♪ on this edition for sunday, may 18, swiss voters reject a plan to create the world's highest minimum wage. in our signature segment, south africa wages war on poachers, targeting the world's largest population of rhinos. >> cease entering your country, poachers, illegally. they plunder your resources. and how coverage of women on wikipedia may be lacking because of the people who edit the content, next on pbs newshour

weekend. it is made possible by louis b, the wal ak family. bernard and irene schwartz, rosalind p. walter. additional support is provided by and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tish wnet studios at lincoln. authorities in turkey today detained 25 people including a number of mining company executives in connection with the fine fire that killed 301 people. three of those taken into custody were later arrested.

most of those died by carbon monoxide poisoning. support beams were made of wood, not metal. and the mine had too few carbon monoxide sensors. the last of the victims was pulled from the accident today. in libya's capital city, armed gunmen stormed the parliament building today. smoke billowed over the capital after fight others attacked the building with anti-aircraft weapons and grenades. there were no reported casuual y casualti casualties, but a number are being held. the troops are led to a libyan general. he has accused islamist lawmakers of supporting extremists. in bosnia, at least 30 people have died and tens of thousands of others have been evacuated after the region's worst flooding in more than 100 years. one official skriefed the

situation as catastrophic. russian cargo planes have delivered food and generators. they are or twoworried that it unearth land mines from the bosnian war. a plan would reduce income inequality, business leaders have the argued against it saying switzerland would have more unemployment. we have the chief the correspondent for the associated press in that country. they calculated that the minimum wage voted down in switzer lard would have been about twice as high as the american minimum wage. tell us about the debate that led up to today's vote. >> well, first of all, this was one of four referendums that voters decided on sunday. the swiss trade union federation gathered enough signatures to put it on the ballot.

they were arguing that a nationwide floor of 22 swiss faungs an hour. but this is a country that has pretty much the highest prices and cities in the world. you can spend $7 for starbucks latte. and it's also a country that has a median pay of 37 francs an hour. >> if you're earning $37 an hour, does that make you feel poor? >> surprisingly, you do. i've been living in switzerland for three years now, and it feels like things cost generally two to three times as much as they do in the states. i've seen a pair of jeans that sell for $50 in the states go for about three times that much

in switzerland. >> this is a pattern we've seen over the past year or so. this is the third vote on income equality. they tried to pass one that reduced the income disparity between the people who run companies and the people who work at them. how do they have these so often? >> this is a country that's a direct democracy. they're a little bit crazy about their referendums. it's switzerland's unique policy of popular rule. 100,000 signatures to get it on the ballot. and then it takes a little time to get it to a vote. but the trade union got this approved. they got enough ballot signatures in 2012. and here we are today. >> and finally, how does the minimum wage kind of in the neighborhood affect the swiss debate? >> switzerland has no minimum wage. but what's important to bear in mind is that the oecd which adjusts figures for spending power lists the highest minimum wage at lux umburg's at $10.66

per hour. next is belgium, the netherlands. the u.s. comes in tenth on the list. it's listed at $7.11 at the adjusted rate. and of course in reality, it's $7.25. my understanding is that the swiss minimum wage would have worked out to about $14 in spending power which puts the high costs in perspective. >> thank you for joining us from geneva switzerland. back in the u.s. an evacuation order was lifted and thousands of californians have returned home after fires ravaged parts of california. firefighters put out the remaining blazes this weekend. at least ten fires had raged earlier this week destroying more than 120 homes and two

businesses. the state has been suffering through a record drought. it's been a violent weekend in chicago. authorities say at least two people were killed and 19 more wounded in a series of unrelated shootings since friday night. authorities are investigating but thus far no one has been taken into custody in connection with any of the incidents. the number of shootings and murders in chicago this year is virtually the same as it was a year ago. many of them are gang-related. ♪ and now to our signature segment. the world's rhino population is under serious threat. there are only 29,000 rhinos left in the wild. a dramatic droop during the past several decades. nearly three quarters of the surviving rhinos are in south africa, most in that country's national park. and most remain under threat

from poachers coming across the border from mozambique. here's our special correspondent, a warning. our report includes some disturbing images. >> reporter: the krueger national park is enormous, as big as the state of new jersey. home to the largest population of rhinos on the planet. and they are being poached here at an alarming rate. for their horns. rhino horn is composed of the same material as a fingernail, but it is prized in asia, especially vietnam. some believe it can cure cancer and boost vir illity. so it is more valuable than gold. it sells for about $50,000. a typical horn can weigh between 2 pounds and 6 pounds. in kruger park last year 606 rhino were killed.

so far in 2014, the figure stands at 245. >> you're dealing with armed incursion. you're a sovereign country. you have armed thieves entering your country, armed poachers, illegally. they plunder your resources and, its illegally again. >> reporter: the rhinos are defenseless. they're shot, their horns hacked off whether they are dead or alive. a tourist captured these shocking images of one rhino suffering. >> i think the worst is when you come across an animal that's alive, that hasn't been killed humanely and is actually bleeding out and is on its hindquarters and trying to walk away and it can't. and its whole nasal cavity and horns are removed. i had seen a rhino calf that had

been shot and killed by poachers, and you ask yourself why? why kill the calf? it doesn't make sense. >> reporter: it is a symptom of the level of greed. a calf horn is tiny but till worth something to poachers. and they won't hesitate to shoot at rangers. this man has been a ranger for 27 years. >> they can be very, very dangerous. they've taken to bringing more firearms than you'd expect from a hunting group. they would normally bring their hunting rifle and protection arm, an automatic weapon like a ak-47. one had a grenade. >> last year we had 60 firefights, six-zero. killing doesn't come easy for any civilized person. >> we have 22 sections in the krueger national park. >> reporter: it is a small war

and run from a tiny operation center in the park. rangers are deployed at strategic locations across krueger. at any given time there are between 5 and 15 groups of poachers. rangers patrol day and night trying to track them down. it is dangerous and difficult. >> if we can find the track like this. and then that is where we get our information that their movement of the poachers, how are they walking here, looking for the rhinos. and then from this information is where we can start working on the how are we going to get them. >> reporter: not easy for a few reasons. >> first of all, they must get to enter the park. they're not scared of wild animals. they're not scared of the dark or the night. and they have no rules. absolutely no rules. >> reporter: 90% of the poachers cross into the park along south

africa's poorest border with mozambique. it's their escape route too. this man flies support from above, but he says they cannot follow the poachers into mozambique. is it frustrating for you when you have to leave them? >> i think so. i think so. it's such a complete area that the poachers know that. they just have to get out. and we cannot go into their country. so it's a real barrier for us. >> reporter: with po po national park, there are few animals here and no rhinos, because poaching was never illegal in mozambique. that will change this year. al fon sew is a director at the department of tourism. he says the laws are about to get a lot tougher >> they are essentially free. they are convinced that no one

can do anything at all to arrest them or make their life complicated. from now, i'm convinced that it will be completely different. >> reporter: at the moment, though, the poachers remain all powerful, and they prey on people still living inside mozambique's po po park. it is only 20 miles from the kruger park border. there are several communities like this scattered throughout the park. subsistence farmers, and that is an important part of the equation. they don't have much money, and the poachers do. they'll pay up to $30,000 for a pair of rhino horns. huge money for people living on about $6 a day. >> if you look at the poacher, the poacher is typically 18, 25 years old. young. not many job prospects. but the money is spent at best on a house, but generally on

alcohol, vehicles, parties. so the greed is a huge factor. >> reporter: we were told by a park official that these young men were involved in poaching. they warned us not to approach them. the older generation spoke to us that they were nervous. if they knew there were poachers in the village, they didn't say. amelia has lived here most of her life. >> translator: i would not show people the way or help them, she says. if they came, i would not take their money. >> reporter: thomas, one of the park officials says he knows there are people here who do. because he says, he says, there are many new houses. >> it is about the poaching, you know. >> reporter: yeah. so some of these houses in the village were built with money from poaching? >> i don't know actually who is poaching or not, but i figure out in a few moment i see the

houses, you know. >> reporter: mozambiquen park rangers have the weapons to prove it. these are from recently arrested poachers. so they use the ak-47 to shoot against the rangers, and they use this weapon here? >> for rhinos. >> reporter: for the rhinos. on the south african side, the krueger rangers are training to fight back. in this simulation, poachers are tracked. the ensuing staged firefight ha involves live ammunition, and it all ends with a capture. south africa and mozambique have just signed an agreement of cooperation. soon, rangers from both countries will be free to conduct joint operations and south african rangers will be able to chase poachers into

mozambique. >> it has the potential to change it over the next year. most definitely. one will be able to pursue with a joint operation across the border. >> reporter: mozambique park ranger says he is looking forward to working with the south africans. >> south african cannot fight against the poacher alone. and the mozambique, too, cannot fight against poacher alone. we are fighting against the same enemy, and therefore, we have to be united. >> reporter: it is a significant development, perhaps a turning point in this war, because in the last six years, 1500 rhinos have been slaughtered in kruger park alone. the black rhino is now classified as critically endangered. the white rhino near threatened. the front line rangers in mozambique and south africa offer the best hope in this

determined effort to save the rhino. >> we are not going to go away. they need to stop and turn around and walk away, because we are not going away. we are here forever. and we are going to ensure that the rhino are here forever. ♪ find out how countries around the world are trying to raise awareness about rhino poaching. visit newshour.pbs.org. since its launch, wikipedia has grown dramatically. it's now has entries. most of the editors are men. and the site is facing criticism that women's stories are not being adequately told. tracy wolf reports.

>> reporter: rebecca morris is a prominent, contemporary artist with a career spanning the last 20 years. her paintings can be viewed in galleries and museums around the globe, including in los angeles and in munich, germany. and if you google her, immediately images of her work and links to interviews appear. but prior to march of this year she didn't have a wikipedia page. some say this is a small example of a very large problem. the lack of female representation and participation on wikipedia. >> we want to increase the number of win. but just increasing the number of women isn't necessarily going to improve the fact that content is skewed. >> reporter: adrian was a dedicated wikipediaen as a

volunteer editor. >> i am one of the contributors. >> reporter: and being a female editor put her on a very short list. a study published by the organization that runs wikipedia discovered that less than 13% of contributors are women. the same study found that the average contributor is male and in his mid-20s. >> voices and perspectives are being left out. >> reporter: she first started editing wikipedia ten years ago while working toward a ph.d.. this led her to writing entries like jane austen and shakespeare. >> i and one other person worked on the jane austen article. it's a pretty interesting dichotomy to me.

they read austen all the time but they don't go to wikipedia to edit it. >> reporter: one example noted by a media columnist in 2011 is the-think descriptions in wikipedia about the sopranos, compared to the much shorter entry for the female "sex in the city." it became clear when she revealed her gender after writing anonymously for seven years. what happened when you identified yourself as a woman editor? >> there was a big change in how people treated me and how they viewed the information i put on wikipedia. there were a lot more questions about what i was adding, a lot more skepticism. and a lot of times when i made arguments about including a specific piece of content or excludeing a specific piece of content i was accused of being hysterical or emotional, things

that had never happened before. >> reporter: after the study came out, detailing how fewer women were editing, they set a goal to increasing women editors to 25% by 2017. >> are we willing to be this self-selecting? and be this small? we can have many more people if we're willing to be a more welcoming community. >> reporter: to help achieve this, many groups have organized edit-a-thons. they are not gender exclusive, but increasingly women are recruiting other women to participate. >> do you think that more should be happening in order to try to increase the participation of women as editors and content on wikipedia? >> in one sense i would say we need to add the voice of feminists. >> reporter: this edit-a-thon

held in los angeles in march focused on creating entries for l.a. artists, many of them women, and that's how rebecca morris finally got her page in the world's largest encyclopedia. >> the former encyclopedias excluded the history of equipment. it's one thing we see all the time. we say if we want to include all of these other narratives besides the sip cal narrative that we usually tell of dead white men, we've got to get it in there now. >> if you want to weigh in about this controversy, go online to newshour.pbs.org. this is pbs newshour sunday.

there's some new data out on how we get to work and what that may say about us. this past friday was bike to workday. but chances are you did not participate, only .6% of americans commute to work by bike. i am occasionally one of them. on some days i ride to work over the 59th street bridge. the number of us who pedal to work is up 60% over the last decade. but it also finds something else interesting about those who have to ride to work versus those of us who can choose to. the poorest, and richest, most educated and least educated are the most likely to ride to work.

here in new york where dramatically fewer people drive to work than in the rest of the country, i ride my bike as an alternative to the subway. they have installed hundreds of miles of bike lanes and launched a bike share program. we've seen double digit growth. this is the executive director for transportation alternative. they hand out the snacks. >> the census only captures work trips. so it's not counting errands or recreation or other types of bike trips. and it doesn't count trips that people take to the train or to the bus. >> every kind of person on every kind of bike doing every sort of thing. even a quick promo for the newshour. one promise, i won't be doing the show any time soon in my

bike clothes. ♪ before we leave you, a quick recap of today's news. at&t announced that it is acquiring direct tv. the deal gives at&t almost 26 million paid tv subscribers. thousands of people in southern california returned home after wildfires were extinguished. gunmen stormed a parliament building in libya. and swiss voters reject a plan to set the minimum wage at $25 an hour. join us on air and on line on the newshour. margaret warner reports from ukraine. and we'll bring you a preview of voting here at home before tuesday's critical primaries. that's it for this edition of the newshour. i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching.

pbs newshour is made possible by louis b coleman. bernard and irene schwartz, rosalind p walter. corporate funding provided by mutual of america, designing customized, individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. additional support is provided by and by the public corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions from viewers like you. thank you.

female narrator: truly california is a kqed production presented in association with: next on truly california, lance, craig, and ubaldo live with schizophrenia. they also live with their volatile caretaker, larry. - you know what? - what? - hit the road! narrator: together, this unlikely family seeks acceptance, love, security, and a home.