>> this is orld news america." funding of this presentation is made possible by the f foundation, and kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. >> planning a vacation escape that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot sier than you think.u yocan find it here in aruba. families, couples, and friends can all find tir escape on the island with warm, sunny days, cooling trade winds, and the crystal blue caribbean sea.

nonstop flights are availableai from most majoorts. more information for your vacation plannin ais available ba.com. >> and now, "bbc world news." laura: this is "bbc world news america." reporting from washington, i am laura trevelyan. whiplash on wall street as stocks regained some ground afr a historic drop on monday. so now what? the clock is ticking on whether president trump will rel democratic memo following last week's republican version that was critical of the fbi. and up, up, and away. spacex launches the world's most powerful rocket, with some unique cgo on board.

welcome to our viewers on public television in ameheca and aroundlobe. in business, they say what goes up must come down, but in this case, wall street roared back up, with the dow aing 500 points. the gains chip away atteep losses in the past few days, including the 1100-point drop we saw on monday. in testimony before congress, treasury secretary steven mnuchin says the trump administration is focused onic long-term econrowth and the markets are working as they should be. secretary mnuchin: i think, asu id, the stock market is upan signify, over 30% since president trump was elected. markettoring thetock -- we are monitoring the stock ntrkets, they are functioning very well, and we ue to believe in the long-term impact of the stock markets. laura: one thing the markets hate is uncertainty, and today

president trump raised the stakes for another government shutdown, saying that if he does -- legislati on immigration isn't altered he would be for , it. president trump: i will tell you, i would shut it down over this issue. oif we don't straight our border, we don't have a country. have at borders, we don' country. laura: after those comments, the white house press secretary siclarified that the pnt wasn't actually advocating a shutdown. for more on what is driving the market and the impact o' washington'woes on the economy i spoke a brief time ago withhe neil irwin of ew york times." the market posted these big gains today after yesterdays very steep losses. what is driving the volatility? neilthere is uncertainty around exactly what is going to happen with wages and intere rates, and we are in an environment where we are coming off a time of low volatility and coming back with aengeance. laura: how is washington feeding into all of this?

politicians are trying to agree on howov to fund thenment. the presidentld says he w love a shutdown and that the white house says he wouldn't like one. what does the uncertainty due to investors? neil: contributes to the margins. i don't think that is the overwhelming driver of what we have seen in financial markets. when you have the most powerful nation on arth, the richest nation on earth, being run in a way that is not seen that does noseem decisive, it does n help when you want a steady and less volatile environment. laura: the treasury secretary says he would like to ask congress to increase the debt ceiling again. with the increasing government debt, what does that do to the market? neil: over time we could see a turn to the 1990's. there is a dynamic called crowding out -- if the government borrows too much money, there is less available for private investment. that hasn't been the situation the last several years. in fact, we have had the opposite. we have had extremely low interest rates. the question is, with higher deficits and highespending, will we get back into the world we were in a 20 years ago where

that was a const much the economy could grow? laura: there is a new chair of the federal reserve who happened to start this week, very much e man in the spotlight. what happens to him if he raisee in rates and the markets spook? neil: quite a welcome for jerome powell, who started his job as chairman of the federal reserve on monday, a day with a 5% market drop. the federal reserve is on track to raise interest rates. the question is how muw fast. there is speculation they will raise four times this year. it is a delicate task. the idea of weaning the u.s. economy, the world economy, off of this cheap moy is a tricky task, and doing it as janet yellen did successfully while allowing the recovery to continue is a tall order. laura: what does market volatility and worries on wall street mean for main street america? neil: it is important to look past this. what we are seeing with the bond market data is steady as she goes. the stock market seems to be doing its own thing we are not seeing the signals we

usually get when there was a slowdown growing or recession. so far so good. we hope that continues we hope the stock market has got a ltle overheated and is calming down a little bit. if that is the case, everything will be fine on main stru t. laura: do pect more volatility to come? neil: i think so. i think we have apped out of this period. a single there was not day with the market down more than 2%. that is crazy, that is wd. if things are more volatile, that is mo less.al rather than laura: the alert - wheneil irwin thank you for that , reminder. against the backdrop, president trump has a few more days to dede whether to release a democratic memo which the house intelligence committee voted to make public. the issue is whether the republican version released last ek unfairly alleged fbi bias against president trump. among the democrats on the intelligence committee is congressman joaquin castro of texas.ar he spokeer to my colleagues katty kay and christian fraser for their show "beyond 100 days."

katty: congressman castro, as we look at the whole discussion of republican memos and democratic memos, i wonder if you could remind me what it is that the intelligence committee in the house, your committee, is actually investigating. rep. castro: weal, that is a question, because a lot of is talk about the memos, and the memo issue itself, it is a distraction from the real purpose of the investigation, which is to get to the bottoof how russia interfered with the 2016 presidential election in the united states, and whether any americans helped themmp acsh their goals. all of the last few weeks in particular have been a real sideshow to the main investigation. katty: ok, and it has been a sideshow which has -- how should i put it diplomatically -- not exactly improved n lations betwpublicans and democrats on the committee. republicans had their mental out, now the democrats have their memo. can you really investigate

something interfering in the american election if you and your colleagues are at such odds with each other? rep. castro: to honest with you, you are right, it makes it tough. it makes it very dficult. historically, the intelligence committee in the house of representatives had bere one of the ipartisan committees d along arrvices and foreign, for example -- as opposed to other committees like the judiciary committee.th has made it tougher. but we also have a responsibility to the american people to see this investigation through and comple christian: congressman, from the democrats' point of view, the rebuttal is completely important. a week ago, the committee voted to block it. what h think?ed since, do you rep. castro: i think a big part of the reason the republicans voted yesterday to release the democratic memo but not before is they wanted trelease the nunes memo first and get about four or five new cycles where only their se of the story was out, and after that happened

they were willing to release the democratic mo second. i think it was basically media spin. christian: and now it is on the president's desk. if he were not to rease it -- and he might even redact some of it, taking out key parts -- what would happen then? rep. castro: my fear is that he may do that.re thisdent on many issues is beyond shame. on many things his sense of fairness is gone. it would not surprise me if he eier does not release the memo or redacted so much of it that it would be impossible to fully understand for the american people. katty: congressman, you have the vote to get to. we will let you run. thank you for joining us. rep. castro: thank you for having me. laura: in other news, within the past couple of hours, it has been reported in south africa that president zuma is preparing to stand down as soon as a list can do -- list of conditions has then finalized. he held a meeting he deputy president and a leader of the ruling party, the anc.

mr. zuma has been accused of ing unfit to govern following a wave of corruption allegations. rescuers in taiwan are searching for people trapped in a 10-story hotel which partially collapsed measuringarthquake 6. the government says two people have been killed and more than 100 injed in the eastern town. o series of powerful aftershocks have continued trock the area. the wikileaks under julian assange has lost h application to have his arrest warrant lifted by a court in london. he has been confined to the ecuadorian embassy in londonor five years. he had been facing extradition to sweden for sex assault crimes -- cims that have since been dropped. the united nations is calling for an immediate cease-fire in syria as government forces intensify their attacks on are l-held area near damascus. officials say they need at least a month to deliver aid and evacuate the injured. u.n. experts also want to

investigate charges thatpo chemical w were used in at least one strike. the syrian government haspo dismissed the s as lies. robert ford served as u.s. ambassador to syria from 2010 to 2014 and is now a senior fellow at the middle east institute re in washington. i spoke with him earlier. robert ford, the u.s. says it is gravely alarmed by allegations that the assad regime has used chlorine gas against its people repeatedly in rece weeks. how do you expect the trump administration to respond? robert: the trump administration has one of two options -- either they do another round, or two or three, limited strikes tofo e a redline against the use of chemical weapons, or, frankly, the american administration needs to just be quiet. speaking loudly but carrying no stick reduces your credibility. i would rather the americans say

nothing than they wag their finger and threaten and then do nothing. laura: do you think the airstrike last yeaafter assad used chemical weapons against his people had an im robert: it did for a time, and i supported what president trump did. i thought it was a good thing to ro. it was different fm what president obama had been doing. i think it had the potential to be more effective. if rou don't occasionalind them that there is in fact a line, that there is an edge, like any spoiled child, frankly, they will keep doing it. laura: what is your assessment of the state of the civil war right now? there are soany bombardments rebel-held areas by the syrian military. is the war in its endgame?th robertwar is not finished, but the assad government with the help of russia and iran has captured all the major cities in western syria, all of the population centers. lmany of them are in ruine the eastern parts of aleppo or

parts of homs, the third-largest cityin ruins. but militarily, they predominate, they prevail. and so while the fighting is not finished, it imore localized. in 2012, 2013, there was fighting across the country. now there are still pockets, such as northwestern syria, where the opposition is holding out. laura: if there is going to be peace talks, does the u.s. have any leverage at all? geor is all the leve with russia and iran? robert: frankly, in a war, and this is a war, military forcepeaks most loudly, and the americans have never used military force to gain serious leverage in the syrian civil war. the american military effort was cused heavily on beating destrong the islamic state of iraq and syria and the militants in the eastern part of the country, buthe population lives in the western part of the country.

that is where 90% of the syrian population lives. the syrians don't have any cards -- theca ame don't have any cards in that part of the country. laura: this war has gone on since 2011. you were ambassador to the country. what has been the cost to the syrian people? robert: it is just unimaginable. it is shocking.do 't think any syrian expected this.d i wok the viewers to think for a moment what it would be like for their country if one half of the population was displaced. if 20% of the population had to flee the country. the cost, the human cost, the material cost is unimaginable, and it is a terrible tragedy. laura: ambassador ford, thank you for joining us. robert: my pleasure, thank you. laura: you're watching "bbc world news america." still to come on tonight's program, how peaceful protests in iran over the hijab are

raising questions at home and grabbing headlines abroad. a state of emergency remains in force in the maldives as security forces detained a number of opposition politicians. the u.s. state department has expressed concern over the entuation, saying the pres failed to obey a preme court ruling to release political prisoners. this comes during the countr's peak tourism season. this is the maient police dd the former president of the maldives, maumoon a bdul gayoom. neighbors went to the streets tg show hisd wishes -- shout goods wis he was taken away reportedly to an island.

"police are here to arrest me. i remain steadfast in my resolve. i don't know what the charges are. i've not done anything to deserve a rest. stay courageous." police were also sent to the country's supreme court, where they arrested the chief justice an one other judge. the great president, thcu's the ent president, abdulla yameen, porter the arrests -- ordered the arrest. ordered a 15-day state of emergency, the sacking of the police commissioner, a political crackdown. opposition supporters have made her feelings known. one mp called the event a purge. and the american and british governments have called for president yameen law.obey the but the biggest players in maldives politics, india and china, have so far remained silent beyond warning tourists

about potential trouble. this is the peak season for the industry, and the consequences of the president's actions could be very costly for the maldives. laura: in iran, dozens of people have been arrested for protesting againsts law that ma compulsory for women to wear the hijab. alny women have posted images of themselves on so media without their headscarves. 'irans religious leaders have called for strong action in the , court the country's president says the voices of protesters need to be heard. act ofr: it was a simple defiance. a youngns woman's stand ag the law that forces all women in iran to wear a headscarf. she was swiftly arrested.

two days prison, more women took exactly the same stand. men, religious women. >> they don't want to be told what to do, how to behave. they are not fighting againsa piece of cloth. they are fighting for their dignity. they are fighting because they want toe ee. they don't want any religion interference in ths.r personal li reporter: a spokesperson for iran's conservative judiciary accused some of them of being under theor influence of drug the west. but not everybody agrees. an opinion poll released by the president shows that hf of iranians oppose the compulsory hijab. and the president himself appears to be more sympathetic with the demand for change. theident rouhani:

government should take the opinion of the youth into account. reporter: there are conflicting views on political freedom amid the astonishment. t very top, supreme leader ali, nay. -- khamenei. he is deeply conservative and appointed for life. camp,n the conservative the judiciary. but pushing esr reform is ent hassan rouhani, often backed by the parliament. they have democratic legitimacy, but in truth, it is renservatives will hold th power. and because of that power, this human rights lawyer doesn't think change is imminent. >> i don't think the government is ready to reform, particularly in hijab rules. i think it will eventually happen. beenter: iran has already rocked by a wave of protests this year.

sathous marched across the country, angry at poverty and corruption. and while these protests against hi compulsorb may seem simple, they strike at the very heart of the islamic republic. it is not just an issue of female modesty. it is about political control. laura: and that is a test case for ira women go without the hijab? in the past few hours, spacex launched the world's most powerful rocket into orbit. fromcecon heavy took off the kennedy spacer in florida after a series of delays. spacex is the brainchild of elon musk, who also foundedesla , the electric car company. he made sure there was interesting cargo on board, as in science corre gondent victorl reports. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. victoria: t a countdoa

critical moment. powerful rocket ignited all its engines at once and lifted off from kennedy space center a 8:45 u.k. 10. less than 10 minutes later in a refully choreographed aerial dance, its boosters separated and headed back towards earth. aacblended simultaneously the kennedy center, while the third headed for a drone ship in the middle of the lannett goshen. part of its power is the cycling of the rocket, slashing the cost of a launch that make this a breakthroughn space travel. spacex's ambitions have produced high-profileaires. this falcon nine rocket exploded on thenc lad in 2016, destroying a $260 million satellite. but this test makes the falcon heavy the most capable rocket and saturn five, the vehicle that nasa used to take the first astronauts to the moved

almost half a century ago. now the u.s. space agency come already one ofstpacex's ers, watch this closely. for could be a test punching robots and ultimately humans on a missern to mars. evhe show men of commercial space travel, elon musk released his own tesla roadster into space, complete with david go we bowie one bow-- david a live on the radio. mr. mk says his car could have a journey around the sun in a billion years. victoria b gil news. laura: for more on the launch, i spokevery time ago with leroy chiao,om who served asnder of the international space station. as anoi astronaut, what was through your mind as you watched this incredible, powerful unch? leroy: this was a very exciting day. the first new rocket to be launched and the most powerful

rocket we have that is operational. watching it fly on its maiden voyage appear to function lltotally flawlessly was ra thrill. this is paving the way for exploration because the rocket is more thanwice as capable of -- as any other rocket we have on the planet, and the reason it is so big and powerful is we need a rocket like that to send significant payloads away from orbit. this is a step in the direction of exploration to send vehicles out of the earth orbit, either to the moon or someday to mars. thisstep in that direction . rolaura: this brings theect of a manned mission to mars a little bit closer, is that the implication? leroy: yes, absolutely. elon musk plans to build an even bigger rocket, which he calls tongue-in-chfak bfr, the big on rocket. that is what he intends to use to send spacecraft t mars. this is a step in that direction

and it is very exciting. laura: is this rocket complementary to the work of nasa, or is it a competitor, private space showing what it can do? leroy:el wl, it is a little bit of both. the falcon nine was not developed with nasa money and neither was falcon heavy, based on the course. however, elon musk and spacexe lping nasa and nasa isg help fund them to develop spacecraft that will launch astronauts to the space station and bring them back. in a way its complementary, but at the same time, nasa is developing a rocket with boeing and lockheed and it will be more powerful than the falcon heavy, and the intent of the sls is to issls, as it is called, launch nasa spacecraft beyond

beyond low earth orbit. there are in ways competitive but in other ways mplementary. it will be even more competition with the bfr that elon musk plans toel build, asas jeff bezos' rocket that is being planned. laura: we could hear the excitement in florida as the rocket launched. what is it about something like this that brings us all together? leroy: rocket launches are big events. they can be pretty tricky, as wr have seen he years. even on a mature rocket, there is not 100% chance it will be occessful. on a maiden fliga rocket as powerful and complex avythe falcon hthe risk factors were higher. elon musk himself said he expected 50 to 66% chance of success. actually, i was estimating a little bit higher. as it turned out, it looks like everything went perfectly well. laura: thank you so much for joining us. leroy: my pleasure. laura: remember, you can find more on all the day's news on our website.

towe see wh're working on it any time, make sure to check out our facebook page. i am laura trevelyan. "wthanks for watching orld news americath." >> he bbc news app, our vertical videos are designed to work around your lifestyle, so y u can swipe your way through the news of the d stay up to date with the latest headlines you can trust. eddownload now from select app stores. >> fding of this presentatio is made possible by the freeman foundation, and kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. >> planning a vacation escape that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot easier t you think. you can find it here in aruba.es famili, couples, and friends can all find their escape on tht island wwarm, sunny days, cooling trade winds, and the crystal blue caribbean sea.s

nonstop flige available from most major airports. more information for your vacation planning is available at aruba.com. >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles.

captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> yang: good evening. i'm john yang. judy woodruff is away. ohon the newsur tonight: a roller coaster on wa street. the stock market swings wildly, gaining back more than 500 points. then, president trump says he wshould "love to see down," as lawmakers scramble to agree t a spending deal before another deadline for government funding. and, uston thinks long-term. five months after hurricane harvey, how the city is preparing for the next big storm. >> we have to be stronger, and we have to be more resilient. otherwise, just pting people back in their homes the very way they were before is just funding for failure. >> yang: plus, with an eye on mars, space-x successfully launches the most powerful commercial rocket in the world. a