captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> schifri good evening. i'm nick schifrin. judy woodruff is away for the holiday. on the newshour tonight: can president trump fire the rechairman of the federal rve? "why religion?" the person story of faith and in overcing tragedy. >> one of the things that just amazes me is how resilient human beings are; the things people live through. >> schifrin: and, from around thheworld, we ask members of u.s. military to sing a holiday classic. ♪ ♪ >> schifrin: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> kevin. >> kevin! >> kevin? >> advice for life. life well-planned. learn more at raymondjames.com. >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular.on >> and with thing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation fora public broing. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers le you. thank you. >> schifrin: today, the confirmed death toll in th

indonesian tsunami rose to 429. it struck without warning on saturday night after a volcano erupted in the sunda strait. search teams spent another day going through debris, while t e hardest-hiareas are still cut off. and, new accounts emerged fr survivors, including a woman who lived through the terror in her car. >> ( translated ): there was a blackout, and no sign at all of an incoming tsunami. we were all sitting down outside when a boy arrived and said the an krakatau volcano was erupting. so we all ran away and jumped into a car.e we wcked inside and then suddenly the window breaks, and all 11 of us were submerged in water. i was thinking that we would be dead within minutes. >> schifrin: indonesia is majority muslim, but christians there replaced their christmas celebrations with vigils for the victims. in kabul, afghanistan, officials now say 43 people dd in yesterday's assault on a public welfare building. security forces and emergency personnel were still on the scene today, searching for bodies. at least four attackers were killed.

it's unclear if they were included in the official toll. police in khartoum, sudan today clashed with thousands o protesters. they demanded president omar bashir resign, after 29 years. the crds chanted, sang andar tried toch on the presidentialnsalace. policewered with rounds of tear gas, and fired bullets into the air. the protests began nearly a weep ago, over risices and shortages of food and fuel. u.s. immigration officials say an eight-year-old guatemalan boy nted early today in govern custody, in new mexico. rotectionnd border says he appeared ill yesterdayan was taken to a hospital in alamogordo, with his father. he was medicated and released, but returned later and died just after midnight. it is the second death of an immigrant child in u.s. custody this month. in washington, president trump insisted again tod that he won't agree to end a partial government shutdown unless

ngress funds a southern border wall. he said his goal is to complete 500 miles of new wall or "renovated" border fencing before election day 2020. and, he claimed federal workers support that goal. >> i can't tell you when the government's going to be opened. i can tell you it's not being to pen until we have a wall, a fence, whatever they like to call it. i'll call it whatever they want. of those workers have said to me, and communicated, "stay out until you get money for the wall."rk these federal s want the wall. the only one that doesn't want the wall are the dem, because they don't mind open borders. >> schifri mr. trump also said he would travel to the border in january, to mark what he called nthe "groundbreaking" for segment of border wall. wall street waclosed for christmas, still smarting from heavy losses on monday. but in asia, japan'sikkei index fell 5%, and markets in china and thailand also declined. stock exchangeurope were closed.

and, christmas day 2018 brought an annual renewal of religious rites, and, in times of turmoil, empathy was uppermost on the minds of many. in st. peter's square, in front of thousands of the faithful, pope francis delivered a message of hope and understanding. >> ( translated ): my wish for a happy christmas is a wish for fraternity. fraternity among individuals of every nation and culture. fraternity among people with different ideas, yet capable of respecting and listening to one another. fraternity among persons of different religions. >> schifrin: that message echoed in mosul, iraq where christians were able to observe openly, including with a traditional bonfire, where the islamic state was defeated a year ago. theylso celebrated in damascus. syrian christians lucky enoughor to live cobly in the capital said the ongoing war didn't disrupt this year's celebrations.ed >> ( transl ): for years, we couldn't decorate because of the fighting nearby. had almost no visitors because people hesitated to come to this part of the city.

bunow it is different. >> schifrin: elsewhere, ndstivities came in all kiof weather. in berlin, santa hat-clad celebrants took a traditional dip in icy waters. in sydney, mer-men rolled on the sand and beach-goers posed with a christmas tree. >> i know it's a gre sacrifice for you to be away from your families. >> schifrin: at the white house, president trump sent christmas greetings via video conference to u.s. troops around the world. last nig at the national cathedral, he and the first lady attended mass. they were scheduled to be in florida, but stayed in washington for this year's second government shutdown. while britain, the queen celebrated a tradition that's been unbroken for 66 years-- her annual christmas message, and her own appeal for empathy. >> even with the most deeply- held differences, treating the other person with respect and as a fellow human being is alwa a good first step towards greater understanding. >> schifrin: queen elizabeth also reflected on her 92 years,

id, "some cultures belie a long life brings wisdom. i'd like to think so." still to come on the newshour: uncerhetainty abounds, as president publicly mulls firing the chaian of the federal reserve bank. protests in iraq, over the lack of services in a resource-rich region. actor kevin spacey is charged hth indecent assault, and pleads his case on the internet. plus much more. >> schifrin: ever since keports this w suggested president trump was considering firing federal reserve chair jay well over interest rate hikes, there have been many questions about the president heading into what would be uncharted territory. could he? would he? and, what kind of impact could firing the fed chair have-- financially, legally, and politically? top members ofis team have said mr. trump will not attempt

it, but the presidt has been given opportunities toule out such a move and declined to take them-- including today in the oval office, when he was asked about powell. >> well, we'll see. they're raising interest rates too fast, that's my opinion. but i certainly have confidence. but i think it'll straighten. they are raising rates tooast because they think the economy is so good. but, i think they'll get it pretty soon. >> schifrin: the president has repeatedly targeted powell and the fed rhetorically, over whether interest rate hikes are causing stock markets to dive.da yest he tweeted, "the only problem our economy has, is the fed. they don't havmaa feel for the et. the fed is like a powerful helfer who can't score because he has no touch-an't putt." and, president trump told the "washington post" a few weeks ago, "so far, i'm not little bit happy with my selection of jay."ok let's t the legal questions of whether the anesident could remove powell, either as fed chair a member of the federal reserve

board of governors, and what all of this means, with binyamin appelbaum, who covers the fed for the "new york times." y>> schifrin: thank you v much for joining us on the newshour f i guess the first question is, could the president re fed ca chairman powell legally? >> this is a big queerstion, and is some disagreement about it. the law says that the president caremove a member of the federal reserve's board of governor's which includes jay powell's quote for cause. and most legal scholars thinks that means the president can't do it just becse he doesn't agreement with the fed chairman about policy. he needs to have some grnds beyond that. but there is a separate ortantly, imp whether the president could remove mr. powell as chairman of the fed while lean ving hime board of governors. >> schifrin: so some kind of demotion almost, is that a separate question? does that have separate answer? >> so the law doesn't say anything about it,nd opinion is more divided. there are some people who thinks the president considerable latitude to do that basically

for any reason that he would like, there are some people who think that there is a similar amount of protection that theen preswould need to find some cause beyond a policy disagreement, even to remove mr. powell as chairman. that is a much more open question. >> schifrin: so let's kee going with this hypo even if he were to fire powell or somehow to demote powell, could the other governors intervene somehow? could they resist? >> so it is a really important point that you are raising because the purpose of getting rid of chairman powell presumably would be to install someone who would lee fed in the direction that the president desires. he said repeatedly that he thinks interest rates are rising too quickly and that the fed should stop raising interest rates. but it is not at all clear that removing chairman powell would accomplish that purpose. in the first place, the other members of the feds policy-making committee have been voting unanimously to raise rates along with chairman powell, even if he were removed there is no particular reason to think that they would change

their n. indeed, they could even choose to resist the president by retaing mr. powell as the chairman of the policy-making committee even if the he were removed as the chairman of the whole fed. >> schifrin: we should just make a point of thatme. , none of this has ever happened before, right? we really have no idea how these governors would respond? >> completely uncharted waters, no president has ever tred to remove a member of the federal reserve's board, let alone aor chairmanny reason at any time. so this is an incredibly theoretical discussion about what law is, we are in unchart waters, no one tried it before. >> schifrin: because of how euncharted these waters there is already political resistance to some of this talk, how exteive is that ristance so far? >> it is considerable. and the reason is that the feds' independence is very important torsany people, invesalue the idea of an independent central bank, they want technocrats to be determining

the level of interest rates, they don't want pocians to be making those decisions. the reason that we have an independent central bank is to insulate its decision making from the vague i ares of politics so that politians like the president can't urge lower interest rates in the short-term to goose economic growth at the expense ofin overhethe economy an and in the longer term. so that structure is povery ant and we have heard a number of senators from both parties on capitol hill saying very clearly in recent days, actually unusually blunt an public terms, keep your hands off the fed, mr. president, do not fire mr. powell. leave the fed alone. >> schifrin: and i wondejust the time we have left, all of this talk, eveifn is here rhett cal is having a big impact on the markets, isn't it? >> it really, isust the idea dlingthe president is med in this is thinking about it, might do it has really unnerved financial markeen. the preshas said that he thinks the fed is the only thing that is causing consternation in

financial markets. i have spokewith a lot of investors in recent days who turned that on its head and say you know w is causing problems in financial markets is president trump. sthe uncertainty that he creating is rapidly becoming the biggest challenge for the economy.if >> sn: and bin of "the new york times", thank you so much. my pleasure. binyamin appelbaum of "the new york times", thank you so much. >> schifrin: this fall, iraqis in the souern city of basra took to the streets to protest corrupt leaders and a lack of basic services. special correspondent jane ferguson traveled to basra, and in the final story in her series, "dateline iraq," she reports how the resource-rich l regionves very little for its residents. >> reporter: heading out to protest against his government, this 21-year-old iqi knows what he doing is dangerous. every friday, he comes to this spot in basra with whatever

friends still dare to. when these demonstrations broke out in september, they were huge-- an explosion of anger at years of poor governance and a lack of basic services for people. peaceful protests turned to riots. pal buildings were over- run and set on fire. the security forces responded with brutality, killing 12 andju inng hundreds, over several days. >> ( translated ): my friends and i came here to protest against corruption a to demand our rights. but they are treating us like we are terrorists, or isis, jcat e we are against the government. they shot at us with live ammunition, used tear ga they beat and arrested us. the arrests are still going on. they take young people and we' >> reporter:too afraid to share his name, and sleeps at friends' houses, fearful of those night-time arrests. for now, the crowds have died down, and the police don't shoot when the protests are this small. but he is trying to keep the momentum up. their demands are simple: a reasonable quality of life, and

a minimum of government services. >> ( translated ): they call us terrorists and say w kill them, but we wouldn't do this. we didn't come here to kill them. we came here to ask for water we can drink, decent health care, and an education for our children. we want basra to be rebuilt. we want the whole of iraq to be rebuilt, and we wa our share from the oil. these are not demands. these are rights written in the constitution. >> reporter: iraq's southern city of basra stands as a monument to economic decay: unemployment, power shortages and poverty making life here hell. a shia stronghold, it was neglected under sunni dictatoran saddam husseinsince he was overthrown 15 years ago, corruption h plagued the city. throughout saddam hussein's reign, as well as after the 2003 invasion of iraq, basra has suffered from enormous under-funding from its infrastructure despite the huge oil wealth in the area, the living conditions are some of the worst i iraq.e

ople here cannot even rely 90 clean drinking water. this summer, ove00 were hospitalized. treatmt facilities and pelines are in such poor condition that filthy sewage water from the city's shat al arab river contaminated e main water supply. even tho bathing in the water were poisoned. cion our first day in the , we come across this charity handing ourdrinking water in a poo neighborhood. young and old, desperate to get a safe drink, this most basic of needs. as the sun sets over th city, the cooler air draws people out to street markets. fithough fewer are protesting now, it's hard to anyone that isn't angry at their failure of leadership here. hassan naif is retired, yet he says it's the young men who struggle the most. finding decent jobs is nearly impossible. >> ( translated ): we have all kinds of young graduates-- engineers, scientists.

you see them with their degrees, sitting on the street without a job. they graduate, they take their degree and put it in their pocket, and get bs doing hard labor. they go and work pushing carts in the souk marketplace. they do this, and they are engineers! >> reporter: the majority of iraqi oil wealth comes from basra, but pumping oil of e ground creates few jobs, and people here say they don't benefit from the profits either. >> ( translated ): the government, they are thieves, they are bad, an kthe same peopp getting key positions. there is no electrity, no water and no jobs, and most of us are graduates. we have degrees. at least in saddam's day, you could have something, some of your rights, but now there is nothing. >> reporter: we met basra's deputy governor in his new, temporary office, because the old one was burned down by protestors. he blames the problems here on the central government in baghdad.

>> ( translated ): since the beginning, we have demanded basra's rights, by asking for a share of the oil profits, petrodollars and the income from the border ports, but the central government hasn't responded to any of those demands. and if they did, we wouldn't have protests. so it was clearly the fault of the central government. if they had given us what we deserve from the budget, we wouldn't have reached point. >> reporter: when protests werer at teight in september, iraq's then-prime minister promised to make things ftter-- jo the protestors. those jobs never materialized. >> ( translated ): after the protests, representatives from the prime minister's office came to basra. they talked about giving us 10,000 jobs. so far, we hen't seen one of those jobs, of what they told us we would get. b>> reporter: bra's problems are not only the result of government neglect.r under the coof darkness, in basra's cafés, young men speak

cautiouslybout powerful shia militias competing with the local government forontrol. hareth mohammed, a 28-year old telecommunications engineer, will only dare refer to these militias as "organizations." >> the main problem is the competition between the politicians and organizations. because basra, the main government in basra, has harbors, oil fields, all the companies competed to get work here. when you have a city that contains all the resources for the country everyone try to take control of the city, try to get a lot from the city, try to get control from harbor and oil fields. f so if everyohting for this city, and to take all the rich resources, it will never improve. >> reporter: is it dangerous to

talk openly about these things? >> it's very dangerous. not anyone can talk about that. >> reporter: when the sunni extremists of isis swept across iraq in 2014, they easily overran the iraqi army. shia relig young men to join militias, often funded biran, to fight against the group. shia heartlands like basra sent thousands of fighters, many dying in battle. that fight is now over, and the militias have returned home, keeping their guns, anng to integrate into the regular army. their adership has consolidated power and wealth, determined to get payback for their sacrifices in the war. not everyone is afraid to speak out against the militias. these men waiting by the roadside for laboring work were too desperate to care. haitham mahdi works as a foreman on construction sites. >> ( translated ): we blame the

militia parties, the government, they are the same. islamic parties, sunni and shi'a. they are all the same. in saddam's day, we were in a river of corruption, and now we are in a sea of corruption. we are walking towards the unknown. basra is a disaster. we have diseases. we have environmental issues. we don't have safe drinking water. water is the minimumf human rights, and we don't have it. can you believe it?ve the goment cannot even keep a fish alive in the water. how do you expect me to live? >> reporter: not far away sit the charred remains of militia headquarters, torched by protestors just as angry at armed grou as they are at the government. in their rage, they also burned down the iranian consulate, toop for notests have died down, but anger lingers here, anger at abuses ofower and the neglect of millions. for the pbs newshour, i'm ne ferguson in basra, iraq.

>> schifrin: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: how personal tragedy led a scholar to question religious faith, and then find the answers. why norwegians are leading the world in electric vehicles. author alice stephens on becoming the subject, not the object, of her adoption. and, we ask the military around the world to sing a christmas classic. actor kevin spacey will face a judge over allegations of assault. more than a dozen men, some anonymously, have accused spacey of misconduct, harassment, or assault. now, he's facing his firstrg criminal chawhen he goes to court next month. the charges against the two-time oscar winner stem from an ofleged incident in july 2016. spacey is accuseroping the 18-year-old son of a boston tv anchor. heather unruh came forward in

november 2017, saying spacey stuck his hand down her son's pants at a restaurant in nantucket. >> kevin spay bought him drink after drink, after drink, and my son was drk. spacey made his ave and sexualaulted him. i want to make it clear, this was a criminal act. >> schifrin: spacey facesar chs of indecent assault and battery, and is due in court on january 7. but yesterday, shortly after the charge became public, spacey posted a video on youtub >> so, we're not done, no matter what anyone says. you want me back. >> schifrin: that's the language of his character frank underwood, from the netflix political thriller "house of cards." underwood was killed off the

show after allegations against spacey began in late 2017, and this is the first time he's appeared as the character since. >> despite all the poppycock, the animosity, the headlines, the impeachment without a trial, despite everything, despite even my own death, i feel surprisingly good. >> schifrin:blpacey's last comments were in october 2017, after his first accuser, 47-year-old actor anthony rapp, osaid spacey climbed on t him when rapp was just 14 years old. at the time, spacey twtlted, "i hondo not remember the encounter, but if i did behave then as he describes, i owe himr the sit apology. this story has encouraged me to address other things about my life. i choose now to live as a gay man. i want to deal with this honestly and openly, at starts with examining my ownbe vior." spacey also remains under investigation for sexual assaull angeles over an alleged incident in 2016, and faces accusations from his time as artistic director of london's old vic theatre.

and to talk about spacey's unusual response, and how other accused meare attempting come- backs, we turn to alissa wilkinson, a film critic for vox who has been watching a number of these cases, and joins me via skype from albany, new york. >> schifrin: thank you very much for joining us on the newshour. nei will be ho, i am a little baffled when i watch this video. what was your response to it? >> i w also baffled, i couldn't figure out what he was trying to do, why he doing it, as frank undnoerwood, rious lying and murdering character or what the purpose was at all. >> sifrin: do we have any idea whether this is some kind of comeback? >> well, it is hard to say, what we do know is that netflix, which carried "house of cards" declined to comment and made it clear many times that'they don want to work with him again, "house of cards" is not coming back. but what he could be trying to do is conveyance certain number of his fans that he is trying to

stage a comaebachow, that they shouldn't judge him based on these allegions or other accusations that have been coming forward over the past year, and that they should do this because of the kind of character that he has played in the past. >> schifrin: could that kind of message beve recwell by his fans? >> i think it is a very small number of people who would receive it well. you know, if e u hatched "house of cards" you know this character is, again, a cheat, a liar, he never says anything truthfulun ss it benefits him. he murders people to get his way, so most people i think who watch the show know that this character, even if they kind of admire him a little, he is not someone you are supposed to trust, but with most tv shows about ants i-heroes there group of people who watch them and think that is someone to em hate, and you mage people, imagine people finding something rind of interesting o intriguing or honest about this character. >> schifrin: you have been writing not only about this but

also other men who have been accused of misconduct or harassment or assault in the last year and a half or so, how does this moment that it seems as though spacey is trying to seize compare to some of these other mho have been accused in their attempts to try to get back into the public eye >> yes, it is really interesting to look at this. so for i stance,pacey himself when allegations first came out agait him a year ago he ted to deflect them by coming out at the same time and saying he wanted to be honest and open and ve as a gay man which was not anything anyone was talking about. theyere talking about him making unwanted sexual advances towards a minor but you can also look at men for instance like harvey weinstein when allegations came out against him in october of 2017, his response thwas to issue a letteat seemed to take them very lightly and say he was going to spend his time fighting the national rifle association, which is not related in any way, again or you can read about someone like

louis ck who has a the veryof different sellegations against him but he is making a comeback in new york doing sets at chiedy chubs and in s first set that kind of announced he made jokes abo rape whistles which seems like an unforced err, why did you do tha so we kind of see this over and over where men who have beenrf po, maybe they have been celebrities, maybe the truth is they just have been used to kind of not really being connected to reality in a way with that had i dot know coddled them or given a different sense of who they are and how people respond to them than is actually the case. >> schifrin: so their game has somehow allowed them to deflect in the past or somehow think they can get away with this conduct, but is there any sense that they can get away with it? that haven't we changed? haven't we gone beyond the point where loe game al them to do what they have been doing? >> right. well, this is kind of what we are figuring out right now. we are a little over a year out

from when the big #metoo moventan, when all of these allegations against famous people started to sort of tumble out. and we are starting to see right now people hike louis ck, like perhaps kevin spacey seems to be doing, trying to make a comeback into the pubeylie, the question is whether the public is accepting of that and also i think whether people are lookinn for true s of honesty or self awareness or something like repentance before they are willing to bring that person back and say, you know, we love you like we used to, and unfortunately in some of these caseteboth wei and spacey, for instance, you know, they were kind of open secrets in hollywood, a lot of people knew these sort of things were going on for a long time so it wasn't a shocker, and they are very serious allegation >> schifrin: yes, they are, alissa wilkinson, with fox, thank you, vox, thank you very much. >> thank you.

>> >> schifrin: why do people with faith, believe?th and how ca hold onto their faith? jeffrey brown recently spoke th princeton university professor elaine pagels at the miami book fair about her new it's a personal story of faith overcoming tragedy. >> what is this book? how do you describe submit because you are a well-known for scholarlyks, this is something different. >> this is something i never thought i would do. and i don't think there is a genre for it. some people call it memoir because it is first person but't it really isust that. i didn't want to do just that. >> yes. >> i wanted tnterweave the life and the work and show how the work comes out of very specific issues, and just talking very mh in a personal way. >> that's why i ask because it is memoir like. >> very muco,h i always have written history and i love to do

that it has been really fun and i am still doing it, but this was an attempt to go back and deal with issues that h to deal with personally, you know,. >> yes. >> personal losses that had up so intensely that i couldn't deal with them at the time.an the way that they are really a part of the story. >> part of the story in your early years is of you coming from a more secular background. >> yes. >> discovering religion .. in an old-fashioned traditional y, through billy graham, right, going to hear him speak. well, that that would surprise people. there are some eva welical grou have called me elaine pagan, because they think i don't really engage that kind of thing, but, you know, the tradition my parents -- well, it was kind of culturally protestant but my father had no use for religion and w sometimes went to a church that was essentially boring, but then unterwith a billy graham crusade was powerful emotionally. >> yes. >> and also it was very tall

helped so i found it like a breahrough, i sort oflunged at that point at the age of 14, going on 15 into an evangelical group briefly because it was po irful experience, and th left it after a year. and just thought well i am donhe witht. and years later, maybe four or five years, it felt, w minute, what was it about that that was so powerful? so i went back and i wanted to find out how the christian movement started and who was jesus. and then of course the story gets much more complicated and interesting, because all of these secret gospels we nev knew about emerged. >> which is the subject that yo came out to the world with, and we got to know you. >> yes. and it does me us all aware, much more critically of the kind of teachings you find in various churches because now you know at that is only a sll stream of christianity from a much wider range oou srces. >> another part of the personal story, though, that comes along the way is the up front sexism

in the university you encountered, you know, the criticism 0 of course even disdain for some of the original work. >> it is a minor note in t story, but it is part of what anyone would hae encountered at that point in graduate school, any woman. >> yes. >> let me correct that, any woman would have encountered and many did. so it is just not that it is unique, it was just typical. >> so in the most personal sections of the book, the tragedy of a loss of your son -- >> yes. >> -- born with a rareth condition, s you knew he would die early only. >> uh-huh. we did, welfrom the age of two, i mean he was born with a heart condition. we thought that was repaired. but from the time of two we knew that he wouldn't live long. >> yes. >> and that's very hard to live with. he was our only child. >> how hard was it to go back and write? >> excruciating, that's why it took me 28 years tdo it. i never thought i would. but, you know, there isab somethint those

experiences that they don't just go away unless you engage them and allow them to emerge, so finally when my children wereof ouhe house because we adopted two children, i had to go back and look at it. >>n after your son's death your husband is killed in an accident. yes. it was. >> climbing. >> it was a mountain climbing accident and he had climbed for all the 22 years we were married so i never thought about it. >> yes. >> but it was .- it was traumatic. >> you are writing abouttt tha time not feeling so close to ano sens particular faith that might help you but you clearly had to look for what could he you. >> i was thinking of william james and his famous book the varieties of religious experience, and how he went into a deep depssion. >> i wasn't in that depression, at a certain point he would gsing to sayike the lord is my refuge like a drowning man in the ocean clinging to a log, he said i didn't believe it at

the ndme but it f kept me from drowning, and i had to keep exploring and the work became a kind of yoga that i love, andth i engage in now in so many ways. >> well, what did you leaho? anlong did it take you to learn it? >> well, wouldn't have written a book if i could answer that a sense. >> right. >> but one of the things that just amazes me is how resilient human beings ahe people things live through, that they think they can't, and what happened here is unusual, but what happens to many other people is even more, you know, excruciating when they dl for example with violence which i didn't, so i am amazed at how we do those things the and the question is how, i mean how do we heal, and this is what the book is about. >> do you get the idea of gettins past the grief or iit living with the grief? >> people say how did you ever

t over it? >> and i say what makes you think i am over it?. h i think you get thro but that doesn't mean it is over, but it also means that you are not clinging to it or stuck and that is a big help. >> you probably have people often asking you for advice, like what should i do? what should i practice? what should i -- what do you te them? well, i think they should go fo some practitioner of this, o this various traditions. i mean, i think about the gospel of thomas, which says if you bring forth what is within you, what you brinforth will save you, if you do not bring forth what is within you what you do not bring forth will destroy you. i don't think there is a single answer tplthat. some pfind their home in some deeply orthodox traditional, russian orthodox, greek orthodox or ethiopian o orthodox aers would find that stifling and would rathe be christian scientists or jews or whatever. >> what do you hope people will

take from your book as they read your personal story? >> two things. one is that we can live through a lot more than we can possibly imagine we can survive. i never thought i could survi what happened. i wasn't sure i wanted to. but it is amazing to be able to do that and second that these religious traditions may have some dee values that you don't have to throw it all awayag because you de with certain ideas, because you don't believe in x, y, and z. eot dash but i do think for m it is enormously important to have a sense of a sritual dimension in life. >> all right, the new book is why religion? a personal story, elaine pagels, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> schifrin: and you c find all of jeff's conversation all of jeff's conversations

during the miami book fair onne. search "book view" at pbs.org. >> schifrin: and now, a second look at norway's growing reliance on electric cars. the country's trying to reduce fossil fuels and carbonon emis last year, before president trump pulled the u.s. out of thi climate agreement, special correspondent malcolm brabant reported on the world's fastestn grelectric car market. >> reporter: norway pridesbe itself og one of the world's most pristine countries. yet, amid the stunni scenery, there are reminders that its vast wealth comes from decades of gas and oil product but norwegians are turning their bas on fossil fuels and embracing electric cars like nowhere se. ann kunish, who moved from wisconsin 30 years ago, is one of the new converts. >> thi there's no question about it. it's very, very easy to choose

electric cars. the norwegian government has made it much more financially feasible to buy them. they don'tave the same fees, free parking in municipal spots. more and more charging stations are being built, lower yearly fee to use the roads, no tolls. >> reporter: new electric car sales in norway have now passed 100,000, giving it the highest per cata ownership level in the world. in comparison, there are over half a million electric cars in the u.s. to have the same percentage as norway, america would require 6.25 million electric cars on the road. this is oslo's rush hour, astr elec car drivers hunt a parking spot at the city's biggest charging station. the energy is almost completely renewable energy, as 98% of the country's power comes from hydroelectric plants. norwegians endure some of thest world's he taxes, and removing sales tariffs fromic

elecars has been irresistible. the government aims to end sale of gasold diesel vehicles by 2025. >> there has to be a biger diffce whether you choose a zero emissiocar or a polluting car when you buy it on the tax system. >> reporter: indusy advocate petter haugneland argues taxes on fossil fuel vehicles should be increased to speed up the process. >> in norway, transport sector is a key element to lower the emissions. we need to cut ourmissions very fast if we're going to do something about the climate problem. >> reporter: in march, president trump canceled a fuel economy ruling put in place by the obama administration requiring automakers to achieve 54 miles a gallon by 2025, double the present level. environmentalists claimed highea sts would boost sales of hybrid and electric cars. >> the assault on the america auto industry, believe me, is over.

it's over.ep >> rter: norway's environment minister, vidar helgesen, belongs to a center- right party that once aligned with the republicans. it now has more in common with the democrats. helgesen didn't criticizeen prestrump directly, but sent a clear message not to turn back the clock.is >> our positioery much that we very much need to build competitiveness for the future. we also need to care about the jobs that don't exist today that need to exist in the future. we know that the chinese are investing massively in renewable energy we know the chinese and other major upcoming economies are investing a lot in electric hicles. i think they're building green co.etitiveness for the futu >> reporter: and this is precisely what the minister is talking about: an electric car start-up in southern sweden which is reinventing the steering wheel to be more ke a game console. >> this is not how we will mechanically achieve it in the car, because this is not very nice for the user.

there are different ways we will himechanically achieve it, will be unveiled later this year. >> reporter: the c.e.o., lewis horne, has taken on 30 engineers and hopes to empy 1,000 people once production begins in early 2019 on a compact car th's still under wraps. >> so, you can see a little hint of two models, which are the result of a lot of research and design. in the future, the jobs are jus. differ historically, when we have had an industry that's so damaging to our health now, that's not a place where you should be creang more jobs. we should be creating more jobs in the future of these industries. >> there is no more beautiful sight than an american-made car. >> reporter: the owner of this '56 chevy bel air couldn't agree more.wo henning kjensls for the american car clut of norway. buile he's sympathetic to the need for job creation, he's enso in favor of going gre. >> deloping and researching

new technology costs tons of money. and righnow, the best earnings in the american automobile market is in the full-size pickup and s.v. segment. they should still make those cars and sell themnd make money off of them, but they need to sort of reinvest the ofits from those cars into new and modern technology. >> reporter: fuel prices are the crucial difference between the u.s. and norway. norwegians pay about $7 a gallon. gas is roughly $5 cheaper in america, reducing the financial incentive to drive electric. this is a partially american- made electric car, the $35,000 ampera-e. it's a collaboration between general motors and south korea's l.g. g.m.'s european arm, opel, launched the car in norway in may. impressed by its range of more than 300 miles on a single charge, so many norwegians have been ordering the ampera-e that

there's now a 15-month waiting bast. >> we are not goin. we are heading into the future. i think, in ten years, we willth see at least half of the sale from opel is electric, if m things aing in the direction we are seeing right now.wa >> reporter: nmay be a world leader when it comes to ectric cars, but its environmental record is far from erfect. its greenhouse gssions are increasing. most of ose are coming from oil and gas production, which wprovides norway with itsealth. and critics are very unhappy that norway is pushing to expand fossil fuel production in the arctic, and believe that its climate change policies are inconsistent. >> it's schizophreni because norway is a nice little country of petroholics. >> reporter: this top-of-t- range electric s.u.v. is the pride and joy of frederic hauge, a veteran eco-warrior who was a pioneer of electric cars in norway. >> you can say maybe that the electric car is a trojan horse towards the norwegian oil industry.ba the ery revolution will bring down the oil price to

$20 to $25 a barrel before 2030. and then the stupid things norway is doing in the arctic, the oil drilling, will also be stopped because of economic reasons. >> we're setting up a task force in every federal agency to identify and remove any regulation that undermines american auto production and any other kind of production. >> reporter: such statements alarm environmentalists in denmark 300 miles to the south. denmargenerates about 40% of its electricity from wind power and is on track to hit its target of 50% by 2020. but these and other renewable energy efforts need to becc increased,ding to danish climate scientist sebastian grrnild. >> regarding thin development, we can hardly see hey impact so far, because the amount of co2 in ttmosphere is increasing year by year. we a for sure helping the environment, but not enough. and we need to speed up this green devepment. >> reporter: the european union, whose environmenagency is

based in copenhagen, is fully committed to the paris climate agreement, which reqres signatories to tighten up emissions by 2020 and beyo. its dismayed that the president may leave the accord. climate change specialist maa jozwicka. >> it is, of course, very important that countries around the world stick to the paris agreement, because, overall, we need to work on our long-tm de-carbonization goals and the long-term well-being. >> reporter: the scandinavians doubt that environmental arguments will change the president's mind, but they hope the economic case for electric w carsl have more success. for the pbs newshour, i'm malcolm brabant in norway. >> schifrin: on this christmas, many of us reflect on family. and tonight, writer alice

stephens, who is adoptares her "humble opinion" on theim rtance of not being what she calls the object of her adoption, but the subject. iwaas told that i abandoned on a doorstep in my birth country of korea and for years i pictured myself curled up in a cardboard boxg waitr someone to discover me. parent narratives dominate the memoirs how to manuals, resource books and blow-by-blow accounts of the adoption process. relegating the adoptee to little more than an idealized representation of the parents future happiness. most of them end just when an adoptee story truly begins with the arrival into their forever domes. asptees our challenge is to

ncome the subject of our own adoption stories a the object. we know that there is no happily ever after.w we know thae grow up face challenges and struggle tota ish our own identities. we know that adoption is fraught with complexouies that ch upon the most primal of human social traditions. we know the best and worst of adoption. while most children look to their parents and family to answer such fundamental questions as who am i and where do i come from? the adoptee must find those orswers from within. where others aren with certainty of their origins and their place in the wor, adoptees have to construct our own origin stories and search out where we must feel at home so nt time you want to learn more about adoption, i suggest that you skip over the books and blogs by adaptive parents and nonadopted novelists ad seek out the stories of adoptees themselves. years later, i found out thast thy of being left on a doorstep wasn't true but rather

was a mple way to explain to a very young me how i ended up as the youngest and only adopted child of a white american family. my birth mother hadn't abandoned me as i always believed by actually delivered me to the adoption agency. knowing that fact made a huge difference in my life andaught me that the only person who could be trusted to tell my story was me. >> >> schifrin: andy puddicome is the co-founder of the popular mindfulness app, headspace-- something we could all use this holiday season. and this week, we feature him in "that moment when...", newshour's weekly program on facebook watch. >> it was christmas eve, we had been to a nightclub, we were standing outside the nightclubch earlstmas morning and a drunk driver crashed can into the group and sadly killed a couple of people and injured a lot of others and i think for

myself that was a real moment, it started an inquiry, an internal inquiry sort ofqu tioning, if you like, the meaning of life, you know. it was really that that led m to deciding to go away and become a amonk. >> it really interesting kind of journey going into a monastery, there is a realization there is no distraction and nowhere to go, you can't get away from yourself and you have to sit withur lf. there was a point in time where something changed where i didn't really feel like i was searching anymore and i just felt greater inner sense of peace or content. and i would say it is something that has really kind of changed since then. the environment changes, the situation changes, but that feeling inside, that never goes. >> find all episodes of our series oner

of ours on facebook at @thatmomentwhenshow. nally tonight, an annual newshour christmas tradition. last night we brought youic am troops around the world singing "rudolph the red-nosed reindeer." tonight, we bring you one of our most popular songs, prepared byd the militaryhe defense media activity agency. here are american servicemen and wome ofnging "carol of the bells." ( ♪ "carohe bells" ) ♪ hark how the bells sweet silver bells ♪ all seem to say throw cares away ♪ chrisgias is here br good cheer ♪ to young and old meek and the bold ♪ dindong, ding-dong that is their song ♪ with joyful ring all caroling ♪ one seems to hear words of good cheer ♪ from everywhere filling the air ♪ oh how they pound raising the sound ♪ o'er hill and dale telling their tale ♪ gaily they ring while people sing ♪ songs of good cheer christmas is here ♪ merry, merry, merry, merry christmas ♪ merry, merry, merry, merry christmas

♪ on, on they sen ♪ hark how the bells sweet silver bells ♪ all seem to say throw cares away ♪ christmas is here bringing good cheer ♪ to young and old meek and the bold ♪ ding-dong, ding-dong that is their song ♪ with joyful ring all roling ♪ one seems to hear words of good cheer ♪ from everywhere filling the air ♪ oh how they poundso raising thd ♪ o'er hill and dale telling their tale ♪ gaily they ring while people sing ♪ songs of good cheer christmas is here ♪ merry, merr merry, merry christmas ♪ merry, merry, merry, merry christmas♪ ark how the bells sweet silver bells ♪ all seem to say throw cares away ♪ christmas is here bringing good cheero ♪ung and old meek and the bold ♪ ding-dong, ding-dong that is their song ♪ with joyful ring all caeeling ♪ one to hear words of good cheer ♪ from everywhere filling the air ♪ oh how they pound raising the sound ♪ o'er hill and dale tellin gtheir tale

♪ly they ring while people sing ♪ songs of good cheer christmas is♪ere merry, merry, merry, merry christmas ♪ merry, merry, merry, merry christmas ♪ hark how the bells sweet silver bells ♪ all seem to say throw cares aways ♪ christmasre bringing good cheer ♪ to young and old meek and the bold ♪ ding-dongding-dong that is their song ♪ with joyful ring all carolingee ♪ one to hear words of good cheer ♪ from everywhere ndlling the air ♪ oh how they p raising the sound ♪ o'er hill and dale telling their tale ♪ gaily they ring while people sing ♪ songs of good cheer christmas is here ♪ merry, merry, merrry christmas ♪ merry, merry, merry, merry christmas ♪ hark how the bells sweet silver bells ♪ all seem to say throw cares away ♪ christmas is here bringing good cheer ♪ to young and old meek a the bold ♪ ding-dong, ding-dong that is their song ♪ with joyful ring hel caroling ♪ one seems t words of good cheer ♪ from everywhere filling the air poundow th raising the sound ♪ o'er hill and dale telling their tale ♪ gaily they ring ile people sing ♪ songs of good cheer

christmas is here ♪ merry, merry, merry, merry christmas ♪ merry, merry, merry, merry christmas ♪ hark how the bell sweet silver bells ♪ all seem to say throw cares awayas ♪ chriss here bringing good cheer ♪ to young and old -dek and the bold ♪ ding-dong, dig that is their song ♪ with joyful ring all caroling ♪ one seems to he words of good cheer ♪ from everywhere fillg the air ♪ oh how they pound raising the sound ♪ o'er hill and dale telling their tale ♪ gaily topy ring while sing ♪ songs of good cheer christmas is here ♪ merrymerry, merry, merry christmas ♪ merry, merry, merry, merry christmas ♪ on, on they send on without end ♪ their joyful tone to every home ♪ ding-dong, ding-dong ding-dong, ding-dong ♪ on, on they sendon ithout end ♪ their joyful tone to every home ♪ ding-dong, ding-dong ding-dong, ding-dong

>> schifrin: and that's the newshour for tonight. on wednesday, the catholic church in crisis over the clergy abuse scandal. i'm nick schifrin. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, i hope you've had a good christmas. have a good night. thank you, and see you soon. >> ajor funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on frontlines of social change worldwide. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement

of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> you'

>> you' ♪ ♪ - this week, milk street is traveling to tokyo. that's where i am now, on the oldest shopping street in town, established about the 16th century. now, we're going to visit elizabeth andoh in her apartment. she's been here since 1966, to married he andoh family, written many books about japanese home cooking. she's going to introduce us to a few recipes, but the concept here is kansha, k-a-n-s-h-a, which means you never throw anything out in the japanese kitchen.