captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for sunday, march 26th: lawmakers on both sides of the aisle take to the airwaves to talk health care and russia. venezuela asks for assistance as a lack of medical supplies hits crisis levels. and in our signature segment, how ireland is preparing for the financial fallout from brexit. >> when britain pulls out of the e.u., it could trigger tariffs on anglo-irish trade. and when trade barriers go up, so does the cost of doing business. >> sreenivasan: next on "pbs newshour weekend." >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. judy and josh weston. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the john and helen glessner family trust-- supporting

trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. barbara hope zuckerberg. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're 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. further political fallout in the nation's capital today, including a thinly-veiled warning from the president's chief of staff after house republicans scrapped a vote on their highly touted bill to replace the affordable care act on friday. today, president trump attacked the house's conservative freedom caucus in a tweet:

white house chief of staff reince priebus strongly hinted that the president may bypass the 31-member caucus and instead seek out bipartisan deals with democrats on tax reform and other legislation. >> i think it's more or less a warning shot that we're willing to talk to anyone, we always have been and i think moreso now than ever, it's time for both parties to come together and get to real reforms in this country. >> sreenivasan: freedom caucus leader mark meadows had this response: >> i still believe that there is a good chance, if moderates and conservatives can come together, that we repeal and replace obamacare, bring premiums down, cover more people. >> sreenivasan: senate minority leader chuck schumer said today that republicans will find no success with health care as long as repealing the affordable care act is on the table.

>> they ought to get rid of repeal, drop it, it's been a flop for them because of the substance of repeal, and work with us to improve it. >> sreenivasan: republicans are also dealing with the ongoing federal investigation into possible ties between trump campaign members and russian agents seeking to influence the 2016 election. today, the ranking democrat on the house intelligence committee, adam schiff, again criticized the committee's chairman, republican devin nunes, for revealing information to the white house before disclosing it to fellow committee members, and for canceling further hearings with intelligence officials this week. >> i think the chairman has to make a decision, whether to act as a surrogate of the white house, as he did during the campaign and the transition, or to lead an independent and credible investigation. i hope he chooses the latter. >> sreenivasan: russia saw the biggest anti-government protests in five years, and police made hundreds of arrests. the largest turnout was in moscow, where an estimated ten- thousand people rallied against prime minister dmitry medvedev,

accusing him of corruption and demanding his resignation. among those arrested in moscow was alexei navalny, the main leader of russian opposition to president vladimir putin. protesters crowded around the police van carrying navalny but failed to prevent it from leaving. navalny, who wants to run against putin in next year's election, heads the foundation for fighting corruption, which accuses medvedev of amassing a huge fortune. in a controversial vote, china- backed carrie lam was elected as hong kong's new leader today and will become hong kong's first female chief executive on july first, defeating a more popular opponent. she wasn't chosen by the general electorate but by a 1,200 member committee dominated by pro- chinese officials and political figures. police and pro-democracy protesters clashed. the demonstrators accuse china of meddling in the vote process and called the outcome a "fake election." in mosul iraq, there are conflicting reports today about recent air-strikes that are

alleged to have killed more than 100 civilians. the u.s.-led coalition acknowledged yesterday that it carried out strikes in the part of west mosul where dozens of bodies were pulled from the rubble and said there is an investigation underway. but iraq today raised doubts the deaths were caused by air strikes, putting the blame instead on islamic state explosive devices. u.s.-backed iraqi forces pummeled isis militants in west mosul today despite reports they had paused their offensive to investigate the civilian deaths. in syria, islamic state militants occupying raqqa, the capital of their self-declared caliphate, told residents to evacuate the besieged city, citing imminent danger of flooding. isis says the tabqa dam-- syria's largest-- has been weakened by u.s. air strikes and may collapse. this claim has not been independently confirmed. they say the water level behind the dam on the euphrates river 25 miles west of raqqa is rising. u.s.-backed rebels are battling

to regain control of the dam from isis forces. >> oklahoma has the highest rate of female incarceration in the country, but voters and read more at pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: last week the senate voted to overturn internet privacy rules that were designed to prevent internet providers like comcast, verizon and at&t from sharing your browsing data, history, financial, health, communication and location information without your explicit permission. providers are looking to sell that data to advertisers. the house has yet to weigh in, but consumer groups oppose the move citing privacy concerns. for some insight i am joined now by "recode" reporter tony romm who has been following the story. first thanks for joining us and so the senate's passed it, that means the house is going to consider it next. i kind of gave a rough explanation but do us a favor and what are these rules? what's at stake? >> sure thanks for having me. these prieivedz rules are as good as dead.

re-- privacy rules are as good as dead. rewind the clock to see where we got to where we are today. fcc appointee providers like comcast and verizon and at&t to ask your permission to ask customers permission before they share the personal information with third parties, advertisers included. democrats at the time found that internet providers had too great a look into your private life and could do myriad things with that forecast possibly against your will. but republicans didn't like it, they voted against those rules, felt them burdensome, they felt the fcc was reaching far beyond its mandate under law. republicans voted 50 to 48, largely along party lines the gut those rules. the house is expected to vote this week and you can pretty much consider they will vote the same sending this toot trash

heap. h these rules were designed, one of the concerns the industry has they push back, it's not fair for me comcast verizon and at&t, not to do what internet providers already do. >> they made that with the very expensive lobbying campaign, feeling they were being subjected to stronger rules than google or facebook or microsoft. what have you. look at you and your personal information than these tech companies, if you don't like google you can use bing but if comcast is your internet provider and they are able to see the totality of your browsing history, they can sell that to advertisers. whether it was the aclu or folks on capitol hill, they said it was too much, time for privacy

rules. unfortunately these rules aren't staying on the books. >> i brows on the internet for a vacation and then all of a sudden i get advertisements for luggage or the year and a half. what are other information other than the luggage example? >> to pay for the services that most customers don't want to pay for. they don't want to pay for a service like facebook or twitter, not that those companies are looking to charge you but the reason so much of the internet is free, because you are paying for it in a different way in form of your personal information. we are at the beginning of this. wireless companies are looking for new and different ways to advertise and monetize. fest that's why verizon purchased yahoo, the deal that is in a bit of trouble because of the cyber attacks on yahoo,

but they would like to get more information from you and begin to serve you more and different kinds of advertising whether it's relevant or based on other information entirely. h tony romm, thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> sreenivasan: british prime minister theresa may says this week she will formally began the process of withdrawing the united kingdom from the 28- nation european union. the international monetary fund is among the groups who have warned that leaving the e.u.'s single market could have dire consequences for the u.k. economy. but the fallout is already reverberating beyond britain's borders, next door in the republic of ireland. in tonight's signature segment, newshour weekend special correspondent patricia sabga reports on how businesses in ireland there are bracing for brexit. >> reporter: for four generations, michael guinan's family has made a living from this modest dairy and beef farm in the irish midlands.

>> this is a family farm. and my son is here with me now full time. and it's becoming increasingly difficult to get a living for two families on the farm. >> reporter: difficult thanks to uncertainty surrounding the future trading relationship between the republic of ireland and the united kingdom. >> nobody saw brexit coming. we talked about it. we sat back and said, "nah, it can't happen." but it has happened. >> reporter: the united kingdom- - england, scotland, wales, and northern ireland-- is the republic of ireland's biggest trading partner. around $1.3-billion worth of goods and services criss-cross the border every week. but those commercial ties could be frayed by brexit. this is the border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland. right now there are no border controls on goods and services moving between the two countries, because they're both members of the european union. but when britain pulls out of the e.u., it could trigger

tariffs on anglo-irish trade. and when trade barriers go up, so does the cost of doing business. john comer is president of the irish creamery milk suppliers association. >> i can't see any upsides to the impending brexit. >> reporter: what concerns him most are potential tariffs. if britain and the european union fail to reach a free trade the relationship would revert to rules laid down by the world trade organization. that could impose tariffs as high as 40% on irish dairy products sold to britain. >> if we don't get markets that are free markets in terms of no tariffs and no quotas and no impediments, i don't think that'll be sustainable, and i don't think we'd be resilient enough to withstand that dramatic impact. >> reporter: britain's exit from the e.u. is not expected to be completed for at least two

years, but the future is already weighing on irish farmers, thanks to britain's currency, the pound, losing around 12% of its value against the euro since the brexit referendum. >> that immediately affected our competitiveness in the uk market. it made it more difficult to push irish produce into the uk market at a decent price. >> reporter: when farmers' livelihoods take a hit, it can negatively impact rural merchants, when bills for things like livestock feed and farming equipment bought on credit go unpaid. >> the merchants are now finding it hard to recoup that money. as a result, that'll impact on who they can employ and pay. so it'll have a knock on effect there. >> reporter: brexit uncertainty is not just a problem for irish agriculture. it's also affecting small businesses in cities like dublin, ireland's capital. ian martin's company sells first aid and hygiene products imported from the uk. he told us his customers are concerned brexit could raise his

prices. >> they know, at the moment, the goods are coming from the uk. but if we have various tariffs coming into europe from the uk, it's gonna put my cost of my goods up. the goods are gonna have to come from france or germany, which is going to put additional costs on it, because it's going to travel further to come into the irish marketplace. >> reporter: martin's lack of clarity over future sales has already led him to delay hiring replacements for employees who've left. >> we had a member of staff left us there last october. and we said, "look, will we recruit a replacement for him, knowing what's actually happening in the marketplace, or will we just consolidate and keep the decks going as they are, knowing that there's a few big shocks gonna hit the marketplace?" >> reporter: ireland's minister of foreign affairs and trade, charlie flannigan, plays a leading role in the country's brexit negotiations. >> the object of the exercise now must be to ensure that the very close and positive relations between ireland and britain continues, acknowledging of course that leaving the single market, britain has got to suffer some detriment.

and we want to ensure that that detriment to the uk is not going to have consequential loss and damage for us here in ireland. >> reporter: which places the issue the border dividing the two countries front and center. >> we are now faced with a situation where we will have an e.u. frontier right across the island of ireland from east to west, a distance of almost 500 kilometers, and we need to ensure that in the context of the new arrangement between the uk and the european union, that invisible border is maintained in so far as it can. >> reporter: the 300 mile border dividing the republic of ireland and northern ireland is seamless now, but it was heavily fortified during the troubles, the 30-year sectarian conflict between northern ireland's catholic nationalists and protestant unionists that formally ended with 1998 good friday agreement. but brexit is now polarizing northern irish politics along sectarian lines. catholic nationalists are

calling for northern ireland to be granted a special status to stay in the e.u., which would effectively push the post-brexit border out to the rest of the uk. protestant unionists in northern ireland and the british government reject that idea. but ireland's foreign affairs minister charlie flannigan says it's supported by the good friday agreement. >> reporter: you've got the results of a democratic referendum that the british government has to put through, but we also have the good friday agreement. which one of those takes precedent? >> i think it's fair to say that while not explicit in the good friday agreement, certainly implied right the way through it was a greater level of relationship north and south. and the good friday agreement implies that relations north and south will continue to grow and foster in harmony. >> reporter: so it sounds like you're saying that the good friday agreement implies a special status-- >> yes. >> reporter: to northern ireland

within the context of brexit? >> yes. >> reporter: either way, neither ireland nor the u.k. alone will decide the future of their border. >> ireland is only one of 27 european countries that's going pto make that decision on what that looks like. >> reporter: edgar morgenroth, an associate research professor at dublin's economic and social research institute, says border controls are a real possibility. >> if what's proposed by the uk, and their actions are such that it's not in europe's interests, then we are likely to see proper border controls-- >> reporter: which could entail physical barriers to check the movement of people and goods. that could invite a re-emergence of smuggling in black market items, including livestock, which was rife during the troubles. that concerns john comer, who represents dairy farmers. >> if there's illegal or illicit transactions of cattle across borders, it will be very, very complicated. we have many members that have lands that straddle both sides of the border.

>> reporter: the potential for economic disruptions prompted credit rating agency moody's to warn earlier this month that of all european countries, ireland is the most exposed to brexit risk. but there could be a silver lining for dublin. it's already marketing itself as a prime landing spot for lucrative london-based financial services that may want to relocate to another english- speaking e.u. city with a legal system similar to britain's. >> i believe dublin offers opportunity in terms of a skilled workforce, in terms of a really nice place in which to set up business and trade. >> reporter: but economist edgar morgenroth says even financial services jobs and other f.d.i.-- foreign direct investment-- are unlikely to fully offset the blow brexit could deliver to ireland's economy >> we are going to pick up a reasonable slice of whatever might relocate. will that counterbalance the negative effects that come

through trade? well, our estimates suggest that it won't, because we will only pick up some f.d.i., whereas we're going to lose quite a substantial amount through the trade impacts with the uk. >> reporter: so while dublin could see a brexit boon, back in the irish midlands, farmer michael guinan is bracing for hard times. >> it's the small people that suffer. the bigger people will probably always find a way around things. but it's the smaller producer and the small farmer that's gonna be hardest hit in this. >> sreenivasan: on friday, venezuelan president nicolas maduro took to state-run television to say that he had asked the united nations for help in addressing his country's shortages of medicine and other goods. maduro blamed "the economic war

and the fall in oil prices" for the current crisis that has left the country's hospitals with less than 5% of the medicine required to treat patients. for more on just how venezuela reached this point i am joined via skype from caracas, by reuters reporter brian ellsworth. this is an interest being development. how bad is the lack of medical supplies? i've heard that there have been protests on the streets about this. >> yes, the situation is quite severe. the pharmaceutical industry estimates that you have perhaps one in six chance of finding a given medication often the shelf, many medicines are not available. a simple antiinflammatory or park in songs medication or hypertension medication. the result is that people simply

go without medication they need, and you go on social media and you'll see there's a constant flood of requests from people who say, can you help me get this medication for this person. there are groups all over the world who have made up of venezuelans, the situation is severe any of that without a major change in the way the economy functions it's probably going to continue to be a problem. >> sreenivasan: is there now a black market for medications when there's such an incede ibl shortage of things or has the price just skyrocketed? >> in some instances, the price has skyrocketed. others are out of the reach of what people can afford, there is sort of trade and barter medication. the problem is there isn't enough medication i would say to sustain a black market the way you would have a black market for foreign exchange or any other number of products. >> sreenivasan: this is in the

context of inflation rising in triple digit numbers this year? >> yes. the government doesn't publish inflation numbers anymore. we estimate it's between 400 and 800% this year. people being able to find it at a price they can afford is getting less and less likely. >> sreenivasan: what is the reaction from the international community? >> people talk a lot about this. the initial reaction at least of the government is there is month crisis here. so they have, while really until friday thin disliked the idea of people talking about humanitarian assistance because they say there is not a need for that. maduro is talking about a consultation with the united nations, the proposal was a brief comment on friday and it is not immediately evident what he actually has in mind and what the united nations would be able to do it. >> sreenivasan: brian

ellsworth, joining us from caracas via skype thank you so much. >> thank you. >> sreenivasan: police in cincinnati, ohio are investigating a nightclub shooting early this morning that left one person dead and more than a dozen injured. authorities believe at least two people fired shots inside the crowded cameo club following a dispute among several men. police say a 27-year-old man was killed and 15 others were wounded. two of them are in critical condition. they also say the incident is e club in the past.ed insideat authorities are still trying to identify the shooters. scuffles broke out between protesters and counter- protesters yesterday at rallies across the country in support of president donald trump. in huntington beach, california, 2,000 pro-trump demonstrators gathered, police say a fist fight broke out after a counter- protester doused an organizer with pepper spray. six people were arrested. police in philadelphia cut a pro-trump rally short citing safety reasons as opposing marchers squared off at independence mall.

iran imposed sanctions today on 15 american companies it claim"" flagrantly violate human rights" and support israel's," terrorism" against the palestinians. an iranian foreign ministry statement called the move barring any deals with iranian companies a "reciprocal act" following u.s. sanctions imposed on iran following its missile test last month. the impact of the sanctions may be limited, as it is unclear if any of american companies like i.t.t., united technologies and raytheon, have any business with iran. the ruling hamas authorities shut down gaza's main border crossing with israel today following the friday killing of a senior leader, mazen faqha. the erez crossing is shut down in both directions indefinitely, and also applies to journalists, aid workers and patients trying to enter israel for medical help. thousands in gaza yesterday mourned the death. hamas accused israel of," assassinating" faqha; a former prisoner freed by israel in 2011.

finally, president trump plans to sign another executive order on tuesday cancelling out the obama administration clean house plant. that will restrict greenhouse gases at power plants. a reminder you can watch my extended interview with tony romm at facebook.com/newshour. tomorrow on newshour continuing coverage following the defeat of the bill to replacing e-place the affordable care act. that's it for this edition of pbs newshour, i'm hari sreenivasan, thanks for watching. >> pbs newshour weekend is made

possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. judy and josh weston. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the john and helen glessner family trust-- supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. barbara hope zuckerberg. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your provided by:upport has been and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

he's going down. he's going in. now's the critical time. that's an impressive meat hook right there. most raptors at one level or another are adapting to urban environments throughout the world really. gray hawk is still a rare bird in the u.s. we can tell he was electrocuted by the two points of contact. we understand that there's an inherent hazard with our equipment. we're trying to rubber up everything that that bird can get into that can get him electrocuted. funding for this program was provided by desert program partners. if the lion is king of the jungle,