john: tonight on pbs news weekend, germany goes to the polls in an election that could have sweeping consequences for u.s.-european relations. then, the anxieties in europe over the trump administration's shifting positions on russia and ukraine. and, what president trump's order on ivf treatment means for americans trying to grow their

families. >> their health insurance doesn't cover it, so they're having to figure out how to pay for this, out of their savings or other means. so it, it is something that really encompasses your whole life. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs news weekend has been provided by -- ♪ >> the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the news hour. ♪

>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. john: good evening, i'm john yang. we begin tonight with two big stories overseas. in germany, voters went to the polls in a national election that saw a surge in support for the far right. from berlin, special correspondent malcolm brabant has our report. reporter: in the end, there were no surprises. the german people delivered what the opinion polls predicted. they turned substantially right, rejecting the left leaning coalition that has governed for the past four years. the centre right christian democrats or cdu secured the most votes, and their leader friedrich merz is in pole position to become the country's next chancellor, but he needs the support of at least two other parties to have a majority in the bundestag.

>> we must now quickly regain our ability to act so that we can do the right thing at home, so that we can be present in europe again, so that the world realises that germany is being governed reliably again. reporter: the party celebrating the most is the one that came second, the anti-immigrant alternative for germany or afd, backed by the trump administration. it polled 20% of the national vote, twice what it achieved in the last election. most of its support comes from the former communist east germany, where there is huge resentment towards the 3.5 million refugees and asylum seekers who've entered the country since the former chancellor angela merkel opened the borders to people fleeing the syrian war in 2015. but the afd will not be invited to join the coalition, because of its far right roots and policies. this means its leader alice weidel can make life extremely uncomfortable for the incoming german administration.

>> we have become the second strongest force as alternative for germany. and we have now firmly established ourselves as a people's party. reporter: this is a landmark election and voting was brisk in the capital berlin, which is germany's melting pot, and traditionally more tolerant than in the provinces where the afd has done well. >> the migration for sure. the numbers are too high. too many people come uncontrolled in our country and clinton wise it's the economy, stupid. the economy really has to work again. reporter: while the social democrats and greens come to terms with the scale of their defeat, the victors must get to grips with migration, the economy and potentially, the worst relationship with the united states in peacetime. although germany has taken a firm step to the right tonight, it's not going to get the government that its people voted for. the cdu leader, friedrich merz, has made it quite clear that he's not going to cooperate with

the afd. and so you'll have to partner up with the outgoing, left leaning chancellor, olaf scholz, who may require considerable concessions and will also need the help of a third party to have a majority in parliament. so the horse trading begins 35 years after the wall came down. germany is once again a divided country. for pbs news weekend, i'm malcolm brabant in berlin. john: and in lebanon today, thousands turned out for the funeral for hassan nasrallah, the former longtime leader of hezbollah. he was killed nearly five months ago in the war with israel. the funeral came just days after israel failed to meet a second deadline to withdraw from southern lebanon as part of a fragile ceasefire deal that brought the latest conflict to an end. special correspondent simona foltyn reports from beirut. reporter: it is the end of an era for lebanon. nasrallah was the country's most

powerful man, hezbollah there most strong literary force. labeled by -- as a terrorism is asian, it was revered by the shiite community who gathered to pay respects. she traveled from her village to southern lebanon. >> we will keep crying over him or a long time. this person taught us what it means to stand up for ourselves, defend our land and our right. reporter: nasrallah was killed on some number 27 when israel mulled beirut's suburbs with bombs supplied by the u.s. despite his demise, his supporters have remained defiant. >> they dropped 84 tons on him with american help, american financing, so it breaks us and we are afraid of israel. but all the people here are not afraid of israel. they will likely fly their jets to scare the people, but we are

not afraid even if they drop bombs on us. reporter: israel and lebanon agreed to a cease-fire in november, but this did not stop israeli jets from flying overhead, a violation of lebanese airspace which drew angry chants from the crowd. russia's demands to the u.s. government are clear. >> we want the u.s. to stop financing israel. it is very simple and we want them to leave the muslim world alone. reporter: nasrallah took over hezbollah's leadership in 1992 and with iran's backing transformed it a powerful army but nasrallah underestimated israel when he entered the latest war in support of a moss. until his last days he insisted on the unity of lebanon and gaza's front. >> lebanon's front will not stop until the aggression on gaza stops.

the resistance in lebanon will not stop supporting and assisting gaza, the west bank and the oppressed people in those holy lands. reporter: nasrallah has been succeeded by his less charismatic deputy who took to the stage monday, despite israeli drones circling overhead. a reminder that parts of southern lebanon are still under israeli occupation. still hezbollah officials refused to acknowledge this war has been a defeat. >> nobody can surpass hezbollah on the domestic front. hezbollah has the most popular support in lebanon. reporter: time will tell if hezbollah can maintain support without nasrallah. for many gathered here, nasrallah was a father figure who led the movement for more than three decades. his assassination has weakened the group, but his legacy is likely to live on. this funeral sends the message that hezbollah has survived the

war and endures grassroots support. john: in tonight's other news, the biggest palestinian prisoner exchange of the israel-hamas ceasefire deal is on hold. israel delayed the release of 620 palestinian detainees it was supposed to free on saturday until hamas gives assurances it will stop what israel calls humiliating hostage handover ceremonies. the palestinian prisoners' families had gathered in the southern gaza city of khan younis to greet them. >> i have four prisoners, my sons and my husband. three i came here yesterday to wait for their release. we were happy despite the cold, and all difficulties that we endured on the road to arrive here and to receive them. they haven't been released yet. the deal has faced a setback and they haven't been released. john: hamas says the delay is a violation of the ceasefire deal. meanwhile israel moved tanks into the west bank for the first time since 2002. israel says it's trying to stamp

out militant activity and that troops will remain in the west bank for the coming year to prevent displaced palestinians from returning. more than 2 million federal workers have until monday night to explain what they did at work last week or risk losing their jobs. emails from from elon musk's team instructed the workers to list five things they accomplished. on x, musk posted that failure to respond would be taken as a resignation. according to emails obtained by pbs news, federal employee unions and officials at the state department and some other agencies told their employees not to respond to the emails or to wait for more guidance. the vatican said the pope remains in critical condition with early signs of kidney failure. they say he's alert and receiving supplemental oxygen after suffering a respiratory crisis saturday. catholics in rome and around the world prayed for the pontiff. >> i am very, very sad. i don't know how you can

continue normally at this moment. i would just stay in prayer, all of us in prayer for him. for me, he is a special person. i truly have no words. john: francis was unable to give his usual sunday prayer at saint peter's square. in a written message, the pope said he was confidently continuing his treatment. he also noted tomorrow's anniversary of russia's invasion of ukraine, calling it a painful and shameful occasion for the whole of humanity. u.s. skiing star mikaela shiffrin has become the first skier to win 100 world cup races. the milestone came today when she won a slalom event in italy by 6 tenths of a second. afterward, shiffrin cried and thanked her teammates and competitors for their support. she returned to competition only three weeks ago after recovering from a serious accident in november that has left her anxious about racing. no other downhill skier -- male or female -- has ever won more than 86 world cup races. still to come on pbs news weekend, how countries on russia's borders are keeping a

sharp eye on the war in ukraine. and, what trump's executive order on ivf could mean for americans trying to grow their families. ♪ >> this is pbs news weekend from the david m. rubenstein studio at weta in washington, home of the pbs news hour weeknights on pbs. ♪ john: the shift in u.s. support for ukraine in its war with russia, which enters its fourth year tomorrow, has raised alarms not only in kyiv but in capitals across europe. a new documentary finds that those anxieties are especially high in some of russia's neighbors on the baltic sea, estonia, finland and sweden. >> every day we are working to get this, this message over to russia that even if you try, we will make it right. >> russia invaded one of their neighbors. so it was a quite a awakening

for the whole swedish society and of course, for us really strong forces. yeah. >> at least in this part of the world, we would be ready to fight tomorrow. john: the film is called putin's endgame. the stakes beyond ukraine. it was produced in partnership with the atlantic council's eurasia center. it's the work of two veterans of nbc news producer joel seidman and correspondent kevin tibbles. kevin, i'd like to start with you. in the film we see you traveling through these countries asking a lot of people the same question, what if putin wins in ukraine? i want to play a little of you talking to young men about this in estonia. >> what happens to estonia if putin wins ukraine? >> we never thought about it, actually. >> why? >> i don't know. it's terrifying to think about this. >> the part of our brain is just blocking this scary thought about. >> yeah, because we don't know

what this guy wants and what consequences this will bring. john: how strong and how pervasive were those sentiments in what you found? kevin: they were very strong, very pervasive. what is interesting, those two young men were in the town of narva, which is just across the river from russia. putin has already said he wants to retake narva. what is also interesting is, the soviet union took estonia, lithuania, latvia and the baltic nations during the second world war. they either murdered anyone who was in it, was in any position, or they deported people to siberia to perhaps die in labor camps working for the soviets. the memories of that history are very strong, but you can also tell on the faces of those two young boys that they're scared to death.

they're scared to death of the question that i asked them, to be honest with you, john, because they don't know what's going to happen. but they do know is, putin is right across the river. john: they feel ukraine is fighting their war, preventing a future war with them, is that right? kevin: absolutely. the estonian foreign minister said to us, listen, ukraine is fighting our war for us. we need to give them as much support as possible. he is talking about bringing up levels of gdp to support nato. article five says if any member of nato is attacked, everyone jumps in to assist in that. as we heard from one of the estonian officials, they are hoping that nato is going to save the day. of course all we are hearing now is, the whole question of article five is now in doubt because of what officials on this side of the atlantic are saying.

john: i have heard this described as a passion project for you. what made you want to do this? joel: i have been doing lots of films with kevin over the years about the nato alliance, about russia's aggression toward nato. there are ships, many of them with foreign flags, that have been dragging their anchors and severing very important cables between the baltic nations. that is what is called a hybrid war, that russia has been testing the alliance to see what to do. we thought this is a good time to take the temperature of the two newest nato members, sweden and finland, and also the nato member that has its most eastern border with russia, and that's estonia. john: hybrid warfare sounds high-tech, but this is not cyberattacks, this isn't hacking, this is sabotage. joel: yes, and it is difficult

to point the finger on exactly who is behind it that is the beauty of hybrid warfare. the officials that we spoke to and also the people in helsinki that are actually looking at this as an institute, say these ships are basically dragging their anchors and they could drag their anchors up to 100km. therefore, that is not just an accident, they are causing havoc and they're breaking a lot of very important communications lines. john: kevin, you mentioned nato. is there a sense of what frightens people in this region more president trump's sort of , pivot away from ukraine or his talk about perhaps leaving nato? kevin: they are part and parcel of the same thing and the word i would use is fear. what joel was talking about in terms of hybrid warfare, you know, it goes way beyond the shipping. for example, the estonians say that the russians

are jamming their gps signals and that sometimes planes can't land at their airports. it all seems to be a pattern of trying to destabilize societies. we saw that in ukraine prior to the invasion of ukraine. the estonian foreign minister said to us that this is donald trmp's churchill moment. does donald trump want to be seen as someone who perhaps stopped the third world war, stopped the invasion of the other side? if vladimir putin is really trying to recreate some imperial slash soviet-style russia. these people in the baltic nations know exactly what that's like, because it's their relatives who were sent to siberian labor camps. they're looking to the u.s. and the events of this past week, i think, it probably scared the living daylights out of them.

john: what do you hope people will take away from this? joel: our audience is the american people and i think this is an area of the world that's a little bit alien to them so we want to give them the opportunity to see what normal citizens, border guards, heads of state, foreign ministers think about this region and understand that they are under threat, and that they do believe that they could be next. john: quickly, where can people see this? joel: certainly on the atlantic council's youtube channel, it is at the very top and we encourage americans to take a peek. john: thank you both very much. ♪

john: one of the executive orders president trump signed this past week seeks policy recommendations to expand access to in vitro fertilization. according to a 2024 survey, one in ten women of reproductive age say they have received fertility assistance, including ivf. but insurance coverage for the procedure is limited, and paying out of pocket is out of reach for many families. ali rogin spoke with barbara collura, who is president and ceo of resolve, the national infertility association, which advocates for people experiencing challenges building families. ali: thanks for joining us. i wanted to play you what then candidate trump said on the campaign trail about ivf. pres. trump: under the trump administration we will be paying for that treatment so we are paying for that treatment. >> all americans who want it? pres. trump: all americans that

need it or we are going to mandate the insurance company pay. ali: how does this executive order stuck up the campaign pledge? barbara: when president trump said that we did not have detail and were not sure what would happen. when this executive order came out it simply calls for policy recommendations to be provided to the white house within 90 days. this executive order does not fulfill that campaign promise, but we look at this as a first step. ali: what are barriers women face, parents face, when trying to access ivf? barbara: about 1/3 of infertility is due to male factors so it is both a male and female issue. this is highly skilled medical treatment. not everybody needs ivy of

--ivf, but those who do it is an intense process. it is medically taxing on your body, it takes a toll on your emotions. it is something a lot of people pay for out-of-pocket. health insurance does not cover it so they have to figure out how to pay for this out of savings or other means. it is something that encompasses your whole life. ali: why do insurance providers tend not to treat ivf the same they do other medical treatments? barbara: i wish i knew were this has been our battle since ivf started in 1981. resolve has been advocating for ivf coverage since then and we have gotten some laws passed in a few states, but it is a long haul. insurance companies view this as elective which is disgusting to think about your reproductive system and a desire to reproduce

and have a child as being elected. this is a continuous battle we face at the state level with employers and at the federal level. ali: this executive orders asking for policy recommendations to increase access and lower costs. what would resolve advise the trump administration to do? barbara: the good news, we have been doing this for a long time. there's already very effective policy recommendations sitting in congress right now. we have several pieces of legislation that our community has supported, some, quite honestly, for a decade or more, where, it would cover people in the military. believe it or not, they don't have full access to ivf. it would cover our veterans, federal employees, and then it would also cover people with private insurance. we also have some issues with the affordable care act, and people who get their insurance through those exchanges are left out of care. so we have already solved and done all the hard work on these

policy recommendations. i joked my staff, we don't need 90 days. we've already figured this out as patient advocates, as an organization that's been doing this with partners, in our space the physicians and others who've , been working at this for a long time. ali: at the same time president trump is putting out this executive order there are efforts on the state level that go in a different direction. in alabama the supreme court ruled that frozen embryos that were unused, in the course of ivf were children. so is this going to set up a clash between federal and state efforts when it comes to ivf? barbara: it is interesting you bring this up to read you could think about what happened in alabama very differently from ivf insurance, and it's actually interrelated. we look at our work as protecting access to ivf as well as expanding access through insurance coverage. why go to all that effort and work to expand access to ivf, in

other words getting more insurance, when it is not even protected? we see this as going hand in hand. we'd love to see federal protections, that way we don't have to worry about a state doing something and then, get this insurance coverage for everybody. ali: barbara collura, president and ceo of resolve, the national infertility association, thank you for joining us. ♪ john: now on the pbs newshour youtube channel. laura barron-lopez and tim mcphillips explain what the u.s. troops recently deployed along the southern border are there to accomplish. and that is pbs news weekend for this sunday. monday on pbs news hour, what the mass layoffs at the internal revenue service could mean for taxpayers and tax collection. i'm john yang. for all of my colleagues, thanks

for joining us. have a good week. ♪ >> major funding for pbs news weekend has been provided by -- ♪ >> in 1995, two friends set out to make wireless coverage accessible for all with no long-term contracts, nationwide coverage and 100% u.s. based customer support. consumer cellular. freedom calls. ♪ >> the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪

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