captioning sponsored by wnet >> stewart: on this edition for saturday, april 28: trump foreign policy on display from north korea to france, germany and the iran deal: and in r signature segment, health concerns for some puerto rica living near a power plant. next on pbs newshour weekend. >> "pbs newshour weekend" is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. the cheryl and phip milstein amily. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. dr. p. roy vagelos and diana t. vagelos. the j.p.b. foundation. the anderson family fund. rosalind p. walter. barbara hope zuckerberg. ing is provided by mutual of america-- designing customiz individual d group retirement products.

that's why we're your retirement company. >> additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for yublic broadcasting, and by contributions r pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios at lincoln center in new york, wart: good evening, and thank you for joining us. less than a day after the historic meeting between north and south korea's leaders, president trump said "things are going l"very " as he prepares for his own meeting with north korea's kim jong un. there is no word yet where the two will meet. this morning, the president tweeted that he talked with south korea's prejadent moon in and japan's prime minister shinzo abe about the ongoing negotiations with north korea. yesterday, kim jong un was the first northn korealeader to cross the border to south korea, soadcast livoue in the.

today, north korte media showed images of the heavily event that ended with the leaders of the two countries issuing a joint statement pledging to work towards "the common goal of realizing, through complete denuclearization, a nuclear-free korean peninsula." during his first overseas trip as the newly confirmed secretary of state, mike pompeotu congted north and south korea and praised president trump. >> let there be no doubt we would not be where we are today without president trump's maximum pressure campaign and the work that has been done all around the world to apply pressure to north kor. >> stewart: after a nato meeting in brussels, pompeo headed for the middle east, arriving in saudi arabia today where he began with aeeting with the foreign minister, adel al- jubeir. secretary pompeo's three-day stay in the region willtr inclue el to jordan and israel. the upcoming u.s decision on whether totay in the iran nuclear agreement is expected to top the agendas. to put all of this foreign

policy news into perspective, i am joined now from washington by reuters diplomatic correspondent, arshad mohammed. arshad, mike pomo was confirmed as secretary of state 57-42, and just 12 hours and 34 minutes later, he was addressing nato in brussels. so what are we to take away from the speed of that and what does it signal? ell, a couple of things. one, he's hit the ground running. at, when you look secretaries of state, i always think about two things-- one, to what extent do they have a selationship with the exprt to what extent d the president actually delegate to them? in this case it seems fairly clear that pompeo has a closerla onship to president trump than his predecessor, rex tirl son, ever did. wand secondly, pomps the man president trump sent to north korea to meet with the north korean leader. so the president has alrdy been delegating to him in his role as c.i.a. director. so he has at least a couple of

the attributes that strong cretaries of state now. >> stewart: there are reports the state department is not what it once fs in terms staffing. is there any indication he'll change that, that he'll hire more? >> so, he's making all the right sound. you're absolutely right. if you look the half dozen key regional assistant cretaries, the people i charge of africa or east asia and the pacific or t near east, those jobs all have act people in them-- five out of the six, excuse me, do. he said that he wants to get his ayers out on the field, that he wants to get more ambassadors out, that he wants to get the topfficials confirmed. the fundamental question here is to what extent will the white house let him select the people for these jobs, and to what extent will congress actually ss them? >> stewart: secretary pompeo is slated to go to saudi arabia, israel, and jordan. how might this trip be different than that of, say, formeofr secretar state, rex tillerson? >> you know, the fundamental difference, i thin the extent to which the people that

secretdey pompes with believe he's speaking for president trump. you know, it's anst open qn if anyone actually speaks for president trump, other than the president himself. you know, he said that ini foreign p, his voice is the only one that counts. i do think, though, that pompeo, at least initially, seems to being better shot at taken seriously by his interlockatures because it's clear the president has a deep relationship with him than he ever seems to have had with tillerson. >> stewart: i want to check in on your tughts on french president emmanuel macron's visit with president trump in the unit states this past week? there was a lot made of the style of the trip that they seemed to have a bromance. what is the substance of their conversation? macron seemed to want to have some influence on president trump's thoughts on iran and climate change. >> i mean, one of therimary purposes of the trip was for

president macron to make theld best case he cor the united states to stay in the-- in the iran nuclear deal. and, you know, if you look very carefully at what macron said, it seemed to de he wasng two things. on the one hand, he was-- he was making the implicit case for the united states to stay in the deal. on the other hand, he was alsyio kind of to lay the groundwork for if the united states pulls out, and trying to keep some hope of diplomacy alive, even if the president dedes on may 12 not to stick with the deal. the day aer his news conference with the president, he told a separate news conference that he wasn't so sure the preswoidend stay in the deal. so i think it really was a two-pronged effort: keep the inif he can and try to limit rte damage if he cannot. >> steand finally, german chancellor angela malkel met with president trump. and that relationship, let's say, is not as warm as his

relationship with president macron. what was the objective of that meeting? >> one was cerinly theran deal. that was expected to be a big part of those talks. another s the possibility of trade sanctions against the european union, particularly over steel and aluminum. and if you look at the body language, it's a much less warm, friendly, engaged kind of relationship. and i didn't get the sense that she had any idea ofhether the-- what the president was going to do, either on trade or on iran. >> stewart: arshad mohammed from reuters, thank y much. >> great, thank you.wa >> s: a teenage palestinian boy died this morning, a day after protests at the gaza-israel borderfohere israeli es shot and killed three other palestinians and wounded hundreds more. hundreds of palestinians mourned the death of 15-year-old azzam hillal, who was shot in the head. hospitals in gaza report treating more than 500 palestinians, nearly 200 of whom were wounded by gunfire over the past five weeks of demonstrations.ar as canisters thrown into the crowd injured others.

the israeli army said that more than 10,000 palestinians protested yesterday and that troops opened fire when some of the protesters rushed the border fence. the protests are expected to continue into may as th anniversary of the founding of the state of israel approaches. in washington today, president trump called for the resignation of montana senator jon tester, the top democrat on the senate veterans' affairs committee. this follows the withdrawal of mr. trump's pick for v.a. secretary earlier this week. late yesterday, the white housen released docum it said refute allegtoations by sena tester thnyat dr. r jackson, the president's physician, had"" wrd" a car after drinking at a secret service going-away party. the documents from the aneral servicinistration detailed jackson's involvement in three minor inc vehicles between 2013 and 2017 but contained no mentioof a wrecked car or the use of alcohol. other anonymous charges released by the committee demoats included over-prescribing drugs and drinking on the job.

this morning, president trump tweeted, "allegations de by senator jon tester against admiral/dr. ron inckson are prfalse" and "tester should resign." in a statement, tester responded, saying he would" never stop fighting" for veterans in montana. dr. jackson withdrew his name l of the allegations, which he lled "completely false a fabricated." the environmental protection agency's office of inspector neral announced it's launching new reviews of ethicsai allegations agnst e.p.a. administrator scott pruitt. pruitt testified before two house committees earlier this week. a letter to democratic members of congress released yesterday, e.p.a. inspector general arthur elkins, jr., said hifi will investigate several questions about pruitt's conduct. th ilude excessive travel expenses, a $50-a-night condo rental fr t wife of an energy lobbyist, and the use of a government security detail during personal trips. the white house, the government accountability ongffice and

ssional committees are all looking into ethics complaints against pruitt >> stewart: last month, the environmental protection agency proposed more than a dozen rule changes that would weaken regulations on the dl of coal ash, the byatoduct produced coal-burning power plants. around the same time, the associated press reported that dozens of coal plants across the u.s. had found heightened levels of pollutants like arsenic and radium in groundwater near coal ash dumping sites. in togmnight's signature t, we look at one city in puerto rico where residents say coa ash is making them sick, a state of affairs made worse, they believe, in the afteof hurricane maria. newshour weekend's ivette feliciano has the stor >> reporter: the city of guayeaa sitspuerto rico's southeast coast. half its population of more than 20,000 lives below the poverty

line. like most of puerto rico, the s hit hard by hurricane maria last fall. it's still trying to recover. but the people here have problepo beyonrty and storm damage. >> ( translated ): the next house, the man died of cancer. >> reporter: alberto colon is a retired maintenance worker in f the cityne o poorer neighborhoods. he suffers from sinusitiloand has deved an abscess on his chest. down the street from his house, a truck pulls away from a home ere it has delivered medical supplies. colon says that's a common sight here. >> >> translated ): people complain about diseases like asthma, cancer. it's normal for people to have cancer. before a certain point, if a person here got cancer, you would say, "my god, this person has cancer!" today, you see them as just one more person. >> reporter: colon believes he knows the source of his neighborhood's suffering. miramar sits downwind from puerto rico's only coal-burning

power plant and a 120 foot-high mound of an industrial product the plangenerates by burning coal. it's called agremax. agremax consists mostly of coal ash. residents here say the wind carries ash residue from the mound into their community. alberto colon's wife margaritaei edrez, says home's surfaces are covern a thin layer of ash residue. >> ( translated ): this right here? just cleaned it. ok! >> reporter: her sister, natividaperez burgos, who also lives in the neighborhood, was diagnosed with cancer in both her lungs and her liver five ars ago. and she suffers from skin lesions on her torso. >> ( translated ): it's noeasy to be told that you have cancer. you think you're going to die, thatcancer means death. i'm fighting harder now because i'm not the oy one who's been rt in my community. >> reporter: according to a recent survey by the university of puerto rico's school of public health, almost one in ten

people in the community have been diagnosed with cancer, one in four have a respiratory disease, and more than one half have heart disease. >> we handle the operation of the plant. are in direct contact with the pro... with the coal combustion products on a daily basis. i have orbeenng in the plant for 16 years, as have many of my co-workers, and we.. we are... we are healy. >> reporter: elias sostre is opalations manager at the co plant, which is owned by a.e.s., an energy company based in virginia. since it began operations in 2002, the plant has supplied nearly 20% of puerto rico's electricity. and according to an audit by the puerto rican government, the a.e.s. plant saved the island more than $500 million in its first five years alone. sostre says it's also a model of environmental efficiency. >> we got here the best available technology to produce power, and to do so with the lowest emissions.

at the time that we went online, we set the standard for the lowest emissions. >> reporter: for more than a deumde, ther of guayama cancer cases hovered at about 100 per year. but within a year of the plant's 2002 opening, the number of cases rose by nearly 50%. the most recent figures show that new cancer cases have stayed near that level, spiking even highern 2013. from the start, the company was producg agremax from coal ash. coal ash has trace amounts on heavy metalscluding arsenic, boron, chromium and mercury--es substahat can become hazardous if there is enough present. according to a.e.s., the plant produces 220,000 tons of coal ash a year. but in the company's original contract with puerto rico'sic elecauthority, the ash could not be stored on the island unless it had a beneficial commercial use, which it did.

the plant mixed coal ash with water to create agremax, thatco rete-like material that sits outside the plant. a.e.s. marketed agremax for use in puerto rican roads andam construction, g other things. according to the e.p.a., ov two million tons of the material was ed in 33 sites on the island between 2004 and 2012. j dr. geenez castanon is the medical director for menonita medical center, the only hospital in puerto rico's southeast region. he says he began to see a higher nflux of patients two to three years after the coal-burning plant was built. >> ( translated ): we were seeing patientsmooming in with respiratory problems. and not just respiratory problems, but each time it was more serious. >> reporter: did you ecmediately co that change to the plant? was that something that you assumed was happening? >> ( translated yes, yes, i id make the connection. as i saw it, only one new thing

had come here. many of the other plants had already closed, and that was the only new one. > reporter: but despite the anecdotal evidence, tvehere's no plink between coal ash and guayama's health problems, and the u.s. government hae no definitive study regarding coal ash's potential effects on human health. a 2014 environmental protection agency ruling regulated coal ash as non-hazardous solid waste, but environmeal groups decried the ruling. the "new york times" called it" a victory for electrlity companies and the coal industry." just aear before, a university study linked coa ash to increases in asthma and lung cancer. another, published in 2014 by the advocacy groups earthjustice and physicians for social justice, linked the material to incrases in heart and respiratory diseases, cancer and stroke. by that time, a.e.s. had stopped

marketing agremax, but it does still convert coal ash into agremax in order to ley dispose of it in approved landfills on the island. alberto colon says you can still see coal dust from agremax where it was used as a filler on dirt roads. >> ( translat have the roads here that are filled in with it so much that once they become dry, you can h moving freely on the surface, blowing around. that same ash is going from the road into the air, and it will eventually grinto the wate where it will contaminate the aquifer. >> reporter: local fear of contaminatomion he coal ash has become so widespread that protesters have gathered along the roads when the material is shipped from thelant. the government has employed police in riot gear to protect the trucks transporting agremax. dr. luis bonilla soto, an environmental researcher from iversity of puerto rico school of public health, says protesters' fears may be justified. he says that agremax could

contaminate groundwater at sites where it was used, especially after an event like huicane maria. >> ( translated ): maria was the strongest hurricane to hit the island. it brought intense rains. in a few weeks, 15 inches of rain fell, and, obviously, all those heavy metals that are in the ash are soluble in water. the rain gets into the ash, andr it leachesgh the subsoil and pollutes the aquifer. >> reporter: as evidence, bonilla points to a 2012 e.p.a.- commissioned analysis of agremax by vanderbilt university. it fnd that when exposed to water, agremax has the potential to leach substances such as arsenic, boron, chloride and chromium at over 100 times the levels the e.p.a. considers acceptable for drinking water. in a statement to newshour weekend, the e.p.a. said the study "did not assess the health effects of agremax" itself and" the only conclusion that should be drawn from the sampling analysis report is that cs ontaminantn leach from this

material at these levels under certain conditions." elias sostre, the coal plant operations manager, says the e.p.a. report has been used by environmental and health advocates to stoke unjustified fears. tania vazquez rivera agrees. she heads puerto ricoqu environmentaity board. vazquez says the e.q.b. has offered to hold eventagto discusmax with the public. >> we actually told the people, "we can go to a scientific forum with scientific data and explain it." we don't want more incorrect information over there creating... creating panico people that already... if you have somebody that's sick in your house and somebody tells you to..who to blame, you know, you're really going to be passio >> reporter: vazquez points out that guayama had been an industrial center for decades before a.e.s. arrived. she says that any numesr of substanc from former and current porlants and facts could play a role in the health problems facing people there.

she notes that just a mile and a half away from alberto colon's f miramar are two pharmaceutical plants and a superfund site that has been operating since 1999. vazquez also says thaa.e.s. consisently sends her agency measurements of coal ash components and that, uow, they've always stayed within the e.q.b.'s tysatandards. >> they never were out of range, so they were complying with it all the time. >> reporr: those tests haven't convinced dr. gerson jimenez. he says he has petitioned the puerto rican government to do a study on the effects of coal ash from the a.e.s. plant, but to no avail. >> ( translated ): i have participated in at least eight or nine public hearings of e puerto rican legislature. i've written to them and others about the problem and risk that this plant represents. i even asked oneveral occasions that the department of health or the government do a scientific study on the higher incidences of these cases. and they have not done anythi despite all e information that

we have provided them with about the problems this causes. >> reporter: new findings have added fuel to the debate over coal ash. last month, a.e.s. released its most r monitoring report. it showed that between september 12 and october 4 of last year, levels of arsenic, chromium and even two radioactive isotopes had increased dramatictely in groundnear the coal plant's large mound i agremax. threase took place around the time hurricane maria hit the island. thenvironmental quality board had ordered a.e.s. to cover the agremax pile beforehe storm, but the company did not comply. the boarlater fined a.e.s. the company is contesting the fine. >> this is a concre-like product. it was... it was not necessary to... to cover th. and the fact is thry after a cate. a category-five hurricane coming by island, the same shape, wae

and form before and after the hurricane. so, our. our position was validated. >> reporter: puerto rico's environmental quality board has e.s. to send it mo information on its latest groundwater readings, and the company says it has complied. the e.q.b. is now reviewing that information. meanwhile, back in the miramar neighborhood in guayama, locals gather to discuss theiconcerns about the coal ash and their neighborhood's future. >> i think about my grandchildren, and i think about the suffering that these people have gone through. they need to do something-- investigate, check the environment-- becausit is our people, but tomorrow it could be theirs, because we are on the same island. it does not just affect guayama; it aff rects all of puero. >> stewart: hear frenom an ronmental researcher studying the effects of coal ash. visit www.pbs.org/newshour.

>> this is pbs newshour weekend, saturday. >> stewart: ale evans was the british toddler whose illness became a global story as his parents battled doctors over his care. the child died earlier today. i.tgr.n.'s damon een reports. >> reporter: alfie evans was in hospital for most of his short life, suffering from a degenerative brain ion, which doctors deemed futile to treat. for months, they argued thait was in alfie's best interests for life support to be turned off, a decision that his parents were unable to accept. >> no one in this country is take my boy away from me. >> reporter: the campaign, insisting on their own right to choose how he was treated, had the support of the pope inspec rome they said there was a hospital willing to treat alfie and they mount a seri of appeals to move him from liverpool to italy. but pespiteal support, the courtsejected their arguments, saying that the best interests of the child were more important than the wisheserf his moth

and father. series of appeals, backed by a christian legal group, were all unsuccessful. >> they phoned the police over a child.si >> reporter: tons between the family and the hospital turned to hostility when attempts were made by alfie's parents to discharge him, and on the day his ventilator was due to be disconnected, the crowd of protesters who called themselves "alfie's army," attempted to stormtospital doors. but even without the life support, in spite of his parents' fears, the 23-month-old managed b toathe unassisted for several days. it brought a reconciliation between hoital and family and a desire to work together. >> we ask you all now to allow us to return to our everyday e,ves, and allow myself, k to form a relationship and build a bridge and walk across it. >> reporter: with conflict left behind, and the acrimonious protest in s name at an end, alfie spent his last hours with his mother and father in peace.

>> stewart: finally tonight, the white house correspondents association hosts its annual dinner this evening. and for the second year in a row, president trump will not aattend. few members of his staff are expected to be on hand, including press secretary sarah huckabee sanders. the president will be at what's brieen ded as a campaign- style rally in michigan. we'll have highlights of both events on tomorrow's program. that's all for this edition of pbs newsur weekend. i'm alison stewart. thanks for watching. have a good night. captiing sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made poible by: bernard and irene schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family.

sue and edgar wachenheim, iii.g dr. p. royos and diana t. vagelos. the j.p.b. foundation. the anderson family fund. rosalind p. walter. rg barbara hope zuckerb corporate funding i mprovided ual of america-- ing customized individua 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.

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