, and employed strategies rarely seen in the political sphere. what does that mean for future elections? we explore that on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. please join us online throughout the night foltthe latest re william brangham will be hosting that live stream, and tune in re at 110 p.m. eastern for

our newshourecuper tuesday l. i'm judy woodruf for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and stay with us. >> major fuing for the pbs wshour has been provided by: >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing supportu of these insons and individuals.

>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contrutions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc io caed by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour." here's what's coming up. k what you need w about the coronavirus outbreak as the global death toll passes 3,000. then -- >> we just won and we've won big because of you. >> sckth carolina put biden ba in the game. will super tuesday keep him there? i ask coressn jim clyburn about his powerful end- sement. plus >> the taliban has given a strong pledge and we'll see how it all works out. d >> the u.sanliban sign a peace deal 18 years into the war. why is it already endangered? the afghan ambsador to the united nations joins us. and -- >> we have an opportunity to

solve some of the immigration issues out there. >> the u.s. border patrol's new