captioni sponsored by wnet as >> sreen: on this edition for saturday, august 17: pro-government and pro-democracy demonstrators face-off in hong kong. in our signature segment, meet a coach for the growing number of seniors using medical marijuana. and, a syrian library built beneath the rubble of war. next on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is madeo ible by: bernard and irene schwartz. sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the j.p.b. foundation.sa nd p. walter, in memory of george o'neil.

barbara hope zuckerberg. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products.t why we're your retirement company. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporationor public broadcasting. a private corporation funded by the american people. 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, and thanyou for joining us. in dueling rallies in hong kong today, pro-democracy and pro- government protestors hit the street nearly 50,000 people came out to support the island's government and police accorng to organizers. they braved the rainwaved chinese flags, and held signs that said "police force, keep it up." meanwhile, on the other side of the harbor, thousands of teachers protested what they see as the erosion of the "one country, two systems" government

enshrined after britain handed over hong kong to china. both marches were sanctioned by the police and peaceful. separately, pro-democracy protestors gathed at a police station with laser pointers on purpose, the authorities recently deemed the lights"ap weons." ieotestors say it's yet another tensions are high since several recent protests and the fierce police responses have turn violent. it's the 11th weekend of protests in the semi-autonomous chinese territory, and there is no sign they are slowing down.-d a mass pocracy rally is planned for tomorrow. sudan's pro-democracy movement and its ruling military council sied a landmark agreement share power today. following weeks be negotiations een the two sides, the deal creates a transitional sovereign council. mediated by ethiopia and the african union, the council will consist of both military and civilian representatives and will remain in power for at least three year the military overthrew former- president omar al-bashir in

april following months of violent protests demanding an end to his three-decade long authoritarian rule. the legal battle over an iranian tanker that has been detained off the coast of gibraltar for more than a month intensified late yesterday. just days after gibraltar's decision to release the ship, a u.s. court unsealed a warrant to seize the vessel. the u.s. alleges t tanker is attempting to send a shipment of crude oil to syria violation of u.s. sanctions. according to officials in gibraltar, the ship, thece "g" has permission to leave the region and may depart tomorrownday. for the first time in more than two services are being restored in certain parts of indian- administeran kashmir. infficials said restrictions on the movement of people were also being relaxed in some areas and that government offices were open. hornver, cell phone and inteet service was still down in most of the region. indian securitforces in the erarea remained on high alas

n ti-india protests have periodically brot. the muslim-majority region has been uer a security crackdown and media blackout since india's prime minister announced the removal of the its autonomous status on august 5. today, groupfrom the far right and far left marched through downtown portland, oregon. police and city officials had been preparing for today's potential clash between the rival rces for weeks. this afternoon, portland police said they haseized a number of weapons from the demonstrators and urged people to stay out of the streets. >> sreenivasan: for more on sudan's power-sharing agreement, visit www.pbs.org/newshour.as >> sreen: a bomb went off in kabul today at a crowded wedding reception. there are reports that dozens of people were killed. there was no immediate claim of responsibility. the blast is the latest of many attacks in the capital city. the u.s. still has 14,000 troops in the country. yesterday afternoon, at his new jersey golf club, president trump met with his nationalse curity team to discuss ongoing

negotiations with the ban and the possible withdrawal of u.s. troops. those peace talks with the taliban ended last monday with deal. joining me now for more on the 18-year-long u.s. war is kathy gannon, senior correspondent for pakistan and afghanistan at the associated press. thanks for joining us. now, how close are we to having an agreement where u.s. troop would be withdrawn? >> i think quite close. certainly, the u.s. envoy that's negotiating has said that they've really made progress, and the talan have said that they pretty much dotted all the i's and crossed the ts, and they're part of a larger agreement, and the negotiations with the talreibanocused mostly on withdrawal timetable, both of u.s. and nato troops, as well as guarantees from the taliban that they will work against terrosm, will ensure

that afghanistan is no longer, can no longer, canever be atother staging arena for terrorisacks worldwide, and paeicularly, of course, in united states. so i think that's very close. so it's in phases, but it's certainly moving toward a final agreement, and certainly, the u.s. has been very clear, both cretary pompeo and ambassad hammazad, they want an agreement by september 1. presidential elections are scheduled for the 28th. several candidates aren't even campaigning because they n't see elections actually occurring because if you have a peace deal, most certainly the taliban will not sign on tonything that accepts an election so soon after. there's a lot of this that will be part ofti negots. what happens with the militias that are heavily armed inside kabul and elsewhere, associated with government officials.

what happens with the taliban fighters? >> sreenivasan: what about the role of women? >> the role of. wom afghanistan is a conservative country. and certainly while it's much better, of corse, you kw, they're in school, and they're politicians. but, ctainly, the situation is not id >> sreenivasan: is afghanistan ready to take the country back? meaning, is there a security crease thethat can crime and the violence? is there an infrastructure that caimprove an economy that isn't doing that great? >> it's very difficult, but also you have to remember that the inenrnational community has there 18 years and the sit wtion sening in terms of security. most afghans-- i man, ordinarying afghans, not government-- will say 18 years, biions of dollars, i fe more insecure today than i've ever felt. ancorruption is still a huge, huge issue in afg tnistan, with government, within

the ministries, within just even how business is done, and highways are difficult to travel. from criminals, from taliban, from other circumstances you yom have the i state that is there as well. >> sreenivasan: th president wants all 14,000 people out. is that possible? >> i think the agreement the taliban will sign on to will demand all leave. it is hard to imagine that they will not leave behind mil personnel who-- and intelligence personnel who can continue to battle the islamic state to ensure-- because the main concern for the united states, and understandably, is that its security is guaranteed. but i'm sure that they won't be there as u.s. military troops. i think the taliban are very clear they wanthe 14,000 gone.

gone, that they-- i tnk th understand that, you know, the antiterrorism guarantees are going to come with orsight. >> sreenivasan: kathy gannon of the associated press, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you very much. >> sreenivasan: in august of 2016, after four years of bombings, death and destruction in daraya, syria, rebel forces and the sy to a cease fire.reed thousands of fighters and civilians were evacuated and relocate leaving behind shattered homes and buildings in ruins. but underneath that rubble, in an abandoned basement, lay a hidden treasure: a sret library, filled with thousands of books salvaged during they ravages of warsidents who risked their lives to save them. i recently spoke with bbc reporter mike thomson, author of the book "syria's secret

library: reading and redemption in a town under siege," which is coming out this tuesday. the idea of people risking their lives to somaehow creat secret library, tell me, first of all, at did ts liberia look like? how did it survive while there were bombs dropping around it. >> well, it was a basement, harhari, so buried beneath the surface of the ground.n it had beein a building half destroyed, in an area almostoy totally des, that was picked deliberately, because it would look from above as if there was nothing lefto bomb. >> sreenivasan: so, where did the books come from? >> the bos came from abandoned houses, bombed houses and some bombed office buildings. and this group of young people behind it all, most of them former university students, had thought to themselves, "look, instead of just sitting here waiting to die and extremely hungry," as they were under siege, "let's go and rescue

books we have heard about that are lying abandoned in buildings and getting ruined by the weather." it's after the y did thatthey realized instead of leaving them in boxes why don't we read them? why we create a library, and that's just what they went and did. >> sreenivasan: so how would people come to this library? i mean, when the attacks were going on around them? i mean, it would be risky just to go read a book. >> well, it was risky a around. it was risky getting the books because often they to get into buildings with demolished first floors. and often the line snoipers in the high buildings along the front lines between the rfeebel ers and the government forces. land of course, it was aso, as you say, it was risky for people to get to the library, because some days the bomb being went on almost nonstop. and, of course, they couldn't announce where it was becau obviously, it was a secret library. so just word of mouthtold people where it was. they were very worried if the government forces knew it was, they would bomb it.

>> sreenivasan: it seemed lik w th more, least in the book, more than just about the books. there was almost a sense of community coming around ande finding ooks, keeping people interested and engaged, protecting the secrecy of the library. >> indeed. you're quite right. it was so much moe than just reading. there are practical purposes, too. there was the fact that they managed to get lots of medical books that helped people who were doing medical studies that tre interrupted by the war. people who want tch the children, who had never done any teaching before, who found books like that. there was escapism from the sheer hell, just a few feet above their heads, and things like shakespeare and arabic poetry, and even-- well, all sorts of things. but, also, there was a feelincog ofunity, as you rightly said. it was a place that they also held lectures on things like the bombing of hiroshma and the london blitz.ow they learned people in other

countries hadve surbeing almost annihilated and thrived. and they so had discussions, book clubs, about poetry and literature generally. and even soldiers took the bookl in smbags to the front line and held book clubs in their fox holes. >> sreenivasan: how did you keep in touch with these people? how did you get these stories out of syria, so to speak? >> well, it took quite a bit of doing, because the internetwa ther extremely poor. and there were various contraptions that werrigged up. and i asked them to explain to me once how o they managed this. and they said it was all to do with pieces of wire and the tops of pans which were then all tiee er and somehow managed to create a signal. don't ask me how they did it, because i really don't know. but they still tanagedo get their voices out through socialh media, thrhatsapp, through skype, and other forms. and, apparntly, the government

forces could have done a little more to cut communications, but that would also have cut communications for their soldiers who were fighting thes people. so they didn't. >> sreenivasan: what about the people that were doing this? nu've kept in touch with them. where are th? how are they doing? >> well, indeed. well, just a short while after the book was commissioned, the rebel defenders surrendered, and that meant, of course, that they were all bust out from where they were to idlib, the lastre ining rebel-held province that is under fire now. they're all taken away from there. so they had to try to find everybody, which was quite a difficult task. eventually when i did find them i thought will the secret library still be so special to them? and now they've had to leave it and their town behind. and i was reassured immediately on contacting the firsrt peson, abdel basset, who told me, "yes, absolutepr, everybody is ious." it kept us going then.

it kept giving us hope then. and now it still gives us hope, and one day we're going to return, and we're going to start again." >> sreenivasan: all right, mike thomson of the bbc. thanks so much. >> thank you. >> sreenivasan: medi marijuana use is now legal in 33 states and the district ofco mbia, and senior citizens are the country's fastest usgrowing population of nes. one such person, a former police officer living in ar never thought he'd ever give the drug a try, let alone help others u learn how it. he'll tell you himself how that came about in this story from blr colleagues at arizona media. >> you have to understand this medicine in order to fully make use of it. there are two critical principles. number one is strain selection. you have to have the right strains.

and number two is the dosage. so if you don't get these two right, you're either too stoned or you're not cutting the pain, or, you know, whatever the symptoms are. so.so there's about-- there's two puffs. and-- ♪ ♪ i'm already feeling the relaxation. so within second born in arizona, safford, moved to tucson when i just a little guy, c.d.o. high school. we moved up where i met dorothy and went to school.ll i madeity as a high school football player, had a pro tryout of the canadian football, league, decided about age 21 i was about as broken as you can imagine. i mean phycally, i was a wreck. i started with the sheriff's department in 1978. worked the streets, was with the

undercover narcotics team. worked my way from the streets all the way up to assistant chief, and in 1984 i was in a really bad car wreck on duty. back was hurt really bad but nobody diagnosed it for 20 years. so, i went into my doctor. i said, "doc, i can't do this anymore," and he said, "you're retired." and that was the first time i got a escription. this is what i took every day of my life just for pain. we came up with a nickname for the guy that took that pile. we called him morphine bill, and morphine bill was a jerk. i'd be in bed 12 to 14 hours a day, and then sit on the couch for the rest of e day eating pills. my boys came down from washington and they said, "dad this-- this has got to stop." i said "what do i do?" they held up a newspaper and said, "medical marijuana. we dare you to research it." and i laughed at them. "do you really picture your dad, an ex-cop, a mormon boy.

i don't drink i don't smoke, i don't do anything. you really picture me smoking a doie?" >> hi, welcome to nature med. >> hi, thank you. >> and have you been here before? >> yes. >> a few times >> ok. >> so i set out a research project to prove him wng. >> i need a quarter of blueberry kush, and then i need one am of the gold label, but i need heavy, heavy indica. i studied and studd and studied, and the more i learned, the more i realized the problem was not withannabis. it was with my personal biases. there's the berry. just because our society calls it evil for so many years doesn't make it evil. the study shows that it's a very beneficial plant. >> when they started talking to me about using marijuana, i said, "absolutely not. absolutely not."

i tell my wou children that that was wrong in the 70s and now i'm gonna say it's all right for me now? >> a lot of people have an idea that, you know, you do medical marijuana, you walk around like cheech and chong. if you do recreational marijuana you will.ri but medical ana is a different thing. a sustainable, long-term treatment plan. >> i've been on oxycodone for 30 years, gradually increasing. my primary doctors sai've got to get you off of this." we'vbeen trying, she'd been trying for several years. >> it's rd to understand how bad i was before and how depressed. , she was just balled up on the sofa, hopelessnest pure hopelessness because of daunting pain. >> i didn't know how to go about doing it, so i was really happy to find out there was such a thing as aoach. >> i think she would have quit all on her own.

>> on the sixth day of april i started my program with bill and dorothy. i had withdrawal like you wouldn't believe. i mean really bad. and i got through it. it took me a year, but on march 31 of 2018, i took my last oxycodone. i couldn't have done it without the marijuana and i still forget where i came from. i still have a lot of pain, but nothing like i used to have. nothing like i used to have. and my children and grandchildren are like, "wow, grandma you look so different than y >> i've slept better than i have in my life. i just sleep like a baby when i use this >> so let's just keep going the way we're doing it.ly >> life has reicked up, a lot more conversation between the two of us, wheree, when you're in pain, you're just in your world. and so i don't feel isolated no >> if people ask me today what is the most rewarding thing i've ever done. 's not my police career.

it's this. besides our marriage and our 'vur children, it's the most rewarding thing ever done. >> nobody's ever shamed us. but sometimes you think, you e ow, maybe that person isn't as friendly as they wfore, maybe. you know, people have their biases and i can't do anything to controlhat. >> i've got 28 grams of flour. i got 280ml of coconut oil. >> our bishop knows, our state president knows and they're very supportive because they see at good we're doing to educate people and help them to learn how to use this as a medicine. >> it is a medicine, we respect it. in the world that we're talking right now, there is an obvious conflict between federal lawnd state law. >> i don't understand why it cannot be legalized and why it can't-- why you can't get some insurance relief. you know, if it's doing me more good than the oxycodone wasin

i just don't understand why the government feels so strongly about nl. making it le >> reenivasan: finally tonight, 63-year-old margie reckard was one of the 22 people killed when a gunman opened fire on august 3 in an el paso walmart. worried few would people would attend her funeral, her long- time companion antonio basco invited the entire cnity. and yesterday, in 100-degree heat, hundreds of people from all over the country did just that. waiting in line for more than three hours, to say farewell to a woman few of them actually knew. ♪ ♪ that's all for this edition of pbs newshour weekend. i'm hari sreenivasan. thanksor watching. have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by

media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.or >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz.e d edgar wachenheim iii. the cheryl and philip milstein family. lthe j.p.b. foundation. rosalind p. , in memory of george o'neil. g. barbara hope zuckerb 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 beeny: provided and by theorporation for

public broadcasting. a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. ank you. be mor pbs. - [announcer] explore new worlds and new ideas

through programs like this. made available for everyone. through contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. - [narrator] don't let chronic pain control you and stopthou from doing thgs you love to do. lee albert is a neuromuscular therapist who habeen helping people learn to eliminate most chronic pain without drugs or surgery for more than 25 years. - to realize that i don't have to have a true pain in the neck all day long, i'm just like so grateful to meet lee albert and see what he does for people.