nick schifrin: marianne bustin had a 24-year navy career. assault and response coordinator in uniform and after retirement as a contractor. she says commanders often care more about their careers than victims. marianne bustin: if i say, ok, we have had three sexual assaults, five sexual assaults, instead of saying oh, my gosh, let's take care of these victims, what do we need to do, they start looking at it like, oh, is this going to look poorly on me? they just don't want to do what needs to be done. lindsey knapp: let's say the commander just didn't believe it was sexual assault. they were like, no, it was consensual. that was consensual sex. that report can stop in its tracks right there. nick schifrin: lindsey knapp was a soldier in the 2000s, then became a victim advocate in 2014. she's now the executive director of the organization combat sexual assault. she says commanders who are colonels, one step below brigadier general, are especially prone to cover-ups. lindsey knapp: those commanders are more apt to not act in the best interest

nick schifrin has the story. e burmese-thai border, the only safe place from airstrikes are caves. they bring mats for mattresses so they can sleep away from nearby homes, stained with the blood of airstrike victims. they are ethnic karen, fleeing only what they can carry with it -- from attacks by the literary. others escaped by boat to neighboring thailand. many are badly wounded and have no medical attention or sustenance since they fled. >> i have not eaten anything for two consecutive days. i have not got any medical care because we were escaping. nick: initially, hundreds of refugees fled their homes only to be met with concertina wire and tire soldiers who force them to return to myanmar. >> they stayed afraid and scared and they feel that it is not safe to return. they have no choice. nick: the dictor of the care piece support network, a group of society groups are the border. she said for the karen, military airstrikes are nothing new. >> they demonstrated against the military and demanded the removal fro

william brangham and nick schifrin are here now to break it down.llo to both of you and william, i'm going to begin with you. give us a sense of where we are with vaccine distribution now in the united states, a sense of the progress that's been made. >> brangham: judy we're at about 81, 82 million shots that have been administered so far. and if you remember the president promised 100 million shots within his first 100 days. it looks like he's certainly going to hit that deadline. you remember last night we all heard eligibility for all adults should be opened up by may 1st. and this comes from the administration's confidence that we are sudden going to have a large supply of vaccines in our hands. and then the issue of course as we have seen thus far is how do we get those out of vials and into people's arms. the pace is getting better but we're still struggling with the issues of getting people appointments and vaccine registrations and still gum in the works but the pace is definitely picking up. >> woodruff: tell us, what is the administration

discuss the prospects for peace and the biden administration's afghanistan policy, we turn to nick schifrinick, tell us what do we know about what's bee wind gust discussed in moscow and how does that fit in with the biden administration's approach? >> moscow hosted these talks for years, judy but u.s. officials hope these talks begin an international diplomatic push that leads to a peace deal in afghanistan and a u.s. withdrawal ahead of an impending deadline. the talks brought the americans, the russians, the chinese, afghan delegation, including former president and the taliban around one table. u.s. is trying to rally international opinion in order to pressure the taliban to agree to a cease fire and the afghan government to step down. in a draft peace proposal first reported by tolo news, the u.s. is calling for replacing the current government with a traditional peace government a new constitution written by a committee almost half taliban, new taliban lawmakers, new supreme courts half taliban and a national cease fire and secretary of state tony blinking wrote a letter urging gani t

for the pbs "newshour," i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: governor andrew cuomo is under fire.yang begins there. >> yang: judy, new york attorney general letitia james formally announced today that she will hire a special deputy to conduct an independent investigation into the allegations against governor cuomo. it comes after a second female aide told "the new york times" of what she calls cuomo's "predatory behavior." earlier, a different former staffer accused the governor of sexually harassing her. jesse mckinley is the "new york times" bureau chief. >> jesse, thanks so much for being with us. you interviewed both these women. what did they tell you that the governor did? >> well, in each case it is different, but in lindsey's case, she alleges that the governor had harassed her on sevseveral occasions between 2016 to 2018, leading up to a kiss in his manhattan office, which is the culmination of a couple of years of behavior by the governor. in the case of charlotte bennett, this was a more detailed description that we got from her. the governor basically calling her into

for the pbs "newshour," i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: we turn to another aspect of the on going crisis in myanmar-- rohingya refugees forced to flee to cramped refugee camps in bangladesh, battling the cornavirus and now being asked to relocate to a flood prone island. newshour special correspondent tania rashid reports. >> reporter: what were once homes, hospitals, and schools at the world's largest refugee camp burns to ash, as a massive fire rips through these makeshift settlements. 15 people were killed, 400 missing, and tens of thousands displaced. three years ago, the rohingya, a muslim minority group, fled a bloody military crackdown launched by the myanmar military and police bordering bangladesh. mass killings, rapes, and arsons drove close to a million into these sprawling camps in cox's bazar. in a report published in 2019, u.n. investigators warned of genocidal intent. the myanmar army denies that, and claims, it only acted against insurgent groups who attacked police. but these fires have uprooted these rohingyas lives again. >> reporter: bangladesh authorities and aid age

coupled with recent concerns about the astrazeneca vaccine, as nick schifrin reports, the e.u. ehind. nick: on the banks of the seine, the city of lights feels a little bit dimmed. paris is under a new, month-long lockdown. and along with this spring's bloom comes heavy gloom. france faces what european leaders call the crisis of the century. hospitals are overwhelmed with a faster-spreading variant first discovered in brain. and the lockdown will not prevent the city's fate, warns the head of a paris intensive care unit. jean-francois: whatever we do, those who are infected today will need to go to hospital or in intensive care units in 10 days from now, and those in the icu will stay for two weeks. in any case, this coming month will be hell. nick: a deepening circle of hell, in part because of a vaccine shortage. across the european union, only 5% are fully vaccinated. that relative deficit comes in part from the 27-country bloc centralizing procurement, but being too cautious in guaranteeing supply. in a greek tv interview last night, french president emmanuel macron admitte

as nick schifrin reports, the researchers call it a starting point, and their critics, say it doesn'tenough. >> schifrin: the virus that caused the worst pandemic in a century most likely started in bats, and jumped to humans through an intermediate, animal host, possibly a mink, raccoon dog, or a civet, among others, according to the w.h.o-convened, joint study, obtained by pbs newshour. >> prior to the mission on the ground in china, there was a real missing link in this, trying to understand where covid came from. >> schifrin: peter daszek is a member of the w.h.o. team that spent four weeks in wuhan, half under quarantine, for what the team calls a joint study with the chinese, into covid's origins. they found that while wuhan is a modern metropolis, until last year its downtown markets still practiced an old chinese tradition of selling wildlife that residents ate, providing a pathway from the location of many of these animals in southern china to wuhan, hundreds of miles north. >> the evidence for that pathway is that the market in wuhan, the one seafood market, was selling live

thank you, nick schifrin. and we close tonight at the national cathedral in washington, d.c.e close at washington, d.c.'s national cathedral, long a site of unity for the country, where faith and public health leaders are coming together to promote and provide covid vaccines. it is part of a nationwi effort to combat false information around getting a shot. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. please stay safe, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> fidelity wealth management. >> consumer cellular. >> johnson & johnson. >> bnsf railway. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.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. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.o

for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: the u.s.ate voted today to extend the application period for the paycheck protection program until the end of may. we talked to several latino business owners and lenders about the pandemic's impact and the application process. it's part of our "race matters" series. >> my name is denise hernandez. my husband and i work in our family-owned business. it's a catering company called true flavors catering. >> hi, i'm david adame. >> i'm josÉ martinez. i'm president and c.e.o. of chicanos por la causa. >> we're one of the largest community development corporations that we call ourselves in the country. >> my name is iliana, and this is my mom, gloria, and our family business is 4kids clothes in anaheim, california. >> considering that we were closed for three months, that's a long time. and no revenue, that's a long time. and it wasn't like the bills stopped or they froze. it's not like that. >> we're in the events business, so in our business, we're, our business, there's gathering, right? so we w

latest, our congressional correspondent lisa desjardin and our foreign affairs correspondent, nick schifrino to both of you, and lisa, to you first, this massive covid relief bill, it is now in the senate. tell us the latest. >> reporter: well, judy, we're expecting this to start moving tomorrow, now. the senate is waiting for the final price tag from the congressional budget office before it can move ahead through its budget process. there was news today. democrats made a deal with themselves. moderates were concern this bill went too far and there's now an agreement to shave down the number of americans who would get those $1,400 direct payment checks. this agreement would mean that americans making up to $75,000 would get the full check. but now it would phase out and only those kind of get a limited amount up to $80,000 instead of the upper $100,000, and there's also a similar limit for families. so that deal is moving along, and we think we're going to see probably final votes in the senate in the next two, three days. >> woodruff: so, li, important time for that legislation, but there

nick schifrin reports. nick: astrazeneca is one of the world's most important covid vaccines inexpensive, easy to , administer, and the primary vaccine not only for europe but also for the u.n.'s program for low- and middle-income countries. but the independent american panel of experts that oversees the company's trials accused the company, in a letter seen by the new york times, of a selectively positive analysis of its own data. and the organization led by doctor anthony fauci blamed the company and acknowledged its actions would increase vaccine hesitancy. dr. fauci: this is really what you'd call an unforced error. this is very likely a very good vaccine and this kind of thing does as you say, do nothing but really cast some doubt about the vaccines and may contribute to the hesitancy. it was not necessary. when you look at it, the data really are quite good, but when theyut it into the press release, it wasn't completely accurate. nick: today astrazeneca acknowledged it had released an interim analysis

nick schifrin introduces our revealing conversation today with iran's top nuclear scientist. : the 2015 nuclear deal made a fundamental trade -- the west relieved sanctions on iran, and iran froze its nuclear program. after the trump administration withdrew and reimposed sanctions. iran exceeded some of the deal's nuclear limits, and restricted required inspections. the biden administtion and europe are offering to sit down with iran, but iran refuses, until sanctions are relieved. that is the context with our reza sayah, who sat down with iran's nuclear head, and reza joins us now from tehran. first, the political context. reza: tehran is essentially saying, washington, you are the one that undermined the agreement where five other countries were involved, a deal that took two years to hammer out. it is your move. tehran is looking for some sanctions relief. it is important to point out that initially, tehran was saying all sanctions must be lifted. now they are clearly saying that they would be fine with a step-by-step process whereby washington would ease some sanctions and

the latest, our congressional correspondent lisa desjardins and national security correspondent nick schifrinhello to both of you. lisa, this massive covid relief bill is now in the senate. tell us the latest. lisa: we are expecting this to start moving tomorrow now. the senate is waiting for the final price tag from the congressional budget office before it can move ahead with its budget process. there was some news today. democrats made a deal with themselves. moderates were concerned this bill went too far. there is now an agreement to shave down those americans who would get the $1400 direct payment check. this means americans making up to $75,000 would get the full check and it would phase out and only those will get a limited amount of two $80,000. -- limited amount up to $80,000. we will probably see final votes in the senate in the next 2-3 da ys. judy: important time for that legislation but there is also separately this threat hanging over the capital, worrying about violence tomorrow specifically. what is that about? lisa: there has been word from capitol police. i want to show an

for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. ♪ judy: the trial of former minneapolis police officer derek begin soon. chauvin is accused of murder in last may's killing of george floyd -- a death that set off nationwide unrest. as special correspondent fred de sam lazaro reports, the city is bracing for what's to come. fred: downtown minneapolis has become a fortress of barbed wire, concrete barriers and boarded windows. as derek chauvin's trial approaches, the city will soon see a dramatic increase in law enforcement, including about 2,000 national guard troops. it's all aimed at preventing a repeat of last spring, when the unrest following george floyd's killing led to hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage. many people in minneapolis will tell you this city is exhausted. after riots and destruction, a spike in violent crime, the pandemic and winter. and community groups point to fortification around the court complex like this as evidence there's been very little progress in improving relations between law enforcement and the community. especially communities of color. misk

nick schifrin will look at that nuclear explosion and fallout in a moment.t, special correspondent grace lee reports that those events are still fresh in the minds of the japanese as they prepare for the next quake. reporter: this is what coming home looks like 10 years on from the great east japan earthquake. hisae unuma remembers being evacuated from her fukushima home when disaster struck on march 11, 2011. >> i'm almost 70 years old now. i don't think it's possible for me to rebuild my life here. reporter: a magnitude9.1 earthquake, followed by a tsunami and a nuclear meltdown. more than 20,000 people were killed or reported missing. hundreds of thousands more lost their homes. to this day, parts of several towns near the nuclear plant remain uninhabitable. the meltdown caused radioactive damage, second only to the chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster. >> the government still hasn't decommissioned the nuclear power plant, and yet they claim everything's ok, and tell us we can return here. what if another disaster strikes? reporter: that disaster may no

nick schifrin speaks to a myanmar ambassador who opposed the coup and reports on how the daily duel betweenrators and the military is becoming deadlier. a warning, many of these images are disturbing. nick: in today's myanmar, mothers bury their sons. this woman's son was killed this weekend by security forces, the family one of hundreds since the coup forced to grieve. >> how brutal what they did to my son. i want to ask them face-to-face if they have a heart. don't they have children like i have? nick: to protest in myanmar is to risk your life. of the more than 150 killed so far, about 1/5 have been shot in the head. myanmar security services are shooting into crowds of demonstrators, many armed only with construction helmets, but many demonstrators are fighting back, like this one who posted a go pro video firing a firework at police and then runningway from live ammunition. the un's top human rights body has reported security services have detained over 2000 people. >> we are concerned of crackdown continues to intensify, and we call on the military to stop killing and detaining protes

first, nick schifrin reports on how sexual assault and harassment infect the military's most prominenthat leadership is trying to do about it. nick: the 18th airborne corps is one of the army's premier forces, and from afghanistan to iraq, portrays itself as flying through the air, attacking through the night, always ready to fight, but according to a document obtained by "newshour," the corps have been fighting some of the army's highest levels of sexual assault and harassment. >> how can you expect our soldiers to keep our country safe? nick: staff sergeant is a russian linguist. >> we can get the soldiers more engaged. nick: she recently proposed her suggestions at an event they called dragonslayer, an usual effort to hear soldier solutions. >> it's always the same powerpoint slides. i've been in for 10 years. i've probably been to 15-20 trainings. i've seen a total of four different slide decks. >> 37% of our cases were nco's and officers. nick: and training sessions are held in a room with hundreds of soldiers. >> how are you going to get 500 people to pay attention? half of them

in a moment, nick schifrin speaks with the biden administration's envoy there.pecial correspondent jane ferguson updates us on the war's terrible toll. she begins in sana'a, yemen's capital. and a warning: images in her report will upset some viewers. >> reporter: in sanaa's hospitals, the children's wards offer a glimpse into the suffering of millions. a country so hungry, the weakest no longer survive. like asaad hasaan, nine months old, but fading away. he's the most recent member of his family, but may be the next to leave it. and many others are like 13 year old murad, caught in a cycle of malnutrition and sickness that grips children and makes recovery near impossible. his father has nowhere else to turn. >> ( translated ): my son suffers from malnutrition and now he is also sick. he has been like this for three months, and he cannot walk. i brought him to this hospital but still have to buy the medicine from outside. >> reporter: the hospitals here constantly run out of medication. for each starving child here, there are an untold number famishing silentl

nick schifrin introduces our revealing conversation today with iran's top nuclear scientist. >> schifrin: the 2015 nuclear deal made a fundamental trade: the west relieved sanctions on iran, and iran froze its nuclear program. after the trump administration withdrew from the deal in 2018, it reimposed sanctions. and iran, in return, exceeded some of the deal's nuclear limits, and restricted required inspections. the biden administration and europe are offering to sit down with iran, but iran refuses, until sanctions are relieved. in that context our reza sayah got a rare interview with iran's nuclear head, and reza joins us now from tehran. the political contact. the u.s. says it is waiting for iran to suggest the next diplomatic steps. what is iran saying? >> tehran is saying, washington, you're the one that pulled out of the nuclear deal. you're the one that undermined the agreement where five other countries were involved, the deal that took two years to hammer out. it is your move. the ball is in your court. tehran is looking for some sanctions relief. it is important to point out th

as nick schifrin reports >> thank you very much for making the journey to meet with us. >> schifrin:supposed to be a short photo-op. secretary of state tony blinken and national security advisor jake sullivan, opposite china's top diplomats, yang jiechi and wang yi. but immediately, and over three 2.5-hour sessions across two days, the u.s. criticized what it considers chinese misbehavior: the internment of muslim uyghurs, the destruction of hong kong democracy, increased threats to taiwan, coercing u.s. allies-- including the trial of a canadian today-- in secret behind police guard, and cyber attacks. >> each of these actions threaten the rules-based order that maintains global stability. that's why they're not merely internal matters, and why we feel an obligation to raise these issues here today. >> schifrin: in response, yang used his two-minute allotment to spend 16 minutes accusing the u.s. of hypocrisy. >> ( translated ): many people within the u.s. actually have little confidence in the democracy of the united states. the challenges facing the u.s. in human rights are deep-s

but first, nick schifrin reports how sexual assault and harassment infects the divisions, and what one, is trying to do about it. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> schifrin: the 18th airborne corps is one of the army's premiere forces. and from afghanistan to iraq, portrays itself as flying through the air, attacking through the night, always ready to fight. but according to a document obtained by the pbs newshour, the corps and its base fort bragg, have also been fighting some of the army's highest levels of sexual assault and harassment. >> if we can't keep our soldiers safe, how can you expect our soldiers to keep our country safe? >> schifrin: staff sergeant shameka dudley is a russian linguist with a fort bragg-based military intelligence brigade. >> we can get the soldiers more engaged. >> schifrin: she recently presented her suggestions to combat sexual assault to her commanders at an event they called "dragon's lair"-- an unusual effort to hear soldiers' solutions. dudley says the problems begin with inadequate training. >> it's always the same powerpoint slides. it's-- i've been in for ten years, i ca