captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, outbreak as people around the globe are released from quarantine, the number of americans diagnosed with the coronavirus grows. then, with early voting under way in nevada, amy walter and tamara keith examine the next battleground in the race for the democratic presidential nomination. and, protests in greece over the fate of refugees stuck in the country, as waves of migrants continue to arrive on greek shores. >> ( translated ): i am real s angry for boes. the greek people and for the refugees because they put a lot of people in one hot spot. the living conditions are terrible. the villagers there suffer. >> woodruff: all that and more

on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for thebs newshour has been provided by: >> before we tvek about your ments-- what's new? >> well, audrey's expecting... >> twins! >> grandparents. >> we want to put money aside for them, so, change in plans. right, let's see what w can adjust. >> we'd be closer to the twins. >> change in plans. >> okay. >> mom, are you painting again? you could sell tguse. >> let ms, change in plans? >> at fidelity, changing plans is alws part of the plan.

>> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, ncing ideas and supporti institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institution and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and byontributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. woodruff: some 340 americans are back in the united states, afor being held for nearly weeks on a cruise ship in japan.

14 tested positive for the corona-virus that first emerged in china. t all now fa more weeks of quarantine at military bases in california and texas. but in geneva today, the world health organization again counseled calm.>> he real issue here is whether we're seeing efficient community transmission outside of china, and at the present time we're not oerving that.ri th is very high in china, high regionally, high around the world. that is not the risk is high of a pandemic. >> woodruff: in all, china has reported 1,800 deaths from the virus, and more than 72,00ca s. we'll take a closer look, after the news summary. assad congratulated his military forces today for major gains in the last rebel-held strongholdse the ment's russian-backed

blitz has recaptured all of the city of aleppo and much of idlib province, and assad vowed to achieve complete victory. ive heavy bombardment has nearly 900,000 people to the turkish border, where they are struggling against freezing cold. >> ( translated ): there are 140 families here without shelter,ce only a small page have shelter. there are no heaters, theit cons are difficult, the weather is harsh, especially at night. in the past ten days, th circumstances have been very tough, especially on the young children.ng we have very yhildren that have suffered because they have become ill from the cold. >> woodruff: turkey has warned the rian forces tothe offensive, but assad said it will continue, despite what he turks. "empty noise" from the in afghanistan, taliban fighters kept up their atcks through the weekend, despite a pending peace deal with the u.s. militant comnders said they will not stand down until they receive orders that a week-long reduction in violence. a senior taliban leade the deal will not be signed until

the end of the month. back in this country, swollen rivers are beginning to crest in mississippi and tennessee, after days of heavy rain. the pearl river topped out today at nearly 37 feet in jackson, in central mississippi. that was short of historic levels, but officials had to release water from dams, causing a delu in communities downstream. governor tate reeves warned more is on the way. >> we do anticipate more heavy rainfall for this region. in fact, we could see as much as one to two inches of rainfall on tuesday evening.esday and into we could potentially see additional rainfall later in t week. >> woodruff: in westernes tee, a landslide in hardin ounty caused two houses to topple off a blurlooking the tennessee river. there were no reports of injuries.

and, state senators in virginia toley rejected a ban on the of assault weapons. democratic governor, ralph northam had pushed theodlan, but fourate democrats joined republicans to defeat it in committee. ste lawmakers have advance other bills, including universal background ches and limits on handgun purchases. but last month, thounds of gun rights advocates descended on richmond in protest. still to come on the newshour: quarantines are lifted across the globe. what impact will it have on the spread of coronavirus? amy walter and tamara keith analyze the ruup to the nevada caucuses, now less than a week away. angry protests erupt as twenty thousand refugees overwhelm a i migrant cagreece. and much more.

>> woodruff: new questions todae about the f americans aboard two cruise ships caught up in the global coronavirus. amna nawaz has thet. >> nawaz: this is not how cheryl iod paul molesky envisioned their cruise vac >> we have been in this room on the diamond princess f last 27 days, for the last 12 days we have not stepped foot out of this door into the hallway. >> nawaz: the syracuw york couple were part of the 300-pluu americanantined on the ship in yokohama, japan. the vessel, with 3700 passengers and crew, has been docked in japan for 12 days. more than 450 people have tested positive for the coronavirus. making it the largest cluster of cases outside of china.

but late sunday, u.s. officials evacuated 340 americans who had been released from the ship, including the moleskys, and flew them back to the united states. >> it's a little bit scary with the numbers going up of the people being taken off the ship with the covid-19 virus so, you know, it's i think it's time to go, i think its time to cut our losses and take off. >> nawaz: the two flights ofan evacueesd early today, at military bases in northern california and texas. they now face another 14 days in quaranne. anwhile, the world health organization said it is workingl clwith japanese offials to prevent a larger outbreak. t >> we nemake sure that we focus on our objective which is a contain the virus and not to contain the peop making sure we can have the right balance between the health of e population in japan an other countries but also the

health of the people currently on this at. >> nawaz: late last week, the westerdam cruise ship was finally allowed to dock in cambodia, after five countries had turned it away. one passenger, an american, then traveled to malaysia, where she testedositive for the virus days later. hundreds of people released from the ship have already headed to their home countries, and they're being warned to quarantine themselves. in china, health experts say the outbreak may be stabilizg. some worrs returned to their jobs in beijing and shanghai today as the cities' two-week quarantines expired. >> ( translated ): the elevator is being disinfected every two hours and you need take your body temperare and record it before entering that building, and then take it another time before entering the office. so i don't think fear is necessary. >> nawaz: the chinese government said today that more than 10,000 patients who have been recovered and been discharged.ve >> ( translated ): all over the coertry except wuhan, the nu

of newly diagnosed cases has been declining for 13ec coive days. these are really good signals illustrating that our preventio and contefforts have worked very well. e>> nawaz: w.h.o. scienti rw in china, working with officials there earch the spread of the virus.r the centers fodisease control said the decision to repatriate americans released from the ship docked in japan came after the number of coronavirus cases on boarhad continued to rise. so how well does quarantine work, and what toll does it take on those confined? and what are the potential risks, once those who've been erolated return into the w population, as many on the ship docked in cambodia have done? for that and more, i am joined by dr. william schaffner, professor of infectious seases at vanderbilt university school of medicine. dr. schaffner, thanks for being with us and welcome to the "newshour".u i want to ask out how health officials are handling these cases. when you look at that firstp cruise sse, you've got hundreds of people who decide to acuate fly back to united states, even after some tested

positive for the virus. are they handling this the right way? >> oh, i think our officials, amna, are handling the circumstances very, very well. they have well-prepared places where these folks in quarantine are going to go, they're providing excellen fclinical ca the people who have been shown to be diagnosed with the irus, andhink we're containment phase here in the united states. let's find everybodyagnose them quickly and then public health with work on all the contacts. so i think our officials have u this onender control. >> reporter: okay, what about the rest of the world? we told the stories about the second cruise ship allowed to you have hundred passengers who disembarked and made their way on to other places, thone known case of the positive coronavirus test we know about. what are your concerns when it comes to that? >> well, there, amn i'm a

little more concerned because there was turmoil and not a consistent policy. people who have been exposed now have traveled to many parts to have the world, i hope thy're being identified and local public health officials are contacting them and ke them under surveillance. i'm not sure that'sniap and we have, now, the possibility of little individual outbreaks starting in other countries because, if those people are infected, they could start chains of transmission in that would not be a good thing. >> reporter: so tell me a litt bit about what we do know about standards of quarantine. you have been hearing a lot from passengers here who have had to go through the 14-day quarantineotsome very emnal tales they are telling, too, one woman saying i feel like i los a month of my life after 14 days of quarantine in japan and 14 days more back in the united states. what is that quarantine like and do you know if other countries are standardizing it in any other wa i?

on't think there's any standardizat in, but certain feel for and my hat is off to all the people who have been quarantined. it must be very, very borsting. the f your life is moving on, and you can but deal with it through your iphone, and it must be very, vry difficult. also, you're in isolation or semiisolation, so there's not a whole lot of interaction with other individuals. it's not a very pleasantce peri you're being imprisoned by a virus. >> reporter:ive to ask you, dr. schaffner, there's a lot wea don't yet knout the virus, but there are a number of theories circulated and sd ared, and ke to get your take on them for the sake of making sure we're getting the right information out to our audience. there's skepticism s fair to say around coming from the chinese government where the virus eis believed to haveen originated in china. and this moment from arkansas interview just yey on foxve an

news and he was asked about the origins of the virus. take a listen to this. >> we don't know where it originated, but we do know that we have to g to the btom of that. we also know that just a few miles away from that food market is china's only byo safetyvel 4 super laboratory that i researches humectious diseases. we don't have evidence this disease originated there, but because of china's duplicity and dishonesty from the beginning, we need to at least ask the >> dr. schaffner, your response to that? >> well, it's a question that needs to be aduressed but i mst say there are no scientists or public health officials around the world who think this is a somehow escaped virus from a containment facility. this is a vrus just the sars virus was and the mrz virus, tha middlest respiratory syndrome viruses, these are coronavirus that came to humans from animals.

that's what happened with this caseo >> reporter:nator cotton's point, there is skepticism around information coming from the chinese government. do you trust the nbers as reliable coming from the government? >> well,he numbers of cases coming from china have changed over time because their case definition has changed. i think they're tryg to do a good job, but it still is very confusing, and we have to be skeptical. we don't know whether the parts of china is continuing at the same rate, increasing or,ney go, it might be decreasing. the numbers are not consistent enough for us to true firm conclusions yet. >> reporter: to that point, we just heard today the chise government was saying there was actually a dip in the number of cases.t if t true, what would that tell you about the potential future spread of theus? >> well, if that's true -- and i certainly hope it is would mean that this ginormous public

health experiment that they have done quarantining from people did have some impact in reducing the transmission of the virus. i've always hoped that -- i hpe that's correct, and we can game -- when can we startend turning things back to normal? but it's too early to confident that we can do that. we can hope for the best, but we have to keep preparing for the worst. >> dr. schaffner, as recently as a week ago, scientists were saying there is still potential of a global pandemic. based on what we know in th last week, do you believe that's the case? whether we'll get there or not, we don't know. i'm holding my breath and crossing my fingers. >> dr. william schaffner of

vanderbilt university school of >> thank you.nk you very much. >> woodruff: the eight democratic presidential candidates still vying for theii party's tion are trying to build on their momentum or rebound from poor showings in nie first two contests. and many are tur their attention to the west. most of the democratefuls have fanned out across nevada, with state caucuses coming up saturday, and early voting already begun. former south bend, indiana, mayor pete btigieg was in reno today, looking to build on strong showings in both iowa and new hampshire. >> let me share with you the image and idea that gues a lot of our thinking an image of a moment that's in our near future. it's how it's going to feel the first time that the sun comes out over the mountains and desert of nevada and donald trump is no longer the president

of the u.s. >> woodruff: former vice president joe biden an massachusetts senator elizabeth warren also campaigned in nevada, hoping to recover after finishing as also-rans in the two contests so far. >> we did okay if you take a look at what happened there. i mean it was kind of an unusual thing that i hope doesn't happen here. what do you do when people are afraid, when the danger is real, do we back up? do we cower?e do we gt timid or do weight back? me? i'm fighting back! (cheers and applause) >> woodruff: but the candidates also spent much of the weekend focusing their fire on a rsnal whose name even on nevada's ballot. >> there's a lot to talk about with michael bloomberg. >> i think he cannot hide behind the airwaves and the. >> woodruff: former new york city mayor michael bloomberg has risein national polls, so fa spending nearly $420 million of

hingown fortune on advertisi senator bernie sanrs of vermont and ohers accused him of trying to buy thelection. >> i've got news for mr. bloomberg: the american peop are sick and tired of billionaires buying elections! >> woodruff: and minnesota senator amy klobuchar took aim at bloomberg's past pport for policing policies that target minorities. >> as for what michael bloomberg did, stop-and-frisk, that is unconstitutional. >> woodruff: added to that, "the washington post" reported on lawsuits filed over the years against bloomberg and his business information company alleging sex discrimination and the creation of a culture of sexual harassment. the post also uncovered a 1990 booklet put together by an employee that catalogued sexist remarks allegedly made by bloomberg. >> i think he's going to have to

answer for that and speak to it> oodruff: it's not clear if bloomberg will qualify for wednesday's democratic debate in las vegas, to defend his record on-stage. but he did turn to twitter, ong, saturday, writi would not be where i am today without the talented women aroun and, he said he would "always be a champion for women in the workplace." meanwhile, anotherillionaire candidate, tom steyer, spent today inouth carolina, ahead of that state'primary on february 29th. and bernie sanders tned his attention to california, the biggest prize in the "super tuesday" contests on march 3rd. >> the democratic establishment is getting nervous about my winning the nomination. take a look at this crowd! >> woodruff: president trump is also competing for the spotlight. on sunday, he opened this year's

daytona 500 stock car race in florida. mr. trump took a warm-up lap in his limousine, in a spectacle that drew a big reception. anthat brings us to politi monday. i'm here with amy walter of the cook political report and public radio's "politics with amy and with us from las vegas, nevada-- tama keith of npr and co-host of "the npr politics podcast." it is great to see both of you. abthere is so much to talut on this monday before nevada. so, tam, you have been out there for, what, a cple of days. tell us what you are seeing on the ground. i know you have been spending a lot of time looking at the candidates, listening to them but alsg o talk voters. >> yeah, i have been to a couple of these early caucus sites to voters. people have already voted in early caucusing, and there a real mix. for a while there, i felt like every single person i stopped to talk to had ranked bernie

sanders first. finally, today, i met some voters who have a preference for other candidates, some of the amy klobuchar and elizabeth warren. i've only met one v ster whoaid he put joe biden at the top of the lisd t. ere really is a sense here that this is bernie sanders' state to lose d that he is not too likely to lose it. he invested very early in the stat he has more people on the ground working, and he particular, has put just a real emphasis on reaching latino voters who are an important part of theto elte here. >> woodruff: so, amy, you have been talking to folks about north dakota, too. what are you hething abouat? what is your sense coming out of wa, new hampshire, where the race stands? >> we'll have two discussions about nevada, the first is who wins, who has momentum, w falling behind, how many delegates.

the other big debate that'sue happening orstions raised now is how will the caucus actually run. certainly, after iowa, lots of conversations about whether or not this processs going to more successful than iowa, namely the technology around it. nevada ws using th same app that they were using in iowa until the iowa debacle hd.ppe now they have a new system in place. but, judy,he bottom hein wit the caucuses, because of the new rules in place, the caucuses are nog asked to perform duties that caucuses were never designed to perform, namely to be mornse trarent, to be easier to vote, to do things like early voting. caucuses were designed really in mind for the party and thparty to sort of have more control ber the process. this is trying tring a more democratic process together, but it's not really designed for that. it's run by volunteers. way that is really overwhelming,

for people who are not doing this as full-time professionals. >> woodruff: before i come back to you on the state of the race, tam, let me come back to yobecause you were there. what a folks there, democratic officials, saying about the prospects for running smoothca uses on saturday? >> well, let me tell you what i have been seeing here in the last two days.o so i have been two ealy caucus sites, one in las vegas thmi had about a 20te wait for people to register their preferences. then today, i went out to henderson, and people are waiting two or three hours in this line that snaked around the building into a ballroom where it's snaked and the ballroom, they had to set up chairs for people to sit in while they were waiting. you know, they were making light of it, having fun, sayg, oh, we're going to make new friends, you know, but the whole idea here was to make it easier for people to caucus, because thel traditioea of a caucus is you have to be in a set place at a set time and dedicate as many as four hours to the caucus

process. so, in s,me wayhis makes it easier, but it also makes it a lot more complicated. there are thse very long wai ats peop putting up with, and what the state party is saying is that they are doing this to make it more accessible, that as part of that, people can go to any caucus site in the county to early caucus so theyn shop around for a shorter line, and i definitely talked topeople who were shopping around for a shorter line. so what we don't know is how this is all going to integrate come saturday when the in-person caucuses happen. they certainly have a for it, but, already, 26,000 people ve early caucused just in the first two days. we don't know how many havuse ca today yesterday, and then there's also early caucuse tomorrow, and f the preference cards have to be sorted and tabulated. >> woodruff: right. it's a big list. >> woodruff: complicated because to have the multi-day. voti >> that's right. >> woodruff: amy, let's talk about the state of the race coming up.

rnie sanders wins new hampshire but followed closely behind by pete buttigieg. where do you see thnes that folks are in, what does it look like? >> well, bernie saers is definitely acting as a frontrunner and, quite frankly, given his success in iowa and new hampshire and the delegate totals, he is a frontrunner. the fact that bernie sanderss in states like corado and california and north caroina, so closehe caucuses, tells you everything that hisigam feels about this whichs we feel so good about nevada, we know we need to get a big bump going in to those super tuesday stat which have so may delegates, a third of the delegates. 14 stas, a third of the total number of delegates there, and the only other persocompeting at that level in super tuesday states is michael bloomberg. >> woodruff: who is taking flack now from all the candidates but eecially, tam, from michael bloomberg, who, today, tweeted, and i think we have a picture of this -- maybe

it's a video, it's some pictures as wiell -- bute bloomberg is complaining, esstially, about the other candidates coming after him so hard. but, on top of that, as we yinted out, he's not even on the ballot, ant, the stories about his past, how he ran the blonyomberg comhas moved to the forefront of this race. >> right. i mean, there's the sense that there's the bernie sanders' lan and there everyone else lane, and micel bloomberg hasn't been on the ballot in the first states but he has been spending a lot of money. all these other candidates i the non-bernie sanders lane are hoping somehow they will get momentum out of nevada or south carolina and somehow that will push them into super tuesday and meanwhile, michael bloomberg, who has not yt been on a debate stage, is, you know, blanketing the air waves thin e states and has the resources to do things these

other campaigns simply don't have. >> woodruff: we haven't seen anything like this -- quite like this, amy, whre people have2 spent 0 million or $450 million on advertising already. >> and he ha organizations and employees in these states as t ll, so there's an infrastructure, st the tv ads. where the scrutiny, there are going to be two questions, first, getting on the debate stage as you poi nnted outear package, before the nevada caucus or is it going to be before south carolina ow does he react in live time to that criticism coming s way the moderators?ns coming from the second piece of this is how voters are going to react to this. all right, democrats have been telling us, we have been saying this, i feel like, every week, judy, on politics monday, what a democrats caout is somebody who can beat donald trump, that is their number one priority. so the question is, if winning is everything, how far does tha

extend, do extend to forgiving michael bloomberg for his past policies, transgressions, things he's said? will they ok beyond that because they see him as the strongest candidate to n? remember in 2016, many of us id about donald trump, he can't say john mccain isn't a war here o republican voters won't accept that, or these things, until they did. tam, you were telling us voters were bringing up michael bloomberg's name with you even though he's not on the ballot. >> right. just a sign of the reach has he has. spoke to voters who said they wished he was on the ballot here but he's not and they registered people including aobucharr has been at the top of several people's list, too. >> woodruff: we've got stil quite st of candidates who are still in this race. we mentioned eight of them. but onof them, we'll find out this week whether he makes that

debate stage or not. >> that's right. >> woodruff: a walter, tamera keith, thank you both, "politics monday." >> youe welcome. >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up: on the newshour bookshelf, just in time for presdents' day, "author ind chief: the untory of our presidents and t books they wrote." and comedians steve martin and martin short on at moment when they became "the marti." amid growing public unrest in greece, the government theres temporarily halting the construction of permanent deteion centers for asylum seekers flocking to the country. tens of thousands of migrants and refugees have been stranded in greece for more than four years since the border with neighboring macedonia was sealeu and thpean union failed to offer enough places to asylum seekers.

special correspondent malcolm brabant traveled to the island of lesbos, a refugee waystatio but he begins his report in the greek capital, athens. >> reporter: they traveled fromr thtline of europe's migration crisis to show the greek interior ministry that they've had enough. "we are all islanders," shouted a protestor. in the islands of the aegean sea, traditional hospitality has given way to frustration andge anas in the pfive years more than 1,150,000 asylum seekers have a man called thodoelekas from the island of lesbos shouted, "we won't give away our sacred land to non-christians! to iegal migrants!" this is the target of his indignation. moria, in sbos. universally vilified as an overcrowded, unsanitary, dangerous open prison. originally designed to hold two

thousand temporary migras, it has mutated into a permanent ghetto for 20,000, ten times its innded capacity. >> ( translated ): where are their papers? i have an i.d., my name is thodoris tselekas! where are their papers? they are illegal migrants! >> reporter: his concern and that of other protestors is that a bigger migrant camp is due to be built close to the taxiarchis monastery, one of the holiest places in lesbos, where its claimed, miracles take place. >> ( translated ): those that come here are raging dogs. they are born to savage any christian when they see one. but god will send fire like he c did na, in australia, in brazil and other places. god will take care of us, that's certain. >> reporter: but not evechone

holds su extreme views >> i am really angry for both sides. for our islands, the greek people and for the refugeesus e they put a lot of people in one hotpot. the living conditis are terrible. the people thalive near the harbors, the villagers there, suffer. >> reporter: stop incarceration and seizing land, they chant. >> ( translated they want to leave, as much as we want them ng leave because it is rui our regular daily life there.no we'rt asking for anything else, we're just asking what they want to do. they want to leave as well. >> repter: kostas moutzouris, the regional governor of t northern aegean is leading the campaign to relieve the islands. there were 60,000 new arrivals in 2019. it was the busiest year since 2016. itews from the irish nonpr

refugee rescue, say that young afghan men comprise an estimated 70% of those reaching lesbos from turkey on flimsy dinghies. but others come from africa and the middle east. migrants comprise 40% of thela popuon of the five affected islands, whereas on the greek matwland the figure is only percent. governor moutzouris says the imbalance needs to be corrected. >> all these people need to be dispersed around the country and but if it's not po in europe, then to be dispersed in the rest of the country. >> reporter: and the gisernor has tharning. >> it's like powder, awaiting a match to start fire. >> reporter: governor moutzouris wants to avoid a repeat of en in early february when migrants clashed with riot e lice after protesting about conditions insidmoria. the poli deployed tough tactics against the predominantly young male

protestors. but they were accused of brutality after migrant families with young children were overwhelmed by tear gas. tensions rose to the surface in january when islanders went on strike and staged demonstrations demanding the closure of thes. ca continuing hostility has forced the migration ministis mitarakis to freeze plans announced earlier this year in the greek parliament. >> ( translated ): the situation that is why we have been saying for the last two months, thatw the nters have to be built on the islands, with dignified living conditions for those inside, and the utmost securitya for the regi the utmost security for the employees of the asylum service, so they can effectivy speed up their orrvices. >> rr: the governments campaign of civil dience. on lesbos, where islanders blocked access roads leading toi land reqoned by the government for a new detention

camp. buprotest leader despina gabriel is aware the battle isn't over yet. >> ( translated ): there's going to be a war between the local people.and the government we areot going to allow them to put any campsite, not on this island or nowhere inhe northern aegean. people cannot live. the farmers are suffering as well. and the life of the people has you cannot understand what they are going through. >> reporter: this is the fishing village of skala sykaminia in northern lesbos.ea five ago, residents were nominated for the nobel peace prize for saving the lives of so many migrants. but weary of the open borders policy of the previous left leaning government, the people of lesbos turned right at the last election six months ago. greece's new conservative government is trying to project a toh image when it comes to migration. it says it's determined to protect the country's frontiers. recently it announced plans to build a floating wall, between

turkey, six miles away in that direction, and this island lesbos.th wall is supposed to be 1.7 miles long with lights on at night.e and vernment hopes it's going to deter migrants from making the crossing. o but the ida maritime eersion of president trump's mexican wall hascondemned. experts fear the construction could furtheendanger migrants' lives. gracelin moore from maachusetts is a volunteer with the irish nonprofit, refugee rescue. >> i think that there's a poet who said it best. you don't put your chiesren on a boatyour home is the jaws of a shark. these people are fleng war. and the glimpse of hope that is the shores of europe if ofte times and overcrowd camp an inhospitable place. and policies are enacted by the e.u. to ke their lives more and more difficult here to deter them from coming. but because of the kind of violence that they see and the danger of their home country, they have no other choice. >> reporter: the greek government has appealed to nato to reinforce european coastguard

vessels patrolling waters used by migrants and people traffickers. but political analyst nick malkoutzis believes the greeks are in denial about the reality of the influx. >> there seems to be a lack of desire among greek politicians and in greek society to discuss the fact that there are tens of thousands of genuine asylum not going anywhere.e who are they're not being allowed to go to northern europe or other countries that they want to. and they are stuck here for years on end and greek society isn't really addressing thisou issue how to integrate, how to provide jobs, how to provide education.ac >> reporter: boutside rsparliament, the protestoound sympathy from a surprising source. anwar bakri, secretary general n the syrians association greece. >> we do agree with the request and demands of the people of the eave islands in the aegean

because what's going on is a crime against manity in these five islands. close down these animal farms. give the papers to the refugees so they can go north, because in greece, the situation is very, very bad. >> reporter: and icould get worse. potentially, the numbers could be swollen by refugees from heavy fighting in syria's idlib province, not to mention the constant threat by turkey's president erdogan to open the migration floodgates. greece and its unhappy guests are fishing for a reversal of european union policy. but since the rest of europe effectively sealed off greece four years ago, there has been no sign of the tide changing. migrants and the islanders are likely to flounder once again.ne for the pbs wshour, i'm malcolm brabant in lesbos.

hi>> woodruff: and now, on presidents' day, the latest title on the newshour bookshelf. john yang speaks wh a historian whose new work explores the tradition of book writing by american presidents. >> in this election year americans are judging presidential candidates using many measure, as leaders, as policy-makers and as ders. new book looks at presidents its author and chief, the untold story of our presidents and the books they wrote. the author of "ahor in chief" is historian craig craig. thanks for joining us. >> my easure. >> reporter: we're all used to the cycle that before the campaign there's the pre-campaign as candidates try to introduce themselves and shape their own narratives. every democratic candidate -- ading democratic candidate has

had a book out before the campaign, and then if they are elected after th presidency, they have their post-presidential legacy book, trying to shape their own legacy, big blockbusters, big advances. but this isn't anynethinw, you write. this goes back to founding >> that's absolutely right. the first campaign book was written by thomas jefferson, the first legacy book by johadams. the history of the presidents as writers is as old as the histo of americans itelf. >> reporter: you write thomas jefferson not only wrote thepa first pre-cn book but the first to be dogged by a paper >> it cost him a lot of trouble in the late 1800s. he wrote passagese aboutligion that if you live in america, you shouldn't worry about the religious liefs of others. became his fir modern sound byte and his critic said well then we have no shared moral framework but the country is

going to fall into decay. what's interesting is jefferson supporters also referred to his bo. i found stories inmy book of his supporters standing up at town haul anleading from hi book citing it by page number and says this is not somebody who's an atheist, this is just somebody who wants religion and politics kept separate. one book at the start to have the campaign, one side saw it one way, one side saw it the other. >> reporter: the john adams said the book wa pathologically petty, said he went to war with his enemi marshaling a nasty intimacy any score setter could admire. >> sure, you could apply that to more recent memoirs. john adams did the same thing. he lost the presidency, went home, was frustrated, felt g history hasnen him a fair shake and felt his answer was to write about it. onaluse adams was an emo and eloquent person, he wrote amazing zingersent alxander

hamilton and thomas payne, the same arguments we're seeing today were happening then and in books. >> reporter: it was surprise ago model of both a pr-campaign and post-presidential book, calvin coolidg someone a president is considered tas turn, of ry fw words. >> what made him an effective ndidate and huge celebrity was his words.o the white house he had a book that helped him when he ran for president and made him vice president, but my favorite is his autobiography at came out in 1929 and it was the biggest book everywhere. ses son passed away while he was in the white ho americans knew that story, but coolidge told his side to have the story.it still heart breaking to read. coolidge writes about i'm the most powerful person e world but i had no power to save my son who was dying in front of me and he revealed the personal

side of being be in the white house. >> reporter: talking about the rsonal tou are there many oirs tharesidential mem are more personal, less my greatest hits and trying to ape legacy, trying to shape what the historians will write? >> sure. most presidents are good talking about their early life. so if they're talking about their childhood or favorite books ow how they got into politics, they are great. careers, you see a spin. i try to take readers behind the scenes at that point. if someone's trying to project a certain image of themselves, it'snteresting to see what kind of image do they project and how do they decide what to do. thosstories can be revealing. bill clinton is my example. his editor ended up spending the night on clinton's couch to make sure the author would turn the pages in time. it's a fun side to have the story and shows cli personality, too. >> reporter: you write about

presidents as readers. barack obama.ge, harry truman, >> sure. i think it's really important to understand how they read if you want to understand how they write because any writer is shaped by the books they red. one of my favorite examples is ulysses grant, his favorite memoir is best known uptoday. he was the firwhst amrica was a fiction lover. a cadet at west point, he got demerits for spending too much time in the library because he loved novels. you can see that in his memoirs. the moments that struck me is his describing meeting abraham ncoln and robert e. lee and i think all the read heg did helped him write such a gre book. >> reporter: "why england slept" and "profiles in courage," i think it' generally accepted theodore sorenson wrote

"profilein college," but you discovered kennedy's involvement ty for that bo and the pulitzer prize for that book. >> if kennedy would han happy with a ghost-written book it would have been a story with a happy ending. even in 1956 before the book won the pulitzer, it was already a huge hit. kennedy almost became theia vice presidel nominee thatee and had a secret meeting with harry truman.te the meeting the reporters said what were you twice talking about? kennedy said it was my book because the book was everywhere, it was a huge hit that wast enough for kennedy. even while he was a u.s. senator, he would write his editor letters and say hey, at the it were i dide my book for sale. you would think a senatororould havethings to worry about. that desire for literary success showed up in push for the pulitzer. i found out kennedy was rsonally involved in this. once he got his family and were able to influence the pulitzer's board and get the

ok "the -- get the book the prize when it probably didn't deservit because it was largely written by someone els . orter: craig craig, authorf "author in chief." thank you very much. >> thank you. it's been my pleasure. >> woodruff: next up, the two etrtins: comedians steve martin and martin shortn the mid eighties while filming "the three amigos." closer personally and professionally. and in this latest installme of "that moment wh," they share some of the magic that keeps all of us laugng. this report is part of our arts and cutlure series, canvas. >> we are very close friends we will vacation together, we're going to go on a vacation nextnt mowith families. >> not ours. your family. >> reporter: can you describe the moment you first met? >> i went to steve's hou to pick up a script for three

amigos. i couldn't believe how great and beautiful this house was, a casso here and a bacon there and i said to steve, how did you get this rich? because i've seen your work. you said - >> i said, could you get this (laughter)marty short? >> reporter: welcome to that moment when, i'm steve gold bloom, we were excited to welcome steve martin and martin short, currently touring in their latest spew cial "nou see them, soon you won't." >> it honors me to stand next to a man who a novelist, a play writer, a musician, coposer and legendary dairy comedian. >> and let me say wat herein it is for me to stand next to the man who is stnding next to that man. (laughter) >> reporter: he talked about their careers and more than 30 years of friendship which started on the set of three amigos. >> you talked abouteing in the films that when you're in the

trenches of a movie you get very close and there's a trend of you made a conscious decision not to let these go? >> that's true. you are intensely involved in everybody's gossip and if they're having an afare and then you never see them again. but some want to lose that person. certainly that was the case with steve and myself. >> we got along, had instant comedcomedy rap i remember being gel lows with his little girl because she was go take time away from me. (laughter) >> reportre: is the competition between you. >> i don't believe we have amp itive stweek. >> i don't think steve was funnier at dinner or something because it never happened. (laughter) >> reporter: when i watch you together, i tice there's a laugh every 15 seconds. tow mindful and conscious are you between theretch of time between when you talk and theug

dience l? >> they were extremely conscious. w this has nothing to do with you but when -- >> can i get a copy? whatever you're goinmeto say, trus i've heard it. >> when i was writing the jerk wi kar carl reiner, our goal was to have a joke on every page. i think we kind of think that way, too. >> i feel this is unanimous. you two are the greatest k show guests in history. martin, you were considered the greatest by a magazine. not that it's a competition but -- >> no, it's not a copetition, but when that came out in "the new yorker," june 17th, 2017, no one was happier than me and i had to deal with it. >> reporter: as a work couple, you spend a lot of tim together. who has the louder inner critic? that's probably true. i prepare a lot for a talk show and for some reason i'm off or the host is off or we don't connect, then i feel there's nothing i could have done more ani feel fine. >> i'm the opposite. if it doesn't go down well i get

kind of depressed and what happened and try to analy it. >> early on i realize that for me to be tense, i would see myself back on something and i myself, so i willed anxiety away. my brother died when i was 12, my mother when i was 17, my father when i was 20. when yu go through the tough experiences you are empowered or victimized by it and somehow i think i was empowered by it. if somebody didn't laugh at me putting my hair up, didn't. really ca >> reporter: you wanted to watch a takeback and somebody said give it a rest and move >> that was davie wilson. i was going to get a vhs. >> that's what we first did out"saturday night live," lauren and i and me of the cast would go up and watch the entire show again. >> his point was, it's done and finished, u can't judge i. >> he's not taking into consideration self-love.

>> that's trueut it would turn into possibly self-hate. >> reporter: this is a special question for martin. is there a moment where you recognized the genius of steve and, of course, this question is special because it was submitted by stev (laughter) >> um, i met ste i 1985, ten years after -- >> by the way, i object to th phrase genius. i don't agree with that. i can't just sithere, bu go ahead. >> by the way, you're not alone. i think it kind of takes a genius to be open to the people around him who can make him even better. the whole package is a genius. >> i remember the moment we were going to look at. speci it was so extreme. i thought, wow, you are really unafraid. i remember that saying this is really bizarre, i've got to respect this guy more. >> you said before people think they want to see you with the material narrative, you say they don't want that, they just think they do. why do you think that?

>> the late '7 when i was doing my late comedy, if you abstract it out of the times, to me it's not as funny. ulso when you do an old bit, yo sort of get automatic laughter or automatic applause but it's not real laughter. i don't even remember how to do it. i dot know even know where was coming from. when i look at it, i go, was that funny? i don't know. >> reporter: if you could addee a third wto your act, who? >> i would say bieber. i would say jerry seinfeld is too good. weon't want him. >> yeah. john mullaney, maybe, as a younger voice. >> he doesn't need us. no, he doesn't need us. >> woodruff: on the newshour online right now, several tompanies have started hosting "take your parenork days"

in an effort to better attract and retain millennial employees. why? o we look at thef this trend on our website, pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. trump's strategy to win overt african american voters in november. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding forhe pbs newsho has beeprovided by: >> on a cruise with american cruise lines, you can exrience historic destinations along the american cruise lines fleet of small ships explore american landrks, local cultures and calm waterways. american cruise lines, proud sponsor of pbsewshour.

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hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. >> and i also want to congratulate my friend and colleague, amy klobuchar, for showing just how wrong the pundits can be when thnt a woman out. >> solidarity on the campaign trail, but will america elect a woman? journalist rebecca tister, author of "good and mad," joins me. >>nd being a little more ou relaxed giving money to the poor is one of the things that have been shown to work in the last few years. >> fighting poverty, how economist and nobel laureate turns stereotypes upsidedown, finding fairer solutions for a fairer world