captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for saturday september 19: the united states and russia hold talks over military involvement in the syrian civil war. also, from kenya, time for school: a young man's struggle to get an education. >> when the government introduced free primary school, it was like every child wanted to join school. >> sreenivasan: and, alex katz, a prolific american artist still at work. next on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: lewis b. and louise hirschfeld cullman. bernard and irene schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. judy and josh weston. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii.

corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios at lincoln center in new york, hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: good evening. thanks for joining us. the united states is calling on russia to discuss a political settlement to the four-and-half- year-old syrian civil war. the u.s. wants syrian president bashar al-assad to be replaced, but russia supports assad, recently began re-arming his troops, and deploying fighter jets and helicopters to a syrian base yesterday. in london today, after conferring with britain's foreign minister, secretary of state john kerry called on russia and iran and any other countries with influence over syria to push for negotiations.

>> we're prepared to negotiate, is assad prepared to negotiate? really negotiate? is russia prepared to bring him to the table and actually find the solution to this violence? >> sreenivasan: because the u.s. also has a military presence in the region, the u.s. and russian defense secretaries have begun talking to avoid a direct conflict between u.s. and russian forces. for a year, the u.s. has launched airstrikes on islamic state, or isis, militants inside syria." new york times" correspondent michael gordon is traveling with secretary kerry. he joins me now via skype, from london. there's been an escalation of military activity from russia into syria. what does the u.s. plan to do about it? >> well, basically, the united states tried to stop it. about two weeks ago, the russians began flowing equipment to an airbase sow of latakia. and initially the americans didn't know what was going on. but they've deployed housing

now, they've deployed more than 200 marines to protect the base, some tanks, some artillery, some armored personnel carries. now they have air defense and several aircraft armed with air-to-air missiles. and the hope initially was to stop it, and the obama administration tried to get states in the region to close their air space, but iraq didn't go along, and the russians are there, and now the more thans are trying to make the best of it. >> sreenivasan: the russians say these are primarily defensive positions or postures, right? >> well, the russians are deploying systems to syria with an eye toward, they say, fighting the islamic state. so, yes, they've deployed force protection around this base, but they're going there, ostensibly, to help the assad regime fight the islamic state militants. so it's not a purely defensive

configuration. and the concern that the americans have is since they couldn't stop them from getting there and the russian ignored their warnings, how do you deconflict so the russian aircraft and the american-led air campaign against the islamic state don't bump into each other and you don't have an incident. >> sreenivasan: so that means there's going to have to be coordination on figuring out when there are perhaps russian boots on the ground and when there are american drones flying overhead, maybe going after the same isil targets. >> the american americans have s overhead, not just drones. and not only the americans now. there are arab nations involved, turkey air force is involve, the brits have a drone, the french may join in. so you have aircraft that are operating, and not just drones, over syria, carrying out air strikes, and you are-- these are not really russian boots on the ground. these are russian-- presumably it's going to be russian airpower. it hasn't taken any action yet.

and they will have to deconflict so they don't get in each other's way and don't have an incident. the american concern goes well beyond that. they're worried that there's a hidden russian agenda here-- perhaps not so hidden-- that the russians may be there to prop up bashar al-assad, and keep him in power, at least for a duration, and that the russians may also be this in the event that assad is overthrown they want to influence and help determine what the new leadership of the country looks like. >> sreenivasan: and keeping assad in power is still in direct opposition to what the obama administration wants, right i? >> yes. but the obama administration hasn't done very much to get assad out of power. all of the air strikes in syria are not aimed at any of assad's forces. they're aimed at the islamic state, and, indeed, the pentagon's training program that has failed so miserably, one reason it failed is the rebels who are being recruited were being told they couldn't fight

the assad regime. they were there only to fight the islamic state. well, surprise, surprise, not a lot of syrians wanted to join for that reason alone. >> sreenivasan: all right, michael gordon of the "new york times" joining us have a skype from london today. thanks so much. >> okay, thank you. >> sreenivasan: the syrian civil war has caused four million people to flee for neighboring lebanon, jordan, and turkey, and increasingly for europe. now, more european countries are tightening borders. croatia and slovenia, which border hungary and austria, are now at the center of a refugee logjam. croatia has seen 20,000 migrants and refugees arrive in the past few days, with many continuing onto slovenia to get to austria and western europe. but today, slovenia suspended trains from croatia to slow the arrivals. last night, slovenian police used pepper spray to stop migrants at its border with croatia. turkey's coast guard today rescued two hundred syrian refugees in the aegean sea. they were aiming for greece, while italian ships rescued

4,000 migrants from libya aboard fishing boats and rubber rafts. 470,000 refugees have crossed the aegean and mediterranean seas this year. 2,800 have died trying. european leaders meet again on wednesday in brussels to debate how to handle asylum seekers across the continent. japan is reversing 70 years of military restraint by clearing the way for troop deployments overseas. today, the japanese parliament approved a controversial policy to allow its military to defend allies in other nations, even when japan is not under attack. prime minister shinzo abe, who pushed for the policy, calls this "collective self-defense." japan's constitution, adopted after losing world war two, prohibited sending troops abroad. opponents call the new policy" unconstitutional." the u.s. army is poised to have its first openly gay civilian leader. president obama has nominated longtime pentagon official erik fanning to be the next army secretary. fanning is currently the army undersecretary, the number two job, and previously served in leadership roles in the navy and air force.

fanning, who faces senate confirmation, would be the nation's first openly gay leader of any military branch. president obama ended the military's ban on openly gay and lesbian service members in 2011. >> sreenivasan: in the year 2000, the united nations set a goal: in 15 years, every child in every nation should be able to obtain free basic education. at the time, 100 million children of primary school age worldwide were out of school. today, that number has fallen by almost half, to 57 million. one country that significantly increased the number of children going to school is kenya, where 86% of kids 11-years-old and under are now enrolled. since 2003, pbs has followed the triumphs and struggles of children from different countries as they begin school. its part of the documentary series "time for school." tonight, we continue that series in the first of six reports,

part one the story of joab from kenya. >> i think if i go to school, and god helps me, i'll become a pilot or a mechanical engineer >> reporter: joab onyando's family could never afford tuition for school, until 2003, when kenya makes primary school free for the first time in nearly thirty years. >> good morning, school. >> good morning! >> reporter: more than a million new students flood the system. joab is 10 and his brother gerald is seven when they begin first grade, walking to school

each day through the sprawling nairobi slum they call home kibera. ♪ ♪ their class has 74 students, and one teacher. now clap! >> reporter: free education isn't entirely free. like so many others from kibera, joab's family struggles to pay for school uniforms, books even pencils. his father, alfred, is chronically unemployed, while his mother, leah takes care of the children. just having enough to eat is always a problem.

>> the way i see it, if he goes to school, his life will improve tremendously, and he'll be able to get me out of this misery, so i always encourage him to read and learn. >> reporter: but shortly after joab begins school, he's hit with a terrible blow. >> the last time i saw her, that day in the morning she was fine. >> reporter: his mother dies, at the age of 28. >> reporter: unconfirmed rumors that his mother died of aids are enough for joab and his siblings to be ostracized by their neighbors.

>> reporter: joab runs away from home. joab becomes one of nairobi's 60,000 street children. >> reporter: teacher leah asego sends some of joab's classmates to find him. >> reporter: now in fourth grade at age 12, joab is doing well with his studies and is named class monitor.

>> reporter: by the time joab is 15, his father remarries and moves out. joab honors his mother's wish that he look after his brother and sister. >> reporter: joab is now head of the household, and must find a way to feed the family. a school program provides fresh vegetables and other staples meant only for the children. but the free food attracts a visitor: their father.

>> reporter: despite the hardship, joab stays in school. mrs. asego keeps close track of him, involving him in poetry performance competitions to keep him motivated. joab graduates eighth grade in the top third of his class. he gets a scholarship to a strict boarding school called nakeel. because he started school so late, he's an independent-minded 18-year old, entering ninth grade. and that's not an easy transition. >> here in school there are rules and regulations. there are duties allocated to each student.

>> reporter: joab begins finding excuses to go home to kibera. until one day, he just doesn't come back. >> reporter: his grandmother finds him living on the streets again. she takes him to her village in western kenya. joab survives as a subsistence farmer, out of school, for the next two years.

his education has reached a dead end. but his brother gerald, who started primary school the same day as joab, not only stays in school but excels. the little boy joab took care of after their father left them is now 19-years-old and class president. >> reporter: gerald's future depends on national exams. if he does well, he could go to college. a future that now seems out of reach for joab. >> reporter: joab asks our film

crew for a ride to nairobi, where he hopes to find a job or some training. kibera has changed little since he left two years ago. if anything, it's more crowded and desperate. without intervention, it seems unlikely joab, now 21 years old, will find his way back to school. >> reporter: but joab gets another chance. with the help of his former teacher at nakeel boarding school and american sponsors, joab is accepted to a day school outside nairobi, far away from kibera.

>> on pbs newshour weekend sunday, time for school continues from brazil with the story of jefferson. >> my future is not guaranteed. but the only way to guarantee my future is by going to school. >> sreenivasan: on the next pbs newshour weekend. >> sreenivasan: one of the most prominent and prolific american artists of the past 50 years is alex katz. katz is a new york-born-and-bred painter who spends his summers in maine and finds a lot of his inspiration there. best known for his bright, billboard-sized portraits, katz's work has been the subject

of two museum retrospectives this year. and, as the newshour's phil hirschkorn reports, katz is as busy as ever. >> reporter: even at 88-years- old, alex katz paints almost every day. >> i like doing it. you never know what's going to happen when you start on a canvas. i love the adventure. and i love sticking it to people who didn't think i was anything for so many years. >> reporter: starting out, katz thought he could be never a full-time painter without a part-time job. when i sat down with him outside his summer studio in linconville, maine, he told me his first gallery shows didn't sell much. >> i had five flops in a row. >> reporter: and now, you're in museums all over the world. >> yeah. i'm right near the top of the pyramid at this point. >> reporter: this summer's retrospective at atlanta's high museum featured classic katz. group portraits bright colors. clean lines. and his main subject of recent years: landscapes. his inspiration comes from observation.

like a wallflower, painting family and friends and other people he meets. >> yeah, i've asked waiters, waitresses to pose. you know, they think i'm coming on. and someone tells them, "oh no. he's a really good painter." >> reporter: his favorite subject across the decades has been his wife, ada, painting her more than 250 times. >> ada's like a perfect model. picasso would have jumped at her. her measurements was miss america. ada literally stopped the traffic the first time she came in a bathing suit. she used to-- she goes on a beach, guys fall over. >> reporter: the colby college museum, in maine, houses the largest katz collection anywhere: 850 works. colby now has an exhibit focusing on katz's early work, from the 1950s. diana tuitte is the curator. >> i think that what alex seemed

to know coming out of art school was that he didn't want to be doing what anyone else was doing. initially, katz painted from photographs-- like these figures in a field, or these four children. then, while taking art classes in maine, katz says, he found his eyes. >> i like the light. the further north you get, the less white light you have and the more color. and i thought the color around here, you know, is just really marvelous. and that was a big reason for coming here. >> reporter: he's come back to coastal maine for the past 61 summers. he built a studio overlooking a pond and often finds subject matter right outside the window. when katz has an idea, he first draws a sketch and then paints a small study. when he returns to manhattan in september, katz transforms the studies into a large canvass. so this... becomes this. katz works fast, applying different colors and layers of wet paint on top of each other.

i watched him complete this 15- foot-by-11-foot painting of trees in just 90 minutes. he has really transcended any art movement and continues to really be influential for young painters today. >> what's happening now is that it's like an explosion of different people are interested in my work than were, like, ten years ago. >> reporter: why do you think that is? >> i think longevity is part of it. and i think the big change from the absolutism of modern art to the open area we are in now. i fit. i think in a sense the world caught up with me. >> reporter: most people your age slow down. >> well, i ain't most people. am i? >> sreenivasan: hear more from artist alex katz and see more of his work. visit us online at pbs.org/newshour.

>> this is pbs newshour weekend, saturday. >> sreenivasan: even ten years later, the hurricane season of 2005 is unforgettable. first, in august, hurricane katrina hit the louisiana and mississippi gulf coast. then in september, an even stronger storm made landfall: hurricane rita. charlie whinham, from louisiana public broadcasting, reports from cameron parish in southwestern louisiana with this look back. >> reporter: now while katrina garnered all of the headlines and for very good reason, hurricane rita did its damage as well, causing $12 billion worth of damage. and folks around this part of the country consider hurricane rita as "the forgotten storm." many coastal communities were simply washed away. fortunately, no one in cameron parish died. rita was the fourth strongest atlantic hurricane on record. katrina ranked sixth. but katrina hit a larger

populated area killing an estimated 1,836 people across the gulf coast and causing $108 billion in damages. in texas, rita prompted the largest evacuation in u.s. history. the combination of severe gridlock and excessive heat led to 107 evacuation-related fatalities, according to the houston chronicle. ten years after rita, there remains signs of hope and progress. south cameron high school re- opened in 2010. the new school is 19 feet above ground, built to withstand hurricane force winds and flooding. in 2006, the south cameron memorial hospital received a two million dollar grant from the bush-clinton katrina fund. it is one of the many financial pieces of the puzzle to keep this place open. there is also renewed hope that jobs from the oil and gas industry will return. cameron parish boasts a pair of multi-billion dollar construction projects set to open over the next three years.

>> sreenivasan: and finally, pope francis has landed-- in cuba. the pope visits the predominantly catholic island for three days until coming to washington, new york, and philadelphia next week. also this weekend, we're experimenting on snapchat. follow us @pbs news. our hari sreenivasan, have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

>> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: lewis b. and louise hirschfeld cullman. bernard and irene schwartz. judy and josh weston. the cheryl and philip milstein family. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

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