captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for sunday, february 17: isis spreads its footprint to west africa. venezuela's humadetarian crisis ens as aid sits across the border in colombia. and an oscar-nominated film with an up close look at end-of-life choices. xt on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: hbernard and irene tz. sue and edgar wachenheim iii. seton melvin. the cheryl and philip milstein family. dr. p. roy vagelos and diana t. vagelos. the j.p.b. foundation. rosalind p. walter. ebarbara hope zucke corporate funding is mrovided ual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your

retirement company. additional suppopr has been ided 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 stolios at licenter in new york, hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: good evening and thanksor joining us. two days after president trump declared a national emergency in order to spend billions of dollars in additiol funding for a wall or barrier along the u.s.-mexico border, he's facing both political and legal challengesta represve adam schiff called the president's declaration "plainly unconstitutional." >> this is the first time a president has tried to declare an emergency when congress explicitly rejected funding for the particular project that the president is advocating. and in saying just the other day that he didn't really need to do

this. he just wanted to do it becauseh it would helgs go faster. he's pretty much daring theth court to strik down. it's hard to imagine a poorer case, but i'll say thia, it's going to be a real test for myss.o.p. colleagues in cong and their devotion to the institution. >> sreenivasan: white house senior aiser stephen miller said the president will defend his emergency declaration even if congresvotes to stop him. >> if they pass a resolution of disapproval, will the president veto that, which would be the first veto of his presidency? o >> weliously, the president is going to protect his national emergency declaration, chris. and i know that we'rt,out of time, gain, i want to make this point: there is no threat. >> yes, he will veto? >> he's going to protect his national emergency declaration, guaranteed. >> sreenivasan: on the legal front, california's attorney abneral xavier becerra tol newshat more states includin new mexico, oregon, hawaii, and minnesota are joining the planned lawsuit challenging the national emergency declaration. heather nauert, president

trump's choice to be u.n. ambassador, withdrew from consideration late yesterday. in a state department release, nauert said her decision was based on what was best for her family, saying, "the past two mont have been grueling." several news organizations also reported that nauert's family had employed a nanny from a foreign country who was legally in the u.s., but who did not have legal work status.ni the adration never officially nominated nauert, but, last december, after forme. mbassador nikki haley resigned, mr. trump called nauert, "very talented, very smart, very quick." nauert was a spokeswoman for the state department and previously a reporter at fox news. ts.-backed kurdish forces in syria reported todt the orislamic state is keeping than 1,000 civilians from leaving the militants' final enave in eastern syria. the kurdish syrian democratic forces saysis fighters are hiding among the civilians and using caves and tuels in a one uare mile area of the village of baghouz. the kurds also say they e holding 1,000 captured isis fighters, most from foreign

countries. the kurds claim victory over isis is imminent, and in tweets last night, president trump again declared victory and asked european countries to take captured isis fighters from their countries and put them on trial, saying, "time for others to ste they are so capable of doing. we are pulling back after 100% caliphate victory!" the streets in haiti's capital, port-au-prince, were quieter today after nine days of violent protests. last night, the prime minister announced emergency cuts in esvernment spending and promised to investigate chaf corruption and embezzlement by divernment officials. protestors are dem the resignation of haiti's president, jovenel moise, holding him accountable for skyrocketing inflation and government corruption. the united states and canada have issued do not travelwa ings, and some tourists and medical workers have been unable to leave haiti. the u.s. military continued to deliver humanitarian aid to the venezuela-colombia border today against the wishes of venezuelan president nicolás maduro.

u.s. senator marco rubio arrived at the border this morning to tour the aid facilities and meet with members of nezuela's national assembly. juan guaido, who also claims the presidency, said yesterday that volunteers will escort the aid through barricades on an unused bridge betweenonhe two nations ebruary 23. for more on the fight c ainst islamiate militants in syria, visit pbs.org/newshour. tomorrow, president trump plans to give a eech in florida largely focused on venezuela and the u.s.-backing for its self- proclaimed president j guaido. but president maduro is not showing signs of leand seems to continue to have the support of the military. so, how did this situationpp ? what is the united states role in venezuela? and is there a connection between venezuela policy and increasing oppition to the government in haiti? for perspective and analysis, we turn to christopher batini, an adjunct professor at columbia university's school of international and public affairs and americans," a newsletter focused on latin america and the

caribbean. we've had lots of conversations on this program about the kind of immediate crisis that ven venezuala is going through, the lack of smedicine and food on thlf, the things that the people are suffering through. in the bigger picture, how do we get here? >> a large part of it is actual politics, what happr the last 20 yeerks and the 20 years that this government has been in power. first under hugo chavez and nik last maduro. we slowly closed off all the avenues for political rticipation, they packed the supreme court, the electoral council, they have actually banned opposition parties from running. and so what effectively happened was there was no neway for the opposition to in an incrediblysirisis driven ation in which the popularity of the government has fallen there is no way for the opposition to gain any traction. so one moment the national asmbly, the last dem-- democratically elected institutions in the country appoint its prent juan guaido and then declared under the constitution that the current defacto pesident,

nicholas maduro was illegitimate use he won in a largely discredited election in 201918 and there juan guaido was-- t6 other countries t are also backed by the-- what are the i vesterest in guaido, i mean there is obviously humanitarian interests but dale.

the last 20 years venezualaan government has funded this structure, so first of all, that issue, that sowt ostep with the rest. y aond of all there is reall strategic element to this, more than 3.3 million people, venezuelue have left ven and are fleeing and taking withl themhe security, poverty, they're really a drain on a lot of countries, that are accepting them and last is the issue of china and russia, what was a democracy and human rightsis e, confined mostly to venezuela has now become a geo political issue because the other 60 countries have lined up to support guaido, other countries from the other side have lined up in defense of nik last maduro so you have syria, iran, russia, china, and turkey tl backing maduro so this has

really boiled do a geo strategic issue that goes to the u.s. interest within the hemisphere, not justghround human but also sort of its own national interest. >> well, what happenin the next few days, the united states has been sending shipments of humaintarian aid that is sig across the border in columbia. guaido says we are going to out a way to get this in. maduro technically doesn't have to let convoys of stuff come here a he's got military that can stop it. >> no one really kndeows. to this is the fact that donald trump has said numerous time have said that the military option is still on the table. so you have that hovering. in the c mtext ofe than 30 interventions from thunited states, many ended badly within the he sphere. so yve the shadow of the u.s. legacy of the bad-- convention, right now you have the assis,nce of colomb venezuelan border, u.s. marines actually protecting it, to help it is basically a showdown right

now. we will have to see who blinks first. >> and finally, yesterday we had a conversation on the program about haiti. and there is this sort of d nnection here between venezuela money fluence and what is happening in haiti's political turil. >> venezuela built a coalition within the hemisphere in large part to that wart any challenges in is legit mass---- legitimacy in efforts to vilate human rights, basically an oil give away program, and there were a number of beneficiaries, one of them was the haitian government. well, first of all, abo year ago a report came out alleging that mostcaf the money thame from that oil program had disappeared. incling ties to former president and ties to the current cabinet members. so t as ignitederies of protests from this clear example mall feesance and corruption. but there are also allegations erat show venezuela may be behind it in oays because hatedi is flipped and st one of those countries that is now eck

aring guaido and not recognizing maduro, so there is also this element of who is behind these protests that have rocked haiti for over a week and resulted in the deaths of last count 7 people. >> their allegiance is going back and forth to two parties struggling inside venezuela right now. and the ripple effect of what could have been is streaming across the region and the world. >> christopher sabatini from columbia university, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> sreenivasan: isis-controlled territory is shrinkisyria, and the u.s. president is declaring a military victory over the terrorist group. but there is another front growing in west africa. a group known as "iswap," the islamic state west africa province, is expanding itsrr ory in northeast nigeria and surrounding countries. i spoke with drew hinshaw, a repoer for the "wall street journal," who has been covering

the rise of this new group. he joined us from warsaw, poland last weekend via skype. let's celk about thissis in westafer characters they call themselves i swap who are they. >> yeah, thanks for having me. i swap is a faction or one of the factions thatfor a bunh of reasons, one of which they felt overall far too little of the civilian population, torching villages, things we read about two years ago, turning young children into suici bombers, even isis thought that it was too little, that is isis anden they a series of letters to nie dperia that they want tola break awayng out a theology that would be much more civilian friendly trying to deal with the populatios to atly

they have also committed more massacres. compared to boko haram it is better ate th game of creating a local population. >> you are reporting they are gaining tertory and they're actually making strategic wins, on military bases. >> i think she have overrun 14, last count, 14 ms ilitary bas north eastern nigeria and some of those are little more than a bit of fence and kind of small-- but some are proper military bases, one on the shores of the lake had germando ted patrol boats, troops coming there from chad. and they first used handhe drones and then overmanned it with enormous amounts of weapons

and supplies. >> so if you lack atap and see they are kind of across nigeria, niger, chad, what is their goal here, do they want to build the equivalent of another caliphate in africa. >> yeah, i think something like that. when iceician declared heir caliphate, they didn't consider it only iraq and syria, they kind of had in a way very grand yolks-- grandiose ideas. the westafer ka province has gone pretty far.nk i thi they have in-- benefited from the us.' shift away fromco terter rich as a big u.s. military priority. i think you can say they are creating something like a territory where nigerian government frankly can't respond and see a live and let live relationship.

>> i would ask, what is the u.s. role here, have we essentially considered that the boko haram fight is over and are we paying attention to this sth. >> i think there is definitely a shift, talk about a shift away, contesting great powers from china. and that means that you are seeing a lot of drawbacks in westafer ka and elsewhere, cutting troop levels by 10% it is not huge but you know, when the u.s. does that, well, it is not a priority eto amricans frankly this is part of our country that is not economic-- when you have a stalemate for years anrs and in terms of no right and wrong, we have the nigerians themselves being prioritized or can be t is a concern and a challenge. >>hris hinshaw joining usve

from skype, thanks so much >> sreenivasan: directors rob epstein and jeffrey friedman are no strangers to oscar nods,nn g oscars three decades ago for the documentary films "the times of harvey milk" in 1985 and "common threads" in 1990: films widely known for positively influencing l.g.b.t. history. their netflix short film is an -front and compassionate look at palliative care and hospice through terminally ill patients, dying is-- the two things that we all share in common, we arethorn and we die. and stt one thing we just, we push away as unimaginable it is

the ultimate existential dilemma, right, we are here and en we are not here. so we do whatever we can to avoid think being it, talking about it, imagining it for ourselves. so here, you know, we found these practitioners whose job it is, day in and day out to help us with that, help us through whatever suffering there might be involved in that experience for ourselves and our loved ones. >> give me a sense of scale. you chose two programs happening in san francisco, relatively progressive city in modern day america, right, what is the traditional form that most people end up dying in americ today versus these options that seem pretty new and foreign to a lot of people that might be watching your documentary? >> well, i mean what we wanted to present is the-- is the continueium of optionsrof being at a hospital and what the

hospital, what the hospital has been designed to do, is you are there at that point in youric life, is all about treatment and trying to keep you alive, regardless of the circumstances. the other end of the continueium is hospicere you are really there for that end of life experience, and the quality of care that you areiven in that situation. ue what we do in t film is to present that contm of choice. >> there is also a challenge that people with physically letting go of the body, right. there is a-- allinds of philosophical questions, is this the end, is there a spirit, is there a sole what happens after a die, what will happen to my body or my daughter's bod hee. there is a struggle here on so d mafferent levels that you witnessed, that the families are going through. >> yeah, they're difficult

problems, the most difficult problems we'll ever face and what ally inspired us was watching these practitioners whose job it is to help us work through these dilemmas and figure out what options we want that would align withwhat we believe in. and that's different forh e person. >> as you said, because these practitioners aren't working, their job is with the conflict and the context of terminal eu8ness, all theseissues come into play, psychological, emotional, sows logical issues around end of life, come into play in their work. >> how much of the challenge erre is about the patient themselvess all the people around the patient that have their own issues about thehe psychological,ocial logical, et cetera, right t seems time sometimes it is

harder for everyone around the sick personto let go. >> it is one reason there the conversation is so important, that the people who are around ou, when you are facing the enderstand and respect your wishn . but that cly happen if there is a discussion about it. >> palliative care is a wh team so there is a physician there is the social worker, the chaplate, there is an and all of t care workers work with the family as well. so all of that is part of the conversation that is going on. >> you also point out that the traditions deal with this differently, that there is kind of the maintream american, putting people into a casket and burying them but in between there is a lot. >> yeah, i mean letting go is a big part of the process. and you know, it's one of the aspects of the film that i think

made it bearable was thehat t was so much caring and love involved in both caring for patients and also letting go of loved ones, as painful as it pa, th is something that comes from love. and feeling the love from families and also feeling the deep empathy and caring from the care givers in the institutions that we were filming in was really in the end very inspirin >> one of the doctors in the film says dieing is not a medical shoorks it is a human issue. and that's something that we all share, that weall have in common. at the end, what we hope for is that it isbout humankindness and compassion and paishesz-- patieate and love, s what we all hope for.

>> but what did it do to you now that you have firned the film, did you rethink, do you have a list of wishes, did you clarify this? and i. ir i definitely wrote an advancedtive, i made sure that everyone around me knowst what i wd what i don't want. but i think at ave deeper it really made me, it gave me more of a relatish with death, whthh as sog that is a part of life, not as somethy ing sc be run away from. but just something to ok at with open eyes. >> the oscar nod, are you expecting that? >> i mean we weren't think bei the oscar until the nominations were announced bns right. >> and then it's all we're think being. >> rob epstein, jeffrey friedman, thank you both. >> thank you.

>> this is >> this is pbs newshour weekend, sunday. >> sreenivasan: we've justeard from co-directors rob epstein and jeffrey friedman about their oscar-nominated netflix film, "end game" and their approach to something every living person on this earth will inevitably have to face: death. it's an intimate look at end-of- the-life choices, with terminally ill patients, their families, and medical personnel. here's an excerpt from "end game," with patient kim anderson and how she is choosing to live are rest of her life. am. i'>>thdom >> have you heard of palliative care before. >> sure. >> we have palliative care at home. >> request i under swhat you understand palliative care to be. >> end of life c>>are. yeah, but do think of pal where tiff care helping people live as well as possible for as long as possible. wetoork ther, doctors and nurses and social workers and chaplains fosed on not just

the disease but the whole person to really had help people with their symptoms, making sure they have information they need to make good decisions about their care, suort for the patient and family, emotional, lsychological, spiritua support. we're sort of in the spot where we're not really ready for hospice, i don't think anyway. ihink she thinks the same thing. >> when you say not ready, tello me wha thoughts are. >> what are your thoughts? >> well, to meat, ths. >> like very, very end of life. hospice has a label of oh, that's it. kiss it good-bye, but this is more help you transition. >> totally. >> i have been a nurse for four 40 year, patients come in the hospital and die and that's not how i want to do it.

>> sreenivasne: tomorrow on hour, how music can make a movie. terrence blanchard is up for an oscar for scoring spike lee's "blackkklansman." m hari sreenivasan. edition of thanks for watching. have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org i>> pbs newshour weekemade possible by: sbernard and irenartz. sue and edgar wachenheim iii. seton melvin. pthe cheryl and philstein family. dr. p. roy vagelos and diana t.

vagelos. the j.p.b. foundation. rosalind p. walter. barbara hope zuckerberg. corporate funding is provided by mual 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. be more. pbs.

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