captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, california on fire-- tthe toll rises as ate deals with multiple spreading wildfires. then, deadly violence erupts in nicaragua as demonstrs protest corruption and call for the presidento step down. and, inside the desperate journey that thousands of nigerian refugees make to escape human traffickers. >> brangham: nigeria is one of the top countries in africas far as the number of people who try to leave here to go find a different life up in eueope. >> woodruff: plus, author min jin lee answers your questions about "pachinko," the most recent entry in the pbs newshour new york times book club, "now read this." all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour."

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> consumer cellular believes that wireless plans should reflect the amount of talk, and data that you use. we offer a variety of no- contract wireless plans for people who use their phone ar little, a lot,ything in between. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> financial services firm raymond james. >> leis. >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversationgein a new lang >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting

institutions to woomote a better d. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institution >> 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: from the white house today, more talk of shutting down the government over border security. president trump floated the idea on sunday, unless democrats vote to fund a border wall and other measures. today, alongside italy's prime minister conte, mr. trump said there's no "red line" for what congress must do. but he also said he'd have no

problem forcing a shutdown. >> i'll always leave room for negotiation, but this has been many years this isn't just trump ministration, we're new. this is has been many years, we'vdecades. the whole thing is ridicultos, and we havhange our laws. and we do that through congress. so i would certainly be willing to close it down. w druff: several leading republicans have said they don't want to see another government shutdown federal agencies had to close for a weekend back in january, in a previous funding fight. the president also offered today to meet th iran's president hassan rouhani. it came amid heightened tensions ofafter the u.s. pulled ouhe iran deal. mr. trump said he's open to meeting with "no preconditions." supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh won over an undecided republican today. kentucky senator rand paul said that he will vote to confirm-- a key endorsement in a closely divided senate. meanwhile, kavanaugh had his

first meeting with a docrat, west virginia senator joe manchin. he's seen as a potential swing vote. supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg says she hopes to stay on the court until she's 90. ginsburg is now 85. a she tointerviewer on sunday, "i think i have ...at least five more years." she cited former justice john paul stevens served until he was 90.'v in zimbabwe thbegun counting votes after a largely peaceful'slection day. he country's first presidential election since rort mugabe was ousted in may. he had ruled for 37 years. his form deputy, emmerson mnangagwa, faced opposition leader nelson amisa, who complained of voting delays designed to undermine his support. john ray of independent television news, reports from harare, the capital. >> ray: for zimbabwe a historic day worth the early start. sunrise and already thousands were queuing patntly.

many here have waited a lifetime for this moment. >> we've only known one president until now, you know. change.hink this demonrates >> chamisa! chamisa! >> ray: there has been a joyous energy about the campaign, generated by one man. nelson chamisa has vowed to end 40 years of one party rule. >> victory's set in. we have won. >> ray: but hope dashed by defeat might yet be a combustible combination. there is no mistaking the confidence or the excitementou arnd chamisa. he says he will not accept defeat.th and at also makes this a dangerous moment for z dbabwe. if you't win, will there be trouble? e ll there be violence? you've said therll be chaos. t possibility-- i can't tell. peop have their own right. i'll try as much as possible to leave people in peace.

>> ray: there were no cheering crowds for president emmerson mnanagawa. rahe's, too, posed as a lir, from the specter of zimbabwe's past, who cast his vote and what lile weight he has left-- behind the opposition. more than 5-million ll have their say today. but this election will be won and lost in the countryside. this is robert mugabe's, birthplaceere they're used to voting as they're told or threatened. >> and be beaten. can be beaten. even if they don't-- houses can be burnt. >> ray: exavier's seen many elections, but none like this. this time people of different political parties could share together, of which they choose democracy. b this haseen an election of many firsts. no mugabe, no violence, and maybe after a momentous day, the outcome will be something new.

>> woodruff: that reportf rom john rayndependent television news." meanwhile, cambodia's powerfulli party easily won a sweeping election victory on sunday.st prime minier hun sen has ruled for 33 years, and now getsve another fi the main opposition group was forcibly dissolved last year, and it called the election a "sham." the prime minister of greece has made his first visite seaside resort where a wildfire killed at least 91 people st week. alexis tsias met today with firefighters and army personnel in mati, near athens. his government is being criticized for being ill- prepared. the greek fi service had warned that years of budget cuts left it unable to handle multiple big fires. independent investigators in malaysia say they have failed to solve the mysty of malaysia airlines flight 370. it disappeared in march of 2014, carrying 239 people from kuala

lumpur to beijing, china. investigators today confirmed the jetliner was intentionally diverted across the indian ocean. they ruled out blaming the crew. >> we are not of the opinion that it could have been an event committed by the pilot, but at the same time we cannot deny the fact that there was an air turn- back. we are not ruling out any possibilities-- we are justt saying t matter what we do, we cannot exclude the possibility of a third person, or third party or unlawfulen interf. >> woodruff: the investigators say they'll never know what f ppened to the plane unless the bulke wreckage is found. pope francis today accepted the resignation of australian archbishop philip wilson for covering up sexu abuse of children. onst may, an australian criminal court convicted wif concealing the abuse of two altar boys ba priest. it happened in the 1970's. back in thisountry, the former

personnel chief at the federal emergency management agency,me emergency mana agency, is accused of harassing women and farming them out to agency buddies as sex partners. "the washington post" an internal investigation that says corey coleman created a "toxic" atmosphere going back to 2015. him. cbs is keeping c.e.o. leslie moonves in place-- for now-- while it investigates allegations of sexual misconduct against him and others at the television network. the board of directors said today it's hiring an outside counsel to look into tter. the "new yorker" magazine has reported claims by six women against moonves over three decades. on wall street today: twitter lost another 8% of its value as tech stocksent the broader market lower. the dow jones industrial average dropped 144 points to close at 25,306.

the nasdaq fell 107 points-- more than 1%. and th500 slipped 16.fo and, former caia congressman and oakland mayor ron dellums died early today in washington, afttling cancer. he was a fiery anti-war and social justice advocate, and helped start the congressional black caucus during 27 years in thu.s. house. ron dellums was 82-years-old. still to come on the "newshour," deadly california wildfires force thousands to flee; violence erupts in nicaragua amid political discontent; our politics monday duo explains president trump's threat to shut down the government, and much more. >> woodruff: fire crews in northern california spent anotr long day on the lines, laboring to contain the

sprawling "carr fire." it's already killed at least six people and left more than 720 homes-- plus other buildings-- in ashes. john yang has our report. >> yang: it's california's largest and deadliest fire in a season that's been relentless. but today, se hopeful news: thorities around redding lifted evacuation orders for some of the 38,000 people who'd en forced to flee. jeremy siegel with pbs stationpo kqed has been ing from the fire scene. >> most of the areas where evacuations were lifted a fairly concentrated. they're an area that's far enough from where firefighters have been able to build containment linearound the fire that fire officials and local authorities are confident dhat, with current win conditions, there is not a chance that the fire has potential to spread into that area. >> the car fire started small a

week ago. >> yang: the "carr fire" started small, a week ago. then, on thursday, surging winds turned it into an inferno, sweeping through shasta and keswick, and into western subdivisions of redding, a city of 92,000. >> the wind had come up to 50 miles an hour or more. and there were jt all kinds of debris flying around in the air and the hot embers and hot leaves coming wn all over the yard. i figured i'd better get out of here. >> yang: more than 3,000 firefighters battled the blaze in bone-dry conditions and triple-digit heat. tit by late sunday, for the firs officials struck a hopeful tone. ting to gain some ground, rather than being in the defensive mode on this fire all of the time. we're starting to make some good progress out there. >> yang: hdreds of homes are now in ashes, and some people will return to find entire neighborhoods gone. many others-- whose homes survived-- don't kno they'll be allowed back. o we were checking to see if we could get back ir house and they told us that they don't

know when they will be opening up the roads. >> yang: there are alsowh questions abouwas warned-- and when. ed bledsoe lost his wife and two great-andchildren in the fire. he says there was no warning. >> if i'd ha any kind of warning, i'd have never ever left my family in that house. i was talking to mlittle grandson on the phone, he was saying, "grandpa, please, ndu gotta comeelp us, the fire's at the back door." i said, "i'm right by you, honey, just hold on, grandpa's coming." >> yang: meanwhile, two more fires flared to life late sunday in northern mendocino and lake counties, north of san francisco, forcing another 15,000 people to evacuate. yet another big fire has forced rare closure of yosemite national park until this friday. they're among a total of7 fires burning across the state. jonathan cox is cal fire battalion chief for northern california: >> we call this the new normal in california, and we've seen larger and more destructive

fires year over year. and unfortunately this year doesn't look to be any different. >> yang: firefighters are also counting their own casualties, with two killed this year-- and the fire season far from over. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> woodruff: to add some rentext: california has fought several hundred ildfires at this point in 2018 compared with last year. the carr firis now among the n most destructive wildfires in the state's history. chief ken pimlott is the director of cal fire-- the state agencyn charge of battling these wildfires. he gave me an update on the latest challens for firefighters. >> we have 17 large fires burning across the state, really five or six of those are the major fires that we're the most concerned about. in particular, of ourse, is the car fire in shasta county and right out and inside the city of

reading. that fire today is almost 1,000 acres d 20% contained. it's spreading to the west, to the north and to the south.un fortely, firefighters have done an amazing job of stopping the fire inside the city of reading so there hasn't been ans additional proinside the city itself, but it continues to be a large fire and far from oot he woods. >> woodruff: so you've made some progress on it because i ess it was just 5% contained over the weekend, but i did read the supervisor of shasta county said, "i have been a li resident of this community and i've never seen a fire with such destruction here in this area ever before.e what's m so fierce? >> so, obviously, all oofur firefighters have really been saying the same thing througho this event. many of the folks fighting this fire, many of the law l enforcement officers, them, you know, are residents of that community and have experienced th fire either directly or indirectly through

family members or friends, and they're all saying the intensity with which this fire has been burning, in particular, late last week, what's nothing more than a tornado ripped through the west end of reading and really carried miles fe in a swirling motion, uprooted trees and vehicles and tore ros off of houses, and just the conditions are extreatme. as ar of fact, quoting one 't my division chiefs, he says that extreme iven the right word to describe the kinds of conditions we're seeing, not only in shasta county but in all of these fires burning in california. >> woodruff: well, we heard that grafather in reading who lost a family member saying he never woulhave left his family had he had any idea. was there no warning? >> that story and so many others are absolutely tragic. the challenge with ts fire and many of the fires we're having,

especially last year and in the fall in the north bay area counties, arearhese firee moving at exponential rates.n they're ofting in ways that are unpredictable and move without warning. you know, aggressive efforts are in place to provide evacuation notices. for example, i was in lake county yesterday when the river fire was bearing dowon the community of lakeport, tdhe sheriff there quicklyniated the evacuations, and this is something we're all looking at atewide to ensure we're getting notifications out, but it really depends aga on residents when they hear the notification or they know the fire is in their community to make sure they're heeding evacuation warnings and safely leaving a fire area early. >> woodruff: and do you have the resources, the firefighters and the resources you need th state of california right now? >> we're constantly moving resources throught california to get ahead and be ready for the next event. several of the fires in southern

cangfornia are relea resources as those fires become contained and we're quickly moving thosources north and bolstering the resources that are already on these fires in northern california. we've placed veral orders for fire engines and other resources to states outside olif rnia and other federal agencies, and those resources continue to pour into the state, and we're deploying them around where thee to be. aircraft, hand crews, all of these things are being brought into and moved around the state. but understand, it not just california. the entire western united states is facing extre fire conditions right now. >> woodruff: a good reminder it is across the western u. chief ken pimlott, thank you uch, and a horribl situation and we wish you the very best with it. >> thank you.

>> woodruff: for the last three agnths political protests have raged across nic. they started in april after the government of president daniel ortega introduced changes to the nation's pension system. the protests turned violent after a government crackdown, and more than 300 people, nearly all of them civilians, have since died in clashes on the street. today, the white house announced it was sanctioning top nicaraguan officials, and that the u.s. government was taking back vehicles it had donated to the nicaraguan national police. nick schifrin has our story. >> schifrin: the street battles are explosive. through long nights... ...and hot summer days. protestors are often armed with no man cinder blocks and homemade bombs. ( gunfire ) security services fire, as they cower in fear. young people who livestream the violence, and are willing to die.

>> ( translated ): i want to say goodbye and i love you to my family" >> schifrin: many are students rallying against a ruler who once overthrew a dictator, now accused of becoming a dictator. for 11 years daniel ortega has led nicaraa, and he has consolidated near total power, ended term limits, and employed deadly force on otestors who demand democratic reforms. >> ( translated ): today wovare seeing anment who does not want to negotiate with the people of nicaragua, and is estead only repressing th people of nicaragua. >> schifrin: in this btle, the catholic church has chosen the protestors' side. religious leaders have come out to support demonstrators who holed up in churches. the church of divine mercy on a university campus in managua, became a battleground. for more than 14 hours security services besieged protestors who lay wounded on the grounra father raul zas a priest at the church. >> the paramilitaries, the

police who are working together, attacking the students, they had entered the university, they were going to kill the studentsi >> schif that's father zamora on the right holding a flag. he shuttled between the frontline barricades and the church that became the tsontline. >> bullemachine gun bullets, bombs, you cld actually hear the bullets passing by you. a student told me, he said, "what is that red dot that'sn going arounde wall?" and i knew that that was a laser, you know, and i told the students get down and they shot >> schifrin: two students died that night. that'sather zamora, administering last rights. >> tried to help them, to put his heart at peace with god, tried to confess him, but ofur i couldn't do it. he just kept looking at me with his eyes open, like saying, "what haened?" he was still alive, of course he anwas losing a lot of bloo they were trying to save him,

but 15 minutes later he died. and his name was gerald. >> schifrin: the ortega administration went from harassing and assaulting protesters to launching counterattacks that are much more aggressive. >> schifrin: geoff thale is th ce president for programs at the washington office on latin america. t'>> clearly the governmens got a lot more aggressive and the human ghts situation has chtten worse. >>rin: in 1979, president daniel ortega and other sandanista fighters overthrew nicaragua's last ruling family, the samoza's. in 1990, ortega was voted out of power. but he returned in 2007. and ever since, his critics accuse him of becoming an authoritarian strongman. >> naming his wife first as sort ofnzar over the press and t as his vice president, many people expect she will run fory, president one aming his children to key positions in the political system and the economy. i think people saw that as

a tablishing a dynasty. >> schifrin: ortnied that accusation earlier this week on fox news. ortega says he is only trying to secure a stae nicaragua. and he is refusing to accept the protestors' demand, to move up the next electio ( translated ): to move up the elections would create instability, insecurity, and make things worse. >> schifrin: ortega's hardcore supporters defend him as the a origin reliable revolutionary. last week, they marked the 39th stanniversary of the sandi revolution. ortega denounced the protestors using the language of religion. >> ( translated ): as christians we are obliged to tell the truth, and ask the bishops to rectify for love of god and don't support this satanic, murderous sect of plotters. >> schifrin: but ortega is fast becoming an international pariah. in addition to today's white house sanctions, a bipartisan senate bill would target ortega and other nicaraguan government officials. and the organization of american

states has condemned his government's human rights abuses, especially on church leaders. >> if you hear consistently in every one of those forums that people disapprove of what you do on human rights, people want to see you negotiating, it matters. and international pressures and onomic pressures, banking and financial sanctions, can have an effect.h >> schifrin:venezuela facingne-million percent inflation, and the northern triangle nations honduras, el sangador and guatemala suffe drug violence and gang extortion, nicaragua's troubles could furtr destabilize the region and bring problems to the u.s.' borders. t >> yk to experts in any kind, any one of a number of migration, orgs that follow migrion issues, they will te you that we will see an upsurge of nicaraguan immigrants to the united states. >> schifrin: but so far, the two sides are th holding fast. ortega refuses to accept responsibility for the victims of the violence. gerald vasquez lopez, the protestor given last rights byam fatheros, was buried in

managua. his funeral was full of remembrance, and resistance.r e pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the "newshour," nigerians risk becoming victims of human trafficking in search of a better life; our book club puts your questions to author min jin lee; and an opinion on appreciating the small things without sing sight of the big picture. but first, it's "politicsnd monday,"e're joined today by amy walter of the "cook tlitical report," along with susan page of "uay." "politics monday." welcome to both of you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: let's sta susan, with the president, again today, saying he is prepared to see the federal government hut

down if he doesn't get what he wants in terms of border security -- the wall and other items. is this a stratgoy that'g to lead to what he wants to get? >> it is a perplexing strategy because it almost cly will not lead to passage to $25 billion for the wall orlo anything to that or the kind of immigration he wants. what it is l ely to lead is a government showdown for which he will bear responsibility. americans don't much like what congress does, but they like ngress to be in business and not shut down the government. we know that from the previous times the government has been shut down. the debat previous showdowns is who's to blame but today it is president trump forcing a shutdown in ich he is unlikely to win. it is a strategy which is lummoxing republicans on the hill who will be i battle in december. >> he wants baa de on immigration coming into

election, he sees it as a way to motivate his base and talk about an imfue he's most table in talking about. there are plenty of times weco could have seen a deal on immigration and a border wall. there was a time democrats were willing to trade border funding for the daca citizenship last year. so this isn't about just border this is about a debate about immigration because, if you listen to what the president said at this press conference today, it was not just want the wall -- about the wall but about the kinds of people who can com into the country and ending the lottery system. ate.t's a broader deb and we're starting to see it in congressional races. i think we'll see in many ads coming into the election by republicans, making democrats really look as if they're not doing enough to secure the border and keep us safe from people who are coming in to harm us. >> woodruff: but republicans, susan, are still not comfortable with the idea of th threat. >> that's right. immigration is a good issue, the

government shutdown not a good issue for republicans. what will e will talking about making the final decision of who to vote for, will they think about government shutdown, about the way healthcare premiums are about to risen a serious way in october? these are things that could shake the landscape for republicans. it's a pretty friendly landscape for democrats if you look at it riw. it's 99 days from today until the election -- >> not tat we're keeping track. >> woodruff: not that we're ,aying any attention at all actually, but where do things stand right now? >> well, you know, i ike to look at the environment, at where things stand sort of historically and what we know historically about midterm elections, and really a rerendum on the president d how popular he is really determines just how much of a drag or a boost he's goi to b for his party. this president right now sitting on average at about 42%. that's not a good place to go in

as the party in the whiteho se, for republicans. i also look at the enthusiasm and intensity of one side versus the other. again, democrats consistently saying to polls,ste're seeing this in special elections, they're turning out at hher rates than republicans, so those two things working to the benefit of democrats. what's working against him in the senate is the map.nd they're deg, democrats are, a lot of dark, dark red states and, in the houree, t were only 23 districts that donald trump did not carry in the house that are held by a republican. democrats need 23 seats to win, so it means they need to put a buh of seats that trum carried in play and to win those. it helpwhen the psident's at 41 or 42%, not at . and i think susan makes the other point that i will end on here which it's not just a referendum on the president. it is much about the president's personality. how you feel about him

uersonally rather than how you necessarily feel about the policy, is really what's driving voters, and i think will continue to do that regardless of whether we' talking about premiums or something going on overseas. what is the prsident himself doing tweeting? >> woodruff: it's not as if the individual candidates don't matter at all, do tey? >> they particularly matter in the senate more than the house. what's striking to me is rewie are looking at what looks to be a democratic wave election, not for sure, but moe th likely at a time when growth rate is 4.1%, record un ymploymen the incumbent party is in serious trouble for issues not related to the economy. that's pretty unusual. when you're not in a shooting war, usually the ecomy prevails. it's a concern about the president and republicans on a whole host ofother issues generating all this democratic energy.ha >> right, and goes against -- >> that the what goes aga.

right.in midterm elections, historically, we found the economiy not quite as important as it is, say, in a presidential year, but, still, you would say this is exactly th kind of political environment economically that any party in power would want to be in, and that's all they would be talking about. if we're up toaul ryan, speaker of the house, and mitch mcconnell the majority leader in the senate, that's all they would be talking about. the other interesting thingis, the two issues congress actually debated, one they passed, one they didn't, also aren't very popular. the repeal of obamacare, which i think you will hear a lot on the campaign trail about healthcare by democrats, and the tax bill which is baically break even. republicans thought this was going to mote that it their voters and become so popular. it's okay butarnot pticular popular, even among core republicans. uff: the white hous continues to talk it up. one other thing that i guess some people say could be a factor depending on how late the

confirmation hearings go is brett cav knew, the esident's latest nominee to the supremel court to the justice kennedy slot. today two, developments, senator rand paul said he would support g vanaugh and kavanaugh had a first meetth a democratic senator. >> he met with joe manchin for over two hours. it is a sign democrats will have a hard time holdi people like joe manchin or senators fr indiana, joe donnelly, who are in very red states where trump is popular, there are democrats running for reelection. i think democrats have bn surprised at the difficulty getting traction against tbret kavanaugh, and if he i crged --

>> and the rand pauexample just shows that republicans seem to be rather unified. itoesn't like like we're head headed to a place where we were th the health car bill where you aye saw a number of republicans holding back and saying i'm going to wait till te very end. right now, agaiy haven't all said they're voting in support of him, but i think it'o probably easiesome of these moderates like susan collins and lisa murkowski to support brett kavanaugh. >> woodruff: we will be t closely. amy walter, susan page, politics publi"politics onday," thank yo. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: we've become almost inured to the sight: thousands of refugees afloat on the mediterranean, trying to cro into europe. in recent years, a growing number of nigerians have joined this migration. an fact, nigeria is now one of the most drous places for

young people who often fall into the hands of human traffickers. william brangham recently traveled to benin city in nigeria to see what's driving so many young people to set off on this desperate journey. >> brangham: this is ehenlyn ? >> yes, this is evelyn. >> brangham: the story o modern-day human trafficking niten begins in neighborhoods like this, in ruraria. places where young people likeog jogbon's daughter, evelyn, dream of a better life for their families-- and give up everything to try d find it. a year ago, evelyn was a happy and ambitious student fishing her last year of high school, but then she disappeared witho warning. days passed before her brother stanley's phone rang. >> i was shocked to see a libya number. who is this? she say, "it's evelyn." i say, "evelyn, what are you dog in libya!" >> brangham: evelyn had joined thousands of other nigerians who traverse the sahara dese to

reach libya, where they crowd into boats to cross the mediterranean into europe. but, like nearly a million other migrants, evelyn got stuck in libya, apparently held captive by those she'd paid to take her across. joy oghagbon demanded that the captors return her daughter. >> the woman say, "no. e can not come back. unless we give them 750,000." then me say, "i don't have that kind of money!" >> brangham: oghagbon couldn't come up with the roughly $2,000. they haven't heard from evelyn since. nigeria is one of the top countries in africa as far as e number of people who try to leave here to go find a different life up in europe. and edo state, which is where we are right now, accounts for the vast majority of nigerians leaving the country. almost half the people who depa come from right here. while nigeria makes a lot of money from oilcorruption,

poverty and high unemployment have sent young people looking for opportunities elsewhere for years. the money those migrants sendps back hheir families build houses and buy car, propping up the local economy and fueling the cycle of more migration. this young man, he prefers to be known only as amos, was told he could find work easily in europe. at the time, amos' life wasn't bad. his family lived in a large home, he toovacations with friends. he had a girlfriend, and was going to school to become a nurse. but he says the smugglers promised him an easy journey. >> they told me, in o, three weeks time, that i would be in europe. >> brangham: in two to three weeks time? you give us the money, and in two weeks, we'll put you in europe? >> yes. >> it's embedded in their cultural fabric in that part oft the countrt people migrate. >> brangham: frantz celestin is heputy chief of mission of u.n.'s migration agency in nigeria.ay he sthe cultural pressure to go abroad and find a new life,

like here in italy, is a f powerfce on youngge nirians. ds it's a source of pride to say that i have two n atlanta or i have a son in london, i have a daughter in geneva. and, because of that, that then the pressure on the nex family to send their son or daughter to those countries. >> brangham: but, as many find out, the journey to europe is often much harder an advertised. immigration crackdowns in europe and tighter controls on visas are now sending peop on this dangerous path. those caught on the mediterranean are often sent back to detention centers in libya where conditions are bleak. amos spent two weeks crossing the sahara, most without food or water. they became so dehydrated, he said he and others resorted to drinking their own urine. once in libya, his smugglers betrayed him, selling him off in a slave market. much like this one seen inideo obtained by cnn.

>> ( translated ): "big, strong boys for farm work," he says. "400. 700." >> i spent more than a week in that place because i was sold off to someone. >> brangham: he says he was bought and sold three times, and ended up in a cell where he was beaten with a pipe. he was told his freedom could be bought for about $1,100. w >> asked to call my parents to send money, so thatel they wouldse me, they told m to tell my parents to send 400,000 to relea which i did, called my mother. >> brangham: amos's mother back home in benin city was herrified. she hastily sold tamily home to pay the ransom for her son. that's it hind the gate. amos was let go, but then got kidnapped again. ng a final melee, he was shot in the arm... some of the bullet is still lodged in his elbow. he can't afford surgery to get it fixed.

can you bend it this way? >> just like this. >> brangham: that's it? >> yes. >> brangham: so, you really cannot use your arm? >> no. >> brangham: many of the women who attempt this journey are forced into doing sex work. we visited this catholic shelter, where several womenom have returned ibya. this woman in the tan scarf asked that we not use her name and hide her identity. she left home last year after being promised a fashion job in europe. but when she arrived in libya, she discovered there were other plans for her. >> i was begging the man, heou please, he should please even if it is housework, he should find me work. so, i don't have to go to a prostitution house.e n will say no, and he will be beating me every, every morning. >> brangham: she resisted... and says she was raped >> i was raped going to tripoli,

as some arabs. since that time, iregnant. >> brangham: i'm very so hy. she said sn't yet told her family she w back in nigeria. the u.n.'s migration agency flew more than 2,000 nigerians home last december. that's more than double the number in all of 2016.re mohan 6,700 were returned from libya in 2017, but far more are setting out th are being returned. this man has helped smuggle people on that journey. he says he's helped over a dozen get through libya and into europe. he showed me pictures of people he says he'selped land in araly and spain. despite what we from every migrant we spoke to, he claimsev yone knows the risks. >> i said, "the journey's bad. the journey's not good. out of hundreds, only ten .urvive it. i saw it with my e you will not--" >> brangham: so, you knew hundreds were going, and only a

few make it through? >> only few, yeah, few. >> brangham: he also says that almost all women will end up doing sex work. >> 90% of them do sex work. >> brangham: 90% of them do? >> 90%, yes. they are doing it. >> brangham: you explain that completely to them, before they begin the journey? >> yes >> brangham: do the pas know that their daughters will end up doing sex work? not all parents. some knew. >> brangham: does knowing how hard the journey is, hows danger is for people, make you feel like maybe i shouldn't be doing this job? >>ou, you see? they'd rather go and die in libya, tn to be remain here, suffering, doing nothing. >> brangham: b it's not money alone that compels migrants to stay on this risky path. traffickers often demand young people undergohis unique ritual before they leave."

eziza" is a juju priest in benin city. juju is a spiritual practice common in west africa. for a fee, eziza demonstrated the protective blessing he performs on migrants who are g about >> to cross that big river. that river is very bad. >> brangham: the ocean? >> the ocean. there is many spirits in that ocean. >> brangham: but anti- trafficking groups say the rituals often serve another purpose: to threaten the young people that if they run from their smugglers, they'll be cursed and will suffer terribly. >> people generally believe that there is power in these, they believe! >> brangham: it's just a tool of coercion. >> exactly. exactly. just a tool of coercion! >> brangham: they fear that if they run away, something will happen to them roland nwoha runs a local nonprofit that's been sounabng the alarm t trafficking. his group, idia renaissance, tries to reach vulnerable kidsan

teach them skills they can use to earn a ving here in nigeria. but he says it's hard to combat the pull of europe, especially in the digital age. >> we live in a society that is very westernized. the social media, especially now, everyone has access to facebook, um, very wized. see a lot through the media. some people who have opportunity so, yoknow, it creates a general feeling that once you arrive, the western world, everything is good. everything is perfect. >> brangham: despite all their tforts to stop them, young nigerians continueleave the country by the truckload. some make it. most do not. some are never heard from again. year later, evelyn oghagbon is still missing. >> im looking for my daughter, yes. >> brangham: every time her mother, joy, hears a rumor that more young people are being returned, she goes to the drop off spot, hoping today will be the day evelyn comes home.xp

there's an ession in nigeria that says "it is better to lose your child than for your child to be missing." it's an expression of the anguish and the worry that thousandof parents like joy have to endure every day. for the pbs newshouriai'm wibrangham in benin city, nigeria. >> woodruff: every month, "now read this," our book clubth partnership the new york times" features a different book. jeffrey brown talks with autanr min jin leannounces our pick for august. >> brown: history failed us,, but no matte opening line of the acclaimed novel patch patch, a page pachinko. it s our book club pick this

month. i know many redus along wit and a number have sent in questions for author min jin e, whom i'm delighted to welcome now. hello, and i'm glad you could be part of the book club. >> thanks for having me. >>rown: address the first line, history has failed us. tell those who didn't read the book or are less aware of it what were you after? i that's my thesis statement, ans really trying to argue that i think history has failed people around the world, because we're not documented, we're not recorded, we don't understand what'so happeneds because all of us, historically, because so many people didn't leave primary documents. tt's not that historians are bad people, they're elitists, it's just they can't. so if you're illiterate, for example, people don'ytknow ng about you, unless people are recording you in real time. >> brownso you ended up telling a multi-generational story of poor people, basically, moved around through history. >> and they are forced to move.

>> brown: yeah. so i was interested in trying to figure out whawere their stories like. i used to believe they were victims, and then i met so many of them who aredescendents, and i realized, no, they are incredibly fierce and intelligence and incredibly adaptive. >> brown: let's start withhe question. the first goes to that issue. >> i was very interested in the history anrethe culn the book. would you talk a little bit tbout your research and preparation forhe novel? >> oh, i majored in history in college. >> biwn: yeah. soreally like research, and i like reading nonfiction. i love biographies, and i likegy anthropond sociology, so i did a lot of academic research first, a then i di secondary research in terms of the mainstream research, and then i started to really talk to the people in japan, i lived there because my husband got a job there. when i met the korean japanese, i realized all the books weregr

t but they had a really serious point of view and it didn't really captures the personality of people. i thought, fiction can do that. fiction has the ability to expand peopls points of view and also to have the contradictions, ecause people so contradictory. >> brown: and this is to set the scene. this takes us through the really 20th century starting i a very poor area of korea. >> mm-hmm. >> brown: studied the history. >> i did. i even went to hiss fork i met a lot of people who spoke korean in a different way than people from seoul, for example.f a loimes, i was so dumbfounded by the complexity and the variety ofr eans in japan, and then i met theko koreans ina and there was an incredible variety there. so i thought, oh even i s guilty of having a monolithic view of pele in korea and japan. >> brown: okay, let's go to our next question and see what's coming here. >> i have two questions.

first, was kohansu modeled rete butrhr from --tt butler from gone with the wind and how do you discover your character? >> brown: address it more generally how you come up with characters. >> the way i come up with characters is by meeting people. i find people really fascinating, and i take composites, so i don't actually have a character that comes up in my head, usually they come from interviews. so i'll interview a lot of different people and certain types come up. >> brown: the resea the character. >> yes, i work very much like an not so much like a fiction writer who says i hear a song or a voice. i don't work thay, i usually come from the history and sociology and i go, ,these people existed. >> brown: next question. why did you choose to write from the viewpoints of multiple characters rather than focusing on an invidual and letting his or her story review and populate

the cultul, economic, political and psychological situations? >> brown: multi-characters, interesting question. >> i used the omniscient narration, i tipped my hat to the 19th century literature n i want to write. i want to attack homeland and identity in a whole community, and in that sense i can't be limited to one or two characters, so i had to have this huge panorama. i really like it because i like minor characters very much. i've always fe like a minor character, so i feel very comfortable talking about them. >> brown: let's go to one more queson for this section. >> if your novel w taught in a high school english class, char the themes you w ould wantung people to be challenged by and discuss in a literature cou>>rs. hat's a terrific question. i have been told it's taught in colleges and high schos now and i've spoken at a couple of

high schools, but the thing you're notoing to get right away is i would love for people to talk about a community because, very often, people talk about the immigration, thi refugeues as well as xenophobia, all of thosehings are absolutely in the book, but i'm interested in the idea that, wh, you have a studew does she see herself in a community? tat is her role? because i think u.s. we have so much about individuality, and i think, actually, individuals are really important, but what's really important is how we're concted to each other. >> brown: all right. stay right there. we're going to continue our conversation and we're going toi post all on our web site and facebook page and, for now, i wilinsayin lee, thank you for pacnkand thank you for choing us. >> thank you, jeff. >> brown: our pick for august, we're range changing it up would like to introduce you to leslie ar ima, raised in gea ia and honored in the national book foundation in its unage

30 category, her collection what it means when a man falls fro the sky was named a best book of erous publications. i'm looking forward to reading it and i hope you will join us once again for our book club. now read is, a partnership with the "new york times." >> woodruff: also online, min jin lee takes >> woodruff: also online, min jin lee takes us into theth kitchen er mom, where they show us how to prepare stuffed cucumber kimchi, a family recipe that plays aole in the novel. that's at pbs.org/newshour. >> woodruff: apple, the world's st valuable company, reports its earnings tomorrow from the last fiscal quarter. the computer maker's cutting edge desig have defined a generation, but its fortunes ultimately come down to the idea and application of precision. tonight, author simon winchestes

shis humble opinion on the importance of looking at the small picture. >> winchester: every week, two or three times, kind people, strangers from all over the world, send me ideas for books they think i should write. each time, i have had to write and say "sorry," but five years back a man named colin povey, a glassblower who lives in florida wondered if i might beed interen writing about something hidden in plain sight in modern society-- and that was precision.ry precision is eere, he said. the modern world couldn'tti fu without it-- and yet no one really knows what it is, how it began, where . might lead i was instantly ated. pt my father had been a precision engineer, made tiny ic motors for the royal navy, and i loved it when used to take me tsund his factory to see the most minute componeing made. mang these tiny things, al

just the same, all made to the same degree of exactness, that wawhat precision was: mechanical perfection, time after time. and precision did indeed seem to be everywhere: it is vital part of mass-production of rs, for instance; in the innards of jet engines; micro-surgery, the exploration of the stars-- however, i came across a troubling contradiction. like anyone, i was awestruck by some of today's ultra-precise creations. there are four billion, with a "b," transistors in an iphone, for instance. and speaking of transistors, there are more of them in the world now than all the leaves in all the world's trees. bet, at the same time i started to wonder how trulficial precision truly is. hasn't it perhaps made us lose sight of the beauty of nature, of the imperfect, of the precise? and with robotics and artificial

intell road, all based on super- precision, isn't there a dangerf that we'ishize it, let it dominate us, come to worship titanium more than, let us say, wood or bamboo-- or glass?an wellnot entirely by chance i like to think, mr. povey came to the rescue. he sent me what he called a "trinket." and here it is: a klein bottle, a three dimensional version of a mous strip, in that it has only one continuous surface. it is a fantastically difficult thing for even the most skilled of glassblowers to make, and i'm oud and grateful for it. but-- and here's the important thing-- it is not precise at all. it is the work of a man who may be fascinated by the idea of precision, but remains at heart, a craftsman. and so, i'll keep and treasure this for all the rest of my days-- long after my precise iphone has become obsolete, this will be here, a triumph of the

human spirit, and quite lovely to behold. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us on-line and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> consumer cellular. >> financial services firm raymond james. te babbel. a language app thahes real-life conversations in a new language. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economid performance nancial literacy in the 21st century. >> supported by the rockefeller

foundation. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant d.d peaceful wo more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support ma these institutions >> this program wa possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media cess group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> you're watching pbs.

♪ ♪ ♪ -today on "america's test kitchen," bridget and julia uncover the secrets to the ultimate millionaire's shortbread, adam reveals his top pick for serrated knives, and ellegaakes bridget an e french favorite -- gâteau breton. it's all coming up right here on "america's test kitchen." "america's test kitchen" is brought to you by the llowing. -is there anything else lish the smell of fre-baked bread