September 29, 2024 - PBS News Weekend full episode

JOHN YANG: Tonight on PBS News Weekend, escalating tensions in the Middle East as Israel keeps up its bombardment of Hezbollah in Lebanon, where at least a million people have been displaced.

MAN (through translator): The future of Lebanon will be good, God willing.

We will recover from these wars and these great blows and disasters.

Lebanon is a homeland, not a land of occupation.

JOHN YANG: Then the rare but serious medical condition that can affect athletes after strenuous workouts and record breaking flooding and power outages overwhelm parts of The Southeast three days after Hurricane Helene made landfall.

(BREAK) JOHN YANG: Good evening.

I'm John Yang.

While keeping up its bombardment of Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel struck another Iranian-backed militant group today targeting Houthi fighters in Yemen.

Israeli officials said it was in retaliation for Houthi missiles fired at Israel, but Israel's main focus remains Hezbollah striking dozens of targets today, including rocket launchers and buildings said to be storing weapons.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): Days after the massive Israeli strike that killed Hassan Nasrallah, smoke still rises from the rubble of Hezbollah's headquarters in southern Beirut, a fitting image for what Israel has done to the militant group's top command.

Today, Hezbollah confirmed the death of Nabil Kaouk, Deputy Head of its Central Council, the seventh top official Israel, was killed in a little more than a week.

Israel's targets today included two buildings near Sidon on the Mediterranean coast.

Lebanese health officials said at least 24 people were killed.

Meanwhile, Israeli defenses intercepted most of the rockets and missiles Hezbollah fired at Israel.

Across Lebanon, hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes, some camping out on streets, others seeking refuge in a parking lot.

The Lebanese government estimates that about a quarter of a million are in shelters.

In Beirut, some residents, like Ayman feel lost.

AYMEN, Displaced Resident (through translator): The future of Lebanon is in God's hands now nothing is clear.

Look at us.

We are sleeping in the streets.

That is how our life is now.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): Others, like Francoise are defiant.

FRANCOISE AZORI, Beirut Resident (through translator): You won't be able to destroy us.

Whatever you do, however much you bomb, however much you displace people, we will stay here.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): Inside, Mohamed says he thinks about evening the score.

MOHAMED FARHAT ABU RASHAD, Sidon Resident (through translator): The war will continue, God willing, until we take our revenge for the Gazan people and the displaced people in Lebanon.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): On ABC's This Week, White House National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby said the United States is prepared for any response.

JOHN KIRBY, White House National Security Council Spokesman: Well, their rhetoric certainly suggests they're going to try to do something.

I mean, just coming out of Tehran, but we don't really know.

We're watching this very, very closely to see how, if and how Hezbollah and or Iran may react, as well as the militia groups in Iraq and Syria.

JOHN YANG: Late today, President Biden said all out war in the Middle East has to be avoided.

He said he would soon talk with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Special correspondent Leila Molana-Allen is in Beirut tonight.

Leila, Israel seems to be just striking at will for the past several days.

What's this doing to the Lebanese people?

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: The feeling amongst the Lebanese people is one of terror.

There's always a sense here that a hope that things won't be as bad as they seem could get but those chances of this not becoming all out war in the Middle East seemed to be dwindling by the second arriving from Beirut airport, which is normally an incredibly lit up area with busy streets, everything was dark, all the lights out.

Really somber, quiet.

People are incredibly fearful of what's to come.

Because, of course, the biggest event was the confirmation yesterday by Hezbollah that the head of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed by Israel in that enormous strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Friday, and since then, people now feel all cards are off the table.

Anything could happen, and it hasn't stopped since today, 100 people were injured, more than 50 killed in further strikes across the country.

People are terrified, many of them flooding to the airport, but many also returning to Lebanon, saying they're going to stay here through the war.

They've done it before, and they can do it again.

Of course, the last time we saw this on this level was in 2006 that was a 33-day war.

More than 1,000 people were killed, but already, three quarters that number have been killed in just the past week in Lebanon.

JOHN YANG: The target of all this is not these, the Lebanese people, but it's Hezbollah.

How did the people view Hezbollah?

Do they stand with it, or are they angry that they brought this on them?

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: This is a lot more complicated than the way that it's often presented.

So of course, Hezbollah is not all of the Lebanese people.

The majority of the Lebanese people do not support Hezbollah.

Within those who do support Hezbollah, Hezbollah is not just a terrorist organization, as it's designated by Western nations.

It's not just a military organization.

It's also a political one.

It forms part of the government here.

It runs social services, hospitals, schools.

So many people who live in Hezbollah areas, while they might not like some of the foreign political actions that Hezbollah takes, they are looked after them on a daily basis.

They are the people who are essentially their local government.

And beyond that, even though there are many Lebanese who feel that Hezbollah are responsible for what's happening now, have brought this on the country by refusing to lay down their arms since the end of the Civil War and by repeatedly attacking Israel, they still do feel that Israel is the aggressor here.

This is not a case where anyone agrees with what Israel is doing.

The Israeli army, the IDF, they say that they are carrying out only precision strikes, but we are seeing so many civilians killed.

These are very, very densely packed residential areas.

Hezbollah militants live amongst these people, so it's impossible to separate the two out.

And everyone here feels that Israel is the aggressor in this and is being indiscriminate in its attacks.

JOHN YANG: Of course, there was an all out war between Lebanon Israel within the past two decades is, does that memory affect people?

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: That affects people hugely.

People my age here were in high school in 2006.

I remember those days.

I had Lebanese friends who were getting on to aircraft carriers from the port.

Because, of course, the first thing that the Israeli army did was hit the airport, takeout Beirut airport.

They haven't done that so far, but that memory is very fresh in people's minds.

A lot of young people died.

Half of the capital was decimated, as was the whole of the South.

So people remember very freshly, people who are just in their 20s and 30s, how terrible that war was, how long it took to rebuild, and they're absolutely terrified of that happening again.

And of course, the difference this time is that the last time there was a war, Lebanon was on a high it had rebuilt after the Civil War.

The economy was doing better.

There was lots of building work going on.

They had more money.

They were able to rebuild without too much trouble.

Or it did take a while.

This time round, Lebanon is ruling from years of crisis, the third biggest financial crash in history.

People -- there's huge unemployment.

Many people have left the country to try and find jobs.

Those left here are the most desperate, the most vulnerable, and they really can't cope with this.

We're seeing hundreds of thousands of people now either displaced or fearing that they will have to leave their homes.

They really don't have anywhere to go, and they don't have the money to support themselves, and they don't have a government that can support them either.

JOHN YANG: Israel has really shown its capability throughout this, the ability to infiltrate the supply chain with the pagers, to strike Hezbollah's leadership at will, has this in any way changed the balance of power in the region.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: It absolutely has.

I mean, what's become very clear, not just in the past week, but over the past few months, is that if anybody ever underestimated Israel, they were fools to do so.

At the beginning of the war with Gaza on the eighth of October last year, many people were saying all Israel has to be very careful.

They can't afford to split their forces if they're thinking about the northern border with Lebanon as well.

They're now not just thinking about Gaza and the northern border with Lebanon as well as the deployments they have in the West Bank.

They've also been striking the Houthis in Yemen.

They're threatening Iran as well, and they've shown that they can do it over the past few months what they've achieved, taking out the leader of Hamas in Tehran on foreign soil, when he was attending the inauguration of the new president in Iran, being able to take out Hassan Nasrallah, who is nothing short of a myth, really.

I mean, this man, it's difficult to overstate how important his legend is in this part of the world.

People thought he was a ghost that you would never be able to get hold of him.

He lived underground.

He never appeared in public.

He was able to move seamlessly, and somehow they managed to get him the level of intelligence that Israel must have to be able to infiltrate it to the point where they could kill Hassan Hasrallah.

Where they could take out all these different leaders, and where they were able to tackle the pages and the walkie talkie smuggling explosives into the homes of thousands of Hezbollah operatives.

It's very clear that they have been working with a huge network of intelligence, that they've infiltrated every level of this sheer network across the region, and people now feel but there's more to come than not finished yet.

JOHN YANG: More to come.

Leila Molana-Allen in Beirut tonight.

Thank you very much.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Thanks, John.

JOHN YANG: Today's other news, remnants of Hurricane Helene are wreaking havoc three days after making landfall, dumping rain across the southeast, Midwest and parts of the Appalachians.

It's blamed for at least 64 deaths.

Today, North Carolina's governor said he expects the death toll in his state to rise.

Flooding has inundated the western part of North Carolina.

Homes and businesses have been destroyed and bridges and roads collapsed.

Millions across the southeast are without power.

Entire rural communities don't have cell service or internet service.

That leaves them unable to call for help.

Some neighbors are trying to fill the gap.

WOMAN: We have a lot of elderly people over there that we couldn't get help to, and we're just trying to keep everybody alive.

WOMAN: It happened so fast to me and scared the life out of me, because nothing like that ever happened.

And I apologize because I'm not from here, so I didn't realize how the streets were, you know, I didn't know that it possibly could be that deep thing.

WOMAN: This is the third storm in a year, like I don't know how much more we can take, and then they're telling us there's another one out there.

JOHN YANG: The head of FEMA says the agency is trying to move satellite communications, bottled water and additional medical services to the most affected areas.

More than 100 Ukrainian drones were shot down over several regions of Russia today.

Overnight, Russian guided bombs pummeled the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, wounding at least 16 people and damaging infrastructure and residences.

This past week, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy pressed allies for more air defense support to help intercept guided bombs.

Still to come on PBS News Weekend, the deadly floods destroying homes and businesses in North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Helene and a rare life threatening condition that landed nine members of a college lacrosse team in the hospital.

(BREAK) JOHN YANG: The remnants of Hurricane Helene have been wreaking havoc hundreds of miles from where it made landfall in Florida three days ago.

Western North Carolina is one of the hardest hit areas.

Laura Hackett is a reporter for Blue Ridge Public Radio in Asheville.

Laura give us some sense of what it's been like in Asheville the last few days.

LAURA HACKETT, Blue Ridge Public Radio: Yeah, it's been almost total infrastructure loss in Asheville.

It's been really hard.

There's no water in the city currently, cell service has been gone, internet, power.

We're just starting to get a little bit back online.

Some people are starting to get cell service.

So it's been really challenging.

Water is definitely the most dire thing right now.

We don't have water yet in the city.

Folks are trying to bring it into Asheville, but because hurricane Helene wiped away large swaths of the highway, it's stopping tractor trailers from getting into the region.

So that's the situation we're in right now.

JOHN YANG: I know that you said that cell service is out and that roads have been are closed?

Are there people who can't call for help and or people who the help can't get to them?

LAURA HACKETT: Yeah, that's been one of the most challenging aspects of this as well.

There's somebody in Asheville who's keeping kind of a grassroots database, and so far, around 1,000 folks have last time I checked yesterday, I've submitted they're trying to find missing people for welfare checks because they haven't heard from them.

So yeah, folks have been really having a hard time connecting in places in the area like Swannanoa and Biltmore Village, which went completely underwater during when we did have the big floods.

Search and rescue missions are still going on, but it's been really hard because trees have fallen down.

There's telephone wires everywhere.

You know, we have a really mountainous train out here, and so there's just a lot of roadblocks, both, you know, topography wise and communication wise.

That's stopping emergency responders from being able to get to people quickly.

JOHN YANG: What do we know about casualties?

LAURA HACKETT: As of this morning, a press conference with Roy Cooper confirmed that there were 11.

Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina confirmed there were 11 fatalities in the state and Buncombe County, at a press conference this morning, confirmed 10 fatalities.

So, I -- officials have hinted that they think that it's going to be a larger count, but there are 10 confirmed in Buncombe County right now.

JOHN YANG: Has this area ever seen anything like this ever before?

LAURA HACKETT: No, no.

People are calling it.

The number keeps getting bigger.

People started calling it a 100-year flood.

Then some people started calling it a 500-year flood.

Some folks have called it biblical damage.

The only thing that we can really compare it to, is the great flood of 1916 which I was doing a little reading out on before this happened.

And that was before the most significant flood.

And this has -- this is surpassed that.

And when the flood of 1916 occurred that had wiped away railroads, power plants and had 80 fatalities, but the water this time was greater and more widespread.

JOHN YANG: Any estimate of when things are going to get back, when internet service is going to get back, when roads will be opened again and water running water is restored.

LAURA HACKETT: Yeah.

So water in Asheville, the city, shared information today that said it might not be for up to a few weeks for water.

So that's really tough right now.

Cell service is looking a little bit more optimistic.

We have -- we're working with cell providers, particular Verizon AT&T, to put up some temporary cell service towers.

So folks are getting a little bit more service.

They can finally call those loved ones and, you know, check in and tell them that they're okay.

Power is still all for less a little under 100,000 folks in the area.

So, you know, it's, I think it's going to be at least a few weeks to really get everything back on board.

And that's not even to mention the roads.

Whole roads are wiped away right now.

It's really tough.

It's going to be a long road.

I don't think anybody in this community was really prepared for this?

JOHN YANG: Laura Hackett of Blue Ridge Public Radio in Asheville, North Carolina.

Thank you very much.

LAURA HACKETT: Thanks for having me.

JOHN YANG: Officials at Tufts University, outside Boston, are investigating an athletic team workout this month that resulted in nine players being hospitalized, some for about a week.

The incident has put a spotlight on a serious, somewhat rare and potentially fatal muscle condition that can be brought on by overexertion.

Ali Rogin explains.

ALI ROGIN: The condition is rhabdomyolysis, more commonly known as Rhabdo.

When muscles are overtaxed or damaged, they actually start to disintegrate, that releases toxic components of muscle fibers into the bloodstream and can cause kidney damage.

Dr. Miho Tanaka is director of the Women's Sports Medicine Program at Mass General Brigham.

Dr. Tanaka, thank you so much for being here.

You treat many professional athletes.

How common is this condition and who is most at risk?

DR. MIHO TANAKA, Mass General Brigham: Well, this condition is actually quite rare.

So in sports medicine, we hope to not see this, but it absolutely, you know, is a reminder that you know this can happen, even in young, healthy individuals.

ALI ROGIN: And what are the signs if somebody is experiencing this?

MIHO TANAKA: Yeah, so the typical signs that we think about with Rhabdo are having extreme fatigue, having substantial muscle pain, so pain out of proportion to what you would expect after a workout.

And lastly, having darkening of the urine.

So anyone who has any of these three findings after a strenuous workout should consider having medical evaluation.

ALI ROGIN: Very strenuous workouts have become very popular in the United States.

Have there been -- has there been an increase of Rhabdo cases as these types of activities have become more mainstream?

MIHO TANAKA: Yeah.

You know, we have seen these cases reported, especially when they happen in large numbers, as they have in this case.

So when we see teams involved, but you know, we don't actually see the data when it comes to individuals where this occurs, but I think you're exactly right that with these types of strenuous activities and individuals who are just fully capable of pushing themselves beyond their normal limits.

I'm sure that there are cases like this, but the actual numbers, I'm not really clear about in terms of whether the numbers are actually increasing.

ALI ROGIN: I should note that you're not involved in this case.

You don't know the specifics of the incident, but we do know that people on the team disclosed that the person leading the training was an alum, who had just completed Navy SEAL training.

So does that speak to how important it is that whoever's training a group of athletes or individuals know the level of training that they should -- they should not exceed?

MIHO TANAKA: Absolutely.

I think that the most important aspect of training is to make sure that it's individualized to that individual's capabilities and their level of fitness.

And so a fitness plan should definitely incorporate that as well as a progression that's consistent with that individual's ability.

And going way beyond that is when we start to see problems such as injuries or Rhabdo in this case.

ALI ROGIN: There have been a number of these incidents among high school and college athletes.

Why does it seem to happen, particularly in young people?

MIHO TANAKA: I think that there may be a lot of reasons that that this can happen, but probably the number one reason that we typically see is over exertion.

And so when you're given a workout, you're able to push through whatever you're doing, and this is what can lead to this problem.

But there are other sort of risk factors that should be taken into consideration, as well the training environment, so whether it's very hot or very humid, or also internal conditions such as being dehydrated, or substances such as caffeine, stimulants, other types of medications can place people at risk, but I think this sort of a general progression of activities and exercises without clear oversight can lead to overexertion of these young athletes.

ALI ROGIN: And when you're talking to athletes about not pushing themselves too far, what do you say to them?

How did those conversations go?

MIHO TANAKA: Well, I think that you know being aware of your limits is the most important thing, and when you're in a workout, it's very difficult to tell what is too much, because most athletes, again, are able to push themselves through whatever they're given.

And so this is why it's important to take into consideration what you did the week before and where you're trying to go, and working out harder doesn't necessarily get you there faster.

And in general, we try to keep people within about 20 percent of what they did the week prior in terms of the amount that they're increasing, to try to minimize the risk of injury and other medical problems.

ALI ROGIN: Dr. Miho Tanaka, director of the Women's Sports Medicine Program at Mass General Brigham, thank you so much for joining us.

MIHO TANAKA: Thanks very much.

JOHN YANG: Ximena Abogabir is a co-founder of a Chilean organization dedicated to changing attitudes about aging.

Tonight, she shares her Brief But Spectacular take on empowering people to live their best lives.

XIMENA ABOGABIR, Journalist: We used to think of life in a linear way.

A child is born, and you stimulate so that he's brilliant.

All this within the idea or the purpose to have a good job, and then you have a third state where you rest, that's absolutely nonsense.

My name is Ximena Abogabir.

I'm very proud to say I'm 76 and I come from Santiago, Chile.

I am a prototype of a linear life.

I had been 35 years working in a foundation, and then came my birthday, number 70.

I knew I had wrinkles, I know my hair was white, but what had changed was the way people were looking at me, and I didn't like it, because they were all trying to protect me, imagining that I was going to fall or that I couldn't learn.

And I said, Well, that's funny.

I mean, what's another with all of them?

I'm the same.

And I started talking to other friends, and they all said, hey, that's the same thing that happens to me.

We say that being a woman and old is a double discrimination, because women have so many stereotypes about how you should be and how you should look.

We decided to found Travesia100 (ph), which means the Journey to 100.

And the purpose was changing the mindset about the way we were looking at age.

Age as an opportunity and not as a problem.

When I speak to groups of people, they always start nodding, because what I say is so obvious.

We have now 4,000 or more volunteers.

What we decided to do first of all was empower other people, because some people retire and say that's it.

Those people tend to sit and get depressed.

This is the moment to be yourself.

It's a moment to do whatever you thought you were born to do.

What are the things we've done with companies is help them understand who are their new older clients, what we call silver economy.

If you don't understand silver economy, you will probably try to serve older people with the stereotype you have in your mind as older people that are waiting to die, and that's it, which is not true.

You're missing the point.

People like me certainly we're not young, but we are not elders.

This is sort of new generation in the middle.

The other things we do is work with private companies to retain older people that are in their workforce so that they don't leave, because if they leave, you will probably miss a lot of knowledge and experience they have.

Some people attend our workshops and start studying a new career or join an NGO.

What really energizes you, what makes you wake up in the morning with enthusiasm say, I have something to do.

This is a wonderful period of time.

How can I give back what I have received?

What can I contribute to society now, and that's a very powerful message to be alive.

My name is Ximena Abogabir Scott, and this is a Brief But Spectacular take of the Journey to 100.

JOHN YANG: Can watch all of the stories in our Brief But Spectacular series on aging online at pbs.org/newshour/longevity.

And that is PBS News Weekend for this Sunday.

I'm John Yang, for all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us.

Have a good week.