catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information is available at macfound.org. additional support is provided by the park foundation dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. at fordfoundation.org. the wyncote foundation. and by the frontline journalism fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler, and additional support from chris and lisa kaneb. support for "being mortal" is provided by the john and wauna harman foundation. (sirens blaring) >> atul gawande: i've been a surgeon for more than a decade now. in medicine, your first fear as a doctor is that you're supposed to be able to fix a problem, and our anxieties include wanting to seem competent, and to us competent means "i can fix this." in fact there's often a kind of implicit promise, "i'm going to be able to fix this, i'm going to certainly give you the best shot you can have. nobody could have given you a better shot." and then when things

catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information is available at macfound.org. additional support is provided by the park foundation dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. at fordfoundation.org. the wyncote foundation. and by the frontline journalism fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler. >> narrator: this is a story about business and war. it's a story about a small group of americans and the choices they made many years ago. a story about the cost of operating in a volatile and remote country. its setting is a rubber plantation in africa, owned and operated by the tire giant firestone. >> i am charles bradford pettit, and go by brad. i worked 31 years at firestone. i really kind of felt that we were above this war somehow, and that both sides wanted us there, so that they're gonna leave us alone. >> we were one of the largest, if not the largest, employer in liberia, certainly paying ta

catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world.ation at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: russian-backed rebels in eastern ukraine took control of the strategic town of debaltseve today, leaving a cease-fire truce hanging by a thread. the rebels forced ukrainian troops to ultimately retreat from the railway hub, after weeks of fighting. the separatists also claimed to have taken hundreds of ukrainian forces hostage. late today, ukrainian president petro poroshenko called for a team of international peacekeepers to monitor the cease-fire. we'll have an on-the-ground report from eastern ukraine right after this news summary. >> ifill: civilian casualties in afghanistan rose by 22% last year. an annual u.n. report showed 3,699 afghan civilians were killed and nearly 7,000 were wounded. it also found more afghans died in battles betw

catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: an arctic blast forecasters have dubbed the "siberian express" dipped all the way to florida's gulf coast today, demolishing cold temperature records along the way. from the midwest, to the deep south, the arctic blast brought dangerous, record-breaking cold to much of the u.s. today. 27 states are now under wind chill warnings or advisories more than 100 million americans shivering in a deep freeze. in chicago, the wind chill dipped to about 30 degrees below zero. the frigid temperatures led to transportation delays, and school cancellations. but there was no such luck for gabe wolt

catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world.information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: president obama formally asked congress today to authorize military force against the islamic state group. the request triggers the first war powers vote since 2002, and the invasion of iraq. the president said he's not asking to send in ground troops beyond special forces used in limited operations. >> i'm convinced the united states should not get dragged back into another prolonged ground war in the middle east. it's not in our national security interests and it's not necessary for us to defeat isil. local forces on the ground who know their countries best are best positioned to take the ground fight to isil and that's what they're doing. >> woodruff: to that end, the proposal rules out enduring offensive combat operations like the

catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world.information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the gruesome killing of a jordanian military pilot echoed across the middle east today. a video of islamic state captors burning him alive triggered demands to strike back and vows to redouble the fight against the militants. for many in jordan, this was a day of outrage mingled with mourning. people prayed in the home village of the murdered pilot, 26-year-old muath al-kaseasbeh. and soldiers lined up to pay respects, as his father demanded retaliation against the killers of his son. >> ( translated ): these are criminals, and there is no comparison between them and the blood of muath. the country has to take its revenge, and i call for no one to remain alive from islamic state, i call for revenge by executing prisoners. >> woodruff:

catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world.macfound.org >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: european leaders laid claim today to a fragile peace in ukraine as a night of negotiations produced plans for yet another cease-fire. all through the night in this marble-floored convention hall in minsk, journalists and official entourages waited and waited. ( camera shutter clicks ) the leaders of france, germany, russia and ukraine went into the meeting wednesday and emerged 16 hours later declaring they had a deal. >> ( translated ): there is a glimmer of hope here, but concrete steps, of course, have to be taken, and we will still face major obstacles. on balance, i can say that what we have achieved

catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world.at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >>> this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathi sue herera. >>> home sweet home. the overall face of new home sales remains near a six year high despite a slight drop in january. but it's home improvement projects that are really picking up. >>> target's transformation. are consumers responw changes made by the ceo? >>> playing politics that's what some house lawmakers accuse fed chair janet yellin today. all that and more for "nightly report", wednesday, february 25th. >>> good evening, everyone. welcome. the dow jones industrial average eked out another record close but it was housing and how hope may spring eternal for the housing market that

catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world.at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> this is bbc world news. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by -- the freeman foundation. newman's own foundation, giving all profits to charity and pursuing the common good. koovler foundation. and, mufg. >> build a solid foundation and you can connect to and commerce for centuries. that is the strength behind good banking relationships.

catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world.information at macfound.org >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: the new leftist government in greece vowed today it will not be blackmailed into giving up its anti-austerity stance. that came after the european central bank imposed new restrictions on lending to greek banks. meanwhile, the new greek finance minister met with his german counterpart in berlin. they discussed athens' demands to re-negotiate terms of its bailout, but they made little headway. >> ( translated ): greece belongs to the euro, but we don't really agree on what we have to do now, des