That those first beers and breads were relying on yeasts from insects, too. Brangham all that and more, on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by bnsf railway. And with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Brangham it was north koreas own version of fireworks for the fourth of july the communist state today fired off a new missile that may, some day, put the United States within range of its weapons. Nick schifrin begins our coverage. Reporter on this july 4, north korea declared independence from what it called American Nuclear threats. translated the scientists and technicians have successfully testfired the newly developed inter continental ballistic missile. Reporter in pyongyang, north koreans celebrated what appears to be north koreas most advanced test in its long pursuit of a Nuclear Weapon. The missile flew for about 40 minutes almost straight up, reaching an altitude of more than 1,500 miles, and came straight down, landing 580 miles away in the sea of japan. On a flatter trajectory, its estimated the missile could have traveled as far as 4,000 miles past anchorage, alaska, says scientist david wright. If they shoot it essentially straight up in the air, it goes very, very high and comes down not very far away. If they flatten it out a little bit, it uses all that speed to go a much longer distance. Reporter but the test does not mean north korea can deliver a Nuclear Weapon. Its not known whether its mastered required miniaturization, or guidance and separation systems, that can take years to develop. As you go to longer and longer ranges, there are just much higher stresses, vibrations, the accelerations, so there are a lot of forces on this nuclear warhead. We dont know if theyve actually done the final steps to have a warhead that they could actually put into one of these long range missiles and have it work the way its supposed to. Reporter as president elect, donald trump vowed not to let todays event ever happen. As president , he tried to push china to pressure north korea, but he recently admitted that failed. Today he addressed north Korean Leader kim jongun, tweeting, does this guy have anything better to do with his life . Perhaps china will put a heavy move on north korea and end this nonsense once and for all. But today, china didnt show willingness to apply more pressure. translated we hope all sides can remain calm and exercise restraint, ease the tense situation on the peninsula. Reporter and in moscow, chinese and russian president s xi jinping and Vladimir Putin jointly called for the u. S. And north korea to abandon longheld positions, in order to calm the peninsula. translated we agreed to actively promote parallel freezing of Nuclear Missile activities of north korea, and largescale joint drills of the u. S. And south korea. Reporter north korea has exploited the u. S. Independence holiday before, on july 4, 2006, and 2009. But this is their most dramatic test, and their momentum is increasing. They have now launched more missiles in the last three years than in the last three decades. I dont see a road block to them being able to continue this process until they got a missile that really had the ability to reach the lower 48 states. I think its just a matter of time before they reach that point. Reporter for the pbs newshour, im nick schifrin. Brangham well look at the implications of the north korean test, right after the news summary. In the days other news, iraqi soldiers in western mosul advanced deeper into the last pocket still being held by islamicstate forces. Fierce fighting continued in an area packed with civilians. But in baghdad, this evening, Prime MinisterHaider Alabadi proclaimed a big victory over isis or daesh in arabic. translated all the displaced must return to their homes. We are continuing to liberate all our land from daesh. The iraqi people ended the myth of daesh in record time, although the world thought that this was not possible. Brangham meanwhile, in syria, a kurdishled militia has breached the heart of the islamic states selfproclaimed capital, raqqa. The u. S. Backed forces today punched through the wall around the old city and are now pushing into the most heavily fortified portion of the isis stronghold. President trumps first faceto face meeting with russian president Vladimir Putin will happen this friday. Theyll meet on the sidelines as the g20 summit begins in hamburg, germany. The white house says there will be no specific agenda for the meeting. Theres word that canada will apologize to a canadian citizen for the alleged treatment he received at the Guantanamo Naval base. Its widely reported that hell also be paid nearly 8 million. Omar khadr was captured in afghanistan when he just 15 years old. He initially admitted to killing a u. S. Soldier, and spent 10 years at guantanamo. Khadr says his confession was coerced, and Canadas Supreme Court has now ruled he was interrogated under what it called oppressive circumstances. In new jersey, the threeday Government Shutdown is over. Democratic lawmakers reached a budget deal last night, and republican governor Chris Christie signed it into law. Christie had been heavily criticized for using a state beach on sunday, after it was closed to the public. The new budget agreement allowed state parks and beaches to reopen for everyone, just in time for the fourth of july. Pretty excited were going to see the statue of liberty, so were pretty excited to be back here. I mean, i saw on the news yesterday it was closed for budget issues, so were excited. Its our first time. Its amazing that it opened in time. Its thankful, its a very special day to reopen liberty park. Brangham in maine, governor paul le page also signed a new budget, ending a partial Government Shutdown in his state. And, in illinois, there was no break in a budget impasse thats now in its third year. Republican Governor Bruce Rauner vetoed a 36 billion package, along with a major tax hike. The democraticcontrolled state Senate Quickly overrode the veto. The house took no immediate action. And, the nation marked its 241st birthday today with an array of annual celebrations. Fourth of july parades began with one in gatlinburg, tennessee at midnight. Thats been their tradition for 42 years. And in washington this evening, president and mrs. Trump hosted a white house picnic for military families before the annual fireworks over the national mall. Still to come on the newshour what options does the u. S. Have after north koreas missile test . A court orders the e. P. A. To put an obamaera rule into effect. Farmers struggling with a drop in crop prices. And, much more. Brangham we return now to north korea and its recent missile launch. Today, the United States called for a closed door United NationsSecurity Council meeting. To address the threat. So what exactly are the Trump Administrations options, how might it respond . For that, we turn to ambassador christopher hill. He was the chief u. S. Negotiator with north korea from 2005 until 2009, and served as u. S. Ambassador to south korea. And, by mark bowden. Hes a National Correspondent for the atlantic magazine, and recently wrote a comprehensive cover story titled can north korea be stopped . Gentlemen, welcome to you both. Ambassador hill, id like to start with you first. Can you just give me your official reaction to this most recent launch . I think its a very serious matter. Its pretty clear theyve made progress on intercontinental ballistic missiles. From what i can understand, if you sent it at a different pitch, it could actually exceed the 5,000 miles that qualifies it as an intercontinental ballistic missile, so its a pretty serious matter, and we also understand they made progress on miniaturization, so its not farfetched to assume in the next two or three years they will have a deliverable Nuclear Weapon aimed at the United States and the real question is how is the president going to explain that to the American People and perhaps more immediately what is he going to do about it. Brangham mark bowden, President Trump said he will not allow a Nuclear Missile to be developed in north korea but this seems to be a large step in that direction. It does. In addition to shrinking a Nuclear Weapon to go on top of a missile, they already have chemical weapons and biological weapons capable of mass casualty. This is a really serious development. Its easy to say youre going to stop them from doing it but its not easy to accomplish. Brangham ambassador, what is your understanding of what kim jong un wants with this Nuclear Program . Well, you know, opinions differ on this. There are some who believe this is a poor, beleaguered country surrounded by larger hostile states who want to do it harm, so why not allow the north koreans to defend themselves. I think its actually a much more aggressive purpose they have in mind. I think what theyre hoping was that to hold american civilians at risk, that is, to have a deliverable Nuclear Weapon deliverable to the u. S. Mainland, they can convince the United States not to exercise their responsibilities in the treaty with south korea, and i think being north korean is to believe that somehow, if they can get the u. S. Out of the equation, they can reunite the peninsula on their own terms. This seems farfetched, but, to be a north korean is not necessarily to believe in the conventional wisdom. I think there are a lot of north koreans who feel there is a lot of pro north korean sentiment in south korea and if only they could get the u. S. Out of the equation, theyd do it so i think its is a very serious and dangerous moment. Brangham mark boden, is this primarily a development of an offensive weapon for keeping the u. S. And others at bay while it retakes south korea . I do think and agree with ambassador hill that is the primary reason for having this weapon, but it also gives north korea a lot more leverage in that region and certainly in dealing with south korea. Its conceivable, given the overtures that the new south korean president has made to reopen negotiations with north korea that kim jong un could use the possession of a weapon like this to pressure those gages take place without the United States, and i think his goal may well be to get the United States to withdraw from the Korean Peninsula. Brangham ambassador, help me understand this more. We are always told that, while this regime may be a despotic regime, theyre not irrational actors and the idea that somehow the u. S. Would allow them to invade south korea seems unbelievably farfetched. Well, i mean, if you look at the kind of weaponry which tends to be very offensive, tends to be right up there in the front, when you look at, as mark pointed out, their capacities in chemical weapons and biological weapons, if you look at the fact they have some 14,000 artillery tubes right up there in the front pointing right at the south korean civilian populations, it looks to be a kind of offensivelyminded force. I think for a long time they have been dedicated to the proposition they have to decouple the u. S. From the Korean Peninsula and then a lot of things will fall their way. Brangham mark boden, your piece in the atlantic laid out what you describe as the four main options for the Trump Administration to respond and you reply these are largely bad options. Can you explain the suite of options the administration has . The oven one, people are bringing this up whenever im interviewed on the subject is why dont we attack north korea and take out their military and eliminate the threat . And thats certainly doable, but the consequences of that would be horrific, as the ambassador just pointed out. Even the conventional weapons north korea has could level seoul, a city of 26 Million People, and when you add, you know, chemical weapons and biological and potentially Nuclear Weapons, you have possibly one of the greatest catastrophes in human history. The other possibility is to sort of turn up the screws, a series of smallscale military attacks that would ramp up the pressure on north korea, something that could rapidly descend into an allout conflict. Another pocket is to target kim jong un himself and try to eliminate him and replace him. Then the last bad option is just to accept the fact that we cant stop north korea from building these weapons and, you know, deterrents you know, in this case, it just be assured destruction we can hope might prevent them from using them. Brangham last question to you, ambassador. The president seemed time ply in his tweet its up to china to handle this situation. But weve had three administrations to try to persuade china to act with regards to north korea. Why hasnt that happened yet . Well, i think the chinese are split. I think some chinese feel the demise of north korea would be perceived in china as a victory for america and defeat for china and they worry about the perception of that within china, that is its a domestic issue within china. So a lot of people want to go with reforms much faster than xi jinping does, and if north korea were to go away, perhaps those people would be in the ascendancy. So a lot of party types, kurt types in china dont like to see something that results in something that looks like a u. S. Victory. That said i think the three administrations are absolutely correct. We need to work more with china. I think the problem is President Trump has more of an outsourcing notion that somehow, okay, over to you, china, you sort this out. Well support you and, by the way, stop calling you a currency manipulator and all the other bad things you dont like. China is not going to be able to do this alone. I would keep the door open for notion, not that the north koreans have shown interest in negotiations, but having done it for years, i think it was the right way to keep our relations with japan and south korea together, and having taken a lot of criticism from people who think how can you think negotiation is the right answer . It has to be a factor in it if youre going to keep others together with you on the issue. Brangham former ambassador christopher hill, mark bode bowf the atlantic magazine, thank you very much. Youre welcome. Thank you. Brangham next, a legal setback for the Trump Administration and its effort to reverse environmental regulations from the obama presidency. Yesterday, an Appeals Court ruled that the Environmental Protection agency cannot delay implementation of a rule limiting methane emissions from new oil and gas drilling wells. The court said the e. P. A. Can rewrite the rule, but it cant take the shortcut of suspending enforcement. Juliet eilperin is a reporter for the washington post, and shes been covering this story. Welcome back to the newshour. Of course, thanks. Brangham tell me, what did the court, in essence, rule . What the court said is it wouldnt necessarily stand in the way if the administration wanted to we are write an existing rule on the oil and gas industry but the administration couldnt simply suspend compliance with the rule, it had to go through laborious Public Comment process if it wanted to do that. Brangham this rule is about methane that, as youve reported and many others, that methane is particularly potent Greenhouse Gas, 25 times more potent than co2 is. What did the Obama Administration rule actually do . It imposed new restrictions on oil and gas wells that are either new or modified, that if the oil and gas industry was going to create a new well or modify an existing one, it had to have tighter restrictions to lower the releases of this Greenhouse Gas as kind of a way that the administration was looking to reduce these emissions across the oil and gas industry over time to slow down climate change. Brangham e. P. A. Pry administrator pruitt and many others argue to enact these rules is too expensive and that they overlap state rules governing methane. The e. P. A. Argued their rule was not subject to judicial oversight which i take it the judges were not happy to read. Yes, on a 2 to 1 ruling, its worth noting the majority were two democratic appointees, the senator was appointed by a republican, said essentially by doing this, by suspending the rule its essentially revoking it altogether and that is subject to judicial rule. They also took aim that the Environmental Protection agency and the American Petroleum institute were making that industry didnt have sufficient input into the rule and the argument was we can point out all the ways which you had to comment and the rule addressed your concerns, maybe not to your liking, but tackled the questions when they issued the rule in 2016. Brangham this move by the e. P. A. Was one of many attempts by scott pruitt and the e. P. A. To push back on obama era regulations they dont like. Does what the court ruled in this particular case have any bearing on the other attempts in other realms to roll back implications . Thi