on this edition for sunday, april 6th, new clues about the missing malaysia jetliner. mexico he's growing economy, what it means for the united states. and water on one of saturn's moons. what it tells us about the possibility of life there. next on pbs news hour weekend.

additional support is provided by -- and by -- from the wnet studios in lincoln center, new york. >> good evening, thanks for joining us. authorities in australia said today one of their ships has picked up an underwater signal that could be from the black boxes of a malaysian jetliner that disappeared a month ago. but that signal was detected 300 miles from that area in the indian ocean where a chinese ship has reported hearing two signals possibly connected to the missing 777. authorities say false positives can come from see animals, including whales, or from other ships. a draft united nations report says drastic curbs to

greenhouse gas emissions need to lessen, otherwise there is a risk to food and water supplies and will lead to dangerous heat waves, floods, droughts and rising seas. the report says the use of renewable and low-carbon energy sources need to at least triple by 2015 to slow the pace of climate change. in tokyo today, defense secretary chuck hagel criticized north korea and said the u.s. will send two missile defense ships to the region by 2017 in response. hagel compared china's recent actions over disputed islands in the east china sea to russia's recent annexation of crimea. >> you cannot go around the world and redefine boundaries and violate territorial

integrity and sovereignty of nations by force, coercion and intimidation. whether it is in small islands in the pacific or large nations in europe. to the to the middle east, benjamin netanyahu responded to reports the palestinian authority will seek international recognition rather than waiting for a u.s. brokered peace deal with israel. >> translator: the palestinians have much to lose by taking unilateral steps. they had only achieve a state through a direct negotiation, not by empty declaration or unilateral measures. unilateral steps on their part will be answered by unilateral steps from our side. we are willing to continue with the talks, but not at any cost. >> the palestinians say they set their new course after israel refused to comply with an agreement to release additional palestinian prisoners. a court in pakistan has imposed a death sentence against a pakistani christian man and his wife for a text message

allegedly insulting the prophet mohammed. the paints of three are appealing the ruling. another christian man was sentenced to death there on a blasphemy charge in late march. michael haden, a former head of the cia today, accused senator dianne feinstein of letting her emotions get in the way of her objectivity in criticizing the cia's alleged use of torture in the aftermath of september 11th. hayden said the program had helped track down osama bin laden and he refuted allegations the cia misled congress about the use of what came to be known as enhanced interrogation. >> i was the one who decided to inform all the members of the house and senate intelligence committees to move the prisoners out of the black sites to guantanamo and actually go public with a significant portion of this program. a new warning tonight about the safety of nuclear power plants in this country. at least two dozen reactors would not be able to withstand the most severe earthquakes they would face according to industry experts quoted by "the new york

times." nuclear regulatory commission maintain all operating plants are safe and do not need to take remedial action. nasa has released this dramatic video of a solar flare from earlier this week. flares are short, powerful bursts of radiation emitted from the sun's surface. nasa says the radiation can't penetrate the earth's atmosphere but on rare occasions can disrupt gps and other communication technology. peter matheson, the only writer to win the national book award for both non-fiction and fiction has died. he was 86. during an interview with jeff brown on the news hour in 2008, matheson shared his thoughts about both forms of writing. >> fiction is really what i want to do and always want dodd. i am a journalist, too. i write about the environment. i write about social problems. i work with caesar sesar chavez. i've worked a lot with american indian people. that fascinates me and i want do that, but my heart is really

into fiction. we want to take another look tonight at the latest unemployment report. for more about that, we are joined from washington by nela richardson, senior economist with bloomberg. we've heard that all the jobs lost in the recession have been recovered but quite a few people are saying not all jobs are created equal. >> that's absolutely right. actually, it is an important milestone, but it is a milestone that doesn't tell the whole story. the quality of jobs that have been created in the past five years since the great recession are of lesser quality and lesser pay than the ones that were lost. and that is as important to the recovery, the quality, as the number of jobs created every month. >> what sort of jobs did we lose and what sort of jobs did we recover? >> sure. well, the blf also put out another set of analyses that said of the top ten jobs, ten

occupations krcreated in march, nine of them actually had average wages below what the annual average is for occupational jobs. only registered nurses made more than the average. the others were in low-pay jobs like cashiers or secretarial services, ranging from about $18,000 to $34,000 annual, a year, when the average is about $44,000. so again we're creating lower pay jobs in our biggest sectors than were lost in the great recession. >> are these jobs or these pay grades or pay scales keeping up with inflation? >> well, they're basically treading water right now. janet yellin in a recent speech said that, at best, job wage growth has grown by 2.25 percentage points. when you look at what low-wage workers spend their money on, food and energy, that's not keeping up with t bulk of their budget. energy prices have gone up over 100% since the great recession.

we are looking at food prices that have gone up on average over 47%. so a 2.25 yearly annual increase in wages simply won't cut it for a lot of americans. >> most people look at the stock market and the incredible success it's had in the last few years. how come that's not translating into good paying jobs? >> that's a great question. it is a hard question to answer. right now companies are sitting on a lot of cash, so the cash is available to create new jobs. the question is, it is the incentive. are companies still fearing risk coming down the road? is it a lack of demand? this is a question that needs to be answered because we are not getting these good quality jobs that the market needs. it is also important to understand that the government isn't adding jobs. they're not playing their role either. we lost 85,000 net government federal jobs last year. so you have our two big sectors simply not creating those good paying jobs anymore.

>> long-term unemployment continues to be a problem. >> right. 3.7 million americans have been out of work for six months or more. there are several things that people are trying to do to support the long-term employee. one of the most headline of which is extension of the unemployed insurance benefits that's still making its way through congress. if that is not resolved before the end of the year, 4 million-plus americans will not have unemployment benefits that need them who are still out of work sglp this might be an economist debate, but is this structural unemployment or cyclical unemployment and why does that matter to most americans? >> well, it matters. it is an economist debate that economists take very seriously. it matters because if it's indeed cyclical, then the fed policy of keeping interest rates very low and working through the markets to create new jobs will work eventually. because eventually these low interest costs will incentivize companies to create the jobs

that we're all waiting for. but if it is indeed structural, meaning that companies do have job openings and american workers simply don't have the skills to meet those jobs, then we have a whole nother class of problems that will take years and lots of money to resolve, not just a few quarters. >> all right, thanks so much. >> thank you. and now our signature segment. tonight we take you to mexico which is often in the news because of its violent drug war. our focus is something different, something that gets much less attention. mexico's growing economy. though it is still grappling with widespread poverty, mexico is now america's third-largest trading partner and some economists now call the nation of 120 million people the aztec

tiger. news hour special correspondent martin fletcher reports. >> reporter: >> the news coming out of the brutal drug war waging in mexico. >> reporter: when it comes to mexico, the news is often of drug cartels, violence. >> more than 4,000 people have been killed. >> reporter: illegal immigration. >> the border is not secure. >> reporter: but there is another story in mexico. america, of course, has long been a magnet for mexican workers but more and more job seekers are coming here. this is one of mexico's smallest states, about an hour's drive from the capital. it is a relatively crime-free area. socially, politically, it's been stable for a long time, and more an more international companies are flocking here. of all the cities in the world, this small mexican town had the highest growth last year in foreign-direct investment. that's money invested directly into local business. and its population is growing rapidly, too. with its colonial center, a unesco world heritage site and its new industrial parks, the poster child for mexico's

burgeoning new economy is here. oscar, a local journalist, reports on the growth of the town and the companies investing here. >> american airlines, samsung, honda. >> siemens. general electric as well. >> yes. >> this means lots of jobs for the people. >> a lot. >> reporter: oscar was a journalist 700 miles away until -- >> the teammate that i had died because of the drug dealers. >> how did he die? >> they arrive into the house, they broke into the house and shot him into the head. him, his wife, their two daughters, and the two grandmas that were living there. i said, no, i don't. i am going to expose my life.

>> reporter: he moved here. >> the town gave me a job, gave me stability an gave me an opportunity to grow with my family. >> safely sg. >> safely. >> reporter: it is believed at least 70,000 people have been killed in mexico's drug wars since 2006. but this area nettled in the country's interior has rarely been touched, one of the lowest murder rates in the country. it is far from states that have the highest incidents of homicide. now new government reforms aim to bring economic stability and safety beyond small pockets like this and extend them to mexico's 120 million people. mexican finance secretary -- >> perhaps know the country had successful year as we did last

year in terms of chanking things in mexican economy in energy, telecommunications, fiscal front, financial reform. there are many things that make the prospects good for mexico. >> reporter: take the auto industry. next year mexico should become america's number one source for cars exporting more to the united states than japan or canada. and last year mexico's 47-year-old president enrique penanyetto began a series of reforms to open up the mexican economy either further. he broke a 75-year state oil monopoly with a constitutional amendment allowing private companies to invest in the industry. on education, the government broke the teacher union's hole on stool staffing by passing a bill to stop the sale and inheritance of teaching jobs. and for broader economy, he and his allies increased competition

by passing new tax and banking reforms. the president hopes his reforms will bring more success stories like the canadian company that makes the learjet. their facility is just a 30-minute drive from the center of the boomtown. >> in 2005 there was nothing here. it was a greenfield. >> reporter: bombardier invested half a billion dollars in this division. its 45 employees here have grown to 1,800. two dozen more aviation companies join them in the area. the new learjet 85 should be delivered by the end of this year. >> we're manufacturing it from here to here. we're manufacturing from here to here. we will do the wing assembly, too. >> reporter: parts manufactured in mexico, trucked to wichita, kansas for assembly for a company headquartered in quebec,

canada. though mexico's economy slipped in the last quarter of 2013, economists expect growth to rebound and this february the credit agency moody's upgraded mexico to an a-rating on hopes the government will put those reforms into action. those reforms you are mentioning have been signed into law but have yet for the most part to be implemented. >> absolutely. >> the distance from signing a piece of paper to implementing them is a long way. >> reform is change. there's always resistance to change. >> reporter: already the teachers union has launched a series of bitter protests. while analysts like political scientists believe the industry will not easily give up its power. >> what the president would like to see is a more competitive, level playing field form of economic development, but the vested interests are very strong and those vested interests are not going to give up without a

fight. >> reporter: can he carry out his reform? he is deflecting mexico's narrative away from this, the drug war that really saw a significant development. >> in mexico the country's move the wanted man, a notorious mexican drug lord, has been captured. >> reporter: to partly this. >> the companies plans to invest $4 billion in mexico. >> reporter: from thugs and subs to manufacturing hubs. there's a lot of truth in the story of mexico's industrial growth. demand for mexican-made goods has helped drive the manufacturing sector in the country. mexico's trade with the united states amounts to half a trillion dollars a year and both sides want that to grow. mexico's already america's third-largest trading partner after canada and china. mexico's advantages over china are clear. it's closer, so has lower transport costs, and its labor costs are static while china's

are growing. it is not just factories that are growing here. back here, this is a growing state of the art business park helping to put a new face on mexico encouraging commercial investors. >> we have a commercial center here. we have two hotels. >> reporter: 24 companies rent space here, half from overseas. >> i have erickson. acsa insurance company. >> reporter: 1,800 people work here. >> i'm going to build nine more buildings. >> reporter: how many of those are already rented out? >> three. i already have three rented. >> reporter: still, skilled labor is key to mexico's growth. all employees train here. 100 graduates a year find jobs in mexico's growing aviation industry and their key market is

north america. this is the students' first example after three weeks of school. the plane should stay in the air for four seconds. it is a work in progress, like the mexican economy. as martin fletcher roared several weeks ago, mexico has a national health program to combat obesity. find out about that by visiting newshour.pbs.org. a report published this week in "science" magazine offered new remarkable details about the presence of water on one of saturn's moons. it once again stirred talk about the possibility of life elsewhere in our solar system. for more we are joined from los angeles by david stephenson of the california institute of technology. he co-authored the article. so tell us about this moon. you knew about it quite a bit about it before but what did you find and how did you find it? >> so we knew already that

incellidus has guisers, water coming out of cracks near the south pole but we didn't know what was beneath the surface. what we have now done by tracking the cassini spacecraft, an orbit around saturn, we figured out there must be excess mass underneath the ice at the south pole. and water will do that because water is more dense than ice. this is an ocean. it is about the size of lake superior, perhaps even larger. and it is about ten kilometers thick. so it is a lot of water. >> so why is this exciting? first of all, this is maybe a basic science question. if this planet is further from the sun than we are and it is incredibly cold, a few hundred degrees below zero, how is it even possible that water exists there? >> the way water is produced there is by tides. incellidus is in orbit around

saturn. orbit is not circular so as the orbiter goes around saturn it gets flexed, this heats the ice and allows it to melt, in part. a similar effect hopes in europa, which is a moon of jupiter. >> so is it possible for this to mean that there is life there? water was one of those things that we always look for to see if life can exist. right? >> that's right. actually, i think water is quite common. liquid -- water is present in many of the icy bodies in the out-of-solar system. i suspect -- we don't know for sure. i think one of the interesting things about incellidus and also europa is that that water is likely to be in contact with rock underneath the ocean. when you have water and rock and energy sources, you have chemistry. so indeed it seems to create a

lot of the conditions that we think are suitable for life. >> all right. so what happens next? the cassini spacecraft is going to continue on for a couple of years. it will do a couple of more fly-bys of this moon. what are you looking for? >> well, certainly it would be nice to get a little bit more information. we're not going to get more information about the gravity, which is the method that we used to reach this result. the cassini mission will end by coming in very close to saturn, getting inside the rings of saturn. and that will be really exciting. in 2017 we'll be able to collect additional data about saturn. as for encelidus, we have to talk about a mission some time in the future, a decade or so, as indeed we should for europa as well. >> david stephenson from cal tech joining us from california, thanks so much.

>> thank you. this is pbs "news hour weekend sunday." finally tonight, a preview of an upcoming episode of the pbs documentary series, called "the trials of muhammad ali," it examines the period after muhammad ali was stripped of his title after he refused to serve in the military. it premiers april 14th. >> with just a slight skip of the heart we are through to chicago and we have muhammad ali. are you hearing us from london? >> yes, sir, loud and clear. how are you doing today? >> well very. thank you for appearing on the show. >> thank you for allowing me to come to you live by early bird satellite. >> let me just get a few facts straight with you. you are a professional fighter. right? >> i am a minister of the religion of islam, also.

>> a professional fighter and a minister as well. >> yes, sir. >> david susskein would like to ask you some questions. >> well i don't know where to begin. find nothing amusing or interesting or tolerable about this man. he's a disgrace to his country, his race and what he laughingly describes as his profession. he is a convicted felon in the united states. he has been found guilty. he is out on bail. he will inevitably go to prison. as well he should. he is a simplistic fool and a pawn. >> muhammad ali, one of the greatest athletes of all time has the first three-time heavyweight boxing champion of the world, he thrilled, entertained and inspired us. >> he was given a medal of freedom by the president of the united states. >> the american people are proud

to call muhammad ali one of our own. >> one more story before we leave you tonight. pro-russian demonstrators clashed with police and then stormed government buildings in three cities in the eastern portion of ukraine. that's the area of ukraine near the border with russia where tens of thousands of russian troops have been deployed. the acting president of ukraine called an emergency security meeting in response to today's news. join us on air and online on the news hour tomorrow. margaret warner reports on what's at stake for the united states following yesterday's voting in afghanistan. that's it for this edition of pbs "news hour weekend." thanks for watching.

the following is a co-production of kqed and the center for investigative reporting. >> in california's fields, things are changing. crops are less plentiful. >> we're seeing two-thirds of a reduction in volume out of our southern growing regions. >> insects are more abundant. >> our temperatures have increased by two to three degrees fahrenheit, and that seems to be enough to keep them from being frozen out during the winter. i did end up losing one field -- probably a quarter of a million dollar hit. >> water, already scarce, is now too salty to sustain crops. >> if you don't have enough quality water to farm, then there's limits to what we can do with genetics. >> coming up -- climate change pushes california growers to new limits.