captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. gwen ifill is away. on the newshour tonight: ten sailors are freed after being detained overnight by iran's revolutionary guard, but questions surround the incident. then, after president obama's final state of the union, we turn the corner to the 2016 race and talk to three reporters on the trail. and, in light of recent attacks on german citizens, chancellor angela merkel faces criticism for her "open door" refugee policy. >> i think the major issue is not the political surface that we are looking on. it is what is going on in the population. >> woodruff: plus, the first chilean to win architecture's highest award focuses on

improving spaces for urban slums around the world. all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

>> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these 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. >> woodruff: wall street took a beating today, in the face of growing worries about slumping oil prices, a slowdown in china and global growth. the dow jones industrial average lost almost 365 points to close near 16,150. the nasdaq fell nearly 160 points, and the s&p 500 index dropped 48, in what wall street calls a "correction," a

decline of 10% or more from a recent peak. it lasted less than 24 hours. iran's seizure of two u.s. navy boats, and their 10 crew members, ended today in the persian gulf. they'd been held on farsi island, after one of the boats had what u.s. officials called mechanical trouble, en route from kuwait to bahrain. we'll have a full report on the incident, after the news summary. president obama hit the road today to sell his state of the union message of american strength-- and to appeal for unity. he began with a visit to omaha, nebraska-- a republican "red state." he's asking republicans in congress to help pass an asian trade deal and to address heroin addiction. in pakistan, a suicide bombing killed at least 15 people today, and wounded dozens more, outside a polio vaccination center. the attack in the city of quetta came as health workers were

about to kick off a three-day immunization campaign. most of those killed were policemen assigned to escort the vaccination teams. but, local officials vowed to continue efforts to eradicate the disease. >> ( translated ): i, on behalf of the government, want to assure the whole province and the whole country that we will not retreat a single step in this war, not under any circumstances. the polio campaign will continue in the province non-stop and without any interruption. we will try to even make it faster by increasing our resources. >> woodruff: two taliban groups, one with ties to the islamic state group, claimed responsibility for the attack. police in turkey have arrested five people in a deadly suicide bombing in istanbul. the attack yesterday killed 10 germans in the city's main tourist district. germany's interior minister, along with turkey's prime minister, visited the wounded in istanbul today.

he said there's no reason for tourists to avoid visiting turkey. u.n. plans for syrian peace talks suffered a setback today. the talks are supposed to start in geneva on january 25th. but the western-backed "free syrian army" and other factions now say they will not take part. they said first, the syrian government must let relief into besieged towns. and back in this country, people snapped up last-minute tickets for tonight's powerball lottery drawing-- and the largest jackpot ever. record-breaking ticket sales have helped push the top prize to $1.5 billion. in some places today, people waited hours on end for a chance to play. the odds of winning are one chance in more than 292 million. still to come on the newshour: the crisis that didn't happen: american sailors released by iran; politics mixes with the president's legacy; a former

n.r.a. chief on the nation's gun policy, and much more. >> woodruff: we return now to our top story: the release of ten u.s. navy sailors from detention by iran in the persian gulf. we begin with chief foreign affairs correspondent, margaret warner. >> warner: the first look at what happened, came on iranian state tv: this video shows the moment tuesday that revolutionary guard troops boarded the two u.s. navy boats and detained their crews-- nine men and one woman. they were held overnight, on farsi island in the gulf, before an iranian admiral announced they'd been released. >> ( translated ): our final finding was that it has not been a hostile crossover meant for espionage or the like. they reached the area due to a malfunction of their navigation systems, acknowledging that they

as being inadvertent and unintentional due to a breakdown of their systems. >> warner: in a separate statement, the revolutionary guard said the sailors had apologized. that claim set off a back and forth: first, a denial, from vice president joe biden on cbs "this morning:" >> there's nothing to apologize for. when you have a problem with the boat you apologize the boat had a problem? no, and there was no looking for any apolog >> warner: iran responded with a video showing one of the sailors saying this: >> it was a mistake, that was our fault and we apologize for our mistake. >> warner: still later, the white house followed up, saying there was no formal apology. all this comes at a critical moment: iran is soon expected to meet the terms of the nuclear deal with the u.s. and other nations-- ending years of crippling sanctions. secretary of state john kerry said today the relationships built in the nuclear talks laid the groundwork for resolving this quickly.

>> today this kind of issue was able to be peacefully resolved and efficiently resolved testament of critical role diplomacy plays safe secure and strong. >> warner: brookings institution middle east expert bruce riedel says tehran had a big incentive to make the incident go away. >> i think the iranian leadership, the minute they learned what had happened recognized this was something they wanted to get behind them as fast as possible. americans remember well what happens to americans held in detention in iran. and at this critical moment, when iran hopes to get out from under sanctions, anything that could threaten that, had to be dealt with as quick as possible. >> warner: but republican presidential candidates were highly critical of the administration's handling of the boats' seizure. senator marco rubio, on a campaign stop in south carolina: >> i don't know if you saw these

images, but they are really horrifying and they made me really angry to see. american sailors on their knees, hands behind their heads; a female sailor forced to wear a headscarf, penned up in a jail cell. you know why these things happen? because they know they can get away with it when barack obama is in office. >> warner: amid the political and diplomatic fallout, the u.s. navy says it will investigate exactly how the boats came to be seized. >> woodruff: for more on this i'm joined now by robin wright, an analyst and fellow at both the u.s. institute of peace and woodrow wilson international center. she also writes for "the new yorker." robin wright, good to see you. >> great to be here. >> woodruff: so what is the best understanding of what really happened here? >> i think it was an accident that the u.s., the two little boats sailed into an island which is smack in the middle of the persian gulf which is already a narrow waterway, only 35 miles wide at one point.

so they strayed into the waters, got caught and it was a matter of 24 hours to resolve it. >> but you're confident it was just an accident? because there is now going to be a navy investigation. we heard that sailor apologize. if it was a mechanical problem, some were saying why would he apologize, and you heard that's what the vice president said. >> well, i suspect a lot of the ten sailors didn't know exactly what was going to transpire in 24 hours and were making a statement that they didn't mean to stray into the 12 miles around iranian territory. >> woodruff: why do you think, robin wright, the iranians dealt with this so quickly and released these sailors? >> there is an enormous amount at stake in the next few days. the implementation of the iran nuclear deal is expected this weekend or by tuesday at the latest, and this is the moment that iran, after four decades of being a pariah in the international community, begins to be embraced again. it can do business, some of the

sanctions by the european union and other countries will be lifted, it's the beginning of a different area. at the same time, iran goes to the polls next week. this issue of u.s. sailors in the iranian waters has been politicized in our election season and will be in the yiern season as well. a lot at stake in iran's election next month. >> woodruff: if the iranian leadership wants the nuclear deal to go forward and didn't want interference, why did the - why were the sailors picked up? >> i think they strayed into the area. there is long-standing tension in the persian gulf between the americans and the iranians going back to 1987 when the u.s. opened fire on an iranian ship, killed 22 soldiers and sunk the ship. in 2007, there was a confrontation with the british as well when 15 soldiers were picked up because they strayed into iranian waters, or that was the allegation, and were held for two weeks. so the persian gulf is a

long-standing area of potential showdown among not just the united states but also other western powers. >> woodruff: and how do we think this plays into the fact that we know there is a divide in the iranian leadership between the conservatives who are reluctant to see this opening to the west and others who are trying to make it happen? >> well, we've already seen the iranian navy commander has come out and said, you know, this proves that iran is the -- you know, has the final say on anything that goes on in the persian gulf, and a lot of the newspapers are making hay of the fact that the iranians picked up members of the mightiest military in the world. so, you know, the hard liners are making hay of it here. hard liners are making hay of it in iran. >> woodruff: we're at a critical moment, but there is much more to unfold with regard to this nuclear agreement. >> they're technically expected in the next week at the latest

to announce that implementation day, the formal moment when the u.n. announces iran is in compliance, that it has eliminated 98% of its enriched uranium, that it's down to 1,000 centrifuges, that it's dismantled it's heavy water reactor in a city called iraq, that iran is in compliance, and that is the moment that the united states and the international community will begin to formally take the steps it promised in the lifting of sanctions. for the u.s., a lot of sanctions will remain in place. >> woodruff: but otherwise, is everything on track for that to happen or not? >> the united states has been very surprise bid how fast this has played out. they didn't think the iranians could dismantle their program this quickly and, so, i think there is actually some excitement in the halls of power that this very tricky issue that has built to a near war may be

resolved peacefully, at least for a while. >> woodruff: and a big payoff for iran in getting that sanction -- getting the sanctions lifted and getting what they see as their money back. >> right, they get roughly $100 billion back. not all of that will actually get back because they have several financial obligations. it will be probably more somewhere around $50 billion, $60 billion, but they will have that to try to build their economy again. their economy is in very deep trouble because to have the lowering price of oil, because of sanctions but most of all because of their own mismanagement. >> woodruff: robin wright, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: as we reported, president obama today took the first of several trips across the country to amplify his state of the union message. it was an address last night that departed from the tradition of listing policy proposals, to instead focused on large themes of america's future.

political director lisa desjardins reports on how what he said intersects with the 2016 campaign to elect his successor. >> ...members of congress, my fellow americans. >> reporter: president obama-- aiming for legacy-- quickly acknowledged the reality of 2016. >> i know some of you are antsy to get back to iowa. >> reporter: the outgoing chief executive used his final state of the union to take a longer view, and deliver a counter message to what's being heard on the republican campaign trail, where donald trump and ted cruz, especially, stress a dark critique of the country today. the president punched back at the notion that america is in trouble, swinging hard on the economy, military and diversity. >> anyone claiming that america's economy is in decline is peddling fiction. the united states of america is the most powerful nation on earth.

period. when politicians insult muslims, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid bullied, that doesn't make us safer. that's not telling it like it is. it's just wrong. >> reporter: republicans not running for president added to the theme. south carolina governor nikki haley, handpicked by the party to deliver the official g.o.p. response, warned of overreacting to today's security concerns. >> during anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. we must resist that temptation. no one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country. >> reporter: while, back at the capitol, congresswoman cathy mcmorris rodgers, a member of the house g.o.p. leadership, told the newshour that some of

the campaign rhetoric does not represent all republicans. >> i don't believe it represents what the republicans are about. what republicans are about is offering greer opportunity for every person, no matter who they are, no matter where they come from. >> reporter: few said his name but the republican on many people's minds-- trump-- didn't hold back. the frontrunner tweeted that the president's speech was "boring" and "non-substantive." two of his republican rivals-- marco rubio and jeb bush-- were out on the trail today slamming the president's call to move past politics. >> he has divided this country deliberately for political gain for seven years, and then in his last state of the union, says, "hey, why is everybody so mad at each other?" because of you! ( applause ) >> every time he's had a chance, he pushes down people that disagree with him to make his view look more sophisticated and important. >> reporter: democrat hillary clinton, on the other hand, spoke up for her former boss-- as making progress.

fellow candidate bernie sanders, who was in the audience last night, said the speech showed americans should not fear change. as for president obama... he next heads south, to louisiana, to spread his state of union message farther across the union. for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins. >> woodruff: for more on the race for the white house we turn to three political reporters, covering the presidential campaign in the early voting states. o. kay henderson, news director for radio iowa, joins us from outside des moines. james pindell of the boston globe is in manchester, new hampshire; and andy shain who writes for "the state" joins us from columbia, south carolina. and we thank you all three. o. kay henderson, let me start with you. since iowa is first, less than three weeks away on february 1, as you know very well. we were just talking about donald trump. he was an unnamed if significant

theme last night. how is he doing in iowa and what does that race look like? >> well, the "bloomberg politics" des moines register poll out just this morning shows it's a tight race for the lead here between donald trump and ted cruz. ted cruz is actually leading. the same poll showed cruz with a wider lead in december, so that race is narrowed between the two of them. so the angriest voices on the republican field are leading among iowa republicans. there are two other republicans who have sort of separated themselves from the rest of the pack, that would be marco rubio and ben carson is still holding steady in the fourth position here in iowa. >> woodruff: staying with you just a moment, what are voters responding to? >> they are responding to the idea that they run happy with the republican establishment. not only is that donald trump's message, it's ted cruz's message that resonates with the grassroots of the party.

they helped elect a new u.s. senator in joni ernst, helping republicans earn a majority seats in the united states senate and feel they got nothing for it. >> woodruff: james pindell, what does the republican race look like there? what are voters hearing and responding to? >> right now, iters been a story of donald trump who's consistently leading in the polls about 30 straight polls over 150 days, and then everyone else. in fact, the real race in new hampshire isn't first. people seem to be almost conceding that point to donald trump, but second place. and that second place battle is getting quite brutal and quite bloody. the dynamic here has been well documented. it's about the establishment lane candidates. if you want to look at the 12 candidates and put them in lanes, the outsider lane donald trump, the conservative lane ted cruz, not only just the success in iowa but also on the ground here in new hampshire, he has

been able to consolidate conservatives. the third lane is the much more head scratcher, the establishment lane. you basically have four different candidates of chris christie, of jeb bush, of john kasich and marco rubio. now, in the latest poll that came out for monmouth university, donald trump had 32%. the four candidates of the establishment lane had 38%. so you see the dynamic of what's resonating. it's not exactly donald trump if you want to look at the math, it's the moderate vision. these people have no idea where to go with that. >> woodruff: james pindell, quickly, any particular message that seems to be resonating with voters for these so-called establishment dismants. >> it's the sense of electability which is part of it. the other part of it is this idea -- and you hear a number of candidates say it, i head kasich and christie and bush say this and almost all the identical

language that i know you're angry but i'm the person who can actually do something about the anger. i think that is beginning to resonate a little bit with traditional republicans in this state. >> woodruff: andy shain on to you in south carolina, the republican primary not there till february 20, so a little more time. but does any of this sound like what you're seeing in south carolina? >> we're seeing like in new hampshire a trump-dominated race. he also has been leading almost all of the polls since august. at this point, it's a matter of can anybody catch trump in the month that we have before this south carolina primary. it's going to be interesting. there is going to be 11 days between the new hampshire primary and the south carolina primary, so there is going to be a lot of time for the candidates to try to woo voters in south carolina, especially with what happens to them, with the results in iowa and new hampshire, who has the momentum and who's able to capture that. >> woodruff: there is another contest going on that you're having to cover, too, and that's among the democrats.

o. kay henderson in iowa, hillary clinton facing a real serious challenge now from bernie sanders. what does it look like and what do you hear from democrats? >> the latest quinnipiac poll out yesterday shows sanders has a lead here of 5 points. that's of grave concern of the clinton camp. as you have been hearing, secretary clinton has been attacking senator sanders on the gun issue. they think that resonates with democratic voters. iowa democrats tend to be slightly more liberal or progressive than democratic voters in general, the democrats who will actually participate in the caucuses, that is. and, so, that group is energized by the sanders' campaign, by the message that he's been sending, and they're also a bit upset with some of the obama failures. some of them are upset because he didn't pursue a single payer healthcare insurance system like senator sanders is recommending. some of them are upset that

wall street icons haven't been sent to the prisons. that is something senator sanders speaks often about on the campaign trail. so i think the clinton people are now trying to tap into a group of iowans that you might suspect they would try to energize in these final days and hours. they're trying to tamp into middle-aged women who see clinton as a class ceiling breaker. >> woodruff: james pindell, new hampshire. bernie sanders from the neighboring state of vermont, what does the democratic contest look like there? >> you know, it's absolutely fascinating because, all fall, bernie sanders, the one state he could point to to say he could win an early state was new hampshire. he had almost a 10-point lead at one point in the state. the race is now statistically tied and it feels that intense. but why it's so interesting is that new hampshire is both bernie sanders' sort of fire

wall, it's the one place he thought he could rely on, as well as is also this amazing legacy for the clintons. i mean, this is more than arkansas or probably as much as arkansas. this has been the political home to the clintons. it's a place that made bill clinton the comeback kid. it's the place that gave hillary clinton that prizing win in 2008. they have a number of u.s. ambassadors from the state. they just have a deep, personal relationship. so how is it that this is the state that bernie sanders was able to make some inroads? right now the clinton campaign is not worried. they're not worried for two reasons. either they're not worried because they believe they have the superior staff and know how and they do have extremely experienced staff, or they're not worried because they say i don't care, i can lose new hampshire and still be the nominee. they're not seeing the sense of worry you're seeing ininine. >> woodruff: andy shain, south carolina, farther away for the democrats, february 27, but how does it look at this point?

>> if new hampshire was the fire wall for bernie, appears south carolina is going to be the fire wall for clinton. as of the last polls we've had which admittedly are a month old, clinton has had a 40-point lead on average over bernie sanders. she has worked this state very hard with the memories of 2008 where she tried to be back of barack obama who was surging at that point. she's made a point of really gaining african-american support here in south carolina. so, you know, to a certain degree, she's really got this big lead and a victory here certainly would carry her forward into march. >> woodruff: well, there are so many balls in the air, so much to keep your eyes on. we thank all three of you for taking time from the trail to talk to us. today, andy shain, james pindell, o. kay henderson. good luck out there.

>> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: backlash in germany after welcoming more than one million migrants; why n.f.l. teams aren't staying put: the impact on fans, players and profits; and an architect's vision for revitalizing chile's slums. but first, president obama did mention gun control in his speech last night, if only obliquely. but he addressed the subject at some length last week, when he announced three executive actions from the east room of the white house. those would require all gun sellers to be licensed and to conduct background checks on buyers; add 200 a.t.f. agents to enforce gun laws; and increase spending on mental illness issues by $500 million. he said fears that background checks would limit americans' rights were misplaced. >> contrary to the claims of

what some gun rights' proponents have suggested, this has not been the first step in some slippery slope to mass confiscation. contrary to claims of some presidential candidates, apparently before this meeting, this is not a plot to take away everybody's guns. you pass a background check, you purchase a firearm. >> woodruff: we turn now to david keene. he is a former president of the national rifle association, and currently the opinion editor at the "washington times." this is the latest installment in our ongoing coverage of this important issue, and follows a recent conversation we had with mark kelly, husband of former arizona congresswoman gabby giffords, and co-founder with her of "americans for responsible solutions," a gun-control advocacy group.

david keene, welcome back to the program. >> pleasure to be here. >> woodruff: so i'm sure you know that the united states has something like 15 to 20 times the death rate from gun violence of any industrialized country. we hear president obama saying he wants to do something to reduce gun violence. he turned to those families on the stage, said i don't want any more families to have to go thugh this. is that not at least a worthy goal? >> well, no one wants anybody to either die by accident or on purpose from a murderer, but i do think that the president makes a mistake when he talks about gun violence because we're talking about very different things. we're talking about gun crime, which we know how to deal with, and, in fact, as you will recall, before he made his speech, the early reports were that he was going to ask u.s. attorneys around the country to enforce federal laws against criminals using firearms. that didn't make it into the list of proposals. we at the n.r.a. would have welcomed that but he didn't to

that. he lumped these things together. the one encouraging part of what he did and we don't know yet whether it will be effective or not is at least for the first time there is a focus on the mental health problem, which is the real reason for most mass shooters. they're not traditional criminals, they're people who have real mental problems and they ought to be recognized and they ought to be put in to the background check system. >> woodruff: so you can agree with him spending more money on mental illness? >> if it's just spending money, that doesn't answer the question. we want to know how it's being spent and whether or not there is due process involved in putting people into the system. but the theoretical answer is if it's the kind of program we hope it is, would be yes. >> woodruff: why can't the n.r.a. and other guns rights organizations work with those on the other side of the issue to try to come up with a solution? >> back in the '90s when the brady people wanted a three-day waiting period, it was the n.r.a. suggested the f.b.i. has the ability with modern technology to provide an instant

check. we supported it. you need to deal with specific problems -- criminals, those who are potentially dangerous -- but not put in large numbers of people who are a threat to no one and simply being harassed as a result of -- >> woodruff: but the bottom hein, is can these two sides get together? >> well, the president said, as he tried to push us down the slippery slope during those remarks. >> woodruff: what do you mean slippery slope. >> he said no slippery slope, this doesn't lead to something else. >> woodruff: the confiscation of guns. >> he said the countries he admires for handling firearms, great britain and australia, both which have confiscated firearms. >> woodruff: why can't the two sit down at a table and come to an agreement? every poll shows americans think it harder for people to have a gun. >> they also think honest people who have a legitimate right to have a gun shouldn't be burdened and overburdened in trying to

get one and use one legally. >> woodruff: so why can't -- there are things that can be done and we're hatch pi to work with people to do that. the problem is we're coming at it from such different perspectives that it's very difficult. one of the problem is that you get the impression, judy, that we're awash in murder and it's the result of the availability of guns. in the '90s, the murder rate was double what it is now and half as many people had firearms. so while i can't say and won't say that the existence of firearms has cut the murder rate, i can also say the existence of firearms has increased it because it's been decreasing. so let's deal with the reality and not the myths we're all taken with. >> woodruff: so you're saying the number of guns, something like 270 million guns in this country, doesn't have anything to do with the number of gun deaths? >> look at it this way, in 1990s, there were 180 million guns, the murder rate was 7 per 100,000. today there are 300 million guns and the murder rate is 3.5 per 100,000.

so if guns were the cause, you would expect the murder rate to increase. it hasn't. what i'm saying is that talking about violence by talking about the gun as the problem is not an answer because honest people don't misuse firearms. dishonest people do and should be punished for doing so. >> woodruff: quickly, what is one practical step that could be taken to get the two sides together? >> well, first of all, we engage in a lot of conversation with prosecutors, law enforcement and the like. i'll tell you what we are a posed to and that's just throwing groups of people into the instant check system. we think we have to look at dangerousness. in other words, most mentally ill people are not a problem, they're not a threat to themselves or you or me or anybody else. in fact, they're victims. there's a small subset that we need to identify and can be identified by rebuilding that system. if you can identify them, those are the people you want to keep the firearms out of the hands of and we're all for that.

>> woodruff: but the n.r.a. and other guns rights groups have opposed more research, more fact collecting, more collecting information on gun -- >> no that's not what the amendment says. it says it can't be used for propaganda and lobbying purposes and that's what's prohibited, not research. there is a lot of research going on all over the place on firearms, crime, suicides and the like, but it isn't -- it isn't to be used for lobbying purposes. >> woodruff: well, it is a conversation that there is much to be said about it and it will continue. >> it will go on for a long time. >> woodruff: david keene, thank you for talking with us. >> my pleasure. >> woodruff: a series of new year's eve sexual assaults by asylum seekers and migrants in germany is leading to protests, and to new legislation that

would expel immigrants who commit serious crimes. and, as special correspondent malcolm brabant reports from cologne, the attacks may now be threatening the political future of german chancellor angela merkel. >> reporter: where once there was apparent harmony, now there is discord. germany's open door policy, which has attracted more refugees and migrants than any other european country, has reached a crossroads after more than 500 women alleged they were attacked mainly by men of north african or arabic appearance, close to cologne's cathedral. divisions in society are now deeply exposed. these hecklers are taunting pegida, which, in german, stands for "patriotic europeans opposed to the islamisation of the west." the crowd was whipped up by tommy robinson, the leader of the british chapter. >> the city of cologne and the

germany people will never forgive miss merkel for exposing their women to the barbarity and the violence from muslims who follow the prophet mohammed. >> reporter: "kick them out," chanted the crowd. "they're at war with your country, they're at war with my country, they're at war with the whole of europe." >> reporter: one of the main speakers was michael diendorf. >> ( translated ): we are blindly sacrificing our security, our freedom and the future of our children for a childless wannabe mother who goes by the name of merkel. >> reporter: it isn't just ethnic germans who're angry about the attacks; speaking on behalf of outraged immigrants is a syrian rapper from the city of aleppo called murder eyez. >> how dare you! i live in germany since two years and in cologne since two

months. it's the most amazing place over here. and the most amazing and friendly people, who works day and night to pay taxes to give you food, shelter, education and medical care. it's simple. if you want to be like this, go back to your country. because if you are here, you are a guest. you must not-- you should, you must respect the law, the street, the people, everything, because those people are helping you and supporting you. >> reporter: political scientist tilman mayer is one of germany's leading migration experts, and he believes chancellor merkel's unwavering commitment to mass immigration could lead to her downfall. >> we have one million new migrants here, and that is probably enough for germany. but the chancellor has the problem that she would not say enough! i think it's possible that the chancellor would fall after the

next elections which we will have in a few states. >> reporter: leading public condemnation of the attacks, chancellor merkel has recognized the need to make it easier to deport criminals, and at this gathering she acknowledged public disquiet. >> ( translated ): we are vulnerable, as we see, because we do not yet have the order, the control that we would like to have. we have to intensify the fight against the causes that make people flee, and then we will be able-- and that is what we want for this year-- to noticeably reduce the number of refugees. >> reporter: chancellor angela merkel's popularity is plummeting. and one of the reasons for that is, she's refusing to put a cap on the number of migrants who're allowed to enter germany. according to the latest opinion polls, her approval ratings have gone down from 75% in april last year to 58% now. and what happened here, in this scruffy asylum center in the

town of recklinghausen is perhaps going to put more pressure on her. one of the former residents of this shelter was shot dead in paris after he tried to attack a police station with a meat cleaver and wearing a fake suicide vest. the man who had six different aliases was granted residential status by germany and was reportedly known to german intelligence after painting the islamic state flag on his wall. the case has underpinned worries in towns like recklinghausen about the identities of those entering germany. but at the town hall, the mayor, christoph tesche, a member of chancellor merkel's c.d.u., reiterated the party line. >> ( translated ): we are counting on european solidarity. it cannot and must not be the case that the majority of refugees end up in germany. they have to be distributed evenly across europe. that's what the european union is there for, to help shoulder the burden in such times of crisis.

>> reporter: these are challenging times for syrian mohammed ghunaim, who is making the most of his new start by learning the language and volunteering for the german red cross. at the twice weekly international cafe, natascha pieper personifies what germany callits welcoming culture we met mohammed in greece four months ago. >> ( translated ): they have the right to close their borders or open, because it's their countries. >> personally, i'm not worried about myself because i know myself. i'm a good man, and i try to make it in a legal way and just walking on the german rules. but i'm worried for the other refugees. maybe a lot of tough things happen for them.

>> we can sustain even two million refugees in germany because we have the possibility. we're a strong country. we have good people here with good ideas. we have a strong economy, and actually that economy needs those people. >> reporter: the loudest voices on the street are these. the right is gaining support. "we don't want muslim salafist pigs," they chant. these demonstrators believe they are not being heard by the government. their cry? "we are the people." after police broke up this demonstration, right wingers beat up a number of foreigners. in leipzig, there was also violence after a pegida demonstration. and in the latest development, federal authorities have charged three men and one woman with forming a right-wing terror group, accusing them of planning to bomb a refugee center. newspaper editor peter pauls:

>> i think the major issue is not the political surface that we are looking on, it is what is going on in the population. we have to be afraid that a split goes through the germany society. >> reporter: as the powerhouse of europe, germany will continue to be the holy grail for refugees and migrants. but just as an increasing number of germans are losing faith with angela merkel, whom they call the mother of the nation, resistance within the european union towards germany's immigration stand is intensifying. if germany fails to stem this historic migrant flow, europe's divisions could become deeper. what happened in this city is a significant milestone. for the pbs newshour, i'm malcolm brabant in cologne.

>> woodruff: in a move green- lighted by n.f.l. teams owners, the st. louis rams will return to their original west coast home-- los angeles-- after 20 years in the midwest. owners also gave the san diego chargers the option of moving and joining the rams in what would be the n.f.l.'s largest stadium. the chargers have a year to make the move. hari sreenivasan has our look at what the moves mean for the teams, cities and fans. >> sreenivasan: for the rams, moving to los angeles means leaving behind fans and a $400 million taxpayer contribution for a new stadium in st. louis. if the chargers move, they'd also be leaving public money on the table. joining me to look at what's being won and lost is mike pesca, host of slate's "the gist" podcast. mike pesca, what do st. louis and san diego get out of moving to l.a.?

>> well, st. louis is moving to l.a., and the owner of that team stan kroenke looks at a giant market where his team used to play and just sees riches. a little different calculation of n.f.l. teams with other sports. every other big-time sport, basketball, hockey and baseball, depend on the local market to enrich them. for indance, the l.a. dodgers have a tv contract worth in excess of $8 billion over 25 years and indeed this is why los angeles has two baseball teams, two basketballs teams, even the ducks and kings in hockey. but with football since it's all national tv contracts, l.a. is just one other market. the fact there are so many people there is not necessarily as big an endo you want as with other sports, but kroenke knows he can make so much money. the chargers know if they move there they see the stadium in englewood, they see dollars signs, also.

they had an original plan to team up with the now and still oakland raiders where they have football from mexico all the way up for hundreds of miles. so we'll see if the los angeles chargers part of the deal that goes through but the rams is going to go through. >through. >> sreenivasan: this is a statement built in los angeles that would not be funded by taxpayers, that's correct? >> that is correct. that's important because the plan in st. louis would be for taxpayer funding. now, they claim it wouldn't be new taxpayer funding because taxpayers already fund the place where the -- the dome where the rams now play. but in every other case it would be taxpayers putting forward money for a stadium. staimentdz are not good economic generates, but when a populous has a team, they don't want to lose the team. whereas the new stadium is not taxpayer funded and should be

noted oakland said we're not going to use taxpayer funding for your stadium so the raiders will have to deal with that. >> sreenivasan: this has been almost the standard refrain from any n.f.l. team, at least a half dozen i can think of, that said i will get up and move to los angeles if you, town x, don't help me build a new stadium. >> yeah, and it's useful to the n.f.l. owners to have one or two of these stalking horse type cities to act as a bargaining chip, and now i guess st. louis will be that city. it is last time i looked 19t 19th biggest metropolitan statistical area. they are building a new river front stadium, plenty of places for an n.f.l. team to play there. so that is how the business of the n.f.l. goes. it's also sort of society in a microcosm. so many states try to poach other businesses with tax breaks and tax deals. we also see it internationally, right? the people accuse countries of having such low taxes to try to draw businesses away. it is way of the world,

literally. >> sreenivasan: what about the fans? one of the reasons the rams left last time was l.a. didn't seem like that big a football town, even though they had two teams they both left, is there enough interest in los angeles to fill a 70,000 person stadium? >> 100,000 with standing room, they say. i don't know. i mean, i saw shots on the news of these rams fans celebrating. they all seemed to be wearing old jerseys. i didn't see too many 12-year-olds in the crowd. the n.f.l. is so incredibly popular and i think the stadium will be new and beautiful and big and exciting, so, yes, i would expect an n.f.l. team especially if it's a decent team to do well enough. i feel very soare for the rams st. louis fan base once the cardinals fan base, two teams untimely ripped from that city. >> sreenivasan: yeah, so what happens? are the fans part of this equation when 30 billionaire owners of n.f.l. teams get in the room?

>> sure, the fans are part of the equation because they're the ones who pay for tickets and they're the ones who give them tv ratings. it's, of course, about money, but the fans they currently enjoy, i mean, the lure of the fan from southern california when you're taking for granted the fan from missouri, the siren song is too powerful. a document insulted st. louis county saying it's poor, not growing fast enough, just really denigrating it. i will have to say the owner of the rams did a great job of bargaining, positioned himself to have the n.f.l. accept him, he gave them what they wanted, a big, huge facility for n.f.l. films that will be put out and the n.f.l. network that will be put out in los angeles, he did a great job, he's a great businessman. i don't know if he's a great humanitarian. i don't think people in st. louis will think he is. >> sreenivasan: mike huckabee, host of slate's "the gist"

podcast. thanks for joining us. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: finally tonight, architecture's highest prize, the pritzker, was announced today. jeffrey brown introduces us to a man who is little known outside his own field, but who's working to address big issues that affect us all. >> brown: he calls it "half a good house," which sounds like a bit of a joke but is meant very seriously. for alejandro aravena, it's a practical and aesthetic solution to a real world problem: growing urban populations, and too little public money available to build affordable but livable housing. >> it's not half of a house, it's half of a good house. and the "good" is the entire difference. >> brown: it's the kind of seemingly simple but big thinking that has won aravena the pritzker prize, architecture's highest award.

he spoke with us earlier this week from his office in santiago, chile. >> our entry point was just because we thought we were skilled designers and we had at the core of our profession a very powerful tool to tackle complex issues. >> brown: 48-year-old aravena, who is the first chilean to win the prize, heads a firm called elemental, a self-styled architectural problem-solving "do-tank" rather than "think- tank." he's designed a number of buildings for santiago's catholic university of chile. among them, the siamese tower, a mathematics center, an innovation center-- all built with energy efficiency and chile's climate in mind. and as with his buildings elsewhere in the world, in the belief that architecture too often swings between a focus on either "icon" or "utility"... >> a good object should be able to do both. with this eye, it should be that

place that you don't even pay attention to but it's there to support and qualify everyday life. as soon as you look at it with the other eye, it should be able to be that cultural object with artistic sculptural qualities. for some reason, good objects have the capacity to do both. it happens very rarely in the history of architecture. i mean, really rarely-- once every decade or something. that's my kind of experience, i guess. but nevertheless, despite the difficulty to achieve such double condition, at least that's what i think that's the aim of good architecture. >> brown: aravena's work in urban housing draws the most attention. according to the pritzker jury citation, "he epitomizes the revival of a more socially- engaged architect, especially in his long-term commitment to tackling the global housing crisis and fighting for a better urban environment for all."

according to the u.n., in 2009, the number of urban residents surpassed those living in rural areas, a trend in the making for decades and expected to grow. >> the same way that there has been the stone age and the bronze age, we're living in the urban age. and the migration towards cities, it's, in principle, good news. the problem is that the scale and the speed and the scarcity of means with which we have to respond to this process of urbanization has no precedence in human history. so, we need to generate new knowledge in order to accommodate the people migrating to cities. if we don't do so, it's not that people will stop coming to cities; they will come anyhow. but they will live in slums and favelas and informal settlements. >> brown: in this new world, aravena says, architects must engage first and foremost with what we'd often think of as non- architectural issues. >> this should be the starting point for architecture: identify problems that are simple enough

that you get the threat or the challenge in one word-- pollution, waste, congestion, insecurity, migration, social tension. those are the kind of issues that we tend to identify rather quickly in cities. >> brown: the "half a good house" idea is one answer-- so called "incremental" housing built at low cost. half of the structure with the basics provided through public funding, the other half to be filled in and completed by the owners as and when they can. the result: people can remain close to city centers, jobs and resources while living in their own homes. and instead of standardized high-rise projects, these customized homes can gain value with sweat equity. >> in the end, housing policy shouldn't be a mere shelter against the environment. it should work as a tool to overcome poverty.

>> brown: aravena's firm has built more than 2,500 of these units to date in chile and mexico. on a larger scale, he's overseeing a plan to reconstruct the chilean city of constitucion after it was devastated by a 2010 earthquake and tsunami. here, as elsewhere, he's taken a participatory approach, asking local residents to get involved, weigh in, even vote on development approaches. >> we wanted to introduce people as part of the discussion, and, by doing that, that new kind was a consortium that was not there before. so, we were channeling public money, private money and people's opinion and synthesizing all those forces in the design for the future of the city. >> brown: aravena hopes the pritzker prize will help spread his ideas about socially-engaged architecture. >> the feeling that is here in the office is that of freedom. of "now we more comfortable in

taking even more risks in going in unexplored fields." the path ahead is unwritten. >> brown: aravena will get to promote his vision further on an international stage later this year when he serves as director of the prestigious venice architecture biennial. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. on thursday we hear from the family of the syrian toddler who drowned off turkey's coast, sparking international cries for help. i'm judy woodruff. join us on-line, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

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>> announcer: this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathisen and sue herera. nowhere to hide. an intense, late-day sell-off sends the three major indexes into the correction zone, down 10% or more from their recent highs. not a single market sector is up for the year so far. so, where can you find cover? switching cities. the rams move west, general electric goes north. the big money behind two stunning relocations. in it to win it. the record jackpot grips the nation, but why do we play even when we know we won't win? all that and more tonight on "nightly business report" for wednesday, january 13th. good evening, everyone, and welcome. the selling was intense. the financial p