amna: good evening and welcome, i'm on none no laws. geoff: on the newshour, criticism over lacks construction standards grows louder as turkey and syria continue the long recovery from that devastating earthquake. amna: michigan democrats push for moreun control laws in the wake of the latest mass shooting. geoff: western nations look for ways to provide ukraine more ammunition, while russia ramps up its offensive in the east, nearly one year into the war. amna: hundreds of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in the u.k. go missing, sparking outrage from activists saying the government is not doing enough to keep the children

safe. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >>oving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> pediatric surgeon, volunteer, topiary artist. a raymondjames financial advisor taylo's advice to help you live your life. life well planned.

>> the walton family foundation, working for solutions to protect water during climate change so people and nature can thrive together. supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at mack brown.org create -- at macfound.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers likyou. thank you. geoff: welcome to the newshour. more stories have emerged of extraordinary rescues amid the rubble in turkey and syria, more than a week after the catastrophic earthquake.

amna: more questions are being asked about man-made failures and how they added to a death toll of more than 41,000. peter smith of independent television news reports from southern turkey. peter: to be rescued after 10 days under the rubble is to defy all the odds. this 42-year-old was pulled to safety today by search teams who refused to give up, but rescues are rare. the focus is now on body recovery. we saw three found today. the air is thick with hazardous dust and smoke, but families sit in the cold waiting for news. >> i have six family members still in there. how could so many buildings fall? we want to know if the construction companies broke any laws. we need justice.

the search -- peter: the search for the missing is ongoing. or than 100 warrants are out for builrs suspected of cutting corners. lawyers are gathering evidence for turkeys prosecutors. >> we have our prosecutors. crime scenes. there are lots of people. peter: after turkey's 1999 earthquake, teams uncovered evidence of shoddy building practices. public outcry was so severe, it became a major issue in elections. president erdogan came into power promising to make buildings safer. strict building codes were introduced, but five years later in response to the flagging economy, the turkish government introduced amnesty. w developments no longer had to adhere to these rules, even in known earthquake zones.

the difference made by quality construction could hardly be better illustrated than this. one building has barely a crack in the walls. it is turkiye's union of gineers. they tell me they have been warning for years against dangerous buildings. >> this ia man-made disaster and central authorities, decision-making authorities, if they have taken the wrong techniques, engineers, architects, we are all responsible. peter: a natural daster, an act of god, made so much worse by mistakes of man. geoff: in the day's other headlines, the congressional budget office offered a bleak reassessment of the u.s. economy. it projected unemployment will jump to more than 5% later this year as growth stagnates.

the forecast mourned the national debt will nearly double by 2033 to $46 trillion. the cbo is more pessimistic than the federal reserve about bringing down inflation. a white supremacist was sentenced to life without parole today for killing 10 black people in buffalo, new york last may. payton gendron is now 19. he pleaded guilty to state charges of murder and domestic terrorism motivated by hate. today's sentencing was interrupted as anger and grief boiled over. a man lunged at gendron and had to be restrained as a' relatives expressed pain and rage. >> you are a cowardly racist. every single person that has been instrumental in molding you and supporting you and informing you, aiding and supplying weapons, needs to be held accountable and not protected as they have been. you are not a lone wolf but a pawn of a larger organized network of domestic terrorists. and then network we say, we as a

people are unbreakable geoff: gendron still faces federal charges that could carry a death sentence, if the justice departme decides to pursue it. the doj has closed a sex-trafficking probe into congressman matt gaetz. the florida republican said today he's been informed he will not face charges. prosecutors spent two years looking into allegations that gaetz paid for sex, including with a 17-year-old girl. he denied any wrongdoing. off the coast of libya, at least 73 people are feared dead in a shipwreck on tuesday. they had sailed from a village about 50 miles east of tripoli, libya's capital, in a rubber boat headed to europe. so far this year, at least 130 migrants have died in the central mediterranean. that number reaching more than 1400 last year. scotland's leader nicola sturgeon has announced she will step down after more than eight years in office. she heads her country's

semi autonomous government and is a leading advocate for ottish independence. she'd been locked in a fight with the u.k. government over a law expanding transgender rights. but today, she said her main concern is that she can no longer give the job her full energy. >> this decision is not a reaction to short-term pressures. of course, there are difficult issues confronting the government just now. but when is that ever not the case? essentially, i've been trying to answer two questions. is carrying on right for me and , more importantly, is me carrying on right for the country, for my party, and for the independence because -- cause? geoff: sturgeon says she will remain leader until a new one is chosen. the faa says it is -- the actg head of the federal aviation administration said the agency is working to prevent a repeat

of a major systems failure. the so-called "no-tam" system -- used to communicate with pilots -- went down last month and briefly grounded thousands of flights. at a senate hearing today, republicans and democrats alike pressed billy nolen about ensuring that can't happen again. sen. cruz: is there redundancy being built into it or can a single screw up ground air traffic nation wide? >> could i sit here today and tell you there will never be another issue on the notam system? no, sir, i cannot. what i can say is that we are making every effort to modernize and look at our procedures. sen. klobuchar: what do you see as some of the biggest challenges in strengthening the resiliencey and reliablility of the system right now? >> our system is very safe, at the same time, we don't take that safety for granted and we recognize we have to continue this journey of modernization. geoff: man senators also expressed concerns that the faa has not had a permanent administrator for nearly a year. world bank president david malpass announced today he will step down by june, amid criticism of his views on climate change.

he came under fire last year f declining to say if he believes fossil fuels are warming the planet. malpass was a trump appointee, and still had nearly a year to go in his term of the world bank. on wall street, tech stocks led the way as other sectors lagged. the dow jones industrial average gained 38 points to close at the 4128. the nasdaq rose 110 points, nearly 1%. the s&p 500 added 11 points. actress racquel welch, who became an international sex symbol in the 1960's and 70's, ed today in los angeles. she had an early role in "fantastic voyage", the 1966 sci-fi adventure film. later that year came "one million years b.c." welch hardly spoke in that film, but this image of her became iconic. in all, her career spanned more than five decades in film and tv. racquel welch was 82 years old.

still to come, members of congress seek ways to stem the flow of fentanyl into the u.s. india's government cracks down on press freedom after the bbc aired a documentary critical of the prime minister. plus, an award winning poet works to bring new life to her community. >> this is the pbs newshour from w eta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: authorities are searching for a motive behind monday night's shooting at michigan state university that left three people dead and five wounded. as questions remain about the suspect's connection to the university, and the act gun used to carrout the attack, state democrats are amplifying their call for stricter gun reform. for more on this, i'm joined now by michigan attorney general dana nessel. welcome and thanks for joining us. one of the biggest outstanding questions, how the gunman, who was previously charged with a

felony weapons charge, how he was still able to purchase a gun. do you know anything more about that? >> we don't have the details about that right now. what's not clear to me is whether the guns he had during this offense, whether or not he already had them and just really never relinquished them during the course of the time that he was on probation for the previous weapons related offense. amna: is there anything else you have learned about his motive or connection to the university. >> not that we know about. clearly he was having mental health related issues, no question about that. that is something we have to take a very serious look at in terms of what kinds of laws we can pass in michigan, not just new laws, but what kinds of policies we can implement for people who, you know, have a

weapons related offense, are known to have committed crimes with those weapons. and you know, whether or not they're receiving any kind of mental health treatment, or even whether or not there's any sort of process in place to ascertain whether or not they're having those issues. amna: let's talk a little more about that and specifically what kind of laws could move forward, because democrats in michigan have a trifecta, the governorship, slim majorities in the senate and house. michigan also has both gun rights andelf-defense enshrined in the state constitution. given that, what do you think has a chance to move forward? >> there are three bills in particular that i expect to see quick note that on, and it's not a surprise to anyone. the governor in her state of the state address that she gave in january talked about these particular bills. so we're talking about red flag bills, universal background checks, and safe and secure

storage so for all three of those bills, i expect to see very quick movement on all. i think they are going to pass and i think the governor will sign them intoaw. amna: the state senate minority leader, eric nesbitt, has said one of the things to do is address root causes. he doesn't believe any of these bills will do that. he says if prosecutors were forced to see the convictions on the gun violence, that is one way he says would address the root cause and prudent -- prevent these from happening. do you agree? >> i think he is absolutely false. and here's why i say that. yoknow, carrying a concealed weapon is the crime that this individual, mr. mccray, was originally charged with. in michigan that's technically a five year felony. but our guidelines in michigan really don't even allow someone to spend much time at all in jail, unless they have many previous offenses, and as far as i know, this is a first time

weapons related offense for this individual. that is such a common crime here that if we were to lock of -- lock up everyone who illegally carried a gun, we'd have to build more prisons. you know, so to me, it's not a matter of incarcerating our way through this problem. it's a matter of making guns less accessible and available to people. amna: you have a unique view here as the state's top law enforcement official, but also your sons both attend michigan state university, were there during the shooting. we report often about the trauma experienced by people who not only lose someone in these shootings, but who witnessed them or lived through them or endured the lockdowns. how are your sons doing today? >> honestly, i think probably about the same as all the other students that were on campus en this event occurred. they are really shaken up, you know. one of my kids had just left bercy hall, just prior to the shooting beginning, and the other, i was to learn later, was

sheltering in a house where you can actually see the video of the gunman walking around his residence after he had left the shooting. so just to know how close personally my own kids came to this gunman. it's shocking and terrifying and quite honestly, it's hard to be in a position where you're the top law enforcement official of a state of over 10 million people, but to feel so powerless to help your own kids in a situation like this. and here i am, on one phone i'm talking to my special agents on the ground who were helping to try to apprehend the subject. on the other hand, i'm also talking to my kids and trying to give them as much information as possible so that i know that they're safe. and as iturns out, you know, i had very little power to keep them safe in this situation. and it's not a good feeling to have, not just as a law

enforcement official, but as a parent, you want to be able to keep your kids safe. and that's what we need to do in this state, take extraordinary measures to make sure that all of our kids are safe. amna: we are glad to hear your sons are both safe. our thoughts remain with everyone in the msu community. thank you for your time. >> thanks for having me. geoff: a congressional hearing today on fentanyl brought together some of the administration's key drug officials together to examine how to address what is now the leading cause of death for americans ages 18 to 45. lisa desjardins has more on the testimony and efforts to tackle the opioid crisis. >> across our nation, fentanyl is driving a surge of deaths. lisa: the senate foreign relations committee taking on a

crisis that claims more than 70,000 american lives every year, and it is deening. >> this is a crisis we cannot solve within our borders. lisa: top officials across th federal department testified at were at times grilled on the biden administration's handling of trafficking and fentanyl sales, which all agree pose an unprecedented threat. >> the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced. >> this is a new era that requires a new era of drug policy. lisa: officials outlined the dominant international supply chain. chemicals mass produced in china are sent to mexico, where cartels make them into fentanyl powder and press out drugs that often look like prescription pills. those flow into the united states for sale. senators challenged federal policy at each step of that chain. ambassador tom robinson admitted

china was not cooperating as the u.s. would like. >> we have had very limited engagement with china. lisa: but he defended the administration's effort to republicans who said president biden hadn't prioritized fentanyl in his meetings with the chinese president. >> we have a number of issues to discuss with them -- >> i will interrupt you because the number one issue, we have just established, a top priority is dealing with the poisoning of our kids. lisa: current data show the vast majority of fentanyl comes through a few ports of entry. experts at the hearing asked for dozens more scanners to detect it. senators debated border issues in general. sen. cruz: this administration made a conscious political decision to open the borders. sen. booker: to say that that is the center of the fentanyl crisis is just not true. lisa: customs and border producon -- protection seized more than 14,000 pounds of fentanyl in the last fiscal

year, plus millions of pills that all together amounted to 410 million deadly doses. anne milgram, who heads the drug enforcement administration, said while the u.s. tries to weaken the cartels as it can, mexico needs to act. >> we believe mexico needs to do more to stop the harm that we're seeing. >> i don't see the willingness, the urgency, the commitment. i don't see the actions that would indicate to me that mexico is being a good partner. inside the u.s., opioid deaths are rising among teens, many of whom are buying drugs on social media, at times unaware those drugs contain fentanyl. >> we view sociamedia right now as the superhighway of drugs. lisa: amid tense political moments came recognition of the human toll. senator tim scott read from a father's eulogy of a 27-year-old fentanyl victim. >> for now, i will have a broken heart that will never, ever meant. -- mend. so i'll just live my life until i see you again. lisa: universal recognition of

the problem, still a struggle in the u.s. to find the solutions. and joining me now to help us better understand this crisis is brian mann. he is a correspondent for npr covering addiction. where do we stand? this >> this is a devastating moment. if it were not for the covid pandemic, this would be the epidemic americans are talking about, killing more than 100,000 people a year. that includes fentanyl primarily but also methamphetamines and other drugs, all of them flowing in from mexico. one thing i like to point out is unlike the covid pandemic that largely hit older americans, this is hitting young people, which has a devastating impact on economies, and there is no end in sight. unlike covid which we are slowly putting behind us, this seems to keep getting worse. lisa: one person suggested we

should not refer to these as overdose deaths but as poisoning because so many don't know they are taking fentanyl. you almost don't understand, how are people acquiring fentanyl? fake pills or are there people seeking out fentanyl itself? brian: it is a mix. it's true mexican drug cartels are mixing fentanyl into almost everything. if you buy heroin, methamphetamines on the street, it's likely to have fentanyl mixed in. unfortunately this drug is so strong that people who have been using opioids for a long time and are deeply addicted are also now seeking it out because it gives this euphoric high they are looking for. there is a real mix of how this is harming people. a lot of drug deaths are people seeking fentanyl, but you are right, there are kids, young people, college students, executives who take one pill at

a party. they are experimenting, thinking they are doing something reasonably safe, and it kills them. it is hitting in a lot of different places. lisa: china and mexico, what could they do to try to stop this, anything realistic? brian: all the experts say the flow of fentanyl into this country is almost impossible to stop. the reasons are pretty straightforward. this is a chemical mix that is pretty easy, cheap to make. the precursor chemicals do come from china. so far diplomatic relations between the u.s. and china are such that fentanyl keeps falling off the list. we wind up talking about trade or taiwan or micro chips and the precursor chemicals are never the thing that the biden administration or trump administration really focuses on. and then the other big piece of this. the mexican cartels take those chemicals from china and

reformulate those into fentanyl. the mexicans have backed away from the drug war, whichas never very effective to begin with. the mexican government shows little interest in taking on those powerful, violent organizations. even if we did convince them to get back in the game, it is a big question how effective that would be. so much of the mexican government has been corrupted by the cartels, or they are intimidated by the potential for violence. bringing partners back into this fight makes it challenging at difficult. fentanyl is uniquely difficult to stop. you can smuggle it in tiny quantities. it is so powerful, you can bring it in a backpack and feed a huge part of the united states. even if you did manage to get everybody on the same page working shoulder to shoulder, stopping fentanyl from hitting the reets would be daunting. lisa: especially for parents,

because this is the leading cause of death for young americans, it's scary. brian: i am 57 and i came up at a time when we told people don't do drugs, but the chances were if you experimented a little bit, you were probably going to be ok. statistically that's the truth. now it is the case where if somebody hands you a pill, it can kill you very quickly. lisa: today the independent advisors to the fda recommended making narcan available over-the-counter. it is a key treatment potentially. what do we know about what actually could help in the future? brian: there i hope. there are medicines that help people with opioid addiction. narcan is a big one, a medication that reverses overdoses when they are happening. if we can get that everywhere, it can save a life on the spot. also there are medications like

methadone that can help people survive opioid addiction long-term. it helps them avoid relapses, keeps them from going on the streets buying things laced with fentanyl. the health care and medical care around this crisis is getting better. it is still not perfect but it does appear to be saving lives. there is hope on that front. lisa: such important reporting, thank you. geoff: nato described it today as a grinding war of attrition, the fight over eastern ukraine, where russian forces have launched operations in multiple areas and today said they had made incremental gains in ukraine's donbas. that is where nick sifrin is again tonight. is reporting in ukraine is

supported by the pulitzer center. what is russia claiming today and how is nato responding? nick: the u.s. believes the russian offensive has begun, focused on two points here and an additional point in the fonts province. russian forces are pushing the town of criminology. russia claed progress but provided no detail power. in luhansk, we have seen tactics, including this video completely wiped out. you see all tactics being used, artillery and masks against a single target. russia andkraine have used millions of rounds of artillery and the west has had to step up. yen stoltenberg said the west was not keeping pace enough. >> there is a big need out there

to provide ukraine with ammunition. this is now becoming a grinding war of attrition and a war of attrition is a war of logistics. and therefore this is so crucial for our ability to ensure that ukraine wins, is able to retake territory. nick: ukraine fires the number of artillery shells every month that the u.s. produces every year. the u.s. is increasing production but it isn't enough even at an increased rate to match the rate ukraine has been firing shells. the center for 30 jig international studies told me earlier -- >> there is a lot of ammunition but only enough for about half of ukraine's usage. so ukraine is going to not have as much ammunition as they would like. what it means is that the flow of ammunition will slow down and they'll have to prioritize their targets. they'll have to shoot at the

most high priority targets and other targets they'll have to let go. nick: the u.s. is trying to train ukraine to use less artillery and use modern tactics. the u.s. hopes that will pay off in the spring offensive. nick: you have been out on the front lines. have you seen those tactics yet? nick: it is a little early because training is incomplete and there are hundreds of armored vehicles on the way that should arrive in the next few weeks. we have been on the front lines with drone pilots. this is an example of ukraine modernizing its infantry, integrating drone pilots into that infantry, having them relay the positions of russian vehicles in real-time to their commanders, who relay it to artillery to try to fire on those russian vehicles. we will have that story focusing on drones in the days ahead of

the one year full invasion last february. geoff: as this battle rages, the population of eastern ukraine suffers. what have civilians been telling you? nick: they are suffering yet resilient. i met a man a few hours ago who had to watch his own apartment being bulldozed after it had been struck by a russian missile in a town just a couple hours from here. the humanitarian catastrophe is immense. the u.n. today appealed for $5.6 billion, one of the largest ever humanitarian appeals both for internally displaced ukrainians as well as refugees. they have suffered so much since the invasion last year. we will be covering that ahead of last week's invasion as well as attempts to reconstruct the country and frontline reports as well. geoff: nick schifrin reporting from eastern ukraine. thank you.

♪ amna: britain expects 3000 to 4000 unaccompanied children to cross the english channel in small boats this year. the government is trying to devise a way to keep these young asylum seekers safe after the abduction of 200 unaccompanied minors while supposedly under the state's care. from brighton, special correspondent malcolm brabant reports. >> the remains of brighton's west. and the return of migrating birds are a metaphor for britain's so asylum system. scores of unaccompanied minors by ruthless criminal gangs. brighton is one of britain's sanctuary cities, where refugees and economic migrants are welcome to add supposed to feel secure. yet this quiet residential

street was anything but safe for 76 unaccompanied minors temporarily housed in this hotel. it's feared they're now drug runners or sex slaves >> it's a massive scandal, and i think the government are not taking it seriously and they never have. malcolm: besides being deputy leader of the city council, hannah albrooke chairs a committee overseeing children's interests. the government relies on local authorities to care for unaccompanied minors, who're often rescued at sea by lifeboats and brought ashore while their asylum claims are assessed. but albrooke says the minors were under state protection when they disappeared. >> what's happened was predicted and predictable. they have had children going missing. and that's really, really sad and really shocking. on top of that, we have reports of really bad bullying behavior in the hotels and that children have been treated very badly. and this is all part of the government's hostile environment plan where refugees and asylum seekers in this country are treated so badly. malcolm: traffickers charge asylum seekers up to $7,000 for

crossing the channel. those who can't afford it are sometimes required to pay off the debt by working in the drugs trade. the government has a moral and legal obligation to protect unaccompanied minors, and by keeping them safe, what they would also be doing is disrupting the smugglers business model. on a handful of occasions, police have prevented young people from being taken away. but by abducting so many, with virtual impunity, gangs are proving that their type of crime pays dividends. on the defensive in parliament, immigration minister robert jenrick. >> the rise in small boat crossings has placed a severe strain on the asylum accommodation system. we've had no alternative but to temporarily use specialist hotels to give some unaccompanied minors a roof over their heads whilst local authority accommodation is found. we take our safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously. malcolm: brighton lawmaker

caroline lucas. >> this is horrific, mr. speaker. vulnerable children are being dumped by the home office. scores of them are going missing. and i can tell the minister there is nothing specialist about these hotels. we are not asking him to detain children. we are asking the home office to apply some basic safeguarding so we can keep them safe. >> the uncomfortable truth for us is if one child who is related to one of us in this room went missing, the world would stop. malcolm: the hotel is in peter kyle's constituency. >> in the community i represent, a child has gone missing. then five went missing, then a dozen went missing, then 50 went missing. and currently today, 76 are missing and nothing is happening. malcolm: the government is under pressure to stop using hotels as temporary accommodation for asylum-seekers. >> the wider picture is that when a refugee child arrives in this country, they should be taken into care by council. but councils are really

struggling to find the places to put these children, so therefore the government are commissioning these hotels. almost out of the total chaos whereby they don't have anywhere else to go. malcolm: criticism isn't just coming from the left. >> there are 140,000 people who've entered this country and are claiming asylum that haven't yet been processed. malcolm: prominent anti-immigration activist nigel farage leads the charge from the right. >> and they've run out of inner city hotels to put them in. they've tried former army camps, but those conditions there simply aren't good enough. know what was good enough for national servicemen or serving british soldiers? not good enough for the young man crossing the english channel. malcolm: uncomfortable questions for prime minister rishi sunak. >> ministers have admitted that they have no idea about the whereabouts of these childn. so could i ask the prime minister? does he still think that the uk is a safe haven for vulnerable children? >> mr. speaker, the united kingdom has opened up its hearts and homes to hundreds of thousands of people over the

last few years from syria, from afghanistan, from ukraine, from hong kong, and provided refuge and sanctuary to many children in that process. but the reports that we have read about are concerning. malcolm: many of those missing from this street are albanian and aged over 16. brighton council's hannah albrooke. >> there are certain nationalities that we know when they arrive in this country whether they are in local authority care or whether in a hotel they are at risk of trafficking. albanian children is one of them. vietnamese children is one of them as well. and these are some of the nationalities that we've seen missing. so there is potential modern slavery implications as well as just, you know, where have they gone? malcolm: britain regards albania as a safe country and prime minister sunak believes its citizens should be barred from claiming asylum. this is his new strategy. >> i work with the albanians to put in place a new deal, which means for people coming from albania illegally, we will be able to remove them safely back to albania. and that is already happening. we're putting illegal migrants from albania back on flights, and that will ratchet up over the year, and that's a tangible improvement in the situation.

malcolm: successive british governments have talked tough, but people keeping crossing the channel, just like the migratory birds. some experts predict 2023 could see 100,000 landings, twice as many as last year, even though the price of a ticket can be enslavement. for the pbs newshour, i'm malcolm brabant in brighton. amna: indian tax officials have conducted searches at the bbc offices in that country for the past two days, highlighting dwindling press freedoms in what is often called the world's largest democracy. the bbc's offices in mumbai and new delhi were swarmed by reporters and indian tax officials. tax rates just three weeks after

the british broadcaster aired a documentary called india: the modi question. >> one area that i was very weak and that was how to handle the media. amna: examining prime minister narendra modi's role in handling raids in his home state in 2002. more than 1000 people were killed. and reveals a british foreign office report that called modi responsible for the climate of impunity enabling the violence. modi's government used emergency powers to block film clips online and arrested students who held screenings. but students resisted and protested. as the tax rate unfolded yesterday, modi to if yes hindu nationalist party denounced the bbc at a press confence. >> how shallow the reporting of the bbc is. india is a country which gives an opportunity to every

organization as long as you do not have a hidden agenda. >> intimidating a tactic. it is clear there are pretenses even in the case of the bbc. amna: abhinandan sekhri is the co-founder of newslaundry, an independent indian media organization that has published reports critical of the modi government in 2021 and faced a similar tax search. a new delhi court later dismissed all allegations of tax violations. >> i was detained for 13 and a half hours. they took my phone later -- data, they took my laptop data, and our coverage continued. similarly, in the case of the bbc, they did this documentary which created a furor among those in power, and they were very upset about it. and this is the way of demonstrating that we'll show you. amna: this latest confrontation raises more questions about the modi government's commitment to freedom of the press. bobby ghosh is an indian-american journalist and editor of foreign affairs and

opinions at bloomberg. he joins me now from new york. it's good to see you. when you look at the contents of this documentary, why do you think it would lead to this kind of response from the modi government? bobby: the modi government historically has been thin-skinned about any kind of criticism, even the mildest. this is particularly difficult for the modi administration because it comes after years and years and years of local journalism, journalism by indian publications that have looked into those same riots. and the government thought that it had put the matter to bed. it had intimidated and silenced all its critics, anybody who could bring it up. and this coming from the bbc, an international media outlet with a great deal of credibility. it's much harder for the government to question the bbc and therefore, it really goes under their skin. amna: is this the first time that we've seen prime minister

modi use his government agencies in this way in these tax raids? bobby: well, tax raids are a fairly familiar tool for intimidation in indian politics. it's not just the modi government. this goes back to indira gandhi during the emergency in the 1970s. and it's practiced across india by state governments with national governments, all kinds of raids, customs raids, tax raids. these are a tool of harassment. it is only one of several weapons of intimidation and coercion that the modi government has brought tbear primarily on the domestic media. amna: there is an organization called freedom house that grades nations according to adherence to democratic principles. they rate india as only partly free. is this just about cracking down on journalists? bobby: no, i think there has been an across-the-board shrinkage of free speech in india. it's not just journalists.

it's ngos. it's any kind of organization that the government perceives as a threat. and like populist governments elsewhere in the government, the modi government is very quick to see threat where mere criticism is being committed. opposition parties, minority groups of all kinds have come under enormous strain. so this is not simply a matter of cracking down on journalism, although that is a very useful barometer. amna: amid all this, we should note we have not seen public criticism from the.s. or the u.k. just yesterday, the white house put out a statement saying president biden and prime minister modi had a phone call. they just signed a $46 billion aircraft deal. this administration hasn't been publicly critical of the modi government. why not? bobby: the administration sees india as a source of revenue. it sees india as an ally with a common adversary in the shape of china. it sees india as a fellow democracy. and therefore, it's really very

reluctant to criticize. and it is this reluctance to criticize by the west, by other democracies, by europe, that has emboldened the modi administration. the fact that it is now targeting an international publication like the bbc that comes from this sense of impunity. the modi administration knows it can count on the greatest power on earth, theiggest and most powerful democracy in the world, to keep silent when india breaks the rules of democracy. amna: bobby, as you know, with a population of 1.4 billion, india is known as the world's largest democracy. given everything we've just talked about, is it still fair to call it that? bobby: well, if you think about demoacy simply in terms of elections, then far and away, india is the biggest democracy in the world. it conducts a gigantic election that is very hard to wrap your head around the sheer scale of it. but democracy is much more than just about elections. it's about freedom to express yourself, freedom to criticize the government, freedom to

investigate and put the government under a microscope. all those freedoms are shrinking in india and have been shrinking at an alarming pace. it's still a democracy, but it's an illiberal democracy rather than a liberal democracy. and the arc, the direction in which it is going, does not allow for optimism about any kind of turn around in the near future. this is not the democracy of nehru. this is a very, very different kind of beast. amna: bobby ghosh, editor of foreign affairs and opinions at bloomberg. thank you for joining us. bobby: my pleasure. geoff: nikky finney is a national book award winning-poet, professor, and advocate for social justice and cultural preservation. jeffrey brown went to south carolina to see how that mission has now taken on very personal meaning. it's part of our arts and culture series, canvas.

>> every artist that has walked in here has said, don't cubbyhole this. keep it grand. jeffrey: she has big plansor this cavernous 1940's warehouse, once home to the southern electric company. you can still see the parking lines for the industrial trucks. >> i think we are going to keep those to keep the history of the old building. jeffrey: so this is one of the rooms you will be using. >> yes. this piece is a deflection of a -- a depiction of a slave ship. jeffrey: past and future are fused in the art center. >> it has brought tears to my eyes. there is a 16-year-old patron named andre. jeffrey: a place for exhibitions, performances, art classes, residencies for local artists who often can't afford

the rent for studio space. >> a hub where people come to find each other, get inspired. they sit in that longhouse next door and listen to something they have not heard before. some music, something that goes back into their body, their system, that feeds them. jeffrey: the south carolina born and raised writer is author of five books of poetry that we've the personal and political, including “head off & split,” winner of the 2011 national book award. and, from 2020, “love child's hotbed of occasional poetry”. a professor with an endowed chair at the university of south carolina since 2013, she previously taught for 20 years at the university of kentucky. >> we hope to generate so much energy and excitement about this center. jeffrey: now she has dedicated herself to the new center, and on a recent weekend, she opened its doors to the pump -- the

public for a pop up artist market. >> we are going to have a stage, half outside and half inside. we will have things out under the moonlight. jeffrey: also, to celebrate the center's namesake, a man who himself made history, her father, ernest a. finney jr, who died in 2017. nikky: my father thought the law, in his words, he would say, “the law works, girl.” jeffrey: ernest finney was a renowned lawyer who defended more than 6000 civil rights demonstrators in the 1960s, then achieved a long string of firsts, including first african american to serve as a circuit judge in the state and, later, first black chief justice of the south carolina supreme court since reconstruction. a life that deeply inspired his daughter. nikky: we are joined at the hip. and i'm like, what i can i do to help him? i love poetry, i love writing. i love to express myself in this way. so i began to be heavily

influenced by my father's sense of justice. jeffrey: and what did that mean for you? as a poet? nikky: that meant that i needed to be careful and be precise and be intentional about what i wrote about because my voice was a powerful one. i know you never had it made, but here you are making it. jeffrey: she honored her father's journey and achievements in a poem she wrote and read when he became chief justice in 1994. nikky: an ordinary boy whose mother never got to bathe or watch him grow or gaze him from the farmhouse window where he loved to sit on a summertime box of virginia cured daydreams. umbrellaed by the big oak tree and in between chores and stair away at the long dirt road, the only way in or out of grandpop's farm. nikky: i had never seen my father cry before that moment. and i think he understood the power of words and the power of poetry in that moment of documenting this incredible historical moment for the state

of south carolina >> when we went to places, you would want to know, where is the bookstore? jeffrey: today her mother, frances, proudly displays memobilia and photos of the life she and her husband forged in their 62 years together. the setting for the new ernest a. finney jr. cultural arts center is important for finn. business owners like kevin gray of railroad barbecue are working to bring things back. and the neighborhood is home to two historically black colleges, side-by-side, allen university and benedict college. but businesses like the renowned carver theater, built in 1942 as one of only two movie theaters exclusively for african american patrons, are now defunct. putting the cultural center here in this neighborhood is essential. nikky: it is essential. it's a place to be. it's a place where things are happening, a place where people are discussing things and having

new ideas that then go out into different areas of the community. it's like a womb space. jeffrey: history and social justice also come togeer in a new outlet for finney's art, collaboration with the famed kronos quartet, now being performed around the country. ”at war with ourselves 400 years of you” is an evening-length work for string quartet and chorus, with music composed by michael abels and text by finney. niy: i go from the forced removal of africans from africa to this country to talking about some of the ings that happened along the way. but my focus in that poem really is about the interior space of african-americans. your vermilion quiet, you are indigo charm. morning whispers. nikky: the music balloons the

words out into the audience in a different kind of way. it's almost like the light that bounces off a reflection point in the room and it is dispersed differently. jeffrey: encouraging young artists, writing poetry, teaching her students, reminding all of the history around us. finney cites the legacy of her father throughout. nikky: everybody's voice is a powerful one, one on so he one. taught me very early that that was my way, that could be my way to join this larger circle of citizens in this country stepping forward to say, here i am. jeffrey: renovations on the new art center will proceed, while programming and residencies get underway in full. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in columbia, south carolina.

amna: now an update to a story we brought you as part of our ongoing series broken justice. in 2021, john yang dug into the case of lamar johnson, a missouri man serving life without parole for the 1994 murder of a man named marcus boyd. geoff: as john reported, johnson always maintained his innocence while two other men had confessed to the crime. john: at johnson's trial, his girlfriend said he left the house for less than five minutes to meet a friend, which turned out to be a drug deal. police justified he could have left and killed boyd in no more than five minutes, but look at a google map showing the route between the two locations. it takes about double that to go just one way. and police said the other man on the porch identified johnson, despite the fact that he said it was dark and that both attackers hid their faces. >> they wore ski masks that had

a cutout for the eye area and portions of the nose. john: so that's all that was visible, just the eyes and a little bit of the nose? >> right. john: what's more, since johnson's conviction, two men have confessed to being the ones who killed boyd, and said johnson had nothing to do with it. >> it shows that, sometimes, there is a miscarriage of justice. john: johnson says he remains hopeful that, one day, he will be free. >> from the beginning, i knew something was wrong because i got convicted for something i didn't do. and so i knew the truth was out there somehow and i just didn't give up. and knowing that kept me hopeful. like, as long as there's life, there's hope. and so long as there's hope, i know that the situation can be righted. amna: yesterday, after nearly 28 years behind bars, lamar johnson's murder conviction was overturned. johnson was given a new hearing thanks to a change in missouri law that allows prosecutors to reopen cases they believe were wrongfully decided. and a judge ruled that there was

"clear and convincing evidence" that he was innocent. geoff: following the ruling, the now 50-year-old johnson walked out of a st. louis courtroom as a free man to chee. the state attorney general, who fought against his release, said he would not pursue additional charges. amna: that is the newshour. jo us again tomorrow night, when we'll speak with people experiencing symptoms of long covid and explore the latest research on ways to treat it. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. thanks for spending part of your evening with us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect. we offer a variety of no contract plans and our u.s.-based customer service team can help find one that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. >> and with the ongoing sport

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>> hello, everyone and welcome to "amanpour and company." here is what is coming up. ♪ ♪ israelis protest their government's plans to overhaul the judiciary. my exclusive interview with israel's former ambassador to france who resigned over her country's far right leadership. then rescue efforts wind down as syria finally opens up two more border crossings for quake aid. i'm joined by the former u.s. ambassador to syria robert ford. also ahead. >> i never seen a moment when putin shs any sign of compromise any negotiion, any reasonableness. >> once russia's largest foreign investor, bill tells walter

isaacson why