sesss office the battle the iraqi army says it is close to capturing the stattegecally important city from isil. ♪ hello. you are watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up: >> pilgrims have gathered in bethlehem as midnight gas gets understandway on christmas gay. violence continues in the occupied west bank with another four palestinians killed. storms and tornados sweep through parts of the u.s. causing several deaths and

travel chaos. ♪ don't stop music. the refugee musicians banded together after crossing europe. >> the iraqi army said it liberated large parts of the city of ramadi from the islamic state in the levant. edging street by street t said advance is being slowed down by explosive devices left behind by isil. gerald tan has more. >> reporter: as the days wear on, iraqi forces trying to retake ramadi have made a sobering admission: it will take time. the military is trying to overpower isil fighters who have been in control of the city since may backed by airstrikes, ground troops edging forward,

street by street to the center. >> god willing, we will keep advancing. we are now in the main district. god willing, we will liberate the remaining part of ramadi. >> intelligence says there are just a few hundred isil fighters left within the city parameters. they are proving a difficult foe. explosives capable of damaging 25 ton vehicles have slowed down the advancing troops. but it hasn't stopped them. >> following the liberation of the area, the 16th division started work to remove and defuse bombs in roads and houses. >> the iraqi government, confident its security forces are in the final stages of this operation. >> a plan by the counterterrorism forces that surprised everyone. the plan is to circle the area

from the center. don't know which direction is being attacked by iraqi forces. >> ramadi is littered with rubble and schrapnel, battlefieldhrappnel, battlefie battlefield. the hope that victory will come swiftly and with no further loss of lives, but that seems unlikely. gerald tan, al jazeera. reports are emerging families will be allowed to leave damascus. they will allegedly be given safe package and will possibly be taken to the isil stronghold of raqua. >> the it syrian part-tirime mi has been in beijing to meet his chinese counterparts. both have agreed on the key

points required between the syrian government and the opposition. >> >> the syrian dialogue in geneva without any further interference. and our del gains would be ready as soon as we receive a list of the delegation. >> a peaceful resolution of the syrian issue. u.s. played a key role in negotiations. we agreed these should be upheld by the peace process. ♪

candlelight mass in bethlehem. pilgrims have gathered in manger square to mark the birth of jesus christ. security has been tight in and around the city as violence betweenisi and palestinians continues in the occupied west bank. more on that. >> reporter: palestinians marching through bethlehem playing christmas songs old and new lead the annual christmas parade with the patriarch of jerusalem. the procession from his headquarters in occupied east jerusalem and pass through the separation wall which it circles cities. the israeli government began construction. they say it's meant to stop violence. palestinians say it is nothing more than a land grab that will strangle bethlehem. thousands of palestinians have all come to manger square to celebrate the birth of jesus

christ alongside christian pilgrims from around the world. >> it is very important because fiments the birth of christ, the birth of hope, the birth of love. am. >> reporter: palestinian leaders scaled back christmas sell brakes across the occupied west bank after months of violence left around 20s israel is and 130 palestinians dead. bethlehem has seen some of the most intense protests and many residents say as years of occupation, all they want is peace. >> bethlehem, people have been killed, under siege. government a separation wall and bethlehem has turned from a city that carries the nativity to a city of the tortured. >> festitivities have been slowd

down. many want to celebrate christmas in the spirit of the holiday. in a background celebration with more violence and more loss of life. >> in separate incidents across the occupied west bank, israeli forces killed at least four palestinians on christmas eve despite the heavy crackdown by isra israelss military, the it only seems to be growing. even on a day which celebrates hope and peace. al jazeera, bethlehem in the okay pied west bank. >> earlier, pope francis used the christmas eve mass tostre ss the loving nature of god. he was leading his public mass for christmas at the basilica. on christmas day, tens of thousands of people are expected to gather in saint peter square outside the basilca for the pontiff to deliver a speech. >> u.s. and afghan security

forces have conducted airstrikes in a district in the southern province of hellmit. the scene of intention fighting for the past week. government troops andtable fighters battle for control. taliban says they have captured it on two separate occasions but afghan authorities are denying it british soldiers have been sentence back in the area a year after they withdrew from the region. in the afghan city of lashriga, speaking with security officials there, sends this update. >> they are telling us that afghan officials report fighting. we are talking about a very small area and police headquarter is about 2,000 square meters. that's that is where fighting still going on. afghan officials claim the

talibantable had a big kalthoff yutty last night. the fighting is going on. they have sent some reinforcement but we believe it has been reached because on the road, there are lots of areas under control of taliban. and a lot of eids. in this province it's hard to say any place in this province or any district is fully under control of taliban. even here, in district 4, the capital, the fighting is going on and taliban driven strongly there. >> a huge fire has killed at least 24 people at a hospital in saudi arabia and left more than 100 others injured. it started in the intensive care unit and maternity ward on the first floor of the hospital. more than 2 one civil defense teams were sentence to the site to extinguish the fire. an investigation is underway to

determine the cause. most of the day, patients in the intensive care units it. also, the numbers are one patient died from the fire. theys have announced code yellow disaster from departments and try to evacuate intensive care unit, too. >> at least 11 people have died in storms in the southern united states. toranados have caused flight delays in several states and

destroyed homes, also searching for miss ing people. it's a bleak midwinter in mississippi. this towering funnel cloud is one of several tornados that have hit the state. the yiventh person to die was a seven-year-old boy. he was in a car which like this truck was picked up and thrown by the wind. >> looking at the risk of tornados activity, especially across parts of tennessee and mississippi. keep in mind, there are 72 million neim will still see the chance of some sort of severe weather overnight. >> this is what some will be waking up to. every so often, nature likes to remind us it wields the real power. 2015 has been one of those years, an el nino year in which

warmest ocean waters move around the philippines. north america's offshore temperatures are four degrees above what they should be. and when that meets with the water in the gulf of mexico, that's, for this to happen in the spring or in the autumn action you would expect tovrnlthz fine, but in december? >> a rare event. >> this time, the earth's currents are making their presence felt regardless of the holiday season. >> flooding forced it people from their homes until south america. the uruguay river swelled. 10,000 had to escape the deluge. heavy rains in paraguay and 4,000 in uruguay. more to come in al jazeera.

a new weapon in the fight against breast cancer. a machine that x-rays and scans saving time and money. also, more than 50 years after they went on tour, the beatles back, now being streamed for free.

♪ ♪ >> the top stories for you: iraqi army says it's deliberated large parts of the strategic city of ramadi from isil fighters. reports are emerging that is families of isil fighters and injured fighters willing allowed

to leave rebel-held areas and move to raq. aa. pilgrims have gathered in manger square as midnight mass gets understandway in bethlehem on christmas day. human rights watch has accused the nigerian army of killing more than 300 unarmed civilians including children in an unprovoked attack earlier this month. the army says members of the a shia group set up a roadblock and tried to assassinate the army's group of staff. it's justified a number of raids that happened over three days t no credible evidence to support the military's version of events. the executive director of the africa division of human rights watch called for an independent inquiry. >> if you really look in to the am military version of events, it really does not stack up. the army chief arrived in the

area one hour before a military was deployed around the mosque. prior to his arrival and exactly an hour before the chief of staff of the army arrived in the area. there was actually deployment of military troops around the mosque and there are videos that indicate how solids were actually taking the positions around the mosque. and what else happened is members of the sect were directing road blocks and just impossible how a situation of directing road blocks can lead in to days of hundreds of thousands -- deaths of hundreds of people. hundreds more being 1ed inged. this attack has followed in the hours and days, not only in the first side but the other side in

the ouhours and days. i was th right direction that the local government has established the judicial commission of inquiry. it is extremely crucial that the inquiry needs to be fully independent and i am patient. >> nigeria's capital is a city under construction. hundreds of new homes are built each month. they are also often priced beyond the reach of the average person. rents are among the highest in africa. a report. >> it's 5:00 o'clock in the morning when douglas says goodbye 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 one day, well over come the situation. so really, it's not helpful for

you to continue being without your children all the time. this is one of the hundreds of thousands who work in the city. tha have to go far away for their work just because they can't afford the rent. hundreds of new homes are built but most of them are empty. the question is: how many people can afford to buy the house of 100 million in nigeria? unfortunately, every developer is playing in that market to stop it. >> which means many people here won't be able to afford these new homes. a 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 burdensen to tenants. >> so for many nigerian cities,

it's not about a housing shortage. it's about afford able to tichlt that's why people like douglas are pushed to the slums on the outskirts of the city, areas with poor roads and security. nigeria real estate market is largely unregulated. many of those who are supposed to oversee are investors in the industry. >> a lack of regulation means more workers like douglas will be priced out, relegated to the slums that encircle the city. al jazeera. nigeria. >> 19 refugees including six children have drowned after the boat they were traveling in capsized off of the turkish coast. the country's coast guard said they had managed to save 21 people in the waters near the town across from the island of le sp os. 20s other refugees died earlier this week trying to travel between turkey and greece. the italian navy said it rescued

more than 100 review ease off of the coast i have libya. not clear where those on board started their journey. since the refugee crisis began, many europeans have tried to help new arrivals rebuild their lives. but one group of refugees is doing it for themselves. they are all musicians and they have been busy recording a cd to help others in their situation. al jazeera's lawrence lee reports now from brussels. ♪a few days ago, they hadn't met. these men from syria andrage are singing and playing traditional songs from their homeland in far-away belgium. ♪ >> on the border with macedonia, he told us he had to leave his lutes behind when he fred in iraq. some kind europeans raised the money for him to get a new one. now, he awaits his asylum

hearing, he uses his music to help forget the journey he has had to make. >> when i touch the ininstrument, there is a lot of things go away, forget, a lot of things. you play and you remember things, but full when you finish, you just forget everything. you don't care about anything. it's like music means everything for me. >> assad was a t.v. star in his native pakistan playing classical sarat. but when he tried to set up a music store in his home, the taliban came and told him it was forbidden, and they wouldn't tell him twice. >> a lot of musicians have been threatened and have been injured and they try to kel them, and you can see all of those, most of them, they leave the country. most of them, they could not but they stopped singing.

they stopped making music. ♪ >> on guitar is bazil, a respected composer from damascus. he made the journey through europe late this summer. he carried his guitar with him all the way, singing for the other refugees. ♪ >> now we play muse picking, what happened with us, on you we live. $13,000 to print the cds. music classes for refugee children and concerts are also being planned. >> europe increasingly and openly hostile to all refugees, it is perhaps a reminder of how war affects all of us, even the

most talent he hed. >> not bad. >> lawrence lee, al jazeera. brussels. hundreds of people have been out on the streets of chicago protesting against the police killings of black men. demonstrators have criticized police treatment of black s suspects and called on the city's mayor to resign. public anger has been increasing after footage was released of a white officer shooting al black young man 16 times. the officer has been charged with first degree murder. moving to south africa now where doctors have developed a breast cancer screening machine they says saves time and money. reports from cape town on how there is hope it will also save lives. >> this is the latest in ovation in breast cancer technology being tested. usually the disease is diagnosed using a mammogram. >> when a lady has deposition

breast tissue -- and that happens in almost half of women, particularly those aged between 40 and 50, that density can mask the cancer. >> this machine is apparently x-ray the breast and take an ultrasound at the same time penetrating deposition breast tissue. >> this incorporates both of these technologies into a single platform. so, the idea would be that you can catch that breast cancer early in one go rather than having to ask the woman to come back repeatedly for more studies in the future. >> when nora, a ma'amographer, discovered a mass in her breast which later turned out to be benign, she wanted to help with the testing. >> this they uthey use the machine, compared to other digital machines i have worked with before. it's good to see there is so much progress being made, especially when you think of the time that you need to have the ma'am graham and have an

ultrasound afterwards. >> early test results show the machine to be safe and effective. development began six years ago, and it's it's cost around $3 million. >> studies suggest around five of every thousand women tested with a mammogram x-ray have a tumor detected. >> total rises to around 12 of every 1,000 tested with an ultrasound. now, the developers of the akeso says its technology provide women with access to better quality cancer testing without having to undergo two separate tests. both the developers and the government say the machine which cost $350,000 can be used to reach a large number of people. >> we would like to see greater manufacturing capability in south africa and developing this machine in our country and then being able to market it to europe, we hope eventually to the united states and throughout

the african continent and through this development, make a difference to the health of women. >> while women will save time and money, developers say the greater benefit will be the quicker detection of cancer to save lives. al jazeera, cape town. hong kong be conservationvites worried the rare pink dolfe dolphins are clo extinction. from hong kong a report. >> 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. >> it was really lucky to see two pink dolphins playing around. they were so fantastic, so beautiful. >> i was so surprised when i saw them jumping from the water. >> it's a surprise for everyone on the boat, even the tour

guide. >> nowadays, dolphins away to be quite scarce, but this morning's cites, get quite closer. it's very weird. >> pink dolphin numbers have dropped most 60% in the last decade. conservationists say it's mostly due to major building projects in hong kong waters. they point out the 50 kilometer bridge connecting hong kong with macaw and juhi if cuts through the area of dolphins in the pearl river delta and they plan the airport would drive away what's left of the population. this area is known as a developin corridor where they travel to feeding spots and cleaner waters. but this is the proposed site for the airport's third runway. construction would involve dumping thousands of tons of sand to reclaim 6.5 kilometers of sea area. the dolphin conservation society

says they have consulted the government on the airport plans but their proceed appeals have been ignored. they are considering legal action despite the government's promise to build a marine sanctuary after the runway is finished in 223. >> can they survive seven years, come back and join the sanctuary? i think it's a huge question mark. i think it's very unlikely that the dolphin will be able to hang on for that long. >> the dolphins have been swimming in this waters for centuries. on the sidelines as hong kong transformed from a fishing village to one of asia's biggest commercial hubs. but they have paid the price for the city's growth with less and less space to call home. al jazeera, hong kong. >> one of the biggest fans ever -- one of the biggest bands ever: now, the beatles catalogue is being made available to online streaming

services. more than 200 songs of the original 13 albums are available for free, paul and ring 0 wishing fans happy christmas as the announcement was made. more on everything right here, aljazeera.com. a visionary in the field of computer-aided design and the founder of one laptop per child. >> let's make $100 laptop. that was so implausible. >> negroponte co-founded the mit media laboratory - which is credited with driving the multimedia revolution. the research center brings together hundreds of leading thinkers in design, science and technology. >> we had lins