♪ john: tonight on "pbs news weekend" -- the latest as israel continues bombarding southern gaza and orders beleaguered palestinians to evacuate. then, why the arctic ground squirrel may hold clues for treating injuries and curing disease in humans.

and author stephanie land on her latest memoir, "class," about navigating motherhood, poverty and college. stephanie: my main motivation in talking about what it's like to live under the poverty level, is so that other people who live that experience won't feel so isolated and alone. ♪ >> major funding for "pbs news weekend" has been provided by -- >> consumer cellular, this is sam, how may i help you? this is a pocket dial. well, somebody's pocket, i thought i would let you know that with consumer cellular you get nationwide coverage with no contract. that is kind of our thing. have a nice day. ♪ >> andith the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions --

and friends of "the newshour." ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. john: good evening. i'm john yang. tonight, israel has ordered more evacuations in southern gaza as it says it's ground operations have expanded to include every part of the gaza strip. over khan younis, gaza's second largest city, israel dropped leaflets declaring the area a dangerous combat zone. that, residents say, was followed by heavy bombardment. some of those under evacuation

orders have already been displaced at least once before. the united nations estimates that nearly 80 percent of the gaza strip's 2.3 miillion people have fled their homes. and gazans say they're running out of safe places to go. gazan: there's no safe area in gaza. we were in zeitoun, it was shelled. we were in the shati camp, it was shelled. we move because what can we do? we have children and all night there's shelling, so we move from area to area, but there's no safety anywhere in gaza. john: in the face of the mounting death toll in gaza, biden adminstration officials have repeatedly stressed israel's responsiblity to protect civilians. on the sunday talks shows, national security council spokesman john kirby pointed to the evacuation orders as evidence the message is getting through. fears that the conflict could widen across the region were stoked by reports that the u.s. navy did -- navy destroyer shot

down a drone off the coast of yemen. it's a series of low intensity tax -- attacks. the u.s. said there was no damage to the destroyer no injuries. two incidents half a world apart are being investigated for links to terrorism. in the philippines, at least four people were killed and about 50 others injured when a bomb went off during a catholic mass in a university gymnasium. philippine president ferdinand marcos jr. blamed foreign terrorists but didn't say why. and, in paris, a german tourist was stabbed to death near the eiffel tower. the suspect told police he was upset over muslims being killed, notably in afghanistan and gaza. the french interior minister said the suspect had previvously -- had previously been convicted for planning violence, was being watched for suspected islamic radicalization, and was under psychiatric treatment. one of the three students of

palestinian descent who were shot in vermont last weekend is paralyzed from the chest down. the mother of 20-year-old hisham awartani says the brown university student is to be moved from the hosptial to rehabilitation care later this week. his family has set up a gofundme page. the two other students -- all longtime friends from the west bank -- have already been released from the hospital. and in the united kingdom, heavy snow left thousands without power and stranded people in their cars overnight. across bavaria, record snowfall in germany this weekend sent some to the ski slopes. in munich, when public transportation shut down, some just swapped buses and trains for skis. still to come on "pbs news weekend" -- what researchers are learning from the hibernation habits of arctic ground squirrels. and writer stephanie land talks about her new memoir, "class." >> this is "pbs news weekend" from weta studios in washington,

home of the pbs newshour weeknights on pbs. john: apple's new iphone 15 is already looking like one of the hottest, in-demand items this holiday season. but, as ali rogin tells us, several factors like shifting supply chains, labor disputes and geopolitics are combining to keep the smartphone hard to find. ali: the world's most valuable company, apple, at one point in time had their main supplier making 500,000 of its cell phones per day at one mega factory in china. then last year, covid-19 lockdowns and protests of harsh working conditions caused major disruptions at the factory. it cost apple an estimated $1 billion per week. since then, apple has reportly told its manufacturing partners that it wants to do more business outside of china. apple's main supplier, the taiwan based foxconn, has been moving more of its production out of china into india. nilesh christopher is the south asia correspondent for the technology publication rest of

world, and he's been reporting on the transition. thank you so much for joining us. let's talk a little bit more about why foxconn has been making these moves out of china into india. nilesh: i think it all ties to geopolitics. for the longest time, iphones have always been produced in china. but over the past couple of years, the u.s.-china trade war has effectively meant that apple has been increasingly pushing its suppliers to shift its supply chain outside of china. so what effectively has happened over the past year, foxconn's chairman has met indian prime minister narendra modi twice to be able to build relations and improve their investments in the country. the government has offered subsidies to foxconn to the tune of $40 million to be able to ramp up production. all of this has effectively meant that foxconn right now has to hit the ground running and be able to produce iphone 15s. ali: and what are some of the challenges foxconn has been experiencing in india that were

not factors in china? nilesh: china's one party system goes to great lengths on foxconn's behalf, investing millions of dollars to set up factories and subsidize energy and ipping. this has effectively meant that foxconn has been able to scale smoothly. whereas in india, it becomes difficult for them because apple suppliers have to contend with local policymakers, landowners. one chinese engineer put it that apple has been spoiled by china. ali: but because of that, it also seems like apple is in many ways beholden to china because the conditions there simply can't be replicated. do the challenges foxconn is experiencing in scaling up in india underscore just how entrenched apple's interests in china really are? nilesh: apple is absolutely beholden to china because of the efficiency of these factories and the production that's happened. 91% of the phones being shipped, iphone 15, are still outside of china. india right now produces about

10% of the iphones. and there's a long way to go from shipping about 4 million units in 2020, there about 9 million units right now. one of the ways is to be able to train indian workforce engineers to produce the most advanced phone apple has yet produced. and for this, foxconn has been sending in engineers from china to india to train the local engineers which has brought , about interesting culture clashes. one of the interesting sort of production kinks that came about is the culture shock that many of these chinese engineers felt. one is they felt indian workers were a little lazy, and one chinese engineer was surprised that like a 30 minute delay did not bother an indian worker on workflow. and indian engineers and workers were more acclimatized to taking off. and when one flippantly said that even for a black monday or

lunar of clips, they take off, which is sort of culturally it's an inauspicious day for women to work. so all these are the cultural differences in attitudes that a highly efficient, cutthroat manufacturing culture in china to be able to replicate that in india under cultural situations. that's the big challenge. ali: what does your reporting show about how these two countries's ways of government are affecting foxconn and apple's ability to achieve their business goals? nilesh: absolutely. the one party system effectively gives them subsidies. infrastructure. they bus in labor when there are shortages. but in india, it's a noisy democracy. you have to contend with lawmakers, landowners, labor groups, bunch of these people to be able to get the same level of effiency. that doesn't mean that the indian state governments have not done it. last february, some of the state governments passed local laws, which increased work hours from 8 to 12 hours.

and one of the interesting things that has happened is once this bill was passed in the assembly, there was immediate backlash from even the local government affiliated labor groups. that meant a couple of days after the bill was passed, it was immediately shelved. so it showcases the new kind of normal that apple and foxconn has to deal with in being able to make the indian shop floor as efficient as the chinese one. ali: nilesh christopher, thank you so much for joining us. nilesh: thanks, ali. ♪ john: bears aren't the only animals settling in for their winter hibernation right now. arctic ground squirrels can lower their body temperatures to freezing levels and stay dormant for up to eight months. researchers at the university of alaska in fairbanks are studying how these squirrels can survive on the edge of life. and as alaska public media's

kavitha george reports, they may hold clues to treating injuries and disease in humans. this story was produced in collaboration with nova with major support from the corporation for public broadcasting. kavitha: this little squirrel just came out of the a lab freezer. but it's not dead. and scientists like sarah rice want to know why. sarah: there's no cardiac arrest, there's no stroke, they're obese, but there's no ill effects, there's no bone loss. kavitha: this is an arctic ground squirrel, and during hibernation, it can chill its body down to the freezing point -- 32 degrees fahrenheit. it's the only mammal that we know can get that cold. sarah: and they wake up and they're just fine in the springtime. kavitha: here at the university of alaska fairbanks, researchers are trying to understand t biological mechanisms that allow squirrels to withstand such extreme conditions and bounce back completely healthy. they've found that when the squirrels hibernate, they cycle in and out of a deep sleep called torpor. sarah: they're in torpor for

weeks at a time, where they're super, super cold, their heart beats maybe five times a minute, they breathe once a minute, and they're just inactive. kavitha: arctic ground squirrels are found all over alaska, siberia and parts of canada. they hibernate because harsh winters limit their ability to find food for much of the year. but every few weeks, they slowly warm their bodies to make glucose, proteins and immune cells. basically, everything their bodies need to do to keep living. so how do they do it? if researchers here can figure it out, it might help them develop drugs that could mimic hibernation in humans. biologist kelly drew says hibernation might help patients with critical brain injuries, like someone who's just had a stroke. scientists have known for decades that lowering body temperature helps slow brain damage. kelly: the optimal therapy for somebody who has a brain injury is to either stop fever, or to cool the body.

and the best way to do that is through the same mechanism that the ground squirrels do to turn down the thermostat. kavitha: drew's small team of scientists is working on creating a drug to chemically turn down the body's thermostat like squirrels do in hibernation. they're focused on certain receptors in the brain called adenosine a1which drew found play a role in slowing the squirrels' metabolic rate and lowering their body temperature. her hope is that a drug that stimulates a1 receptors in human brains to induce body cooling could be part of an effective treatment for stroke or other brain injuries. or even promote brain health as we age. kelly: the other thing that cooling and rewarming does to the brain is it also creates these regeneration of synapses and maybe even neurons. and so for things like mental health, i think cooling and rewarming could be remarkable, because promotes plasticity. same with neurodegenerative diseases like alzheimer's.

kavitha: so far, drew says the drug has shown promising results in rats and pigs. the drug testing process is long and rigorous. if it works, it could be five to 10 years before it has final fda approval for human use. drew says nasa has even shown an interest in the potential to put astronauts in a hibernation-like state to aid space travel. the seven month trip to mars uld be a lot more pleasant in a hibernation bubble. for "pbs news weekend," i'm kavitha george in fairbanks, alaska. ♪ john: stephanie land's 2019 memoir, "maid," recounted her struggles as a single mother, cleaning houses to earn money and wrestling with the rules of government assistance programs. it was a new york times bestseller and the basis of a hit netflix series. her new book, "class," a memoir

of motherhood, hunger and higher education, except where "maid" left off. she and her young daughter moved to a new state and a new city so land could pursue a college degree. but her new life had the same old problems, compounded by navigating the strange new world of college and by tens of thousands of dollars in student loans. stephanie land is in saint louis, where her book tour is. and stephanie, thanks so much for being here. in the acknowledgments, you say this is the book you've always wanted to write. why? stephanie: well, i think it's the part of my story that i am the most proud of and i guess the most climactic part of it, i escaped a toxic place and found us a community that we could grownd thrive in. and then i went on to graduate college. john: i wonder about the motivation to tell this story, to expose the life uh that you were living. you were struggling with little

jobs, cleaning jobs to put food on the table. you win hungry. were you trying to sort of show this life to maybe upper class or upper middle class readers who may have no idea what this is like? stephanie: absolutely. i mean, that was part of my motivation for both books. but, you know, my main motivation in talking about what it's like to live under the poverty level, especially as a single mom, is so that other people who live that experience won't feel so isolated and alone. john: you quote australian comic and writer, hannah gadsby, saying what i would have done to have heard a story like mine. stephanie: "class" was not an easy story to write. and my reason for it is really because that's the story that i needed when i was going through it. john: and you were doing so much to get a college degree. what did you see a college degree giving you? stephanie: you know, i really

saw it as kind of a magical piece of paper that would somehow lift me out of poverty. but in reality, it was sinking me fther into poverty by taking out student loans. and in order to stay in school, i kind of had to keep this hope alive that it was going to magically do something for me. john: and you also talk about how government assistance programs made it hard for someone like you, someone paying your own tuition in college, to get that degree that could make it so you wouldn't have to be on a government assistance program. stephanie: yes, absolutely. the work requirements, especially for food stamps, the classes that i went to, the time that i spent there, the time that i spent doing homework, was not included in those work requements. so it was kind of a battle between, you know, am i more valuable as a worker or am i more valuable as someone who is

trying to better my life through education? john: in college, you write about how there were certain sort of unwritten codes you didn't understand, you had no idea about, about office hours, about the value of networking. even when you were in college, did you feel like you were sort of not part of the elite, that you still had your nose pressed up against the window? stephanie: yeah, in a sense, yeah. i mean, not just me being like ten years older than everybody. and, you know, i sometimesad a kindergartner with me in class, but it very much felt like i wasn't in on the joke, you know, or kind of a language that i didn't understand or and ease in feeling comfortable there. i felt very out of place pretty constantly. john: you also have harsh judgments about higher education. you write, "i had forgotten the part of the game where no one's education mattered more than the money the university could make from your opportunity to soak up

all that learning. god forbid they would make it affordable or easy." stephanie: i experimented with being a little angry in this book and it shows through. i got very frustrated in the core classes that i was required to take. i mean, and i took a lot of them online. so that means that i took like p.e., like physil education , online. which was just basically lying about exercising. that's funny now, but like, at the time, i was spending a lot of resources on that. so it was just frustrating to me that in order to be seen as this well-rounded student that you had to spend thousands of dollars on classes to get there. john: the book ends before you get the advance for "maid" and it becomes a netflix series. a lot of people probably think that solved everything. did it? stephanie: no.

the trauma that i experienced from being food insecure, from being housing insecure, you know, there's a lot of lasting ptsd. there's a lot of stuff that i'm still going to carry with me from those years. and my children will, too. there was a lot of digging out to do. you know, after you've been under the poverty line for a long time. john: is there any sort of success guilt that that some of your friends, some of the peop who were in in your situation may still be in that situation? stephanie: it took me a long time to figure outow to enjoy the success. and what i ended up doing was, you know, i travel a lot as a public speaker and now being on book tour. and the way that i enjoy success is by leaving really, really huge tips. john: i like that. are there things about your life now that the college senior, stephanie land, would just find incomprehensible? stephanie: no one's ever asked me that before. i probably the amount of toilet

paper that is in my house. [laughter] i mean, that's something that i used to steal. or just that i have like extra shampoo and toiletries. those things, they still boggle my mind that, like, i just now i have them in in quantities, you know, instead of stressing over. oh, my goodness, i'm running out of shampoo. john: are there lessons you think people going through this can pick up from the book? stephanie: i would hope so. for me, it's always been about fighting back on a lot of stigmas that surround, especially mothers who live in poverty and who are single moms. and to help people maybe not pass as much judgment and to be more empathetic and hopefully show some compassion. john: the book is "class" and the other is stephanie land. stephanie, thank you very much. stephanie: thank you. thank you for having me.

♪ john: and that is "pbs news weekend" for this sunday. on tomorrow's "pbs newshour," the supreme court hears arguments on opioid maker purdue pharma's bankruptcy deal. i'm john yang. for all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us. have a good week. >> major funding for "pbs news weekend" has been provided by -- >> consumer cellular, this is sam, how may i help you? this is a pocket dial. well, somebody's pocket, i thought i would let you know that with consumer cellular you get nationwide coverage with n contract. that is kind of our thing. have a nice day. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions -- ♪

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ [captioning performed by the national ctioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

♪ ♪ john: folk music has been around as long as there have been folks to sing it. folk music is about real people and real lives and the frustration of dissent.