captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> nawaz: good evening, i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight, kim jong usays north korea will not make or test nuclear weapons, or give them to others. and he's ready to meet president trump any time. then, new year, new laws-- some notable rule changes taking effect today. and, how limited access to water is a microcosm of the larger israel-palestine conflict in the increasingly uninhabitable gaza strip. >> the water security of israel is very much connected to the water and sanitation situation in gaza. >> nawaz: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs

bwshour has been provided >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. babbel's 10-15 minute lessons are available asnen app, or on more information on babbel.com.

>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting.ib and by conions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> nawaz: president trump has invited congressional leaders to the white house tomorrowboo talk about er wall, as the partial government shutdown entered its 11 h day. earliemocked a plan from house democrats to re-open the 1.vernment. that plan includedbillion for border security, well short of the $5 billion the president demanded for a wall. the president tweeted: "the democrats, much as i suspected, have allocated no money for a new wall. so imaginative!" still, he told fox news last atnight he's ready to nego

>> i'm here. i'm ready to go. it's very important. a lot of people are looking to get their paycheck. and so i'm ready tgo anytime they want. >> nawaz: in the meantime, the largest federal employees union is suing the trump administration for damages, on behalf of some 400,000 employees who've been forced to work wihout pay. the shutdown is also taking a toll on some national parks that still open to visitors. limited staffing has led to overflowing trash and human waste, sparking public health concerns. around the world, people welcomed the start of a new year. in the netherlands, swimmersnt dovefrigid waters during a polar plunge, while back in the s., hundreds of thousands of people gathered in pasadena, rnia, to watch floats in the 130th annual rose parade. nuthe new year also meant mber of new state laws went into effect. in california: the boards of publicly traded w mpanies are quired to include women. illinois mandated a 72-hour waiting period for all firearms

purchases. 05d utah lowered its drunk- driving limit toblood alcohol level, now the nation's strictest drunk drivin we'll take a closer look at some of the new laws, later in the program. and in indonesia, a landslide triggered torrential rains pummeled the country's main island of java overnight, just as vlagers were celebrating new year's eve. at least 15 people were killed. 20 oths are still missing. rescuers worked to retrieve bodies from beneath tons of mud. the landslide destroyed 30 homes, and forced dozens to seek shelter. >> ( translated ): the main challenge in this evacuation process is the lack of information. we are all afraid about a possibility of another landslide. in the meantime, we are still looking for survivors. >> nawaz: the indonesian landslide comes just nine days after a tsunami, triggered by a volcanic eruption, killed at7 least 43ople on the islands of java and sumatra.

still to ome on the newshour: s rth korea's leader promises to end nuclear weapoduction. nasa's new horizons mission explores the far reaches of space. new laws taking effect today in states across the country. the opioid crisis and the classl actisuits to watch in 2019, plus much more. >> nawaz: in his new year's speech, north korea's leader said he was ready toface to face with president trump and would make efforts to insurell parties de-nuclearize.w in his annual ar's address, north korean leader kim jong un stressed his desire for peace on the korean peninsula, and improved relations with the u.s.ec ing a message delivered after his unprecedented handshake and summit with president trump in singapore back in june of 2018.

that meeting saw the sudden rise of kim on the world age, and opened the doors for continued negotiations with the u.s. today, kim announced that he now ednts a second meeting with the president, and clahat north korea is still committed to denuclearization. >> ( translated ): we have declared inside and outside our country that we will no longer s ke, test, use, or distribute nuclear weapd taken various practical measures.aw >> naz: but north korea watchers in the u.s. expressim doubt thatruly intends to give up his country's nuclear weapons. washington and pyongyaains at odds over what specific actions each side should takto art the process. today, kim warned against too d maands by the u.s. >> ( translated ): however, if the unit states continues to break its promises and misjudgen our patience baterally demanding certain things and pushes ahead with sanctions ando pressure again republic,

then we may have to seek another way to protect our country's soveignty and interest and establish peace and stability on the korean peninsula. >> nawaz: kim did not clarify what he meant by "another way." but the north korean leader was clear in his call for the u.s. and south korea to stop any future joint military exercises on the korean peninsula. last year, president trump temporarily suspended those exercises to move along negotiations. whilkim stated today that he seeking more concessions from the u.s., there is no set timeline nor plans for more talks between the two countries to continue. talks that have already been stalled for mont. for more on kim jong un's speech and the latest on negotiations between the u.s. and north korea, we get two views. victor cha was the director of asian affairs on the national security council staff during the george w. bush administration. he's now at the center forc strated international studies and is a professor at georgetown university. and jenny town is the managing

editor and producer of 38 northn an opolicy journal that focuses on north korea. welcome to you both. jenny, i want to start with you. obviously, this is a speech primarily delivered foy a domestic audience, but he just used the phrase nuclearization. what does that say to you? >> you know, what i think it, is he's really now building ana ative of denuclearization to the domestic population, so whether or not we believe him, p henting the seeds this is possible and the track they're going down. i think we were looki for signs he would actually change and announce a new state policy that was more econ-focused. he didn't do that, but what i think hngdid was chthe narrative of the state policy of dual development of nuclear deterrent of the economy, he's rative toing that nar be more back to the military development as wales the economy. it still gives him room to maneuver in case things go bad

but, at the same time, has talked about the commitment to denuclearization. the commitments to not make nuclear weapons. you know, whether or we believe him, again, this narrative now is being created domestically. >> naz: there was hedging there. he said we'll take actions if there are corresponding measures from t u.s. what does that mean. >> sure. that is a consistency in their position that we've sn in the past. they used to call it action for action, step for step. essentially, they want reciprocity. if they're going to take actions the nucar front, they want the united states also to take actions like lifting sanctions and stopping exercises. the one thing that i would say about this commitment to denuclearization is i think kim is building a narrate to say that we may at some point stop producing nuclear weapons or sop augmenting our nuclear stockpiles if the united states, you know, signs a peace treaty with us, all these other things.

but the bottom line, i think, is they want to be accepted as a nuclear weapons state wht he was messaging in that part of the speech to the united states, to do ald trump was we can deal if you accept me as a nuclear weapons state and a responsible nuclear weapons state. that's essentially the deal that he's putting on thtable, and that has been consistent, i think, in north korea position going back to previous negotiation as well. so there's a commitment to denuclearization in the sens w that some d all want that there be no nuclear weapons in the world. but prapcticallyaking, i think he wants to keep his weapons and still try to get a deal with trump. >> nawaz after the historic singapore summit, jenny, and the commitmentizo denuclewas made back then, but what specific actions have been take bieathe north k since then? >> well, the north koreans have done, you know, several things. i hink they stoppedtesting of the neural missile testing,th shut down the nuclear test smantle somed to di

of the key facilities and launching stations, they've offered the option for inspections. you know, so, they feel like they've done several things. on the u.s. si they're also looking at the u.s. actions being taken and, yes, you know, whrfs the military exercises but the u.s. rened the tvel ban on u.s. citizens traveling to t north koreey imposed more unilateral sanction on north korea and cut off shumanitarian aid asistance to north korea as well. so if you're looking at the body of action for action and the commitment to having a new relationship, these are not the actions of a country that' ready to have a new relationship. this is signaling more of the old status quo rlationship, and i would sort of disagree wi victor on that they want to be accepted as a nuclear weapons, thinking the offer is there.

but the process is -- >> the offer is there, you mean the offer to fully denuclearize? >> the offer to fulclly derize is there, but the approach is very different, and i think we svtill ha't come to terms with how different that is because theh noreans see it, in order to go down that road, we have to have a different relationship, and the u.s. has alwd ays approac as you have to denuclearize first and then we can have a re'tionship, and i think w still butting heads against that as to how do we get tohat point and how do we find a tmutually agreed-upon pin order to justify -- having them justify going down at road. >> was it a specific timeline in the vaguely worded statement, do we consider the last sex months to progress? >> it's hard to say, really. i think what we're looking at is this big meeting th took pce in the summer, laying out broad guidelines for a possible

agreement, a lot of negotiations in the interim that got nowhere, and we're looking at theil possy of a second summit to jump start what they talked wout in the first summit. so this is not ty we've done diplomasy with north korea in the past. i'm not saying that's god or bad because the past negotiations have failed, so we can't say this is a better or worspath, but it is. we're at a point now where we need a sumtomit meeting to tr keep the diplomacy going. the good paris if you get te leaders to agree, then maybe you can make good progress. e bad part is if they cannot agree, then the diplomacy by definition fails. there's nowhere else to go at that point if the leadsree. >> tell me where this could go now. there was a time not too long ago when these two leaders were ts inng escalating ins public and there was a lot of fear around that if they can't come t some scific agreement on how to move forward, can they

get back there again? >> you know, that is the fear. i do think both of them have a mutual cal respect for each -- mutual respect for each other. on a personal level, thy've built a relationship that hasn't necessarily translated to a country level, and the q is can we get there. but this whole diplomatic process is not the way u.s. has diplomacy but is the ways asia i comfortable doingiplomacy. the leader, piece by perks to build the relationship and track record and trust as you move l.wards a mutual goa >> you think there's a regional difference? there's a cultural defense and it's something the koreans are much more .comfortable with in the. and the idea thagat sire set up a framework not necessarily for a comprehensive agreement but for how the relp ationsould evolve. >> nawaz: before we go, i guess americans want to know di the agreement of the last six

months, did all that make us safer in any way? >> rhetorically, maybe it's taken down the temperature a nttle bit, but as you mtioned in your questionnaire, we'rel st the precipice. if these diplomas yeforts fail, we could end up back where we were last year where we were clearly on a path towards war. no one wants that.mm you have a cment to the hes. presence of diplomacy at the hig level. we've never had that before in the relationship between the two countries. north korea is not your normal gotiating partier. >> nawaz: right. we have to remember that. there is a lot to look forward to in 2019 and the speech was the first step.ar >> we look foto it. victor cha and jenny town, thank you so much for being here. >> thank you. >> nawaz: nasa headed for the real outer limits, four billion miles from earth, on a mission that inspid a slightly unusual

new year's celebration. jeffrey brown launches our story with this report. >> i don't know about all of you but i'm liking this 2019 thing so far. >> brown: it was a spectacular way to bring in the new year, as nasa scientists confirmed that the "new horizons" spacecraft had successfully reached the farthest object ever explored in space: a small icy world calleda ulhule. -new horizons" arrived thr and-a half years after it had flown past pluto and 13 years after the craft, the size of a mini van, first left e. ultima thule is a billles farther than pluto, located in elwhat's called the kuiper on the outer edge of our solar system. it's small, st 21 miles agross, and, as seen in the first rudimentary , seems to be shaped like a bowling pin. ab>> now the image that i't

to show you is the best we got pre-fly-by, but it's better than the one we had yesterday. it's ok to laugh, but there it is. meet ultima! >> are definitely looking forward to getting down to science data so that all of our scientists and the world can see what the outer solar system, the or,ins of our solar system have to hold for us, what surprises there are. >> brown: the celebration, children along with the science team and guests, began last night at the johns hopkins applied physics lab inaurel, maryland, at the moment "new horizons" was scheduled to fly by and take photos of ultima thule. one of those celebrating: astrophysicist brian may, who also happens to be lead guitarist for the rock band queen. he wrote a new song for the occasion.

>> this mission represents more than the mission itself, it actually represents the spirit of adventure and discovery and inquiry which is inherent in the human spirit. >> brown: new images of ultima thule are expected to be sent back to earth in the cing days. for more on this mission and what it took to get there, we're joined by our own residentpace expert, miles o'brien, from vero beach,lorida. miles, welcome. ppy new year to you. >> same to you, jeff. >> brown: so tell us more about the mission of new horizons. what's it after so far from home? >> it'looking for really ou origins, jeff. when you go out to this ve distant aspect, this very distant place in our solar system, the so childuiper belter, there are a lot of cold bodies that are obiting around there in a deep freeze, and they have been pretty mucfh let in

the deep freeze, undeterre for 4.5 billion years. pluto is in the kuiper belt. this is one of the other objects in the kuiper belt, and the idea is, if you can understand these objes well, you can really see whether we are from and know a little bit more about the formation of other planets. >> brown: so this particular object which sounds maybe like a marvel character or a rck band, what's the importance of it? >> well, is a target of opportunity, for one thing. so, when new horizons launched in 20, and in the summer of 2015 we had an amang fly-by of pluto, we still had gas in the tank, if you will, aney started picking another location to fly by. the reason it's interesting is it's so unlikely much has changed there over the past

4.5 billion years. so ging into the deep freeze and learning what is in that deep freeze isf great interest to scientists. >> brown: so how difficult wasn this to it, to get there, to take the photos and how did m thage to do it? >> you know, it boggles the mind, frankly, to think about the navigation task that's there and how easily it could have gone awry. this is a drive-by at 30,000giles an hour, and dur the key time when all the science was gathered, the is no direct communication between spacecraft and earth. it's poianting its cmera and antennas a thing had to be locked and pre-loaded in, and they had to do ratel bit of educated essing as to where to end the a leit flew by. we won't know for certain how they did until tomorrow. >> brown: we get a remembers

of the 5h anniversary of apollolelele 8 the other night, the first manned mission to seef the other sid the moon, and i was thinking how that's an earlier age of space exploration. when you look at what they're doing now with a mission like this, put that in context, where are at this days? >> well, this is the f body that's ever been explored by a spacecraft and it's actually its second fly by, andc it'sd up this opportunity for steins as well. but i think what it tells us is n.a.s.a. is still in assumption that because the summary program is eretired and there is no n.a.s.a. capability for putting astronauts into space at the moment, but somehow n.a.s.a.'s not in the game anymore. to the contrary. these are missions are fascinating, takes us to new worlds, even if people aren't on

onem. >> brownother poignant aspect to this, miles, the spacecraft was actually -- the planet was seen by the huble telescope and the woman known as the mother of the hubbl died this week. n >>ancy set every glass ceiling you could imagine. as a child growingp in reno, nevada, she looked to the skies and became fasnated with astronomy and never let go and ultimately got her degree at university of chicago, made her way to n.a.s.a. she ultimately beame the first female executive at n.a.s.a. and the first chiefstronomer, period. and she managed to mae hubble happen. she retired before it was launched but still sayed close to that program, and her memory lives on. >> brown: quite an achievement all around.

miles o'brien, thank you very much. >> you're welcome. >> nawaz: earlier we reported on the number of new laws taking effect today. yesterday, i spoke with reid wilson of "the hill" newspaper who tracks state politics. i began our conversation asking him why new rules in specific states matter to the rest ofhe country. well, over the last 30 years or so, we've seen that what happens in state capitals today is going to happen in washingt whether we're talking about well fair reform in the 1990s or healthcare in 2000s that became th affordable care ac or even crnlg reform. over the last decade, we' seen 30 states pass criminal justice ereform efforts in their state capitals and just before they left the u.s. senate gave final approval to a sweeping criminal justice bill here so what happens in the states today will happen nationally tomorrow.

>> nawaz: let's start with gun controwa what are yohing in the new year? >> democrats won a huge amountla of legve seats in this year's midterm election, th won a lot of governorships, and so what we'll see is a number of states pushing gun safety laws, red flag laws, laws that wou prevent somebody who represents a danger to themselves or somebody else possessing a gun, allowing law enforcement to take those away.e we're going to those in states like colorado, new mexico, states that ve not had a willing republican governor or relican legislators for a long time, we're going to see a pretty scope sweep rgular forcome out of new york where democrats j v just gained control for the first time inodern history. >> nawaz: and some of those changes came about wherede crats won the solicitor. marijuana. >> marijuana has become legal i t of states where citizens

vote on ballot measure state legislators don't want the approve new drugs being legal or something likehat, but now, given we're up to ten states that have come online for recreational use, state legislators are taking a lo and vermont passed its first form of legalization through the legislature, not sent citizens, a red ublican governor sig law. now we're seeing governors in cratic-controlled states like new jersey, new york, and possibly rhode island talking about legalizing themselves. they see how much money is generated, they want a piece of the pie. >> nawaz: more on the economy there. what are some of the other issues on the state level that you're watching?>> ell, there seems to be a bipartisan push lately to roll back some regulations on certain time -- certain types ofbusines. if you want to bece beautician in a lot of states, you need hundreds of hours of training before you n get certified. that works in favor of the people who are already in the

mae et, right, theyeping out some competition, but a lot of state shaiforts legislatorshe onemocratic and republican sides think that's unfair and too high a barrier of entry in a lot ofobs, especially as the ois. economy becomes more service-orientedent expect a lot of rollbacks on regulations and business licensing in the next couple of ars. >> nawaz: you mentioned big wins among democrats and how that changes the legislature and agendas and priorities. where would some of the bi changes be? e> i think california is going to b ground zero for the big liberal push for whatever agenda the democrats have this year. they have a more liberal democratic governor than the outgoing governor jerry brown in gavin newsom, ty have age majority, three-quarters of the seats in both chambers of the state legislators. what we're starti to see now is a lot of california democrats saying we're going to pause a little bit and pump the brakes opened things like a single keyer bill. we're going to tur time to figure out how to do it right.

there is a huge, pent-up liberan ambin sack meant o they're trying to because a littleu bit -- p a little bit and that's a trend because a lot of state legislators are worried there is a slow-down coming or recession. so states across the countryge have bsurpluses, saved more money for the rainy-day funds than ever in the history of the country, but they're worried th next time is coming so everyone is cautious on spending on new programs. >> what are some of the issues they might touch on? housin >> housing is huge. housing is a huge crisis in a number of coastal states, big ban coarse, like san francisco, seattle, new york. homelessness is on the rise, so states are getting into the housing market. california is trying to address the whe density can happen and more growth can take place because people are bsimpleing priced out and homelessness is

on the rise as a result. >> nawaz: so you get to track-k some of the ofter new laws coming on the books. what are some of those? >> as a parent of a toddler, i'm meppy in two states, now, will requiren's rooms to have baby changing tables. i would appreciate that. there are new sexual harassment policies coming online in california and louisiana, twoit state caps rocked by sexual assault and har allegations over the last few years. i expect we'll see more of the #metooovement happening in state legislative changes across the country because state capitals are realla place where there's not a lot of oversight of people's behavior lyd, therefore, people are behaving bad we'll see more fallout on that. california, which tends to lead the way on a lot of these things, they're doing two interesting things -- they are banning plastic straws atra rests unless you ask for one, so the waiter will not hand you a plastic straw in the

beginning, and they're also going to start treating pets like children when it comes to divorces so people will be able to debate custody in front of a judge over pets. this is now the second state to do it. illinois has already come online with this. >> illinois was the first. california -- illinois was first ancalifornia spholg. if anyogets divorced, the ts are subject to custody hearings just as children.az >> nwe are tracking it all. thank you very much for being here. >> thank you. >> nawaz: stay with us, ming up on the newshour: how the water crisis in the middle east is making the gaza strip uninhabitable. members of newshour's student s reporting lare the stories they hope to cover in 2019.or and auohn grisham discusses his latest novel, "the reckoning." it was declarea public health emergency in 2017, and received

new funding as part of an october law. but the nation's opioid crisis remains a slow-moving disaer, responsible for some 40,000 overdose deaths in america last year. as william brangham reports, this year could see the culmination of a flood of lawsuits, all seeking accountability for the epidemic, and trying to secure more money to treat its victims. ere are dozens and dozens of lawsuits right now accusing opioid manufacturers, distributors and retailers of failing to do enough to stop the flow of these drugs ito u.s. communities. these lawsuits, which are largely brought by states and cities impacted by the crisis, allege that many of these actore could one more and acted sooner to stop the addiction and deaths of so man americans. barry meyer covered this epidemic for 17 years for ewe "n york times." he wrote a boo pk aterdue pharma, the company behind the billion-dollarpioid 0xycontin, it's called "painkiller: an empire of

deceit inhe origin of america's opioid epidemic" and he joins me from new york. barry meyer, recently in a "new york times" editorial, you argued that you're concerned that many of these cities and states might sete the lawsuits and that, in settling, the public will get short-changean what do you y that? >> well, william, this isn't an ordinary situation, it's an extraordinary situation. every year, tens of thousands of people die from these drugs and overdoses, and that's the result of their overuse, their misuse, their overdistribution and overpromotion. and, you know, we can't deal with this as an ordinary, you know, lawsuit where money is transferred from --ompanies to cities or from companies toye plaintiffs' la. at this juncture, we have to know the truth, why did theseie compact in this way, what

did they know, who are dethe sion-maker, why did they decide to flood this country with millions and millions of pain pills? >> one of the pieces of evidence i know you hold very strongly in this case is there's 120-page j document that you leaked and there was about a casghe br against perdue pharma and the dojrosecutors in that case tell they had enough evidenceo prosecute i think it was at least three highly-rank perdue executives. can you remind us what the evidence showed in that case? >> what the prosecutors allegedr was these ee top executives knew almost lymediafter 0xycontin appeared on the market which was in 1996, that it wing diverted to the street, that it was a drug of abuse anthat they had gotten consistent reports, reports tat the prosecutors believe should have been the basis for a public alert, a pulic rning, and

it's quite possible that, had the company made those -- that alert in time, a lot of the havoc that we see today would not have occurred. more importantly, had this b evidenen made public during a trial of these expsi, the practices of doctors may have changed, the position of public gulators regarding the mayontin and other dru have stiffened. i mean, it's a stunning statistic, but in the fi years at the justice department decided to settle this case, more than 80,000 americans died of overdoses involving prescription painkillers, acluding 0xycontin. >. yoso argued another settlement in 2001 againstue pey the state of florida had a similar effect of hiding relent information that woul have helped change the course of this epidemic. >> absolutely. i mean, all along the way, you

had situations where either public officials or plaintiffs' lawyers, had they been aggressi, had they gotten th documents that are inside perdue, could inve brought rmation to light that would have changed medical practice, would have changed the attitudes of patients, would have changed the attitudes of regulators, but time after time after time they balked, they settledeither fo political reasons, for financial eexpediency, so this ball kept rolling and rolling. it's not that we're discovering anything new now, it's thatis we're onlycovering what had been hidden for 15 years. >> but as you well knon w whu pointed this out in your editorial, there are communities all over this countn, i know you i both have been to many of them, that are desperate for money, desperate for money to train new addiction specialists, desperate for more money to buy

nor narcan and desperate for t morereatment beds, so it culd mean saving lives. so you could understand the tension that a state might settle because they want the money toeat people today. >> i totally understand it's a difficult decision. nonetheless, i believe a lot of that money can co from blic coffers. there's really no reason why is people who created this crisis are going to profit from selling drugs to cure the isis. i as a taxpayer would prefer to see my moniey gong to those purposes than many of the other purposes it's currently being used for. i think eventually the cities and states will get the moneyom ndustry, but these cases should not be settled absent a total and complete disclosure of the internal documents of thesee comp there is a history here, and we cannot allow that history to be

buried. >> let's see that we do get a better accounting of what all these companies' role if any played in this crisis. do you think that's ortant for this current crisis, or do you think this is part aboutme sending sage for the next crisis and on down the road? >> i think it's absolutely important for the fture. i think that we are in a situation where the history of this epidemic will inform how drugs are approved in the future, how they're regulated in the future, the actions of corporations in the fute. you cannot have corporate irecutives going home to the comfortable lives, knowing that millions of pain pills are beine shto areas like irst virginia where abuse is rampant without theing some eventual accounting for their activities. >> barry meyer, thank you very much for your time. >> thanks, william.

dd nawaz: last night, we began our series on the east's water crisis, in israel. tonight, special correspondent fred de sam lazaro reports from the gaza strip, a region the united nations predicts will be uninhabitable by next year, partly due to the severe shortage of water. >> reporter: twice a week, khamis al najjar and his wife madlain go down the street to a municipal water station to fill containers of drinking water for their family of ninencluding six children and madlain's mother. the water costs nearly a third t monthly government stipend on which they survive.g khamis lost a a construction accident years ago and is unable to work. >> ( translated ): we are really suffering with the water situation right now. >> reporter: the water is not only costly, it's often polluted.

the united natns says just 10% e gaza's two million people have access to sinking water. >> ( translated ): my childrense get sick becf the water. they suffer from vomiting, diarrhea. often i can tellt he water is ean but we have no other option. >>eporter: 97% of gaza's freshwater supply is unsuitable for human consumption. the underground aquifer that has long supplied freshwater to gaza has been overdrawn. the void has been filled with sea water and untreated sewage. abdul rahim abu from the gaza ater authority said the municipality canord to treat the water. >> ( translated ): 80 to 85% of people here don't pay thei water bills because a majority of the people live in poverty. and the municipality doesn't have the ability to pay for fuel to keep the water pumps running. >> reporter: along the beach each day, young men drag in a meager catch. food is scarce they said.

unemployment in gaza is over 40%, and over 60% among young people. it is one of the mostsi ificant consequences of israel's 11-year blockade of the gaza strip, which followed the election of the militant islamist party, hamas cross border skirmishes are mammon here. everything from rockets to smaller improvised explosive devices, attached to balloons, oke lobbed at israel. each time, it pr a vigorous israeli militaryse respon israel has also severely restricted the flow into gaza oq pment and supplies. uri shor, of israeors water authy, says infrastructure supplies, cement for ie, are often diverted, others are weaponized. >> if they want to bring into gaza something that might be turned against israel, as building rockets or tunnels, of course we have a problem with

that. >> reporter: the standoff has greatly hindered efforts to address the water crisis. back in gaza, this $10 million desalination plant, built with european aid is the first installment in a large project to bring clean water to th strip. but fuel and electricity supplies, controlled by israel, allow it to operate only about four hours a day. solar array that could fill the gap sits idle because cables to connect it have been held up at the border, says gaza water authority director monther shoblaq.ea >> withoutcooperation between palestinians and israelis, this project will not be materialized. >> reporter: but a lack of water in gaza isn't the only issue. the blockade has created a massive sanitation crisis here in gaza where every single dayn 110 millters of sewage, raw and untreated, are

discharged dectly into the mediterranean, into the very waters that feed the i desalination plants visible here, barely five miles up the ast. >> the ashkelon desalination plant produces on its own, 15% of israel's domestic drinking water. >> reporter: on the israeli side, i met gidon bromberg, co- director of an enviral group called ecopeace which tries to broker cooperation among all parties. >> the water security of israel is very much connected to the water and sanitation situation in gaza. the israeli military can build a fence around gaza. we can say to the public that we are disengaging from gaza but the environment doesn'low us to actually do that. >> reporter: ecopeace uncovered, and widely publicize, satellite

pollution from gaza was affectin and at times forcing it to close. he says the situation threatens the health of israelis living ctar the gaza border. >> we used our conns withma the israelrs here around gaza to come out and write a letter to ththprime minister we the people who have been at front line of r, kets from gafuse to be at the front line of potential pandemic diase. >> reporter: israel's governme s did agree tol more electricity to gaza for water and sewagereatment. a world bank financed treatment plant recently came online adeer 14 years oys. but again, fuel shortages still hinder its operations. once again politics has gotten in the way, bromrg says, in this case internal palestinian rivalries, in which the fatah

party of president mahmud abbas has resisted bringing electricity into gaza to punish hamas. >> in gaza, electricity and water is also hereto being used as a tool in t internal political fights. >> reporter: former palestinian water minister shaddad attili concedes that palestinian in- fighting has worsened the situation. >> and who's paying the heavy price? thople of gaza. who's drinking undrinkable water? the people of gaza. who's delivering blue babies? our people in gaza. our women are delivering blue babies because of the nitrates in the water. so all people are punishing our people in gaza. reporter: amid all the intransigence, the u.n predictst at this ratet gaza will become uninhabitable by 2020. >> we pump water to these storage tanks. >> reporter: intertional aid agencies are rying to help with the water crisis.

oxfam recently opened a pilot desalination plant. it plans to rehabilitate 45 similar facilities that have fallen into disrepair across gaza, says spokesman mohammed ammar. >> in this project we target 1,200 households and more than 6,000 individuals with pla to target half a million people in the coming two years. >> ( translated ): we drank contaminated water for a long time until oxfam came and gave us clean water. reporter: the lubad family is one of the lucky early recipients. once every two weeks, oxfam fills their small rooftop tank with 130 gallons of desalinated water. absent a political solution, it appears, gaza's ocean-size crisis is being dressed a few llons at a time. for the pbs newshour, i'm fred de sam lazaro in gaza city, gaza. >> nawaz: fred's reporting is in partnership with the under-told stories project at the

university of st. thomas in minnesota. >> nawaz: student reporting labu is a pbs newproject that teaches journalism and media literacy in high schools a soss the unittes and abroad. to start the year, we asked these young reporters tohare what they want in 2019 from the media they consume and create. here now, is a sampling of what they said in this week's installment of our regular education segment, making the grade. >> in 2019 i would love to tell more hard hitting news because i feelike especially in high school we get distracted by the little light things and don't really focus on the bigger picture of the things that are happening around us. >> i really want to tell stories about our youth because most of the time all of the stories that are on the news or on tv are about older people, who aren't really connected with our

younger generations. >> it's important that young people are just as informed as people in older generations soma stream news and media should definitely try to tap into issues that younger people care out. >> something i like about being a student repoer, is being able to go out and record stories that matter to the real world, and also being able to >> the chaos isn't over at the border and there is still a problem with women's rights and the black lives matter movement. >> our generation is actually doing some pretty amazings that aren't being covered by mainstream media but should be. >> the opioid crisis that is shaking america is something that everyone should really know about because pecially because we live in maine where the percentages are so high and i just think that it's just ifgetting worse and i thinne more person knows about it the beer. >> in 2019 i hope to hear stories abt job companies that become more lenient about people

having tattoos and letting them express themselves more. >> i hope to tell stories about people who are marginazed and try to tell more than one side of the truth. >> i hope in 2019 i can tell stories for those that feel they don't have a voice and for those that don't have the opportunity to tell the stories they'd like to tell. >> i want to be able to showcase other peoples cultures, other people's religions, otherfs people's beland just to spread more knowledge about um other people within our community today. >> i really want to tell more human interest stories in 2019. i think it's more interesting to watch and you can definitely learn someings through the ople you're interviewing and who you're telling stories about. >> i'm muslim and i get affected by the fact that only negativeie stare told about muslims every single day. so i think that they could truly affect positive change if they showed positive stories. >> some stories i would like to tell in 2019, are defi more family and community based, to get the community more

involved in each others lives and things that are taking place. >> a lot of people have different opinions on politics and understanding their point of view on why siey picked each is very interesting. >> we feel more discnect in our relationships, and i feel like we can kind of shed some lit on that, and really us our new tools and social media as a for to bring it together. >> i feel like today we are not focused on what really matters, and i feel like we don't actually talk to each other as human beings. so i feel like being able to share stories about peoplend how amazing they are is just my dream. >> nawaz: author john grisham began life as a lawyer and then, he says, got bored and began turning his courtroom experience into best-selling legal thrillers. his latest, "the reckoning,"

tells the story of a murder of a prominent mississippi preacherni by a ret world war ii hero who confesses but refuses to say why he did it. jeffrey brown spoke with grisham for pbs books at the miami bookn fair, and out this novel includes a grisham first. did something i've never dne before. in the context of i guess a legal thriller, we turn off a murder, arrest, criminal prosecution, the trial, a looming execution, you know, that's my sweet spot, okay, that's what i like to write about. >> yeah. suddenly, when that's over in rt one, the book takes a hart left turn and goes ofo world war ii, the philippines and the baton death marou because ante-hero, the murderer, the defendant, went off to fight i a war. >> brown: is it correct that ghis is a story you heard a lon time ago? >> yeah, yeah. i think it took place in mississippi in the 1930s, that's the way -- the version i

heard. >> brown: no question about the who done it, but there's the why heoesn't want to talk about. >> that's why it's a great story because the truth is neer known. there's speculation it involved his wife but he would never say that because he did not want to damage her honor, impugn her putation. >> brown: right. so he took it to his grave. >> brown: when you're writi about 1930s, '50s,is mippi, you're ini'veta bring writing about race. you often, in your boothks, i k, write about and get into social isshues tat -- interest isn't the right word -- tha seem important to you. is that fair? >> yes. i'm always searching for a story about an issue. issues involving criminal e justicpecially injustice, mass incarceration, death penalt for-profit prisons and all these profits that we have, that we could fix if weldou

simply do it. >> brown: is it the issue that interests you first and then you find the stoo go with it? >> both ways. >> brown: both ways. metimes my wife will say stop preaching, get off your soapbox and go write another "firm," a good story of suspense, legal intrigue, and stopreaching for a while. and i'll do that. you can't impose your politics on your readers because it becomes sort of intruffes. you don't want to assume everybody's got the same policies. so i stay away from it a lot.o it was funrite a good, old-fashioned thriller, suspense novel without the heavy legal issues. >> brown: what ma be you want a writer in the first place? >> i had a great story, "a time to kill," and something i aw one day in court, and i said, am going to take that story and change this and thd make it a very compelling croom drama in a all town in mississippi. so i became obsessed with the story that became "a time to

kill." >> brown: i read you were giving early advice about publishing regularly or once a year. >> i never thought about it. i never thought about publishing every year, but when "the firm" came out in march of '91 now, a young editor made an offhanded comment and said, well, the bigu guys come i've write year. >> brown: the big guys. the big writers. she said, look at the list -- come -- tom clansy, stephen king, the key is to do it reverie year for a while. i never realized that. i staed myird book "pelican brief" and i hurried back home and quit touring and said i'm going to finish the bach and publish next year and that got er itarted and 25 years lat do it once a year. >> brown: justice, system and

process nver went away. >> we're men's, we have a insatiable appetite for stories about the law, lawyers and crime and a compulsion for litigation that's unmatched in the world. we havaso many rights thwe either really have or we think that we have as americans, and love our rights that we cherish, and if somebody does something to tamper with a right that we think we have, we're not going yo take it. know, we're going to call a lawyer, we're going to file aoi lawsuit, we're to do something because we want justice. that's just the american way. that's in our dna. and that leads to a lot of great stories. >> brown: yeah, if youw where to look. >> if you know where to look. >> brown: the new novel is "the reckoning." john grisham. thank you. >> thank >> nawaz: all of jeff's conversations from the miami book fair are available online pbsbooks.org.

>> nawaz: filly tonight, a preview of that moment when, newshour's show on facebook watch. in this episode, political conservative max boot shares the moment he realized he could not dpport then-candidate don trump nor the republican party. when did i leave the right? i mean, i think it's been a gradual process.it eally began in the summer of 2015 when trump began running for president, attacking mexicans as rapts and murderers, attack senator john mccain, somebody i revonere. itnued with his policy proposal to bar all muslims from this country, his praise of vladimir putin, it was oneg appallatement after another, and at first i just d chalkeown to, well, this buy goo is this toxic -- this guy is this toxic bully, this guy who cannot become preside.

>> nawaz: you can find all epis facebook at that moment when show. while online, find six new year's resolutions that are better for your asalth than a diet. that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. on wednesday, a medical mystery striking kids with a polio-like disease. i'm amna nawaz. join us again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new ornguage, like spanish, french, german, italian, a or >> the ffoundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide.

>> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democraticth engagement, anadvancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and wit of these institutions and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for nsblic broadcasting. and by contributo your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour proctions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

♪ >> hello, everyone, and welcom to "amanpour & co." during the christmas holidays, we're dipping intohe archive and looking back at some of this year's highlights. he's what's coming up. >> with your spirit, come, holy spirit, come. >>,he reverend william barb one of america's great m ral leaders, just ahead of midtections tells me that he senses an awakening in the cotry, a fresh commitment to fighting poverty, bigotry, and environmental devastation. plus, the end of an era. german chancellor angela merkel is considered the firewall against a rising tide of western nationalism. why is she stepping away from the fray?o then, twbrilliant artists and activists. our alicia menendez talks to the veteran actor and musician mandy patinkin. and singer/songwriter rosanne cash makes