captioning sponsored by , newshour productionsc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: ending america's longest war. rse u.s.-taliban agreement that could end 18 yeaf fighting in afghanistan. then, "caucus countdown." amna nawaz catches up with nevada's democratic voters, just hours before they head to the polls. >> when you're not informed, or, like, an uninformed person, then you're just letting that all pass you by. you don't vote you let stuff happen. i don't want to let stuff happen. >> woodruff: plus, "inside venezuela."th the sufferin children there endure, as the country's economic freefall wears on. >> ( translated ): i have had girls that have lower cognitive abilities and learning processes due tohe lack of a proper

diet. they have fallen asleep in the kindergarten area, in a very deep sleep. mo woodruff: all that and , on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> when it comes to wireless, consumer cellular gives its customerthe choice. our no-contract plans give you as much-- or as little-- talk, text and data as you want, and

our u.s.-based customer service team is on hand to help.ea to lrn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> american cruise lines. >> collette. >> fidelity investments. >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation. fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by e corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewersk ike you. thu. re >> woodruff: ts word

tonight that russia is trying to aid the presidential campaign ie democratic candidate be sanders. in addition to the re-election efforts of donald trump. the sanders team confirmed a "washington post" report todayin that u.slligence officials briefed the campaign about moscow's efforts. in bakersfield, california, the rmont senator warned russia to stay out of u.s. elections. we'll have more on russia's efforts to interfere in u.s. elections this year, later in the program. in the day's other news, there has been a potential breakthrough in the war in afghanistan. a week-long "reduction in violence" is now in effect. if that holds, the u.s. and the taliban will sign the first phase of a peace agreement on february 29 in qatar, which deal to end the 18-year-longader war. u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo released a statement saying, "challenges remain, but the progress made in doha provides hope and represents a real opportunity."

we will take a closer look at afghan peace prospects, after rge news summary. the world healthization warned today that the window of opportunity to contain the international spread of the coronavirus is closing. south korea has become latest front in the outbreak. the country declared a health emergency, as cases there quadrupled to more than 200 infections over the past two days. officials closed schools andba ed mass gatherings, including services at a church that most of the sick attended. >>e translated ): no has entered the church since tuesday. we did dinfectn work twice, on tuesday and wednesday. right now, all the disinfection work icomplete, and no one is entering the church. >> woodruff: meanwle in china, the number of new infections fell for another day. chinese officials have recorded over 75,000 cases, and more than 2,200 deaths so fa

at least 12 more deaths have been confirmed outside of mainland china. syrian government-ed russian warplanes targeted the last rebel-held areas in northwestern syria today.su ents and government forces blasted heavy artillery in other s rts of idlib province as well. mewhile, turkeesident recep tayyip erdogan called for end to the syrian-backed offensive the, to end the growing humanitarian crisis. iran held its parliamentary elections today, in what is seen as a referendum on the country's hard-line leadership. tehran banned 7,000 potential candidates from running, including many moderates and reformists. that raised fears of a lower voter turnout. in tehran, those who did show up said they're feeling the strain from u.s. sanctions that sentnt iran's economya recession. >> ( translated it's the first time i am voting for a paiamentary candidate.

i know a young candidate that i think understands our pain very well. they should eate good jobs for us young people and make housing affordable. >> woodruff: initial results are expected to be announced tmorrow. back in this countrythe jury in hvey weinstein's new york rape trial is deadlocked on o of the most serious counts of predatory assault. they carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. the jurors have reached a unanimous verdict on the other three charges, but those verdicts have not been made public yet. nse judge ordered the jurors to resume deliberatn monday, to try to reach a unanimous verdict on all the charges. democratic presidential candidate michael bloomberg today offered to lift non- disclosure agreements for three women who worked for his media business information company. the women allege that he made inappropriate comments to them. the move comes after one of his rivals, senator elizabeth warren, fiercely criticized

the agreements at the democratic debate. wells fargo agreed today to pay $3 billion to settle crimal and civil probes into s sales practices.pl company ees openedth millions of unized bank accounts in an effort meet unrealistic sales goals. and, scks were down sharply on wall street today, over fears about the economic impact of the coronavirus. the dow jones industrial average dropped 227 points to close at 28,992. ane nasdaq fell 174 points the s&p 500 shed 35. stilto come on the newshour: the breakthrough cease-fire deal that could end america's longest war. where nevada's democratic voters stand, just hours before caucusing begins. and, much more.

>> woodruff: we return now our top story. the united states and the taliban could put an end to e war that america has been fighting in afghanistan for more than 18.5 years. nick schifrin joins us now withi more d. >> schifri judy, the deal begins with a test-- one week oe reduced viol that's what was announced today. if that succeedsnext saturday in doha, the u.s. anthe taliban will sign a peace deal designed to end the u.s.' war in afghanistan. for more on this, we turn to barnett rubin. during the obama administration, he was an advisor at the state department, and the architect of their plan to engage with the taliban. he is now the associate director of the center on international

cooperation at new york university.ba ey rubin, thank you very much. you have been involved in multiple previous attempts to try to bring peace to the taliban. how serious is this moment? >> this is the mosserious attempt so far, because the u.s. and talin are actually going roadmap to a fuller agreement, a including negotiations among afghans. so this is the first time that i can say we're really starting a peace process. >> schifrin: on the road to that peace process, on the road to the roadmap there is what was announced today, oficially a one-week reductionn violence. this requires the taliban tole reduce ve. do we know if the taliban are all across the country?violence >> it requires both sides toe reduce viole actually, and aprently they are seriou about it. but we will see an test both

their compliance and their ability to enforce such a measure over all of their fighters throughout the country. but they negotiated over this h long andard, over the specific terms. it's in the just an agreement tu violence. i understand there is a fairly complettechnical agreement tha was worked out by military experts on both sides. that implies that they are committed to it.e but we'll f they're capable of carrying it out. >> woodruff: >> schifrin: and thes complexitycause there might be other violence in the country not creed or not sparked by the talibanthe u.s. and taliban have created a communications channel so that the u.s. can check if any of the violence is the taliban's as opposed to isis, for example. do you believe that channel wil work, w serious could spoilers be, people coming in d trying to spoil this seven days of reduc violence? >> well, i'm not really aware of how that channel will work, but

i think both sides have an integ st in makit work. you mentioned, the islamic state is active in afghanistan, as well, and they're not included in this. they are opposed by united states, the afghanistan government and the taliban. of course, therere a variety of armed criminal groups and so on. plus t reduction in violence, it's not a full ceasefire. it covers attacks on large units, but it doesn't cover every small skirmish that high take place. i doubt that the taliban will be able to control allf those. so really it will require sobe... there certainly wil some understand -- understand -- incidents of violence. we'll have to make a political judgment ithe taliban has mae a good-faith effort to comply. >> scifrin: the political judgment will be from the americans and the afghans.if t succeeds, we are expecting a peace deal to be signed by the united states and the taliban.

the first priority e u.s. has always been renouncing terrorism.re there have beeationships between the taliban and al-bashir in the ann al eda in the past. do you believe the taliban are serious that al qaeda can have no safe haven in afghanistan? >> i tnk they're rious about assuring that al qaeda will no be able to attack any other country in afghanistan. i think it's mor e ambiguoas to whether they will allow al qaeda people the stay there, but the taliban w that if al qaeda is active in afghanistan while they are sharing power or in power or sharing power as part of a political sem, the the country will once again become an international pard iah t receive the aid it needs as the poorest country in asia and one of the poorest countries in the world. to gain power in afghanistan without foreign assistance is almost worthless because of the >> schifrin: the step in

this peace deal is talks between the taliban and the afghan government tentatively scheduled for oslo perhaps march 10th. one of the steps is thefghan government needing to release taliban prisoners. could that issue derail those interafghan talks before theyen begin? >> it could certainly delay them because the u.s. negotiators agreed to the release of tho prisoners, which the u.s. does not control, in discussions with the taliban, and nsat meahe afghan government now has considerable leverage to extract some further concessions, whih it would be crazy not to use. so i would actually expect that there will be some delay, in addition to which it simply islo noistically possible to process the relea of,000 prisoners in ten days. so at most the proceswill get started. but i think the afghan government will probably make certain demands before it carries out its part of that

agreement. i only have a few seconds left. president ghani claimed victoryi main rival, abdullah abdullah said that he actually won and hes created n government. is there an afghan government organized enough to actually t lead thesealks? >> the talks will beed on the b non-taliban sia delegation representing all the political forces thsupport the islamic public of afghanistan, governnt and non-governmenta >> schifrin: we have the leave it there.rn r ubinning longtime afghanistan watcher from new york. thank you. >> thank you, nick. >> woodruff: as we reported earlier, senator bernie sanders confirmed that his campaign was told bintelligence officials that russia plans to disrupt the democratic primary.

but president trump pushed back on the intelligence community's assessment of russian and he accused dem ofampaign, starting rumors. his remarks come on the heels of multiple reports that u.s. intelligencofficials told congressial lawmakers last week that russia is actively trying to help the president get re-elected. yamiche alcindor takes it from there.in >> ar: for more, i'm joined by laura rosenberger, the director of the alliance for securing democracy, a programth tracks russian influence operations. she was also a foreign policy adviser to hillary clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, and she serv in the state department during the obama and george w. bush administrations. thanks so much, lawyer remark for being here. what more do we know about the efforts against the u states and what's changed sings 2016? a yeah, so the efforts twe see in the reports about, you know, trying to help president trump in hi reelection bid and

interfering in the democratic consistent with th things we saw in 2016. the intelligence communityas ssed at that time that russia had three goals. what we see now is very consistent with thattrying to divide americans from one another, trying the weaken their faith in our institutions and our democratic processes, and t boesident trump, who again in the 2016 election, the intelligence community assesseda that russiadeveloped a preference for. so i think that what we really see is ve much a continuation of the same intentions. we see a little bit of a difference in tactics. some of the big, brad-scale automated bot driven manipulation is something we don'see as much anymore, but we still see a lot of effort to use social media to divicide ams from one another, to pive particular conspiratorial narratives and ticular to undermine americans' trust feint in o institutions. >> alcindor: you mentioned social media companies are trying to better protect themselves. how ready is the united statess with rsia's evolving tactics?

>> well, i think we have certainly seen steps by the social media companies since 2016. we have seen steps by thein government 2016. the problem is it all falls short. these are the kinds of issues where coorondinas actually completely essential to carrying out the kinds of sophisticated efforts to systematically detect these operations. and at requires very clear coordination mechanisms witn the government, between e government, and the private sector, and within the private sector, and while we have seen progress on each of those, they remain largely informal. frankly as we haven with theand president's actions to fire that acting dni, you know, in light of these reports, that -- his role is really to coordine the intelligence community's work. and, you know, that is exactly a what we actually need to be having more of. >> alcindor: the "washington

post" is reporting that there are intelligence officials who believe that russia is trying tt interfere election by trying to get bernie sanders to emn the democratic primary. he released a stt. i want to read part of it. he said in part, i don't caren who putin to be president. "stay out of amen election,r, and as president i will make sure you do." how do you think bernie sanders factoring into russia's larger plans? >> well, first of all, i want te say that's a rally important statement from senator sanders. i mea cn, veear message to vladimir putin that weighing in on american elections is not something that will be tolerateb by him athe american people. so i think that's a really important statement. for me, it's about dividing democrats from one another, potentially suppressing ultimate turnout for the nominees, and really actually again just making us doubt t very processes that elections are meant to be about.

>> alcindor: the president has called repiaorts that rus meddling in the 2020 election as rumors by democrats. wh impact n it have if the president is seen as undanmining politicizing the intelligence immunity? what impact can that have? >> when weo lok back at what's been done, my own view is one of the greatt hindrances to dong more to actually counter-foreign interfence has been the politicisation of this issue. so i think it's deeply damaging and leas our country vulnerable to attack. >> alcindor: thank you sohuc for joining us, laura rosenberger. >> thank you so mch, yamiche. f: >> woodrtay with us. coming up on the newshour: mark shields and david brooksea down the contentious race

among the democratic presidenti hopefuls. "inside venezuela"-- a look at the lives of children thertr as their cocollapses. and, major league baseball under fireor its handling of the largest cheating scandal in years. the nevada democratic presidential caucuses begin tomorrow, but the action is already under way, with a massive number of voters turning out early. as amna nawaz reports, it is the first contest with a diverse population that re cloe ly resembles mographics of the democratic party. >> hi! are you registered to vote? >> nawaz: for a few hours, every few weeks... >> hello, sorry to bother you. are you registered? >> nawaz: ...17-year-old jamie martinez takes to the streets of east las vegas... ...registering new voters befory satu crucial caucuses. >> i think voting is so important, mostly because there was people bef that weren't able to vote.

also, it lets you be involved.in >> nawaz: ma has been working with mi familia vota since september to mobilize the state's latino community, get them to flex their p muscle, and make sure the candidates are focused on their issues. cecia alvarado is the group's nevada state director. >> immigrati continues to always be the number-one issue. but latinos also care about healthcare. they care about thcts ofronment. climate change. ngd the effects of climate change are affecur community the most. ad>> nawaz: statewide in n latinos today comprise 29% ofpu the potion. african americans, 10%. and asian americans, nearly 9%. democratic candidates know the numbers, and are now fighting for those votes. >> dream big! fight on! >> nawaz: in north las vegas, massachusetts senator elizabeth warren rallies a room of supporters, criticizing former new york city mayor michael bloomberg's stop and frisk

policyand its effect on communities of color. >> but, boy, what to do about all those latinos and african americans that got slammed over the hoods, for what? walking >> nawaz: on the campus of university of nevada, las vegas former south bdiana mayor pete buttigieg sitdown with the black law students association. caleb green is a u.n.l.v. grad,e now an attin las vegas. >> nawaz: in chinatown, former vice president joe biden courts voters at an asian american pacific islander event. >> we've been able to cherry- pick the best from every single continent and culture, because w the peop come are the people who are resilient. >> nawazjie bu is here to try and figure out who he'll support. >> i respect what he has done in the country before as vice

president joe biden and, however, you know, given the situation right now, i think i'm not decided who i'm goto vote for. >> nawaz: meanwhile,ultiple candidates made sure to show up and show support for another key voting bloc. >> we got the power! what kind of power? union power! >> nawaz: members of the powerful culinary workers ion, some of whom were picketing this week as part of a labor dispute. but looming over nevada's caucuses is the long shadow ofe iowa, whconfusion over a new caucus app resulted in chaos. democratic national committee chair tom perez promised a different ending in nevada. what do you say to voters who saw what happened in iowa and are worried a similar thing >> we've gone to school on iowa and we have a great team of folks. we are continuing to make sure that everyone's prepared for udturday. and i'm really pf our team. ckyou've got all hands on >> nawaz: but there are some firsts that could complicate the process. the state's using a new caucus

calculator to tally results, distributed to volunteers. over the last week, nevada democrats have hosted over 50 training sessions like this, to prepare precinct chairs and site leads, like ann germaine. >> i'm a little apprehensive. which is wonderful that they have these trainings for me to come t because i do wanto be well- informed and i want to know what i'm doing and help the processth >> nawaz new system was put into place after the state scrapped plans to use the same app iowa used. also for t first time, the state will be rolling in results from four days of early voting. >> we've been in line for about 20 minutes. i think it's been going pretty smooth so far. >> nawaz: nearly 75,000 people stood in line to vote early this year. compare that to 2016, when a total of 85,000 people turned up to caucus. bryan ozambela is a first-time voter, who cast his ballot early

for bernie sanders. >> i feel comfortable that my vote will be represented. even if my candidate doesn't win, i still feel likeev ything that i've been through, in the way that the process has been so far, is very fair. >> nawaz: also among those early voters was jamie martinez. now, why did you decidote early instead of taking part in the catluses? >> mosbecause i couldn't wait. >> nawaz: the sun is setting in las vegas, but martinez scours the lot, making sure she doesn't miss a single potentvoter. >> when you're not informed or, you're just letting stuffpp . you don't vote. you let stuff happen. i don't want to let stuff happen. >> woodruff: our amna nawaz, reporting from las vegas.. thanks so mu and that brings us to the that is syndicatednistd brooks. mark shields, and "new york times" columnist daviks. hello to you both, gentlemen. so as we heard from amna, activity revving uin nevada. the caucuses are tomorrow,

david. where does this race stand right now, this democratic race? they are two days out plus a little from the debate of wednesday night, and about to rdce the thi contest? what do you see? >> well, bernie sanders had an awesome week. he's -- the polls have him up 13 in nevada, which is very impressive for a multicandidate race, and then in the debate, it's not that he didn't anything different. he does what he does. almost every oher cakeidate might step backward. klobuchar and mayorpete had their little feud, which i think bloomberg had his nuclear meltdown, and warren, who performed very well in the debate, performed very well on behalf of bernie sanders, because she basically adopts the exact same narrative that's already his, and then attack everybody else on te basis of that narrative. herself.think she's helping i think she's an extremely effective surrogate for ber sander

i just think his grip on the path to the nomination is much tighter thant was. >> woodruff: so bernie sanders in the strongest position right noo >> i hate agree with david, but his assessment overall is very good. michael bloomberg was nothe michael bloomberg we've been told about on television, that we'd seen on television, who s barack obama's best friend and always being praised by back obama and that saved new york city and brought healthcare to hundreds of thousands the one guy who could go toe to toe with donald trump and donald trump was spooked about it. he couldn't go toe to toe with elizabeth waen. she dominated the stage. i'm not sure she won the crowd, but she certainly was the dominant figure in that debat bernie sanders the front-runner, really escaped almost unscathed. and it was just truly ama.zi i think it was a damaging experience for bloomberg, whether it was devastating will

be determined in the next debate. i think next debate really becomes important for him. he was council counseled these questions were going to come up. he knew they were going to come up. whether it was arrogance, dismissal, conscension, he refused to come up with an answer that was plausible and convinci and believable. partly it's practice. he doesn't even do media and he's been guarded from this. all the other candidates have been playing this game for a year now. >> woodruff: it's their ninth to debate. so he. >> so he didn't yve an practice. what strikes me, sanders tells a cleanarrative. corporations screwing us. that's a very clear narrative. it resonates with a lot of people. i don't think anybody else on that stage hs narrative that's quite that clear. so the power that president trump had a very ear narrative. those cultural elites are lou --

ruining life for us. having a clear narrative is a advantage. the second thing that struck mev is democrats hthe mental equipment to go after a billionaire. it's bfked into belief system the party. they do not have the metal equipment to go after a socialist. what struck me is they don't really quite know how to take down sande. so they let him go. >> and it absolutely eludes me. for the first time, judy, the affordle care act according to kaiser foundation poll, now at 55% approval -- >> approval. under donald trump for the first time in ten yars, fewer americans had healthcare than before. so under donald trump, americans have lost healthcare. the affordable ce act has guaranteed it, and it's popular, and here the democrats are talking aboutust willy-nilly, just getting rid of it. it makes absolutely no sense.

the republicans are on the total defensive on this isue it's an issue that works for democrats. it's an issue that voters deeply care about. and, you know, there they are.ar ass the point about bernie sanders, he is -- the dault mode obernie sanders is angry. he's the angriest friend -- front-runner i have ever seen. he's the unhappy warrior. i don't know how long that's going the wear. it wouldn't wear long in the caool. i don't know how long it will wear in the campgn trail. >> woodruff: it's bought him this far. >> it has brought him this far. never concede, never retreat strategy. the bernie bros who abuse anybody on twitter or any ple else who dares to criticize the sanders campaign in any form, you know, maybe they're russian bots, that was one of the more by -- bizarre lines of the evening. >> woodruff: speaking of bernie sanders and the russianse

late todaylearned that first a news report and then sanders confirmeit that his campaign has been -- he's been briefed by intelligence officials about the ruians trying to help is campaign. so now we know it's not just president trump, it's one of te democrats. >> it happens to be a fat the two campaigns the russian are trying to help are the twomp gns that might end up with the nomination. h remain a little sceptical of how effective russians are at getting people to change their mind on ata cer candidate. there is no magic formula for that. we try here every week, and it doesn't work. and so i'm t sure the russians are really effectively changing a lot of votes. really wish the intelligence agencies would tell ust explicitly whey're doing. they're undermining institutions anngundermirust, vending conspiracy theories. a consuminger of social media what do i look out for? what do i do?

how can itell? i think they have debate about at is actually happen ing and what counter-measures we as individuals can take. >> woouff: they talk abo taking disinformation and repeating it and repeati through social media. so that's one thing. people is just pass what the house has passed, which is t simpt any campaign thais approached by a foreign power to help it has to rept it, has responsibility. that's died in the republican senate. that's been killed bmitch mcconnell. but i really think that it's unthinkable, if you really just take the nse of the president of the united states is told that a foreign country is interfere and trying to changekm the sat of democracy, which is our public building, the secret ballot, and they'o tryingmper with it and tamper with result, and what is

this reaction. fury at the foreign power, anger? you know, t's get him? no, who divulged this? an admiral, a decorated admiral who took this as a public servant and honored hs constitutional and statutory responsibility to inform the congress of the united stas. that's just unthinkable what's going on. >> woodruff: you're contrasting the president'sre tion to bernie sanders, who announced -- credit.ie sanders deserves having honeymooned in moscow in 1988, you got to explain tha some day, bernie. the trip to nicagua in '85678 but he came out and said, no way. you stay out, putin, and if i'm president, i'll make absolutely sure. i don't want you helping. that was a strong statement, the kind you'd expect from any politil leader in this countr of either party, and the president of the united states reses to give. >> and then the acting head oft the nal intelligence

service, someone with no experience is appointed and politicizes that relationship even more. >> woodruff: many thin tout ask you abut one thing i do want to touch on is this is the week te predent's longtime friend roger stone was sentenced to prisoby a federal judge in washington for more than three years. it remains to be seen whether the president will pardon his sentence, but what the president did do this week is pardon commute the sentences of 11 individuals who seemed to all have some connection,david, with the trump white house. what do we make of this? is is -- the president's within his power, his right to do this, but yat u make of it? >> the naked politicisation of this is again, trump has some, as some have predicted, he's unleasd by impeachment. his behavior has shifted in the s,st month in all sorts of wa much more attack on the institutions of our society. i happen to -- the only person i know and i don't know him at all well is michael milken, one of

those who was pardoned. i thought the pardon was legitimate. he was prosecuted by rudy giuliani in the '80s. milkens out in california. he's really dedicated the last 20 or 30 years to serving thpue ic, running a think-tank, trying to spread ideas, and so in the case of somebody like that who spends decades in public service after whatever he did years agora padon doesn't seem like the worst thing in the world. >> woodruff: how do you see is? >> i think we owe a certaine trib joanny ernst and rob portman and susan collins, who told us we would be chastened by that experience going through the impeachment. he's unfettered. he has only around him enablers now. there is nobody to hold him back. there is no kelly or mattis or anybody else there to say, no, mr. president, argue a point of view. what they have in common, i

guess white-collar crime, fraud, tax deceptio an abity to give money to republican causes. i mean, you know, there is almost a self-identification with many of these e, because the president has not gone unarged on some o these actions or similar actions. and so -- i really think that it's in the a question of like i don't know mickehael mil but he certainly did change american fince while he was there. >> woodruff: they called him the junk bond king. >> it should be said, just to get back to roger sto'ne, were all made in the image of god, but it's hard to think of eesomebody whose public cahas shown fewer redeeming qualities, and the president has surrounded himself with shady character, and roger stone is almost epically shady. >> woodruff: and this is the third individual who waslo considered to the

president who was set off to prison at a time when there's a lot of focus on what thedo president ca again, he has the power to commute sentences, to pardonan peoplewe remember at the end of the bill clinton administration, there was a flurry of pardons. >> on the way out, judy, that's one thing about the democrats that fits in here. the democrats i think after that debate are in danger of fragments and frauring emselves. i think there's a page many american history, the rev lowtion their war, the revolution has socked the active alliance with charles the 16 and charles iii of spain, the monarchy, to help them. but they had a single objective, >> woodruff: the monarch.la >> the monarch. the democrats better say, theyto

better comeether in a hell of a hurry, because their sole purpose in 2020 is to defeat the monarch, to defeat donald trump. and i just think the danger of fracturing is severe. >> woodruff: we hear you. mark shield, david brooks, thank u. with our series "intinue now venezuela." country is now in icth american freefall tonight, we explore what that crisis means for the millions of children facing hunger, disease, and violce. withupport from the pulitzer center, special correspondent marcia biggs reports on what it means to be a child in venezuela today. >> reporter: six-year-old winston should be in sool. instead, he and his older

brother jose are helping their father with what is now daily work, sifting through the trasht s garbage dump in maracaibo, a major city in western venezuela. jose gutierrez says he used to sell coffee and cigarettes on the street, but because of hyper inflation-- projected this year to be as high as 500,000%-- he kept losing money. so nowhe spends his days r arching for plastic to sell so he can buy food s family. >> ( translated ): before, people could work and buy rice and flour with the salary. there was cash in the street, there was ney to be made. w, it's the opposite-- there's no money to make on the street. >> repter: many neighborhoods in venezuela have always been poor, but people here say they got by with help from the government. in the last coulple years, they say, things have changed. x gutierrez says the free food from the government only comes once a month, and only

lasts the familyround two days. in a nearby slum, edward and his brother tell me th forgo school every day. they also go to the dump to look for food. what did you fd in the trash? "i found a piece of cake," 12-year-old edward tells me, "but it didn't sit well. i had a stomachache for a week." he says that, that the food he got that time was bad, but most of the time, the food is good, so he keeps going back to the same place, where they throw the rubbish, to get food. in their slum, wsaw signs of malnutrition everywhere. distended bellies fr a lack of protein. stunted growth. diarrhea. as well as preventable diseases, like scabies. children across venezuela are facing a crisis from every angle: food, health, education, and violence, leading to fears of a lost generation and a bleak future for the country. one immediate impact? classrooms across venezuela are

emptying out, as families leave, or decide they can't afford the transportation, the iforms, or enough food to send theirho children to . and those who remain are often too hungry to learn. >> ( translated ): i have had girls that have lower cognitive abilities anlearning processes due to the lack of a proper diet. they have fallen aslee e kindergarten area, and mean in a very deep sleep. >> reporter: teachers are also leaving. avenezuela has lost as mu 40% of its 370,000 teachers in the last threescears. at thiol in maracaibo, we sat down with two teachers who remain, 55-year-old deyanira vivas and 37-year-old emalu duran. they say 250 students are up to grade six, but only around 60 actually attend. why aren't they coming to school? >> ( translated ): well, because of the reality we're living in. many aren't coming because they

aren't getting enough to eat. how do we know this? because the parents have told us. they say "teacher, we're sorry, but i can't bring my daughter ia today e i don't have a way to get her to school. many times we go on foot, and the girls haven't eat." >> ( translated ): for example, i'm also a parent, but my child is not here today. she is in fifth grade. >> reporter: so your own daughter isn't coming to school? why? >> ( translated ): she's not coming because we live very far from here. breakfast, so i don't bring her in like that. ask the question-- what is the future for a child in venezuela? but now, i learned that you have three children in venezuela. so, wh is their future? >> ( translated ): i don't see a future >> reporter: one organization trying to combat the hunger caracas mi convive, loosely translated as "caracas living together," which sponsors ikcommunity-run food banks this one in a slum of caracas. each day, children line up for a hot me.

it's just one of thousands of food banks that have sprung up across the country in the past few years. santiago garciof mi convive says they're not even close to meeting the need, but it's a crucial first step. >> the children that do not eat are the children that cannot right?p the full potenti during the first years of development, its fundamental for little kids to have enough food to develop all theirrain functions and to be able to learn, to develop good social interactions. so, the problems that we're having right now in venezua with the food are the biggest setbacks that we have for future development. >> reporter: we went back to mi convive's office, where santiago showed us some drawings made by kids in the communityo aged sevenn. they were first asked to draw anything they wanted. the drawings were bright and colorful-- idyllic images from the imagination of a child. >> ( translated ): and then we ashethem to draw the thing t didn't like, about the place in which they lived? >> reporter: yeah?er

>> and well, you have a hahouse, of course, but yo a prn here, this is a rifle, and r-15, and will se me that the kid knew the brand of the rifle. i didn't know that, for example. >> reporter: venezuela has become one of the most dangerous countries in the world, and santiago says this comon of a lack of food and education, and pervasive violence, mean children often end up with only bad options. what will haen in ten or 12 years, with the little kids that grew up in thisituation? when you live in a crisis, you are constantly living at the precipice right w. if you don't have any food to eat tomorrow, yourriority is and, well, the fasay to obtain food for tomorrows probably joining a gang. >> reporter: and that's exactly what many do-- including 23- ye-old orlando antonio. today, he works in an upscale bakery in caracas, thanks to santiago's help. but he grew up a world away, in one of the toughest slums in caracas. he never graduated from high

school. did most of the kids that you ran around with stay in school? >> ( translated ): no, they also dropped out. and some othem are dead now. from my group, there's only three or four left. most of them were killed. killed?were they >> ( translated ): becausehey were wanted by the police, and when ty find someone they're looking for, they kill them. >> reporter: in 2015, the venezuelan government responded poto rising violence with cy known as "mano dura," or heavy hand, sending special polices unto violent areas to crack down on gangs. decreasing violence.icy with but last year, the united ajtions released a damning report on the exicial killings of young men by these special units. >> ( translated ): every time i came down the street, the police officers mistreated me, they hit me, and i grew up withi that i-- thinking about what they'd done to me, how i could get revenge on them. >> reporter: so what madyou want to leave that life? >> ( translated ): my mom.

>> reporter: your mom, why? >> ( translated ): she was so worried about me that her face was channg, she lost weight. >> reporter: but many more do not make it out. in as,illage outside of caraca another mother, zuleika perez, makes an extra cup of coffee every morning and gingerly places it next to e photo of her son, jose. >> ( translated ): it's a way to keep his memory alive, and i feel good about this. i feel like he's present. he's here drinking his coffee. >> reporter: in january of last year, she says jose was at his home when special forces burst in, demanding information about a car theft. within moments, he was dead-- shot in the chest.s there wa official statement, but zuleika says this video was posted on facebook by police officers claiming that jose was part of an armed band that had firethon them first. video was later taken down, and reportedly came from another, earlier incident, not

involving her son. but zulaika then received another video, this one clearly depicting her son, sitting unard. >> ( translated ): maybe that's what bres my heart. what was my son thinking about in those last minutes, knowing he had no way ou and without having done anything? >> reporter: jose left behind his mother, his two brothers, and a ne-year-old daughter, valentina, who zuleika says likes to visit her dad at the cemetery. >> ( translated ): a tragedy can happen to anyone. and in this country, tragedies happen. but the important thing is, we don't know why, you know? >> reporter: back at the slum in maracaibo, in the country's west, as we were wrapping up our day,e stumbled upon yet another scene of desperation-- dozens of children lined up, empty bowls in hand, waiting for

a food bank to open. the food eventually arrived-- rice and beans-- paid for by an american donor, and handed out by his venezuelan son. each child waited his or her turn, and then ate. one more meal for these children, and a country, in need. for the pbs newshour, i'm marcic biggs in mbo, venezuela. w druff: at baseball spring training, the talk is usually about hopes for the seasond. ah john yang reports that as exhibition games get under way this weekend, the fos is on 2017-- the year of o the game's biggest scandals. >> yang: judy, that was the year the houston astros won the world series--nd the year, investigators say, the team used an elaborate scheme to tell

their batters in advance what pitches the opposition was about to throw to them. last month, baseball commissioner rob manfred punished the team, its field manager and its general manager. but he didn't discipline any players or do anything to the team's world series title. and that has players on other teams speaking out. >> i just n'think it holds any value. you know, you cheated and you didn't earn it.'s thow i feel. it wasn't earned. game right and fighting till the end. >> i thought manfred's punishment was weak, giving himu ty. i mean, these guys were cheating for three years. >> you know, it's anger, i feel like every single guy over thert needs a g. you know, it's wrong. they're messing with people's careers. >> yang: a former toronto blue jays pitcher who is job after a bad outing against the astros i2017 is even suing the team for unfair business

practices. jeff passan covers major league baseball for espn. joins us from thestros training camp in west palm beach, florida. jeff, it's been six weeks since the commissioner issued his report on the cheating scandal on hnding down the punishment. why are the players still sogr about this that they're still speaking out? >> you know, john, they're angry r a number of reasons. first off, they feel that the astros' apologies were hallow, that the contrition was fake, and that they're not really d or sad or even feeling bad about the fact that ey cheated. and beyond that, i think it's the fact that there has been a lack of punishment. now, you can argue that the astros payg a $5illion fine or giving up some draft picks was good enough for the team. you can argue that jeff luno, the general manager, and a.. hinch the manager, losing their

jobs was punishment,ths well, buprayers got no suspensions whatsoever. series title not being stripped, the ire in plars has been significant and rally has not abated at al >> yang: talk about that punishment. the commissioner in his report said that this waa player-driven scheme, a ayer-driven plan. so why were no players punished? >> yeah, it's interesting that you have a player-driven scheme with zero punishment for the players, but that was really the reity. the catch-22 that rob manfred was facing here. back in september of 2017, when the boston red sox had alight punishment for sending signals from their video room to an apple watch on their bench, the missioner sent out a notice to all 30 teams saying that it is incumbent on you as the general manager and the manager to tel your players that discipline can that message was never relayed

to astros players, and accordingly, under labor law, the lack of notice for potti punishment is grounds for a case being thrown out vigrievance. >> yang: so now that the anger is here and evident, are there any indications that dcommissioner manfred ustands this as getting this anger and what can he do about it? k >> yow, his back is against the wall at thisoint, john, because so much of then aimus is guided toward him from both players d fans. there is certainly the possibility that he could reverse his decision on stripping the astros of the 2017 championship. now, it would go against what he has said publicly, which is that he doesn't want to start ape slippery sf rewriting history. ebd it's understandable considering bal's history all-time home rucord holderd barry bonds did so under the suspension of usingeroids. so if you take away the championship from the astros in

2017, why aren't you going to take away the home run title from barry bonds? that's not something rob manfred wants to do, but it's certainly something he has to be thinking about at this point and something that people in his inner circle have suggested he consider. >> yang: exhibition gmes begin this weekend. could this anger and frustration spill out on to the pleling >> yeah, it's a possibility certainly, and i have spuke within amber of players who said we're looking forward to playing the astros this year to try and mete out frontier justice with hitting them with a fastball, but rob manfred has already pulled teams and players on report saying, if you intentionally throw a baseball at a player, not just an astros player, but my player, the discipline is going to be signicantly higher than th typical three to six-game suspension. of corse, this itself angers players, because they understand if trey thow at houston astroser ba the suspensions they

get for doing so will be longer than any of the astros served for cheating during their world series-winning season. >> yang: iroc indeed jeff passan of espn. thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: interesting. and on the newshour online right now, wtook your questions about the novel coronavirus, a mask to wear in public spaces. you can watch william brangham and laura santhanam answer your questions on our website, at www.pbs.org/newsur. up next on "washington week:" president trump is fuming over intelligence reports orussian election interference. robert costa is joined by a roundtable of journalists to dissect it all. and we'll be back, right here, on monday, with a look at the results of the nevada democratic caucuses and what they mean for the presidential race. that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend. thank you, and good night. >>

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♪ hello, everyone. and welcome to "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. poison.slator: rism is a >> angela merkel confronts germany's far right. as a gunman goes on a killing spree ar frankfurt. we talk to katarina barley. and -- ay i don't tnk you look at donald trump ande need so imeone richthe white house. >> showdown in vegas. democrats go from passive to aggressive as bloomberg gets on the debate stage, anthe stakes t higher. we talk tof one o the moderators, vanessa hauc, and political commentator, van jones. people are confused d disoriented by the onslaught of