one of scandinavia largest iron ore deposits. and it's driving a wedge between those seeking wealth. and those defending their way of life. a witness documentary on a. ready . 3 u.n. peacekeepers are killed in central african republic as rebels call off a cease fire and resume fighting ahead of sunday's election. there i missed this al jazeera life and are also coming. emotional home explodes in the u.s. city of nashville after playing

a record of bomb morning. but we're not going to rest until the. millions fly around the u.s. to be with family for christmas despite warnings the travel will further inflame the coronavirus outbreak. and christmas in limbo thousands of migrants are stuck in shelters and will the next occur with hopes of being granted asylum in the u.s. . just a day before the election violence is spiraling in central african republic 3 un peacekeepers have been killed by unidentified attack as and a coa un secretary general antonio terra's has condemned the killings and demanded an investigation there was fighting between rebel groups and government forces after the collapse of a cease fire the rebels accuse president. toward era of planning to rig sunday's

elections 6 opposition candidates are demanding the vote be postponed our correspondent catherine sware now reports from the capital bangui. president. darragh arrives for his final election rally in boggy in full force he's been telling people to come out and fought on sunday without fear a reason he formed a group called the patriot or lucian put change all c.p.c. has. threatened to march to the city and launched attacks against government troops backed by un peacekeepers in some rural areas the c.p.c. which is a coalition of several armed groups has called off a cease fire it had declared them one stage manager they are trying to come to bangui usent are africans must open your eyes help our armed forces un peacekeepers mean those from rwanda and russia giving us

a hand i'm to fight has come into the city. 16 presidential candidates have been cleared to run in the polls. south of the country's only south declared emperor has withdrawn citing security concerns former president francois was disqualified by the constitutional court state officials and the u.n. accuse him of being behind the c.p.c. rebellion to disrupt the election and overthrew the government has backed and he said who's a march to as president would dare a strongest challenge. president is the founder of one of the strongest political parties with solid policies he himself is a very popular leader but he did not back my candidacy it's the party that endorsed me. most opposition candidates a while back and won the election postponed presidential candidates are each

promising to finally bring people back to the public room by me and provide may think that it's a lot of people i've been talking to here involving my saying that the hardest problem is the full. knows all about pain caused by conflict his leg was blown off by a hand grenade when the mostly muslim armed groups seleka over on bungie in 2013 and overthrew. the game actually. i cannot understand what's happening to me and i'm scared of what's happening now they're only coming to kill i want to ask the government to help us to stop those who are coming. to is now preparing to vote in an election clouded by fear and uncertainty he tells us he will only go to the polling station if he feels absolutely safe a sentiment shared by many out of a tense cathy zoi al-jazeera. why am i calling don't advocate

a spoke to his the central african erect a human rights watch and he says rebels control most of the territory and pose a serious threat to free and fair elections this temporary cease fire i think a bit too much stock was put into it and i say that because of the groups that make up this rebel coalition of the 6 groups that make up the c.p.c. this coalition this new coalition are some of the groups that have perpetrated the most gruesome crimes in the central african republic since 2013 their wantonly killed civilians they've used rape as a weapon of war they've caused widespread displacement and pillage so the fact that they've broken this temporary ceasefire is not in of itself surprising i think what's much more worrying is how much territory they seem to be able to take and how quickly they seem to be able to take it and how close they actually are to the capital bunky all reports are indicating that within a 100 kilometer or so it's very very tense in the city right now and we're also

hearing that 3 u.n. peacekeepers have been killed by an identified attackers in the country this news just breaking just a short while ago what's your reaction to about i mean how worried are you at the situation. i think this is the most tense the central african republic has been since early 2013 when we saw the last iteration of the cycle of coups which indicates a change of power in that country it's worth noting that the killing of blue helmets the killing of international peacekeepers is in of itself a war crime but the fact that peacekeepers have been killed in these sadly these peacekeepers that you mentioned this is just the latest batch of peacekeepers that have been targeting the cia or the fact that they have been targeted i think it's demonstrative of the impunity that these armed groups continue to operate with within the country the central african republic is operating after a peace deal in 2019 that peace deal ceded a lot of impunity to these armed groups and instead of stopping attacks on

civilians and peacekeepers they've simply wrapped them up in the last few weeks and months and really it does not bode well for a country that's supposed to be going through general elections in 48 hours what does this mean then for the elections do you expect them to still go ahead. i don't see how you can expect. elections that are going to represent the entire letter it when you have rebel groups controlling what could be potentially 80 percent of the entire country all reports indicate the people we're talking to in our team on the ground indicate that bunky despite tensions is secure but how do you have a legitimate and credible election when there's this much tension this much rumors one that when the opposition themselves the political opposition themselves are also calling for a delay it's very difficult to say that this is going to be a smooth election they were always going to be challenging but but the situation no

is beginning to make them look like they might not be tenable and as you were saying just a moment ago i mean some of these groups and the coalition have been accused of committing crimes previously. there hasn't really been any accountability why do you think that is. i think that that is the crux of the problem what you've just alluded to these groups that make up the c.p.c. and i want to be as clear as possible to anyone who might be watching these groups or or the leaders of these groups of war criminals in our opinion we have documented vast war crimes and crimes against humanity as perpetrated by these groups as recently as 2019. moving on now and an explosion has ripped through a neighborhood in the u.s. city of nashville a mostly on christmas morning after playing a recorded phone warning several buildings are damaged but only 3 people have line injuries she reports. the early morning blast in downtown nashville was

felt and heard from kilometers away authorities say at least 20 buildings were damaged when the vatican exploded. police were already on their way having received a call for reporting gunshots in the area when they arrived they had no mounds once believed to be coming from the vehicle the explosion was imminent they called in the bomb squad and began evacuating the area out of the bomb squad approached the explosion occurred we had one of those not to drive this was the testimony of a man who lived a block and a half away we just heard this blast and we felt the windows in our building shake and we were in a high rise development on that 26th floor and we just. unbelievable asked. the f.b.i. has taken control of the investigation authorities are asking the public for their help please tell us what you know. we need to leads we need your help the the hour prevented more casualties the area is filled with shops restaurants bars i'm glad

to poppins and an a.t.m. t. technical facility is adjacent to the blast site if you want to kill a lot of people and you'll do it during your shopping hours 730 at night or 2 in the afternoon 630 on a christmas morning there is about the time you're beating the fewest people out possible so that could imply this is a statement grabber act rather than seeking to cause mass casualties the president has been briefed as he spends the christmas holiday in florida. and police are saying they have found traces of what could be human remains. we have found 2 issue that we believe could be remains that were just. you know examined and they will be able to let you know from that point darby was detonated so it was someone inside we have no idea it was such a large explosion but the investigation continuing this matter all over this area

down there and so we'll continue to examine it to see if it is human remains how huge numbers of americans have boarded flights to be with family for christmas despite warnings that travel already alarming coronavirus death and infection rates more than 7000000 people posture u.s. airports just over the past week there was a similar rush cheering november's thanksgiving holiday which is blamed for fueling the current spike more than 193000 new cases were recorded on thursday along with nearly 3000 deaths has more now from washington d.c. . americans are on the move in the past 7 days more than 7000000 people have gone through security checkpoints at the nation's airports that doesn't even begin to cover the many millions of people who have gotten in their cars or perhaps taken a train or a bus to visit friends and family across the country now what this means is that with this 2 week long holiday period public health officials are very very afraid

that you're going to see even more cases of covert 19 infection through the middle part of january through late january we are already seeing upwards of 3000 people a day on average who are losing their lives to this virus and many more tens of thousands of people being infected so this is really a situation that public health officials are saying could have been prevented if people simply had chosen to stay home for the holiday period they understand that after 9 months or more of this pandemic in the united states that people want to be with their loved ones but public health officials say that given that just a 1000000 or so people have received the 1st dose of the 1st vaccine against kobe at 19 that this is really outstripping the health systems ability to try to protect

people in the middle of this pandemic. still ahead here on out there. campaigning and presidential elections where candidates are competing for the top job. i have a smooth president anyone may be looking for something to read. that is bara something breaks a deal with he is going to satisfy his neighbors or his own party. hello there and season's greetings has officially been a white christmas for parts of england with a little dusting of snow into these writing if you'll share in a northern england just about here winds coming in from one or the directions that we have seen one or 2 wintry florist nothing much to speak of the heavier snow

happening further south down around the alps and further east it was that western side of russia let's look back up towards the northwest where we have these tightly packed i suppose we have storm bella gathering and that's going to bring some very wet sand windy weather much milder weather in across the u.k. as we go on 3 saturday break blustery conditions winds in excess of 150 kilometers per hour on the gusts so some nasty conditions the possibility of flooding here as well the wintry mix that we have around the outs with slightest way down towards the divine or it helps joining up that wetter weather over towards the black sea and snow there into that western side of russia more blustery conditions wet weather into the southeast of europe as you go on through sunday we'll look up towards the northwest all for weather very heavy rain with the possibility of some flooding coming down across central parts of france at that stage snow on the leading edge of that to the south of that it is dry for much a spy but pretty cold in madrid.

stories of abuse in aged care homes in the west are shocked. that there's not one i want to speak to those sending elderly loved ones to try to live out their deaths on al-jazeera. al-jazeera with. the the us. hello again i'm the stars you take and i hope that's reminder of our top stories

here this hour 3 un peacekeepers have been killed by unidentified attack is in central african republic ahead of sunday's election and the one secretary general antonio terrorist has condemned those killings and acoa and demanded an investigation. ceasefire between a coalition of rebel groups and the government that collapsed the rebels accuse president faust and archons to end our hour of trying to rig sunday's election. police in the u.s. city of nashville say they found what could be human remains the size of an explosion a mobile home blew up early on christmas morning injuring 3 people. all it's been a quiet christmas across europe where several governments ordered people to stay is higher a new and potentially more contagious and variant of the virus 1st attempted in britain also added to the agence impose new lock downs john mccain reports now from ballen. christmas in rome during code where goodwill to others mean socially

distance events providing presence of the poor and homeless as welcome as these gifts may seem what many people want this winter is the coded vaccine and now the 1st consignment of it have arrived in rome ready for distribution on sunday to people who the pope says should be 1st on the list. i pray for all those in charge of nations companies international organizations to promote cooperation and not competition and look for a solution for everybody vaccines for everybody especially for the most vulnerable and needy ones in every region of the planet as in many other e.u. countries the vaccine will also start being distributed in germany on sunday it's a development many hope will transform the situation. in the. end of this tunnel we see the long awaited light at the end of the tunnel become brighter we will come closer to the exit from this crisis step by step how long the road will be depends

on us if we remain reasonable and patient then we will gradually be able to do many things that we had to do without for a long time. the strategy many european governments are adopting is to follow a return to hard lock downs and the start of mass vaccination their hope is to reduce the numbers of new infections and eventually lower mortality rates that has been claiming the lives of thousands of people every day for some time dominic kane al-jazeera berlin and at least 15 people are said to have died in recent weeks at one of the main border crossings between south africa where local media has reported at the deaths attributing them to exhaustion and health already being made worse by coronavirus screenings south africa is in the grip of a 2nd wave of. u.s. president elect joe biden has expressed sympathy for many families facing their 1st

christmas after losing a loved one he released a holiday message alongside his wife jill promising to do better to combat this pandemic and 2021 we know for so many of you and i know this is been a very difficult year and we're reminded in this season i hope our common humanity and what we're called to do for one another many of our fellow americans are struggling to find work not only put food on the table pay their rent or mortgage reminded we're on this earth to care for $1.00 another to give what we came and to be a source of help and hope to friend and stranger like many families are facing their 1st christmas having lost a loved one in joe and i know that. and we know how in times of grief a kind word can mean so much 30 candidates have made their final pitch as diverse as ahead of elections in asia these polls are historic and set the course for the fast peaceful transition of power for

a minute just reports now from how africa's 2nd coronavirus wave is having an impact. it's been a busy 3 weeks of campaigning for his u.s. presidential candidate. of any wave of korra virus infections forced the government to impose a limit on carbon based on the last day. but the leading candidate a confident but the right message is a been passed to the protests form of fording and interior minister mohammad bassoon is the governing party's candidate you don't get a look at our candidate has visited all parts of the country even before the start of the campaign selling practical ideas to the people and to see how people live to understand their problems but help us design a program to better people's lives were confident of winning in the 1st round. one of bazooms main rivals 3 time presidential candidate and former prime minister senor morrow says that one tavern. in my political

experience it's impossible for anyone to win an election outright in the 1st round each of us would want to but it's impractical no one will it's very very difficult . a total of 30 candidates are running for president while some have complained hard most have been on the sidelines seeking to form alliances with stronger parties although much of the campaign focused on who becomes president voters will also choose 171 representatives to feel the seats in this parliament some will later form the country's next cabinet as in previous elections analysts say end up with a coalition of one of the parties and other smaller ones. the decision on who gets to form the coalition depends on what $7500000.00 voters decide on sunday a presidential candidate request 50 percent plus one of valid votes cast to win outright that has never happened in an election here if no candidate gets that

voters will be called once again to choose among the 2 candidates with the highest number of votes in the trees i'll just see that you have me. molly is now an opposition leader has died after contracting covenanting the 71 year old has been treated in france says i was kidnapped and launched by an on the role that campaigning for elections has been afraid after a 6 month protocol asset as long as 5 affairs minister and she says she says death is a shock to the people and his press corps system. is made as you see it was a very respected figure in mali his demise really the use of void in the money and leave to go in a very positive track record it was minister of finance multiple time secretary general to the presidency among other prestigious positions that he had out internationally he represented his country by the president of the commission

economic and military you know west african states and when he was released from the jihadists back in you know talker he was seen as the main front runner for the coming 2022 presidential elections both here and former president where the 2 pillars iran which mali and politics have been evolving over the past 10 years we've the removal. and now the death of as you see it is expected that there will be a complete reshuffle in money and politics the departure as he say is really the end and the beginning of a new era the chief or the leader of your position is a formal and an official position in maui so they will have to regroup so that they can find somebody who can. who can we can hold and replace as who may refuse it. at least 33 people have died after their boat capsized on lake albert that's the 2

in uganda and democratic republic of congo uganda says the vessel was carrying as many as 50 people when it ran into strong winds and local civil society groups as they were trying to enter the d.l.c. illegally to avoid coronavirus restrictions to palestinians including a 6 year old child have minor injuries after israeli airstrikes on the gaza strip a number of empty sites belonging to harass an islamic jihad were targeted a hospital was damaged hours earlier how last was accused of firing 2 rockets towards southern israel the army says they were aimed at the israeli coastal city of ashkelon but their air defenses intercepted them there's been no reports there of casualties. as have met in brussels to look over the post breaks a trade deal it's finally now been agreed with the u.k. the parliaments of both sides need to ratify that agreement which will uncouple

britain for decades of membership if barker reports now from london i have a small present for anyone who may be looking for something to read in that sleepy post christmas lunch moment and here it is 2000 pages of dense detail the british government's christmas gift to the nation because this is a deal a deal to give certainty to business travelers and all investors in our country from the 1st of january a deal with our friends and partners in the in brussels e.u. ambassadors met for a christmas day briefing with the blocks breaks it negotiated michel barnier the $27.00 european union states are expected to formally back the trade deal within days the european parliament which normally votes on the text before it becomes law will vote on the deal retrospective early in january. the choreography is different for british m.p.'s who will cast their vote on the deal in parliament on the 30th

of december where it's expected to pass with the the government controls a sizable majority of the opposition labor party says it will reluctantly back it a day later midnight december 31st the u.k. will unplug its economy from the world's largest trading bloc in a deal that will either drive or diminish the country for generations to come it's been a year of painful uncertainty for everyone the british economy is shuttered thousands of businesses a teetering on the edge of ruin a while the country has been grappling with the impact of covert 19 it's been living under the shadow cast by brick sit and worries that the british economy might never be the same again but now that there is a deal here in london the voted almost exclusively to remain in the european union there's a sense of quiet and reluctant acceptance. this time of great upheaval a familiar face with the traditional christmas message even on the darkest nights

a queen elizabeth is the hope of a new dawn but even with this deal uncertainty remains there are fears unemployment will rise if firms relocate to the e.u. a few transport companies have access to britain's new border crossing software and unanswered questions on how to avoid physical border checks between northern ireland part of the u.k. and ireland and e.u. member as more details emerge is clear the british government's also gone further than expected in granting the e.u. access to british fishing grounds the e.u. and u.k. are now decipher ing the trade deal for general consumption both eager to show they've gained the most ground at the 11th hour in the. london. all in all the 800 british military personnel have now been deployed to try to help clear the thousands of truck drivers waiting to get into fronts more than a 1000 troops are now involved in the operation of the port of dover testing

drivers for the coronavirus and distributing fusion water. well thousands of refugees and migrants are spending their christmas and shelters along next president of the border with the united states many of them have been waiting for their asylum cases to be processed delayed fatma by the pandemic charge. he's the line separating the u.s. from mexico it's been a slow train coming for those who want to cross it legally and the pandemic has made things worse with u.s. immigration courts closed for months. there are thousands of migrants stuck in mexico to meet them open to process their asylum requests the u.s. has put them in a plan called m.p.p. which means they have to weigh in mexico while there are silent process plays out even though they're from other countries. get out all fled brazil he says because of the threat of violence erupt in buda city what is 10 months ago this still

waiting for his 1st court they. made a similar call it was for march 14th of this year but that was changed because of the been demick to the symbol now it's for the 10th i'm a of next year. you're geraldo his son and his wife is spending christmas in a shelter many of the 10s of thousands of people that been ordered to wait in mexico in the n.p.p. program will be doing the same. some migration lawyers are worried that they could miss the one the deadline to start the asylum process all together news stories hopes that's not the case but she's concerned about the well being of those she's trying to help those of us go mall or knesset bus you know it's a complicated situation for the haitian basic needs it's really unsaid saying what's going to happen to them and that generics and sightsee just being here waiting not knowing how to follow up with the proceeds. to go to host church is one of many along the border which have been turned into shelters he's seen hope among

those now under his care that a new u.s. administration could help them. but i don't know who. is happier about biden's victory the americans or those stuck here in the asylum process because it means for them and then to their stay in mexico so that they can follow their dreams. president elect joe biden had promised to end the m.p.p. program on his 1st day in office now his incoming administration has signaled it will take more time and there are questions about what will then happen to those spending this christmas in shelters john hold out does it or. how with the headlines here on out there through un peacekeepers have been killed by unidentified attackers in central african republic ahead of sunday's election here and secretary general antonio terrorist has condemned the killings and acoa and demanded an investigation now earlier a cease fire between

a coalition of rebel groups on the government that collapsed the rebels a curious president fast and of planning to rig sunday's elections 6 opposition had .