December 26, 2019 - PBS NewsHour full episode

Months-long protests in major Iraqi cities have led to the prime minister's resignation, but leaders have been unable to secure a replacement, and those demanding reform remain as animated as ever. Lisa Desjardins reports and speaks to the Atlantic Council’s Abbas Kadhim about what protesters are seeking, why the political elite have been unable to deliver it and where the average Iraqi stands.

Although 2020 is only days away, Americans in the territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are still recovering from devastating storms that hit back in the fall of 2017. Hurricanes Maria and Irma flooded and leveled parts of the Caribbean islands, and residents say the FEMA response has been painfully slow and inadequate. Amna Nawaz talks to The New York Times’ Zolan Kanno-Youngs.

For over a month, the United Nations has been sounding the alarm about a growing food crisis in Zimbabwe. It’s estimated that 60 percent of the population there lacks access to adequate food. Amna Nawaz reports and speaks to Gerry Bourke of the United Nations World Food Programme and Harry Thomas, a career diplomat who served as U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe from 2016 to 2018, about relief efforts.

Economists Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee won the 2019 Nobel Prize for their work on poverty, conducting experiments in developing nations to see what actually works to improve the lives of the poor -- and what doesn’t. But the married couple has also cast their critical eyes on the developed world and economic orthodoxy in their new book, “Good Economics for Hard Times.” Paul Solman reports.

Sarah Broom’s 2019 memoir, “The Yellow House,” won the National Book Award for non-fiction. Jeffrey Brown sits down with Broom to discuss her mother and how an obsession with houses passed down two generations to the author herself, why Broom doesn’t appear until 100 pages into the book and the larger story she is telling about New Orleans East.

Singer and songwriter Mike Love is best known as one of the founding members of the Beach Boys, whose infectious harmonies and unique California sound first hit the airways nearly 60 years ago, in 1961. Through the ups and downs of a long career, Love still considers it a “precious miracle” the way fans connect with his music. He shares his Brief But Spectacular take on his life as a Beach Boy.

British painter J.M.W. Turner was both prolific and peripatetic, producing more than 30,000 watercolors during a lifetime in which he traveled throughout Europe. But these works are extremely susceptible to light damage and can be shown only once in a generation. Now, they're on view at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut -- their only North American stop. Jared Bowen of WGBH reports.