JOHN YANG: Tonight on PBS News Weekend, rising tensions in the Middle East.

The heaviest exchange of attacks in months on the Israeli-Lebanese border while Israel intensifies its offensive in Gaza.

Then, the effects sweeping cuts to NIH funding are having on major research projects around the country.

And we head to the U.S. Mint to see the creation of a quarter celebrating civil rights activist and journalist Ida B.

Wells.

WOMAN: You can look at the beautiful quarter itself and you can ask questions about who is this woman?

How did she contribute to American society and culture?

Why is she important to history?

(BREAK) JOHN YANG: Good evening.

I'm John Yang.

Tonight there's renewed violence in the Middle East.

The Israeli-Lebanese border saw the heaviest exchange of attacks since Israel and the militant group Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire four months ago.

Early this morning, Israel struck Lebanon in retaliation for rockets that targeted Israel.

Lebanese officials said two people were killed, including a child.

Now the Israeli army says it's launching a second wave of strikes in Lebanon.

Hezbollah has denied any involvement in the rocket attacks.

They say they are committed to the truce.

This comes as Israel says it will intensify its offensive in Gaza until Hamas releases the remaining Israeli hostages.

Palestinian officials say Israeli airstrikes overnight killed at least nine people, including three children.

They estimate that 600 people in Gaza have been killed since Israel relaunched the war earlier this week.

Josef Federman is a news director for the Associated Press, covering Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan.

Let's start on the border with Lebanon.

What's behind this renewed rocket firing from Lebanon?

JOSEF FEDERMAN, The Associated Press: It's not entirely clear what sparked this.

What's interesting for the time being, it appears to be some sort of one off incident.

Nobody's claimed responsibility for this rocket fire.

It most likely is connected to what's going on to Gaza because that has raised tensions across the region.

But nobody is claiming responsibility.

Hezbollah says it didn't do it.

The Lebanese government is urging restraint.

So that is an indication that today will be a one off incident.

So it's hard to understand what the motivations were behind here, but it does look like the Lebanese side at least is trying to lower the tension level.

JOHN YANG: And let's turn to Gaza now.

How has Hamas responded to this renewed fighting in Gaza?

JOSEF FEDERMAN: Hamas has been criticizing the Israeli renewal of the attacks.

There have been a handful of rocket attacks at Israel, but for the time being, Hamas kind of keeping a low profile, calling for restraint, calling for a renewal of negotiations.

So Hamas is not looking for a renewal of this war.

The Israelis, however, appear to be barreling ahead with it for the time being.

JOHN YANG: And what's the status of the talks on phase two of the ceasefire in Gaza?

JOSEF FEDERMAN: Well, that's the issue here.

Israel made it clear even while the ceasefire was in place that it did not want to go to phase two.

Phase two means talking about the end of the war.

It means talking about withdrawing all Israeli troops.

Israel doesn't want to talk about those issues right now.

Israel wanted to extend that initial ceasefire, that exchange of prisoners for hostages, without ending the war altogether.

So phase two has now been pushed aside.

The ceasefire appears to be in tatters, and there are efforts behind the scenes to get that ceasefire back in place.

But for the time being, Israel is moving ahead.

And you don't see any calls from the White House, from Trump, the Trump administration, to put the brakes on this operation.

So Israel is going to keep on moving ahead with this, believing that this military pressure is the best way to bring those hostages home.

JOHN YANG: No calls for the White House.

But I know that earlier this week there were public demonstrations after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resumed the fighting in Gaza.

Where is the sense of the Israeli public on this?

JOSEF FEDERMAN: There are deep divisions in Israeli society, the government, this is a very hard line government.

But the Israeli public, large parts of the Israeli public, at least half, possibly more, according to opinion polls, don't want to see a resumption of fighting.

They believe that diplomacy and negotiations and continuing the ceasefire is the best way to bring the hostages home.

They believe that if the fighting continues, that Hamas is only going to take a harder line, and this actually reduces the chances of people coming home.

Remember, the hostages who were freed during that first phase, many of them came back looking in very poor condition.

They have lost a lot of weight, emaciated, and they're telling stories about very harsh conditions in captivity.

People were chained, kept underground for months at a time, not seeing any sunlight.

And this has generated lots of sympathy for the remaining hostages.

So wide parts of the Israeli public want to see the government dealing and not fighting.

And that's why you see thousands and even tens of thousands of people taking to the streets right now.

JOHN YANG: Josef Federman of the Associated Press, thank you very much for walking us through that.

JOSEF FEDERMAN: Thank you.

JOHN YANG: In tonight's other news, new drone strikes in Ukraine are raising questions about the limited ceasefire that Ukraine and Russia agreed to.

Ukrainian officials said at least three people were killed and 14 others wounded in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia.

Police there counted at least 12 drones that hit residential buildings and cars.

The Ukrainian Air Force has a total of 179 drones crossed its borders.

Just days ago the two countries agreed not to hit each other's energy infrastructure.

Hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Caribbean and Latin American countries who came to the United States legally may soon face deportation.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the Trump administration will revoke legal protections for more than half a million Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans.

The administration claims there's been broad abuse of humanitarian parole.

That's the program that allows people from countries experiencing political instability to temporarily live and work in the United States.

Kitty Dukakis, the former first lady of Massachusetts, has died.

She was thrust into the spotlight when her husband, Michael Dukakis, became the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee.

Born Catherine Virginia Dixon, she was a social worker and spoke openly about her struggles with depression and addiction.

Kitty Dukakis was 88 years old.

And two time heavyweight champion George Foreman has died.

When he was only 19 years old, he won a gold medal at the 1968 Olympics.

He's perhaps best known for the historic Rumble in the Jungle fight with Muhammad Ali in 1974 when Foreman lost his world heavyweight title.

After several breaks and a temporary retirement, Foreman won the title back when he was 45, the oldest heavyweight champion ever.

He later became the face and pitch man for an electric grill that bore his name.

George Foreman was 76 years old.

Still to come on PBS News Weekend, how AI is being used to create fake images that are harming children.

And we see how the U.S. Mint is celebrating pioneering American women.

(BREAK) JOHN YANG: The National Institutes of Health has terminated dozens of grants for scientific research projects related to vaccine use and hesitancy.

Researchers got written notices that their studies no longer aligned with the administration's priorities and that it is the policy of NIH not to prioritize research activities that focus gaining scientific knowledge on why individuals are hesitant to be vaccinated and or explore ways to improve vaccine interest and commitment.

Dr. Sophia Newcomer was one of the researchers whose grant was canceled.

She's an associate professor at the University of Montana.

Her work focuses on access to health care in rural communities.

She spoke with Ali Rogin.

ALI ROGIN: Thank you so much for joining us.

What was this NIH grant funding?

SOPHIA NEWCOMER, University of Montana: My work focuses on figuring out ways we can improve vaccination services, particularly for rural families.

And so for this specific project that got cut, were working to develop tools to measure the quality of immunization services that children receive.

ALI ROGIN: So you were looking at the quality of immunization services.

This grant cut was about vaccine hesitancy specifically, they said.

How much of your research was looking at specifically at that issue of vaccine hesitancy?

SOPHIA NEWCOMER: Sure.

So my project involved analyzing existing data on vaccinations across the U.S. and even though were only partway through our project, we already had some important findings.

And one of the things were finding is that when children in the U.S. fall behind our missing vaccines, a main issue are practical challenges to accessing high quality vaccination care.

So while we did see that some under vaccination in the U.S. might be due to parental hesitancy, practical challenges to accessing vaccines, such as having clinics nearby that you can access, having a regular medical home for your child, having regular medical insurance, are all also challenges in accessing vaccines in the US.

ALI ROGIN: We asked The Department of Health and Human Services about these cuts, and they said in a statement that the decision to vaccinate is a personal one and funding would better directed towards more urgent public health priorities.

What is your response to that?

SOPHIA NEWCOMER: So it's sometimes said that vaccines don't save lives, vaccinations save lives.

We have safe and effective vaccine products, but we also need to make sure that we have the medical and public health infrastructure to ensure that high quality vaccination services are available in all corners of this country.

And high quality vaccination care looks like this.

All families, no matter where they live, should be able to access vaccinations in clinics in their communities.

These clinics need to be equipped with the right technology so that doctors and nurses can look at a patient's entire vaccination and medical history so that they know when to recommend the right vaccines at the right time.

We want every parent and every patient to be able to have thoughtful conversations with their care team about vaccines and to get their questions answered.

And finally, we need to be able to have the data to track and measure how we're doing with providing high quality vaccination care.

And many of the studies that got cut were working to address these goals.

ALI ROGIN: And as somebody who has worked a long time in applying for this grant, getting it, putting it to use, how did it make you feel when this was cut?

And also, what do you think the impact is going to be on additional efforts in the public health research community?

SOPHIA NEWCOMER: Sure.

Well, certainly I was shocked and surprised.

You know, I'm a researcher in a rural state.

We don't get a lot of funding for health research.

And certainly in rural areas of the country, there's a lot of health needs that need to be addressed and need to be studied.

And we need to have the resources to be working to improve health outcomes for rural families.

And, you know, right now is the time that we really need to focus on providing high quality vaccination services in the country.

I mean, we are dealing right now in the U.S. with more measles cases in three months than we had in all of last year, and we're seeing measles in more states.

And so now is really the time that we need to be making sure that everyone has access to vaccines and has all the components of high quality vaccination care.

ALI ROGIN: Dr. Sophia Newcomer at the University of Montana, thank you so much for joining us.

SOPHIA NEWCOMER: Thank you.

JOHN YANG: A new report offers a troubling look at the latest digital threat to young people, Deepfake nudes.

These are realistic photos and videos that have been altered using AI technology to depict the subjects in sexually explicit situations and then spread online.

Stephanie Tsai spoke with Melissa Stroebel.

She's vice president of research and insights at THORN, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting children online.

STEPHANIE SY: Melissa, thank you so much for joining us.

Before we get to these findings, could you start by just explaining what deepfake nudes are?

MELISSA STROEBEL, VP of Research And Insights, THORN: Absolutely.

So deepfake nudes are synthetic media creations that depend a real person in a sexually suggestive or explicit situation or activity.

STEPHANIE SY: What were the main findings in this report?

Who was impacted the most by the creation and spread of these deepfakes?

MELISSA STROEBEL: So what we heard from young people in this survey, and we surveyed about 1,200 13 to 20-year olds, is unfortunately, this is becoming all too common of an experience within their landscape and growing up in particular.

One in eight told us that they knew someone who had been particularly targeted specifically targeted by and impacted by deepfake nudes.

On top of that, we heard that one in 17 themselves had been targeted by deepfake nude abuse.

Now, sometimes that number can feel a little bit small.

One in 17, that's a small percentage.

But when we think about what 17 looks like in our communities, that's the size of our kids classroom, that's the size of their soccer team.

So this is really far too high a number for kids to be experiencing this type of victimization.

The other important thing that came through here was about the availability of this technology.

And for the kids who told us that they had created deepfake news of someone else, the technology is really readily available.

It's available through social media, through browsers, and through app stores.

But the good news is that most kids realize this is a harmful behavior.

And so there's a lot of opportunity for us to be having conversations with them and reinforcing those perspectives.

STEPHANIE SY: You know, one interesting part of your research that I read were the responses from some of these teens.

Even though we call these manipulated images deep fakes, in a way they're very real, right, especially if you're a victim of deep fakes.

MELISSA STROEBEL: Yeah, very true.

For those young people who've experienced deepfake nude abuse, they have shared with us stories of severe anxiety, fear, shame, as well as worries that they won't believed or that their experiences will be dismissed because of the involvement of AI generative technologies.

STEPHANIE SY: What is being done about AI safety right now?

What should being done?

Because we're basically talking about minor sexual abuse.

MELISSA STROEBEL: This is absolutely right.

At the end of the day, whether AI generative technologies was involved or not, an explicit image of a minor is still child sexual abuse material.

And that's a really important starting point.

There are responses across the ecosystem taking place.

For example, our organization has been working directly with tech companies to make sure that these models are being built as safely as possible.

And if they are aware of abusive models, that those are being made unavailable so that they can't be so readily accessed.

But there's a lot more work to be done.

Right now we don't have a consistent institutional response that's reinforcing what kids already suspect.

And that's an opportunity where we need to lean in and offer more guidance for kids.

STEPHANIE SY: In the meantime, what should parents and other caretakers be doing to make sure that their teens are safe?

MELISSA STROEBEL: Having really open and early conversations with the young people in our lives is going to be one of the most important steps we can be doing at home.

Make sure that kids understand this is not a joke, it is not funny and it carries real consequences for the kids that are being targeted.

Naming that openly and directly at home is an important first step, but we can be doing more for other adults within our communities, such as within schools.

There's a lot of need for there to be clear guidance within schools for their school bodies that this is not permissible behavior.

There are student handbooks in place that address things like harassment.

This is something that we can lean.

Into and acknowledge this type of emerging risk and have policies in place that make sure that schools are prepared to respond in a victim centered way.

STEPHANIE SY: Melissa Stroebel, VP of THORN's Research and Insights.

Thank you so much for joining us.

MELISSA STROEBEL: Thank you.

JOHN YANG: Finally tonight for Women's History Month, we take a look at a special series of quarters honoring notable American women.

This is the final year of the program.

And one of the coins for 2025 features journalist and activist Ida B.

Wells.

We went to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia to watch hers being made.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): At the US Mint in Philadelphia, this is what they mean when they talk about making money.

This machine turns out more than $187 in quarters every 60 seconds.

These coins honor Ida B.

Wells, the pioneering journalist and civil rights activist.

It's one of the last in the Mint's four-year American Women quarter series.

JOHN YANG: What happens in this area?

CLAYTON CROTTY, U.S. Mint at Philadelphia: This is the first step.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): Production supervisor Clayton Crotty explains the process.

CLAYTON CROTTY: So 80 percent of each coil gets turned into coins.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): The coils weigh as much as 11,000 pounds each.

A machine punches out discs, the blank canvas for the coins.

A press stamps the design onto them.

What's called striking.

JOHN YANG: When the Mint began in 1792, it took three years to produce a million coins.

Now, 30 minutes.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): About 350 million Ida B.

Wells quarters are expected to go into circulation.

As an investigative journalist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Wells raised awareness of the vicious violence against blacks in the era of lynching.

In 2020, she was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for that work.

As an activist, she pressed for a federal anti-lynching law, something that didn't become a reality until 2022, 91 years after her death.

Wells was also at the forefront of efforts against segregated schools and for the vote for women.

PHEBE HEMPHILL, U.S. Mint sculptor: Well, this would have been my dream job and I did land my dream job.

JOHN YANG: Really?

PHEBE HEMPHILL: Yes.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): Mint sculptor Phoebe Hemphill had the challenge of translating that life history onto a canvas less than an inch in diameter.

PHEBE HEMPHILL The design goes through the committees in Washington and if they choose the design and it happens to be my design, then I get to design and sculpt it.

Yeah.

JOHN YANG: So for instance, with the Ida B.

Wells quarter, did you submit a design?

PHEBE HEMPHILL: I did.

It was not chosen.

JOHN YANG: Is that a little bit of a disappointment?

PHEBE HEMPHILL: Kind of, yeah.

But I got to be humble with my expectations there.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): Even though her design didn't win, she was chosen to sculpt the one that did.

It was in her studio above the production floor that she transformed the two dimensional drawing into a three dimensional sculpture.

PHEBE HEMPHILL: That's the main challenge in making a coin, is to get as much sculpture out of it as you can, given the constraint of that low relief.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): She's one of the few mint sculptors who still uses both traditional clay and plaster techniques and modern digital tools.

PHEBE HEMPHILL: The designs that we try to come up with usually have important elements in it for the person's story.

Try to give an indication of little bit about their background.

DAN DUSTER, Ida B.

Wells great grandson: It's surreal and heartwarming at the same time.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): Dan Duster, Ida B.

Wells great grandson, appreciates the results.

DAN DUSTER: The detail on it, John, is actually intricate and amazing.

And so we talked about her hand positioning the brooch that's on the coin, which is a feather, to reflect her commitment to journalism.

So, yeah, it was a very involved thing.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): He helped pick the winning design and now uses the quarter whenever he can.

DAN DUSTER: Normally, I use a credit card, right?

So I've been paying for cash with a lot of things, trying to see if I can get a quarter.

So I did stumble upon it.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): Smithsonian staff researched and picked the women who appear on the coins.

ELIZABETH BABCOCK, Smithsonian American Women's History Museum: This is tangible.

History is tangible.

It's in your hand.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): Elizabeth Babcock is director of the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum.

ELIZABETH BABCOCK: The idea there was that we wanted to end up with a set of women who really represent all the many ways that women in our country have contributed, whether it's in the arts, whether it's in stem, whether it's in health and medicine.

I think we ended up with a really great set.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): The only woman depicted on coins had been Lady Liberty until the Susan B. Anthony dollar in 1979.

The Sacajawea dollar followed in 2000.

In 2021, Congress established the American Women Quarters Program.

Some of those honored are household names.

Eleanor Roosevelt, Sally Ride, Maya Angelou.

Others are less well known.

ELIZABETH BABCOCK: You can look at the beautiful quarter itself and you can ask questions about, who is this woman?

How did she contribute to American society and culture?

Why is she important to history?

It's such an amazing way that's accessible to all Americans to learn about women in the United States and through history.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): Mint worker Frank Perkins was around when the Susan B. Anthony dollars were minted.

He's been here since he was 18 years old.

JOHN YANG: 50 years.

Is there something special about working at the Mint?

FRANK PERKINS, Mint worker: Yeah.

Being a part of history.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): Now, helps mentor the newest generation of Mint employees.

I get them to understand that once you come into the building, you become a part of a machine.

OK?

What you do affects the next person, OK?

So you got to have honor and camaraderie together.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): That's one of the lessons Dan Duster hopes people will take from Ida B.

Wells accomplishments.

DAN DUSTER: When she saw a problem, I think most of us say, man, somebody needs to do something about that.

She would say, somebody needs to do something and I'm going to do it.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): That determination now celebrated on a U.S. quarter.

DAN DUSTER: It shouldn't be that big of a deal in one perspective, right.

Is that it should be more normal that females are on currency.

Another one is Ida B.

Wells is on a quarter and she's honored.

So we're very happy about that.

JOHN YANG: And that is PBS News Weekend for this Saturday.

I'm John Yang.

For all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us.

See you tomorrow.