>> i.s.i.l. leaders cannot hide and our next message to them is simple. you are next. >> after meeting with top military officials u.s. president barack obama warns i.s.i.l. leaders they are in the firing line of coalition forces. hello there i'm julie mcdonald. this is al jazeera live from london. also coming up: after protests in iraq, turkey withdraws troops it had stationed near mosul. iran rallies as earning south africa gets its third finance

minister in the last week. mexican tunnels to transport drugs to the u.s. we take a tour. warm welcome to the program. u.s. president barack obama has given a public address at the pentagon following his meeting with the national security council on its campaign to stop i.s.i.l. he said islamic state has lost around 40% of the area that it once controlled in iraq. >> every day we destroy as well more of i.s.i.l.'s forces. their fighting positions bunkers and staging areas, their heavy weapons, bomb make factories compounds and training examples. in many places i.s.i.l. has lost its freedom of maneuver because they know if they mask their force we will wipe them out.

in fact since this summer i.s.i.l. has not had a stinl successful majosingleoffensive successful offensive operation in iraq or syria. >> rosiland jordan is there. how about it raising confidence in new york? >> that is very much the way it is, julie. before he embarrass for a two week holiday break to remind the u.s. public ha that his public s very much focused on the threat of i.s.i.l. and his administration is taking seriously the need to have some sort of holistic response. and including of course a military response. it's note worthy that the president went to the pennington to have this national security team meeting because it gave him an opportunity for one to show

that his top jernl generals are focused on the fight against i.s.i.l. and two he was able to make an announcement that the defense secretary ash carter would be heading to the region tuesday in order to meet with commanders there as well as with forces on the ground who are helping to support the local forces, the members of the syrian opposition and the iraqi military who are supposed to be taking the fight directly to i.s.i.l. >> and roz it was also interesting that obama tried to reframe if you like the current narrative, we have won back forces from i.s, but do you think americans will believe him given current fear factor? >> trying to reassure the public of course, the only way to know whether or not that works at least here in this country is for pollsters ogo out and talk to people about whether they believe that the administration

is in fact doing everything that they think is required not only to deal with the problem with i.s.i.l. but also to reassure them that they and their families are safe. and that's a much more intangible quality, and something that doesn't slow up. that said, simply not being visible, simply not talking about it is not going to be the way to reassure americans. what we didn't hear in the president was an appeal to americans to be more inclusive, to be more welcoming of their friends and neighbors, who happened to be muslim. and that's mainly because today, this was as much about responding to critics who say that there should be some sort of very aggressive posture towards i.s.i.l, rather than what they say the administration hasn't been doing, and of course, we heard the president outline the steps that he has

instructed the military too take on this one part of an overall campaign against i.s.i.l. >> rosiland jordan joining us from washington, d.c, roz, thank you. syrian forces have reportedly seized control of a military air base in damascus, following intense fighting, opposition base, the capture is considered a victory for syrian troops and their allies, hezbollah is fighting under russian air cover in the area. foreign ministers are gathering in paris for high-level talks seeking to increase diplomatic efforts to end syria's bloody civil war. the fighting has killed more than 250 people in the last --

250,000 people in the last five years. more than half of the population has been displaced, 7.6 million internally and 3.9 million outside the country. the u.n. says 12.5 million people need humanitarian assistance. the indiscriminate attacks happening there are unacceptable. bernard smith has the stoish. story. >> winter has arrived in syria. bringing with it a new set of challenges for people who have been displaced from their homes. >> translator: these heaters are dangerous to have in a tent. chairn can suffocate from the smoke. children can suffocate from the smoke. >> while fighting in the area continues and is perhaps the most intense, anywhere in syria

in the central city of homs a u.n. administered ceasefire is holding. the u.n. chief steven o'brien met the residents, said lifesaving humanitarian aid had been delivered the first time in months. in southern damascus, iranian backed pro-government fighters have been tunneling towards government positions. antigovernment fighters say they are trying to cut a supply route to damascus airport. they say the proregime force does not recognize the truce signed by bashar al-assad's government. and more than 50 people have been killed on attacks in an opposition stronghold east of damascus. it happened after the u.n. chief wrapped up a three day visit to the area.

>> this situation is unacceptable, a blot on our collective conscience. >> there are about 7.6 million internally displaced syrians. 2 million children are out of school. bernard smith, al jazeera. >> let's go live now to dominic kane in paris for more on the meeting of foreign ministers there. hi dominic. i guess what they're looking for is consensus. do we know, are they anywhere near close no that? >> well julie the meeting has now just broken up. it lasted for two hours. the cavalcade of cars leaving behind me, to the coconsternationof the parisian g home. in recent days, to try fet the

opposition groups in syria to coalesce around a unitied position, the only future for syria insofar as democracy and peace was concerned would be without bashar al-assad. now, that's important because two countries that weren't at this meeting in paris, iran and russia, clearly 03 about the future involved bashar al-assad. that's important because secretary of state john kerry flies next, to meet with sergey lavrov and vladimir putin. what will be discussing there, is there any wiggle room for the two sides vis-a-vis bashar al-assad? because we know there's another meeting coming up in new york on friday to discuss the way forward, to try to find some

consent yul concretial fest pla. we'll wait to see if there is any statement after the talks. there were no sound bites for us to digest. we'll have to see where the french government issues a statementnology meeting. we'll bring that to you. >> dominic thank you. toirnlg has withdraw turkey has withdrawn about 1,000 troops in the area, turk turkey's prime minister said some troops were pulled out because of military necessity. osama ben javad reports from

erbil. >> turkey military troops are now on their way out of the area, turkey insists there was only 150 sent here but trucks are carrying tanks and other heavy military equipment back to turkey. the movement of this equipment and large number of troops caused a rowe between row betwen governments. trying to get these troops out of his territory. turkey insists. intense negotiations between baghdad and ankara and also the pressure from the u.n. now we know that these troops are on their way out and turkey insisting this is just a regular redeployment of troops.

>> two people are dead after police crashes with protesters in the southern city of arbakar. the region has a strong kurdish majority. ankara has imposecurfews in many parts of the country. >> saudi arabia has confirmed that its head of special operations and an 'e e mirates, houthi rebels and their allies with five progovernment fighters also killed in that fighting. and in haja province, strikes killed 19 yemeni civilians.

in in a few hours time a seven day ceasefire is expected to take hold. yemen's foreign minister insisted that fighting would stop on the evening of december the 14th. the iranian backed houthis have confirmed to assess hostilities in a war that has killed nearly sirks,000 peoples6,000 people. >> zuma was hugely criticized for replacing him with the relatively unknown david von ruyenp. now he got the boot. >> after a chaotic few days, it all began when president jacob

zuma fired the finance minister. determined to curb government spending this other areas as well. >> former minister nene had expressed severe reservations about the nuclear deal that south africa is on the brink of signing with russia for nuclear energy to be provided to this country. >> allowing him to stand for position, replaced by this man, david von royan, little be fcial experience and just 48 hours after he was hired he was let go. already struggling economy. >> much of the damage has endone. south africa's credit rating is likely to receive a down grade. the an rand has fallen by over .

that means the inflation rate is going to rise by far more than people have anticipated. that means interest rates will have to increase. >> it is now up to gordan will see. >> it is time that individuals or groups of individuals stop playing with state entities, other governments components, as if it's a personal toy. >> the local currency the rand has seen some gains overnight an the appointment. the ruling party the african national cons said it didn't push zuma. after he met with the party's subleadership over the weekend, the anc insisted it was because

of public concern. the appointment of a third finance minister will likely hurt president i zuma. you're watching al jazeera, one small step, russia prepares to send its soyuz rocket to the space station, all that when we come back. the only way to get better is to challenge yourself,

and that's what we're doing at xfinity. we are challenging ourselves to improve every aspect of your experience. and this includes our commitment to being on time. every time. that's why if we're ever late for an appointment, we'll credit your account $20. it's our promise to you. we're doing everything we can to give you the best experience possible. because we should fit into your life. not the other way around.

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a quick reminder of the top stories. barack obama says i.s.i.l, you can't hide, you're next it will but he admits he has to make faster progress against the group. reappointed as south africa's finance minister. third person to have been given the job in less than a week. voting in central african republic's referendum on.political change, muslim majority pk-5 district in bangui on monday, to prevent those voting going to the polls. several towns will have a third dave voting. five people were killed in clashes on sunday. over 100,000 muslims have been forced to leave the capital bangui since fighting began there.

those that stayed behind live in areas protected by security forces. but as rawa uze reports from the capital bangui many are still in constant fear for their lives. >> reporter: a rare call to prayer in the centrally african republic. the central mosque in bangui is only 4 place is of worship for the few thousand muslims who remain in the capital. 100,000 muslims were forced from their homes and thousands of others were killed during the civil war. >> translator: the car for all central africans, christians and muslims, they want to live with dignity and freedom. >> this is the only safe place for muslims, it is protected by international peace keepers. in this neighborhood, there is no conflict between muslims and

christians. but danger lurks nearby. >> translator: we cannot go to the hospital. we have sick children. if we go out they will kill us. >> cut from the rest of the city deprived of education and health care. security and limited access to the area makes it hard to earn a living. >> we have a problem securing merchandise. we can't go downtown to buy any goods and no one dares transporting the goods to us after fear of getting killed. >> what started three years ago as a power grab between groups, rapidly turned into a fight between christians and muslims. but christian worshipers in this church say they just want to live in harmony with their neighbors.

for father matthew, sunday mass is a weekly chance to pray for forgiveness and peace. >> peace goes through forgiveness. each one of us has to admit his mistakes and decide to change. >> the search for a long lasting peace continues. rawa ojai, llc, paai al jazeera. >> the court has ruled that back pain period pain, migraine pain, has denied it deliberately misled customers but the court said all the products contained the same amount of the active amount, ibuprofen licene.

>> this is a part of trying to send a message to large companies selling consumer goods to a mass market that you really need to be truthful in your advertising. because consumers rhyme on what you tell them. obviously, consumers are skeptical up to a point. but when you tell them something as specific as this just deals with one form of pain, when it doesn't, it's like any other pain relief tablet, that causes concern to us so we're very helpful these sorts of action he send a message, don't mislead consumers. at least 40 argentine workers were killed, they're continuing to try to free others who are still tramed. fest. >> now, when the world's most wanted drug lord, joaquin guzman el chapo tunld out of jail, it

made world headlines. smugglers have used tunnels for a long time to smug thei smugglr goods. ing johjohn holman has the stor. >> this one is different cmentd. it hides a secret. getting drugs into the biggest market, the united states. their sophisticated engineering and primitive transport system. this trolley can be wheeled long these rails as i'm doing now, and that's exactly what the people working here would do to transparent soil in and outranse

tunnel. everyone wants in. investigators tell us that tunnels like this one are actually rented out by their owners to other criminal groups who want to transport their merchandise to the other side. those hired to do the digging are normally told little, and run the biggest risk of arrest or worse. it has happened, that cartels kill the people who are digging so they take the secret of their work to the grave with them. recently tunneling the world's most wanted drug lord, el chapo out of his jail through his shower. the hot spot for smugglers. >> if you put a long row of smugglers on united states side and on the mexico side, at any given time there is a lot of empty warehouses. the cartel will use that to

their benefit. >> tunnel task force the u.s. formed to stop the network. they've discovered 40 tunnels everywhere from under toitle to behind lighting panels. when they find them they fill them in. bebut incredibly that doesn't always happen on the mexican side. >> we come across instance he why thewhere they are not remedd and the mexicans will dig in to lessen the investment. >> how many more are moving millions of dollars of drugs under the very ground the authorities are guarding? john holman, te tijuana, mexico. taking a russian and american

man to the international space station. despite that reliance, not everyone is safe. rory challands reports. >> judging wrong risks an explosive launch pad accident. put the first man in space, yuri gagarin in 1961 and its engineers never stopped, even though the space port became foreign territory when the soviet union deteriorated. >> maybe you hitchhiked or maybe you tracked for many kilometers but the job needed to be done. your country needed you. >> a soyeuse biconor is the only

way stroant astronauts can get e international space station. despite the glamor it couldn't be too hard to see that it's based on systems that are decades old. 20th century technology in a twinlt century world. that's fine if it works but increasingly, things have been going wrong. sometimes spectacularly so, this was an unmanned launch from bikenor in 2013. four more have been partial failure. vladimir putin left for the new come mo mowdome, according to

kremlin transcripts, he consolidated officials representing 126 million in investment. >> translator: it's a question of whether russia can reform the industry and modernize it. if not from the point of view of technology, at least from the point of view of efficiency. >> russia wants to cement its position as a global leader, that will be a challenge. ruskosmos, russia's space agency, recently was told it would get $22 billion for the next ten years and not much more than nasa gets for a single year. rory challands, al jazeera,

moscow. >> star wars any movie is the fishefirst star wars film on a decade. to find out more, the address is www.aljazeera.com. >> i'm mei-ling mcnamara in canada here to discover how the great bear rainforest is being protected. >> i'm amanda burrell. i'm in london to find out how to make old houses green.