captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> brangham: gwid evening, i'm iam brangham. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight, we break down the political statements president trump made during his visit with troops in iraq. e-en, a view of life inside syria where a cere hasn't stopped the violence as u.s. troops prepare to withaw. and, saving lives in cincinnati. how one region is using neighborly connections to fight one of theation's highest infant mortality rates >> these moms live and breathe in their neighborhoods and therefore they're experts when it comes to the place that is influencing their health. and so it's not infrequent, i'd say it's almost daily when i talk to moms that they teach me something that's going to be instrumental for the change that we're trying to make. >> brangham: all that and more tonight's pbs newshour.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by the alfred. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial teracy in the 21st century. >> carnegie corporation of new york. pporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.or >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions:

d individuals. t s program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank u. >>rangham: there was a mor modest rally on wall street today, but it came in dramatic style. stocks were down sharply, but then clawed back in the last two hours of trading. the dow jones industrial average gained 260 points, after being down 600, close at 23,138. that's after yesterday's 1,000- point gain. the nasdaq rose 25 points, andde the s&p 500 21. even so, the market is still on track for its worst december mence the great depression. the partial gove shutdown

is now guaranteed to extend into the new year. with no progress in sight, the senate recessed today until next wednesday. the new congress convenes the next day, with democrats taking over the house. president trump is demanding that $5 billion for a southern border wall be included in any government funding bill but democrats have rejected that demand. in indonesia, authorities are sounding new warnings about the voano that triggered saturday's deadly tsunami. it killed at least 430 people. the sunda strait region is now on higher alert as eruptions continue. officials are also urging people to stay away from the shore amid fears of another tsuna >> ( translated ): we have done some evaluatns and this morning we declared the alert level status raised to the second-highest level. we also still anticipate further eruptions. we have set the safe zone to be three miles, while yesterday it was about a mile around th volcano. >> brangham: in the wake of thaa

tsunami,y 160 people are still missing. saud overhauled his top government positions today, including naming a new foreign minister. this follows the international outrage over the murder of journalist jamal khashoggi, by saudi operatives. the u.s. senate ngs blamed the son, crown prince mohammad bin salman, for ordering the killing. but, today's changes appead to further consolidate the crown prince's grip on power. ansraeli official has confird the israeli air force carried out strikes inside syria on christmas night. the bbc reported that missiles struck near damascus. the israeli officials said they targeted iranian arms bound for the heollah militia. syria's russian allies said the syrians sh down most of the missiles, while the israelis said they hit all their targets. poce in eastern congo used force today against a protest over the day of sunday's presidential election. voting has been postponed in three towns where an ebola outbreak is ongoing.

police in one townired tear gas and live ammunition as demonstrators marched and burned tires. they claim the delay is an excuse to prevent opposition strongholds from having a voice. and, a man from portland, has etched his name in the list of famous firsts. he did it on the day aftere christmas, at ry bottom of the world. with a final 32-hour, 80 mile push, colin o'brady became the first person to cross antarctica alone, without any assistance. the 33 year-old celebrated with a post on instagram, writing: "i did it!" this was 54 days after setting off on this brutal 930-mile trip. upon arrival, o'brady tearfullyn called his wifexpedition manager, jenna besaw. o'brady started the treacherous journey on november 3rd, at the ronne icshelf on the continent's eastern side. he set off at the same time as 49-year-d louis rudd, a

british army captain who's also trying to make the historic trip. the two men raced each other for nearly two months, pasver mountains of ice and snow and across the south pole. then, o'brady made it e the finish: verett glacier at the ross ice shelf, where antarctica's land mass ends, a the ice sea begiti. in 2016, b explorer henry worsley died attempting this same feat. others had made the crossing before, but they had assistance with supplies or kites that helped pull them across the ice. p.brady had none of that h most days, he trekked 12 hours, pulling roughly 400 pounds on his sleds. he climbed up ice ridges, pushed through blinding snow and 30- mile-an-hour headwinds and had to endure temperatures as low as minus-80 degrees farenheit. 11 days in, it was so cold his beard turned to an icicle. o'brady consumed around 7,000 calories a day to ensure he had enough energy for the grueling

trek. still, his legs were emaciatedhe bynd. >> hi this is colin o'brady. i'm out to set out ta world- record breaking adventure in antarctica, to hopefully be the first person in history to cross the entire continent on foot, solo and unsupported. >> brangham: before he began,te o'brady instudents and teachers to tag along on hisne joury, virtually. dubbed his attempt: "th impossible first," which it certainly would ve seemed just a decade ago. that's when an accint burned nearly 25% of o'brady's body, primarily his legs and feet. doctors warned him he might never walk normally again. but after a lengthy rehab, he went on to become a professional t.iathlete, and eventually climbed mt. ever now that he's t this record for crossing antarctica, o'brady is staying put. he's set up camp near the ross ice shelf where he says he'll wait for louis rudd to cro the finish line in a few days.

still to come on the newshour: what to make of the political statements the president made during his visit to iraq. a report from inside the last rebel holdout in syria as the u.s. withdraws its troops we look back at the culturalme impact of the oo movement in 2018, and much more. >> brangham: the president is back home in washington, after his surprise visit yesterday with american troops stationed in iraq. while the servicemembers clearly seemed hap in chief's visit, others are raising questions about some of the president's polirhcal oric on the trip. our white house correspondental yamichndor is here. hi, yamiche. >> hi. so last night, when we knew p, we the president's tri talked a little bit about the geopolitical implications of the trip and how iq is rebuilding.

we wanted to talk about the politics because the president stck aretty part partisan political tone with the troops. can you te us what he said? >> this was essentially a trump 2020 campally held in n front of the troops in iraq. the president was atta democrats, accusing them of not wanting border securities and wanting open borde. the president called out nancy pelosi, likely going to be a speaker of the house and democratic controlled house in 20 , and theesident accused immigrants of being criminal, he said they would be bringing drugs and human trafficking into the united stati . nt to play video that encapsulates what the president's political message waso the troops. >> when you think about it, you're fighting for borders intr other cos. and they don't want to fight. the democrats, for the border offour country. doesn't make a lot of sense. i dot know if you folks a aware of what's happening. we want to have strong borders

in the united states.ra the dem don't want to let us have strong borders only for one reaso you know why? because i want it. >> brangham: is it unusual for a president to take such a political ne when they're standing in front of american servicemen and women? >> it's very unusual. president trump did something very different from h predecessors. one, he went to the troops in iraq a lot later in his presidency than other presidents have in the past, and this is usually mutual territory. this is not where young up political party differences. usually presidents tald about thanking the troops and the american mission as a whole. president obama had gone to both iraq and afghanistan within the first two years of his presidency president george w. bush also went to iraq pretty early in his presidency. so the president here w, again, his schedule was different from other presidents but also his tonand message were different. >> the troops clearly seem to love having the president there

but it's hard to overlook the fact this is coming amidst the shutdown of the government and the controversial resignation of his defense secretary jim mattis. so what does the predent see as e upside of this trip for him? >> the political side ithe optics are good for the president and first lady. this is a president dealing with an ongoing government shutdown, the defense secretary leaving, but also a rev tolving door white house with all sorts of people including the chief of stafthleaving. president is also dealing with the mueller investigation. in 29, likely robert mueller will be issuing a rept that will likely change his presidency and impact how he can governorern in the country. with all that going on, theups wa be seen as the commander in charge, supporting the troops and him saying america is great in iraq is great for him.

>> brangham: he talked about the pay raises they'd been >> you just got one of the biggest pay raises you've ever reived, unless you don't want it. does anybody here -- (cheering) is anybody here willing to give up the b pay raise you jt got? raise your hand, please. ohdon't see too many hands up. don't give it up. it's great. you know what? nobody deserves it more. you haven gotten onein more than ten years. more than ten years, and we got you a big one. i got u a big one. i got you a big one.he ing) >> brangham: how true is that? the president is not telling the truth there. e two things. esident is saying it's been over a decade since servicemembers and troops have gotten a pay raise. th's not true. the servicemembers and troops have been getting pay raises once a year the last d.ade the president is also saying ey're going to be getting a 10% raise.

reporting says it's a 2.6% ise, about 7% difference there. i so the preside misstating the troop. this is a pattern for the president. when he gets in front of big crowds, he likes to tell falsehoods and exaggerate and here's doing just that. >> brangham: yamiche alcindor, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> brangham: as we reported, it looks like 2018 will come to a close without a deal to end the governmenthutdown. our lisa desjardins has been following it all and is here with the latest update. s hi, lisa. >> hi. >> brangham: seems likebe have a mucter understanding now of how long this is going to last. >> we do. late today, the leaders inad congresssome decisions. they announced that the house will not return over the weekend and the senate is not exected to vote until next wednesday at the earliest, as we reported, but here's why that's so significant.

of course, obviously, wednesday is the last day of ths 115t 115th congress. the next day is when democratsta ke over the house. so we've talked about this years before. what's important is now they haveade that decision and given up on trying to reach a deal over the weekend, monday, tuesday or wednesday, and it looks like they are punti this entire issue to the next congress, which is tough for republicans on the hill who alize they have less leverage than now wednesday wons the democrats take overe thhouse. >> brangham: and the president on iraq and twitter still holding tight on i wantil $5 billion to the wall and not budging. what is the her side thinking. >> democrats say, no, we responded and rejected your offer entirely. nancy pelosi is starting to signal she doesn't want to fund any money for the wall,ot just $1.3 billion but going back to zero, so the s o sideare getting farther apart.

>> brangham: a y week long have been reaching out to federal employees who are out of work and not sure aboutheir paychecks. can you tell us about what you have been hearing? >> one story, i spoke to a woman or e-mailed a woman fromto massachusetty who says she is delaying surgery because she's worried about mohavingey for a co-pay. if her husband's salary doecosnt full, they don't think she hell be able to afford her surgery so s delaying it till the end of january because she's not sure they'll be able to afford it. >> brangham: amazing reporting. lisa, thank you so much. >> brangham: in september, russia and turkey signed an agreement calling fo ia ceasefire ib province, in northern syria. both countries were supposed to guarantee that attacide idlib were avoided.

there are an estimated three million people there, but they're living withon the most basic service thd, as correspondent nick schifrin reportspeople on the ground are still facing tacks. >> schifrin: just like any one- biar-old, omar al-dagheem loves his father's mot, even if he needs his older brothers' help. these days, needs more help than ever. he needs his father's help to carry him. y st month omar lost his left leg when his familme was hit by a government airstrike. a syrian jet targeted their village. it killed omar's mother, seven months pregnant with a boy. also killed that day, another wo an, and seven students at primary school.wh and just as ite helmet volunteers were rescuing the wounded, they were also another airstrike. today, al-dagheem is gratefuls n is alive. but he al-dagheem misses his wife, and is worried about his omar's future. l>> ( translated ):k at omar and i see he is missing everything in life: the love of

a mother, for him to go out and play with his brotrs. his brothers will be playing and he tries to get up so he ch play witem. >> schifrin: doctors at maaret al-numan central hospital in idlib province are caring for omar. he is just like so many victimsn his war. but last month he was supposed to be safe. omar and his family were living in jarjanaz, in idlib province. in september, turkey and russia agreedo create a demilitarized buffer zone that includes jarjanaz, remove heavy weaponry and rebel fighters, and halt military operaons. but the agreement has loopholes, says the middle east institute's charles lister. >> being that jihadist groups linked to al qaeda are not part of that agreement which in the regimes eyes explains why they have continued some of military action. so in a way it's really just a regime ploy to keep pressure on the area. >> schifrin: keep prsure on the province that is the rebel's final stronghold. no one rebel group is in control, but the most dominant is hayat tahrir al-sham, known

as h.t.s., a sub-branch of al- qaeda. the militants' presence provides the syrian government an excuse to continue targeting. that targeting looks like this.a owed buildings, body bags, and thousands fleeing an onslaught that the buffer zone was supposed to prevent. idlib is home to three million people, many of whom are internally-displaced. ndreds of thousands live without basic services, in overcrowded camps or in the remnants of bombed-outdi bus. meriam al-dagheem works at a ngmen's center. she fled the bomn jarjanaz, and says she's a long way from going back. >> ( translated ): as long as the regime forces remain at the front lines and the shelling continues its impossib return, because the situation is nytot secure at all, e we think of coming back the shelling and bombardment starts again. >> schifrin: the only reason the bombing isn't worse, is that syrian ally russia is reluctant to launch a full-on offensive. and the syrian regime can't move forward without russia's support.

>> retaking idlib would bech huge militarlenge. and most of the onus of responsibility for a successful campaign would fall on rusiea. russia's pe i think here is key. and at least for now russia's patience is tranating into regime patience. >> schifrin: turkey is also resistina full-scale idlib onslaught. turkish troops monitor the buffer zone. and turkey is hoping to prevent more syrian refugees from joining the already three million refugees in turkey. >> a major escalation in idlib is literally turkey's worst case scenario. and so turkey is expending a huge amount of energy a lot under the surface and behind the scenes to convince the whole spread of armed groups just to d sustain thl for turkey's >> schifrin: and so that means most of the countries operating in syria want to see political progress. this month the foreign ministers of iran, russia and turkey met in geneva with retiring u.n. envoy steffan de mistura. russian foreign miniergey lavrov said the countries were determined to set up a new

committee to re-write syria's constitution. the u.s. has tried to pressure russia and the syrian regime by withholding reconstruction aidd ocking refugee repatriation, as top u.s. envoy james jeffrey confirmed earlier this month.of >> nonhose things are happening, and they're not going to happen unl the political ocess makes progress, as far as i can see. and i don't see a change in that, and i think that's dawning on least the russians. >> schifrin: but there is still no political progres and until there is the residents of idlib will likely continue tr beted, despite the de- escalation zone. >> ( translated ): for us, nothing has really changed. for us, there is no difference in the end. life has not become better, quite the opposite! now, tension has increased. we feel that there is literally no one left in jarganaz. the town is completely demolished. >> schifrin: residents with no where else to flee, have little optimism. we asked miriam al-dagheem whether she had any hope for the future. >> ( translated ): no, as long

as the situation continues like this, it's impossible to have hope. >> schifrin: just before the airstrike, omar's family took teds video: he had just lea to walk. today, omar's best hope is to make it to turkey to receive a prosthetic leg. his missing limb another sign the heavy price paid in this war, is paid by civilians. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> braham: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: how one american city is working to decreasinfant mortality tes. making sense of pse economics ychology of altruism. and an iraqi-american poet discusses the plight of women enslaved by isis. this was a year where the me too movent, and the consequences surrounding it, captivated much attention once again. whether it was in enteent and media, business or the

general workace, women came forward about what they have faced. tonight, we wanted to put more of a focus on what survivo and victims have been through, and what the reactions and consequences of this past year have meant to them. amna nawaz has our conversation. >> the cultural shift is palpable. several the past year states have introduced legislation to deal with sexuali harassmethe workplace. congress finally moved to change a system for repting harassment on capitol hill and, of course, some of the most powerful and notable men in hollywood and media have been forced out of their jobs. we're croind joi bnd nowy three women who came forrd by their own experiences. all have appeared on our program before. katherine kendall was the first to break the silence around harvey weinstein's behavior and abuse. she alleges weinstein invited her to his new york apartment when she was 23 years old, took off his clothes, asked for a

massage, chased her and refused to let her leave the room. lily bernard is one of 60 women who said bill cosby sexually assated them. after appearing on one of his shows in the '90s, she said cosby drugged and rapeder. she attended his trial on sexual assault this year. and abby bolt was raped on assignment in 2012 by another firefighter. she reported the incident to police but said she feared retaliation inside the forest service. the "newshour" publishedrt extensive re about abby and other women looking at sexual harassment and assault. thank you for being here., liwant to start with you. this year marked an incredible shift. just how we talk about these things captured under this #metoo umbrella. what has i been through over the past year, as you went from

someone who wasn't believedeo where we now. >> it was an amazing year, 2018, and it really began a couple of years before. several of my survivor sisters and i worked together, campaigned and lobbied and abolished the statute o mitations in the state of california. the law went into effect januar. the same week my rapist was incarcerated, we had a supremest court e nominee, kavanaugh, face to face in a hearing with an accuser, a woman, you know dr. christine blasey ford having accused him ulof sexual assang her. that happened in the same week. unfortunately, kavanaugh was still nominated. an amazing set of occurrences. >> kathleen kendall, raises ain resting point, for all the progress that's been made and the conversations we're having now, there's still progress to

be made. what's the last year been like for you? >> she brought up a great point. it's fits and bursts, and i think, like anything, you know growth is like that. it's confusing because there ar these huge celebrations, and then these painful setbacks. but i think the good thing that happened with the kanaugh hearings is that more women ca forward, more women were able to remember things that traumatized them and, you know, with trauma, we put things away and kind of let it -- we don't even know t itre. we have the ability to kind of forget. then it's healthy for itc to e out and have a chance to get resolved. >> abby, your experience reminds us thappalling statistics driving these conversations don't really happen aroun celebrities, it's people we kno, intimate partners, in many

cases. tell me what'shanged in you can circles in the past year. >> i represent a different side of things. i'm a federployee and i'm a firefighter, and that's a wholef other rent type of a world with a maldominated career, and i realized, you know, ever since i have been in this almost 22 years, and i have been black listed by people since my very first year since was 19 yers old and all i did was bring forward that things neededto improve, and at a very low level. from that time on, i've had somebody who reached out and made sure to ruin career moves. and jobs for m so that's been going on for a really long time. but the more i've ce out about this, the more -- just the social media groups i've had, wildfire women and other employee groups, and now i'm hearing from people across the country, just in the hollywoodng world knopeople who are living a silent night mayor and they just want to get by and

provide for their family, they're terrified to speak out. i'm amazed how many are coming forward and feeling strong enough to stick up for themselves, even if they don't do anything officially, they're standing up for themsves and hers. bystanders are standing up for other people. more strength is coming out. that takes my breath away every time. >> tell me more.de since yoded to speak out, have you heard from other wen. who they couldn't for so long and now feel they can? >> both. r from women who feel like they couldn't for so long. just this last week, two differenwomen in two completely different states reach out looking for helin an advocate. ent i can do is a sil underground support and advocy, helping them navigate the situation one has 30 years in firefighting, the other onest her very fear, both are lost in the system. it's not just in frire us. it's in all disciplines of

federal agency, and i worked mostly with the land management ones, these male-dominated agencies out there and they're struheling and it's not just women. we're talking about the #metoo and sexual harassment, but i'm standing up for anybody o is either underrepresented or undersupported, and they just wantro stand up fo the right thing, whether it's for themselves or someone else may work with and finding them more support. >> you mentioned at one pointg gettte mail. you still get pushback? >> oh, yes, i get hate mail often and i also w attacked in person at the cosby -- at the cosby first trial in 2017, the retrial and the sentenchg hearing, b in 2018, and, you know, we have very good reason to believe that these were actual hired people of bill cosbs camp who were attacking us physically anderbally.

there was foot only of that. when i attended the cosby retrial in april 2018, one to have the big differences that helped to render a guilty verdict as opposed to a hung jury of the previous year, the very first witness the prosecution brought on was a rensic psychiatrist, a specialty witness, and she aucated the jury tht the majority of rapes, over 85% of them, according to federal statistics, are perpetrat by people whom you know. since most rapes are perpetrated by people we know, that really complicates comingut even more because you have this cognitive dissidence. you want to make it right. you tent to want to protect theo perpetand, ther therefore, that lends only 2% of rapistsve seeing a day behind prison walls. the fact bill cosby, america's dad, is now behind the walls of a state penitentiary is astronomical because it's less

than 2% of rapists are ever convicted, and now we'veot ones that are protected by their fame and fortune who are actualac being heldcountable. that just shows there has been this tremendous shift in culture towards finally believg women. >> katherine, i want i want to ask you and remind people you are one of the first to share your stories, speak out about harvey weinstein, a very powerful man. i wonder if you can tell us about what it took to come to that place and also if there's ever been a moent you've regretted doing that is this. >> i can say i have not regretted it for onecond. but a year and a half agor, ht before i met owed jody cantor and was going to tell my story, i sat and thought hard about it. it was not an easy thing to do. it was unthinkable at first. and to put myself out there, to speak about a powerful man in such a wa to have my name put

into social media a way that people could just rake me ehrough the coals and say whatever they wa i knew we were in a culture that didn't support what i was goi to be talking about. otherwise, i would have talked about it a long time ago. so that makes me think, too, what a miracle it is that we are as far as we are right now. i never thought i would see the day. >> katherine, tell me more about that. we're obviously at the end of the ye r where have been headline after headline about the change that's happened and acknowledgments of change still yet to come, where are you personally? are you hopeful about what the future holds is thi >> i'm hopeful. i'm taking a stand on the hopeful side because i see -- because i see how far we've come, and i believe thaout, know, there was no road before, there was no path. we are making one now. >> what about you? do you share that hope? >> i do.

i also wan say what katherine said about, you know, the impact that we have uponhe general public or even our eamily and friends in terms of speaking out islly critical. this crosses socioeconomic boundaries and cultures. i've had white men in englan sending email saying how i helped empower them come up against the priests who sodomized them when they were children. so that's an important and powerful ing we're doing as well as changing law. but i am hopeful. you have to keep persevering d speaking out. >> abby, what do you make of this? >> constantly, i'm hearing from people who are saying reporting, it doesn't wor i've gone down this road andwhat we've done in the past won't work in the future. like they were saying, i'm very positive and, you know, i was terrified to speak out about my assault, terrified becausei didn't want to hurt a whole group of other peoghe. fireng is kind of like the movie industry, we're on a

different parallel, it's a ver small world. and once i came out, all the people i was working with that i was terrified would judge me or would doubt me, all reached out to mewith support. and unlike a lot of people, like these two ladies here who have really gotten knocked down because they're speaking out, i have found so muchupport from thlleagues and the public, and i really appreciatt. if i had known that many people were going to stand next to m ie whspoke out, i think i probably would have done it a lot sooner. a but definitefar as the support from the agency, the lack i'm getting and the harassment i've seen, that's discouraging. i'm getting it from peers and supporters. the federal agencies don't know what to do on the inside. when you guys found me and i trusted you, i was terrifiedca e i was afraid the agency would reach out to me and launch a full investigation and atn least t answers or find out

who it was that assaulted me and actually they went slefnlt my agency never, once they saw me on national new say that i had been raped. they never even reached out to y. to ask me if i'm oka and that still scares the heck out of me. so i know there needs to be changes, but i am really positive about them. >> a lot of work yet to be ne. katherine kendall, lily bernard and abbboylt, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. >> thank you. >> brangham: even withces in medical technology and living standards, the united states stl ranks near the bottom the world's wealthiest nations in infant mortality, which is children dying before theirfi t birthday. john yang reports on efforts to address the problem inwh cincinnatih has one of the highest rates in the nation. >> ready to put your shoes on, got to put them on theight

>> yang: in cincinnati's avondale neighborhood, it's a nttypical morning for ashati getting four-year-old royal ready for day care. while also tending to kingadam, who was born in october. arriving to lend a hand and offer advice: fellow avondale resident tina brown. >> hello miss brown. >> you been keeping the baby in the crib? you haven'been sleeping with the baby? >> no. r>> because i don't want l over on him, and sids and stuff. as keeping him safe. >> yang: and she tip on a hospital job for davis, who currently works for the cincinnati parks deparent. >> a worker >> yang: during both pregnancies, davis had gestational diabetes. t with kingadam, she had brown at her side, counseling her on, diing with her to doctor's appointments, reminding her toed cyke herations. >> with this pregnt was

easier, you know, me knowing that i had somebody to help me out and stuff like that. every week she came by with some type of resources to help me out. >> yang: tina brown is part of e broad effort sby mothers and focused on mothers to cut the rate of infant mortality across cincinnati. 1, this county 2 had the second-highest rate in the nation. and, despite a 15% drop over the past five years, it still ras in the top 10%.l the arrivaof kingadam didn't signal the departure of brown from davis' life.ro on this day, b went with her to get clothes for both children a pantry run by carmel presbyterian church. >> i call her every day, she how she doing. just kind of see what kind of mood she's in.e wet a close bond, me and ashantti, have a real close bond. >> yang: a year ago, the women were total strangers. brown was matched with davis as

her advisor and advocate-- what's called a "health champion"-- by the cty builders, the non-profit development company that owns the building where davis lives. brown is oe of nine health champions the company employs. altogether, they currently f counsel 64amilies with either a pregnant mother or a child six or younger. >> through housing we have a unique access point to reach our residents. >> yang: the developer is considering expanding the program to its affor housing properties nationwide. jodi cunningham is the amandale projecger. >> it's really great having actual neighbors leading this. it's a different connection that they can have th moms. it's easier to build trust with our residents it's easr to know what will work. and they really are the experts avondale. >> yang: the predominantly african-american neighborhood has historically had one the city's highest rates of infant

mortality. it's also home to cincinnati children's hospital medical center, which houses cradle cincinnati, a campaign to reduce infant mortality countywide. >> the most important part of our rk has nothing at all to do with the doctor's office. >> yang: cradle cincinnati executive director ryan adcock says listeng to women is essential. >> these moms live and breatheir in teighborhoods and therefore they're experts when it comes to the place that is influencing their health. say it's almost daily when i talk to moms that they teach me something that's going to be instrumental for the change that we're trying to make. >> yang: and it's not just physical conditions that influence their health. in cincinnati, and nide, high infant mortality is driven by the fact that black infantw are more thae as likely to die as white babies, regardless of the mother's income and education. >> an african-american mother with a master's degree is more likely to lose her child than a white mom who never graduated from high school.

and so it asks us-- it forces us e ask question like what is different about ack experience in america that is leading to these poor outcomes. and we do think it has to do with bias, we think it has to do with racism. we think these things lead to very real stress that does impact pregnancies and impacts the outcome. >> yang: racism in day-to-day life, including, black women say, at doctors' offices. >> tell a story about when youe realized rtters. >> yang: at a recent gathering of cradle cincinnati's mom's advisory board, women prepared to share their experiences face- to-face with medical professionals. lavenia jones is a new mom. >> you'll hear doctors and nurses, 'oh, they're just exaggerating because they're a black person.' but if it's a white person, it's just like, 'oh, my god, this is serious.' they have these preconceived notions, like " i give her this medication, they'll sell it," like, the preconceived don't do that to our white

counterparts. >> yang: meredith shockley- smith, cradle cincinnati's director of inclusion and community strategies, says ysicians and nurses welcome the feedback. >> 'surprised' is very often a response. a 'why are yaid of me? why do you feel like this is not a safe place?' i think there's just a need for education and training and they are asking for that. >> yang: advisory board member jera boyd, a singer-songwriter, lost baby in 2013 after only four months of pregnancy. >> it was a very traumatic experiencei felt lost. i felt discouraged. >> yang: had there been warning signs before?>> there were no warning signs, but i was under a great-- i would say a great level of stress, which i feel like incorporated, you know, added to what ended uhappening. >> yang: she says the stress came from an unhealthy relationship, which she did not feel comfortable discussing with her obstetrician, who was white.

e >> i don't really feel le environment was that serene and comfortable for me to open up and express myself. i really felt like i was just another patient at that time. and that's not a good feeling whenour life is at stake. >> yang: in september 2017boyd ergave birth to her daught symphony. she had sought out a different doctor, who is black. >> it was a totally different relationship from the one i experienced in the past. ultimately she came out a happyh and hebaby. and she's just full of life and excitement. >> yang: boyd and the other moms or cradle cincinnati's advisory board share their s in the belief that interactions outside of doctors offices will help produce more outcos as happy and healthy as this. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang in cincinnati.

>> brangham: now: the power of altruism, nojust for those on the receiving end, but also how it provides physical and emotional benefits to the giver. economics correspondent paul solman has our encore look at the joy of giving. it's part of our weekly segmnst "making see," which airs every mursday on the "newshour." >> i want you t my friend monkey. hello! do you want to say hel >> reporter: it is better to give than to receive. you may have heard it when you were about this age or even in the last few weeks, when you bought out the entire christmas list. >> look - monkey has bowl just like you. you don't have any treats and neither does monkey. >> reporter: but better for whom? a behavioral economics experiment has come up with a provocative answer. l i'm going to give them you. >> reporter: psychology

professor elizabeth dunn designed this test to see if even very young kids could beha happier givingreceiving. >> we worked with kind of the toddler equivalent of gold, namely goldfish crac we gave them a bunch goldfish gar themselves, and then w them the chance to give some of these goldfish away to a puppet named monkey. ey will you give one to mo >> yeah. >> reporter: dunn recorded dozens of kids doing this, then had students who knew nothing about the experiment compare the faciressions when esceiving... and when giving. when were they hap >> and, what we see is that the e ddlers are happier when they're getting ance to give the goldfish away as compared to when they're getting the goldfish for tormselves. >> rr: much happier. so it's no surprise that, with fellow happiness scholar michael norton, dunn has written a book:"happy money: the science

of happier spending." it features five key takeaways. >> if you want to use money to buy happiness, we suggest you should buy experienc; you should buy time; you should make it a treat; you should pay now and consume later; and, you should invest in others. >> reporter: invest in others:e st surprising finding of the five. and one which regularly elicits skepticism, says business school professor norton. >> a lot of people, when we talk about the fact that giving makes you happy and you're better off giving than spending money on yourself, will argue back, first off, that we're crazy and secondly, that that can't be true because i don't really know what you like, but i definitely know what i like. onand so, just by definitii'm better at spending my money on myse and getting happiness than you because i don't know everything about you. >> can pan have one? can one go in his bowl? >> it's just not what we seen this study so, even with these toddlers who are two years old, even if it's the case thatheir parents are making them give in order to be a nice person, they're smiling d, smiling is something that

just comes out. it's not something that you can control very well.ep >>ter: and it's not just toddlers. dunn also designed an experiment for grownu. >> we went out on our campus at the university of british columbia and just walked up to people in the morning and handed them either a five- or a 20-ar doill, which we asked them to spend by the end of the day. there was a catch. we told some people they had to spend the money on themselves. we told some peospe they had to d the money on somebody else. what we found was that people who'd beenandomly assigned to spend this money on somebody else felt better by the end of o'd beenthan people assigned to spend that same small amount of money on themselves. >> reporter: a small eent: small money, small number of subjects. and canadians are unusually nice, eh? >> so then, we conducted parallel experiments in canada, uganda, south africa, as well as collecting correlational data from around the world. and what we saw was that in poor and rich cntries alike, people felt happier when they had thed chance to spenney on others rather than themselves. >> reporter: best of all, though, is the chance to spend it on others you can actually

see. >> a lot of the charitable , giving that a lot of us write a check and it goes somewhere. and,e can show that that doe make you happier, but think of the difference between the check goes into the her and you don't know what happened with the money compared to you really tangibly see thempact that ur money had on another person. >> reporter: or even just the imaginary effect on a stuffie. >> can you give one to giraffe? >> reporter: but are all kids equally altruistic? is there a normal distribution a kind of bell curve some giver a lot anreally happy, some are not happy at all, most in the middle? >> it's actually surprisingly consistent. so, most of the toddlers are happier when they're giving than when they're getting the treats or themselves. >> reporter: so what's that red spot on the brain? >> the red mark in the brain is a mark of functional activation in the region called the amygdala. g >> reportergetown university psychology professor abigail marsh measures the brain activity of whathe terms extraordinary altruists, people

who donated a kidney to a total stranger. >> the amygdala is part of what's called the mammalian brain-- it's involved withem ions like fear and social processes like, to some extent, love and caring. inis is an image from a brain scan we did loat differences in amygdala activation in peopd who had donakidney to a stranger relative to people who have not. >> reporter: her reseahe says, was unequivocal: the altuistic amygdalas were ab 8% larger than normal. >> altruistic kidney donors showed incased activation in the amygdala when they saw somebody in distress, which is pae opposite of people at the other end of the cion spectrum, psychopaths, who show reduced activation in thth amygdala whe see somebody in distress. >> reporter: and in one study of psychopaths' brains... >> their amgydalas in one study were shown to be 17 to 18 percent smaller than controls, so this also seems to be related

to having lower leve concern or compassion for other people. >> reporter: so dr. seuss was right, the grinch's heart was too small? >> yes, i do use that analogy sometimes, in fact, maybit was his amygdala that was too small. >> reporter: so when people find giving is more gratifying than receiving, what's going on? >> everything we've learned from our research is consistent with the idea that it is a good thing and beneficial for a person to be giving and generous to other people. >> do you want to give the last treat to you or to monkey? experiment: the effect of giving on blood pressure.es profsor dunn gave adults over 65 with high blood pressure pili bottles ed with money.em >> we asked o take home these ll bottles and open them on specified days over the course of three weeks. inside each bottle was $20. and if you look at the label, there are instructions about what you should be doing with that money.

th reporter: please spend is money on someone else by 4:30 p.m. on the date listed below. >> other people got pill bottles that looked very similar, except the ction is a little bit different. >> reporter: please spend this money on yourself. >> everybody was pretty happy getting pill bottles fillewith money. but when we measure their bloode presboth before and after the study, what we found wasth people who got these pill bottles telling them to spend the money on somebody else showed a significant reduction in their blood pressure from the beginning to the end of the study. in contrast, people whthis pill bottle who were told to spend the money on themselvesho justd no change from the beginning to the end. >> reporter: now dunn insists we issue this warning: no matter how generous the hypertense among you become after watchingl this story, se do not give up your blood pressure medication just yet. but if you want a quick ticket to happiness, it seems, whether your stash is gold or goldfish, give it away. you'll be happy you did. from washington, d.c. and boston, this is economics

correspondent paul solman, happily sharing this news with you, the pbs newshour audience. , brangham: finally tonig we've been talking throughout this week about iraq and about isis. jerey brown brings us a conversation with an iraqi- americanoet and author who has helped publicize the plight of the women who have beeldabducted and nto slavery for years in her native country. >> brown: a crowded friday night at the ishtar restaurant in sterling heights, michigan, where dunya mikhail, her husbanf and friendn gather to plan the activities of what they call the "mesopotamian forum": iraqis born ameriutting on literary, musical and other

events to help preserve their cuure. but for several years, mikhail has been obsessed with events far away. in northern iraq, where in 2014 isis forces set about to destroy a people: the ethnicly kurdish ancient members of a sect the islamic state considered heretics. an estimated 3000 or more men were killed, often in pits that would become mass graves. and some 6000 women were taken captive, many sold in a market into sexual slavery. >> i said, "that's real? that can happen?" and you know, not only as a human being but as a woman i felt rlly so insulted to know that. so that's when first i was rious to know more. i feel that culture is an importanpart of language. >> brown: mikhail is a poet and former journalist, an american citizen who fled iraq in the 1990s after her writing landedan

her inr during the regime of saddam hussein. learning of the zidis awakened something personal. >> when i left, i left with one suitcase. so i felt that was not fair just to reduce my life to one suitcase. but now when this haened, it reminded me of how i left and how lucky i was that i was able to leave and with putting some stuff in the suitcase and while these people were just, some of them just leaving empty- handed and still these are luckier than the ones taken captive. >> brown: she began contacting friends in iraq to learn more, eventually finding her way to abdullah shrem, a beekeeper in sinjar devoting his life to rescuing enslaved women. first by phone, later in person in iraq, abdullah intr mikhail to women who told her their stories of rape and murder. >> he said, "i want the world to know what happened " he said, "try to get it translated to as many languages as you can." >> brown: the result is "the beekeeper", first-hand accounts

of horrors endured, and acts of heroism by rescuers and the wostn themselves. ies like that of maha, whose children were kiined and buried garden after her first attempt at escape failed. >> shetayed there in the garden and refused to move. she stayed like a stone or something. she was just turned into a stone. >> brown: what was it like to listen to these storhe h ones yrd in the camps, the >> i felt honored to be able, like they were telling me that, and they were trusting, theyil felt ihelp them bear witness. >> brown: the world now knows a lot more about what happened. >> zahidi was just 17 when the militants came. brown: newshour special correspondent jane ferguson reported on the trauma and shame women continue to live with, long after isis was driv out. and this year's nobel peace prize recognized nadia murad, a yazidi woman who escaped captivity and became the

international face and advocate for her people. when mikhail returned to iraq for the first time in more than 20 years to visit the camps, she was stunned and moved by the women she met. >> they were so resilient. i thought theymeould just tell that they would be telling me these horrible stories. but they were kind of trying to console me. >> brown: they were trying to console you, even though they're telling you about horrific things that happened to them? >> yes. i felt they were trying to make me feel better. >>ilrown: today, dunya mikha continues to teach arabic to younstudents at oakland university, a large public institution in southeast michigan. in her classes, she instills a sense of culture as well as language. and she continues to write her poetry, some of which also appears in "the beeeper." in her new work, rather thanin

translher poetry from arabic to english as in the past, e's writing in both languages. >> it kind of mirrors you, as a writer, maybe as an exile, everything is dual. your life, you have ¡here' and the ¡there'. >> brown: dunya mikhail's next volume of poetry is due next summer. for the pbs jeffrey brown in sterling heights, michigan. >> brangham: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm william brangham. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> kevin. >> kevin! >> kevin. >>dvice for life. life well-planned. learn more at raymondjames.com.

>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ng captioponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

♪ >> hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & co." during the holiday season, we are dipping into the archive ano ing back at some of this year's highlights. so, here's what's coming up -- my in-depth talk with tim cook, the ceo of apple, the world's first trillion-dollar company. in a candid conversation, we talk about his surprising support of privacy laws around the world, the responsibility s d the privilege he feels openly gay leader, and the dang posed by what he calls the data-industrial complex. plus, our michel martin talks t an amerigend, award-winning actor, writer, and director alan da, on finding meaning in a creative life well-lived. ♪ >> uniworld is a proud sponsor