captioning sponsored by newshour productio, llc >> woodruff: gd evening, i'm judy woodruff. li the newshour tonight, no end in sight: the sh of civilians continues in syria, and how the suspicious death of a humanitarian working in the then, the trump agenda-- efforts by the president to resist new environmental rules, now ath rallying cry ocampaign trail. plus, a look back at t decade in culture. a review of the most important contributions in the arts over the last ten years. and... >> ♪ god rest ye gentlemen t nothing you dismay ♪ >> woodruff: ...united we sing: members of the united states holiday classic. another all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. anyou. >> woodruff: president trump is aying down a possible s

"christmprise" from north korea, in the form of a missile test. pyongyang has warned ofon unspecified acf the u.s. does not ease sanctions by but today, at his mar-a-lago resort in florida, mr. trump suggested north korean leade kim jong un may have something >> well we'll see maybe it's a nice present, maybe it's a present where he sends me a beautiful vase as opposed to a missile test i may get a vase i may get a nice present you don'r know you nnow. >> woodruff: the president spoke after a christmas eve video conference with members of the u.s. military, stationed around the world. christmas has already arrived in much of the world.ay in bethlehem tthe main square was filled for the annual parade the faithful and tourists alike arrived to visit the traditional birthplace of jesus. later, at the vatican, worshippers gathered in st.

peter's basilica, where pope francis celebrated midnight mass. but in paris, fire damage prevented christmas services at notre dame cathedral, for the first time since the french revolution. in hong kong, christmas eve was protests. a thousands of demonstrators occupied key rds to block traffic in a major tourist district. riot police fired tear gas to c break up trowds. scuffles also brok sout inside buhopping malls. police beat back some of theh protesters wtons. a new election law,raq approved meeting a key demand of prot fters. it cal electing one candidate per district, instead of electing entire slates.th goal is to give independents a better chance.s mass protestve flared across iraq since october. they call for an overhaul of the political system and an end to corruption. cooler weather in part of australia helped crews fhting

r me 200 wildfires today. and, prime minisott morrison sought to ensure manpower for t front lines, by announcing paid leave for many volunteers. morrison toured burnt vineyards and wrecked homes in adelaide, and thanked firefighters for working through the holidays. >> today may be christmas eve, but r so many firefighters, is going to be another day out there protecting their communities. and i thank them for their service. and i thank all those volunteerh at are supporting to keep them out there and i thank their families for their forbearance. >> woodruff: the prime minister has taken political heat for wvacationing in hawaii lak, on wall street, stocks wereoded. mostly flat, as the market clos early for christmas.do thjones industrial average lost 36 points to close at 28,515. the nasdaq rose seven , and, the s&p 500 slipped a fraction. p britain's prinlip was

discharged from a london hospital todaychin time for stmas. he walked out, unaided, after a buckingham palace said he was treated for an unspecified, pren existingtion. prince philip is 98 years old. and, the u.s. and canadian militaries are trackinnta claus' journey tonight, for the 64th year. this time, the tracker is on social media and 3-d apps, thanks to tech firms working th norad, the north american d.aerospace defense comman about 1,500 volunteers are also fielding thousands of e-mails and phone calls. still to come on the newshour: no end in sight-- the syrian civil war grinds amid accusations of the murder of a humanitarian worker. the trump agenda-- the president's resistance to new environmental initiatives. warnings from antarctica-- our reporting the impact of

climate change. and much more. >> woodruff: in syria, forces loyal to the assad regime and backed by russian airpower are advancing in the northwestern province of idlib. it's the last remaining stronghold for the rebels who've been fighting assad for the past eight years. the syrian army and its allies are focused on trying to take over a k highwayeading to the city of aleppo. thousands of syrian civilians are caught in the crsfire. in northwestern syria's idlib, provincee latest target was this school houses are now war zones. families were left horrified

today after air strikes hit the building. human rights activists said the shelling left multiple civilians dead, including five children. >> ( translated ): the airplane was hovering around then all we saw was a missile coming down toward us. it fell on a whole family of around 10 people, all of them were killed. >> woodruf it was the latest caage in the assad regime' intensified offensive against ria's last rebel-held stronghold. since last week, government forces, with russian air support, have reclaimed more than 40 villages and hamlets in the northwestern territory. the offensive has largely targeted civilian areas, leaving many towns crumbled into dust. least 80,000 peoplany ofates at them already forced out of other parts of syria, have fled toward the border with turkey. se exodus has left thousands of

women and childreping in tents. >> 13 votes in favor and two against. >> woodruff: despite the growina tarian crisis, russia and china vetoed a u.n. security council resolution last ssek to extendorder aid into syria for another year. the russians have backed damascus throughight years of civil war and in moscow yesterday, the russian foreign nister, with his syrian counterpart, defended the veto. >> ( translated ): we are convinced that safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of syria is the logical solution. >> woodruff: today, a turkish official announced, after talks with moscow, that russia wl work to stop the attacks in idlib, but there were no details on any concrete commitments. i'm joined now by st heydemann and joshua landis. middle east studies at smithr of

college and a senior fellow at the brookings institution. joshua landis is professor of middle eastern studithe university of oklahoma and editor of the website riacomment.com. welcome back to you both. let me start is fighting whom hd whatrief who are they fighting over? >> this is the assad regime with support from the key patrons in particular russia who have launched anoth phase in an ongoing offensive to try to reassert their control over the last part of syriahat is controlled by opposition forces. >> woodruff: what would you add that? >> one of the problems with idlib the largest llection of al qaeda fighters left in the world. there are about 30,000 mi militants, this why the international community is not comingo the defense of these

rebels because they don't darks darks they'r america just destroyed many isis mess have taken refuge there. so i think international community, they see thiss terrible humanitarian disaster that is unfolding here as these militants are attacked. and syria takes back this land. they're torn about what to do. they don't want enclave going on for ever in which these mil and jihadists can plan attacks. >> woodruff: i hear you saying tt the international community isn't coming to the defense of these rebels and yet steven heydemann, the humanitarian catastrophe is clear. to be hitting a school, hitting families, hitting chilonce again it's civilians who are the targets. >> crect. there may be some overlap of interest iterms of the focus on removing terrorist groups and fighters from idlib.

but the way the regime is conducting is generating extraordiny push back from the international community even if the means to bring about a change in the conduct of the operations are very limited. we have seen expressions of concern from u.n. cretary general, we know that secrety of state pompeo ma criticized what the regime is doing. so, whatever the overlap o b interest mig the focus on civilian targets, on schools, on hospitals, the death of civilians, closing roads to prevent the evacuation from civilians coming under attack these are aspects of theay the regime and russia are conducting that offensive that are really they are crimes against humanity. >> woodruff: the syrians and russians defend this along with resolution at the u.n.is >> ty did.ri descended into what we would call total war a long time ago.ut and tohat in some

perspect march through the south where he to destroy the mor the he tried enemy. it's a little bit like bombing hiroshima or nag sack key and unfortunately these things work. and that is the terrible, i humankind.rrible commentary on is that in a war like this, horrible things are happening and the people are getting grou down under the feet of these opposing troops. >> woodruff: we've been hearing about this war in syria of course since the civil war, there began, steven heydemann, eight yes ago, it's ill going on and the two of you were telling us, this battle in idlib is not the last, you are expecting more fighting to come, northeastern syria near the turkey border. >> not just rtheastern syria but let's keep in mind that the major urban center in lid lib province, idlib city where the population between 1.5 and 2

million people has so far escaped the kind of direct attack that we're seeing now on cies a little bit further the east and south. but it will happen. it will come. and this is an enormous source of pressure not just forta humaan regions but turkey has closed the border. people are fleeing fighting havo here to go. what i understand that turkey and russia have now negotiatedin someof aned? ing that cities immediately in the path of this offensive may actually be turned over to the regime to fall under joint russian-turkish patrols precisely to mitigate the pressure on turkey is accept new ways of refugees. >> woodruff: the fighting continues. thousands of internall displaced refugees.en stthe assad regi is in control. is it not, after eight years of fighting? >> yes. president trump has sa there's something but sand and death in syria this they can fight over it.

unfortunately this has been the attitude, the europe is paying turkey, helping turkey subsided the building of a wall to contain these people inside, because turkey can't accept any more refugees. this is really the sad mmentary is that the world is turning away from syria today. it's not on the headlines. unit states has withdrawn 're preoccupied with impeachmt, elections and other things and syrians are going to pa price. >> woodruff: and steven heydemann, it looks as if -- that is one of the reasons we wanted to focus on it tonight because it hasn't been getting attention. but the world looks on and we're helpless to do anything the rest of the world. >> the opportunities to engage on humanitarian level have been narrowede russian and chinese veto in the u.n. that your story highlighted.if we face a siant dilemma, if turkey will not permit refugees in the coin the

numbers of displaced increase rrwith enormous flooding, le weatr, the scale of the catastrophe is quieted extraordinary. i would hope that governments in the west would respond despite the vote in the u.n., rebound if it means defying the vote in the u.n. to prevent what would otherwise be a reale. catastro >> woodruff: just finally quickly, josa landis, president of syria comes out of this feeling vindicated? >> well, he wants to reconquer his country. and both the united states, turkey a russia all are saying that syrian sovereignty should remain and territory should remain end gal. on international law he has the superior position and nobody can quibble with that, really. this is the -- legally the international community still recognizes him as the president of syria. and recognizes these other insurgent groups and rebel

groups as ultimately the u.n. never pasvote as they did in syria in libya, toma the rebels the legitimate goveanment of syria. that is the shortcoming thatre these rebelsacing today. >> but the issue isn't whether challenge to sover at this point, it's maui conducts the operation to reimpose this incontrol over this one reg hold out. method possible.the most brutal he's used tactics that do constitute war crimes and imes against humanity. and there are alternatives that are available to him if he had wanted to pursue reassertion ofo his cowithout imposing such an extraordinary price on civians in that part of syri >> woodruff: it's a subject that we believe is important to continue to look at. >> thank you. . >> woodruff: thank you for joining us. joshua land is, thank you.

>> woodruff: now a story of humatarian trying to help syria. british officials are being urged to conduct a thorough investigation into the suspicious death in turkey last month of james le mesurier, the co-founder of the white helmets rescue organization inyria. friends and colleagues fear he may have been murdered, or that he was driven to suicide by a relentless campaign of character assassination. special correspondent malcolm brabant has been examining this a warning, viewers may find some of these images distressing. >> reporter: the body of formerf british army oer james le mesurier was discovered by worshippers outside sque in the western part of istanbul according to tursh state televisionle mesurier died from the an upper floor of his apartment. 15 mesurier, seen here in ran a nonprofit called mayday rescue which trained members of

the white helmets, also known as syrian civil defense. they are first responders whoil help cians caught in strikes and were nominated for the nobepeace prize in 2016. >> in the last two years, they've saved over 1lives, people who have literally been dragd from the rubble of buildings that have been blown up inside syri >> reporter: syria's president assad was one of the first to express a theory behind le mesurier's death. he told russian telesion that western intelligence was to blame. >> ( translated ): of course it's the work of secret services. but which ones? when we speak of turkish and some other secret services in our region, these are not secret services of sovereign states. these are subdivisions of the chief intelligence service, e c.i.a.

that is the truth. th,'re all obeying e mast in coordination with each other. >> reporter: le mesurier's swedish wi emma has reportedly told turkish detectives her suicide has not beed out.tion but friends and colleagues find it hard to believe thaldle mesurier wave intentionally leapt from such a relatively low height. >> in the last two years or so, an awful l of people who've disagreed with the russians in particular have fallen off baonies. so i think it is very suspicious. >> reporter: hamish de bretton gordon is a british army chemical weapons expert and former colleague of le mesurier. they last met a month before his death. >> i didn't leave that meeting thinng here is someone who i really troubled. but having said that the amoun of abuse, the amount of ill aced propaganda, disiormation that's on socia

media and the internet coming out of russian bots and syrian regime and others was unbearable. >> reporter: days before his death, on twitter, the russian foreign ministry accused le mesurier of being a spy with a history of facilitating terrorist grps, a claim britain's u.n. ambassador karen pierce has vigorously denied. on a hillside at christmas common, in southern england, le mesurier was honored at an art installation commemorating wartime military heroes. the artist dan barton added ite helmets to the silhouettes to pay tribute to the humanitarian work, for which the former army captain was decorated by the queen. the artist was also eulogizing ths250 white helmet volunte killed since they started work in 2014. james le mesurier died on armistice day,hen britain remembers fallen veterans. whatever the cause, mesurier

was a victim of a very modern conflict.hi there is nng place in cyberspace. le mesurier was at the epicentre of a propaganda war and his friends are appalled by what they regard as a campaigof character assassination. >> there must be a decency line, and if you cross that then something should be done. some othe stuff coming out of these people, i think, crosses that decency line. some of the accusing people of being al qaeda, of supporting terrorism. >> reporter: de bretton gordon beeley, a frequent contributor to russian media outlets. she belongs to a collection of academics and others calling themselves the working group on syria, propaganda and media. this group backs presidentcl assad's ms that the white helmets have staged attacks to trigger western retaliatiot agaie syrian regime. earlier this year in oslo,ed beeley allhe white helmets

were linked cl al qaeda and med they engaged in organ harvesting, charges did by other middle east experts. she accused le mesurier of colicity, pointing to his prior role in former yugoslavia where he encountered the kosovay, liberation ahe k.l.a. >> the k.l.a. were running organ trafficking operatns, cross border organ trafficking operationsand they were being whitewashed by james le mesurier, former m.i.6 who in 2013, set up the white helmets, that are effectively al qaeda, dressed in humitarian clothing. >> reporter: beeley is a frequent visitor to assad's syria. via twitter i asked whether her attack on le mesurier could be justified? her response: >> what amazes me consistently is the emphasis from channels like yours on attacking those who raise the issue of such alleged crimes and heinous

activity while never investigating the atrocities committed against syrians, testified to by syrians. however, you are so quick to condemn the syrian government based on unverified and fraudulent testimony from the whithelmets. ameful. where is your humanity?st d by every statement. >> reporter: and when pushed about the consequences of the c personpaign against le mesurier, this was her reply.er >> you mightusly consider remotely suggest pcly thaten critics of jamese mesurier or the white helmets are responsible for his demise. p >> reportefessor david miller is another member of the syria working group to which beeley belongs. it claims the white helmetsfa d this 2018 missile attack in douma close to dama50us. up to eople were killed and hundreds more, including children were wounded.il convinced thes contained

chlorine, the u.s.-led coalition launched air strikes against syrian government rgets. but miller's group claims the missile strike was staged to provoke western retaliation against damascus and insists it is backed by wstleblowers within the u.n.'s specialist watchdog, the organization for the prohibion of chemical weapons. >> the douma case undermines the investigation into the alleg douma attack but it must also throw into question previous reports that we have done.te we have wrabout some of the previous alleged attacks some of which appear to us to be fraudulent or faked. >> reporter: the u.n. watchdog, whose inspectors are seen here in damascus, is re-examining the douma case.l but in an emai the newshour, are organization said it stood by the initial ial assessment that toxic chemicals were used. as does chemical weapoert

hamish de bretton gordon. >>of've investigated a numbe chemical weapons attack in syria in the rel held areas one in particular in 2014, in a place called talamen which is what these assad useful idiots and assad is claiming was done by the white helmets. now, i didn't see any white helmets doing anything there.pt i saw helis with syrian army insignion them dropping chlorine barrel bombs. yo>> reporter: richard benn, who used to sit on parliament's intelligence and defense mmittees says the syria working group are little more than trolls. >> there's a much more sinister element which is very often people within top acemic institutions, universities in the united kingdom, who are relentlessly pursuing those who support the work of humanitariar helmets.ons like the white and relentlessly pursuing a line that supports the actions of one of the most brutal regimes we've

seen since nazi germany. >> reporter: what do you think of these criticisms that you are and their russian comrades in this fight? m >>n it's ridiculous, thewe idea thas lonely academics in the u.k. writing briefinge papers which wt on the web are anything to do with our views on russia or syria is preposterous. >> reporter: as the turkish inquiry continues, richardin benyon is callfor a full british investigation into le mesuri's death and for universities to review the employment of aff involved in this controversy. >> the universities employing highly suspect indivls with disgusting views where theare prepared to be apologists for the kind of brutality that we i are seeisyria,ell universities themselves have got to take responsibility for this. this is not a question of my views, this is a question of social science resemach methods anrial that we've produced, and if as i say, it's

wrong, let's show it to be wrong, and let's not have this mccarthyite hysterical witch hunt to try to get academics sacked for simply doing their jobs. >> reporter: after the body of the white helmets' founder was returned to britain, his friends lamented that if anyone was subjected to a witch h was james le mesurier. artist dan barton. >> to me he's a total hero. the world's going to be a much >> reporter: a man who helped save countless syrian lives, but who couldn't save his own. for the pbs newshour, i'mlc m brabant at christmas common. >> woodruff: for years, there's been a bipartisan push in washington to change laws, regulations and incentives to make household appliances and goods more energy efficient. but as john yang tells us,ny president trump is moving to roll back some of those laws,

arguing they've gone too far. >> yang: it's become a feature of president trump's political speeches: highlighting what he says is household goods.on of take the battle creek, michaigan, rally the night the house voted to impeach him: thed president batricter energy standards that would have phased out many incanscent bulbs on nuary 1, which, estimates say, would have affected half the bulbs in light sockets in u.s. homes. we're even bringing back the ollight bulb. you heard about that, right? the old light bulb which is better. i say why do i always look so orange? you know why, because of the ne, lihey're terrible. you look terrible. they cost you many, many times re, like four or five times more. energy department announced it is keeping incandescent andlo n light bulbs on the market, saying the new rules would have been too costly for consumer

earlier this month at a small business roundtable, the president's focus was on bathroom fixtures. >> you turn on the faucet; you don't get any water. they take a sher and water comes dripping out. uiit's dripping out-- veryly dripping out. people are flushing toilets 10 1 timetimes, as opposed to once. so, e.p.a. is looking at that very strongly, at my suggestion> yang: the president has also taken issue with bans on plastic straws-- and has begun sellingn thems campaign websi, environmental advocates say many of president trump's claims are information.r use outdated all of this comes with an election year on the horizon democratic presidential candidates have pledged to make climate change a top priority. the president has frequently denied or been skeptical about the scientific consensus on the issue. the trump administration has also moved troll back fuel standards on autos and trucks

which are, of course, a huge part of americans' daily lives and a big source of greenhouse gas emissions. juliet eilperin covers all of kyis for the "washington post." she joins me viae from thanks for being with us. so, light bulbs, low flow toilets, fuel efficiency for cars and trucks what are other areas that the president is talking out and where he could have an impact on federal regulations? >> he's looking at those including dishwashers, people use in their home, shower heads, so really some of these every day appliances that people are familiar with. that affect their lives and of course use energy. >> have real impact. what a some of the experts saying on the light bulb standards noputting that in place what is the affect. >> you look at thendependent estimates, it seems like this is a costs up to $14 billioa

year. emit additional 38 million ton of carbon dioxide to the running for a yearr plants democrats have been saying that the president and some of these argumes, things he's been saying are not necessarily based on fact or may outdated information, what are some o examplthat? >> well, he has talked about, for example, said that they have -- on dishwasher 12 times to get their dishes clean usually takes five minutes. described the idea that for low flow toilets you have to flush them between 10-15 times. so in many cases he's describing kind of woefully inadequate function, is that don't seem to compt with the real world performance of many of these more efficient ones.

deregulation in tht year of his administration it was wapretty aggressive, but i about things like industry like power plants, coal fired power plants, what is your sense of why he is focusing on these sorts of tngs now? >> these are theinds of things, when he talks about, if you like your old light bulb you can keep it. people have a tangible connection, it res natures more with people. the same thing with gas mileage and what kind of car you drive. that is something that c americans can relate to where they turn onheir light switch they're not thinking 'boat thepl powet for the wind project that is powering it. these kindf tangible issues are ones that resonate particularly when you're talking about the upcoming presidential campaign of 2020here the president is again invoking the nostalgia that worked very well in the past. >> one thing we know about t

president's speech is that if he gets something that he gets a reaction to, he keeps coming back to it over and over again. the fact that he's focusing on he's cast into something thatbe resonates with his base? >> you showed the image from thn michally when he raised the issue of dishwashers, thede crowd resp they responded so, these are issutets. connect to fks and he is also, one thing that i think is so distinct he is personally intested in these issues. he asked his deputies to look into these issues, he said that he wants to weigh enwhen they finalize their rules creating an exemption for certain kind of shwashers.en this is a preswho ran a hotel chain and paid attention to the details, whether it was dust on the chandeliers or the pndition of the rugs. he understands hple have a tactile experience with their

surroundings and all of this is playing in. >> jult eilperin of the "washington post," thanks for helping us to understand this. >> my easure. >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: we look back at a decade of the stand members of the unitees armed forc band together to sing a holiday classic. staying with climate change, the ice-covered continent of antarctica is being transformed, in part, by rising temperatures and melting ice. william brangham and producers mike fritz and emily carpeaux traveled there earlier this year for a series about the continent.re this is ise of their report. it's part of our occasionalse es, "peril and promise, the challenge of climate change."

>> brangham: for as far as the eye can see, antarctica is covered by tck sheets of ice. in some places, that ice is several miles deep. this massive continent, as big as the u.s. and mexicor ombined, has llions of years, been home to somef the most breathtaking landscapes of ice on the planet. what you can see behind me here is a very good cross-section of a glacier in antarctica. and what you see with ose different layers-- that is hundreds and thousands of years of snow and precipitation stacking up, one on top of the other, and slowly exerting pressure downward on those layers of snow. and that's how a gcier is formed. but antarctica's ice is now increasingly being threatened, and most researchers believe it's because of climate change. according to one recent study, the continent's ice is slipping away six times faster t was 40 years ago. >> antarctica is now losing 252

gatons of ice per year. >> brangham: glaciologist joe mcgregor is part of the team at nasa's gdard space flight center that's studying antarctica's ice. using radar and lasers, they measure the thickness of the ice and how its moving. they can also measure whether the ice is growing or shrinking. help me understand what that 2 mean gigatons? >> a gigaton is a billion metric second, anwhen you do the math, you wind up with the antarctic ice sheet is out of balance by more than three and a half swimming pools rar second. >>ham: let me make sure i get that: every second, three olympic sized swimming pools worth of ice is disappearia? from antarct >> yes. when considered, on average, over a year. >> brangham: just put that in perspective, in the amount of time it takes to watch this story, antarctica wid more water than new york city uses every day. the warming that many believe is

different parts ofoss varies in continent. here on the antarctic peninsula, the long branch of land coming on the northwest corner, warming has been especially pronounced. at the vernadsky research station, which is run by the ukrainian government, meteorologists like oleksandr poluden have been keeping some of the longest-term temperature while it's warmed and cooled at different times, poluden says the overall trend here on theni ula is clear: >> ( translated ): you will notice that the temperature doesn't tend to increase all the time. there are some fluctuations over time.de it becomes e that over year-round temperaasaverage increased by 3.5 degrees. >> it's becoming clearer that parts of antarctica appear to be unstable, and are losing ice much faster than we expected. >> braham: michael oppenheimerli is ate scientist and professor of geosciencat princeton university.

he says this ice loss will only accelerate sea level rise, which happens for two reasons: one, a warming atmosphere warms the oceans, and warmer water expands and rises. secondly, warming also melts ice and glaciers all over the world, sending water into the ocean, a >> so ultimately, if we lose all the ice that's vulnerable to a warming of only a few degrees, we're talking about a very, very, very, big a level rise. >> brangham: the most recent u.n. report predic a foot of sea-level rise this century ife we contirning oil and gas and coal at our current pace. but a growing number of researchers believe that because of the emissions we've already put into the atmosphere,hat prediction understates the threat. >> essentially, the continent'sl warming fromow and also, you ndow, from above. >> brangham: ale isern oversees all antarctic science for the national scienceda foon, who, for the record,

is a newshour underwriter.ha she saysin west antarctica, two huge glaciers--h pine island anites-- are considered at risk of collapse. >> certainly there's some researchers that study islands and the thwaites glacier that feel that it's be sufficiently destabilized that we won't be able to recover. >> brangham: michael oimer says, if just one of those glaciers winds up in the oan, sea levels will rise five times higher than the u.n. predicted. >> the current estimates are that if the thwaites glacier ino antarctica werotally disintegrate into the ocean, that ultimately, sea level rise would ri by something like five feet. in areas around some of our biggest cities, new york, boston, miami, where you've got a lot of development: homes, builngs, infrastructe, roads, right up by the coast. d how do youend those? but how would bangladesh protect itself? it's got many hundd of miles of coastline.

it's all right at sea level. you can't build a wall to protect that whole coast. there's actually nothing that can be done. >> brangham: that's lellions of pehat are going to have to move. >> right. there are 150 million people in bangladesh and probablfew million are going to have to move. and where are they going to go in such a densely populated country? and there's already strife when people try to move. they try to move into india? doople get killed trying t that now. what's going to happen when you have a few million people that all of a sudden try to move? it's not a pretty picture. >> braham: part of the reason antarctica's glaciers are threatened is that they've beens losie crucial protection. many glaciers form what are known as ice shelves-- huge platrms of ice-- some as wid as texas and hundreds of stories tall-- that grow out over the d ocean, and they help holeir much larger glaciers up on land. they hold it back and not let it slide into the sea. >> so you can imagine a piece of ice the size of texas. pretty thick.

it's going to slow the ice as it tries to flow into the ocean.in >> brangham: rell, of columbia university's lamont- doherty earth observatory, has been studying antarctica's ice for over 20 years >> they are essentially acting as a bouncer in the bar, leani up against the door and keeping the ice from flowing into the ocean. >> brangham: but as the atmosphere keeps warming, major ice shelves in antarctica have also been collapsing. in 2002, the larsen b ice elf, the size of rhode island, completely disintegrated. these are satellite images of ii br into hundreds of pieces. larsen b anchored up on land, began accelerating towards the ocean. and then, two years ago, the even bigger larsen c shelf, this is it from the air, developed that miles-long crack in it. this shelf, which sits in front of the thwaites glacier, is also crumbling. and part of the brunt ice shelf is expected to break off any da,

eleasing an iceberg that'll be twice the size of manhattan. there's still some debate over whether human-induced warming is the only thing causing these changes. antarctica has lost ice many times before, d that also used the seas to rise. researchers are now trying to determine how much wit takes to cause truly catastrophic sea level rise. that glacier you see behind me connects up over that peak to cee massive west antarctic sheet. and all of those layers of snow and ice, built up ovdreds of thousands of years, contain a remarkable history of earth's >> it's like a tape recorder, a 10,000 foot tape recorder in places. so scientists have drilled ice cores through the layers as far down as they can get, and then they anaze those layers. >> brangham: glaciologist robert mulvaney, that's him in the riblack cap, works for thesh antarctic survey. he and a small team have been drilling over 2,000 feet down

these ice cores.et, pulling out >> what we've been trying to do is recover our climate record over the last 120 to 140,000 years to try to understand how our climate might change over the next hundred years or so as the climate responds to increased carbon dioxide in the mosphere. >> brangham: the evidence from these ice cores, and many others, indicate that when the earth's climate was just a little bit warmer than it is today, the world's oceans were over twenty feet higher. >> at two degrees warmer climate gave a sea levelise of about present.ine metres more than >> brangham: given that there are still so many uncertainties rover how serious sea-leve will be, and over what time span it'll occur, michael oppenheimer argues that there's still time to act and to prare. >> it doesn't mean we should throw up our hands and run. let's start thinking straight about how we're going to help people.

how we're going to help countries deal with the outcome, bee it's not going to be pretty, it's going to be expensive, and it's going to be disruptive, if we don't get ourr act togenow. >> brangham: this year, teams from several different nations are studying the thwaites glacier, trying to determine whether it's past the point no rurn, and if so, how soon its ice could end up ithe for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham in antarctica. >> woodruff: tonight, jeffrete brown takes f some of the big changes in arts and pop cuture, and how politics ats social movem impacted all of th.

>> brown: new technolo changed the way art is made and received in a world of streaming video, podcast and selfies. new stars emerge with new stories.e cial and political divisions of our times wereic reflected in mbooks and other art forms. we look at some of the decade's trends and trend makers with two critics who watch for them. wesley morris of the "new york times" and lorraine ali of the "los angeles times." welcome to you both. wesley, let me start wityou. when we think big about why i just mentioned technology, in what ways has that been most impactful for you? >> i live in new york city and the idea that i now as a part of my daily life, have to swerve out of my way to avoid pple watching tv. that was not happening 10 years ago.ne thats development. device has completely which th transformed not just our relationship to art and popular

culture, but to our environmental space. each other are our d routines are now sort of ambient light oriented around constantly experiencing some podcasts, television show, music, movie, often through something that we hold in our hands and in transport ourselvefrom one place to the next. >> brown: lorraine, what do you want to add to that? and are there specific examples of artists or shows that hit that moment for us? >> yeah, i mean, i think it's the sheer amount of whse we're ng as well. and, you know, whether we're talking about television streaming and the idea o bingeing conte and idea of bingeing, a show like we didn't know what at meant last decade and now it's like, i have to see this. there's the must see bingeing thing. this is why you need to stay indoors and never leave or be your phone and not street, as wesley said. this is this is this is a good thing, huh?

you can look at it either way. and if that is the double edged sword of technology. right. we've seen these great advances in entertainment. but it's also kind of eier it's connected us, but it's also kind of pulled us apart in different ways. >> brown: wesley, give it give it a couple of examples of sort of what shows or stars, for that matter, what artists have shown most brightly amid that. >> what was the biggest star of this era is probably not a person. it's the odds are at it's a company. and one of the biggest stars from the last 10 yearseen a company, been the company netflix, which used to just be a mail delivery video service. and is now, you know, i mean, it's the biggest entertainment company in the world, if not by. no. although i think that might be true then definitely by ethos. sitting there and watching most of theirst season of "orange se the new black" and "hou of cards," too. i mean in some ways, they in very different ways define this era.

both, both formally because you're given a bunch episodes of a television show and ondose, but also just in terms of how dark one show is and how sort of deceptively light and optimistic the other. >> but i think bringing up "orange is the new black." the way that that show also changed at we were seeing. it was made by women. it starred wom. it told the stories of these really complex narratives and many women of color. you know, socioeconomics that we hadn't seen before in a lot of shows. so i think isort of ushered in this era not only of a show dropng all at once, but also seeing these characters weha 't really seen before being the central focus of a story. >> brown: and i think about the changing voices, the changing the words, the images, and not just television go, wesley.me , think about hamilton and what other what other game changers have struck you when you look back at the last 10 years?

>> there's all kinds of television, music, movies that have like actually changed the way that people get to see other people. what this country is and when o gets to call themselve an american, i mean, hamilton is an obvious example of that, and it's proven that there's an audience out there for people who are interested in stories about nonwhite people, just fore st. >> brown: and then, lorraine, i mean, we still have the major stars telling their story. i mean, you cadet talk about a de like this without mentioning beyonce, for example. >> oh, no. this was beyonce's decade. and you' talking about, you know, she came from essentially a girl group. and ris decade, from the supe bowl to the inauguration tobe ychella to lemonade. this was her decade. and i think in many ys it kind of showed the breakthroughs and how different it wasn this decade for.

y just in terms of the ageat women had, but also, you know, when you're looking at the impact that music r&b and hip hop made in this decade. i mean, kendrick lamar won a pulitzer prize and that's the first hip hop thought on that. i mean, that was astounding. and you knew it was it wasn't the idea of the old stories whe, oh, look, you know, r is influencing mainstream culture. it's in may.ng it was drit. and that was, i think, a tipping point. >> brown: how about before we go? just give us a couple of things that have stayed with you for the whole decade that this really sum it up for us, lee. >> a thing that i still am surprised by how good it is and didn't quite get the love it deserved although people were excited when it dropped was d'angelo's black messiah, which came out in the middle of the decade. it iit is a beautiful album. it sounds it just sounds like a like a great oral stew. the question in the middle of that era, that was the beginning of the black lives matter

movement. and it was the qstion was what was going to look like under these circumstances and wae it going to tings directly head on? or was it going to be a bleak about its relationship to the ment? and this album is just a one of one of the one of the great exampl of the way that you can still make great re songsnd also and find new ways of creating soul music that stl do things to your body that you know you like music to do when it's good. >> i would say girls and insecure because they were shows just about young women.ow remembereinfeld was just about a bunch of people doing nothing? i feel like these shows were the they were stories that i could really relate to that i hadn't seen before. but i also think two other shows, ramy and "master of none" looked at kind of the immigrant experience with the second

generation, with people, you know, with kids that werey alreere, grew up here. and i think they showed that side of immigration, like nothing else i had seen. >> brown: all right. i know, i know.i ked the impossible to boil it all down, but thank you both very much, lorraine ali of los angeles times,esley morris of the new york times. thanks so much. >> thank you. >> thanks for having us. >> woodruff: finally on this ristmas eve, at the request of the newshour, the defense department produced a music video of service personnel around the world singing a holiday favorite. tonight, "god rest ye merry gentlemen." ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ god rest ye merry gentlemen let nothing you dismay

♪ remember christ our savior was born on christmas day ♪ to save us all from satan's pow'r ♪ when we were gone astraygs oh tidf comfort and joy orcomfort and joy oh tidings of coand joy ♪en god rest yeerry gentl let nothing you dismay ♪emember christ our savio was born on christmas day ♪ to save us all from satan's pow'r ♪ when we were gone astray oh tidings ocomfort and joy oh tidings of comfort and joy ♪ in bethlehem, in israel this blessed babe was born ge♪ and laid within a m upon this blessed morn

♪ the which his mother mary did nothing take in scorn ♪ oh tidings of comfort and joy comfort and joy ♪ oh tidings of comfort and joy fear not then, said the angel ♪ let nothing you affright this day is born a savior ♪ of a pure virgin bright ♪ trust in himose who from satan's pow'r and might ♪ oh tidingof comfort and joyan comforjoy god rest ye merry menrt and joy y♪ let nothing you dis remember christ our savior ♪ was born on christmas day to save us all from ♪ satan's pow'r

wh we were gone astray ♪ oh tidings of comfort and joy comfort and joy ♪ oh tidings of comfort and joy >> woodruff: and on the newshour online, we take an in-depth look at global unrest this year, with a series on different protests around the world, starting with demonstrators in lebanon. can find all that and mo when you follow us on instagram at newshour.he and that'sewshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. thanks for joining us, and merry christmas eve. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the eontlines of social chang worldwide.

>> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security.or at carnegi >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcastin and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by umedia access grot wgbh access.wgbh.org

>> pati narrates: travelli through sinaloa, i'm struck by the miles and miles of beautiful, largely untouched beaches. here in the southern part of the sinaloa coast obetween the small villag celestino gasca and las barras you'll find just that. for years this area has been a favorite stretch of beach for local surfers. they come all the way from mazatlan and culiacan to camp and have a few miles of pacific ocean all to themselves. luckily for me, i have 2 longtime surfers as my guides for today. they're giving me an insiders tour of this gorgeous part of the sinaloa coast. we're meeting up with local chef carmen to get h the secrets ofart of thpescado zarandeado. this recipe is hers! and one of the bravest fishermen i've ever met