WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Tonight on PBS News Weekend, the future of U.S.-China relations as Biden meets with Xi Jinping for the last time in office.

Then, severe drought has sparked blazes in a region of the country not used to wildfire.

WOMAN: The Northeast over the last 10 years has been known for its historic flooding.

And now we're dealing with a parched and in some areas, scorched earth situation.

And it's a roll of the dice as to which one it will be at this point.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And the dangerous and sometimes deadly work done by environmental activists around the world.

(BREAK) WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Good evening.

I'm William Brangham.

John Yang is away.

Israeli troops have reached their deepest point inside Lebanon since Israel invaded its neighboring nation six weeks ago.

At least six Lebanese were killed, including children, when an Israeli airstrike hit a village in eastern Lebanon.

The country's health ministry says two medics were also killed in strikes that hit southern Beirut.

The IDF maintains the strikes were meant to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure.

Displaced residents search through the debris for what's left of their possessions.

FARAH ATWA, Resident of Destroyed Building: One cannot deny that there are memories in that building, memories of my own children.

And I really wish that I can actually take one simple picture of them when they were young.

I did not take anything outside of that home because I did not expect at all that this will be an Israeli target, not for one second.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In the northern Gaza Strip today, an Israeli strike killed at least 10 people living in a school turned shelter for displaced families.

Gazan health officials say rescue efforts were ongoing to find any survivors still trapped under the rubble.

A patient in California is being treated for a new, more serious form of Mpox, a version first seen in eastern Congo.

The California Department of Public Health said the patient recently traveled to eastern Africa but is now being treated at home.

Officials say the risk to the public remains low.

President-Elect Trump is making more cabinet appointments as his transition plows ahead.

Late today, he tapped Chris Wright to run the Department of Energy.

Wright is currently a fossil fuel executive and was a donor to Trump's campaign.

Trump also announced Friday night that Karoline Leavitt will become his White House press secretary.

At 27, she'll be the youngest and first person from Generation Z to hold that position.

Prosecutors in New York allege that music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs is trying to obstruct justice from his jail cell.

He's awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Filings made late Friday in Manhattan allege that Combs asked family members to reach out to witnesses and to try to sway public opinion.

A $50 million bail hearing is scheduled for next week.

And the only knockout in last night's Mike Tyson, Jake Paul boxing spectacle was to Netflix's ability to stream a live event.

Former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson, who is nearly 60 years old, fought 27-year-old Internet star Jake Paul.

The much hyped event was marred when Netflix's feed stalled and glitched for viewers around the world.

In the end, Paul beat Tyson by unanimous decision of the judges.

Still to come on PBS News, the role of climate change in the outbreak of wildfires in the Northeast and the deadly work of environmental activists around the world.

(BREAK) WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Today in Lima, Peru, President Biden is meeting for the third and final time during his term with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The leaders of the two superpowers sat down together as President Biden prepares to hand the reins of this tense but consequential relationship back to President-Elect Trump.

Their sit down was on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, known as apec.

Nick Schifrin is there now.

Nick, very good to see you.

Could you tell us a little bit about this meeting?

What was the Biden administration's goal here?

NICK SCHIFRIN: U.S. officials described the meeting as an attempt to take stock of their efforts to try and manage the competition between the U.S. and China, including increasing military to military communications and working together on fentanyl, AI and climate.

But William, as you know, the top of the agenda for all of these summits are always where China and the U.S. do not agree.

And the top of that list, of course, is Taiwan.

Last month, we saw Chinese military practice what they call blockading and assaulting the island in response to a speech by Taiwan's new president, whom Beijing calls a separatist.

U.S. officials say that conflict in Taiwan or over Taiwan remains the most significant risk for U.S. and the world.

U.S. officials also say that Biden will bring up China's ongoing support for Russia's defense industrial base, which is allowing Russia to continue its efforts in Ukraine and perhaps most immediately, William, China.

The U.S. is also bringing up what US Officials call a Chinese hack of American telecommunications firms that have led to theft of customer call records, the compromise of at least one phone to an adviser of President-Elect Trump, and Chinese being inside the system that those firms have built for law enforcement agencies, William, the U.S. is not expecting any breakthroughs on any of those issues.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And Nick, how do the Chinese respond to those allegations about that hack and more broadly, what are their goals with this meeting?

NICK SCHIFRIN: The China calls U.S. claims of a hack disinformation.

They even accuse the U.S. of inserting computer code to, quote, frame China.

Instead, China highlights badly needed infrastructure development here and across the global south, including Xi Jinping's first event here in Peru, inaugurating what will be the second largest port on the Pacific Ocean.

China replaced the U.S. as Peru's largest trading partner a decade ago.

The Chinese say Latin America is not, quote, in anyone's backyard.

That's a direct dig at the U.S. and Xi Jinping personally ties Latin and Chinese cultures together and says they are the future.

XI JINPING, Chinese President (through translator): This is my third visit to Peru.

The profound accumulation of ancient civilizations has endowed China and Peru with wisdom and broad mindedness and enabled us to see clearly the direction of history and follow the trend of the times.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The U.S. argues that port is worth a lot less than the $6 billion of foreign direct investment that the U.S. makes in Peru that creates 1.1 million jobs.

Biden, though, also warned Peru's president not to accept any quote, non-transparent deals and there are concerns about the transparency of the deal over that port.

But William, I spoke to Peru's ambassador in Washington and he told me that look, quote, the U.S. needs to pay more attention to the continent.

We are receiving interest from other parts of the world.

Someone has to make the investment.

He acknowledged us concerned about China, but said our solution is more American investment, not less Chinese investment.

William, South American officials don't necessarily have an affinity for China, but they need Chinese investment.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Nick, as you well know, in two months time, President-Elect Trump will take over, inherit all of these issues.

Do you have a sense from Trump's nominees thus far how the Trump administration might handle China?

NICK SCHIFRIN: Trump himself has warned that he will impose a 60 percent tariff on all Chinese goods and that will spark Beijing to retaliate and perhaps create a trade war.

As for those picks, William, they are very, very important.

Trump's pick for Secretary of State, Senator Marco Rubio from Florida has long called for militarily and economically tougher posture on China.

Beijing's actually sanctioned him twice and so they would need to lift those sanctions if the Secretary of State, the U.S. is top diplomat, were to ever fly into China.

Trump's pick for national security adviser, Mike Waltz has said the U.S. is in a cold war with the Chinese Communist Party.

So all that suggests that the second Trump administration will be as confrontational as the first Trump administration was at the end of that administration.

But William, we saw tension between the pro-business and the national security crowd in the first Trump administration and perhaps we will see that again.

One example, Elon Musk, the world's richest man, a senior adviser essentially to President-Elect Trump.

He is very close to Chinese leaders and creates Teslas in China.

And so we will see what that tug and pull ends up with in the new administration.

WILLAM BRANGHAM: Nick, this being the last meeting between Xi and Biden, is there any sense of any aspects of the Biden administration's efforts that will endure beyond his term?

NICK SCHIFRIN: U.S. officials certainly hope so.

And they cite one example during the Trump administration, which expanded the Quad, that is the Japan, U.S. India and Australia, and have really increased the amount of cooperation between those four countries.

And they believe that they have created an institutionalized relationship between the United States, Japan and South Korea.

And they predict that the Trump administration will expand on that as Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, here in Peru, we reimagined.

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. Secretary of State: We reenergized, we revitalized, we strengthened, and we wove together our alliances and partnerships in new ways to try to advance an increasingly shared vision for a future that's more free, more open, more secure, more prosperous, more resilient, more connected.

NICK SCHIFRIN: It's those relationships that both the Trump administration and the Biden administration have used to try and respond to China's aggressiveness in the region.

But, William, whether any Biden administration efforts survive the Trump administration is, of course, going to be up to the new team.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: That is our Nick Schifrin in Lima, Peru.

Nick, great to see you.

Thank you so much.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Thank you.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: During their meeting today, Xi told President Biden that China's goal of a stable, healthy relationship with the U.S. is unchanged following the presidential election.

She said he is ready to work with the incoming Trump administration and to, quote, manage differences to benefit both nations.

For years, wildfires across the American west have served as an urgent reminder of the threat posed by extreme weather, which is often made worse by climate change.

But over the last few weeks, nearly 3,000 miles across the country, fires have engulfed parts of the Hudson Valley, stretching between New York and New Jersey, sending smoke into New York City, reducing air quality and turning the skyline a hazy gray.

Often driven by high winds the nearly 5,000 acre Jennings Creek fire has gained ground because of an unusually severe drought that's occurring on the East Coast.

Hilary Howard is a climate change reporter for the New York Times.

Hillary, thank you so much for being here.

I mentioned how this region is in the middle of an awful drought, but how did this fire initially start and how did it get so bad?

HILARY HOWARD, Climate Change Reporter, The New York Times: We don't know how the fire initially started because it is in an area that's quite rugged and mountainous.

And firefighters have simply been trying to contain ablaze over the past week so that it doesn't spread further.

They're not able to get into the source of it because it's so impassable.

But the cause is still under investigation.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: As many people know, this is not a region that is used to wildfires.

Do they have the fire crews and the personnel to attack this as needed?

HILARY HOWARD: From what I understand, it's all hands on deck.

Volunteer firefighters are joining up with state professionals, emergency workers, marine crews have filled in, but it's taking everyone with any sort of training at this point to help with these fires.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I know that this is also a big agricultural area, and some of my colleagues recently talked with a farmer down there, a man named Rocky Hazelman, who's a farmer in West Milford, New Jersey.

Here's what he had to say about just how dry it is.

ROCKEY HAZELMAN, Farmer: So we've seen more than 40 days without real meaningful rain.

We had one just a week ago, which kind of gave us a little bit of hope, but nothing since then, the 40 days has dried out both reservoirs, our local pond, and our underground storage tanks where we collect rainwater.

But we're finding that we have to turn to the wells now because the surface water has disappeared.

WILLAM BRANGHAM: How much has this drought exacerbated this fire?

HILARY HOWARD: Dry conditions or a drought.

They are the reason for the fire or the reason the fire spreads so rapidly.

Right.

So, it starts with global warming.

And if you just break it down, very simply, the earth is getting hotter.

Right.

So, one end of the spectrum, hot air holds more moisture.

So when it rains, it pours and therefore floods.

But when there is a high pressure system in place, which is what the situation is in the Northeast right now, and it's impossible to rain, that same hot air sucks up all the moisture from the ground and the vegetation and just makes ready made fuel for these fires to spread.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And how are people dealing with it?

Again, if you're not used to it, if you grew up in California or the Pacific Northwest, you're used to warnings about fires and how to prepare.

How have people in this region been dealing with this?

HILARY HOWARD: I think we're all learning on the fly.

It's really important if you're on social media, to follow, say, if you're in New York City, the New York City Office of Emergency Management, they put out alerts.

You can sign up to get alerts on your cell phone.

There are Facebook community groups that alert you to when the air quality will be bad.

There's an app that the EPA puts out air now where you can plug in your zip code and find out if the air is healthy to be outside in.

So there are lots of software and Internet tricks in order to stay cognizant of what's going on.

Right.

And then in terms of how not to start a fire yourself is just common sense.

I was at a press conference with Governor Phil Murphy the other day, and it sounds really simple, but if you have a wood burning stove or outdoor fire, ashes, when you dispose of them, you put them in a closed container, you certainly don't discard the cigarette outside.

You don't hand a lighter over to your child or play with it yourself.

You don't mess with fireworks.

I mean, it's just common sense at this point.

And you certainly don't have a campfire outside right now.

It's just -- and a burn ban is in place in New Jersey and in New York for that very reason.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: What do these wildfires now occurring in the Northeast tell us about the ongoing struggle against climate change?

HILARY HOWARD: That it's completely unpredictable.

The Northeast over the last 10 years has been known for its historic flooding and its general saturation of the earth.

And now we're dealing with a parched and in some areas, scorched earth situation.

And it's a roll of the dice as to which one it will be at this point.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Hilary Howard of the New York Times, thank you so much for talking with us.

HILARY HOWARD: Thank you.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP29, is currently underway in Azerbaijan.

Leaders at this year's meeting are being pressed to address, among other things, the rising Threats to environmentalists and defenders of human rights.

Ali Rogin looks at the challenges facing those activists around the world.

ALI ROGIN: Close to 200 people died defending the environment in 2023.

That's according to a new report by Global Witness, a U.K. based environmental watchdog and advocacy group.

Latin America accounted for 85 percent of the documented killings and for a second year in a row, Colombia the most dangerous place for activists.

But experts say the lack of data from other parts of the world is obscuring a more pervasive trend.

JONILA CASTRO, Manila Bay, Philippines: Filipino environmental defenders are experiencing various forms of attacks such as from terrorist tagging, vilification, surveillance, intimidation up to abduction killings and having trumped up charges to do.

NONHELE MBUTHUMA, Johannesburg, South Africa: This kind of work.

I don't feel safe at all in South Africa because there's quite a lot of the death threats that is pointing on me.

Now, those death threats I know that are not just empty threats are real because I've already experienced see our comrades being assassinated in the struggle of defending the land.

JENNIFER LASIMBANG, Sabah, Malaysia: I have a very good close friend who's been in and out of court because she was defending her area from being logged and, you know, slap is here and there slapping everybody.

NONHELE MBUTHUMA: We have been a silence to make sure that you cannot question development.

We've been put our lives in line of being killed because of asking that question.

JENNIFER LASIMBANG: The last Greenlands are always at the indigenous communities territories and we are defending that with our lives.

There's been too many negotiations.

There are pledges already, but there's just very little action, real action that's done.

For us, the communities, we have very little to say.

We are not on the table, negotiation table.

JONILA CASTRO: As women environmental defender, we have this additional threat that we feel.

Example, when were abducted, they threatened to sexually assault us.

NONHELE MBUTHUMA: We need something that can be put place in order to protect the human rights defenders.

But if there is no person that is collecting this data, it will be like the life as usual.

ALI ROGIN: Laura Furones is a senior advisor at Global Witness and the lead author of the report.

Laura, thank you so much for joining us.

First of all, let's talk about the killings in Latin America, particularly Colombia.

What do we know about those murders there?

LAURA FURONES, Global Witness: Well, what we know is that for 12 years now, ever since Global has started recording murders in around the world, Colombia has continued to emerge as one of the most dangerous countries, if not the most dangerous.

Our date in 2023 in fact tells us that Colombia is country number one with 40 percent of all global killings recorded in just that one single country.

So, obviously a very alarming sort of background of violence in the country that defenders have to suffer day in and day out.

ALI ROGIN: And we mentioned that many of those defenders are indigenous persons and women.

Why do they tend to be such a large majority of these killings?

LAURA FURONES: Well, indigenous peoples in particular are disproportionately attacked and that again is true every year.

Obviously indigenous peoples are quite literally at the front lines of the defense.

They're trying to protect the territories, the natural resources that often in places that are really far away from any protection from the state.

There's invasions of the lands every year around between 40 and 45 percent of killings are of indigenous peoples, which is quite telling given that they only make up 5 to 6 percent of the global population.

And you know, in terms of women are also subject to really vicious violence because they have to endure all the attacks that their male counterparts suffer.

But also, you know, gender specific violence, obviously, including sexual violence, harassment, threats that the families and so on.

ALI ROGIN: One of the features of this report is that there are parts of the world that simply do not report these data in detail.

What do we know about those parts of the world, specifically countries in Africa and Asia?

LAURA FURONES: Well, the problem is precisely what we don't know about them.

And you know, our data shows that 85 percent of the global killings happened in Latin America.

That obviously speaks to a very clear reality of violence in the region.

But that doesn't mean at all that being a defender in Africa or Asia is any safer.

In fact, we're really worried about growing trends of attacks, but also criminalization and other forms of reprisals.

And it's really hard to access data for all sorts of reasons.

It's hard to document the cases when people trying to do so may be risking their own lives.

ALI ROGIN: And what needs to change about the protection of these defenders?

Are there any countries in which protections exist?

LAURA FURONES: There are protection mechanisms in many countries, but sadly, the large majority of them are not working as effectively as they should be working.

In fact, a substantial number of our killings that we record happened to defenders who were under some kind of protection mechanism that obviously didn't work.

So we do need those mechanisms really badly, but we also need them to be effective and so on, because otherwise what we're seeing is that they're selected, sadly not preventing the loss of lives.

ALI ROGIN: The environmentalists we talked to said that conferences like COP are unlikely to change any of their realities and that often their voices are missing from negotiations.

Do you agree with that and what needs to change?

LAURA FURONES: Well, we have been very actively advocating for an increased presence of indigenous people, suffrage attendants, local communities, because I would agree that for way too long they've been sidelined.

We've treated all the knowledge is something that is a nice to have thing rather than something that really is at the forefront of, you know, everything we know about the climate change.

We also know that, and science has told us very clearly that indigenous peoples live in areas that have better conservation outcomes than any other areas.

So obviously it's them who should be leading us into fighting this climate change.

ALI ROGIN: And what can countries like the United States do to add pressure here?

LAURA FURONES: The U.S. has a very important role to play in protecting defenders, on the one hand, because they have the power to legislate, and they have the power to legislate what U.S. companies are doing abroad.

Often what we see is that attacks happen when companies sort of invade lands or come into lands without any consultation or consent from local communities.

So the U.S. government has a really powerful and important role to play in terms of regulating.

They also have the ability of protecting defenders through all sorts of mechanisms that they can put in place, anything from taking, you know, sort of taking defenders into the US when they need some respite and when they're in immediate threat to, you know, working together with all the other sort of global north countries to make sure that corporate behavior is not what we've seen for way too long.

ALI ROGIN: Laura Furones with Global Witness, thank you so much.

LAURA FURONES: My pleasure.

Thank you for having us.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And that is our program for tonight.

I'm William Brangham.

For all of my colleagues, thank you so much for joining us.

We'll see you tomorrow.