Arne Duncan was Secretary of Education under Barack Obama. He says the lack of leadership from Washington, and a proper national coordination plan on schools, is proving to be devastating and that the United States is failing its students.

In Mississippi, which is on track to be the top state for coronavirus infection, the school district in the city of Corinth re-opened its doors last week. Dr. Edward Lee Childress is Superintendent in Corinth. After reopening schools in his district, positive cases of COVID-19 emerged immediately. He speaks to Christiane about how his district is managing.

Dr. Francis Collins has led public health research in the United States for 20 years. As Director of the National Institutes of Health, he is the supervisor of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top expert on infectious disease. Collins joins Walter Isaacson to offer perspective on current vaccine trials, and to discuss how his faith sustains him during this pandemic.

Lebanon - one of the worst hit Middle East countries from coronavirus, and teetering on the brink of economic collapse, has now been hit by a massive explosion in the capital of Beirut. Local authorities are warning that many are injured and buildings across the city have been damaged. CNN reporter Ben Wedeman was standing by on the ground for this special report.

Megan Rapinoe is a global soccer icon: an Olympic gold medalist, Women's World Cup champion and FIFA Women's Player of 2019. She's also a role model for thoughtful political activism in sports. Now, she joins the ranks of talk show hosts, with her new HBO series "Seeing America with Megan Rapinoe," the next phase in her personal campaign for women's rights and racial justice.

Award-winning author James McBride has built a career exploring American culture and identity through storytelling. His latest book "Deacon King Kong" looks at how communities pull together in the face of violence and trauma. He joins Michel Martin to discuss the work.

Who is the man in the Oval Office, really? Mary Trump is President Trump's niece and a clinical psychologist. Her new memoir "Too Much and Never Enough" abandons family loyalty and the code of silence to provide a revealing portrait of her uncle. She joins Christiane to discuss.

Amid the Black Lives Matter protests, many industries have been experiencing long overdue reckonings with racism. The fashion industry is no exception. Three years ago, British Vogue elevated Edward Enninful to editor-in-chief--making Enninful the first Black gay man to hold the position. He joins Christiane to discuss his mission to strengthen diversity and inclusion at the publication.

In his latest column for the New York Times, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman writes that the disaster unfolding in America "is what happens when you put a horrible boss in charge of running the country, and nobody can say when, if ever, the damage will be repaired."

Barr’s intervention on behalf of two Trump allies; his role in clearing Lafayette Square of peaceful protesters; and -- most recently -- his ordering federal forces into Portland, have drawn widespread criticism and fear. To reflect on Barr’s leadership, Christiane speaks with former Democratic Senator Russ Feingold and Paul Rosenzweig, who worked in the George W. Bush administration.

The next COVID-related dilemma is the re-opening of schools and colleges. Eduardo Padrón is President Emeritus of Miami Dade College in Florida, a state that set records this week for single-day COVID deaths. His college enrolls more minority students than any other in the U.S. He joins Walter Isaacson to explain why he thinks higher education should be more affordable and accessible.

During lockdown, people the world over have derived comfort from music. What can it teach us about peace? A new project is asking artists to express what music means to them. Behind this effort is President Obama’s sister Maya Soetoro, founder of The Peace Studio. She joins the program alongside famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

The pandemic has made clear the crucial importance of public health – something Andy Slavitt knows all too well. For two years, he served under President Obama as acting administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. More recently he helped Senator Bernie Sanders draft the “Masks for All” Bill. Slavitt joins Hari Sreenivasan to explain how the U.S. should tackle the pandemic.

Yesterday the U.S. began moving forward with President Trump's plan to withdraw some 12,000 troops from Germany. Compounding a general sense of alarm, the president this morning suggested the November election should be delayed, something scholars agree is not within presidential power. Former deputy secretary of state Tony Blinken joins Christiane to discuss.

The pandemic has finally brought the U.S. economy to its knees. Numbers released today show the U.S. economy contracted by nearly 33% from April to June, in its worst drop on record. To discuss this catastrophic downturn and its effect on global trade, Christiane speaks with the outgoing director-general of the World Trade Organization.

Right now there are more than 165 coronavirus vaccines in development, with 27 already in human trials. Carl Zimmer is an award-winning science writer with a weekly column in the New York Times, and he speaks with Walter Isaacson to break down the biology of vaccines.

The growth of the tech industry is a great American success story: Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google have created numerous jobs and raked in trillions of dollars around the world. But today, for the first time, four tech titans – Sundar Pichai of Google, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Tim Cook of Apple and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook – are joining Congress to face the question: Is big tech just too big?

The murder of George Floyd sparked reflections on race, and a wave of demonstrations, around the world -- including in France, where protests challenge the culture's idea of itself as “color-blind.” This is where French comedian Fary comes in. As the star of Netflix's first French comedy special, he has sparked a renaissance in stand-up comedy at home in Paris.

The global pandemic has impacted nearly every industry -- including local journalism, which was on shaky ground even before COVID-19. Margaret Sullivan is the media columnist for the Washington Post, and in her new book she sounds the alarm on the disappearance of local media outlets. She speaks with Michel Martin about the danger this poses -- and what needs to happen before it’s too late.

After World War II, Germany de-Nazified and demilitarized its law enforcement system in order to eradicate the specter of a force that had not only participated in the horrors, but had actually helped develop them. As the U.S. seeks to reform its own police force, what can be learned from the German experience? Christiane speaks with experts from both Germany and the United States.