May 26, 2021 - PBS NewsHour full episode

In our news wrap Wednesday, President Biden ordered U.S. Intelligence agencies to redouble efforts to pinpoint COVID-19's origins, pressing China to cooperate. A tropical cyclone roared ashore in eastern India, forcing more than a million people to flee and killing at least six. A court in the Netherlands ordered Royal Dutch Shell to cut carbon emIssions by a net 45 percent by 2030.

Over the past 14 months, the U.S. Government has allocated hundreds of billions of dollars to help small businesses survive the pandemic's economic hurdles. All that funding has been managed by the U.S. Small Business Administration, but many of the programs are struggling. Lisa Desjardins has been following the money and joins Judy Woodruff with the details.

Since the Myanmar military staged a coup 8 weeks ago, activists say it has killed more than 800 people. An open source investigation released Wednesday from the Human Rights Center and the Associated Press shows Myanmar's military tried to use the killings to terrorize the country. Nick Schifrin speaks to Alexa Koenig, executive director of the Human Rights Center, about the killings and motives.

The recent show of solidarity among Black and Asian American activists belies a fraught history. Can the communities now work side by side? Stephanie Sy explores the question with Tamara Nopper, a sociologist at New York University’s Center for Critical Race and Digital Studies, and Brenda Stevenson, a history and African American studies professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Major oil companies Exxon and Royal Dutch Shell took some hits legally and among their shareholders Wednesday. The hits come amid growing pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fuel for transportation. So what are the available alternatives to achieve greener skies? Miles O'Brien looks at some pilot projects to create electric planes.

Former long-time Republican Senator John Warner of Virginia died of heart failure Tuesday night at his Alexandria home. Apart from serving in Congress for 30 years, Warner was a former navy secretary and veteran of both World War II and the Korean war — and an important voice on military affairs. John Yang takes a look at his life and career.

President Joe Biden has proposed using some of the $2 trillion of his infrastructure plan to repair harm done to America's minority communities when highways were originally built through them. Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro has the story of one such example from Minnesota’s capital, St. Paul, where the ReConnect Rondo project wants to build a land bridge to support the Black community.