amna: goodvening and welcome. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. on the "newshour" tonight, criticism over lax construction standards grows louder as turkey and syria continue the long recovery from the devastating earthquake. amna: michigan democrats push for more gun control laws in the wake of the latest mass shooting on a university campus. 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: and hundreds of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in the u.k. go missing, sparking outcry from activists who say the government isn't doing enough to keep the children safe.

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>> 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 justverdant, and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: good evening, and welcome to the “newshour.” more stories have emerged today of extraordinary rescues amid the rubble in turkey and syria more than a week after that catastrophic earthquake. amna: at the same time, more and

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

14 arrests have been made and more than 100 warrants are out for builders suspected of cutting corners. lawyers are here gathering evidence for turkey's prosecutors. egemen: at the same time, they are crime scenes. so we have our prosecutors. peter: you regard these as crime scenes? egemen: yes, yes, yes, yes, crime scenes. peter: potential criminality in building? egemen: yes, of course. of course. there are lots of people who died here. peter: after turkey's 1999 earthquake, itv news teams uncovered evidence of shoddy building practices. public outcry was so severe, it became a major issue in elections three years later. president erdogan came into power promising to make buildings safer. strict building codes were introduced. but then, five years ago, in response to a flagging economy, the turkish government introduced an amnesty on these rules. new developments no longer had to adhere to these strict codes, even in known earthquake zones. the difference made by quality construction could hardly be better illustrated than this.

amid the wreckage, one building has barely a crack on the walls. it is turkey's union of engineers. they tell me they have been warning for years against dangerous buildings. sibel: this is a manmade disaster. and local authorities, central authorities, ministries, the decision-making authorities, if they have taken a role in the wrong techniques, engineers, architects, we are all responsible. peter: a natural disaster, an act of god made so much worse by mistes of man. vanessa: i'm vanessa ruiz in for stephanie sy with "newshour west." here are the latest 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 ye as growth stagnates. the forecast also warned the national debt will nearly double by 2033, to $46 trillion. beyond that, the cbo is substantially more pessimistic than the federal reserve about bringing down inflation. the associated press and cnn are reporting tonight that the fbi recently searched the university of delaware for classified documents belonging to president biden. thjustice department declined to comment. 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 had pleaded guilty to state charges of murder and domestic terrorism motivated by hate. today's sentencing hearing was interrupted at one point as anger and grief boiled over.

a man lunged at gendron and had to be restrained as victims' relatives expressed their 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 to that network we say, we as a people are unbreakable. vanessa: gendron still faces federal charges that could carry a death sentence, if the justice department decides to pursue it. a grand jury in illinois indicted today the father of a man charged with killing seven people at a fourth of july parade in a chicago suburb last year. robert crimo junior faces seven counts of reckless conduct. prosecutors allege he helped his son get a gun license, even though the son had a history of making violent threats. crimo's attorney said he cannot comment at this time.

also, the justice department has opened a federal civil rights investigation of the rankin county, mississippi sheriff's office. white deputies claim someone pointed a gun at them during a drug raid last month. michael cory jenkins was shot in the mouth and beaten. his lawyers claim it was a racially motivated attack that lasted 90 minutes. the u.s. justice department 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, citing fatigue. she heads her country's semi-autonomous government and is a leading advocate for scottish independence. sturgeon said she will remain as scottish leader until a successor is chosen. back in this country, the acting head of the federal aviation administration said today 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 nationwide? billy: could i sit here today and tell you there will never be another issue on the no-tam 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 resiliency and reliability of the system right now? billy: 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. vanessa: many senators also expressed concerns that the faa has not had a permanent administrator for nearly a year. and actress raquel welch, who became an international sex symbol in the 1960's and 1970's, died 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 television. raquel welch was 82 years old. still to come on the "newshour," members of congress seek ways to stem the flow of fentanyl into the u.s. also, 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 weta 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 suspt's connection to e university and the exact gun use to cry out 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. attorney general nessel, welcome, and thanks for joining us. one of those biggest outstanding questions there, how the gunman in this case, who was previously charged with a felony weapons charge, right, how he was still able to purchase a gun. do you know anything more about that? dana: so we don't have the details about that right now. and what's not exactly clear to me is whether or not the guns that he had during the course of this offense, whether or not he alady 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 his connection to the university? dana: no, not so far, not that we know about. clearly, he was having some mental health-related issues. there's no question about that. that's something that we have learned.

and i think that's something that we're honestly going to have to take a very serious look at, in terms of what kinds of laws we can pass in michigan, and not just new laws, but what kinds of policies we can implement for people who have a weapons-related offense, are known to have committed crimes with those weapons, and 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: well, let's talk a little bit more about that, and specifically what kinds of laws you think could move forward, because democrats in michigan now have a trifecta in state government, right, control of the governorship, slim majorities in both the state senate and the house. but michigan also has both gun rights and self-defense enshrined in your state constitution. given all of that, what do you think has a chance to move forward? dana: i think that there are three bills in particular that i expect to see quick movement on.

and it's not a surprise to anyone. the governor in her state of the state addrs 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're going to pass and i think the governor will sign them into law. amna: i should note the state senate minority leader, aric nesbitt, had said one of the things to do is to address root causes. he doesn't believe any of these bills would do that. and he says, look, if prosecutors were forced to see through the convictions on the gun violations, as would have been the case in the previous felony charge with this gunman, that is one way, he says, would address the root cause and prevent these from happening. do you agree with that? dana: no, i think he's absolutely false. and here's why i say that. carrying a concealed weapon is the crime that this individual, mr. mcrae, 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 was a first-time weapons related-offense for this individual. that is ch a common crime here that, if we were to 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 witness them, or live through them, or endure the lockdowns.

how are your sons doing today? dana: honestly, i think probably about the same as all the other students that were on campus when this event occurred. they're really shaken up. one of my kids had just left berkey 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 it's terrifying. and, quite honestly, it's hard to be in a position where you're a state of over 10 millionicial 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 it turns out, 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 ur kids safe. and that's what we need to do in the state, is to take extraordinary measures to make sure that all of our kids are safe. amna: we're glad to hear your sons are both safe. but our thoughts remain with everyone in the msu community. that is michigan attorney general dana nessel joining us tonight. thank you for your time. dana: thanks for having me. geoff: a congressional hearing today on fentanyl brought together the administration's key drug officials to examine how to address whais 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. sen. menendez: 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's deepening. sen. menendez: this is a crisis we cannot solve just within our borders. lisa: top officials across the federal government testified and were at times grilled on the biden administration's handling of fentanyl trafficking and sales in the u.s., which all agreed pose an unprecedented threat. anne: it is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced. rahul: this is a new era of drug trafficking, and it requires a new era of drug policy. lisa: officials outlined the dominant international supply chain. chemicals mass-producein china are sent to mexico, where cartels make them into fentanyl powder and press out drugs that often look like prescription pills.

those then flow into the united states for sale. senators challenged federal policy at each step of that chain. ambassador todd robinson, an assistant secretary for the narcotics bureau at the state department, admitted china was not cooperating as the u.s. would like. todd: we have had very limited engagement with china. lisa: but he defended the administration's effort to republicans who said president biden hasn't prioritized fentanyl in his meetings with the chinese president. todd: we have a number of issues to discuss with them. and there is no -- sen. hagerty: well, i will interrupt you, because the number one issue we have just established, a top priority for this administration 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 heari 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 is the center of the fentanyl crisis is just not true. lisa: customs and border protection seized more than 14,000 pounds of fentanyl in the last fiscal year, plus millions of pills, that altogether amounted to 410 million doses. anne milgram, who heads the drug enforcement agency, said, while the u.s. tries to weaken the cartels as it can, mexico needs to act. anne: we believe mexico needs to do more to stop the harm that we're seeing. sen. menendez: i don't see the willingness. i don't see the urgency. i don't see the commitment. i don't see the actions that would indicate to me that mexico is being a good partner. lisa: 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. anne: we view cial media 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. sen. scott: “for now, i will have a broken heart that will never, ever mend. so i will 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. joining me now to help us better understand this crisis is brian mann. he's a correspondent for npr covering addiction. brian, just a big question. where do we stand right now with this fentanyl crisis and deaths in america? brian: this is a devastating moment. if it weren't for the covid pandemic, this would be the epidemic that americans are talking about. this is now killing more than 100,000 people a year. that includes fentanyl primarily, but also methamphetamines and other drugs, all of them really flowing in from mexico. and onthing that i always like to point out is that, unlike the covid pandemic that largely hit older americans, this crisis is really hitting young people, which has a devastating impact

on communities, on economies. and there's also no end in sight. unlike covid, which we're slowly putting behind us, this seems to just keep getting worse. lisa: one expert today suggested that we shouldn't refer to these as overdose deaths, but instead as poisonings, because so many people, especially young people, don't know they're taking fentanyl. these are fake pills. can you help understand, how are people acquiring fentanyl? or is this mainly through fake pills? are these people who are seeking out fentanyl itself? brian: it is really a mix now. it is true that the mexican drug cartels are mixing fentanyl into almost everything. if you buy heroin on the street, if you buy methamphetamines on the street, it's kely to have fentanyl mixed in. unfortunately, this drug is so powerful. fentanyl is so strong that people who've been using opioids for a long time and who are deeply addicted are also now seeking it out, because it gives this kind of euphoric high that they're looking for. and so there's a real kind of mix of how this is harming

people. a lot of the drug deaths are people who are seeking fentanyl. but you're right, there are kids, young people, college students, executives who take one pill at a party, they're experimenting a little bit, thinking they're doing something reasonably safe, and it kills them. so there's -- it's really hitting americans in a lot of different places. lisa: what about the supy? china and mexico, what do they need to do or what could they do to try and stop this flow? is there anything realistic? brian: all the experts i talk to say that the flow of fentanyl into this country is going to be almost impossible to stop. and the reasons are pretty straightforward. this is a chemicalix that is pretty easy to make. it's cheap to make. the precursor chemicals do come from china. and so far, the diplomatic relations between the u.s. and china are such that fentanyl just keeps kind of falling off the list. we wind up talking about trade or taiwan or microchips. and the precursor chemicals are

never the thing that the biden administration or the trump administration really focuses on. and then you have mexico, the other big piece of this. the mexican cartels take those chemicals from china and reformulate them into fentanyl. the mexicans have backed away from the drug war, which was never very effective to begin with. the mexican government shows very little interest in trying to take on these powerful, violent organizations. and even if we did somehow diplomatically convince them to get back in the game, it's really a big question how effective they would be. so much of the mexican government has been corrupted by the cartels with their massive amounts of wealth, or they're intimidated. they're cowed by the potential for violence. and so bringing partners back into this fight looks really challenging and difficult. and then there's one more piece. fentanyl is uniquely difficult to stop. you can smuggle it in tiny quantities. it's so powerful that you can bring it in a backpack and feed

a huge part of the united states. and so, even if you did manage to get everybody on the same page, and everybody working shoulder to shoulder, stopping fentanyl from hitting the streets would be a daunting task. lisa: so, then i know, especially for parents, because this is now the leading cause of death for young americans, it's scary. brian: you know, i'm 57 years old, and i came up at a time when, yes, we told people don't do drugs, but the chances were, if you experimented a little bit, played around a little bit, you were probably going to be ok, right? atistically, that's just the truth. now, it really is the case, if you're at a party, if you're someplace where somebody hands you a pill, it can kill you very quickly. lisa: today, the independent advisers, the fda, recommended making narcan available over the counter. that's a key treatment potentially for this. what do we know about what actually could be helping things in the future? brian: i think one of the things that's important is that there is really hope.

there are better medicines that help people with opioid addiction. narcan is a big one. this is a medication that reverses overdoses when they're happening, right? and so if we can get that on the streets, get that everywhere, that, if someone's in an overdose, it can save a life right there on the spot. but, also, there areedications like buprenorphine and methadone that can help people survive opioid addiction long term. it helps them avoid relapses and it keeps them from going out on the streets and buying things that are laced with fentanyl. so the health care and the medical care around this crisis is getting better and better it's still not perfect, b it does really appear to be saving lives. so there is really hope on that front. lisa: such important reporting. brian mann of npr, thank you. brian: 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 have made incremental gains in ukraine's donbass. that is where nick schifrin is again tonight. his reporting in ukraine is supported by the pulitzer center. so, nick, what is russia claiming today? and how is nato responding? nick: well, the u.s. believes that the russian offensive here in the donbass has begun, focused on two points here in donetsk province, and an additional point in neighboring luhansk province. russian forces are pushing in the town of kreminna. now, russia today claimed some kind of incremental progress, but provided absolutely no detail. t in luhansk, we have seen russian tactics, including this village completely wiped out in a video shared by a ukrainian official. and you really see, geoff, old tactics being used, artillery en masse against a single target. now, russia and ukraine have used millions of rounds of

artillery. and that has meant that the west has had to step up its artillery production. and today, nato secretary-general jens stoltenberg said that the west wasn't keeping pace enough. jens: there's a big need out there to provide ukraine with ammunition. this is now becoming a grinding war of attrition. and the war of attrition is a war of logistics. and, therefore, this is so cruciafor our ability to ensure that ukraine wins, is able to retake territory. nick: to give you some perspective, ukraine fires the number of artillery shells every month that the u.s. produces every year. now, the u.s. is increasing its production, but it simply isn't enough, even that increased rate, to match the rate that ukraine has been firing artillery shells, mark cancian of the center for strategic and international studies told me earlier. mark: it's an awful lot of

ammunition, but that's 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 will have to prioritize their targets. they will have to shoot at the most high-priority targets. and other targets, they will have to let go. nick: the u.s. is trying to train ukraine to use less artillery and use more modern tactics, geoff, and the u.s. hopes that that will pay off in the coming spring offensive. geoff: and, nick, you have been out on the front lines. have you seen these new tactics yet? nick: yes, it's a little too early, because that training isn't complete. and there are hundreds of armored vehicles on their way that u.s. d european officials have said should arrive in the next few weeks ahead of that spring offensive. but we have been on the front lines with drone pilots. and this is an example of ukraine modernizing its own infantry, integrating drone pilots into that infantry, having them relay the positions

of russian vehicles in real time to their commanders, who then relay it to artillery to try and fire on those russian vehicles. and so we will have that story focusing on drones and the air war certainly in the days ahead of the one-year of full-scale invasion last february. off: and, of course, as this battle rages, the population of eastern ukraine suffers. what have civilians been telling you, nick? nick: yes, geoff, they are suffering, and yet, at the same time, they're resilient. but 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 of hours from here. the humanitarian catastrophe here is immense. the u.n. today appealed for $5.6 billion. that is one of the largest ever humanitarian appeals, both for internally displaced ukrainians, as well as refugees. and they have suffered so much since the invasion last year.

and we will certainly be covering that, geoff, ahead of next week's invasion, as well -- as well as ukraine's attempts to reconstruct the country and those front-line reports as well. geoff: nick schifrin reporting for us tonight from eastern ukraine. nick, thank you. nick: thanks, geoff. amna: britain expects 3000 to 4000 unaccompanied children to cross the english channel in small boats this year. the government's 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. malcolm: the remains of brighton's west pier and the return of migratory birds are a metaphor for britain's broken asylum system, shamed by the abduction scores of

unaccompanied minors by ruthless criminal gangs. brighton is one of britain's sanctuary cities, where refugees and economic migrants are welcomed and supposed to feel secure. yet this quiet residential street was anying busafe for 76 unaccompanied minors temporarily housed in this hotel. it's feared they're now drug runners or sex slaves. hannah: 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 allbrooke chairs a committee overseeing children's interests. the government relies on local authorities to care for unaccompanied minors, who are often rescued at sea by lifeboats and brght ashore while their asylum claims are assessed. but allbrooke says the minors were under state protection when they disappeared. hannah: 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 had

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 ekers 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. robert: the rise in small boat crossings has placed a severe strain on the asylum accommodation system.

we have had no alternative but to temporarily u 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 lawmer caroline lucas. caroline: 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. peter: 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. hannah: the wider picture is that, when a refugee child arrives in this country, they should be taken into care by council. but council is 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. nigel: 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. nigel: and they have run out of inner-city hotels to put them in. they have tried former army camps. but those conditions there simply aren't good enough. no, 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. tulip: ministers have admitted

that they have no idea about the whereabouts of these children. so, could i ask the prime minister, does he still think that the u.k. is a safe haven for vulnerable children? pm sunak: 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 afghantan, 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 the street are albanian and aged over 16. hannah: there are certain nationalities that we know, when they arrive in this country, whether they're in local authority care or whether in a hotel, they are at risk of trafficking. albanian children's one of them. vietnamese children is one of them as well. and these are some of the nationalities that we have seen missing. so there's potential modern slavery implications, as well as just, 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. pm sunak: so, i have worked 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 tangible improvement in the situation. malcolm: successive british vernments have talked tough, but people keep 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's 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 raids just 3 weeks after the british broadcaster aired this documentary called “india: the modi question.” pm modi: the one area where i was very, very weak, and that was how to handle the media. amna: examining prime minister narendra modi's role in anti-muslim raids in his home state of gujarat in 2002. more than 1000 people were killed. the documentary cites a british foreign office report that called modi -- quote -- “directly responsible for the climate of impunity enabling the violence.” modi's government invoked emergency powers to block film clips online and arrested students who held screenings. but students resisted and protested. as the tax raid unfolded

yesterday, modi's hindu nationalist party, the bjp, denounced the bbc at a press conference. gaurav: 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. abhinandan: it's just an intimidatory tactic. it's made pretty clear. i mean, there are no pretenses, even in the case of the bbc. amna: abhinandan sekhri is the co-founder of newslaundry, an independent indian media outlet that 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. abhinandan: i was detained for 13.5 hours. this time, they took my phone 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 their way of demonstrating that -- we will showou. amna: this latest confrontation raises more questions about the modi government's commitment to freedom of the press. bobby ghosh is an indian american journalisand editor of foreign affairs and opinions at bloomberg. he joins me now from new york. bobby ghosh, it's good to see you. when you look at the contents of this bbc documentary, why do you think it would lead to this kind of response from the modi government? bobb well, the modi government historically has been very, very thin-skinned about any kind of criticism, even the mildest kind of criticism. 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 medioutlet 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 have seen prime minister modi use his government agencies in this way, in these tax raids? bobby: well, tax raids are a fairly familiar tool of intimidation in indian politics. so, it's not just the modi government. this goes back to indira gandhi during the emergency in the 1970's. and it's practiced across india by state governments and 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 to bear, primarily on the domestic media. amna: bobby, there's an organization called freedom house, which grades nations according to their adherence to democratic principles. they rate india as only partly

free. is this just about cracking down on journalists? bobby: no, i think it's a -- there's a -- there's been an across-the-board shrinkage of free space in india. it's not just journalists. it's ngo's. it's for any kind of organization that the government perceives as a threat. and like populist governments elsewhere in the world, the modi government is very quick to see threat where mere criticism is being committed. opposition parties, minority groups of all kinds ha 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 u.s. or from 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 public critical of the modi government. why not? bobby:he administration sees india as a source of revenue. it sees ina 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, the biggest 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 have just talked about, is it still fair to call it that? bobby: well, if you think about democracy 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 turnaround 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. nikky: every artist that has walked in here has said, don't cubbyhole this. keep it grand. jeffrey: nikky finney has big plans for this cavernous 1940's warehouse, once on to the southern electric company. you can still see the painted parking space lines for the industrial trucks. nikky: i think we might keep those, just because we're going to keep some of the history of the old building. jeffrey: well, the history is important. nikky: it's very important. jeffrey: so this is one of the rooms you ll be using? nikky: yes, this is one of the rooms. this piece right here is a depiction of a slave ship. jeffrey: past and future are fused in a new art center in a once-vibrant black community of columbia, south carolina. nikky: this brought tears to my eyes.

there's a 16-year-old painter named andre. jeffrey: a place for exhibitions, performances, art classes, residencies for local artists who often can't afford the rent for studio space. nikky: a hub, a place where people come in to find each other, a place where people get inspired. they sit in that long house -- that's what i call it -- that long house next door and the listen to something that they hadn't heard before, some music, something that goes back into their human body, their system that feeds them. jeffrey: the south carolina-born and raised writer is author of five books of poetry that we weave 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. nikky: we hope to generate so much energy and excitement about the center. jeffrey: now she's dedicated herself to the new center, and, on a recent weekend, she opened its doors to the public for a pop-up artist market. nikky: we're going to have a stage. half of it will be outside. half of it will be 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: but 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 1960's, 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 reconstructiona life that deeply inspired his

daughter. nikky: we're joined at the hip. and i'm like, what can i do to help him? i love poetry. i love writing. i love to express myself in that way. so i began to be heavily influenced by my father's sense of justice in the world. jeffrey: and what did that mean for you, 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, umbrella by the big old tree and in between shores and stare away at the long dirt road, the only

way in or out to grandpop's farm. 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. frances: when we went to places, you would want to know, where's the bookstore? where is the bookstore? jeffrey: today, her mother, frances, proudly displays memorabilia 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 finney. business owners like kevin gray of railroad bbq 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 theatre, 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's essential. it's a place to be. it's a place where things are happening. it's 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. [laughter] oh, yes, your heart beats. jeffrey: history and social justice also come together in a new outlet for finney's art, a 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 te by finney. nikky: i go from the forced removal of africans from africa to this country to talking about some of the things that happened along the way. but my focus in that point

really is about the interior space of african americans. your vermilion quiet, your indigo jar of morning whispers, the midnight calculations of your muzzle. the music balloons the words out into the audience in a different kind of way. it's almost like the light that bounces off of a reflection point in the room. and it's dispersed differently. jeffrey: eouraging 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-one. so, he 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. that's what he taught me. jeffrey: renovations on the new

art center will proceed, while programming and residencies get under way 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 testified 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. lindsay: 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? lindsay: that's correct. john: just the eyes and a little bit of the nose? lindsay: right. john: what's more, since johnson's conviction, two men have confessed to being the ones who killed boyd, and said johnson had nothinto do with it. kimberly: it shows that, sometimes, there is a miscarriage of justice. john: johnson says he remains hopeful that, one day, he will be free. lamar: 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 -- quote -- "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 cheers. the state attorney general who fought against his release said he would not pursue additional charges. amna: and that's the "newshour" for tonight. join us again here 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.

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