May 25, 2021 - PBS NewsHour full episode

Around the country Tuesday, Americans marked the anniversary of George Floyd's death. Members of Floyd's family met with President Joe Biden and other lawmakers privately to mark the day, and have taken a lead role in efforts towards police reform. Yamiche Alcindor recaps the last year, looks at how the country has responded, and what still needs to be done to bring systemic change.

Voters in Minneapolis will be asked to approve a measure in November that could dismantle the police department, which is also the subject of an investigation by the Justice Department, and fold it into a department of public safety. But a spike in violent crime has led the city to seek assistance from state and federal law enforcement agencies. Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro reports.

In our news wrap Tuesday, Moderna announced its COVID-19 vaccine strongly protects children as young as 12, and plans to seek emergency FDA approval. Airlines began avoiding Belarus after a plane was forced down on Sunday, and a dissident journalist was arrested. The White House announced President Joe Biden and Russia's President Vladimir Putin will hold a summit next month in Geneva.

Late last night, the Justice Department released a memo addressed to then-Attorney General William Barr from its office of legal counsel. The memo formed Barr's decision not to charge former President Donald Trump with obstruction of justice. John Yang gets more from Noah Bookbinder, president and CEO of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which sued for the memo's release.

Taiwan, which China considers a breakaway province, is the most tense issue between Beijing and the U.S. Taiwan argues it is on the frontline of democracy against Chinese authoritarianism and is increasingly facing military harassment. Nick Schifrin speaks to Joseph Wu, Taiwan’s foreign minister, about the issue, and the role the U.S. can play in mediating conflict in the region.

All across Brazil, slums — known as Favelas — have long been places of crime and poverty, marked by overcrowding and unsanitary conditions. They are among the hardest hit by the pandemic, in a country where the death toll just passed 450,000. In the second of two reports, NewsHour special correspondent Simon Ostrovsky and producer Charles Lyons report on Brazil's COVID crisis.