in the strategic districts of sang. u.n. security council backs a deal between warring factions in libya to form a government, plus.

>> divya gopalan, in search of disappearing pink dolphins. >> huge fire has killed at least 25 people in saudi arabia. the blaze broke out in the intensive care unity and the maternity department at a hospital in the port city of jizan. more than 100 people are injured. it's taken civil defense teams to battle the fire, an investigation is underway. taliban is fighting for control of the helmand province. after heavy fighting in the past few days. the key battle is now in sangen. british soldiers have been sent back to advise a year april they

left the region. update from kabul. >> he tells us in the past 24 hours, 20 have been killed and more than 60 wounded. he says the siege was very intense and he also believes that there are civilian casualties. he has no information as the battle ground is not accessible. to get more information from the area. hell mandatarea. helhelmand, is well-known for is opium produce and opium trade, people's livelihood is growing

poppies. people feel that the poppy is the only way of living and making the living. so afghan government would go eradicate and people would push back the government. so that's why taliban got the support from people and their farms have been protected from being eradicated. >> david sydney is foreign policy analyst at the wilson center in washington, d.c. he says the afghan army is showing its weakness. >> i don't know exactly what's going on but apparently the taliban have made big advances in helmand in the winter. there is no more lull in winter as it used to be. this offensive is increasing. helmand province is right on the border from pakistan. there is nothing that stops them, soldiers arms and equipment across the border.

at the same time, the afghan national army core that was charged with defending, decided to not leave any advisorrers behind them, instead a group of green soldiers. >> the attack happened when a taliban fighter drove a motorcycle packed with explosives into the group. 9800 u.s. troops in afghanistan. let's go back to our top story that fire in a hospital in saudi arabia. let's bring in alsand.

can you tell us what you know happened and what you saw? >> hello, good morning. actually what happened was a actual tragedy. all waking up for this bad news. the actual number of beds is increasing, it is 25 or nearly 30. actually, the injured patients, most of them are paicialts patis intensive in the hospital. almost 100 were injured and transferred to another hospital. >> do you know what happened? the fact that it apparently was raging in the intensive care unit? >> actually, the source of the fire was from an electrical

source that we hear about. and most of the day our patients in the intensive care unit, in the intensive care unit, and also, there is a few numbers from the only one patient who just died from the fire. then moved to nearby hospital, governmental hospital. all the hospital they announced a code yellow disaster of course for external disaster, try to evacuate intensive care unit too. >> i should imagine that everyone's feeling really shocked about this happening. >> yes, it was -- >> for those who needed it so badly. >> yes, it was very shocked news, today we just came, to the

hospital, with this very bad news, 25 just decide dye died fs fire. >> well thank you very much for talking us through what happened, what you saw and what's going on at the moment. aimmediate alsand. foreign minister made announcement during a visit to china which has hosted both government and opposition figures before. the u.n. hopes that talks will lead to the formation of a national unity government. security council approved an endorsement that approved an international road map for peace. the u.n. security council has given its full support to a new national oourn unity party n

libya. kristin saloomey reports. >> four years after the death of moammar ga gadhafi plunged the country into chaos. >> it cannot achieve the aspirations of all parties but it best represents what we can potentially achieve and it is the highest common denominator. >> reporter: members of two rival governments and civil society groups reached an agreement on the government this past week. the u.n. special representative for libya encouraged other libyans to come on board for the good of the libyan people. >> schools have to be open, the life has to start again, hospitals have to work again and

peace and security should really be established over time. and this is task of the government of national unity. >> reporter: warring factions in the country have led to instability. presence of i.s.i.l. also making libya the hub of human trafficking of migrants seeking to cross to europe. threat to international peace and security. the resolution calls on countries to respond urgently, particularly in dealing with i.s.i.l. but the government has to ask first. the united kingdom which drafted the resolution says it is ready to help. >> we are waiting with impatience this government of national accord, once it is created, we will talk with them

about the need to fight daesh. >> kristin saloomey acknowledge al jazeera, united nations. the governor of anbar province says the military claims to have killed thousands of fighters, an iraqi state tv reports that u.s. air strikes have targeted areas in ramadi. president, now has seven days to name a new candidate. >> translator: positions are temporary, while motherland is

eternal. i'd like to wish our future prime minister the best. >> lincoln mitchell is an author and journalist, who said there was speculation that he was going to step down, because georgian party. >> many in georgia that he was not the person they wanted at the top of the ticket. this was a change that many expected before the election at some point and it would not have been good to do it two months before, so ten to 15 months somewhere in this window, having said that, i didn't think he would resign today. the georgia's economy is not doing well and voters in georgia are very concern about this.

the georgian dream came in overproposalsed and they couldn't fulfill. they and the leading opposition party are in a statistical dead heat. soft support will come back to them by the sometime of the next election, if they do their work. >> still to come in the program. >> democracy delayed. i'm adam rainey, presidential election is put on hold indefinitely. >> and thousands of people are being shut out. out.

>> hello again, the top stories

on al jazeera. at least 25 people have died in saudi arabia after a fire broke out at a hospital in the port city of jizan. firefighters have managed to put out the blaze and investigation is underway. in afghanistan, the taliban is fighting for control of the helmand province, heavy fighting in the past few days. key battle is now in sangen. the united nations security council has given its pull backing to the new government in libya. a month to form it's government and a national security plan. israeli police have shot a palestinian man dead in the occupied west bank. they say they they were responding after the man stabbed two security guards at the

entrance of the industrial area at ariel settlement. 132 palestinians and 20 descrailz dead. thisraelisdead. palestinian political leaders have decided to tone down festivities there as imtiaz tyab reports. >> it's a tradition that he looks forward to, but he suffers from severe pain and can barely stand as he was shot in the neck and injured after israeli commandos infiltrated the group of palestinian protesters he was with and allegedly opened fire

with live rounds. he was sent an online video, that shows the moment that the soldiers began shooting at protest, and when he was picked up by first responders. >> when i look at the person in the video it seems as though i was looking at someone else, it was a life change experience. all i ask is that people pray for us in the area of the nativity. i ask people to pray for peace in palestine. >> it's not just families like the babishes who are struggling to celebrate this christmas. municipalities across the west bank have also decided to scale back festivities. the nativity is on display but

elsewhere decorations were either toned down or not put up at all. political leaders said it was the right thing to do. >> this is mosaic of life in bethlehem. all the conditions, joy, sadness, faith, challenges and the encounters with faith on grounds. >> at the opposite end of the square, palestinians decorate the olive tree. they are calling it a resistance tree, it is meant to symbolize the bitterness of christmas celebrations in the city where jesus christ was born and that was promised peace in the bible. something it has seen very little of in recent years. imtiaz tyab, al jazeera occupied west bank. hossein ahmed has died at the age of 89.

he is one of the key figures in resistance to french colonial rool after independence in 1962 continued to push for political pleurallism and spent decades in exile in switzerland. presidential runoff was cancelled after allegations of fraud but martelly from port-au-prince. >> not good enough, formation of a commission to investigate claims of fraud in the october presidential election. >> the members of the commission were hand picked by president martelly and his commission. we don't recognize it. >> reporter: the critique followed the prime minister's

announcement of the five member commission on tuesday. >> the government guarantees the commission's authority. >> opposition groups say some people voted multiple times while intimidation kept many from casting ballots. that in a race with dozens of candidates vying for presidency. this is just some of the faces of the 54 original presidential candidates in haiti. the december 27 runoff has been postponed indefinitely but people we have been speaking to say no matter when that takes place they have lost confidence. >> they stole our votes. it is a very dirty game. >> during the election the people are just pawns. even if you vote the results never shows who really won.

>> reporter: suspicion also fuels apathy. 27% cast ballots in the first rowrpd. there's growing international concern that the second round should be heard soon. u.n. security council called for timely government formation in accordance with the constitutional time trail, including the inauguration of the new president. >> we have fired people we. osuspect of fraud.

>> adam rainey, al jazeera, poarpts. >> planes at a airport in the city of clarksdale overturned. more people are living in the united states a in mobile homes. john hendren has been speaking to people who want more legal protection. >> reporter: heather lived in her mobile home for 13 years. she liked it so much, she was planning to buy another one for her children. >> we were actually thinking of moving, now her husband lost his

job and they owe $17,000 on the home. >> the bank is going to have to figure out what to do with it. we're not children, homemakers, school teachers, we're just dollar signs just because we live in a mobile home and not in a stick-built house. we wanted to live a nice life and have nice things for kids. >> for people who live in trailer parks. >> if your richest relatives buy a new house and you have to take the wheels off of it, you might be a redneck. >> but when trailer park owners sell the land, those with homes on it, people like jo lowenthal, get nothing. >> we're not trailer-trash,

we're regular americans. and people in the lower bract bt are being secluded from having their own life which is sad. >> in most u.s. states there are no protections. the land owner can sell at will, raise the rent, and even dictate how tenants' gardens should look. and so-called mobile homes are not mobile at all. >> they are mobile as far as getting from the factory to the site and are not intended to move again. they are losing all their equity, they may still have a mortgage. i call mobile home owners prisoners in their own home. >> the residents in this park have been notified that this park will be closed down, one homeowner had just bought two weeks before the notice. the park owner didn't mention

that when they moved in. john hendren, al jazeera, seattle. >> nigeria's capital is a city under construction. hundreds ar of homes are built h month. ahmed idris reports. >> it is 5:00 in the morning before douglas says good-bye to his family before heading off to work. by the time he comes back at night his children will be asleep. >> i feel bad, but i pray to god that one day we will overcome the situation. so really, it's not helpful for you to continue being without your children all the time. >> reporter: the civil servant one of hundreds in the city to live far away from work, because

they can't afford the rent. every month hundreds of homes are built here but many of them are empty. >> how many people can afford to buy a house of 100 million in nigeria? unfortunately, every developer actually 2% of the population. >> which means many people here won't be able to afford these new homes. house in this estate costs about $500,000 to buy. renting one is as much as $25,000 a year. developers put the blame on expensive land and infrastructure and pass the burden to tenants. so for many nigeri nigerian cits about affordability. poor roads and insecurity.

nigeria's home market is overregulated. those who are supposed to save are also part ever the industry. relegated to the slums that encircle the city. ahmed idris, al jazeera. sentenced migrant in nigeria to death. migrant's lawyers accuse thai police of mishandling the investigation, because of pressure to solve the police. conservationists in hong kong, fight to save so-called pink dolphins. from hong kong divya gopalan has more. >> reporter: the first thing they tell you on the dolphin watch tour is not to have high

expectations. but it's turned out to be a good day for these visitors. >> i was lucky to see two pink dolphins, so fantastic, so beautiful. >> i was so surprised whether i saw them jumping from the water. >> it's a surprise for everyone on the boat. even the tour guide. >> nowadays, dolphins appear to be quite scary. they get quite close to the boat here. it's very real. >> pink dolphin numbers have dropped more than 60% in the last decade. conservationists say it is mainly because of major building projects in hong kong waters. the 50 kilometer bridge connecting hong kong with macao and juhai, they fear plans to expand hong kong's airport would drive away what's left of the dolphin population. this area is known as the

dolphin corridor. this is where they travel through for feeding spots and cleaner waters. but this is the site for the airport's new runway, reclaiming 6.5 kilometers of water area. their proposals have been ignored. they are considering leel actiol action, despite the government's plan to construct until 2023. >> i think it's a huge question mark and i think it's very uunlikely that the dolphin will be able to hang on for that long. >> the dolphins have been swimming in these waters for centuries. sings hong kong transformed from a fishing villa an to one of the

world's largest population hubs. divya gopalan, al jazeera, hong kong. >> just a reminder, you can get updated at the website, aljazeera.com. >> i'm russell beard in northern kenya where local hero martin wheeler is taking elephant conservation to new heights. >> i'm jasmeen qureshshi in monterey bay california where researchers have discovered that sea otters