AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

Geoff Bennett is away.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: Mediators work to rekindle cease-fire talks, while the death toll in Gaza crosses 40,000.

NAJY ABU HATEB, Grave Digger (through translator): We are working beyond our capacity.

I swear we are destroyed.

Life has been ruined.

We have dug 50, 60, 70 graves daily.

AMNA NAWAZ: Fact-checking the Trump and Harris camps latest claims as the candidates rally voters on the campaign trail.

And a new form of the mpox virus spreads, prompting health officials to declare another global health emergency.

(BREAK) AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "News Hour."

In Gaza today, the war reached a staggering milestone.

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says 40,000 Gazans have been killed since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.

It comes in yet another fraught moment for the region.

Negotiators met again in Qatar to try and find a path toward a Gaza cease-fire, which the U.S. believes is the best way to prevent the war in Gaza from expanding to an even larger regional conflict.

For more, Nick Schifrin is here now.

He's been following both stories.

Nick, let's just begin with the negotiations.

How close are the two sides to a deal?

NICK SCHIFRIN: A U.S. official told me tonight that the talks were -- quote -- "constructive" and would continue tomorrow and that the mediators were discussing the implementation of the deal, rather than debating the framework.

But I spoke to a regional official involved in the talks, Amna, and this official said the two sides were entrenched and the talks were difficult.

The framework that we're talking about overall remains the same, a six-week cease-fire, an initial release of more than 30 prisoners, the female, elderly, and the infirm.

Israel would release an initial 700 Palestinian detainees, including those convicted of terrorism, and Israel would allow -- quote -- "the surge of humanitarian aid."

But over the last month, regional and Israeli officials tell me that Israel has focused a few points that are now being debated, number one, the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt.

Israel says that it must now control that corridor.

Number two, checkpoints that would screen Gazans moving from Southern to Northern Gaza to prevent Hamas fighters' movement.

Number three, all 30 hostages must be released, initially, must be alive.

It's not clear that Hamas can actually deliver that.

And which Palestinian prisoners Israel can refuse to release.

Now, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said before the talks began that the two sides had narrowed the gaps.

But, again, that regional official telling me tonight Hamas says it's already made concessions and it's not willing to make anymore.

AMNA NAWAZ: Nick, you have been reporting on the starts and stops in these talks.

Just remind us, why are they still critical now?

NICK SCHIFRIN: As you said at the top, U.S. officials believe that a cease-fire is key to preventing regional expansion.

They believe that, if there is a cease-fire, Iran might not respond with an attack on Israel via Iran or its proxies to two assassinations in Beirut and Tehran.

If there's a cease-fire, that would reduce the chances of any kind of Hezbollah-Israel war as well on Israel's northern border.

But the principal goal, of course, is to stop the war in Gaza, which started after Hamas' October 7 terrorist attack, the deadliest day in Israeli history.

Israel blames Hamas for hiding within civilian areas and said today it had killed about 17,000 Hamas fighters.

But even if that's true, that still leaves more than 20,000 civilians dead and, of course, countless families crushed.

In English, there is no word for the father who has lost his children.

Today, Mohammad Abu Al Qumsan surrounded himself with the doll that will never be held, the matching outfits that will never be worn by his twins, Aysal and Aser, born just three days before the family says they were killed in an Israeli strike.

MOHAMMAD ABU AL QUMSAN, Father (through translator): When I married Dr. Joumana and had our two children, my joy was immense.

Unfortunately, I didn't have three days to enjoy their presence.

May God rest their soul.

NICK SCHIFRIN: There are no words for the father who has lost his children.

When he learned of their deaths, he also learned his wife died with them.

In a single moment, he had lost everything, her name written in pen, Dr. Joumana Arafa, who just three days before had posted on Facebook "New twins," a burden too difficult to bear.

And yet he bore the weight of her body, a pallbearer for his own wife.

And he prayed at his family's funeral.

Death stalks Gaza.

And the men who dig Gaza's graves have run out of room.

This is not a cemetery.

It is a patch of sand that Najy Abu Hateb said today could one day be his own.

NAJY ABU HATEB, Grave Digger (through translator): Since the war began, we haven't stopped for even a minute.

We are working beyond our capacity.

I swear, we are destroyed.

Life has been ruined.

We have dug 50, 60, 70 graves daily, until the death toll reached 40,000.

NICK SCHIFRIN: It is the collapse of a community.

This woman has just lost 20 members of her family.

The family says the only survivor of an Israeli strike was 3-month-old Reem (ph), one of 90,000 wounded Gazans and just the latest child identified by Gazan doctors with an appalling label, wounded child, no surviving family Tonight's macabre milestone the reflection of reality -- on average, every day, for 314 days, more than 100 Gazans have died, often before they had the chance to live.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Nick Schifrin.

AMNA NAWAZ: Joining us now is Dr. Ahmad Yousaf, an American pediatrician who recently returned from volunteering with the humanitarian group MedGlobal in Gaza's Al-Aqsa Hospital.

He's now back home in Arkansas.

Dr. Yousaf, thank you for joining us.

DR. AHMAD YOUSAF, MedGlobal: Thank you so much for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: You heard the story there, as my colleague Nick Schifrin reported, of Mohammad Abu Al Qumsan, the father who lost his twins just days after they were born.

So we're able here just to see a slice of these stories from on the ground in Gaza.

You were there.

Tell us what you think when you hear this story.

Were these kinds of stories unusual?

DR. AHMAD YOUSAF: The truth is, this was - - as devastating of a story as that is, this is the everyday story for the Gazan people almost every day I was there in Gaza.

Every day, there were bomb blasts that we heard in the distance.

It sounded like rolling thunder.

And there were drones over our heads 24/7 humming.

And often coinciding with the bomb blasts were mass casualty events that came to the hospital 30 to 45 minutes later, every story devastating, family members and children lost in a manner such as the one that you previously documented.

The only way I can really describe it is, people would come to us in pieces and their family members often were asking us to help in a situation, but there was no way we could meaningfully give them what they deserve in terms of health care.

AMNA NAWAZ: And you are, of course, a pediatrician.

You're focusing on treating children in this environment.

What kind of impact has this war had on the children of Gaza?

DR. AHMAD YOUSAF: It's a hard question to address, because it carries two separate realities.

One is the ongoing what I would call the bleeding that hasn't yet stopped because the bombs are still dropping.

I still get messages from my colleagues and peers in Gaza that tell me that every day there's another mass casualty event down the road even in the Green Zone in Deir al Balah, where it's supposed to apparently be safe.

And the children keep coming in different stages of dead and dying and often the ones who survive have severe physical disability.

And that does not include the other side of this story, which will only be able to truly be assessed when this is over, which is the psychological trauma.

There were moments seared into my brain of watching children in the E.R., that we were treating patients that were screaming in pain in the last moments of their lives with head trauma, open abdomens, torn limbs, and there were children on the side with smaller injuries, burns, and those type of things that were just watching.

And the psychological and psychiatric impact of the trauma on young brains is going to be a generational problem for the Gazan people and will only be assessed when the bleeding has stopped.

AMNA NAWAZ: And, as we speak, we are marking this, another grim milestone here, 40,000 reportedly dead according to Gazan's Health Ministry.

And we should point out there's been a lot of doubt cast on the numbers that we're getting from the Gazan officials.

From your experience on the ground, how do you look at those numbers?

DR. AHMAD YOUSAF: Listen, there was absolute consensus amongst international physicians on the ground that those numbers are understated, meaning there wasn't a doctor that I spoke to that worked in any of the hospitals from any of the NGOs that came from international countries like the U.S. or U.K. or Australia or France or other Middle Eastern countries that didn't believe that the mortality count was significantly higher.

And the reason that is, is because, beyond the bomb blasts where we counted how many people died that day from the bomb blasts, we weren't yet counting the patients that died from infections from their wounds many days later that should have never been there, except that the sanitation systems and the water systems have been attacked in a similar manner, strategically and systematically, making the patient population extremely prone to simple illness, causing severe morbidity and death.

AMNA NAWAZ: Dr. Yousaf, what stays with you from your time there?

DR. AHMAD YOUSAF: I think the two things that will stick with me for a long time was that, despite experiencing from the outside world and from the people attacking them a level of inhumanity, that the Gazan people found a way of showing me immense moments of humanity.

They -- when bomb blasts would go off, the men would run towards the bomb blasts knowing they were going to go try to save who they could, despite it risking their own lives.

I saw physicians who hadn't slept in days and looked like their faces had changed forever over 10 months of trauma, but found a way to come to the hospital and aid their people in desperate situations, knowing that they -- their families may even be at risk of the bomb blast they hear in the distance.

And they looked at me and thought how to feed me and how to take care of me and how to make sure I was OK.

I have gotten message after message from them asking me from people in Gaza how I'm doing, right?

And that comes to the latter part of the feeling that I have, which is an immense amount of guilt and shame that we as a society have allowed the Gazan people to suffer this long under this type of condition without speaking on the behalf and without hearing them.

And so there's a guilt that I get to be here back at an air-conditioned hospital taking care of patients the way they deserve, and we know that they are unable to do so today.

AMNA NAWAZ: That is Dr. Ahmad Yousaf, who's just returned from volunteering in Gaza's Al-Aqsa Hospital.

Dr. Yousaf, thank you for joining us tonight.

Appreciate your time.

DR. AHMAD YOUSAF: Thank you so much for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: We start the day's other headlines in Russia, where Ukrainian forces claim to be pushing deeper into the Kursk region.

Today, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country's troops have seized the town of Sudzha, the administrative center for the Kursk border area.

Even though it is just 5,000 residents, it would mark the largest population center to fall under Ukraine's control since last week's incursion.

In a video call, the Ukrainian army chief reported that the military now controls more than 80 communities, including Sudzha, which President Zelenskyy then announced in his nightly address.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, Ukrainian President (through translator): The commander in chief reported on the operation in the Kursk region.

We have a new advance.

General Syrskyi reported on the completion of the liberation of the town of Sudzha from the Russian military.

A Ukrainian military commandant's office is being established there.

AMNA NAWAZ: Zelenskyy's claim could not be independently verified, and Russia has not responded.

But defense officials said earlier in the day that Russian forces had blocked Ukraine's attempts to take several other communities.

A court in Russia has sentenced Russian-American citizen Ksenia Khavana to 12 years in prison treason charges.

Rights groups say the case stems from a $52 donation Khavana made to a charity that supports Ukraine.

She appeared in court in the city of Yekaterinburg today as the judge read her sentence.

A U.S. State Department official called it an escalation of the Kremlin's domestic oppression.

VEDANT PATEL, Principal Deputy State Department Spokesperson: Donating to a nonprofit organization, donating to an NGO, supporting the Ukrainian cause and supporting the Ukrainian people as they defend themselves against Russian aggression, especially doing so on American soil, is not a crime.

AMNA NAWAZ: Khavana, who's also known by the last name Karelina, reportedly became an American citizen after marrying her husband and moving to Los Angeles.

She was arrested back in February while visiting family in Russia.

Federal law enforcement officials have charged five people in connection with the death of actor Matthew Perry.

They include two doctors and Perry's own assistant.

The "Friends" star suffered an accidental ketamine overdose last year.

At a news conference today in Los Angeles, officials said they'd uncovered a -- quote -- "broad underground criminal network" that distributed ketamine to Perry and to others.

They said the defendants displayed utter disregard for Perry's history of substance abuse.

E. MARTIN ESTRADA, U.S. Attorney, Central District of California: These defendants took advantage of Mr. Perry's addiction issues to enrich themselves.

They knew what they were doing was wrong.

They knew what they were doing was risking great danger to Mr. Perry, but they did it anyways.

AMNA NAWAZ: At least two of the defendants, including Perry's assistant, have already pleaded guilty to charges related to his death.

Bermuda is bracing for hurricane Ernesto as it barrels across the Atlantic Ocean.

Early today, it had maximum sustained winds of 85 miles an hour as it moves north.

Ernesto is expected to become a Category 3 hurricane before passing near or over Bermuda on Saturday with up to 12 inches of rain.

Ernesto already battered Puerto Rico as a tropical storm.

Today, more than 450,000 people were still without power amid sweltering heat.

Former President Donald Trump is asking the judge in his New York hush money case to delay his sentencing until after the November election.

In a letter to Justice Juan Merchan, Trump's lawyers argue that the current date of September 18 could improperly influence voters.

The judge is also set to rule on September 16, so two days earlier, on a request to overturn the verdict following the Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity.

In May, Mr. Trump was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

The U.S. economy is showing signs of resilience this summer.

The Commerce Department says that retail sales jumped by 1 percent in July from the month before.

That's much more than expected and the biggest increase in consumer spending in a year-and-a-half.

A separate report showed that unemployment claims fell by 7,000 last week in a sign that the national jobs market remained stable.

Those reports come a day after a reassuring reading on inflation fueled expectations that the Fed will cut interest rates when it meets next month.

Today's economic readings were also welcome news on Wall Street.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped more than 550 points, ending well above the 40000-point level.

The Nasdaq added more than 400 points, or about 2.66 percent, and the S&P ended higher for a sixth straight session.

And we have a passing of note.

Gena Rowlands, hailed as one of the finest actors of all time, has died.

Her career took off in the 1960s and 70s when she starred in a series of films directed by her husband John Cassavetes.

The pair often worked outside the Hollywood studio system, and together helped bring independent American Sinema to new heights and to new audiences.

GENA ROWLANDS, Actress: Oh, I hope you kids never grow up, never.

AMNA NAWAZ: Rowlands gave vulnerable portrayals of working class women, earning Oscar nods for "A Woman Under the Influence" and the crime thriller "Gloria."

Decades later, she charmed a new generation of audiences as a woman suffering from dementia in "The Notebook."

GENA ROWLANDS: Do you think our love could take us away together?

JAMES GARNER, Actor: I think I love to do anything we want to.

AMNA NAWAZ: That blockbuster was directed by Rowlands' son, who revealed earlier this year that his mother had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in real life.

Gena Rowlands was 94 years old.

Still to come on the "News Hour": the Biden administration and drug companies make a deal to lower prices for some of Medicare's costliest prescriptions; the backlash against tourists flooding popular European destinations; and 100 years after his birth, James Baldwin's enduring influence on art and activism.

The presidential candidates are closing out another busy day on the campaign trail, with less than three months to go in the race for the White House.

As events and advertising ramp up, so does the volume of misleading claims and outright lies.

Former President Donald Trump just wrapped a nearly-90-minute press conference outside his New Jersey golf club, in which he repeated familiar grievances and several lies.

DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: There's virtually 100 percent of the net job creation in the last year has gone to migrants.

She wants to take away your private health care.

She wants to abolish coal, oil and natural gas, 84 percent of U.S. energy supply.

AMNA NAWAZ: To parse out the truths and the falsehoods, we're joined now by PolitiFact editor in chief Katie Sanders.

Katie, welcome back.

Thanks for being with us.

KATIE SANDERS, Editor in Chief, PolitiFact: Thanks for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, Katie, the economy remains the number one issue for voters.

Mr. Trump made several economic claims yesterday, arguing, when he left office, as he says, that gasoline was at $1.87 a gallon.

He also said that poverty rates for African Americans had dropped 7 percent, that they dropped 8 percent for Hispanics.

We know Mr. Trump often speaks in hyperbole, but what's the truth and what's not true about what he's saying?

KATIE SANDERS: Sure.

I will start with the gas prices.

He's not referring to the month when he left office.

He's actually referring to a period where the economy was in a freefall.

That was during spring 2020.

That's the last time that gas was that low.

By the time he was leaving office in January 2021, prices per gallon were up $2.38.

That's 28 percent higher than what he has said many times with this talking point.

As for the Black poverty statistics, he does have a point that the administration achieved record lows to the extent that any presidential administration can really influence the economy.

But what he's leaving out is that, for Black Americans, the poverty rate continued to drop under President Biden's tenure.

The story is a little bit different for Latino poverty.

It did dip to its lowest point under Trump and it's risen a little bit under Biden - - or actually under the rest of Trump's tenure and into Biden's.

But, yes, you're right.

He is prone to exaggerate some of these accomplishments.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, as for President Biden and Vice President Harris, we saw them today appearing for an announcement about lower prescription drug prices.

Here actually is part of what Vice President Harris had to say during that event.

KAMALA HARRIS, Vice President of the United States (D) and U.S. Presidential Candidate: And Medicare was prohibited by law from negotiating lower drug prices.

And those costs then got passed on to our seniors, but not anymore.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, Katie, what should we understand both about that statement and also how this announcement is being framed by the administration?

KATIE SANDERS: Sure.

I mean, it is true that there was that prohibition in law and that prohibition is no more.

But I think the casual listener might not pick up on some of the details.

Now, to be fair, President Biden did go into some more details later on in the speech.

Vice President Harris' remarks were a bit shorter.

But I think if you were just popping in, you would be like, oh, great.

So any Medicare drug is going to be capped and is the result of the negotiation process.

And it's really starting smaller than that.

And it's actually not start -- it's at 10 drugs that were negotiated and was revealed today.

And it's going to be another 10 to 15 one year, another 10 to 15 drugs the next.

So it's kind of a slow implementation, but it is historic.

But I think, again, for the casual listener, this is happening in a few years down the road.

AMNA NAWAZ: So there's another couple of headlines folks will have seen among the vice presidential candidates, the Democratic governor, Tim Walz, and the Republican senator, J.D.

Vance, a few statements related to Governor Walz's military service in particular I want to tackle, this one first.

So, after there was a Harris campaign effort to share a clip of Governor Walz from 2018, this is in which he was discussing gun control.

Here's a look at that clip.

GOV.

TIM WALZ (D-MN), Vice Presidential Candidate: We can make sure we don't have reciprocal carry among states and we can make sure that those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, Katie, Senator Vance then, of course, questioned if Walz, who actually served 24 years in the Army National Guard, ever served in war, as he said, in a combat zone.

What are the facts we need to understand about that?

KATIE SANDERS: Right.

I think the facts that are needed to understand this claim are that Walz did have a lengthy military career.

He was trained in an artillery division.

He did have -- he was deployed overseas, but it was in a support role.

It was not in a combat zone in Iraq or Afghanistan.

So Vance has a point.

This has come up before for Walz in the past, but we rated this claim true.

And, actually, the Walz campaign -- the Harris/Walz campaign has said that he misspoke.

So there's not a lot of contention there over what he said in 2018.

AMNA NAWAZ: And there's another related allegation we have seen from Senator Vance in which he says that Governor Walz deliberately retired when he did to avoid being deployed with his unit to Iraq.

What have you and your team found out about that?

KATIE SANDERS: I think the precision of the known timeline based on official documents is really important here.

And we rated Vance's claim mostly false.

So here's why.

He made it sound as if Walz got some information about the deployment and then decided to retire.

And at PolitiFact, the burden is on Vance to prove that that is in fact what happened.

As we have been reviewing documents from the time from the Minnesota National Guard, from Walz's congressional candidacy, that timeline doesn't exactly square up.

So I will just go through it quickly.

He submitted his candidacy paperwork for running for Congress in February 2005.

This was after, again, a 24-year career.

By that time, he had already submitted retirement paperwork.

That takes months to go through.

And then, in March 2005, so that is the next month, his battalion was notified of the possibility of being deployed within the next two years.

So it wasn't a definite, you're going, but it was, this is possible.

You need to be ready.

In May 2005, Walz's retirement from the National Guard, Minnesota National Guard, went through.

And then, in July, his battalion did receive the official word of the deployment that happened the next year.

So there's an element of truth here, and I think it is seen by people who served with Walz that he was wrestling between the decision to retire or to stay in case of a deployment.

So he did know it was a possibility, but Vance is too fast and loose with the timelines.

So, we rated it mostly false.

AMNA NAWAZ: Katie, if you pull back here to the bigger picture, the race has changed a lot since the last time you and I spoke.

It went from a Biden-Trump race to now a Harris-Trump race.

How has that changed the landscape for fact-checkers like you and your team, especially with this condensed timeline and the challenge of fact-checking in real time, when there are debates and conventions going on?

KATIE SANDERS: Well, that's the secret of fact-checking in real time.

It's actually fact-checking that we have learned from doing reporting on various claims by the candidates that can take days to ascertain.

When the race upended and we had, I'm going to say, relatively three newcomers -- I'm going to count Harris as one of those newcomers, but with Vance and Walz -- we have a whole new race of new claims, new biographical assertions, new records to examine.

So it's no rematch that we were talking about back in Milwaukee, where we are deeply familiar with the presidential candidates at the time.

We're really on like super speed trying to learn a lot as quickly as possible, and that Democratic Convention is fast approaching.

AMNA NAWAZ: That is PolitiFact editor in chief Katie Sanders joining us tonight.

Katie, thank you.

Good to speak with you.

KATIE SANDERS: Thank you so much.

AMNA NAWAZ: And, of course, PolitiFact will be fact-checking next week's Democratic National Convention.

You can find that and other updates from PolitiFact on our Web site, PBS.org/NewsHour.

As we just heard, Medicare has reached agreements with major pharmaceutical companies to cut the cost the government pays for 10 prescription drugs used by millions of Americans.

This marks the first time the government has been able to negotiate directly with drugmakers, a result of provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act past two years ago.

Today, in Maryland, President Biden called it a success more than half-a-century in the making.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: First time I sponsored a bill to let Medicare and negotiate the price of drugs was in 1973 as a freshman senator.

I thank God that, in the last three months I'm president of the United States, I was able to finally get done when I tried to get done when I was a young senator 30 years ago.

AMNA NAWAZ: The drugs selected were some of the costliest and most frequently dispensed in the program, including blood thinners, Eliquis and Xarelto, medication used to treat heart failure like Entresto and Farxiga, and the diabetes drugs Januvia and Fiasp.

To discuss the impact and the implications of the historic negotiations, we're joined now by Neera Tanden, domestic policy adviser to President Biden.

Neera, welcome back to the program.

Thanks for joining us.

NEERA TANDEN, White House Domestic Policy Adviser: Thank you so much for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, as the president said, it's a long time coming on these kinds of agreements.

So when will Americans actually start to feel the impact?

How soon should they expect to pay less for these medications?

NEERA TANDEN: The -- per the statute, this will be implemented January 1, 2026.

So people will experience those prices, seniors will experience these prices through 2026.

The law specifies that these are just the first 10 drugs.

However, next year, they will negotiate 15, 15 the year after that, and then 20 from here on forward.

So this is really the beginning of lowering drug prices for seniors.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, Neera, some of the savings that have been hailed by the president and vice president today, we should point out they're compared to the list prices of the drugs.

And we know those list prices can be higher than the privately negotiated prices that Medicare plans actually end up paying for a lot of these medications.

So some experts say the percentages being held up by the administration here in terms of what's being saved are a little misleading because of that.

What do you say to that?

NEERA TANDEN: In every instance, in all of these 10 drugs, the price negotiated by Medicare is lower than the price that people pay for the drugs in -- that for the seniors pay for these drugs.

So this is going to be savings for seniors.

In addition, we know that there will be $1.5 billion in savings for the millions of people in Medicare.

So this is definitely delivering savings to seniors.

And, again, it's just the beginnings.

AMNA NAWAZ: In terms of what the average senior would actually save, though, it's also true to say that there's other factors like rebates and co-pays and drug middlemen, of course, that also factor into what individuals end up paying for each of the medications.

So is it possible to say what the average American would actually save as a result of this change?

NEERA TANDEN: Well, there are a lot of different insurance plans, so it's a little hard to say exactly how much each person pays.

But we know that they will have significant savings.

And we also know that other elements of the prescription -- of the Inflation Reduction Act -- other elements of the Inflation Reduction Act will deliver savings as well.

January 1, 2025, in just a few months, we will have the $2,000 cap on all drugs for seniors.

So for people taking Enbrel or other drugs that are very expensive, they will also benefit from the $2,000 cap.

This is a significant savings, though, to individuals and more importantly and as importantly, I should say it's a significant savings to the taxpayer.

There will be $6 billion in savings to the Medicare program.

This is a significant portion of the $160 billion in savings we will have from the drug reforms and the Inflation Reduction Act over the next 10 years.

AMNA NAWAZ: As I'm sure you have seen, the drug companies have long argued that lowering prices, among other things, stifles innovation.

We have also seen some of the pharmaceutical companies and their umbrella organizations already challenging this in the courts.

Are you worried about the potential downsides of this, that it could stifle innovation or the litigation could have an impact here?

NEERA TANDEN: Well, first of all, the Congressional Budget Office did an assessment of the Inflation Reduction Act and found that one out of thousands of drugs would be limited over the next 10 years.

They really found this argument that there'd be a lack of innovation to not stand up.

And so we think it's important.

We think that it's important that we have innovation, of course.

We know that companies are extremely profitable.

I would also say, when it comes to the litigation, even judges who've been nominated by Republican presidents have found that this is well within the power of Congress.

AMNA NAWAZ: Neera, as you may have heard, there's an election looming.

AMNA NAWAZ: And we have heard from Republicans alleging that this is a political ploy to woo senior voters, in particular.

Even the head of the pharmaceuticals industry lobbying group, the president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers group said this is to score political points.

He says patients will be disappointed when they don't see the impact the administration is hyping.

The timeline raises the question.

Why now?

Is this the political ploy?

NEERA TANDEN: This timeline was determined by the statute.

The statute said that we have to negotiate the drug prices.

They had to be public by September 1.

We are meeting that statute deadline.

The statute required that they go into effect in January 2026.

I think HHS has been ready to do it earlier, but that's what it's specifies.

And the fact is, I just think this is -- we really just dismiss this argument that this is about politics.

It's about politics if you believe politics should be about solving people's problems Then it is political.

It is not political in any other way.

And I think one of the reasons why we're hearing from the opponents of this that it's political or there's some other nefarious thing going on is because Republicans had a chance to vote for this.

They had a chance to vote for the Inflation Reduction Act.

They had a chance to vote for prescription drug reform.

They had a chance to lower drugs for seniors.

And they said no.

AMNA NAWAZ: That is domestic policy adviser to President Biden Neera Tanden joining us tonight.

Neera, thank you.

Good to speak with you.

NEERA TANDEN: Thanks so much for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: Summer vacation time is quickly fading, but this season is expected to break records worldwide, with billions of people breaking out their suitcases, sandals and swimsuits.

And while tourism is a huge moneymaker, a growing number of destinations are finding their visitors, well, rather annoying and asking many to stay away.

Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant has been looking at European hot spots that are trying to deter the holiday hordes.

And he starts his report from the Cotswolds in Southwestern England.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Straddling the River Windrush, Bourton-on-the-Water is known as the Little Venice of the Cotswolds, a region of Southern England notable for its mellow, honey-stone architecture.

This is England at its finest.

It's picture perfect, almost fairy tale beautiful and wonderfully tranquil.

But you have to get up early to find it like this, especially when the sun deigns to appear.

JON WAREING, District Councillor, Cotswolds, United Kingdom: When you think a population of about 4,300, and we get round about 1.25 million tourists a year, you can see how people get stressed out by it.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Jon Wareing is both a district councillor and an occasionally frazzled resident.

JON WAREING: I have had a number of people who've actually said that considering moving from Bourton, because they just can't take the overtourism anymore.

MALCOLM BRABANT: One of Bourton's attractions is a replica of the village, a suitable metaphor for tourism's footprint here and around the world.

BRYONY HOLDEN, Ticket Seller: When you come to live in a place like Bourton-on-the-Water, you would be a fool to do so if you couldn't handle knowing that there was a peak tourist season, and that you were going to see a lot of people.

MALCOLM BRABANT: An employee here for nearly 30 years, Bryony Holden is unapologetic about the commercial benefits of tourism.

BRYONY HOLDEN: It doesn't really affect us.

We work in the village, we welcome the people, and then we go home, close our from doors.

There's nobody else is there.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Although few in number, many villagers share a kinship with bigger destinations whose quality of life has been diminished by tourism.

JON WAREING: I think the challenge is how we get the right balance of numbers of visitors, so that the experience for them and for local people is not a negative one.

MALCOLM BRABANT: On Santorini, the jewel of Greek islands, residents were angered recently at being urged to stay indoors on a day it was swamped by 17,000 cruise line passengers.

The Greek government is considering limiting the number of ships that can dock at once and overwhelm people, like hotelier Georgios Damigos.

GEORGIOS DAMIGOS, Hotelier: When we increase the number of visitors 20 times, I know for a fact that our standards of living has gone down.

MALCOLM BRABANT: As tourists crowded into narrow lanes to capture the sunset over an extinct volcano, Portuguese visitor Rita Cristavao made this appeal.

RITA CRISTAVAO, Portuguese Tourist: Maybe there should be some rules about the maximum visitors per day that Santorini should have, so every visitor can have a more pleasant experience.

MALCOLM BRABANT: In early July in Barcelona, some demonstrators delivered their message to visitors with water pistols.

JORDI HEREU, Spanish Industry and Tourism Minister (through translator): I condemn this expression that goes against our country's values and sentiments.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Spain's tourism minister and Barcelona's former Mayor Jordi Hereu.

JORDI HEREU (through translator): I want to reaffirm the values of hospitality of Spain and the Spanish tourism model, and one of its characteristics, which is security.

MALCOLM BRABANT: But Barcelona is turning up the temperature.

Cruise passengers who visit the city for less than 12 hours will have to pay an increased tourist tax, if the mayor gets his way.

He says day trippers aggravate the sense of occupation and saturation without providing any benefit.

That sentiment is shared from the Canary Islands to Amsterdam, capital of the Netherlands.

Last year, exasperated by weekly drink- and drug-fueled bad behavior in the red light district, the city launched a campaign aimed squarely at the usual suspects, young British men.

OLIVIER PONTI, ForwardKeys: I think we can say this hasn't had much of an impact.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Based in Valencia, Spain, ForwardKeys is a travel analytics company that monitors who's travelling where and when.

Olivier Ponti is its director of intelligence and marketing.

OLIVIER PONTI: Looking at the year-to-date data, we can see a 17 percent increase in English arrivals to airports in Amsterdam.

MALCOLM BRABANT: So what does Amsterdam need to do to try to keep the Brits away?

OLIVIER PONTI: So I think the strategy should be to try and identify those travelers from the U.K. and other places that could be interested in a destination like Amsterdam outside of the high season.

MALCOLM BRABANT: But Amsterdam has pivoted.

NARRATOR: Amsterdam makes you see what's alive, what love is, how you can be just you, while giving room to others too.

MALCOLM BRABANT: It's also an appeal for more respectful behavior.

JUSTIN FRANCIS, Founder, Responsible Travel: As a tourist, if you can travel outside of the peak holiday season, that's going to be more enjoyable for you and take the pressure off local residents.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Justin Francis runs an ethical travel agency, which advocates that better treatment of local people and places result in better vacations.

JUSTIN FRANCIS: Spend as many of your dollars in the local communities you can, which shouldn't be a hardship, but local hotels, local bars, local restaurants, local markets, because this is the trade-off.

You come, you enjoy, but if your money is ending in local hands, it feels a fairer deal for them.

MALCOLM BRABANT: The city of Venice can't wait for attitudes to change.

This summer, it's levied an entrance fee costing five euros, or $5.45.

But travel analyst Olivier Ponti says the tax has failed to deter visitors.

OLIVIER PONTI: People want to visit Venice.

They want to see it at least once in their life.

Is a five euro tax really expected to deter people from fulfilling their dream of visiting Venice?

I don't think so.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Back in Bourton-on-the-Water, Thomas Wong from Des Moines, Iowa, was glad he beat the rush.

THOMAS WONG, American Tourist: When there are too many tourists, you find it, like, not as authentic compared to more remote regions, and it's not as, like, realistic.

So I like when there's not as many people so you can enjoy it by yourself with your family.

MALCOLM BRABANT: But day-trippers who bring their own picnics and don't contribute to the local economy provide ammunition for those who favor a Venice-style tourist tax.

JON WAREING: Repairing this green, because as you can see as the numbers start to increase, when it's absolutely full, there's a lot of wear and tear.

Residents in the past felt pretty negative about having to be the ones that bear the cost of doing that, when they're not the ones enjoying their own amenity.

MALCOLM BRABANT: When we visited, there was a better class of traffic jam.

But on peak summer days, lines of cars and coaches, or busses, as Americans call them, can delay emergency vehicles by over an hour.

BRYONY HOLDEN: The problem is, there's no longer any provision for coach parking in the village.

It causes congestion, and it causes a little bit of irritation on some parts, even though we really welcome the coaches.

The real difficulty is, there are far too many cars coming.

If more people took a coach and booked, the problem would probably be solved, if there was sufficient provision for the coach parking.

MALCOLM BRABANT: From the depths of the English countryside to every point of the compass, tourism is becoming more of a battlefield with every passing day.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Malcolm Brabant in Bourton-on-the-Water.

AMNA NAWAZ: Health officials are on high alert because of the rapid spread of mpox in several African nations.

The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a global health emergency.

And experts warn the virus could spread further internationally.

In fact, today, Sweden reported the first case outside of Africa in an individual who had recently returned to Sweden from Africa.

Ali Rogin has the details.

ALI ROGIN: The Africa Centers for Disease Control reports that mpox, originally known as monkeypox, has been detected in 13 African nations, including Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.

More than 96 percent of all cases and deaths have occurred in one country, the Democratic Republic of Congo.

So far there have been more than 14,000 cases registered and 524 deaths in the continent this year alone, surpassing last year's numbers.

Experts are asking for more funding, vaccines and a concerted effort to slow the transmission of this virus, which can be spread through infected individuals, sex and contaminated meat.

For more, I'm joined by Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist at the University of California at Los Angeles who has studied mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo for two decades.

Anne, thank you so much for being here with us.

What populations are the most vulnerable to mpox?

DR. ANNE RIMOIN, UCLA Epidemiologist: Well, thanks for having me here.

What we're seeing is, we're seeing two different populations at great risk.

We're seeing people in remote rural areas in DRC who are traditionally hunting wild animals for food source.

And then we're seeing from -- a spillover from an animal to a human, some human-to-human transmission within households.

The other thing that we're seeing in more urban areas is sexual transmission, primarily happening in sexual and gender minorities and also in sex workers as well.

ALI ROGIN: And why are we seeing such a rise in reported cases and deaths this year, as compared to last year?

DR. ANNE RIMOIN: Well, there are a number of reasons that this could be happening.

And nobody knows for sure, because we just haven't had terrific disease surveillance on the ground, given all of the logistical barriers that are in place, given the vastness of a place like DRC and the limited resources available.

So we don't have excellent surveillance on the ground.

We don't have enough diagnostics.

So many of these cases are reported.

They don't go with big case investigations that give us the data that we need to really know what's happening on the ground.

We don't have the tests available to be able to determine, is this monkeypox or is this something else?

So, right now, situational on the -- awareness on the ground is less than optimal.

And that's why it's not possible to say with certainty anything about what's happening on the ground.

ALI ROGIN: And that underscores again how little we know about the specifics of how this disease, how this virus is spreading.

But I do wonder, does the declaration of a global emergency have any impact on that?

And what other effects might come from this declaration?

DR. ANNE RIMOIN: Well, seeing these global declarations, first from Africa's CDC calling this a global health emergency of regional concern, and then from WHO, the public health emergency of international concern, should be very important in terms of unlocking funds and resources to be able to really better understand the mechanisms of spread, provide information through better surveillance, better testing, and then also being able to get vaccines on the ground to be able to better control the outbreaks that are occurring.

ALI ROGIN: And tell us about the scarcity of vaccines.

I know that's a big issue.

DR. ANNE RIMOIN: Africa CDC suggested that they should -- that there is a need for approximately 10 million doses of vaccine to be able to control the outbreak on the ground.

And, right now, there is actually very limited supply of vaccine available.

The DRC is working closely with their partners on the ground to be able to identify groups that are at greatest risk, where they can deploy the vaccine most effectively first to be able to control the outbreak on the ground.

But, by and large, we should be getting maximum number of doses of vaccine available to places like the Democratic Republic of Congo, where this virus has originated, so that we can control it at its source.

That's going to be critically important.

And these countries where -- that are most affected by this virus are countries that have the least amount of resources available traditionally and currently.

So, hopefully, these declarations will make a very big difference in terms of being able to get resources to the places that are needed.

ALI ROGIN: That's UCLA epidemiologist Anne Rimoin.

Thank you so much for joining us.

DR. ANNE RIMOIN: My pleasure.

AMNA NAWAZ: This month, the legendary writer and activist James Baldwin would have turned 100 years old.

Baldwin is best known for his novels and essays and as a moral voice addressing race, sexuality and the very fabric of American democracy.

Nearly 40 years after his death, his words are more relevant than ever.

Jeffrey Brown looks at his enduring legacy for our series Art in Action, exploring the intersection of art and democracy, and our ongoing Canvas coverage.

JAMES BALDWIN, Writer: The inequality suffered by the American Negro population of the United States has hindered the American dream.

JEFFREY BROWN: James Baldwin, novelist, essayist, civil rights activist, public intellectual, here debating William F. Buckley Jr. at the University of Cambridge in 1965.

EDDIE GLAUDE JR., Princeton University: He's engaged in this ongoing work of self-creation, in this sustained reflection on the power of the American idea.

He's bringing the full weight of his intellect to bear on this project.

JEFFREY BROWN: Eddie Glaude Jr. is a professor of African American studies at Princeton University and author of the 2020 book "Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own."

EDDIE GLAUDE JR.: I think, if you read Baldwin closely, there is this underlying idea that we have yet to discover who we are, right, because the ghosts of the past in so many ways, not only blind us, but they have us by the throat.

JEFFREY BROWN: James Arthur Baldwin was born in Harlem in 1924 and raised there by his mother and stepfather, a Baptist preacher.

The oldest of nine children, he excelled in school and served as a junior minister.

A man on the margins, Black and queer, he spent years of his life abroad, much of it in France, beginning at age 24.

He wrote novels, including "Go Tell It on the Mountain," an autobiographical book about growing up in Harlem, and "Giovanni's Room" about a tormented love affair between two men living in Paris, and powerful essays exploring race and American identity, including "Notes of a Native Son" and "The Fire Next Time."

EDDIE GLAUDE JR.: He's one of the greatest essayists we have ever produced, the world has ever produced I think, and his subject is us.

But his vantage point, it's not that of a victim.

His vantage point is from those who've had to bear the burden of America's refusal to look itself squarely in the face.

JEFFREY BROWN: He was also a playwright and poet, an activist who marched and spoke out for civil rights, including on television, here on "The Dick Cavett Show" in 1969.

JAMES BALDWIN: And the word Negro in this country really is designed, finally, to disguise the fact that one is talking about another man, a man like you, who wants what you want.

And insofar as the American public wants to think there has been progress, they overlook one very simple thing.

I don't want to be given anything by you.

I just want you to leave me alone, so I can do it myself.

JEFFREY BROWN: Baldwin died in 1987, but he's remained a powerful cultural presence, one that's only grown in the past decade.

JAMES BALDWIN: There are days -- this is one of them -- when you wonder what your role is in this country and what your future is in it.

JEFFREY BROWN: In the 2016 documentary "I Am Not Your Negro," director Raoul Peck drew from Baldwin's own words.

As he told me then: RAOUL PECK, Director: He was already a classic, and he wrote those things 40, 50 years ago.

And watching the film, you think that he would have -- he wrote that in the morning, the morning before watching the film, because those words are so accurate, they are so prescient and so impactful, that you can't do it better.

JEFFREY BROWN: In 2018, Baldwin's 1974 novel "If Beale Street Could Talk" was adapted by Oscar-winning director Barry Jenkins.

BARRY JENKINS, Director: Whether I had won eight Oscars or no Oscars, it's James damn Baldwin, you know?

It's James Baldwin.

That's pressure enough, in and of itself, because I wanted to honor his legacy in the way that I thought it should be honored.

JEFFREY BROWN: And now a celebration of the centennial of his birth, including an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery called This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance, which takes its name from a short story he published in 1960, another at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture titled Jimmy: Gods Black Revolutionary Mouth, presenting Baldwin's archive of personal papers.

There's a new album by singer-songwriter and bassist Meshell Ndegeocello called No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin, and reissues of seminal works with new introductions and artwork.

CREE MYLES, Host, "The Baldwin 100": What is the best lesson you have learned being in the spiritual community that you are in with James Baldwin?

JEFFREY BROWN: Along with a podcast, "The Baldwin 100," in which host Cree Myles talks with contemporary writers and thinkers.

What is his relevance today, especially when you think about younger people, younger readers, younger citizens?

CREE MYLES: Despite the time that has passed, his amount of truth is still relatively radical.

When I think about his novels and "Giovanni's Room," and we're thinking about the ways that he grappled with, like, sexuality, those are things were still coming to terms with.

JEFFREY BROWN: Acclaimed Irish novelist Colm Toibin contributed the new book "On James Baldwin."

COLM TOIBIN, Author, "On James Baldwin": I'm interested in him as, I suppose, someone who really found ways of dealing with individuality versus community, with being an artist in a difficult time.

But more than anything, more than anything, he wrote well.

JEFFREY BROWN: Toibin saw connections to his own upbringing and told us how Baldwin has influenced him as writer and man.

COLM TOIBIN: It's a question of engaging with this great intelligence and with the sensuous intelligence, with someone sort of thinking brilliantly and glittering sort of way.

But it is also, of course, developing strategies, which he did in relation to his family, in relation to Harlem, in relation to Black America, in relation to exile, in relation to attempting to being an artist in a time of flux, and also in a way of being a gay artist, a homosexual artist coming out of a world which is very conservative and very religious, and attempting also to build strategies around that that give you energy, rather than ones that take you down.

JEFFREY BROWN: One deeply resonant thread through all the commemorations, Baldwin's focus on the fragility of democracy itself.

EDDIE GLAUDE JR.: Baldwin's exposing the lie that is the source of the suffering, that defines this fragile project, it seems to me.

He's committed to democracy.

He's committed to America.

After all, we are deeply American.

But, by virtue of that commitment, he has to relentlessly critique it.

JAMES BALDWIN: It comes as a great shock to discover the country, which is your birthplace and to which you owe your life and your identity, has not, in its whole system of reality, evolved any place for you.

JEFFREY BROWN: A commitment, as Glaude puts it, to the complex experiment called America.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Jeffrey Brown.

AMNA NAWAZ: And that's the "News Hour" for tonight.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

On behalf of the entire "News Hour" team, thank you for joining us.