>> a strange thing to say i have spoken with an intermediary who has negotiated hostages in the past. he's an islamic scholar in the north. and he says he's been getting messages from boko haram that have included that two of the girls have died of snake bite, and that about 20 of them are ill. if you can imagine, they're probably drinking water from rivers and wells. so not clean water. they're living out in the open. they're being moved about, we're being told, every two or three days, which means they're probably not eating properly. in the forest, they would be dealing with malaria carrying mosquitos and in the desert, incredible heat. >> all right, michelle from the associated press, thanks so much. >> you're most welcome. good day. in eastern ukraine today,

pro-russian rebels released nine red cross workers who were held captive much of the day. one reportedly had been beaten. pro-russian separatists are staging a vote for tomorrow. the government in kiev considers the vote illegitimate. the president warned today the russian-speaking population in the east would be courting catastrophe if they vote to secede. a u.s. commando and cia officer had been whisked out of the capital city after they killed two armed yemeni civilians. the civilians had reportedly tried to kidnap them. the government of yemen reportedly aided their escapes. there have been a number of attacks against al qaeda militants in yemen. a motorcade brought the remains of some of those killed r 9/11 back to the site of the

world trade center. the remains will be kept in the same building as the museum opening later this month. relatives of the victims protested they want the remains above ground nearby in a memorial plaza. the government says technicians have finished installing solar panels on the roof of the white house. the collection of the solar panels is the size of what's installed on the typical american house, the 6.3 kilowatts expected to be generated will provide some electricity. the president said the project would begin in 2011, but installation began late last year. this as the epa took the first tentative step yesterday toward requiring companies that use fracking to disclose what chemicals they're using. some environmentalists believe the chemicals may pollute ground water. the epa is only soliciting

feedback from the public and other groups. it said it's not committing to new regulations. and word of what could have been an air disaster over florida in march. an faa official said the pilot of a u.s. airways 50-seat jet unknowingly flew so close to a remotely controlled unmanned aircraft that he thought he had hit it. in the aftermath of the incident said it is working aggressively to protect airline passengers and crew from unmanned aircraft. you can go online at news hour.pbs.org to view our earlier report about the race to put drones in the skies. >> and now to our signature segment, our original in-depth report from around the nation and around the world. tonight we take you to australia, which has implemented a comprehensive program to

increase the number of organ donations there. the question, could a similar program here save the lives of thousands of americans who die waiting for organ transplants. news hour special correspondent sarah james reports from sydney, australia. >> it's just after dawn in one of the world's most beautiful cities. this misty morning, a picture-perfect start to the day. and danian looks the picture of health, but the image is deceptive. >> i've been waiting for a kidney transplant and as far as i'm concerned, i need to be as fit as possible to give myself the best possible chance of recovering from major surgery. damian inherited a rare form of kid disease from his mother, it claimed her life when he was just a boy. the fact that damian's kidneys don't work affects the simplest of rituals, even his choice of morning coffee. >> i'll get a double espresso.

>> cappuccino has too much milk. he hasn't had soup in a decade. damian must ration all liquid because his body can't get rid of fluid, putting him at risk of swelling, heart damage, or stroke from high blood pressure. >> you got to consider the fluid a bowl of rice absorbs when it's cooking. all those things get taken into account. because my body can't get rid of fluids, i can't hold those things for two days. >> his dream. >> being able to go to the sink and drinking in ing a glass of . >> so every other day, damian does what 400,000 americans do. >> so this is where you have dialysis? >> it is indeed, this is the dialysis room. >> without dialysis, he would be dead in a few weeks.

the machine removes extra water, waste, and salt from his body and keeps chemicals like potassium at a safe level in his blood. the programmer is tethered to the machine 25 hours a week. australia has universal health care and damian's dialysis treatment, more than $50,000 a year, is covered by the government. it's a life-saving procedure, but not a cheap or easy one. >> the dialysis process involves putting a couple of needles in your arm and then essentially the dialysis machine works as your artificial kidney for five hours. unfortunately, putting needles in your arm every second day does sort of give the arm a bit of a beating. so it's not looking too pretty these days. >> but there's another cost. for more than ten years, more than 3,800 days and nights, he's kept his cell phone in reach,

hoping for a call to rush to the hospital because a compatible kidney has been found. but when we talked to him in february, the call still hadn't come. the uncertainty is hard on him and his two young sons, and he says it's one reason his marriage foundered. >> living with someone who has a chronic illness, it's almost as difficult as living with a chronic illness. given the fact that it impacts every day, it weighed heavily on the marriage and very much changed who we were as people over the ten-year period, i think. >> damian's story is typical of those in the united states and australia seeking organ transplants. in australia, the average wait for a kidney is four years. in america, it's three to five years, depending on blood type. but now a new australian initiative has raised the transplantation rates here to the highest elf level in a quarter century. >> the key thing we've done,

weave picked best practice from around the globe. >> the ceo of the organ and tissue authority, set up to oversee the reform package which went into effect in 2009. the organ and tissue authority has intensified efforts to increase community awareness across australia. >> my name's jessica. >> including public service announcements like this one. >> organ and tissue donation is very important to talk about with your family. that they can give someone the second chance that i got. because giving the gift of life is the greatest gift. >> the australian governmend÷-+p offered specialized new training to some 600 health professionals, they have the difficult role of talking to family members when the opportunity for organ donation arises because a loved one is dying. created australia's first paired kidney exchange in 2010, to increase live donor kidney transplants. a sophisticated computer isñr ud

to identify matches between sets of would-be donors and would-be recipients, and instituted paid leave for living donors. the $1.3 million initiative reimburses employers for giving donors time off work to recuperate from major surgery. that program began last year and rosemary wiebe was the first to sign up. a photography teacher at a sydney boys school, photos reveal her greatest love. family. when her brother simon learned he needed a kidney, she was delighted she proved a match. >> last year, he had three operations and they were quite hard. to see the suffering the whole time, i just thought, if i can do something. >> good to see you. thank you for coming. how are you going with the pain? >> i'm getting much better. >> but it took time to recuperate from surgery and rosemary was thankful her time

off was paid. she received just every $600 a week for six weeks. her employer was reimbursed by the federal government. >> so i didn't have to worry that i'm using sick pay that i had saved up, or using something that i don't have. >> that's a pretty good kidney. working very well. that was good of your sister, wasn't it? >> initial signs suggest the new program is encouraging more people to be living donors, helping more people like simon. >> what's it like to feel like somebody saved your life? i owe them my life, really. >> while living donors are important, some organs can only come from deceased donors, who just register their consent, but since a potential donor's decision can be overridden by distraught relatives, they say training staff for conversations with grieving families is key. >> organ donation is an incredibly rare event, less than 1% of people who die in hospitals are potential organ

donors in australia. it's a small number of people. and we need the circumstances absolutely perfect. >> all this thinking and planning has contributed to a 60% leap in the number of donors in australia in the past four years. but she says, much remains to be done. >> we're not resting on our laurels, because we know that we can still continue to change the way in which we manage our donation practice in australia, and continue to provide more transplants for people who are waiting. >> at west meed hospital, the clinic is humming. dr. jeremy chapman is a renal physician here and past president of the international transplantation society. >> this january we did in a period of three weeks, one quarter of the whole year's transplants. on a daily basis, we're much

busier. you saw the clinic today. it was chaos. that's great. love chaos. organized chaos. >> if you were to give australia a badge, what would you give it? >> i think we have had the badge for most improved in the last ca couple of years. >> and damian would agree. he's indulging in what was for so long a forbidden pleasure. >> oh, it's fantastic. something i've dreamed about for, well, for ten years. >> just days ago, damian received a call at 5:10 a.m., a kidney from a deceased donor was a perfect match. he is grateful to the family of that donor and conscious of a debt he will do his best to repay. >> as much as i've benefitted from, you know, the sadness in their life, it's just -- i'm only 40 years of age. so at 40 years old, i've got so many years ahead of me.

and instead of treading water for the last decade, the last quart quarter of my life, they got me over that, grab life by the horns and ride it as hard as i can. >> he's just beginning to picture all the things he can and will do in his new life. ♪ >> find out which country has the highest rate of organ donation and join the conversation about whether there should be a market for kidneys. visit news hour.pbs.org. now to the arts and a report from twin cities public television in minnesota. it profiles what's believed to be the nation's longest running group of political satirists. they want to do more than just leave them laughing. >> i love you so much. >> oh, i am over the moon that we are finally married. thank you, minnesota! >> thank you, minnesota! >> such a great tool to get

things out. >> it is so nice to see another loving couple finally get married. >> oh, no, we're not getting married. we're getting divorced. >> when you're laughing with people, you have a shared experience with them. and people that have shared experiences relax a little bit, they calm down, they feel closer to each other. when you feel closer and more connected, you're able to discuss things in a way that you wouldn't if you felt isolated. >> just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should. >> no, i disagree. we love each other and we want to start our life together. >> at the brace new workshop, we want you laughing in the theater and discussing or arguing on the way home. >> i think we're unique in that we have comedy, but it's comedy that has a point. there's always a reason why we're doing a sketch here and that's been the tradition since 1958. >> my first performance was as an infant in the grand parade of

the russell brothers circus. my father and mother were for a number of years, aerialists in the circus. so i grew up being a circus flyer. and then ran away from the circus to join a family. and ended up in minnesota. ♪ >> i think one of the reasons that i settled here was it was obvious that there was an available, intelligent, underserved audience, for comedy and for satire. ♪ the brave new workship had the beauty of being able to do contemporary, political, social satire on a regular basis. >> and i can't stop this freedom anymore ♪ ♪ i've forgotten what i started stopping for ♪ ♪ >> i'm really quite proud of the

500 or so actors who got their first paycheck from me. they've learned their craft, they went off, and they're doing good work elsewhere. i'm proud of those people. ♪ hurricane katrina ♪ >> one of my favorite show was saturday night fema. that was actually a really powerful show to be a part of. it was that really cool dance between trying to make it funny and then having a serious thing to say. >> you mean to tell me you're just going to let somebody go without bothering to find out the truth? >> it's the job. we're americans. >> when you can make somebody laugh about something that might be painful or hard to talk about, i think that's a really powerful tool. >> obama mia, here we go again. >> i'm pleased there are no subjects that we have not at one time or another tackled.

>> make sure the first lady's okay! >> and at least for a time, being the only voice in town talking about a particular sore point. many were in the third race riot, we were always doing our summer series called the race riot review. >> one of the things that is instilled in us is that our shows should try to be ahead of the curve. dudley can tell stories about he would go and get first early edition of the paper the night before and the more educated then your audience. now, people are watching their phone to see what's happening on cnn during the show. so the ability to stay ahead of the crowd is tougher now because information is so available. but we still embrace the kind of, can we be ahead of the audience in the point of view of the sketch?

♪ >> this is pbs "news hour weekend" saturday. >> next tuesday at a special time, 9:00 eastern, front line presents a new series "yuz of secrets," it explores the government's surveillance program put in place following 9/11. this excerpt shows what american intelligence did not know that day. >> the program began on september 11th, 2001 at ft. meed in maryland. >> people talking about michael jordan's comeback. >> the headquarters for the national security agency -- >> what a gorgeous day. >> i'm in my office, i remember the day, brilliantly clear day, clear blue skies. >> i was in a suite waiting for a meeting. and we had started up the hallway to his office when the first plane hit the tower. >> they're saying that a plane has crashed --

>> my executive assistant, a young woman came in and said we got reports of a plane hitting the world trade center, and like 300 million other americans, i thought, wow, small planes, accident, too bad. >> it's exploded. >> my poor security chief doesn't have chance to speak. i just turned to him and said, all non-special personnel out of here now. >> oh, my goodness. there is smoke pouring out of the pentagon. >> everybody had the tv on because the tv is where the news was. it wasn't coming out of nsa's computers. it was on the tv. because we had missed the entire event. >> this is a live picture. >> it was an enormous shock that you have this huge agency set up to prevent a surprise attack and they learn about it on a $300

television set tuned to cnn in the director's office. ♪ >> join us on air and online tomorrow. a question of safety. more and more oil being shipped on old railcars through american cities. >> now if we're sending 10, or 20, or 30 times as much oil down the track, that obviously increases the chances of an accident occurring. >> that's it for this edition of pbs "news hour weekend." thanks for watching.

major funding for "jake shimabukuro: life on four strings" has been provided by the national endowment for the arts. additional funding was provided by the corporation for public broadcasting.