captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: as pro-russian separatists force ukrainian troops to retreat, the rebels say they are willing to talk peace with kiev. good evening, i'm judy woodruff. gwen ifill is away. also ahead this labor day monday. paul solman reports on the challenges millions of americans working part-time jobs face in order to make ends meet, as employers crack down on labor costs. >> woodruff: plus, with the risks of playing football come some virtues. what the sport can teach boys

about becoming smart, strong and tough men. those are some of the stories we're covering on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives.

>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the head of nato is calling for a "spearhead force" to deter any russian aggression in eastern europe. anders fogh rasmussen announced the plan today, in response to russia's actions in ukraine. it calls for several thousand troops, ready to move on short notice. alliance leaders will consider the plan on thursday. we'll turn to the day's events in ukraine, after the news summary. the united nations human rights council today condemned the islamic state group for what it called abuses on "an unimaginable scale." the council approved an

investigation of the militants' actions in iraq, from mass killings to sexual abuse to forced conversion. this came after iraq's human rights minister appealed for help, saying, "we are facing a terrorist monster." >> ( translated ): from here, i call upon countries all over the world to take a responsible stand in line with international conventions, norms and humanitarian principles and values, to take a clear-cut and strong action against the islamic state group. it is not an iraqi phenomenon, it is a terrorist organization that jeopardizes the security and peace of countries all over the world. >> woodruff: meanwhile, iraq's caretaker prime minister nouri al-maliki visited the small town of amerli today. it was re-taken by iraqi forces on sunday, after a two-month siege by the "islamic state" group. maliki toured the streets and spoke with shiite turkmen townspeople. he branded the militants "beasts and killers" and pledged iraq

will send them all to their deaths. the siege was broken with the help of u.s. air strikes. in afghanistan, talks on a power-sharing deal between rival presidential candidates have collapsed. abdullah abdullah's camp said today that he and ashraf ghani failed to agree on the powers for a "chief executive" in a national unity government. the deadlock raises the risk of chaos as u.s. and other combat troops are leaving. heavy fighting erupted today in syria's golan heights, between the syrian army and militants linked to al-qaeda. government troops are trying to recapture a crossing point that the "nusra front" rebels captured last week. 44 u.n. peacekeepers from fiji were abducted in the area last week. their whereabouts remain unknown. in north korea, three american detainees were allowed to speak with u.s. and foreign news media today. they appealed for a high-ranking u.s. representative to negotiate their release.

kenneth bae is a missionary, convicted of trying to bring down the state. he's serving 15 years. jeffrey fowle and matthew miller are due to face trial soon on similar charges. president obama vowed this labor day to keep pushing congress for a higher minimum wage. he wants to raise the federal minimum to $10.10 an hour. today, in milwaukee, he said persistence is the key to winning over congress, and he joked the same is true in affairs of the heart. >> there is no denying a simple truth: america deserves a raise. and i think eventually, congress is gonna hear them. we'll break those folks down, we'll just stay on them, we'll just keep at it. that's how i got michelle to marry me, i just wore her down. >> woodruff: republicans have blocked a minimum wage increase, on the grounds it will hurt small business and job growth.

still to come on the "newshour." ukraine peace talks resume amid escalating tensions on the ground; the challenges facing part-time workers in america; violent street protests in islamabad threaten pakistan's fragile democracy; how summer school can get middle school students thinking about college early on; and, celebrating the sport of football and the way it reflects american culture. >> woodruff: talks aimed at restoring peace in ukraine opened today, with ukraine, russia and ukrainian rebels taking part. the gathering in belarus played out against the backdrop of battlefield gains by the rebels. and as matt frei of independent television news reports, the parties on the ground seem to be bracing for more conflict despite the new dialogue. >> reporter: the first day back at school in ukraine, always a

big deal but especially here in the embattled east of the country where defiance is measured in the size of bows, and where the war on their doorstep is dismissed like an unruly classmate. test we should keep the children of ukraine. we do not want to see it destroyed. we want to live in peace and we want to say to all, we want to you have a peaceful life. first day back at school here too, the sandhurst of ukraine. in recent years the army had been an afterthought. but these fresh faced recruits are likely to see action on the country's new eastern front, in a war that at best is a civil conflict and at worst a regional one the assumption since the end of the cold war that conflict in europe was well night impossible has evaporated in heat of a ukrainian summer. president poroshenko today did not mince his words.

>> direct and open aggression has been launched against ukraine from a neighboring state. this has changed the situation to resolve the conflict in a radical way and raises newer questions for the security forces. we are thoroughly analyzing the events of the last week. conclusion license serious. these are the pro russian rebels tooled up allegedly by russia for another attempt to take back donetsk airport in the military ping pong that has defined this limited but increasingly vicious war. the big question this week is whether russia itself is now getting more openly involved, something which moscow continues to deny but the rest of europe and america increasingly believe. the ukranians use this as evidence. on the horizon a ukrainian patrol boat and then an explosion. was it russian artillery as kiev claims or an air-strike? we don't know, but this is what it looked like up close and personal. the naval vessel ablaze, seven crew members injured, two missing.

the ghosts of european history are knocking on the door in what looks at times like a grim re- enactment of the grimmest past. here ukrainian prisoners of war were paraded in front of pro russian civilians, exposed to anti ukrainian anger. there are thought to be 700 prisoners of war now and treatment like this is against the geneva convention. we don't know the number on the other side but we do know that the civilian population in the pro russian areas is increasingly becoming prisoner to ukrainian artillery. the cellars of donetzk have become bomb shelters. a year ago such scenes would have been dismissed as outlandish fantasy now they are become the new normal. >> woodruff: at the meeting in minsk today, the rebels softened their demand for outright independence. instead, they offered to respect ukraine's sovereignty in exchange for a measure of autonomy. for more on today's developments, i talked a short while ago with fred weir of the christian science monitor in moscow.

>> fred weir, thank you very much for talking with us. before i ask you about the diplomacy, give us an update on the situation on the ground. does one side or another now have clearly have the upper hand? >> well, yes, it has shifted back and forth over the past several months. but it appears that ukrainian armed forces overextended themselves. they surrounded the two rebel capitals. and the rebels did give up a lot of territory. turns out they were kind of enticing the ukrainians into a trap. and they appear to have encircled several concentrations of ukrainian forces. they apparently have taken 700 prisoners just in the last few days. so at the moment in that area, that is the eastern provinces of donetsk, the rebels clearly have its up

are hand there on the offensive. and kiev forces are retreating. it doesn't mean that they're go og to march on kiev any time soon but they certainly seem to have reversed their fortunes and they may now be in a very, very strong position to bargain for some kind of autonomy or even independence. >> woodruff: and that's what i wanted to ask you about. because it appears that they have changed their position somewhat. instead of asking for complete independence, if looks as if they're asking for something else. what's your understanding of what the rebels are asking for in these talks going on in belarus? >> well, it's very likely that they are synchronizing their position with moscow. i think that its-- it is basically vladimir putin who is deciding what the end game is here. and he does not want to

invade ukraine or an exin eastern ukraine in or anything like that. and so the rebels now in these semi official talks that are going on in belarus and minsk have dropped their demand for full independence and are saying that they would settle for some kind of sweeping autonomy which would give them control over the language they use, the right to elect their own leaders, to appoint their own law enforcement officials. and more crucially, to make their own economic arrangements. which means that they would be able to continue dealing with russia across the border regardless moscow's relations with kiev. as i say, they're winning on the battlefield now. it does look like there won be any military solution which was plan a in kiev, to

liberate this territory and restore kiev. -- kiev, that doesn't look set to happen. so probably negotiations are the only way out. >> woodruff: and how does what they're asking for, the rebels, square with what the government of ukraine is prepared to do? >> well, you know, if we could separate ourselves from the passions we all feel about what's going on there, it isn't that hard, i think, to see that ukraine could accept moscow's conditions. i don't mean that they would like to be dictated to by moscow but moscow's conditions are basically, ukraine must be nonaligned. never join nato. two, russian language should have official status in ukraine, particularly in eastern ukraine. and third, there is this sweeping autonomy for the eastern provinces. >> woodruff: right. >> those are not that hard

to live with. it would be some kind of status like say finland had during the cold war, or something, which is what moscows i think sees as the end game. >> woodruff: so is the thinking that there could be an accommodation here? >> well, if neither side can actually win on the battlefield, then what is the alternatives? they can't go on bleeding themselves the way they are. ukraine's economy is imploded. there has to be, this has to break somehow. and if ever there was an opening for diplomacy and for some kind of compromise to settle, i think that would probably be now. >> fred weir with the christian science monitor reportsing in moscow. we thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: now to a labor day story about the changing nature

of the job market in this country. as workers seek more flexibility in their hours, and employers seek more control over labor costs, the number of part time jobs is soaring. newshour economics correspondent paul solman looks at some of the consequences. it's all part of his ongoing reporting, "making sense" of financial news. >> reporter: nearly 11:00 on a saturday night, and 24-year-old onieka o'kieffe is leaving the brooklyn apartment she shares with her mother, sister and one- year-old niece for manhattan. it's an hour-long trip, between the walk to the subway station and then three train rides to midtown. but o'kieffe isn't going to a party or pub. she's heading to work, to get her part-time schedule for the coming week, and she might be on the sunday midnight shift, which begins in an hour. >> i'm not sure if i'm working, so i'm going to go there and see my schedule, and if i have to

work at least i'm ready. >> reporter: o'kieffe works the graveyard shift in the stockroom at american eagle in times square, earning $8 an hour, her choice, she says, so that this job won't interfere with her other part-time gig, a day shift in the stockroom at crocs shoes in herald square. between the two part-time jobs, o'kieffe worked 60 hours the prior week. on august 6th, she'd gone to the er with 104-degree fever. >> with the lack of sleep and not enough time to take care of myself my immune system was compromised and i got sick. everyone tells me that it's not good for you to like overexert yourself to that degree, but like the money's necessary, for rent, utilities and things like that. >> reporter: while more americans are now employed than before the downturn began, o'kieffe represents one of the

most startling statistics of the post-great recession period: three million more part-time workers who report that they want full-time jobs but can't find them. the total is up by more than 50% since 2007. why the part-time explosion? because so many would-be full- timers are competing for the same jobs, and have to take what businesses offer. and, says m.i.t. business professor zeynep ton. >> the dominant view in business is to see labor as a cost to be minimized and pay employees as little as possible. >> reporter: so companies hire part-time, and use the latest computer technology to get maximum efficiency from every part-timer, with scheduling software that programs workers as interchangeable parts. >> sometimes there are lots of customers, sometimes there are a few customers. and they can measure this in as short as 15 minute increments now with technology.

so their view is: why don't we match the number of people that we have as closely as possible to customer traffic? that way, when customers are there we can serve them better and when they're not there we don't have anybody idle, standing around doing nothing. >> makes sense. >> makes sense. however, when the mindset is to see labor as cost to be minimized, retailers and lots of other companies find themselves in a vicious cycle. and this vicious cycle is downright brutal for employees. >> these are from repetitive strain injuries. >> reporter: starbucks barista liberty locke is in hand- splints, the result, she says, of trying to supplement her 20 scheduled hours the prior week with enough additional shifts to get by. >> you never can find it spread out as a regular person would work you know? it's, you end up just having to take what you can. so i did a 12-hour shift one day and 11 hours the next day and by the end both arms were just so cramped up i could barely close my hands. >> reporter: locke, who's been at starbucks eight years, says she's seen the advent of

"optimal scheduling." >> when i was hired, managers would be fired if they weren't putting out schedules three weeks in advance, but now it's every week and i believe it's the new automatic system only allows them to do a week in advance, but we're required to give six months in advance of availability of when we're available to work. >> reporter: moreover, she says, baristas wanting to work at least 32 hours a week have to make themselves available 70% of the hours the store is open. >> this store is only closed three hours out of the day. so it makes you have to be available for over a hundred hours in the hopes of getting 32. so it makes it extremely impossible to go to school, impossible to work a second job. >> reporter: starbucks' scheduling practices, and the havoc they can wreak on workers, were highlighted in a recent new york times article about san diego barista jannette navarro, a single mother whose life was falling apart largely because of her erratic work schedule. almost immediately, starbucks president cliff burrows announced a change of policy:

>> we will work quickly to update to our scheduling software to give store managers greater ability to provide stability and consistency in schedules week-to-week for our partners. >> reporter: but starbucks is far from the only company using so called "just in time" scheduling software. and some retailers go a step further, says union representative janna pea, with "on call" scheduling. >> you have to be available to work, but if they call you and say, "we don't need you," you don't get paid, making yourself available for what you thought would have been a shift of money. that is the kicker and that is what's most unfortunate. on-call along with just-in-time scheduling because the workers literally need to be available at the snap of the retailer. >> reporter: melody pabon became fed up enough to quit. a cashier at zara in midtown manhattan, she asked not to work weekends, when it was hardest to find affordable child care.

so instead, she was often assigned to close on weeknights, putting her back home in brooklyn past midnight. sometimes she didn't see her four-year-old mason for days. >> my son is well mannered for his age, but working those hours i started to notice, the whining and the crying and temper tantrums here and there which that's something he rarely did. so i was like, you know what? this is actually taking a toll on him as well. >> reporter: when she asked for further accommodation, she says her hours started to dwindle. so when the store closed for renovation last month and pabon was given the choice of a transfer or a layoff, she opted for the latter, and the relative security of a regular unemployment check. >> am i gonna be playing juggling with my money, and work two days a week, three days a week, four days a week not knowing? especially if it's only maybe a few days in advance and i have rent to pay. i can't do that. >> reporter: the problem, says

business professor ton, is that in squeezing employees, companies are shooting themselves in the foot. >> when you see labor as just a cost to be minimized, the outcome of that is high employee turnover, absenteeism, bad morale, bad customer service, operational problems, low sales and low profits. when sales are low then labor budgets are reduced. and this vicious cycle continues. >> reporter: so why do they do it? >> excellence is a lot harder to achieve than mediocrity. >> reporter: now no company would speak to us about this. but mollie lombardi, a "human capital management" consultant says the software itself is not nefarious, because without it. >> managers end up spending a lot of time in the back room, sort of looking at bits and pieces of paper of people's vacation requests, looking at delivery schedules, trying to find the balance between the right number of staff and the right number of slots available in the shift. >> reporter: but, lombardi says:

>> if a manager is told: you need to operate at the least labor cost possible, they may take that to heart a little too literally and start to schedule down to bare bones and actually not be delivering the customer experience or the employee experience that the company wants. >> reporter: meanwhile, onieka o'kieffe did have to work at american eagle on sunday, midnight to 6 a.m. >> i can't complain cause it's hours but i was hoping to have today off. >> reporter: then 7:00 a.m. to noon at crocs, back to american eagle at midnight on monday, and on to crocs for the noon to 8:00 p.m. shift. and so it went last week, until she'd put in 24 hours at american eagle, 33.5 at crocs. 57.5 hours in all. >> it's been extremely difficult, more so than i imagined. i would like a full time job, but i realize they're very few and far between. you gotta do what you gotta do.

>> woodruff: online you can find paul's extended conversation with zeynep ton, author of "the good jobs strategy," on our "making sense" page. we turn now to another take on today's economic picture. jeffrey brown has that story. >> brown: for many months now, the number of new jobs created has risen, and the jobless rate has fallen substantially. all part of what looks like a slow but steady recovery. but a new study finds that americans are hardly upbeat. 71% say they believe the economy has permanently changed for the worse. and that's compared to 49% who thought so just after the economic crisis had hit. political scientist cliff zukin of rutgers university worked on the survey, and joins us now. welcome, let's start with the big picture. this idea that more people feel there's been permanent damage now than even a few years right after the recovery. they're more pessimistic now? >> they're more pessimistic

now. i think they're unhappy and i think they're anxious. what he with found was that the notion that there's been a permanent change in the economy has grown, not recede as we've now hit almost five years of continuous growth. and the key to understanding this is it's just not showing up in their personal life. >> well, that's what i wanted to ask you. what kind of experiences are they pointing to? >> well, they're pointing to what they have in savings and salary. and things that have changed around them. so they have now 42% say they have less in savings and salary now than they did five years ago. and they say that their current economic status for three out of five of them is either fair or poor. and so they've had some diminution of quality of life. we asked two questions that allow us to try and frame this. whether they have had a major or minor change in the quality of their life.

and whether it's been temporary or permanent. and we have one-third in the country, so that's 80 million people, who say there has been a permanent impact or their quality of life. either major or minor. so whatever has happened in the stock market and other indicators is not getting through to main street at all. people are struggling and there's been no letup really in the last five years. >> and did that pessimistic cut across both class, ethnic lines, geography as much as you could tell? >> yeah, absolutely. i mean i think you can call it a generalized sort of malaise and up set. it's so pervasive that it is-- it doesn't break by the usual demographics. because it effects pretty much everybody. >> brown: there was also a negative portrait of the american worker by and large as well as unhappy. i means that's one way to just look at it generally. >> well, one of the things we wanted to do for labor day was to take a snapshot

of how americans view the american worker. so we gave them 12 adjectives and asked them to check off things that they thought fit very well. and lois was happy at 14%, well paid, came in the next lowest at 18. two that came in the highest are fearful or insecure in their jobs. and then highly stressed in their work. one of the interesting things was the picture of the american worker is not at all attractive or what we my think. only 20% say that they're innovative. only 30% ambitious. only a quarter say that they're well educated. and i think the statistic that surprised us the most out of all of this is just one in three said the american worker is better than workers in other countries. >> brown: there was some new gallop-- gallup polling suggestsing with wages starting to creep up a little bit there was some

new confidence in the economy. did you see any signs of hopefulness? >> not really. i mean we have the same number of gallup when i asked workers if they are satisfied with their own jobs. but when the focus is on the economy, the u.s. economy as a whole, only one-third tell us that it's gotten better in the last year. and only one quarter think it's going to get better next year. it's very, very hard to go through the numbers that we went through and find a lot of encouragement or upside. >> let me ask you briefly, finally, your political scientist, did you see a direct political impact in terms of who people blame for all of this? >> well, i think they blame partly for workers, partly just the economy, but they certainly are not enamoured with government. we asked them how much confidence they had in washington's ability to solve problems. just 2% said a lot. another 20% said some. if they had to choose between president obama or

the republicans in congress, to handle the economy, they said neither of the above at 40%. and they don't think unemployment going to get better even if the republicans take both houses of congress in the fall. >> all right. well, not a pretty picture for this labor day. cliff zukin of rutgers university, thanks some of. >> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: the recent unrest in pakistan escalated again today as protesters temporarily took control of state broadcasting facilities. we have a report narrated by jonathan sparks of independent television news. >> reporter: the battle raged on constitutional avenue today, police and protesters moving back and forth, seizing ground in pakistan's capital, then ceding it. here the police take flight, pursued by thousands of demonstrators, carrying sticks and stones and slingshots. the trouble broke out on

saturday when they tried to storm the residence of the prime minister nawaz sharif. he's accused of electoral fraud and the protesters want him out. a sense of crisis, amplified by pakistan's energetic news channels. and one station found itself in the firing line today. the state broadcaster, pakistan tv, was over-run by 300-odd protesters. they marched into the transmission room and cut the wires, taking two channels off the air. >> protesters have managed to barge their way into p.t.v. headquarters and they've even made their way into some of the newsrooms and they're armed with sticks and batons and the important thing is that we remain calm right now, there's no reason to panic at this stage. >> reporter: the situation was diffused by the army, a sign of their strength. soldiers walked into the station and asked the protesters to go. this afternoon, the leaders of

the protests tried to distance themselves from the raid. former cricketer imram khan said he was sorry if any of his followers were involved, while the cleric tahir al-qadri assured the nation it had nothing to do with him. both men command thousands of supporters, but that's not enough to sweep the government from power. they need the military's help to force nawaz sharif to resign. the country's all-powerful army chief rahil sharif has sounded diplomatic so far, but the relations with the prime minister, who he met with this afternoon, are thought to be tense. the army unhappy with a number of government policies. they don't want closer relations with india or the prosecution of former army chief perez musharraf. and as the crisis continues, they may exact a heavy price. >> woodruff: to help us better understand what all these developments mean for pakistan, we are joined by hussain haqqani.

he was pakistan's ambassador to washington from 2008 to 2011. he's now director for south and central asia at the hudson institute. his latest book is "magnificent delusions: pakistan, the united states, and an epic history of misunderstanding." and moeed yusuf is the director of south asia programs at the u.s. institute of peace. he just returned from a trip to pakistan. we welcome you both to the program. prime minister sharif has been in office over a year what is behind all these protests. >> well, what we have essentially is several characters in the pakistani play wanting everything according to their script and not willing to compromise. the military does not want the civilian government to be able to change policies, especially in relation to india. they also want general mush arive to be released without

being tried for treason. mr. sharif cliffs critical positions to people close to him by family tie. so even though he is democratically elected, not really acted like a democrat. and then we have spoilers like mr. imram khan who believes he should be prime minister, except for a cult like following he doesn't seem to have the strength to win an election. it's a bit like al gore coming 14 months after the presidential election and saying oh, and by the way, that presidential election was rigged. so i am going to protest in front of the white house and occupy it forcibly. >> woodruff: so it sounds look a number of different forces at play. moeed yusuf, the army is part of this but they are not owe vertly leading these protests. >> they are not and i don't think they will. this is one moment in pakistan's history where an o verdict coup, no one is really seriously contemplating that at this point. the military has put the civilian government on the back foot and they are very

much in the mix. people are talking about the possibility of a coup. i would say when they ask the military as the government did to come in and mediate between two political rivals, you've already given them the frontseat. and the soft coup has happened as we speak. and so the military is to the going to go any farther. they've got what they need. >> woodruff: so is this something, mr. ambassador, that's been building for a long time? was there something that -- >> not really. >> woodruff: somethinged that whanged did -- >> there are many people whether you including of mr. imram khan's party who say some people in the military have given a wink and nod to orchestrate this. which val bad for pakistan it means an elected prime minister who wins an election with millions of votes can actually be made a virtually infectionive leader with a few thousand people demonstrating against it and holding a sit-in. and i agree with moeed that the military is unlikely to take over. it doesn't want to take over. but what it has done is it has done a noncoup coup

meaning not a pering to take power directly but trying to take over policy. and that is where the confrontation is really coming from. >> woodruff: moeed yusuf, where is the public with all of this. is the public with the military w mr. sharif or someone else? >> that's a good question. i spent about two weeks following this very clickl clickly-- closely including being at the protests. the interesting part there were about 70, 80,000 people on the streets in islamabad. that's neither here for there for a country of 180 million. the real city is there is a lot of lat ent sympathy for these protests and protestors when you talk to people in drawing rooms, on the streets or when you listen media. but that's not linked to what these people are asks for which is election rigging and re-election. that's really built around the situation of the country, people thinking that the government hasn't delivered on governance counts, poverty, et cetera. so all of that is being con plated now and people are value-- rallying the crowds to say things are really bad,

we need to get rid of the government that is where the sympathy is coming from, that is why the government is on the become foot even with only 70,000 feel on the street. >> and there is no evidence that the general public supports the protest. i think that the television channel that actually encourage people, incite them and say why aren't you coming out it it looks very orchestrated. it's not like the whole country is broken down and everybody decided we hate this government. if there is an election held tomorrow, i think the results will still be a mexed parliament compromising different political parties. what is happening is a classic example of intransigent political actors trying to insist that they will get through street fro tests and a combination of conspiracies what they could not get through in election. >> woodruff: so what would happen then furx don't i have change of leader, if you don't have mr. sharif out and someone else in, what do you have? >> look, what i can tell su mr. sharif is not leaving without a fight. he's not going anywhere. i can also tell you people

close to imram khan tell us he ask not going to give up on the demand for resignation. so what are you looking for at this point is more violence, more dragging out and the military ultly-- ultimately blowing the whistle and decide who they are going to back. which what imram khan says he has wanted from day one, talking about a third empire making -- >> that is something he made that later but he definitely has been talking about having the military behind him. and that is not good for pakistani democracy. the people of pakistan should be able to elect the government. and if the government does not perform well they should be able to vote it out at the next election. unfortunately, they're not being allowed to do that and that does not go well for either pakistan democracy or stability in pakistan. >> woodruff: the rest of the world is looking at this and among other things saying how does this affect the region, especially people in the united states are saying how does it affect afghanistan. and pakistan clearly plays a

big role. the pakistani taliban, what is the effect on what's going on in afghanistan or is there an effect? >> the very simple effect is pakistan and pakistanies have had no chance for the past two weeks to focus on the real things pakistan needs to worry about. that includes the pakistani taliban fighting the pakistani army. that includes the afghan situation next door. that includes the relationship with india. that includes all the problems internally. anything that you look at on the pakistani televisn about the political crisis which is not moving an inch for the past two weeks. >> woodruff: where does that leave pakistan's relations with the reg and and with the united states. the united states has said very little about this. >> in limbo. and the fact remains that pakistan has deep domestic crisis. one-third of school age children do not go to school. its economy is a shambles. it depends largely on foreign assistance. its relationship with india is something that needs to be settled. and its future in relation to afghanistan is also

something the pakistani government needs to pay attention to. but if every few months a government is elect they will be orchestrated protests with the help of the media, as well as behind the scenes manipulation by the military, pakistan will not find their stability that it needs to focus on those problems. >> woodruff: quickly, both of you see this continuing for some time before it's revolved. >> i do. i don't see anything that will end this quickly in a day or two. i don't see that happening. >> i don't see it ending and a good solution or outcome. >> true. >> woodruff: on that sobering note, former ambassador hussain haqqani, moeed yusuf, we thank you both. >> pleasure. >> woodruff: our next report looks at an innovative summer school program here in the u.s. designed to motivate its students to apply for college. special correspondent terry rubin reports from minnesota.

>> reporter: it's the middle of the summer in st. paul, minnesota and these sixth, seventh and eighth graders are hop-scotching their way into school. these students are not taking summer school because they have to, but because they want to. instead of going to a classroom, they go for a rousing game of dodge ball. this unusual start to a day is actually quite normal for a program called breakthrough, an eight-hour a day, five-day a week summer enrichment program for middle-schoolers and soon- to-be high school freshmen. they take courses in math, english, science, and social studies and say they have fun doing it. >> don't stop, you know that it is breakthrough! >> reporter: especially when music cues them to dance from class to class.

breakthrough is a unique summer program with the sole focus of showing low income under resourced middle school students how to get to college. mikisha nation is the executive director of twin cities breakthrough. >> breakthroughs mission, at its core its about two really important issues. the first is preparing under- resourced students for college success, and the second is engaging and inspiring the next generation of educators, and we do this through a unique model of students teaching students. nation says it is this idea of students teaching students that has led to breakthrough's success in getting these middle- schoolers to believe they can go to college. breakthrough executive directors around the country say there are two elements that make this program unique: it implants the idea of attending college while students are young and impressionable and it shows them what they have to do for the next six years to get there. jeff ochs has been connected to twin cities breakthrough for

more than ten years. he says they make sure students are on the right track from the beginning. >> the first thing that we do is we really work to make sure that see students are in honors courses during their school year. we want to make sure that inside those schools they're in the courses that are preparing them the best for college, and so, you know, not only are they getting academic support, but they're also in a culture, a college going culture with their peer group that's really going to support them on that journey. >> reporter: the middle schoolers say the learning experience itself is different. dynasty anderson is in her first year at breakthrough. >> they teach in a different way, they just don't like stand in front of the class and say oh, you're going to do this, this and this, like regular school. they give you options, and they ask do we have any questions in between almost everything they say, instead of like school, we have to wait until the end, and we might forget our questions. >> reporter: another difference, according to soon to be high schooler becky stark, homework is called booya.

>> a lot of people associate homework with boring, not fun, something you have to do that just takes up your time. but here, every time someone says booya you have to respond with booya. you have to repeat it. and it just keeps the energy up, it makes everyone feel welcome and together >> reporter: in the twin cities, 100% of the students who attended the middle school summer program in addition to the weekend enrichment sessions throughout high school, are attending college this fall. 13-year-old luciano munoz is back for a second year and says breakthrough has made him a better student. >> when i was in sixth grade, they didn't really give us grades, but i'm pretty sure i might have had c's. and when i came back from breakthrough, i started getting a's and b's during seventh grade. >> reporter: site director ben bauer cited studies that show without the support or guidance of programs like breakthrough, 85% of students like these are not likely to attend college.

>> even those kids who are high achieving, and highly motivated in elementary going into middle school can drop off, and a lot of that is because its not the norm, its not cool to like learning, and kids want to fit in, at that age especially, right, and liking learning, and being smart isn't fitting in. we want to create a place where they are fitting in, and especially in the middle school years that's really powerful, >> reporter: neesha moore says her peers were surprised she was already talking about college in middle school. >> my friends it was a surprise to them, they were like, why are you looking at colleges and stuff, we're in seventh grade. i was like, it doesn't really matter, its never too early to start. we learned that here at breakthrough. >> reporter: students must apply to get into this program. this summer, breakthrough served more than 4,000 students nationwide. although, at various sites, they turned away anywhere from 40 to 60% of applicants based on a lack of funding or lack of facilities. twin cities breakthrough became

one of the few cities to have multiple facilities as they have partnered with minneapolis and st. paul public schools opening up two more sites in low income neighborhoods. still, the program could only accept 150 out of more than 400 applicants. nationally, breakthrough leaders say it costs on average more than $25,000 per student to run the six-week program. their funding comes from corporate sponsors, grants, and individual donations. to create this distinct culture, breakthrough directors award about 800 hands-on teaching fellowships at 27 sites across the country each year. they say the fellows are the key to the program's success. college junior denise quintanilla was a breakthrough student and is now teaching science. hanan farah is entering her senior year of high school and is teaching social studies.

both these teaching fellows say the system works because they relate to the kids. >> it's just understanding how they work, and how you work, because you're not too far apart in age, which is really nice, and you're also able to build a relationship that is based on friendship as well, and you're a role model to them, because you are not just their teacher but friend and role model as well. >> they know that you're going through the same thing, that you have homework, and that you have classes you need to get to in the morning, we wake up at the same time during the school year, so that's why students can really relate to us. >> reporter: daniel brenal used to be a teaching fellow, and now is a full time teacher in st. paul public schools. he trains the current crop of young educators. >> one of the reasons that our teachers are so successful at breakthrough, being teachers, is because of the support that they get from the staff, and from the coaches like me, who work with them to make sure every lesson is high quality, every lesson is going to work for their students, is going to be

engaging. it's interesting because we get a lot of college students who think, oh, i'd love to do something fun in the summer, something academic, something with kids, and they never thought of teaching before, they find out about breakthrough and it's just infectious, in a good way. >> reporter: more than 70% of the twin city breakthrough teaching fellows ultimately choose a career in education. ben bauer is one of those. he spent five years with breakthrough >> when i got this opportunity one thing that really stuck out was just being with kids, and actually getting that hands on experience, and not even just kids in general, but specific grade groups. i fell in love with the students we have here, and it made me want to go teach in a low income school, and that's something that wasn't even on my radar before. >> reporter: while the executive director is looking for ways to expand and reach more kids, teaching fellows say they end each day the same way they started. showing these middle-schoolers

the path to college, with a little dancing. >> woodruff: the football season is just getting underway. with huge interest, big bucks, and lots of questions. jeffrey is back with our look at how football relates to our culture. >> brown: it's by far the most popular sport in america, but football also continues to garner headlines beyond the sports page. for its violence and health risks from concussions and for cases of domestic abuse by players. last week, nfl commissioner roger goodell announced a tougher policy to deal with players involved in such cases. just this weekend, there was another case, as san francisco 49ers defensive end ray mcdonald was arrested for domestic violence against his fiance. what to make of this sport that has such a grip on american culture? the new book, "why football matters: my education in the game" is one response. its author, university of

virginia professor mark edmundson, joins me now. football is a kind of training ground. you started this as a personal thing. a braining ground for you. teaches you when you're knocked down to get up. >> knocked down to get up. i mean i think there is a lot of truth in what the coaches say, that it can help you develop courage, loyalty t can help you develop character. but there's a downside to all those things. there's a dark side to the game. some of what my book is about is trying to let the better stuff come through and make people more away of the dark sides a. so they can be vigilant about it. >> brown: the better stuff starts with your own experience. >> yeah, i was if pretty rough shape when i was a yunnier in high school. my family was in very, very rough condition. my sister just died. my father was taking it hard. my mother was very close to breaking down. and you know, we needed something, i'm not saying to the ball saved my life or anything but it was darn helpful to have someplace to go, where i could try to improve, try to get better at.

i didn't care much about the school. but football gave me some focus and some attention and really helped me to develop at a time when i didn't have much else going on for me. >> so part of the book is about your own personal experience and then you get big. football is our national pastime. but also signifying a country that is a more-- like country, now, right? >> as it changed from when baseball was the pastime. >> you hit it. that is the-- baseball is what we were, to the ball is what we have become. and what is that? you know, a country more perhaps willing to own to its own war-like nature. and that's a little bit distresing. at the same time, you know, the preparation to be a soldier, the preparation to be brave, that can be valuable for a young man or a young woman. there is a lot of paradox involve in the football at this point. >> brown: so the kind of headlines that i was referring to, the domestic violence, do you see things like that is part of the culture or the breeding ground of the game. i mean how do you --

>> i think you know, plato talked about this quality, a spiritedness, passion, intensity. and eval ued it but he saw that it really needed to be educated. and when you send people out in the field and say hit as hard as you can, block as hard as you can. they are going to develop a strong dose of spiritedness. and you've got to help them to understand that there is an on the field an off the feel and it's not easy, but there's a good side to it spirited people, are the people who outside of football get things done. they write books and start businesses and teach school and they become physicians. and so you get really important quality to play. this spirited thing. but it's also really dangerous. >> so do you see the culture inside football trying to address things like that, and the larger culture, looking in at it, does it, is there a chance of people turning away from that violent culture? >> i think it's a tough one, you know. i think that the progress is getting made. there's more thoughts about it you see headlines about domestic violence, you see

the nfl taking steps. there's a lot more thoughts about concussion and how to deal with those. i think the nfl could probably go further though i'm no policy expert. but at the same time you do see people sit down on sunday afternoon and watch other people do an extraordinary deeds an watch those people be very brave in certain ways that can be moving to certain people. >> what about the argument, here i'm thinking about high schools. >> yes. >> when i have talked on the program here to people about the crisis in public education. >> yeah. >> and i'm thinking in particular of the book called smartest kids in the world. where she was, amanda riply was comparing high schools around the world. and where kids do bet per in high schools where in most cases there's not much emphasis on sports. one argument is we need less sports in high school. not more. >> right. well, you know t may be that you can develop your intelligence better. isolated from sports. but we're not just human intelligence, right. we're more than intelligence.

we're also that spirited part. and you have to develop that too and help wake it up and help channel it and that's what sports does. i would like to see more dialogue between sports and the academic life or intellectual life but i wouldn't want to lose the sports part. >> but that is, both sides of your life. because you are an english literature professor. writing a book about football and about your past in high school. >> that is both sides of my life. and you know, i continue and i owe it really a great debt of gratitude the fact that i can still get out there and exercise have a good time. i play basketball 3 or 4 times a week, as i tell people, did you go play basketball. i say the other nine guys did. that's part of the legacy of having trained pie body a little bit and seeing what benefits could come from it when i was very young, it stuck with me. i'm grateful for it. >> the book is why football matters my education of the game, mark easy mondayson, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: again, the major

developments of the day. talks aimed at restoring peace in ukraine opened against the backdrop of battlefield gains by the ukrainian rebels. nato's head called for a ready- response force to deter possible russian aggression in eastern europe. and three americans held in north korea appealed for a high-ranking u.s. representative to negotiate their release. on the newshour online this labor day, what have we learned from this summer's employee walk-out from supermarket chain "market basket?" newshour contributor christopher mackin weighs in on the recent high profile struggle over ownership of the grocery stores. that's on our making sense page. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. we'll see you on-line and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

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report" with tyler mathisen and susiegharib. welcome to "nightly business report." on this labor day what better topic to discuss than the job market, a key issue for the economy, and one that is the focus of both wall street and main street. and while the job market is getting better, it's still facing a number of issues, from wage growth to getting the long-term unemployed back to work. so, tonight we'll tackle those challenges and look at what some companies are doing to hire the skilled workers they need. we'll also meet a couple of entrepreneurs who took their passion, mixed in hard work and turned their bright ideas into successful businesses. we start tonig