♪ >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello there and welcome to the al jazeera news hour, i'm laura in doha and our top stories defying the spare under ground and the shadow of war in aleppo. >> what was my crime to be fought after my country, why am i a refugee? >> reporter: we will be talking to displaced people from syria and iraq. also in the news making it official rwanda president seeks a third

term. and iran says it is expanding its ballistic missiles program and the u.s. is considering new sanctions against tehran. ♪ with the dawn of a new year we begin in syria where many hope 2016 will bring an end to a war that killed a quarter of a million people and sent millions more abroad in search of safety. russian fighter jets are blamed for attack on a shelter in the aleppo countryside and correspondent says several have been killed and injured including children but despite nearly five years of war many syrians are holding out hope for peace as we report. >> reporter: the play performed in one of the most dangerous places on earth, the syrian city of aleppo is divided.

battered by air strikes, shelling and fighting. despite the intense campaign by russian fighter jets nearby actors invited people to this secret under ground hiding place to put on their latest work. the play about the dreams of a nation hoping for a better life and freedom. dreams that were shattered by violence and uncertainty. >> translator: the play trashed the other side of our personality and provokes us into acknowledging sins and mistakes so we can have a golden life. the stage is the best place to tell our story and awaken the world's conscious. >> reporter: the play ends up being a portrayal of helpless syrians alone facing death at home and uncertainty. she says she wanted to be a doctor, a dream she had to

abandon when her village in idlib was ravaged by war. her family fled to neighboring turkey where she attends university. she has chosen a new career. she now wants to become a politician back home. >> translator: i keep asking myself what was my crime to be fought out of my country, why am i a refugee. i speak on behalf of four million syrian refugees now scattered all over the world. i am lucky i have a shelter and go to the university but there are many stranded on the border with no shelter and nothing to eat. why do we have to pay the price? >> reporter: a sentiment echoed by those still in syria and those who risked their lives to find refuse abroad, they all feel betrayed. for syrians diplomacy can bring an end to conflict and allow millions of refugees to return home, that would be a great

thing but that would largely depend on whether president assad and opposition are ready for some sort of compromise. al jazeera, on turkey's border with syria. on going conflicts and territorial disputes in the middle east forced millions of people from their homes, the region has more than 5 million palestinian refugees who left or fled their homes when israel was created in 1948. the half of them are in jordan which also hosts millions of iraqis who fled the u.s. invasion in 2003, on going violence there has displaced four million iraqis and the war this syria has made more than 7 million people leave their homes and more than four million left the country and fighting in yemen internally displaced more than a million people and made nearly 170,000 refugees. and we are at the place where

internally displaced people are in irbill in northern iraq and for the same on going conflict and if you can describe for us a little bit about what it's like to be living in one of these camps. >> reporter: laura, at this camp it has been raining since last night. it is extremely tough conditions for these people. when i tried to walk here these streets are now just mud. and we just saw in these pools in this makeshift playground that has been made by the government and the refugee agencies, these pools children were playing in this cold conditions and they have nothing else to do. these parents and these children are going through one of the toughest time in their livelihoods and talking to a family who has a five-year-old and they were telling us all their child has seen is this camp. let me speak to the u.n. children agencies jeffrey base joins us now and jeffrey welcome. >> how you doing. >> tell us and put this in

perspective and seeing numbers in terms of millions of people. isn't it a bit overwhelming and put this in perspective for us. >> what we have in iraq is 3 million people who have been internally displaced and nearly 10 million people who need humanitarian assistance and what this means is that one out of every five children in iraq has been displaced or had their education disrupted or somehow been effected by this crisis. these numbers are hard to grapple with and they are so huge and so large that just looking at them over the years it's immense to deal with and you can see the conditions in which people are living. these camps offer some refuge but 10% of the people who have been displaced can come to the camps, 90% are living in host communities, unfinished buildings with families who have taken them in and access to education, access to services, access to the basic amenities of life is very limited. >> also jeffrey can you tell us that we were earlier discussing

the prospects for some children, there are more than 3 half million children just in iraq alone and if the world community doesn't act what is the future for them? >> well the children of iraq right now, the one whose have been affected which are as you said a very large number are facing a grim future, if they don't get access to education and if their parents don't get access to livelihoods and no training to become productive adults they won't have much of a future and the people in this camps and elsewhere are feelings very frustrated and a lot of the people in the camp have been there and don't see any future in sight and that is why they are fleeing iraq and going to seek refuge elsewhere and taking terrible risks because they don't see how to maintain this type of lifestyle here. >> talk to us about the challenges that are faced by not just the government but other agencies as well, there is a lack of funds and you were telling me there is a lack of commitment, only 40% of this

materi materialized last year. >> if we fund the bare bones is 800 million and unicef needs 100 million and these are for the basic minimal packages to provide people with for xham clot -- example we gave to the children in the camp and providing blankets and clothing to 600,000 children and in the wintertime where we have children walking around bare foot are the worries now getting through the next months and beyond that trying and provide education, try and provide medical services and resi resi resill for people. >> we are continuing to face in 2016 and the children and families we have spoken to want the world to remember them and not forget them in this hour of need. >> absolutely. reporting there from irbill

northern iraq, thanks very much. fighting is what people are fleeing from in iraq and the u.n. estimate more than 7500 civilians killed in 2015 but have been unable to verify anbar where fighting against i.s.i.l. continues in the regional capital ramadi and took central parts on monday but reman in a number of districts. let's talk more about this to matthew a former special advisor to the governor of anbar providence and joins us via skype from the uk and thanks for being with us are you surprised how difficult and drawn out this battle for full control of ramadi is proving to be? >> no. i mean islamic state is drawing on a tradition of urban terrorism and fighting that goes back to the american invasion of iraq in 2003 so islamic state

has not played the same in tikrit and not masked troops in ramadi and it divided up relatively small numbers problems in the hundreds in ramadi to fight all over the city to draw out the campaign so that there is no single and obvious victory for the iraqi government. it is drawing the iraqi government into a prolonged, small-scale urban campaign and means the iraqi government cannot declare victory. >> a tactic that is going to work as they look and forces look to other i.s.i.l. controlled areas in fallujah and of course mosul. >> yes. it will and it draws attention and it undermines the iraqi government's claims to have won in ramadi. i mean ramadi was there earlier this week having declared victory. but the fact that you are reporting today there is still fighting going on under mines the credibility of the iraqi government. with fallujah where fighting has

been going on there for almost a couple of years and almost two years now and will continue on this small scale and what the iraqi government is trying to do is to screen these areas so that the degrade the islamic state slowly so the number of fighters that are deployed in these areas becomes lower and lower. but at a certain point the iraqi government will always and it attacks and may see an attack on mosul later this year but at that point they would hope that islamic state is down to a relatively small number of fighters who can do this kind of harassing but are not able to take great swayeds of territory we saw last year and the year before. >> we have seen the sierra malitia be excluded from the battle of ramadi for fear of returning into a more sectarian conflict do you think that was a wise move? >> it was and simply would not have been effective and it would

have played into islamic terms if the shia malitia would be useden couldn't use kurdish malaysia in anbar and what involvement the kurdish forces have when it comes to mosul later in the year because if mosul and kurdish troops operating in mosul will only inflame some of the opinion and will play directly to the islamic state narrative that says we the sunnis are under pressure from kurds and shia. >> matthew great to speak to you thanks very much for joining us there from lincoln. do stay with us here on this news hour, still to come on al jazeera, security fears on new year's eve and terror threats had evacuations across europe and calling for peace with the south but expressing questions at the same time. and how a hockey player took the

team's new year's eve game to the cheer, this is coming up, in sports. ♪ the president announced he will run for a third term in office. last month's constitutional referendum and more than 98% of rwanda people voted to allow him to run again after his current seven year term end in 2017. >> translator: you requested me to lead the country again after 2017. given the importance you attached to this i can only accept. what remains is to follow normal laws and procedures when the time comes. but i do not think our aim is to have a president for life nor is it what i would want. sooner rather than later this office will be transferred from one person to another in a

manner that will serve a purpose not nearly set an example whether for ourselves or for others. >> we are joined now in the studio but al jazeera correspondent mohamed and with nearly 100% of rwanda population approving the move is not a surprise but why do you think he is doing it? >> well, i think running for a third term is becoming quintessential and not alone and across the continent there are many other leaders who run for third and fourth and fifth terms next door to rwanda and uganda and wants to make his rule for 35 years and 2016 february is going to run again for the election so he is just doing what many others before him have done but what is important to see is people saw him as a different man, somebody

who stabilized rwanda after the genocide, a man who was sent to have some very good policies you know like for example women in parliament, no country in africa is like rwanda and 50% of parliament is women and his covenant is made up of so many people and he was seen as different to the likes of people and you know all of them and he has done that has surprised many people but rwanda people will tell you they want to see more institutions built, institutions strengthened and they want to see him do just that so the people in rwanda love him. >> they genuinely want him to stay and the rest of the world and the west at least is calling

for him to go. >> people of rwanda passionately love him because of what their country has gone through which is a rare thing we have seen in africa, a million people killed in three months. they are divided and you can see what is happening in burundi right now, the vision between the ethnic groups in burundi and you know with sisi and what he has done planning for a third term and it's a bit different when you look at rwanda because it's not the people of rwanda are saying we don't want you, it's you know after that it's seeing it again and organized by the government and you cannot tell whether 98% is true reflection of the will of the people but again i would say a big majority of the people of rwanda still love him. >> sometimes one size doesn't fit all and thanks for joining us. now iran president is ordering

defense ministry to expand its ballistic missile program in response to reports the u.s. is considering more sanctions. washington condemns iran for test firing missiles. iran says any new measures would put the nuclear deal signed in july at risk and roslyn has more from washington d.c. >> reporter: officials dismissing the threat to expand the missile program because the u.s. says if it does decide to sanction iran it's because of its own national security interest. here is the problem iran has restrictions on it by the international community to not expand the ballistic missile program and the u.s. and western countries consider that program a national security threat. however, on thursday the iranian president said any idea of sanctioning that country for testing its ballistic missiles in resent months is a violation

of its own right to protect its people so the military has been ordered to go ahead and start expanding that program. however, the u.s. has said that it objections to the testing of these ballistic missiles and it is now reportedly looking at expanding its sanctions regime against iranian officials and businesses in other countries that are supporting it. one thing the u.s. says it will not do is turn a blind eye to iran's efforts to expand its ballistic missiles regime and say it has nothing to do with the ongoing efforts to dismantle iran's suspected program. >> world studies at the university of iran and believes it's a fly of reacting to what he calls u.s. aggression. >> i think the belief in tehran is what the americans are trying to do is that after the agreement between iran and the p 5 plus one they are looking for new ways to impose the sanctions

regime so that they could compensate for any concessions that have been given to iran. and we see a pattern. the americans have been confiscating iranian assets and the iranians consider that to be theft and they have been restricting visa applications for iranians who have dual nationality as well as for anyone who travels or who has traveled to iran over the past five years so iranians believe the americans are not being sincere but the united states says one thing but does something else. iranian's defense capability is a direct result of consistent u.s. threats against iran which is it self against international law and is it self a terrorist act in the eyes of iranians. yemen dozens of people have been killed in the central city

of thai, houthi rebels have been fighting pro-government forces in the area for months. on the road to the rebel held capitol sanaa and talks between the two sides in geneva last month failed to reach agreement and both sides will meet again in two weeks time. security forces have been on high alert in several major cities during new year celebrations and vigilant since paris attacks in mid november and no credible threats emerged and germany and police shut down two train stations in munich an hour before midnight, a tip off from a foreign intelligence service said i.s.i.l. was planning attack and attack in the belgium capitol and fireworks display in brussels central square was cancelled with three people with an alleged attack there. the annual fireworks cancelled

in paris. the president met some 11,000 and is on highest terror alert imposed after attacks in november. now time for all the weather with richard and heavy snow richard which i would love to see is causing big problems in turkey. >> you wouldn't if you were stuck in turkey. it's a big transport these days for flights and trying to get away is a real problem and i'm sure it would be nice to see but there has been pretty heavy snow in parts of turkey, the very cold air makes a change we are talking about east rather than west with low pressure after another coming towards the uk. certainly we have seen some snow forming off the black sea over last 24-48 hours. and certainly for istanbul quite heavy snow up to about 18 centimeters being reported but a little bit further towards the east away from the coast and

rainfall totals as high as 78 centimeters and problems people experiencing there as they try and get away and look at the forecast and istanbul doesn't fair badly and on the edge of the snow and ankara not much snow and doesn't fair too badly but coast to coast and further away towards the caucuses is where we see further heavy snow developing over the next 24-48 hours and big totals expected here and really cold conditions and significant wind chill across the region and cannot finish the forecast without going back to the u k where there is yet another area of low pressure expected to push in on sunday and this is of much of the u k under water and western and northern areas and afraid some prospects are pretty grim and the deep low sweeping in with more flooding rain. >> very depressing for the uk indeed and thank you very much, votes being counted in central african republic after presidential and parliamentary election and the poll was

peaceful but there are nearly a million people living in camps and the biggest camp in the capitol bongi is far from safe as tanya page reports. >> reporter: people are still living in camps like this because they don't feel like the country is secure enough for them to go home even though the tit for tat religious violence has sub vieded even sow the camp near the main airport is still a very dangerous place. >> translator: for the last two years security has been bad but little by little it's getting better and some insecurity in the camp with robberies and rapes is more frequent. >> reporter: here we can sleep at night because there is no shooting but we sleep on mats on the floor, the conditions are bad especially when it rains, the water comes inside. the camp is protected by u.n. peace keepers and gangs operate here and it was in this camp that it is alleged mostly french soldiers sexually abused children in 2014. the french operation called this

and wouldn't give us an interview and mandated by the u.n. security council but is not under u.n. command. but the u.n. did talk to us in the wake of a damning report by an independent panel which found the u.n. suffered gross institutional failure and not acting quickly enough to protect the children involved when the allegations surfaced. >> we put a committee in place in the mission. this was this place any way regarding rape and this committee is meeting any time there is suspicion, any time we heard an allegation and we handled that very seriously because it's something that your imagination will not relate, not relate the leadership of the commission and this is how it's going to be. >> reporter: the children targeted have all been moved out of the camp and the u.n. secretary-general pledged an urgent review of the panel's recommendations and in a country where international support is

so necessary to the rebuilding process, the international community must now also rebuild trust with central africans. investigators in dubai trying to workout what caused a fire next to the world's tallest building and went up in flames before new year's celebration and no one died but 16 were injured and we report from dubai. >> reporter: in the daylight the extent of the damage began to be visible. remnant of an inferno that engulfed the address hotel and residences in downtown dubai. the night before on new year's eve panic set in as the blaze grew worse. on an evening of planned celebrations this was the last thing anyone expected. >> when we looked out there was fire in the back room and i'm still in shock. there are no -- the sprinklers

did not come out, no fire alarm. >> reporter: the cause of the fire which started on the 20th floor of the 63 story luxury building is still being investigated but it took only minutes to spread across the exterior of the skyscraper. >> translator: it was 9:00 or 10:00 when it started increasing and a popping noise and my dad thought it was fireworks and saw a fire and saw black smoke appearing and got bigger. >> there was a fire here in the hotel and also two explosions and it was scary. >> reporter: the dubai media office said four fire fighting teams set to control the blaze and at least 16 people were injured in the fire. the address neighbors the world's tallest building and the focal point of an annual fire work show that rings in the new year in dubai. an estimated one million people converged on the area to witness the pyrotechnics and

seven-minute fire work extravaganza that went off as the hotel smoldered and trying to figure out exactly what went wrong and there are still far more questions than answers. mohamed with al jazeera, dubai. north korea leader says he is ready forward if provoked but his annual new year's speech stayed away from past threats and mention of weapons and called for better ties with the south and blamed it for increased miss trust. myers is the direct of the department of international studies at the university and says there is a chance that relations between north and south korea can improve. >> since kim jun took over the relationship between the two koreas has been especially bad and i think the greatest failure of the leadership has been the way in which north korea alienated the south korea which was traditionally inclined to

look at north korea in a sympathetic light and can see the relationship between the koreas improve as deteriorate but there is little sign of any desire for improvement in this speech. the north korean leader did call on the south koreans to work more closely for unification but he did so in very carefully chosen words which signal to his own people he is kind of laying down the law for the south koreans and he called on them for example to pursue autonomous and implies the close relationship with the united states is the main reason it has not happened yet. just ahead here on al jazeera refugees in northern france forced to rely on the kindness of strangers to make camps bearable. and putting an end to waste and a shop that is throwing away the concept of packaging plus in sport a look ahead to the major

sporting events of 2016 including the latest on preparations for the olympic games in rio. ♪

♪ hello again and welcome back to the al jazeera news hour and reminder of the top stories president announced he will seek a third term in office, for the last month's constitutional referendum where they approved extending presidential terms. a roadside bomb killed 16 civilians fleeing ramadi in iraq

and fighting continues against i.s.i.l. in a number of areas there, days after the government claims to have recaptured the city. the u.n. says 7500 people were killed across the country last year. and syrians are hoping 2016 will bring an end to the war that has killed a quarter of a million people and forced many more to become refugees, the latest violence russian fighter jets blamed for attack in the aleppo countryside. france facing the consequences of not improving the living conditions of refugees, thousands of people live in northern france and without official help refugees and volunteers are doing their best to make life bearable and lawrence lee reports from northern france. >> reporter: new year is supposed to be a time of hope and try telling that to the 2 1/2 thousand who are stuck here and the camp has grown and grown and the state has barely provided a single thing to cater

to the people. the things that make life bearable have been done by volunteers and in so many ways they are doing the job of the state as best they can. >> a call in the middle of the night with advice of a baby that has gone blue i get really angry that input in a situation where i feel like somebody's life depends on my decision and i feel untrained and unsupported and unqualified and it's frustrating. >> reporter: does anybody care about this? not much in northern france certainly where the nearby village is neat and prosperous and a hard right took 40% of the vote in resent elections. yet up the road here you get a sense of what it might look like this time next year. here volunteers are everywhere, carpenters from england are

building, there are hot shores and wi-fi and at least three schools have opened and a church and a bar and whole streets with shops and restaurants. stewart from scotland has brought three caravans over as well as huge amounts of supplies from people furious of action. >> have been in caravan and give them the caravan and food and then give us a meal and everybody i met her has been really nice. >> reporter: the huge volunteer drive changed the camp completely inside six months and together with refugees and outside state control the volunteers are laying the foundations of a town. there are slums in countries like india which look very much like this in which people have

lived, do live and continue to live for years and years and the points about this place is it's a complete inability of the british and french governments to offer any sort of solution here is lending this camp an air of permanence. of course it remains an open prison, the feared french police moving through with tear gas at ready and canisters show how regularly they use it. across northern france refugees face neglect and hostility and the sea and people in london block their passage to the uk. if their lives have improved at all it is thanks for the kindness of strangers. lawrence lee, al jazeera, in northern france. burundi's president says he will fight any african union peace keepers sent to his country. he spoke after the u.n. secretary ban ki-moon gave support to the plans to deploy 5,000 troops and he says this

violates burundi's sovereignty. since he ran for a third term in april burundi has been plagued by violence. let's speak to andrew wallace a researcher specializing in central and east africa and joins us from bristol in the united kingdom and good to have you with us and can you give us an idea how volatile burundi is at the moment? >> unfortunately it's continuing to descend in what the powers has said and going to hell in her words, this is the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. there are growing problems in the country which the world seems only slowly to be waking up. there is mediation now going on and has really started which is a good sign but the killings continue, daily killings continue and you have a unity between the army, the youth

malitia and the police which seem to be intent on violent acts against their own citizens and that is not a good sign at all. >> what are we seeing here? are we seeing initial signs of some of the same ethnic violence and the tutsi violence that had genocide in rwanda. >> they tell me what seems to be the case is what started as an attempt by the government president to really tightness the political power he has and going on for years and certainly before this election last year. this has been going on for several years now. tightening the political space, cutting down on civil society, cutting down on the media, political ap poopponents fleein the country and that has now

become more ethnic as he is using the ethnic difficulties one could say to really bring the hutu majority together is his hope any way. >> how much faith do you have with the peace talks being held at the moment in uganda? >> well, to be honest, not a lot. there are some big problems. the opposition is fragmented so which opposition is actually attending the talks we are not sure and what indeed their demands are but i think the bigger block is going to be sisi in the sense he is a man and the hard line is around him who spent several years now trying to take as much power as they can. whether they will and really they have thrown away their peace agreement in 2000 in doing so. whether now they will be willing to actually open up that

political space again there is the will to do that from these hard liners is fairly unlikely and it will take probably outside influence in the way that is in the u.n. or whether that is in the regional countries to actually probably track this not but again is the political ruler from those actors. >> okay, andrew very interesting indeed to get your insights on the situation in burundi, thanks very much for joining us. a new set of u.n. global goals comes into the effect the first of january 2016 to replace the millennium goals and 12 is sustainable consumer habits and goods to stem a global rubbish crisis and deep in the heart of texas one city who tackled the problem is the one tackling it head on and rob reynolds reports from austin. >> reporter: the old proverb

says waste not want not and not many americans follow that closely any more but the ingredients grocery store in austin, texas it's the guiding principle. there is almost no packaging here. customers bring their own bag, jars or buckets from home and assistant manager showed us around. >> fills up their mason jar and that is a lot less plastic. >> a lot less plastic. >> reporter: much of the food is locally sourced coming from nearby forms to the store's shelves. >> the produce section and we have it's small and it's all pretty much going to be seasonal. >> reporter: through hard work and creative thinking the store has reduced waste to almost zero as displayed on this blackboard. for the whole month you only produced about 1 1/2 kilos of trash and what is that compared to the average american family

trash? >> less than the average american individual throws away per day. >> just one person. >> uh-huh. >> the whole store. >> exactly. >> store manager josh blaine. >> before the industrial food system took over things were mostly done in a very regional way. things were not being shipped far, far distances and you didn't have huge distributions networks and cooperations that were controlling a big part of our food system. >> reporter: the store is part of a larger effort in the city of austin to reduce waste to near zero by 2040. right now americans throw away lots of stuff says city waste czar. >> 54 million tons of waste is from residential settings are tossed into the landfill every year. >> reporter: under austin's strict recycling ordinances anything reusable is saved and organic waste is composted and the hardest part of getting to

zero waste is changing the mindset. >> in the late 50s and on ward throughout the world we became a convenience culture, a throw away culture, the idea was use it once, throw it away, that was a symbol of power and wealth. >> reporter: back at ingredients customer sarah says every person can make a difference. >> we need a change on how we handle our waste. i mean, there are huge garbage islands out in the pacific, what are we going to do to change a that and being sustainable is part of that. >> reporter: changing attitudes in the throw away culture and getting back to earlier, wiser ways, rob reynolds, al jazeera, austin. global health is another one of the biggest challenges for the u.n., carolyn malone has more on that. >> reporter: it's the start of a new chapter in fighting one of the world's most fatal diseases, ebola. only a few days ago guinea was

officially declared free and 11,000 died in the resent out break mainly in west africa. >> we have to be claire and it's a milestone and only a milestone and not the end of the ebola response in west africa because what we have learned is while we stopped the original chain of transmission we are also seeing small flairs one or two, three cases occurring. >> reporter: there is no cure for ebola but two vaccines look promising and under going human safety testing and could be ready for clinical use soon and in vaccines to prevent mosquito-borne diseases and the fever is indemeanoric in countries and kills more than 20,000 people a year, a vaccine that immunizes two thirds of people from the age of nine and prevents nearly all of the most dangerous forms is now available in the philippines, brazil and mexico. >> translator: the relevance

this vaccine could have in terms of prevention could have great benefits not only in mexico which was first to approve the vaccine and a great number in latin american in malaysia. >> reporter: malaria kills millions in africa and some are resistant to drugs so a new vaccine is in trial on ten african countries and could soon save many lives and the world health organization says the number of cancer cases is likely to rise by 70% in the next 20 years but more than a third of cancer deaths can be prevented. in 2015 it released a set of guidelines putting processed meat and added sugar on the things to reduce. as the u.n. continues its goal to improve global health there are people in certain parts of the world who are generally healthier than others, doctors from the university of athens studied residents on the greek island where people many live to be over 90. they discovered their longevity was because of a simple

lifestyle with moderate exercise and eating local, fresh produce. carolyn malone, al jazeera. new measures have been introduced to reduce the number of cars on the streets of new deli, the world's most polluted city. and starting on new year's day private cars with an even and odd number drive on alternate days for the next two weeks and deli experienced hazardous levels of pollution and critics say the scheme will further strain transport and impossible for police to enforce. the suburb in cape town has been placed on the world monument fund watch list, the organization says the site is a major cultural importance and also at risk of being lost to development. rita miller went to take a look. >> reporter: this is the suburb that became known as the quarter in the 18 cities when freed slaves from indonesia and madagascar moved in and now famous for the distinctive

architecture and cobble street and she lived in one of the houses all her life and shows us family photos taken as far back as the early 1900s explaining it's up to her generation to keep the areas history intact and mohamed says the character is linked to islamic heritage. >> for some people it's a place which is so close to their hearts it's part of their souls. it has been in many ways sometimes it has been exploited for commercial reasons and in many ways it has been protected in other ways. >> reporter: suburb is home to the oldest mosque in the city. once democracy was realized and the group areas act abolished no longer preserving the area for muslim residents p picture houses and central locations began attracting outsiders and she works here in 1763 and it's

now a museum. >> because it's what the work-up is and they have to shield the houses and culture and people come and take photographs and don't have the privacy. >> reporter: she says this contributed to the younger generations selling homes and moving out and homes here fetching high prices with rates rising 400% in the past decade. >> i think anybody who owns a heritage house will be frustrated they have to bear the cost of maintaining a heritage house. neither the city nor the national heritage authorities have any funding which is available for the upkeep and restoration for the houses. >> reporter: protecting houses from being demolished or altered against architectural guidelines, the nonprofit monument fund declared in the

most significant cultural heritage sites at risk of being lost. in spite of the high profile and the protection it has been offered many here often still worry they won't be able to fight increased gentrification. large crowds in tokyo on the first day of 2016 to pray for a more prosperous new year and hundreds waited in line outside of shrines to carry rituals and received the first blessing for the gods for the new year is a tradition for most japanese. still ahead, breaking the ice for women in hockey the first players in a paid professional league skate into u.s. history, details coming up, in sport. ♪

♪ let's get the sport now with joe. >> thank you, the golden state warriors had a win in the nba and overcame the absence to beat them 114-110 on thursday after losing to dallas just a day earlier. utah took a turn for the better losing three of the last four and came of a win over the portland trailblazers in salt lake city and had 27 points as the jazz cruised 109-96 win. pittsburgh penguins have a five game unbeaten streak in detroit and rallied two goals down and

crosby skoaled goals in 34 seconds apart in the third period to lift them for a five-two win over the red wings on thursday. the dallas stars moved to the top of the nhl west standings as they beat the nashville predators 5-1 and scored in the third period and topped the east leading the washington capitol by five points although both have 28 wins. working on new year's eve wasn't enough of a slap in the face minnesota took a stick to the chin and leaving him bloody against the st. louis blues and a good finish for them and broke a third period tie to hispanic and scored an empty net goal and made 33 saves and beat the blues 3-1. they will go head to head in the

winter classic and not just the men getting in on the action this year and more on the professional hockey league that is taking the ice by storm. >> reporter: women of the boston pride seen tough competition this season but this game marks a breakthrough for their new league, they are playing a winter classic a signature for men in north america and a big accomplishment for the founder of the national women hockey league 28-year-old danny ryland. >> need to get paid for the best of what they do and the truth is they have been so good they cannot big neared. the women's game has revolved so much even in the last five years that it's ready for the broadcast deals and ready for sponsor ship deals and ready to be professional. >> reporter: nwhl is the first professional women's league to actually play its players on average $15,000 a season and

manage to attract players from the canadian league and going up against today for the winning play just for the love of the sport. ryan has recruited olympic metalists and scars to play for four east coast teams whose regular games are attracting a growing and loyal fan base. >> every girl dreams of playing hockey further than college and to be able to play professional women's hockey in your own country and just wear this bost bost boston jersey is just great. >> reporter: major corporate sponsor and relied on social media and an online streaming deal to overcome one of the biggest hurdles for women's sports publicity. >> we care about sports so much and part of the story and what we are invested in is the story and if media is not covering and introducing us to personality and let us know what the narrative is no one will care and be invested. >> reporter: still fans have

taken notice. >> they are so good and maybe i could be out there one day. >> reporter: and for many of these players inspiring the next generation of professional women athletes is almost as rewarding as getting paid. kristen with al jazeera, massachusetts. winter classic 2016 brings plenty of things to look forward to in sport, all eyes will be on fifa in february when five candidates will compete to be elected as president replacing the now banned sepp blatter and depending if the la lakers makes the playoffs kobe bryant could play the final game after 20 seasons in april with 17 all star appearances and mva, mvp and five championships and 37-year-old will retire third position on the scoring list and the title of 2016 kicks off in france in june, for the first time four teams will take part

and 2016 olympic games begin in the brazil city in rio on august the 5th and will face usa at the golf club in september for the latest edition of golf's ryder cup for the fourth consecutive time and in october we will see the middle east host its first women's world cup as jordan welcomes the under 17 competition. a lot to look forward to and the olympics in rio a particular highlight and joined by olympic historian phillip barker in our studio and this is a historic olympics and it's the first in south america and it's significant for brazil and also a big challenge, isn't it? >> yes, it's a very big challenge and elected as hosts in 2009 with great promises of an olympic for latin america and the whole of america is built into this as their games for the

brazilians of course, one of the most unusual things will be the football tournament will be more important than ever before because brazil had never won olympic goal and argentina and uraguay and the last time they held the world cup and brazil won and that will be a really big deal for them but off the field it's the big talking point with all the test events, pollution in all the water-born events. we had reports of sickness during the world rowing championships, open water swimming and had people advising their daughters and sons not to take part and in the sailing too we had people having really nasty bacterial infections so that is an issue they really have to get a grip on over the next few months. >> another big talking point we've had in the last few months in november the russian federation given indefinite ban over a doping scandal and where does that leave their athletes in the lead up to rio? >> very little international

competition because they won't be able to take part in the indoor world championship and russia tripped from the race walking championships and the world junior championships which they were to stage next year and it's going to be a very, very tough thing because the iaaf working party inspection group going out to russia and technically they start today and won't be able to report back until late march at the earliest then up to the executive board of ioc to discuss what that i -- they are going to do and this is one sport track and field athletics and it's sent by the olympic committee so if the doping centers in russia are flawed then that presumably means the doping centers for all sports are flawed so it could lead to a ban for the entire russian olympic committee and athletes have to compete if they are eligible and clean as individual olympic athletes and

all gets very messy. >> all right that is olympic historian barker joining us from the london studio and thank you very much for speaking to us. brazil marks the end to its sporting year with traditional sylvester road race and 30,000 runners from 42 countries took to the streets of south palo for the 91st edition of the race and won the men's race in a time of 44 minutes and 31 seconds and he was fired and both of ethiopia. in the women's field it was also from either open -ore ethiopia who won the second straight race and more later. >> thanks very much indeed and see you later and do stay with us on al jazeera if you can, i'll be right back with another full half hour bulletin of news at the start of this new year, 2016. ♪

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only on al jazeera america. what was my crime to be forced out of my country? why am i a refugee? >> syrians speak out against the war ruining their country demanding peace for 2016. ♪ hello this is al jazeera live from our headquarters in doha, i'm laura kyle and also on the program making it official, london president seeks a third term. iran says it is expanding its ballistic missile program and the u.s. considering new sanctions against tehran.