captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for saturday, january 27th: a deadly bombing in afghanistan claims nearly one hundred lives, in our signature segment, asylum seekers fleeing the united states for canada. and the legal implications of the united states gymnastics sex abuse scandal. next on "pbs newshour weekend." >> "pbs newshour weekend" is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. dr. p. roy vagelos and diana t. vagelos. the j.p.b. foundation. the anderson family fund. rosalind p. walter barbara hope zuckerberg. corporate funding is provided

by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. >> additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios at lincoln center in new york, hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: good evening and thank you for joining us. a massive suicide attack killed at least 95 people in afghanistan's capital today. officials say an ambulance packed with explosives detonated in a busy area in central kabul around lunchtime. at least 158 people were injured and the foreign ministry said the majority of the casualties are civilians. the taliban is claiming responsibility for the blast, which is one of the deadliest since the start of the afghan war. today's bombing comes just a week after an attack on kabul's intercontinental hotel that killed 22 people, including four

americans. the taliban also claimed responsibility for that attack. a spokesperson for the u.s. state department condemned today's bombing, calling it" cowardly." in iraq today the u.s.-led coalition accidentally launched a friendly fire air strike on iraqi security forces and civilians. at least seven were killed and a dozen more wounded, according to iraqi government officials. it took place in the town of al- baghdadi about 100 miles northwest of baghdad, and occurred after the u.s. backed iraqi forces arrested an islamic state leader early this morning. the u.s.-led coalition acknowledged firing on an unknown group at the request of iraqis, but said the incident is still being investigated. today in saudi arabia, one of the kingdom's richest and most prominent princes left the luxury hotel where he has been held since november. associates of 62-year-old prince alwaleed bin talal say he left the ritz-carlton in riyadh, where he and other elite saudis

faced weeks of questioning as part of an anti-corruption campaign. alwaleed is an investor in many western companies including twitter, lyft, citibank, and apple. crown prince mohammed bin salman launched the anti-corruption campaign, which he claims is an effort to increase transparency and accountability. critics argue it is an attempt to seize businesses and sideline potential rivals. today is international holocaust remembrance day, marking 73 years since the liberation of the auschwitz death camp. secretary of state rex tillerson paid his respects at a memorial to jews who revolted against german forces in 1943. he visited the warsaw memorial on the last day of a week-long trip to europe. >> on this occasion it reminds us that we can never, we can never, be indifferent to the face of evil. >> sreenivasan: president trump has reached out to african leaders who are gathering at summit.ekend's african union the associated press is reporting that mr. trump sent a letter to the group saying that

he "deeply respects" the people of africa. he also announced that secretary of state tillerson will make an extended visit to africa in march. this follows efforts by u.s. diplomats to address widespread condemnation following reports that the president used a vulgar term to describe african nations earlier this month. casino mogul steve wynn is resigning as finance chair of the republican national committee following allegations of sexual misconduct. the "wall street journal" reports that wynn allegedly sexually harassed and coerced employees to perform sex acts. wynn denies the allegations. r.n.c. chair ronna mcdaniel released a statement confirming wynn's resignation, but did not directly address the allegations. this congolese refugee family recently arrived in new jersey. watch their story at facebook.com/newshour. serial child sexual abuser and former usa gymnastics doctor larry nassar is serving a prison

sentence that will stretch past the end of his life, but the legal fallout from his years of abuse is far from over. some of his victims are still waiting for their day in court, and nassar could face further prosecution. but for those asking how this could have happened, the focus is turning to usa gymnastics and michigan state university where nassar practiced and served as a professor. for some insight as to what comes next on the legal front, i am joined from manchester, new hampshire by michael mccann, associate dean at the university of new hampshire school of law and a writer for "sports illustrated." thanks for joining us. , we've had the news stories and the headlines about the entire board of u.s.a. gymnastics resigning, people at michigan state stepping down, but i feel like this is not over yet arct least when it comes to the prosecutions that are possible. >> that's exactly right. for one, there are ongoing civil lawsuits, both in federal and state court, against both u.s.a. gymnastics and michigan state. but in addition, as more

evidence surfaces, as more testimony is taken, particularly when it involves current and former employees of both u.s.a. gymnastics and michigan state, some of them will start talking. some of them will start pointing the finger. >> sreenivasan: what are some of the liabilities michigan state has? people approached the head of the n.c.a.a., as far back as 2010, letting them know there was a problem on michigan state campus, not necessary what larry nassar was doing but sexual violence being perpetrated by some of the players and this is something michigan state and n.c.a.a. sneaded to handle. >> clearly there was a lot more that they needed to look more closely at what was going on. this puts the n.c.a.a. in a position where it can't be impartial. michigan state can argue how can the n.c.a.a. investigate us when

itself is instigated in this controversy. it would behoove u.s.a. gymnastics, ncaa, and michigan state to turn to some independent entity that can investigate without these kinds of links. >> sreenivasan: one of the things we became more aware of after the harvey weinstein scandal was the business of nondisclosure agreements as part of a settlement, that, here's the money, here's a settlement, and in exchange you won't say something for it. and we kind of saw that again in the case of one of the victims of larry nassar. what does that do in this context to say, does it accelerate our interest in trying to do away with these, or maybe having a statute of limitations disappear? >> it's a hard issue because there's a freedom of contract argument which says you can't interfere with somebody's right to contract away information, that it's actually part of contract law. but we know that in new york, for instance, some of the legislatures are arguing that

that n.d.a.s shouldn't be enforceable when they involve information related to sexual crimes. as we've seen with harvey weinstein, as we've seen with other stories, these nondisclosure agreements really present major problems in terms of social policy and maybe we shouldn't let people contract away that kind of information. >> sreenivasan: michael mccann, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. >> sreenivasan: this week, the trump administration rolled out its plan to overhaul america's immigration policies. asking $25 billion for border protection that includes a wall, tighter restrictions on legal immigration, and a path to citizenship for the so-called" dreamers," the proposal divided those on both sides of the issue. since donald trump took office, there has been inflammatory rhetoric toward non-americans and increased enforcement of immigration laws.

it has many in the immigrant and refugee communities on edge. an unprecedented number of people who came to the united states seeking asylum are now fleeing this country. newshour weekend special correspondent, simon ostrovsky brings us this report from both sides of the border. >> you know if you cross here you will be arrested. because it's an illegal way to enter canada. >> reporter: over the past year thousands have fled the united states across this unofficial border crossing in champlain, new york, leading to the canadian province of quebec. so many have fled that some are even calling it the new underground railroad. this is the new reality in america, refugees and asylum seekers leaving the united states. >> i'm leaving america because i was told i would be deported to burundi. we fled burundi when people wanted to kill us. i hope that in canada i'll be protected and then i'll live in freedom.

>> you understand if you cross here it's illegal. you're going to be arrested. right? >> reporter: the asylum seekers push ahead anyway because they say they actually want to be arrested. most come from unstable countries in africa and the middle east, and they know that they can only claim asylum in canada after being taken into custody. crispin bayagwyze told us he made the decision to head to canada after spending almost a year out on the streets of new york city. >> i am burundian. with the unrest in our country, i have managed to make it to america. it's been 11 months and i've had no help at all. its difficult to eat and to find a place to sleep. i've filed papers with the immigration authorities and there was no follow-up. i realized that i would die on the street unless i find some other way. >> reporter: most get to the area by bus from new york city. then local taxis swoop in to drive the asylum seekers to the border about 25 miles away.

it's a routine that repeats itself several times a day. in the obama administration's last year in office, only about two and a half thousand people were arrested for illegally crossing the canadian border, but in 2017 close to 20,000 fled the u.s. to make an asylum claim in canada. >> it's going to be only america first. >> the president's vulgar slur: why are we having people from blank countries coming here? >> reporter: donald trump's tough rhetoric on migrants has been broadcast widely and asylum seekers have taken note. his presidency has also ushered in an era of strict immigration controls. rejections of those seeking asylum have been rising steadily since the obama era-- including those who entered the country legally. since 2012 they've gone up by 40%. what's different under the trump administration is a dramatic increase in the number of arrests made by immigration and customs enforcement, or ice. following his inauguration they

rose 42% over the preceding year. and concerns about arrest, say the refugees we met, have contributed to the climate of fear. not everyone is happy to see them go. >> is that better? >> yes. >> good. >> reporter: until recently, janet mcfetridge was a typical retiree living in the area. but ever since refugees started appearing shortly after donald trump's inauguration, she volunteers her time on the american side of the border to make sure the travelers have clothes to keep them warm. >> i'm part of a group of people concerned about the refugee population that's been passing through the area. i've just noticed that they are ill-prepared for the brutal winters that we have here in the north country. i have my car stocked with hats, gloves, mittens, scarves, coats. and when they climb out of the taxis, i assess what they might need. >> reporter: roxham road is no different than dozens of other streets that dead end at the canadian border in this part of

upstate new york, but the asylum seekers have turned this rural street into a busy crossing point. >> i don't know how the word spread that that was the place to go, but i think in february they had about 400 people cross and then in august there were 5,000. if we're going to look at the real causes to it, it would be people afraid to stay in the united states, fear of deportation, um, fear of harassment. >> reporter: according to village lore, janet's home was once part of the network that smuggled escaped slaves into canada. >> this house is locally known as one of the underground railroad houses. so, there was an active underground railroad line going right through this area up to canada. of course, we're only a couple of miles from the border, so, it makes sense. >> reporter: so what do you have here? >> 25 years ago we tore the floor back, we saw a big cistern. it was huge, probably about six feet deep. um, and we think that that is where the underground railroad passengers were probably kept when they were staying here.

>> reporter: and it's right below our feet? >> it would be right under there. >> reporter: it would have been the perfect hiding space. >> it would have been perfect. >> reporter: in this part of the northeast of the united states, the border with canada is just a straight line that's largely unprotected. but further west it's the st. lawrence river and the great lakes, which is why so many of the refugees and asylum seekers channel to this part of the country to go to canada. a couple of miles from the crossing used by most of the asylum seekers it looks like the border is unmanned, but just as we were about to leave, the canadian patrol came to check up on us. has 2017 been an out of the ordinary year for your job? >> what do you think? >> reporter: i think the answer is yes. what do you think is causing so many people to go north to canada? >> oh, no, i won't answer a question like that. i'm not here for that. we have some people for that.

>> reporter: the person who handles the questions is a spokesman for the royal canadian mounted police who we met in montreal, quebec. >> it's unusual for us having people walking toward us who want to be arrested. because when we see them coming at the border we give them a warning saying, "guys, you are committing a crime, we will have to arrest you." and then when we say that they start walking toward us presenting their hands and they want to be arrested. >> reporter: but why they are leaving the united states, is that a question you are asking yourself? >> i can not elaborate on that, and we cannot speculate on that. >> reporter: we asked one of the recent arrivals the same question. john orango is one of the tens of thousands who fled to canada last year. after having fled post-election violence in kenya in 2008, where he said he was targeted as an opposition activist, he spent nearly a decade in the u.s. waiting for his asylum case to be heard after coming into the country legally on a visitor's visa. although he had an asylum

hearing set for the summer of 2019, eleven months into the trump administration, he chose to flee. >> when the new administration came in it's like everything just changed. living in america was terrible because now you don't know. you don't know whether the due process will be there. whether you can be just deported like that. it is like something hanging on your neck. every day you wake up, you don't know. >> reporter: now john spends his days reading in a library in canada. he has a new asylum case pending here. he said he made the tough decision to flee the u.s. after three other asylum seekers he knew were suddenly deported before they got their day in court. >> these are frightened people. these are people who have a lot of fear. these are people who are going through hell. then you take the little hope they have away from them. people see canada as a country where they can be welcomed and be subjected to due process. >> the message is one is that canada stands by.

that if you're fleeing terror, persecution, and violence, well that makes you a refugee. we welcome refugees into this country. >> reporter: in canada, asylum seekers are initially housed in shelters like this one at the northern tip of montreal. but soon after, they are provided with monthly stipends they can use to rent their own apartments. >> so the backpacks should have everything that they need for lunch. >> reporter: rachel shugart, another volunteer, is an english teacher who helps them settle in by donating school supplies and clothes. >> lunch box? so you can take your lunch to school? okay. bye, see you later. we've been watching the news. we know that america has been sort of turning inwards, so, i can't say that were super surprised to see something like this happening, but it really is shocking when you actually think about the numbers. >> reporter: despite the fact that the average asylum seeker gets more assistance in canada

than in the united states, not all of them will end up obtaining residency. >> there is a process to determine whether someone is a refugee. there are steps to go though. >> reporter: an ally of the canadian prime minister in parliament told us just how many claimants of haitian origin got turned down last fall. >> here in canada it's like our prime minister justin trudeau said, diversity, immigration is a strength. but what i can say? i remember in september, only 10% of the haitian group seeking for asylum was accepted. so it's important for them to know that they could be removed. >> reporter: still, these days many say their chances of getting a fair hearing are better in canada than back in the united states. >> it's always been people streaming into this country and we've always had waves of

immigrants coming into this country. i cannot think of another time in our history of the united states where people are leaving this country in such great numbers. >> america is made of immigration, that's what it is. you cannot run away from its history, from its identity, no way. that is something that americans are supposed to preserve not destroy. >> reporter: for now at least, john orango isn't going to take any chances, and is throwing his lot in with canada like so many others who are no longer confident about their prospects in the united states. >> sreenivasan: the centers for disease control and prevention has declared this year's flu outbreak to be the worst on record since swine flu in 2009, and it only seems to be getting worse.

last week alone, one in 15 doctors appointments in the united states was for the flu. this week seven children died of the flu, bringing the total for this season to 37 children. the c.d.c. predicts there are still several weeks to go in the flu season. for some perspective, i am joined by stephen ferrara, an assistant professor of nursing at columbia university medical center here in new york. what's different about this year's flu? >> what we're seeing this year is a lot of strain of flu is h3n2. that is a straining of influenza, and this strain we know it tends to be more severe. >> sreenivasan: earlier this year, we heard that there was a low level of efficacy based on something that was happening in australia. clear that up for us. >> yeah. so a report came out of australia that the effectiveness of the vaccine was about 10%. now, we don't have final numbers. we don't even have preliminary number here's in the united states yet. what we believe, our best guesstimate, is about 30%, somewhere around 30%

effectiveness, which by all means is still not perfect, but better than what is being reported down in australia. >> sreenivasan: are there benefits, even if you get the vaccine and then you get the flu after it? >> yes. what our studies have shown is that those who do get the virus after getting vaccinated, tends to not to have as severe illness. >> sreenivasan: are we working or are we any closer to a universal vaccine so there's not this guessing game time and again? >> right. we are working on it, but we are years away from that being effective. we still grow the influenza virus predominantly in egg protein. what's advantageous about that is we are able to produce a lot of vaccine. in fact, this year 150 million doses have shipped. >> sreenivasan: one of the things we don't recognize very often is the number of people who actually die of influenza every year. >> uh-huh. >> sreenivasan: just a few years ago when it was pretty bad, 56,000 people died in that year. >> yeah. >> sreenivasan: and those are numbers that we talk about in terms of the opioid epidemic, in terms of car crashes.

>> that's right. the flu should be taken seriously. best way to protect ourselves is through vaccination. and really, it's not too late to get the influenza vaccine right now. >> sreenivasan: and that year, there was also, i read, 710,000 hospitalizations. so it progresses pretty quickly. if you feel like you are getting the symptoms, what's the best thing you can do? are there medications you can take once you're in the middle of it? >> there are antiviral medications that are available today that help to reduce the severity of the flu and the duration of it. now, this isn't necessarily recommended for everyone, but it's recommended for those who would most likely develop severe complications from the flu. so those over 65, the young, those who have diabetes or heart disease should definitely get those antiviral medications. and what's most important is that the earlier the better. so, really, within those first 48 hours of symptoms is the ideal time to take those medications. >> sreenivasan: all right, stephen ferrara, columbia

university, thanks so much. >> thank you. >> sreenivasan: there is progress in the fight against the zika virus. the virus can cause brain damage in newborn babies, whose mothers are infected by a mosquito bite while pregnant. now researchers in scotland say they have discovered a way to make mosquitoes incapable of transmitting zika and other diseases to humans. itn's peter smith reports. >> reporter: this is wolbachia we"u," a bacteria that could put a stop to the zika virus. it is naturally found in fruit flies, but scientists at glasgow university made an unprecedented discovery when they tried putting it into a mosquito. >> there is variation in efficiency of transmission between the strains but we found one that is more efficient than any we have seen before. >> reporter: how efficient are we talking here?

>> we're talk 100% block of the virus getting into the saliva. complete blockage, yes. >> reporter: this 100% success rate is a major step in a fight against the virus that attacks the most vulnerable. if a zika-infected mosquito biteaise pregnant woman, there is evidence it can damage the baby's brain inside the womb. an outbreak in brazil saw a sudden rise in birth defects. but 5,000 miles from rio, the bacteria makes mosquitos incapable of spreading zika. as well as battling zika, the bacteria also stoms the spread of potentially fatal illnesses like deng a and yellow fever. crucially, in the lab tests, these mosquitoes eventually outbreed and wipe out the dangerous ones. the scientists behind this breakthrough say it could be several years before wolbachia is perfected in the field. but we are now closer than ever to eradicating zika once and for all.

peter smith, news at 10, glasgow. >> songwriters learned they will be receiving more money for their work on online streaming services thanks to a decision in a court case over royalties, they will see an increase of 44% over the next five years. tomorrow, are you hinga women begin to deal with the long-term psychological consequences. that's all for this edition of pbs newshour weekend. i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching. have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz.

the cheryl and philip milstein family. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. dr. p. roy vagelos and diana t. vagelos. the j.p.b. foundation. the anderson family fund. rosalind p. walter barbara hope zuckerberg. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. be more. pbs. be more.

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