nick schifrin reports. >> schifrin: along the poland/belarus border, a standoff.ives. >> ( translated ): we don't have water, don't have food. how many time we waiting? >> schifrin: thousands of families from iraq and the developing world hope to get to poland, and therefore the european union. they trekked for weeks through forests, swamps, and freezing streams, through water so cold, mohamud got frostbite. from the water? >> ( translated ): i was walking for more than 14 or 15 days. >> schifrin: just a few feet away, somali migrant ibrahim did the two-week walk without any shoes. >> there's a shared responsibility on the part of poland and belarus for what can only be described currently as a humanitarian disaster. >> schifrin: lydia gall is a researcher for human rights watch, who just left the poland/belarus border. >> these people are completely unprepared for what-- what is in store for them. they come with normal suitcases, clearly not aware of the fact that they will spend days, if not weeks, trekking. and then, by the time they get to the border area, the

. >> woodruff: and nick schifrin joins me now for more on this. so, nick, first of all, remind us what are burn pits that were used in these wars? and what does it mean when the president says the specific needs of each service member? >> schifrin: yeah, so 3.7 million service members served in iraq, afghanistan, and the persian gulf, all the way back to the early 90s and the gulf war, and many were exposed to toxic air, including by burn pits, litelly, pits where the military would burn everything from tires to styrofoam, right next to where service members and lived and worked. and veteran groups argued that created toxic smoke that afflicted service members with higher-than-average rates of illnesses from asthma to cancer. and for president biden, this is personal. he believes that his son beau's brain cancer after service in iraq may have been caused by a burn pit. but of the 40,000 service members who applied for disability compensation or medical care since 9/11 for cancer, 60% were rejected. the v.a. says there's no scientific proof that th

the two sides and their allies have been fighting for exactly one year, and as nick schifrin reports, the conflict is on the brink of all-out civil war that threatens to tear apart the country. of images and accounts may disturbing some viewers. >> schifrin: on the one-year anniversary of the conflict, ethiopian soldiers and officials lit candles for those they called martyred heroes. and while some protected flames from the wind, prime minister abiy ahmed fanned the flames of war. >> ( translated ): we will bury this enemy with our blood and bones and uphold the glory of ethiopia. >> schifrin: government airstrikes target civilian infrastructure in tigray's capital, mekelle. and the humanitarian crisis in tigray is acute. 400,000 face famine. five million need aid to survive. but a senior official of the u.s. agency for international development told pbs newshour the ethiopian government and its allies have blocked all aid for two weeks, by barring these trucks from entering tigray. and now tigrayan forces are advancing south. analysts warn the country's fate is at stake. the crisis

nick schifrin reports. >> schifrin: nicaragua has become a police state.or these relatives of opposition politicians who've been detained, the crackdown isd complete. >> there is no democracy. democracy has been demolished. >> schifrin: carlos fernando chamorro is a nicaraguan journalist, now in exile. his is one nicaragua's most prominent families-- now the target of authoritarianism. his mother, violetta, became president in the 1990s byol defeating daniel ortega during his first term. carlos' cousin, juan sebastiaÁn, was an opposition candidate, before he was detained in june. and, his sister christiana was an opposition candidate beforepp she was detained and charged by ortega's government with money laundering and "ideological falseness." >> he cannot face the leadership that are trying to represent this aspiration of democracy-- democracy and justice. he cannot risk power in a competitive election. so he basically decided to cancel the electoral roll. >> schifrin: in all, this year, nicaraguan authorities haveri detained seven presidential candidates

but first, here's nick schifrin. >> schifrin: in china, it is the best of times... the worst of times. beijing produces more solar power, more wind power, and more electric cars than any country in the world. but china also produces more greenhouse gases than the rest of the industrialized world combined. >> there's schizophrenia there-- that there is both an investment in the future, in exactly the kind of technologies that are going to be needed to build a sustainable economic engine for their country; at the same time, clinging to some of the vestiges of the past. >> schifrin: pete ogden is the vice president for energy and climate for the u.n. foundation. he was president obama's climate director when obama and chinese president xi jinping, representing the world's two largest emitters, agreed to climate collaboration. that produced the 2015 paris climate accords' pledge to reduce emissions enough to limit global warming to 2 degrees celsius. ( cheers and applause ) climate experts say beijing has met its paris promises. beijing's poured billions into electric c

nick schifrin has the story. >> schifrin: on tigray tv, tigrayan forces and their allies advance south get closer to addis ababa, the capital and the country are increasingly at risk. but while the ethiopian government says addis and its bustling markets are safe, and rallies residents to decry what it calls fake news, the international community fears for the future, as secretary of state tony blinken said today. >> i am very concerned about the potential for ethiopia to-- to implode. >> schifrin: the crisis began last november, when tigrayan forces who used to run the country attacked a federal outpost. federal forces, and their allies from neighboring eritrea, and the amhara region, waged a scorched earth campaign, and occupied parts of tigray. but in late june, tigrayan forces pushed federal ethiopian soldiers out, and kept going, from tigray into neighboring amharra and afar, and now, toward the capital. they allied with the small oromo liberation army, seized two key towns, and are within 200 miles of addis ababa. >> the threat to addis is an existential threat to the country. an

nick schifrin begins our coverage. >> schifrin: today, from european capitals where omicron spread earlierpreviously thought, to eastern africa, where health workers rushed to administer mrna vaccines, the world wrestled with worry. >> i overheard fears about the omicron variant which is ravaging the world, so i decided to come for the jab. >> schifrin: many countries aren't relying only on jabs. at least 56 have imposed omicron-related travel restrictions. but, more than 20 countries have detected omicron cases, from canada to australia. yesterday, japan closed its borders to foreigners and increased quarantines, but today, reported its first omicron case. the world health organization has denounced travel bans, but today, it also warned omicron numbers could double or triple this week, and suggested people over 60, at high risk, postpone travel. and, moderna warned its vaccine would likely be less effective against omicron. chief executive stÉphane bancel told the financial times, “all the scientists i've talked to say 'this is not going to be good'.” but u.s. officials today predicted v

schifrin. >> reporter: let's start at the beginning in 1979.ade afghanistan and the carter administration decides to fund the mujahedeen, the afghan fighters who would fight the soviet union. there's a formal decision by the middle of 1980 for saudi arabia to essentially split the cost with the united states and have the pakistani intelligence service, the i.s.i., funnel weapons to the mujahideen. you were, of course, in the middle of that effort. how did it work? >> the recipients were picked on their ability to harm the soviets, basically. i would say that on the issue of i would say that on the issue of afghanistan, from 1979 until i left the intelligence department in 2001, there was, if you like, a good war. and then there was a bad war. the good war is when we got the soviets out, jointly. but once that happened, you know, the united states, basically, and the other countries in the world turned their back on afghanistan. and unfortunately, the mujahideen that had worked so well together to get the soviets out, they began to fight each ot

here's nick schifrin. >> schifrin: the two leaders spoke virtually for three and a half hours, and both sides described it as an attempt to ensure "competition does not veer into conflict." the u.s. said president biden reiterated no change in u.s. policy toward taiwan. chinese state media said president xi described attempts by taiwan to gain u.s. support for independence was "playing with fire. whoever plays with fire will get burnt." the two sides agreed to continue coordinating on issues including climate change; increase dialogue and the u.s. says they agreed to discuss china's expanding nuclear weapons capacity. so did the meeting advance u.s. interests? for that we get two views. susan thornton had a 28 year career as an american diplomat focusing on asia. she's now a visiting lecturer at yale law school. and john mearsheimer writes extensively on strategic issues and is a political science professor at the university of chicago. welcome both of you back to the "newshour". john mearsheimer, let me start with you. do you believe the meeting served u.s. interests? >> no, i don't th

i am nick schifrin. ♪ judy: in a recent pbs newshour survey, and partnership with the generation lab,g adults said they expect climate change to have major implications for how they live, so nearly two thirds said climate change will influence where they decide to live. have said they will change how and where the travel and a third said it would affect their decision to have children. that is on top of groin research that serves young people are increasingly experiencing climate anxiety. william has this report about young people's lives and how they see their future. william: these young protesters in san francisco are frustrated by what they see as an action on clime change. >> what do we want? >> climate justice. >>? ? when do we run it test one it? -- when do we want it? >>now. >> it is the biggest issue facing our society today. william: sophia is a member of an organization called youth versus apocalypse. it organized today's protest. she says the group's name is no exaggeration. >> what we are facing right now is an apocalypse. when people think nobody is going to die of clima

for the "pbs newshour," i'm nick schifrin.y: throughout the pandemic, many celebrities have encouraged people to get a covid vaccine, often showing themselves getting a shot. but there are others, such as singer nicki minaj, who have spoken out against vaccinations and spread misinformation. that's happening with high-profile athletes with a public platform. john: speaking with reporters in august, green bay packers quarterback aaron rodgers implied he was inoculated against covid-19. >> are you vaccinated and what's your stance? >> i'm immunized. there are guys on the team that haven't been vaccinated. i think it's a personal decision. john: after testing positive, the reigning league m.v.p. was in required isolation for last sunday's game against the kansas city chiefs. on pat mcafee's satellite radio show last week, rodgers acknowledged he is not vaccinated. >> i believe strongly in bodily autonomy and the ability to make choices for your body. john: rodgers says he has concerns about all three federally approved vaccines a

nick schifrin reports. nick: in march 2019, the u.s.and its syrian allies attacked the remnants of isis in a small corner of syria, called baghouz, in eastern syria. the u.s. military said it was supporting its allies on the ground, the mostly kurdish "sdf", or syrian defense forces, against 200 isis fighters, including women and child combatants. on march 18, 2019, u.s. aircraft heavily bombed those isis fighters, who the u.s. says were threatening to overrun the sdf and had already caused 30 casualties. the u.s. military says it launched an investigation that initially determined the bombs had killed 4 civilians and wounded 8. that they were in “legitimate self-defense,” and "proprotional.” but the new york times's investigation found that regional commanders immediately knew there were as many as 70 civilian casualties and the defense department since then quote "concealed” the strike. joining me now is one of the times' reporters, dave philipps. welcome to the newshour. we've just gone through what happened. your investigation, what