geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz on the newshour tonight. global markets tumble as a large swiss bank acknowledges signs of instability in the wake of two u.s. bank failures. a federal judge hears a case that could force a major abortion pill off the market. amna: and the contentious fight over lgbtq rights in tennessee threatens access to hiv care. >> we're talking about life saving drugs. and to turn that into a political issue just feels, you know, below human. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by --

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-- 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. amna: good evening and welcome to the newshour. trouble at a major european bank today has injected fresh turmoil into global financiamarkets. shares in credit suisse plunged here and abroad after its largest shareholder ruled out a rescue. >> that sent key european markets down sharply. on wall street, stocks sold off early, then rallied late. the dow jones industrial average was down 725 points at one point, but ended with a loss of 280 points, less than 1%. the nasdaq ended with a tiny gain of 6 points. the s&p 500 dropped 27. william brangham picks it up from here. william: so does the turmoil in

the markets mean that the banking sector hasn't escaped this recent turbulence? for a better understanding, we turn to peter conti-brown. he is co-director of the wharton initiative on financial policy and regulation at the university of pennsylvania. peter, thank you so much for being here. this was a yo-yo of a day on the markets. seemingly people spooked by what's happening with credit suites. but help me understand something, the fed earlier this week made this massive intervention to calm the waters, but the waters do not seem to have calmed. what is going on here? >> we have different parts of the pond, so to speak. there is no doubt that the waters for investors in banks is very choppy. this matters for banks because as their values plummet, all kinds of other financial consequences can arise as well. what the fed did was focusing more in a different part, which

is what about those banks that are at the very brink of destruction? that's where the fed was seeking to intervene. that's what makes this a banking crisis, is that we have had banks, very large ones, that have failed. we have very large ones that have come near to failure. the question now for us to ponder is, does the choppy market for shareholders mean that we have a lot more of those banks that are teetering on that edge, where the fed has sought to intervene. william: and what is your sense about that? is this part of a larger contagion are not? >> i don't think so. i think this is an example of someone who got a very serious cold, while also breaking their leg at the same time. the problems with credit suisse have been going on for a very long time. what we are seeing right now from the silicon valley bank and some of the other banks, what

they have in common is that it is very hard to be in the business of banki, when central banks are raising interest rates. that's a challenge. the overwhelming majority banks are navigating this beautifully. some like credit suisse and silicon valley bank and others, have done quite poorly by comparison. that's what they have in common, but the differences are important. it's a series of dominance -- dominoes. william: given that, what your take on this massive federal an invention -- federal intervention that happened earlier this week? >> either it was not warranted and this is a dramatic overreaction, in which case a lot of quite well-off, some

large and some small companies, or bailed out through the fbi see in the fed's intervention, being made whole, even though they didn't have that legal entitlement. never mind the ballot set up followed with banks that should've gon bankrupt but didn't, because of fed support. that's not good for our politics or for our economy. but that's only if the fed overreacted. if the fed reacted as a crisis -- as a crisis fighters should -- i'm more inclined to the view that the fed overreacted, because having been trained in 2008 and 2020, they see any kind of bank failure as a kind of bank crisis. i don't think that's correct. i think we want to,n healthy economy, from time to time, have bank failures that we can handle just in the usual course of

things as we would with other kinds of business failures. william: some people, including senator elizabeth warren, have argued that recent rollbacks to the dodd -- dodd frank reforms that were put in place after the 2008 crisis contributed to this crisis we are in right now. do they have a point? >> they do. the key word is "contributed." if they had said it caused the crisis, that would be over claiming. so it is important to tease out how that contribution occurred. congress told e fed, they basically said fullback. they puld back according to the law and then pull back further. the dust is still settling whether that cause the crisis in silicon valley bank. there are good arguments on both sides. bank supervision is the place where the government and the banks are in constant dialogue

with each other. and there, the signal sent to supervisors was to do the same, pull back even further. this is not one of those bank crises -- what they did not do was put their hand on the switch to divert the crisis, and we do not know why. it's appropriate to say that 2018 in the signal to the bank supervisors to the banks was at risk management will be the affair of the banks only, and the banks, at least at silicon valley, have not done a good job that. william: peter brown, thank you so much. ♪ amna: in the day's other adlines, the state of texas announced it's taking over public schools in the city of houston. it's the nation's 8th largest system, with nearly 200,000 students. the state's republican education commissioner claimed the school

board was rife with infighting and had failed for years to deal with low academic scores. democrats argued the move is purely political. parts of the northeast and new england spent today digging out from a powerful winter storm. snow totals reached three feet in higher elevations, and some 113,000 households and businesses waited for the power to come back on. for many, shoveling was the order of the day. >> after setting the clocks ahead this past weekend, we were all ready for springtime. this is not what we wanted to do in the middle of march, but it's new england. we'll deal with that. hopefully the ski areas get a few more days of good skiing in. amna: in california, the 11th atmospheric river of this winter moved on today. it left widespread power outages affecting thousands of people. and, flooding closed several miles of the pacific coast highway south of los angeles. the epa has issued a final rule to curb smokestack emissions

that bring smog to downwind areas. the new regulation, issued today, will force nearly 2 dozen states to cut harmful emissions from power plants and other industrial sites. the epa says the rule will save thousands of lives. the mining industry calls it part of a campaign to shut down coal-fired power plants. russia and the u.s. had high-level discussions today, on the downing of a u.s.surveillance drone over the black sea. it happened tuesday off ukraine's crimean peninsula, which russia controls. the u.s. says a russian warplane struck the drone. moscow denies it. this afternoon, at the pentagon, defense secretary lloyd austin said he spoke with his russian counterpart, but gave no details. >> it's important that great powers be models of transparency and communication. the united states will continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows. and it is incumbent upon russia

to operate his military aircraft in a safe and professional manner. amna: the u.s. says air traffic during the ukraine war. in economic muse -- news, a further sign that price pressures may be easing. the labor department reports wholesale prices were up 4.6% from a year earlier, but that was far less than the jump in january. a separate report says retail sales dropped slightly last month after a surge in spending during january. federal regulators have approved the first major railroad merger in the u.s. in more than 20 years. today's announcement green-lights canadian pacific to buy kansas city southern for $31 billion. they are the smallest of the seven major railroads operating in the u.s., but their merger creates the only rail link from

canada to mexico. and, americans have a new top dog for the first time in three decades, the french bulldog. the american kennel club says frenchies took over the top spot among pure-breds last year. labrador retrievers had held the position for a record 31 years. still to come on the newshour. u.s. support for ukraine becomes an increasingly divisive issue among republicans. we examine the most competitive house seats as the 2024 campaign takes shape. syrians mark 12 years of civil war as they rebuild from a devastating earthquake. plus much more. >> this is the pbs newshr, from weta studios in washington, and in the west, from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: today, a federal judge in

amarillo, texas heard arguments in a court case that could force the fda to revoke its approval of mifepristone. whicis used as one part of a two-pill regimen for medication abortions. the lawsuit is being watched closely because medication abortion accounts for more than half of all abortions in the u.s., and has been relied on heavily since the supreme court overturned roe v. wade. sarah varney is a senior correspondent for kaiser health news and has been reporting on all of this. take us through the major players in today's hearing. who did the court hear from? >> in the court were largest from the alliance offending freedom and lawyers from the department of justice representing the food and drug administraon, and lawyers representing danco laboratories, which is one of the manufacturers of the drug. geoff: abortion rights advocates have accused the plaintiffs up forum shopping, of intentionally filing the case in amarillo, texas.

tell us more about the judge. >> he was appointed to the bench and 2019 by former president trump. prior to his appointment, he was along your for a conservative christian legal organization and he has been somebody who has issued opinion after opinion in supportf conservative causes, including denying teens access birth control at federal clinics, a story we reported just a week or two ago. geoff: which arguments did the judge seem most interested in today? >> he seem not to be too interested in any objections the government has over whether or not the organization can even bring this lawsuit, what's call standing, or whether or not they had allowed the time period in which they would have to bring these concerns for the court, that they had said this long expired. the drug was approved in 2000, so it has been 23 years that this pill has been on the market. it's been used by about 5.6 million women in the united

states. it has a very long safety record , it's very effective at terminating early pregnancies. but the judge today seem to focus many of his questions on what the remedy should be, and how quickly and broadly he could institute a remedy, whether that was essentially ordering the fda to revoke approval of method pressed on, which required one of the manufacturers to no longer distributed around the entire country, not just in states that band abortion, but in states like california, massachusetts and illinois that have broad support for abortion rights. geoff: the judge took the unusual step of telling lawyers involved in the case do not publicize the date of this hearing. that is not normal protocol, and he faced criticism that he was trying to keep the proceedings secret. tell us more about that. >> that's correct. there was a meeting on friday of the lawyers involved in the case

that would be at the hearing today. normally a judge would put something like this on the public docket, journalists and other members of the public would be alerted that this case was going to be hard on wednesday, and it would give us all time to get there and be there in person. many judges often even go to the extent where they will broadcast hearings as well. but this judge said that he had gotten threats and did not want to have a circus like atmosphere around the hearing today, so when other reporters found out about this and called it out, he did actually put it on the public docket on monday. geoff: abortion rights advocates have said this case could be bigger than the supreme court ruling that overturned roe v. wade. why is that? >> medication abortion has become vital to women in the united states who are seeking to terminate early pregnancy. as you mentioned, about 53% of all abortions in the united

states are done through medication abortion. we know that obviously it's mething that women in states where abortion is legal are getting access to. but even in states like texas, women are getting access to some of these drugs. so it has really become an important avenue to access health care in areas where they are unable to go to clinics to get procedural abortions. you mentioned there is a two-part regimen. in many places in the world, people do one part only abortions. they're starting to put protocols in place to ensure that women have access to this type only. geoff: when might we get a ruling in this case? >> the judge said today that he would rule as soon as possible. we have no idea what that means. this is a judge that most likely has done a lot of thinking and writing already about this case and was using today's hearing to

bolster some of s arguments and thinking about what the remedy might be if he rules in their favor. so it could come as early as this evening, or it could come within the next couple of weeks. geoff: sarah varney is senior correspondent for kaiser health news. thank you. ♪ amna: in tennessee, a fight has been brewing over another public health issue -- hiv. it comes as several republican-led states move to restrict the rights of lgbtq people. our white house correspondent laura barron lopez recently went to memphis, where advocates have sounded the alarm about the looming impact of those efforts. on a rainy afternoon, dozens of people crowded onto a sidewalk in the cooper young neighborhood of memphis they stood in front

of out-memphis, a local lgbtq rights group, to protest new tennessee laws that restrict drag shows in public and ban gender-affirming care for minors. but there was another reason for the gathering. >> there are over 20,000 folks infected with hiv and they deserve our attention. >> demonstrators condemned a move by governor bill lee to reject more than $8 million in federal funding for hiv prevention. he argues the state should cover those costs, and have more say in who gets the money. for years, the federal dollars, which come through grants from the centers for disease control and prevention, have trickled down to community organizations. they use it for services like hiv testing, condom distribution, and access to the hiv prevention drug prep. one such group is the partnehip to end aids status, or peas. how much of that cdc funding accounts for your organization? rosa: 90% of our funding comes

from the cdc. >> rosa barber, the chief operating officer for peas, says the organization had to let go of its permanent space due to the funding uncertainty. on the day we met, they had set up in a small room at a memphi beauty shop. rosa: we have spent so many years drilling and making people feel good about testing and taking care of themselves. we built the trust within the community, so all of this is just going down the drain quickly and it's affecting people who look like myself, people who like my coworkers, and that's what is heartbreaking about the entire situation. laura: emmitte james, who lives just across the river in arkansas, visits peas every few months for condoms. he's also received testing through the organization. emitte: they actually help some people that's not fortunate enough to be able to go to a regular doctor. we need the prevention and that lets you know it's all safe, that you have people on your side that you can get health, health care that you need.

laura: the memphis area has one of the highest rates of new hiv cases in the country. and officials here worry that prevention efforts will be crippled by the governor's decision. in january, the tennessee department of health sent a letter to community organizations saying the cdc grants would end on may 31st. it said the lee administration was examining areas where it can decrease its reliance on federal funding and assume increased independence. governor lee declined an interview with the newshour, but his spokesperson said the state is committed to maintaining at least the same level of funding and any claim that we are cutting funding is inaccurate. >> that's not true. laura: dr. michelle taylor directs the health department in shelby county, home to memphis. >> this is a loss of funding because these are federal funds that are earmarked for hiv, for testing and surveillance and prevention. and now populations in tennessee are going to go without these additional resources.

even if they are replaced by state resources, they pay for the additional resources that are supposed to come from the federal government. laura: in memphis, like the rest of the country, the people at highest risk for hiv include men who have sex with men, heterosexual women and injection drug users. people of color are also at higher risk. but in statements about his funding plan, governor lee has emphasized other populations. >> human trafficking victims on the transmission to first responders, on the transmission from mothers to their babies. those are populations that we want to focus on. and in order to do so, those funds will then be directed at whatever organizations are serving those populations the best. laura: according to the aids research organization amfar, in tennessee those groups make up about 2% of the people at risk for hiv. lee's administration later said that those groups were

"additional vulnerable populations the state will serve with its funds." >> if you replace the word hiv, the condition hiv with any other condition, if you replace it with diabetes, and you said, okay, the state of tennessee is about to send back funding for diabetes care, testing, treatment for the population that is most at risk for having this condition. there would be so much outrage, people would say, how dare you send back funding for a health condition that we know people need additional support for? laura: hiv advocates here accuse the governor of playing politics, reacting to growing anti-lgbtq pressure from national conservative figures. before rejecting the cdc grants entirely, advocates say, lee tried to block the money from going to the state's planned parenthood chapter, which uses it for condom distribution and training hiv testers. francie hunt is the advocacy and organizing director for planned

parenthood of tennessee and north mississippi. francie: after the tennessee abortion ban, i think that these lawmakers had to turn their attention now to the lgbtq community and to attack their rights. what's alarming is that they're not only trying to punish planned parenthood politically, but several different community organizations as well. laura: when asked, governor lee's office didn't say whether the same organizations who currently receive federal funding will now get money from the state. so where will people access services? >> i would say different associations, different areas of the state, not like planned parenthoods, but maybe free health clinics or whatever else may be out there in terms of a network. laura cameron sexton is the : republican speaker of the tennessee house. >> in tennessee and in other red states, i think you look and if you can fund things yourself without the restrictions or the stipulations that the federal government wants to put on you and you can do it yourself, you're better off funding it with tennessee dollars, not

fedel dollars. >> will the groups that are most high-risk, according to health experts in your state, still receive these services? >> look, the population that needs hiv prevention with these medications or services will still be able to get it. whether they go through this organization or that organization, they will still have the capability of getting that. whether you prioritize a certain number or certain locations, you can put that up for debate. but at the end of the day, i'm confident that if you're funding hiv prevention, those who need it will get it. >> this change would have impacted you go? >> yes, that's immediately what i thought about. laura: but people like josh hall aren't so confident. he tested positive for hiv in 2019 and now works for out-memphis, which also receives federal funding. josh: it kind of felt like a gut punch, to be honest. i want to say i'm shocked. like we're talking about life

saving drugs. and to turn that into a political issue just feels, you know, below human. i find myself at the intersection of a lot of these issues just being a gay black man living in a southern state. so it is becoming increasingly hard to live in a state that seems to be directly attacking me. laura: organizations like out-memphis have asked the cdc if they can bypass the state to continue receiving federal funding. and while some advocates still hope the governor changes his mind, they worry, if he doesn't, more republican-led states will follow tennessee's lead. for the pbs newshour, i'm laura barron lopez in memphis. ♪ amna: there is a growing rift within the republican party over how, and if, to assist ukraine as its war against russia enters its second year. lisa desjardins takes a deeper look.

lisa: in ukraine today, life, death, and explosions, on repeat in the battle for the eastern front. but the future of this war and the people here now may depe on something new -- a fast-rising political conflict. >> no money to ukraine, that country needs to find peace, not war. >> we are not a european power, we are pacific power! lisa: republicans once defined as cold war hawks, distrustful of russia, are quickly and sharply splitting over u.s. support of ukraine. and doing it in prime time. >> last week we sent a questionnaire to every republican presidential candidate announced and potential asking about ukraine. lisa: fox news host tucker carlson aiming to put ukraine at the center of the 2024 gop race and former president donald trump responding, said ukraine should expect little moneyunless russia keeps prosecuting, or pushing the war. trump has long questioned the amount of funding for ukraineand

-- four ukraine and how much europe is contributing as evidenced this weekend in iowa. >> if you look at the war, if you look at what's going on, we're spending about 150 billion and they're at about 25 billion. i would say that's not right. lisa: but now it appears florida governor ron desantis an expected presidential candidate is staking out an isolationist position. in his response to tucker carlson, desantis wrote, while the us has many vital national interests becoming further , entangled in a territorial dispute between ukraine and russia is not one of tm. that elicited this from carlson. >> desantis is not a neocon. lisa: that's a shot at others, like former vice president dick cheney or south carolina senator lindsey graham, who have seen a u.s. role replacin adversaries in changing regimes. this firmly places the two republicans leading 2024 polls onhe isolationist spectrum. but others see opportunity for

contrast. like former vice president mike pencedirectly taking on desantis' words in a radio interview today. >> the war going on in ukraine right now is not a territorial dispute. it is the result of an unprovoked war of aggression by russia. lisa: also loudly breaking with trump and desantis on this is former south carolina governor nikki haley. last week in iowa, an audience member interrupted her. saying ukraine is not an ally. haley responded that ukraine is a staunch ally. >> this isn't about starting war, this is about preventing a war. we need to make sure we prevent a bigger war from happening. lisa: south carolina senator tim scott wrote that degrading russia's military is vital to us interest. sec of state mike pompeo did not respond to carlson's questions. amna: joining us for more from the studio is our nick schifrin.

lisa, back to you for a moment. when you look at this division among republicans, what is driving this right now? lisa: i spent a good time talking to some ambitious republicans who are out on the stump, and that gave me an answer, that the release is split between voters and donors in the republican party. lesser good where voters are. we ask about support levels for ukraine. you can see among republicans, 47% in the poll said there's too much support, too much u.s. support, and you see the rest of republican voters somewhere between not enough and abt right. that indicates there's a split among republicans. but what republicans i talked to are seeing is a trench. that 47% that don't want as much support for ukraine, that's a huge leap, and the number keeps growing. why is that? they tell me they just have a

problem after the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan, and that overall there's a sense that the u.s. has problems here at home that it needs to take care of rather than dealing with things overseas. other republicans, however, say no, ukraine is a critical battle line, it's about american values and about u.s. interest going forward. amna: any future funding to support ukraine would have to go through members of congress. are these divisions influencing that decision, potentially? lisa: we are entering an absolute critical few months in terms of u.s. funding for everything ahead. i think it's fair to say the funding debate ahead of us is going to be potentially one the most incendiary and unpredictable we have seen in some time. key in deciding whether ukraine will get for critical support, as they view it, from the u.s. or not will be the u.s. senate. today the number two senate

republican, john thune, was asked about ukraine. >> there are lots of different opinions on u.s. involvement in ukraine, but i think the majority opinion monks sin republicans is that the united states has a vital national security interests there and stopping russian aggression. and that's certainly e view i have. >> this will be a real test for senate republicans because a lot of them represent red states. they are under pressure. some lawmakers telling me today that when they are out talking to voters, the greatest lines they get are about getting the u.s. out of involvement overseas. senate republicans who believe ukraine should be supported will be tested, because in order for ukraine to get any money, they will need that support in the u.s. senate. overall you can say it's a real test about how you view ukraine in the world, how you view russia's and the u.s. role in the world, but also how republicans view their own voters. amna: let's talk more about that

with nick schifrin. these divisions on how to view ukraine are clearly emerging among the republican candidates. how does all of this align with the republican or in policy experts you speak with? nick: we've spoken to quite a few, and as lisa's reflection, there is a split. first of all on the establishment. they argue that president biden isn't waging enough war. they want them to send more weapon so that ukraine can win, avoiding a longer war that would cost even more money. as you heard senator thune there, they make these bigger ideological arguments, aocracy should not be allowed to steamroll democracy. stopping russian projects nato and also sends a message to china over taiwan. it's the same argument you hear from the administration. secretary of defense lloyd austin today. >> ukraine matters. it matters not to just ukraine or to the united states.

it matters to the world. this is about the rules based international order. it's about one country's ability to wake up one day and change the borders of its neighbor. and annex its neighbors, uh, sovereign territory. nick: if that -- if that is the establishment argument, and there's the other one, a maggot to main street to wall street to the working class, they do not want to hear -- from maga to main street, they don't want to hear about a war whose burdens these people think they have to pay over these elite. and number two, ukraine is corrupt and in russia's backyard. number three, a nuclear powered russia was associated with president trump's claim of a political hoax, when the real threat is with china. going back to ron desantis, he is multiple strands of this. the part of this that lisa

highlighted, he started with his ultimate statement. becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between ukraine and russia is not one of them. he adds this, the u.s. should not provide assistance that could require the deployment of american troops or or enable ukraine to engage in offensive operations beyond its borders. these moves would risk explicitly drawing the u.s. into the conflict and drawing us closer to a hot war between the worlds two largest nuclear powers. that risk is unacceptable. that is an endorsement of president biden's policy on long-range weapons and escalation. it is also a rejection of the republican establishment's arguments against president. amna: nick schifrin and lisa desjardins, thank you to you both. ♪

geoff: as the potential 2024 presidential matchups gain attention, the battle lines for the house of representatives are also emerging. both the republican and democratic campaign organizations are figuring out their key vulnerabilities and potential districts to win back. here with a look at the key house races: amy walter of the cook political report with amy walter. hello, amy walter, good to see you. control of the house has flipped several times in recent history. republicans just picked up the house in this last go around and here we are talking about a potential clip. set the scene first. amy: in 51 years, from the 19 50's until 2000 tk on the house only flipped twice. in the last 16 years, it split four times. there is every ♪ reason to think it will likely be as volatile in this next election as it has been in the previous 16, ♪ ♪ in large part because, once again, it's a very narrow majority that republicans have.

it's a five seat majority, and they have a number of districts that are pretty difficult for them, in terms of holding on to. take the five seat majority, you have 18 republicans who sit in districts that biden carried. democrats have their own vulnerabilities to worry about, but only five of their members sit in districts that trump carried. so that initial 23, that's where the parties are focusing right now. it's easy to understand why this concept of the house flipping one more time is certainly not just a possibility, but why the house is considered a tossup in 2024. geoff: let's talk about the republican specifically. where, looking at the map, are they the most vulnerable? amy: those 18 districts where you have a republican sitting in a district that joe biden carried, they are roughly concentrated in two states, california and new york.

for all the good that democrats had on election night in 202020 -- in 2020, as well as a did, they did so in battleground states, in red states like ohio, pennsylvania, and yet they came up short in places like new york and california. democrats believe is, we get to presidential year, presidential turnout will bring out there voters who stayed home, whereas the issues like abortion were not as hot button as they were in a place like michigan, for example. those bluer states, feeling more confident about the state of abortion access in their states. at the presidential election, those folks turn out and those 11 districts will be their top targets. geoff: so democrats, what are their political hurdles? amy: there is this

redistricting. we think it is once the census comes out at the beginning of the decade, everybody draws their lines and it is over. well, it hasn't been over for a long time, actually. the last couple of redistricting cycles, the courts have gotten involved multiple times. states have redrawn their lines multiple times. for democrats, there biggest hurdle right now is north carolina, which is legally required to redraw their lines, but there's a republican majority now on the supreme court. the thinking is the map that will pass muster with those justices could put at least three or four democrats in some trouble. the other hurdle, history. it has been more than 70 years that the house flipped in a presidential year. you have to go back to the 1950's. since the house has actually change hands during a presidential cycle. going back to what i said before about how volatile things are,

part of the reason history may not repeat is that our turnout has gotten some dramatic, so many people coming out and voting in midterms and in presidential years, that the outcomes are very narrow but could be more unpredictable than ever. geoff: maps count for a lot and messaging counts for a lot, too. how are the parties thinking about that? amy: for democrats, it is joe biden did what he said he was going to do. and things like the chips act and the inflation reduction act. for republicans, the focus on inflation and trying to make this race once again about failures of the biden administration to bring the economy ba to where they would like to see it. geoff: amy walter, following it all very closely. good to see you. ♪

amna: today marks twelve years since the beginning of the civil war in syria. what began as civilian protests amid the arab spring uprisings of 2011, now by some estimates has killed at least half a million people, displaced millions more, and destabilized the region. adding calamity on top of disaster, last month's earthquakes laid waste to land already pummeled by the regime of bashar al-assad and his russian patron, vladimir putin. in a moment i'll speak with a longtime syria analyst, but first a look at what twelve years of war has wrought. in northwest syria, generation born into conflict. children who've only known life at these refugee camps. in a war that gan before they were born, 12 years ago. for families like um mohammed's, those years have meant loss after loss.

>> since 2011 we have suffered, at all levels. my house was destroyed, my son was killed, and my second son was arrested, 11 years ago. he is in the prisons of the assad regime, and i do not have any information about him. amna: her family is from ghouta, near damascus, under a severe siege, and where assad's regime used chemical weapons in 2013, killing more than a thousand people. >> in eastern ghouta, we were subjected to a lot of bombardment, hunger and shortages of bread. we were living in famine because of the siege imposed by the forces of the assad regime. amna: she lives at this camp with her daughter-in-law who has , also lost most of her family to assad's air strikes. >> 12 years ago we were at home a missile from a warplane fell on our house and was destroyed my father, my brother and my

cousin were killed. we are on another journey of displacement. look at the mud and dirt in this camp. my children don't have enough winter clothes and there is no source of income to buy for them. amna: mona zahrawi is raising five children at this camp. >> life here is hard, we are here two families living in one tent. children have no clothes or shoes. i have children of my own and i am taking care of my deceased sister's orphans. amna: aya was born in saraqeb city in the northwest as it was bombed by assad. her parents were killed. she is now as old as the war itself. >> when the earthquake happened, i thought we were being bombed by airplanes. i know all about bombings and i am afraid of its sound. amna: but the man behind that bombing is still in charge. today, syrian president bashar al assad met with his strongest ally, russian president vladimir

putin in moscow, offering support for his war in ukraine. in rebel-held north west syria, thousands of syrians also marked this day. chanting slogans against the regime and waving the revolutionary flags. it all began in 2011when pro- democracy protests swept syria in the wake of the arab spring. but bashar al assad's brutal crackdown triggered a civil war that has left a trail of destruction, a country in ruins and forced millions of syrians to flee their homes, many on boats to europe and further afield. tens of thousands of people disappeared, many of them presumed tortured and killed in government prisons. the tragic twin earthquakes that struck northern syria on february 6 further tormented a people already ravaged by war and have also opened diplomatic doors for bashar al assad, after years of international isolation. arab countries are slowly restoring ties with damascus. but syrians continue to struggle. over 12 million people, more

than half the population, are food insecure. >> people there are reay tired of the war, and now the earthquake, of having to live on a razors edge. amna: jonathan dumont visited and found people in dire need. >> the situation is pretty drastic. and as you can imagine, with schools and playgrounds being used to shelter people, there's not, you know, not many prospects for for the next generation to develop as as they should. syria needs the continued support of the international community. it needs resources. it needs infrastructure. it needs a lot of help. amna: there are some signs that help on the way, but nowhere near enough. in the meantime bashar al assad and his regime continue to hold power, continue the killing, and all these years later there's still no end in sight. murhaf jouejati is a distinguished visiting professor at the united states naval academy.

a native of syria, he's written widely on assad and this decade-plus of war. thank you for joining us. those earthquakes last month as we just saw were absolutely devastating, on top of 12 years of war. help us understand the extent of the devastation, the extent of the crisis that syrians face today. >> this is earthquake upon earthquake. the latest earthquake was it natural catastrophe. this follows 12 years of war in which half of the syrian population has been made either refugee or internally displaced. over a million syrian civilians killed, roughly 90% of the infrastructure has been destroyed.

so it has been truly a calamity after another for the past 12 years. amna: do we know today that if the disaster aid, the emergency aid that has made its way in, is he going to the people who needed the most? >> it is really too little and too late. whatever has gone in was for the most part taken by pro-iranian militias in aleppo and either used by them, and/or sold on the market. so those who are most deserving of this international assistance have not gotten much. they are relying on their own very thin resources. amna: what does this moment mean for bashar al-assad? he has been largely isolated over the last several years because of his brutal response to the opposition. is he now using this moment to reemerge onto the world stage? >> he has moved from a distance

of having syria suspended from the arab league for his brutality, of being a pariah state and shined the international community -- shunned by the international community, to take advantage of this earthquake. there have been arab delegations that have visited damascus after the earthquake, trying to get syria back into the arab fold. he is a brutal dictator and fully taken advantage of the earthquake in order to rehabilitate himself before the international community. amna: it's difficult to see a brutal dictator like assad use this natural disaster to, as you said, rehabilitate himself on the world stage. i'm curious what you think the united states and the international community, what more they could say or do at

this moment and how they should be responding. >> i think the u.s. has taken a wise policy, using sanctions as an instrument, a diplomatic instrument in order to punish the assad regime. the united states and the e.u. have taken wise positions. some of the arab states are trying to escape back into the fold, under the illusion that he will diminish iranian influence in syria. i don't think that it's going to happen. ir is a conspirator in the mass murder in syria. i think the continuation of isolation of the assad regime has to be done. it is truly a rotten apple that's about to fall from the tree.

there is no sense in propping it up. amna: what about the people of syria? we begin our report that these children who have only ever known a life at war from before they were born. what does their future look like? >> very bleak. for the past 10 years, they have not gone to school. imagine what generation is going to follow this one. they have known nothing but brutality and more. when assad says he will leave the moment he feels is people don't want him anymore, you have half the population that have been made refugee, i don't know what kind of legitacy he thinks he has. i think he has zero legitimacy. in that sense, i think the international community should continue isolating him until his regime goes away, because his regime we have to say has been a major source of instability, not only in syria, but in the middle

east. amna: thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. geoff: mark friedman is the founder and co-ceo of cogen rate, company seeking to bridge the divides between people of different ages. here he shares his brief but that tack your take on age diversity. >> one of the most inaccurate and pernicious stereotypes about older people is at their best work is behind them. there is a mismatch between a life course that we've inherited, which is you jam all the education into the first part of life, all the work into the middle and all the leisure into the end. that model might've worked when life expectancy was 60 or 65,

but it's not designed for the new longer lives that people are already living in that will be extended even further in the future. you can't simply work for 30 or 40 years and then live off it for another 30 or 40 years. it's just not financially possible. but it's also not psychologically viable. older people need what we all need, described as love and work, a sense of connection, bond set matter deeply, and a reason to get up in the morning. over so many decades, older people have been consigned to a world that's both isolated and cut off from that sense of purpose. we've consciously and systematically separated people by age. after the turn-of-the-century in the united states, we outlawed child labor, we created schools.

we created social security during the heart of the depression. each one of these measures had tremendous value, but when you combine these policies and these innovations, the net effect is a grievous wound, we've created a society where people of different ages have relatively little contact. we are living in the most age diverse society in history. have to children born in the developed world since the year 2000 projected to see their 100th birthday. that's twice the projection of a century ago. we've seen already, four, 5, 6 generations working at the same time. how do you learn to cooperate with someone of a different age and you don't have any contact with them? i think we need to hone our skills in working across generations and we need to develop opportunities for older, younger, and people in the middle to mix in the context of daily life.

i think the key is proximity and purpose. the generations that have been designed for older people, rethink them in a way that brings people together for a greater sense of joy. society grows great when older people plant trees under whose shade they will never sit. this is my brief but spectacular take on how we can make the most of the generational moment. geoff: and you can watch more brief but spectacular videos at pbs.org/newshour/. amna: on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular skull has been to provide wireless service to help people communicate and connect.

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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 performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

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