captioning sponsored by newshourroductions, llc e >> nawaz: goning. i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is away.to on the newshought: reviewing e year in climate. environmental change has had on our planet in 2019. thenthe state of the world. a decade-long look back at the trends around the globe and what they mean r the united states. plus, on the "newshour bookshelf": "the other americans." novelist laila lalami examines immigration and entity through fiction. and: ♪ hark, hear the bells >> nawaz: united, we s members of the united states armed forcesround the world perform "carol of the bells." all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their oslutions to the world's m pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the lemelson foundation. committed to improving lives through inntion, in the u.s. and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org. >> supported by the john d. an catherine t. macarthur foundation. just, verdant and ulg a more world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutis: wa

>> this programade possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions t pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> nawaz: yet another wave of anti-government demonstrations paralyzed parts of hong kong on this christmasay. black-clad protesters descended on the streets of a busy shopping district. ri police used tear gas to disperse crowds. meanwhile, hundrs marched through malls chanting pro-democracy slogans. the city has been upend by more than six months of unrest against police use of force and mainland china's influence. india's capital toverin a controversial new citizenship law. students, writers and activists gathered at a college campus in new delhi to denounce the legislation. it grants expedited citizenship to migrants illegally in the country, excluding muslims. protesters accused the government of violating india's secular constitution.

th india has been shaken. the principles o constitution have been shaken by and when the soul constitution has been targeted by any government, then india has changed under this regime. >> nawaz: peaceful protests also continued in india's eastern state ofssam. we'll take a broader look at the recent wave of protests around sye world, later in the program. more than 200,00ans have fled an onslaught ofnce in idlib province in recent weeks. that's according to see syrian respoordination group, a edlief group active in the area. the exodus contioday, as crammed trucks headed north towards the turkisanborder. civiare being push out by syrian president bashar al-assad's forces working to regain control of syria's last rebel-held stronghold. there is temporary relief in australia today, as cooler reweather slowed down the of devastating wildfires. but, forecasters warned higher temperatures are expected return this weekend. about 2,000 firefighters spent this christmas holiday battling

more than 70 fires still burning in new south wales. >> the fire doesn't stop just because it's christmas. so some of the crews have to keep working and mitor the fire. luckily, today, we've got benign weather, and not everybody has to be out here.>> nawaz: in hisl christmas address today, australian primeinister scott morrison paid tribute to two firefighters who died last week battling fires southwest of sydney. and, this christmas day brought ba number of celebrationsh solemn and festive-- around the world. christians in bethlehem sang hymns of worship...wh e in germany, brave swimmers dove into icy waters for their annual christmas plunge. u.s. troops stationed in south korea gathered to enjoy a christmas feast. meanwhile, president tru and first lady melania, who are celebrating the holiday in florida, sent this message to

all americans serving abroad. >>e say a special prayer f those military service members and we renew our he for peaceon among naand joy to the world. >> nawaz: pope francis also hoped for peace dung his annual christmas day message in st. peter's square. he spoke to the plight o migrants and refugees, and said the light of christ was stronger than human suffering. the pope also issued a separate statement-- with the head of the anglican church and the former moderator of the church of scotland-- urging south sudan'sd rival s to form a coalition government early next year. still to come on the newshour: the year in climate change. what it means for the earth's future. recounting the major global events of the decade, and their impact on the world. concerns about the ability to repair paris' notre dame cathedral. and, much more. >> nawaz: by almost any measure,

2019 was a year of especially sobering news about clate change. not only because of new findings and grim warnings about what could happen, but because of w some extrether events ppening now. it was also a year where a movement grew from the ground up to t and tackle the problem. but, as miles o'brien explains, the call for action s often divorced from political reality. his report tonight is part of our regular coverage of the "leading edge" of scienc >> when apollo astronauts looked the vast inky void we call home they were awe struck by its beauty. that you might have predicted. >> but there was a surprising

aspect. somehow the earth projected a feeling of fragility. >> apollo 11 crew member mike >> ifd to describe just in hllins. one word what the earth loorked like the moon, i would say fragile. >> 50 years later the collisionh betweet fragility andty huma indifference to it came closer to home, much closer. when the final numbers comen, scientists predict 2019 will be the second or third hoettestar on record. it means the past six years were the warm exsix sinces six sinces started keeping track. kn australia they are feeling the heat lie never before. on december 18th, the country logged its hottest dn record, a national average high of 107.4 degrees fahrenheit.h along with t heat came hundreds of wild fires, fuebyled

rought parched brush. wild fires once again ravaged california this year. a quarter million aces burned. in september, the remnants of tropical storm imelda dumbed more than 43 inches of rain in texas. the wettest cyclone left $2 billion in damage behind. also in september, catory 5 hurricane dorian slow rolled the bahamas. warmer thanl so you havey warm, conditions for a perfectlyor exploding >> meteorologist watched the satellite images with equal parts disbelief and terror. >> i know beneath that storm there's going be gre devastation. i knew houses were going to be topplewe i know thare going to be destroyed. life is going to be i packed. there's going to be death.

it had a pit in my stomach earlier. >> dorian killed 67 and obliterated 13,000 homes. the impact made greater by rising sea levels which in november helped turn high tides in venice into the worst floodi in more than 50ears. the threat of even greater sea level rise looms as the west tarctic ice sheet faces further assault. the water captured of the ice here would raise global sea levels by more than ten feet and scientists have concluded the glacier which accounts for two feet othrt is moe precarious than they once thought. early in the year nasa airborne radar found a thousand foot hole at the base of the glacier. new york university mathematician david holland is there now, a lead ve wrsih the international glacier collaboration. >> we are trying to head to that location now to carry out a

field campaign to investigate how warm oan waters are currently causing it to change duration and melt very rapidly. >> our oceans which absorb soe much of thet humans are creating are changing rapidly. temperature sensitive coral reefs continue their precipitous decline. we've lost more than one quarter of them in thlast 30 years. scientists who study one of the fastest warming bodies of sea water in the world, the gulf of maine are making a grim forecast for the next 30 years. >> if the planet continues to warm up at aner acced rate because we haven't taken care of the carbon prblem. that's when maine starts to have temperatures that feel more like you'd think of new jersey. we don't really think of new jersey as a lobste state. >> as the planet steadily warms, the scientific picture goes steadily clearer. in may, global dioxide levels

surpassed 415 perts per million, an unprecedented high. in november, scientists gathered in geneva to deliver a stark warning. global greenhouse gas emissions are still on the rise. and for the world to limit temperature rise 1.5 degrees celsius, we must reduce annual emissions by 30 billion tons in the next decade. that is about ha of what we emit now. >> we would have to reduce our emissions. >> ingred alexander is director of the environmental pgram. >> now because of climate procrastination whicwe have essentially had during these ten years, we are looking at a% 7.6 reduction every year. is that possible?te abso. will it take political will? yes. will we need to have the privatl sectn in? yes. but the science tells us that we n do this. >> geopolitics tells us just the opposite. >> the united states will

thdraw in november. >> the trump administration began withdrawal from the 2015 paris agreement under which 187 nations pledge to cut greenhouse s emissions enough to keep global temperatures from rising no more than 2 degrees celsius above pre industrial levels. this set the f sta a filed united nations summit -- fled united nations sly mother in ma grid. an agreement was blocked on how to implement the paris goal. patriciain epsa executive secretary of the framework convention on climate change. >> we are not acting quickly enough to enact the detransformation to our society that will save humanity's future on this plane we are out o time. >> among those addressing the

summit, 16 year olimate act tice gre thurnburg forced politicians to recognize and respond to the rlities of climate science. in september she sold a solar powered -- sailed on a solar that's where she down with newshour william brangham. >> we should not -- beause it looks like individuals go together then we can accomplish almost anything. so that's what i want people to >> but are enough people ready? turning the tide will require some hard choices about ho t power our future and pay the bill. but it does appr the public is at an inflection point. this year, gallop reported to thirds of americans believe global warming is caused byut pon from human activities

rather than natural chances in the environment -- changes in the envtonment. and only 44% say they worry but don't count an intrip ientify apollo astronaut among them. eel about the planet today in a different way having gone out 240,000 miles and seeing it gives me as much greater as soon as of fragility, a much greatert urge to prohat fragility as we go along. >> in 2019, increasing numbers of earth lings got the same urge. not because th saw trouble from afar but rather because it came ever so close to home. for the pbs newshour, i'm miles o'brien on fragile planet earth. >> nawaz: in foreign policy, the past ten years have seen bot

transfmation and inertia. in many counies, the leaders have changed, but their authoritarian style of leadership has not. new powers are emerging, butre as opaque as ever. and, evolving domestic politics could lead to new relationships between the united sand its allies. the newshour's nick schifrin sat down wh three experts last week, to discuss this decade of >> schifrin: as we close the 2010s, we look back at this year and this decade in foreign affairs and global security. we'll tackle a few main topics with an all-star cast. michele flournoy, deputy secretary of defen under president obama and co-founder advisors, a nationurity westexec advisory firm. rebecca heinrichs, a former congressional security aide, now senior fellow at the h institute. y d from london, corey shockey, a national securuncil staff director under president george w. bush, and soon to takv the defense policy program at the american enterprise institute.

and thank you very much and welcome all to the newshour. i want tset up our first topic with a small setup piece about the decade that began with the arab spring and that ends with worldwide protest. from the streets of cairo, >> ( translated ): mohammed mcclusky mubarak... >> schifrin: president hosni mubarak has decided to step down and the demise of a dictator... ...to tunisia's jasmine the middle east bethe decades standing up to u.s.-backed authoritarian leaders they considered corrupt. in syria, young people called for a peaceful transitioof power, but the country descended into chaos and a civ and proxy war. the arab spring's legacy is decidedly mixed. the decade is ending the way it began. across the world, protesters objecting to what they call corrupti, inequality, and authoritarianism, from bolivia and chile to iran, iraq and lebanon.

popular protests are shaking established political systems, each fueled by local issues. but united in frustration and fueled by optimism that a better life is within reach in this decade of discontent. rebecca heinrichs, when you think back to the ar spring, when you think about the protests today, do you see stability replaced wits? >> i do see stability replaced with chaos. i think rather than the optimism that we had beginning of thepr arabg, it's been replaced with, i think, realism and perhaps mixed with pessimism that democracy can win the day simply by supporting the small groups of people who would rightly wish to overthrow an authoritarn, even if that authoritarian was more stable. so now we had stable, authoritarian, now replaced with chaos. >> schifrin: corey shockey, that idea that maybe stability has been lost, the stability that authoritarianism perha kept has been lost a little bit. when you see u.s. policy going

forward, do you believe that it should be more based on principle than it s been? >> absolutely. it should be more based on principle. what people are protesting against in these societies is terrible governance. they want the rule of law. they want predictability. they want represtative governance. and the united states should always be on the side of people demanding human dignity and individual rights. >> schifrin: michele flournoy, is that realistic that the u.s. can always be on that side? >> i do think we have to stand for mocracy and freedom, better rights for people. i mean, that is who we are. that's our history. those are our values.ng but the chalis how to do that effectively. i think the best programs are the ones that work long term to invest in the foundations of civil society and sort of grow better governance over time. >> schifrin: rebecca heinrichs, is tharealistic long term investment? is the political appetite in the u.s. for a long-term investment in these cntries?

>> i think long-term is the only way it will work.hi i do not that we had the political appetite right now in the united states, especially after we've seen what's happening in afghanithat our efforts there to create a democracy have not been t with uit there that we wish. that after 18 years. and so i think that thisthesire, which k is good for the united states, that we want to see other countries share the freedoms that we-- that we have, that it almost cheapens democracy to think that we cansi ly by helping or assisting and toppling these authoritarian governments, that democracy will mply rise and remain stable. that simply has not been proven out in reality. >> schifrin: corey shockey, is y that h see it? and think about, for example, saudi arabia, an example where p u.icy has been controversial, especially because of human rights violations. >> so, i see it slightly different than rebecca and united states very often takes too much responsibility for other people's outcomes. and it's certainly true that programs that help build society

and independent media and autonomous judiciaries, those are all good long-term programs. but it's not good enough to tell people "in the next generation, you will have a government that supports individual rights." and it see to me that the aftsmanship of governance isnd undersg when problems are ripe, that the amount of effort the united sta willing to put to create change, matcs the moment. it's our responsibilitudge when and how we can help people create positive change for themlves. >> schifrin: one of the places around the world that people are creating their own opportunities ceainlis hong kong. and we've seen major protests there. and so let'sake a little look at a setup story about the state of china and u.s. affairs. b jing great hall of the people, the people celebrate one

man. after the removal of term limits, xi jinping can be president for life. under xi, china has dramatically dernized its military and created outposts in the south china sea, ignoring international law and u.s. objections.in has also expanded its influence abroad with the most expensive infrastructure project in history and advanced. technolo >> my administration has taken the toughest-ever action to confront china's trades. >> schifrin: but the trump administration has confronted china both on trade and international influence, and has whose goal is to displace u.s. preeminence. michele flournoy, are the u.s. and china destined for conflict? >> i certainly hope not, because we're bo nuclear powers, but we are certainly destined for a period of muchioreater compet economically, technologically, for political influence around the world, and also potentially in the military sphere.

the best thing we can do is actually invest in the drivers of our competitiveness here at home, whetheit's science and technology, research and development, higher education, 21st-century infrastructure. why in the world do we not have a u.s. 5g industry, for example, so that we are in for a longer competition? it would be a terrible failure of policy if that necessarily ends in conflict >> schifrin: corey shockey, pa of confronting china has-- is the united states working with allies. do you believe president trump is working with allies to confront china? >> no, i don't. in fact, i think he's squandering what is america's greatest strategic advantage in a competition with china, which is that we're historically pretty good at playing team sports, and china, because of its repression at home, its intimidation abroad, its refusal to play by the existing rules of the international order that have served the united states, i other countrieluding

china, extraordinarily well. and president trump, because he seems unable to prioritize which arguments he wants to have, he's argng with everybody all at once. instead of making a common front with other ces who are nervous about china's behavior and who want american cooperation. >> schifrin: rebecca heinrichs has president trump squandered an opportunity, as we just heard? >> actually, i see it quite fferently. i think this is where president trump has the greatest strength in his administration, is that i really believe that if it wasn't for this pticular administration, the united states would not be talking about great power competition with cna in the way that we are, in the robust way that we are. you see you see emes all the way from senior administration officials talking about how china is not good at reciprocity-- it's opaque. you can't count on them. you've got business is now taking a second guess looking, taking a second look at maybe

they don't want to invest so early in china. so i'm optimistic about what the united states is doing now to set us on a good track for the years to come. >> schifrin: the u.s.'s oldest allies are in europe, and there are tensions between the united states and europe and europe. so let's take a look at a quick setup piece about the state of europe, to and the u.s.ra beyond the ttional stage photos at the nato leaders meeting, t transatlanticng alliance is fa crisis of identity and confidence. president trump questions the alliances foundation, emphasizing shared spending, not shared values. french president emmssuel macron achis, trump has turned his back on nato and he recently called nato "brain dd" in an attempt to shake up its strategic assumptions. and europe is facing its own shakeup.mi british prime ster boris johnson just won a big political mandate based on his pledge to, in his words, "get brexit done rebecca heinrichs, should the u.s. have a tough conversation with western europe right now? >> i think that's actly what

we're in the middle of. i think, you know, all of the things thamake so many people, i think, rightfully uncomfortable about president trump, about his abrasive approach and theay he talks to people-- many of thesehings that president trump hught up and raised are true, in fact. and as a result, we do see nato spending more on defense,or committingon collective security. and then some of these other prlems that he's raised, although they're not fixed. it's good that we're now addressing these head on. >> schifrin: corey shockey, is nato in a better place after president trump's term or terms are done? >> no, i don't think so. nato has underlying problems that the president has had splashed a whole lot of attention to. but i think the question for thi adration is whether the president's engagement withoi europeans is to solve those problems. and it doesn't look to me like it is. it doesn't look to me like it's producing greater european commitment. does look to me like it is scaring europeans and tocouraging our adversarie

qu guarantee that nato allies make to each other, which is that an attack on one is an atck on all. so the increase defense spending, including the united states, doesn't compensate for the anxiety and the estioning of our ndamental commitment. and that really is the result of the president's policies. >> schifrin: and michele flournoy, last word. this story isn't only about the tensions within the transatlantic alliance, but also, wh it comes to turkey, who's in nato, obviously, but also president putin, who's about to celebrate his 20th year in power. t yes, but the two are related. so i think the fat we have our european allies questioning the u.s. commitment to nato more fundamentally than they have since nato's foundg, that has created an opening. and it's to the delight of vladimir putin to be able to weaken nato,o see dissension in nato, and to start picking

off allies like turkey, say, hey, if you know you can't relyt united states, you're not sure of the predictability of their policy, the reliability of their leadership, let a sell you so defenses for you. sounds like a great deal, but that's a wonderful way to get st there ant dividing the alliance. >> schifrin: michele flournoy, schake, thanks to you all. >> nawaz: and what a decade it's been. online, watch our in series on protest movements that broke out across the globe this year, with a deeper heok tonight atnrest in hong kong. you can find that when you follow us on instagram at newshour. >> nawaz: stay with coming up on the newshour: breaking through. lilly singh on becoming e first woman of color to host a network late night show. onhe "newshour bookshelf," "the other americans." immigrant stories immortalized in fiction. and, united we sing. a version of the hiday classic

"carol of the bells." today marked the first time since the french revolution that notre dame's famed catheal did not host a christmas service. instead, its congregation, clergy andhoir celebrated midnight mass at a church across from the louvre museum. noe dame's monsignor warned there's a 50% chance that the 12th century cathedral, damaged fully saved.is year, cannot be that, as french officials plan restoration and repair work for 2021.ey as jefrown reported this fall, major questions are being debated among the french about how best to save the cathedral. here's a reprise of that report. >> brown: they are the fallen inangels: once soaring highe cathedral, now lying chipped,br oken and contaminated in the" historical monument researchra lary" in a suburb of paris, where director aline magnn sums up the daunting challenge of restoring notre

dame. >> ( translated ): it's ally a building site like no other. it's quite an extraordinary projec which is very difficult, very tough and very demanding at the same time. >> brown: from some angles toda you can squint and imagine all is well at notre dame, but it icertainly not, and tourists and locals alike still mourn. >> just devastated for the whald because ofa treasure it is. >> it's the eiffel tower and notre dame, when you think of paris. >> a monument burning is like of humanity vanishing. a story >> brown: visitors continue to come-- an act of witness, or c juiosity. but now, large barriers are up and the entire site is closed off. inside, the cleanup continues. and all around, the realizatn has grown of just how hard it will be to restore the great cathedral. >> the dust is mainly

concentrated in seals like this, or on the banks of the seine, between cobbles or in inlays or in cracks like this. >> brown: an immediate and ongoing problem: lead contamination. the fire melted hundreds of tons of lead in the roof, and the smokcarried and spread itth jacky bonnemains oe frencha. environmental group "robin hood," says the government was slow to respond to a public health threat, even allowing t sitors into the cathedral's plaza for the finths. >> from around april 20 until august 20, iwas open. there were thousands of people, toists, coming as families with children, who were lying on the ground to take photos and to eat. >> brown: nearby schools like this one had to be decontaminated. the long-term health impact remains unclear. also unclear? just how much of the leafound here, in a city as old as paris, is due to the fire. government officials insist they

are taking it seriously, but bonnemais group has filed a lawsuit demanding more accountability. >> ( translated ): what we really want, and this might surprise you, is thar cities in france, as a lot of towns in spain and in italy, maybe even in the unittes, that have beautiful monuments like notre dame, learn somethini from thi and the way it was handled. in the end, that's what r want e future. >> brown: lead contamination inside the cathedral has slowed the cleanuand forced workers ti wear hazmat suits. in july, authori offered s veral media organizationa tour of the interior, but not long after, issued a dramatic new warning: that the entire structe is still in danger of collapse. and stabilizing the walls is a priori before turning to any restoration of the spire and roof. at the lab outside paris, aline magnien explained it this way: >> ( translated ): the's a risk that notre dame's vault will become unstable, which

would result in more stone falling and would put the public in danger. so we have to establish to what extenthe stones are damaged and whether they still have some resistance. and then, which stones we can keep and which ones need tbe replaced. >> brown: here, scientists study how stones drenched with werer in the aftth of the fire expand or contract as they dry. >> this is a vault element that has been used to many, many little tests. >> brown: they're also conducting tests using lasers to clean the stones. so the test is to see if the lead can be removed by this kind of method. and then they will go to the cathedral with the machine and make tests on the wall and on the sculptures of the cathedral. >> brown: all of this will eventually lead to the main event-- actually rebuilding and restoring notre dame. and surrounding that are many more issue though the cathedral dates to medieval times, the spire was actually a 19th century design by architect eugene viollet

le-duc. among the questions now: whether to restore the wooden and lead of or use more modern materials, and whether to build an exact replica of the spire. when authorities put out a public call for new designs just days after the fire, instagram lit up, including with some wild ideas. but the prevailing attitude seems to be, rebuilt it exactly as it was. art historian phillipe plagnieux. >> ( translated ): i think our duty is to preserve the heritage we've ted for future generations, and if we can't preserve it, then we should recreate it. reconstructing the cathedral, the roof, the spire, as it was before. >> brown: another question: how soon can this be done? immediately after the fire, french president macron promised to rebuild within five years-- a target many saw as timed to france's hosting of the 2024 olympic games. this summer, france's parliament

created a new commission to oversee reconstruction, led by a former army chief. it's yet to formally mt, but we talked with one member, monsignor benoist de sinety, who will represent the catholic church. >> ( translated ): the most important thing is to remember foremost a cathedrchurch,and a place of worship. e brown: that may sound obvious, but debd already years, as it became an often overrun tourist site.no the monswants to use this moment to return to church values. >> ( translated ): it is o portant to underline that when a bishop decidedild a cathedral in the middle ages, it was also a project to help the poorest in society. today when rebuilding notrere dame, weoing to launch projects to help the most vulnerable in our society. >> brown: there are so many interest political and economicand cultural, of course, and the church. could there be a clash?

>> never in france. laughs ) >> brown: which means, always in france? >> ( translated ): of course ere will be difficulties there will be questions, big debates. in france, we like having big debates, asking questions. we can go on and on. ( english ): we love to speak. brown: will the rebuilding go a on? like others we spoke with, monsignor de sinety wonders when the last stone will finally be completely restored and.ral reopened but he does hope to celebrate mass in notre dame within thene five years. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in paris. >> nawaz: a new face appeared in late night television this fall, and she has broken all of ground to get there. "a little late with lilly singh" on nbc made 31-year-old lilly singh the only woman-- and

only person of color-- to get that slot on a major network. we visited lilly oher los angeles set just before her debut. this encore report is rt of our series "race matters." she's one of youtube's biggest success stories ever. lilly singh, a.k.a. superwoman, first dipped a toe into internet waters tenears ago with basic video blogs... but she quickly dove deeper in, developing her comedic skill. and, over the years, upping her production game, translating both into four million subscribers and over three billion video views. she's now going where noer

youtas gone before-- network television. tonight, she'll make her debut o on nbc as ho"a little late with lilly singh," taking over the late-night te slot for carson daly. singh made the announcin march, welcomed by her fellow nbc late night hosts, jimmy fall and seth meyers. a >>indian canadian woman with her own late night show, now that's a dream come true!il >> nawaz: she her fame by standing out online, and in her new role, singh will definitely stand apart. when your show premieres, you are going to be the only woman on the major networks, in late night, in a sea of white male hosts. w are you thinking about that? >> honestly, it's exciting, and nerve-wrecking at the same time. i mean, it's a huge honor, i'm so humbledo be part of creating that path, because i wouldn't be here without the women that paved the path before

me, but i think that, for the same reason, it's so important for me to bring that authentic point of view, you know? >> nawaz: she'll also be the only woman of color on lateon night televiand the first l.g.b.t.q. host of any network late night show, ever. singh came out as bisexual to her family last ye, and to her fans, just six months ago. >> it's been tough, but it's been-- listen, at the end of the day, i always think there's two ways that you can go, especially in our community.n you the route that is, scared, i'm scared. or you can go the route of, i'm going to lead with love.e and i think ute of leading with love is, even though this is scary, i'm going to share this about myself because it h wip people. and all i want to do is encourage more people in our community, especially our south asian community, to, even if is scary, and you're not supposed to talk about it, talk about it. talk about it. lead with love. it's unlearning people opinions about me, and what, >> nawaz: at lesson was years in the making, tracing back to 2010 when singh posted her first video on youtube, with no clea reer plans, struggling with depression, and living in her parents' suburban toronto home. but right away, singh says, she

knew this was th. and what was that conversation with your parents like? >> it was like hey, i don't nt to go to grad school, i would like to make videos on youtube. >> nawaz: that sounds reasonable. >> yeah, they had a lot of questions. but i think in their mind, they were le, this is a phase, she's going to grow out of it, next year she's going to do these essays, and get into graduate schoo i did not think they were expecting me to make a career out of this. i don't think anyone was, to be. fa >> nawaz: branding herself as superwoman, singh set herself apart on a crowded internet by leaning into her view of the world. posting campy impersonations of her parents... ...writing and performing hip- hop parodies....a delivering a steady stream of observational humor in her signature over-the-top style.

as her followers and her fame grew, singh's reach extended far beyond the internet. ascended into entertnment's upper echelon, collaborating with hollywood royalty like the rock, pop culture stars likele sena gomez, even interviewing then-first lady michelle obama.l the singh empire has now unfurled across media platforms. her 2017 self-help book "how to be a bawse" became a "new york times" best-seller.he world tours sold out in dozens of countries. her journey so far has even been documented in a 2016 film, a documentary called "a trip to unicorn island unicorns, by the way, are sort of a thing for singh. >> i just like unicorns! honestly, i am obsessed with them, because i feel like any time i talk about unicns, people are so fixated on if they're real or not, and i feel

like that misses the whole point. i feel like, if i want to saya i'icorn, then i'm a unicorn,nd you can just believe and be. and also, it's because my synonym for a happy place is unicorn island, that's really >> nawaz: for her chapter, singh has brought along the team from some of her biggest viral hitshehoping they can create t same success for nbc. >> socl media people are mine, the editor is mine, possiblyua >> nawaz: y important, she says, is the history she's carrying forward. amin 1986, joan rivers becthe first woman given a shot at the late night chair, but she failed to gain traction and was quickly taken ofthe air. it took decades before another woman was given another chance, and since then, no woman has made it past a single season in late night at any major network.

regardless of what the outcome is, and m being super candid with you, it's kind of not going to matter, because it's going to help continue to pave that path, and that's wt my priority is w. >> nawaz: you're saying regardless of how this goes, the fact that you are here. >> i mean, we nt it to go well, there's no doubt we want it to go well, but i'm saying my actual presence, andveryone else being a part of this, is already going to contribute to paving that path. >> nawaz: in some ways, singh is uniquely qualified to succeed in the new world of late night, one in which hos are scrambling to turn television segments into internet sensations. >> when i'm sitting with my writers, and we're going through ate show format, i think g that's a great show. and i think by nature my brain at's goinglly goes, to be the youtube part of it, and this is what the title is going to be, and that's going te be. >> nawaz: you can just see that. >> it's already built in, like, i'm already sitting with myin writers like, perfect, and we'll call it this, and we'll frame the question like this, and it will be done.in so, i it's just a different way of thinking, it's about thinking about two formats rather than just one. >> nawaz: when her show premieres tonight, singh says she knows she'll be speaking to

a largely-new television audience, one she won't have much time to win over. >> i want to go out there and be like, this is my point of view, this is what i'm going throughth e are my thoughts and feelings, this is the person i am, and this is the person i wa you to get to know, not just talk show host, but i want you to get to know lilly. >> nawaz: now, a new entry on the "newshour bookshelf." d ffrey brown caught up with the national book awction finalist laila lalami at the miami bo festival. her latest work of fiction "the other americans" explores issues of immigtion and identity, part of our ongoing ts and culture series, "canvas."am >> laila l >> thank you for having me. >> i don't usually start this way but looking at the title itself, the other americans. what does that mean, what do you mean by that phrase? >> well the book starts off with the hit and run of aow

morrocan immigrants told in the mind of the character. while they are all tied to this in one way or another also have a shared experienca feeling as though they were on the outside. whether they are migrants, whether they are documented or undocumented or naturalized or has moved froofm one par this country to another. forxample the version in the hit and run moved tosm thiall desert town where the accident the characters are feeling as thoughhey are other some sense ask that's what tied the book together. >>t begins as a kind of murder mystery. you have that style of writing, a kind ofhodonit. buy grafted on to that is much bigger. >> i started working on this book in 2014 and my dad had gotten really sick and i had to

travel to morocco and i really thought he was near death. fortunately he recovered and he's fine now but that experience really brought home for me some of the longer term consequences of the immigrating to this country more than 25 years ago and i thought the book really exploring that and the grief of loss really squared me. but as a mystery might keep me interested and keep me going in terms of writing the story ando having of an energy to the merit of it. work or perhaps not work sometimes to explore big issuesi this. >> i think it works really well to explore these issues. i think one oproblems in writing about issues like this in non-fiction is thast it' impossible to do it withoutd taking s. in fiction, when you write about

themeshat show exclusion or racism or discrimination, there is the possibility of showingr different ectives and each perspective retwns itsn integrity in a way. so when the wife is recounting this event, it's a story of grief, when e detective is talking about it, it's a crime story. when the daughter is talking about it, e it's also a story of loss and missed opportunities. so it's a way of looking at lif in a way. i really do believe that fiction allows the possibility to tell the truth in a way that n-fiction doesn't because non-fiction is more interested in facts. and i think that there is a truth.acts and >> the main protagonist, the man who is killed gees to tll part of his story too . he really talks opnly about the american dream and his daughter

tas about hm seeing his living the american dream. so you are exploring and taking this head on. >> he's interesting character because he had not intendeon immigrating to the united states. he was a graduate stude in philosophy of all things and got involved- >> in morocco. >> in morocco and got involved different polical events that caused him to want to leave. and he went from being somebody who is very much i would say, i mean he had like marxist tendencies when he arrived in the u.s. stting a business and embracing fully the idea of the of course the irony is that on the very first page of the book when you open the book he dives into this very mysterious run and we're not clear what motives there are bend it. >> how much this comes from your own background, your own experience as an imgru immigrant yourself. >> in my case i became an immigrant because i metomeo and fell in love and got

married. before i knew it i was an immigrant and then later an american. i was reflecting on this experience and how it changed my life. i realize this is something that people in this country. mil there are a great number of people in this country and each of them has a very different life experience, a different ason for why they are immigrating and in the book i fry texplore two -- i try to explore these two or three experiences. the book is the imaginion bu it really what got me started into it and th inspiration came to me. >> how much is tied to the politics of our time? because i know you also writeco mns and essays and you address these issues in that way too. t>> yeah. to ms is really a book that's more general about the experience of graduatian in americi sort of leave my own political opinions about the i have actually a book of

non-fiction coming out next yeaw ch i talk a bit more about from my mom's perspective.tion >> but in the novel you chose to do something diesferent. >> in the novel it's more about the private experience of immigration. speaks a foreign language which i am doing right now. and especially when you first arrive in the country and you mispronounce something and somebody laughs or you don't quite know the culture or some of the jokes that people are saughing about and so thi experience of being on the outside is an experience that m i've had life not just because i'm an immigrant but also for example, after i finished my ph.d. work and often times i was thenly woman. sometimes it's this experience being on the outside is e that i have spent a lot of time thinking about. i think most of my fiction

really is about the act of crossing borders and the preliminarimplications that it . >> did you feel you had to wrap it up or tie it up in some way or resolve tings. well the characters is very much unresolved and the book is really about the reationship between them. it's not as if they start out in one pointp and end u in another point where everything is ectly sorted out in -- lives. it's not like that. it's really about how they relate to one anoer in the aftermath of the crime. we do find out who was behind all of it. but the book is really an opportunity to look at the relationship to one another. >> the book is the other americans. laila lalami, nice talking to yog >> nice talk you too. >> nawaz: and finally on thisgh christmas we continue a tradition started a few years ago when we asked the u.s.

military to share a holiday story or song. tonight, musicians from thair force, army, navy, marine corps and coast guard perform "carol of the bells." this video was produced by the "defense media activity" group, an agency within the departmentd ense. ♪ ♪ ♪ hark how the bells sweet silver bells ♪ all seem to say "throw cares away" ♪ christmas is here bringing good cheer ♪ to young and old meek and the bold that is their songdong ♪ with joyful ring all caroling♪ one seems to hear words of good cheer ♪ from everywhere fi♪ing the air h, how they pound raising the sound ♪ o'er hill and dale telling their tale ♪ gaily they ring while people sing ♪ songs of good cheer christmas is here ♪ merry, mey, merry, merry christmas ♪ merry, merry, merry, merry christmas ♪ on, on they send

♪ hark how the bells sweet sier bells ♪ all seem to say "throw cares away" ♪ christmas is here bringing good eer ♪ to young and old meek and the bold ♪ ding-dong, ding-dong ♪ oh, how they pound raising the sound ♪ o'er hill and dale telling their tale ♪ gaily they ring while people sing ♪ songs of good cheer christmas is here ♪ merry, merry, merry, merry christmas merry, merry, merry, merry ♪ christmas ♪ hark how the bells sweet silver bells ♪ all seem to say "throw cares away" ♪ christmas is here bringing good cheer♪ to young ad meek and the bold ♪ ding-dong, ding-dong that is their song ♪ with joyful ringli all ca ♪ one seems to hear words of good cheer ♪rom everywhere filling the air ♪ oh, how they pound raising the sound a ♪ o'er hi dale telling their tale ♪ gaily they ring while people sing ♪ songs of good che

christmas is here ♪ merry, merry, merry, merrych stmas ♪ merry, merry, merry, merry christmas ♪ hark how the bellser sweet siells ♪ all seem to say "throw cares away" ♪ christmas is here bringi good cheer ♪ to young and old meek and the bold ♪ ding-dong, ding-dong that is their song ♪ with joyful ring all caroling ♪ one seems to hear words of good cheer ♪ from everywhere filling the air ♪ oh, how they pound raising the sound telling their talele ♪ gaily they ring while people sing ♪ songs of good cheerri mas is here ♪ merry, merry, merry, merry christmas ♪ merry, merry, merry, merry christmas ♪ hark how the bells sweet silver bells ♪ all seem to say "throw cares away" ♪ christmas is here bringing good cheer ♪ to ung and old meek and the bold ♪ ding-dong, ding-dong that is their song ♪ with joyful ring all caroling ♪ o seems to hear words of good cheer ♪ from everywhere filling the air ♪ oh, how they pound raising the sound ♪ o'er hill and dale telling their tale ♪ gaily they ring while people sing ♪ songs of good cheer christmas is here ♪ merry, merry, merry, merry

christmas ♪ merry, merry, mmerry christmas ♪ hark how the bells sweet silv bells ♪ all seem to say "tow cares away" ♪ christmas is here bringing good cheer ♪ to young and old meek and the bol ♪ ding-dong, ding-dong that is their song ♪ with joyful ring all caroling ♪ one seems to hear words of good cheer ♪ from everywhere filling the air ♪ oh, how they pound raising the sound ♪ o'er hill and dale tellig their tale ♪ gaily they ring while people sing ♪ sgs of good cheer christmas is here ♪ merry, merry, merry, merry christmas ♪ merry, merry, merry, merry christmas ♪ on, on they send on whehout end ♪ joyful tone to every home ♪ ding-dong, ding-dongdo ding-dong, din ♪ their joyful tone to every home ♪ing-dong, ding-dong ding-dong, ding-dong

>> nawaz: on the newshour online right now, as the decade comes to a close, what's changed? from smartphones, to the effects of climate change, to the #metoo movement, we take a look at seven major shiftshat have shaped our world. that's on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. on tomorrow's newshour, national book award winner sarah broom on her memoir about life in new orleans few get to visit: "the yellow house." i'm amna nawaz. join us online, and again heremo ow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you fortm spending chrisas day with us. we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been pr by: >> consumer cellular. b f railway.

ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers likyou. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productio, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> you're watching pbs.

♪ >> hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & company." this holiday season, we're dipping into the archives of our favorite inwssome from the year. so here's what's coming up. >> our first duty. in something like this, an impeachment hearing, is to let people understand and see all the facts to make the judgment for themselves.rk >> the new imes, president trump's favorite adversary in his media war -- i speak to dean baquet, executive editor of that newspaper, about covering these extraordinary times. then... >> you know, seeing, you know, people go to these events or become what, in my view, was a process of radical -- radicalization, that freaked me out. >> the whistleblower who exposed the data harvesting scandalid at cam analytica. christopher wylie on how it helped trump get elected.