News Wrap: The Philippines elects its own ‘Donald Trump’

In our news wrap Monday, voters in the Philippines have elected Rodrigo Duterte, whose brash style and frank talk have drawn comparisons to Donald Trump, their new president. Also, Canadian officials toured the fire-ravaged town of Fort McMurray after cooler temperatures and light rain slowed a massive wildfire that has forced more than 80,000 people from their homes.

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  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    Good evening. I'm Judy Woodruff.

  • HARI SREENIVASAN:

    And I'm Hari Sreenivasan. Gwen is away this week.

  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    On the "NewsHour" tonight: North Carolina sues the federal government to protect a controversial bathroom law. The U.S. attorney general vows the Department of Justice stands with the transgender community.

    We talk with North Carolina's governor, Pat McCrory.

  • HARI SREENIVASAN:

    And it's Politics Monday. The general election has all but started, yet both parties brace for contentious conventions.

  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    Also ahead this Monday, 20 years after a brutal and bloody civil war, how Bosnia is reconciling with its Muslim population.

  • MILORAD DODIK, President, Republika Srpska (through interpreter):

    What we can do is to ensure that we don't behave in an inhumane way. Regardless of our religion, nationality and ideology, we shouldn't harm each other.

  • HARI SREENIVASAN:

    All that and more on tonight's "PBS NewsHour."

    (BREAK)

  • HARI SREENIVASAN:

    North Carolina refused today to stop enforcing a law that bars new protections for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people.

    Republican Governor Pat McCrory announced he won't comply with a Justice Department demand. Instead, McCrory announced he's suing the Justice Department, and he accused the Obama administration of overreaching.

    GOV. PAT MCCRORY (R), North Carolina: I do not agree with their interpretation of federal law. We believe a court, rather than a federal agency, should tell our state, our nation and employers across the country what the law requires.

  • HARI SREENIVASAN:

    In Washington, Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced Justice is filing its own civil rights suit against the state. She said restricting bathroom access for transgender people is state-sponsored discrimination.

  • LORETTA LYNCH, U.S. Attorney General:

    None of us can stand by when a state enters the business of legislating identity and insist that a person pretend to be something or someone that they are not or invents a problem that doesn't exist as a pretext for discrimination and harassment.

  • HARI SREENIVASAN:

    We will have an interview with Governor McCrory right after the news summary.

  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    In the day's other news: Cooler temperatures and light rain brought some relief to the fire zone around Fort McMurray, Canada. That gave officials a chance to get back into the devastated city and see the damage firsthand. More than 80,000 people have been evacuated and it's unclear when they will be able to go home.

  • HARI SREENIVASAN:

    A tough-talking mayor has been elected president of the Philippines in today's election. Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to wipe out corruption and kill criminals. He's also raised eyebrows with sex jokes and foul language. Still, millions of Filipinos supported him in a bid for radical change after years of grinding poverty, poor services and insurgent violence.

  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    In Brazil, the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff was put on hold today, at least temporarily. The head of the Lower House of Congress annulled April's vote on impeachment charges two days before the Senate was to vote on suspending Rousseff. She reacted cautiously to the news.

  • PRESIDENT DILMA ROUSSEFF, Brazil (through interpreter):

    I have just learned, the same way you have, that an injunction has been accepted and that, therefore, the process has been suspended. But I don't have this information officially. I am speaking here because I could not in any way pretend I wasn't aware of the same thing you are. But it is not official. I do not know the consequences.

  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    The issue may now return to the Lower House of Brazil's Congress, delaying the impeachment process by days or weeks.

  • HARI SREENIVASAN:

    North Korea's supreme leader got a new title today, party chairman. The move came as the ruling Workers' Party wrapped up its first congress in 36 years. State television showed the elaborate meeting, where Kim Jong-un pledged to further strengthen North Korea's nuclear weapons capability in quality and quantity.

    Also today, three BBC journalists were expelled from North Korea over their reporting.

  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    Back in this country, this was swearing-in day for Ferguson, Missouri's first black police chief. Delrish Moss takes over a mostly white force in a city that's two-thirds black. The killing of Michael Brown in 2014 led to federal findings of widespread racial bias and profiling by Ferguson police.

  • HARI SREENIVASAN:

    There's word that poisonings from electronic cigarettes are surging among young children. Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio says preschoolers can put e-cigarettes in their mouths and drink liquid nicotine. It causes vomiting and other symptoms. Cases surged from 14 a month in January of 2012 to 223 a month by last spring.

  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    Wall Street's week got off to a lackluster start. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 34 points to close below 17706. The Nasdaq rose 14 and the S&P 500 added a point.

  • HARI SREENIVASAN:

    And the planet Mercury made a rare transit across the face of the sun today. NASA animation depicted the tiny planet crossing between Earth and sun over seven-and-a-half-hours. The actual event, viewed by a satellite, showed Mercury as a black dot against the glowing solar surface. Mercury's transit happens only about 13 times every 100 years.

    Still to come on the "NewsHour": we talk with North Carolina's governor about the federal fight to protect the state's bathroom law; Donald Trump's battle to unite the Republican Party; Saudi Arabia ousts the most powerful man in oil; and much more.

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