long time leader to run for a controversial third term in office. and broadcast live. why russian officials made a very public display of opening the black box from the jet shot down ove by turkey. good evening i'm antonio mora, this is al jazeera america's international news hour. we begin tonight with the u.n. taking a first step towards ending the war in syria. the security council unanimously approved resolution beginning talks between the syrian government and the opposition. it did not address what will happen to syrian president bashar al-assad. this afternoon, president obama said assad must go believing the bloodshed will continue while he is in power but the president seemed to soften his position on how soon assad should go. 20 foreign minister met to what led to the council resolution. courtney kealy has been there all day. >> antonio, five years of the syrian civil war, possible talks and moves towards peace. saying this is an unprecedented diplomatic move towards talks. >> this council is sending a clear message to all concerned that the time is now. to stop the killing in syria lay the groundwork for government. >> friends and foes came together for a unanimous vote at the u.n. security council. word leaders agreed to take critical steps to try end the war in syria. secretary of state john kerry said it won't be easy. >> no one is sitting here today suggest the road ahead is a guilded path. it is complicated and remain complicated, but this at least demands that the parties come to the table. >> but agreeing which syrian groups will be part of the negotiations is still a sticky issue. jordan has been in discharge of the so-called terrorism list, groups that will not be in on the talks. >> each country sent its own view of who is to be discussed, who is clearly a terrorist. i think some countries sent ten, 15, 20 names, other countries sent more. >> regional arrivals, saudi arabia and iran, have very different views who is a fighter and who is an ally. the white house still insists, bashar al-assad has to go. the agreement doesn't address that. >> i think assad is going to have to leave in order for the country to stop the bloodletting and for all the parties involved to be able to move forward in a nonsectarian way. >> but after talks behind closed doors, between kerry and russian foreign minister sergey lavrov, it's likely that a transition of power won't happen immediately. >> let us be frank, not everyone has renounced any preconditions or their own interpretation of how this principle can be applied in practice. >> reporter: what is clear among world leaders is that they agree i.s.i.l. must be defeated. and to do so, concessions must be made. so antonio, we've seen incredible steps being taken here on comploik measure on dip. today you had sergey lavrov and kerry meeting behind closed doors before the meeting even started they agreed on the language of the resolution that went to the security council for that unanimous vote. antonio. >> and the syrian intor was reactinintorambassador isreacti? >> obviously the syrian ambassador speaking on behalf of syrian president bashar al-assad. who is being on that ceasefire is being hashed out, i.s.i.l. is not on that list, j abad el nusra, and hezbollah, the russian and iranians coming to the tabling on behalf of the assad regime antonio. >> we'll have more on that in a moment, courtney, thanks. we're joined by richard murphy, served as assistant secretary of state for near each affairs. ambassador good to see you. >> thank you. >> this u.n. resolution ironically co-sponsored by the syrian government. but there's no agreement on who is allowed to sit at the table. how much does this resolution actually mean? >> what's been going on as best we can piece it together is a series of backstage discussions on who should be there. so the fact that they haven't spelled it out i don't think is too serious. because the meetings in riyadh, meetings in other places vienna navienna,tested spokesman for br al-assad. >> but do we even know if the rebel groups are going to be willing to sit down with assad if there is no clear guarantee that assad has to go? >> i think they are going to have the -- well they certainly have the backing of the united states, several other states. they have the back -- the assurance from russia that there is, as the russians have put it for a couple of years now we have no love affair with bashar, but he the legitimate government. he doesn't have to stay in place forever. >> but assad himself has said he doesn't want to negotiate with any armed groups. i can't imagine that any of these opposition groups that are armed now are going to be willing to lay down their arms before negotiating. >> no you're right, they're not going to lay themselves open to just caught up in little pieces by the regime. so he will come to the table. the regime will sit down, i think there's no question to that. just who will be there from the opposition, how united they will be and will stay, is a tough question to answer right now. they've not distinguished themselves in pulling together in the past. >> right. the first step is going to be the ceasefire that goes into effect in january, the ceasefire meaning there are reception exco the ceasefire, they can still go after groups labeled terrorist organizations. but doesn't that also bring some issues to the table because who the russians consider terrorist organizations may be different than the americans and could it be conceivable that the russians may bomb some organizations supported 50 u.s? >> they have done so since the early part of september. some of the attacks have been on those very groups that we have supported as moderates, that is an abused term in international affairs but we are looking to support those who are not the extremists. i think what you have seen is a convergence between the russian position that assad is after all the legitimate government let's just work with him, the american position that he has to go. well, now, we're saying maybe he stays for a while but at the end of the transitional regime he can't be in charge. >> it does seem now that president obama, secretary kerry, has agreed that assad could be there as a transition but russia has can a pitc can ad to assad. >> no, it is in his name hundreds of thousands have died, millions are displaced, millions of refugees. he's not the legitimate ruler, but we've said okay, he's there now, we don't want to destroy the institutions of the syrian government and the russian he have moved towards us or towards the center of the discussions, saying they're not committed to him in the long run. >> so we shall see how this all plays out. we've got to hope for the sake of the syrian people that they come to some positive outcome. >> they deserve an early end to the fighting. probably won't happen in the short time frame. >> ambassador richard murphy, always good to have you with us. thank you. president obama used the year end news conference to defend the small number of arms in syria and iraq. jamie mcintire reports on why the administration believes they can help defeat i.s.i.l. >> antonio, two months ago when president obama authorized up to 50 special operations forces to go into syria, the wide perception was that they would be fighting i.s.i.l. or assisting syrian fighters fighting i.s.i.l. but it turns out their mission is very different and in some ways more difficult. fest at his year end news conference, president obama admit his weakest part of antii.s.i.l. strategy. allowing others to be on the ground. >> we'll deal with forces on the ground that are sometimes spotty, sometimes need capacity-building, need our assistance, need our training. >> in his briefings defense secretary ash carter regularly explains that the reliable forces are horribly slow. >> such forces are difficult to find but they do exist. >> provided virtually no details of their mission. >> the less than 50 number is accurate. i cannot be more specific for reasons of national security. >> which leads many to question why a small number. namely, the troops in syria would not advise and assist in the same way u.s. troops do in iraq. instead the officials say, get some guys on the ground get eyes on see what more is possible adding we need to get on the ground meet them you know, there's nothing quite like face to face contact. in other words the u.s. commandos are not on a mission to fight i.s.i.l. but to find locals who can fight i.s.i.l. who can be trusted. secretary carter acknowledge described exploratory missions into syria are bearing fruit. >> their mission was to identify and linger up with local forces, in this case especially syrian arab forces that were willing to fight i.s.i.l. but needed our help. and they were -- i was very encouraged to learn, able to find them, finder some local forces of that kind and that suggests that we may be able to find yet more. so the small in and out missions to syria are for now not calling in air strikes or embedding with syrian troops but to conduct an assessment of which ones are worthy of getting american arms and ammunition and importantly which ones won't switch sides if the tide of battle turns. top-of-the-line. >> jamie mcintire, reporting from washington. the u.s. led coalition fighting i.s.i.l. and iraq are offering condolence he for killing iraqi soldiers in a friendly fire incident. officials at cent com, one of the strikes resulted in the death of iraqi soldiers who were on the fronts license of the fight against i.s.i.l. officials promised a thorough investigation. nato is sending more aircraft and ships to turkey to strengthen the country's defenses along the syrian border, in an effort to make sure there's no repeat of a november 24th incident where turkey shot down a russian war plane. israel has agreed to extend its patriot missile defense system. today russian officials in moscow opened the black box of that jet during a live television broadcast. diplomats and journalists watched, russia wants to prove that the jet did not stray into turkish territory. the black box was opened in public after president putin ordered it be done in front of specialists from foreign countries. a russian service member was also killed during the rescue mission. turkish security forces have killed forces on the border with iraq. turkish military forces say one soldier was also killed over three days of operations. now, the leader of the prokurdish party says it's time stand up to turkey's actions. >> translator: we will extend our struggle and force the struggle of these racist fascist policies, we call the people to stand up for the struggle. to stand up for an honorable brave resistance. >> he also stressed that his party would make important decisions towards kurdish automatically. kurdish autonomy. >> why some muslims say the government is partly to blame for bigotry. >> the united nations is desperately trying to salvage an increasingly tenuous ceasefire in yemen. city of al hazam after two days of fighting with the houthi rebels who had controlled the city. yemeni forces also captured a houthi naval base near al hazem. special envoy voiced deep concerns over the repeated violations of that ceasefire. secretary of labo of defense as, says the taliban has been taking advantage of the increased u.s. presence there. president obama held his final news conference of the year today and says as he heads into the last 12 months in office he is feeling more optimistic than ever. as al jazeera's mike viqueria reports, the president vowed to cover the big issues. >> many are urging president obama to go around congress and use his executive authority to do what he vowed to do seven years ago, close the military prison at guantanamo bay. >> we see how guantanamo has been used to create this mythology that america's at war with islam. and you know for us to close it is part of our counterterrorism strategy. that is supported by our military our diplomatic and our spellings teams. >> the move is sure to insense republicans as would another unilateral move the president might make. one area republicans are willing to go along: trade in the major agreement with pacific rim countries known as the transpacific partnership. but democrats including hillary clinton are against it. >> it is consistent with what i promised is the most pro-labor pro-environment progressive trade deal in history. >> reporter: other issues will be inescapable next year.at the top of the list the fight against i.s.i.l. and the conditions in syria that have allowed its rise. despite the op going civil war that has estimated a number of 250,000 dead and 2 million displaced. and calling for bashar al-assad to go. >> five years later i was right. >> but in another revolt of the arab spring, the president offered a mea cu mea culpa. >> the united states bears some responsibility for not moving swiftly enough and the need to rebuild government there quickly. >> it is the aftermath of the san bernardino killings and how to stop lone wolves like the husband and wife accused of carrying out the attack that is front and center. mr. obama made ofamiliar argument. a balance must be found between a right to priefns and law to pw enforcement's need to monitor. >> if we have a lead to be able to track a suspected terrorist. >> mike viqueria, al jazeera, washington. >> muslims in france say the government is committing illegal acts under the guise of preventing another terror attack. at least 20 complaints have been filed in the five weeks since the attacks and the state of emergency declaration. police have carried out hundreds of raids on homes, mosques, restaurants and hotels. warrantless house arrests and raids. hundreds of muslims in australia claim they are victims of a new wave of discrimination and they are sharing personal experiences of prejudiced and harassment. >> special day out, after taking her mother to see a musical, she was returning to her car when from a balcony above men started throwing racist remarks and throwing hard boiled egg. >> another one hit the car next to alice and the glass shattered. >> similar stories are becoming common as muslims in australia saying they are abused by people who blame islam as a faith for attacks from i.s.i.l. antiterror laws that is said legitimize abuse. a controversy group one the government has considered banning, held a conference recently, claiming a security campaign was targeting islam. >> deradicalization has come to mean making muslims less islamic. it is no more than an agenda of forced assimilation, justified by exaggerated fears of a security threat. >> speakers lined up to voice their concerns. there are five or 600 people here sharing stories of harassment and antimuslim rhetoric. there is an us and then there is a them. in speeches and videos, participants, many muslims in australia says the confrontational approach is part of the problem. many are concerned that too many innocent muslims are being caught up in a dragnet. at melbourne airport in september omar sha-ndab was stopped from getting on to a plane. he said he was going to saudi arabia to the hajj pilgrimage. the government later formally cancelled his passport. authorities thought shandab might be leading the same way. >> i believe this is the harassment of muslims with antiterrorism laws, a harassment on innocence. >> in the 12 months to july of this year 67 australians had their passports cancelled on security grounds. the overwhelming majorities of australians say they want more surveillance and action but not less, getting the balance right is not easy. andrew thomas, al jazeera, sydney. rwandans clear the way for their president to serve for at least another 17 years. is that support or fear? and guatemala, raised the legal age of marriage from 14 to 18. >> welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm antonio mora. coming up in this half hour of international news. the plan to send peace keepers to burundi. but first a look at the stories making headlines across the u.s. in our american minute. within an hour the president is due arrive in san bernardino california. afterward the obamas will travel to hawaii where they'll spend the holidays. democratic candidate bernie sanders campaign is suing the democratic national committee. the dnc suspended the campaign's access after a sanders staffer improperly collected data compiled by hillary clinton's campaign. the sanders campaign called the dnc suspension a dangerous and illegal overreaction. the archdiocese of st. pall and minneapolis have reached a deal in connection with a sexual abuse scandal. as part of a civil suit the church will allow more are independent audits from the state. the suit alleged that the archdiocese did not do enough to protect children. african protection and prevention mission for at least six months. they hope to quell the arrest that began when president pierre nkurunziza announced he would run for a controversial third term in office. an estimated 220,000 have been displaced from the violence. al jazeera's mohammad adow has more from bujumbura. >> the force that will be known as mabrobo will be here for an initial period of six months and will mainly be drawn from the east african nations and may also come from the eastern africa stand by brigade which has been a force put together in east africa for the situation that burundi is in right now. the foreign minister says they have not been contacted by the african union and they will only respond once they get an official word from the union headquarters in ad addis ababa. whenever there is a threat to the civilian population in those countries. >> mohammad adow reporting from burundi. constitutional changes that will allow president paul kagame to stay in office no. 2034. preliminary results indicate an overwhelming victory for kagame. >> the results of controversial referendum were exactly as expected. people at the capital celebrated. in all districts it said nearly 100% of people voted in favor of changing the constitution and its presidential term limits. paul kagame has been president since 2000 but effectively in power since his rebel group ended the genocide and took power in 1994. the changes mean he can run again in 2017 and could stay in power until 2034. >> you want to be president for life and they say that would be a disaster for rwanda. >> i don't want. what is happening is people's choice. ask people why they want me. >> since the referendum was announced just ten days ago, politicians have been urging support for the changes. the government says they came freely. >> translator: we asked our members of parliament to change the term limit because they were an obstacle to us reelecting president kagame. >> both the uand the u.n. spoke out against changing the constitution. but the people went ahead anyway. supporters of president kagame says it is an expression of the people's will because they want to keep him in power but few have been openly critical of it. accused of insighting ethnic conflict, others have been killed or disappeared. the government denies it's responsible. peter was born in rwanda the but campaigns against the government from london. he says he receives regular threats for it. >> it's a big shock to us that there's a referendum that's been arranged in one week. which allows president kagame to be president for life, basically. >> stability for a country that suffered so much violence and they say the results reflect that. it's not possible to tell how popular he really is. malcon webb, al jazeera, rwanda. >> i spoke to paul rhinekranz. about how divided the country really was. >> we don't know that quite frankly. there's not much freedom of speech in rwanda. pete are not allowed to speak on this. the campaign to allow president ka game to go until twri 37 has, there's a lot of evidence that these people didn't sign those petitions, voluntarily, they were forced to do it and there's a problem as i said, with freedom of speech in rwanda. people will not express opinions contrary to that of the government. we don't know how popular kagame is quite frankly. judge this is there evidence that kagame has become increasingly authoritarian? >> there is no opposition, virtually no political opposition, no independent civil society. on the other hand, though, in terms ever those that have in terms of bureaucratic governors or economic governors been quite successful, in a growing economy public services have been delivered, there has been fight against corruption so on the one hand there's pretty decent bureaucratic governance but political governance is extremely dangerous and it's deeply flawed. >> but there is a certain duality to him is there not? because as you said there is this repressive side and he has been criticized by human rights groups but on the other hand they have also praised him. and as you were mentioning, he has managed the rebirths of a country that was cruchte corrupy genocide but has been reformed. >> the social justice that have been achieved by rwanda over the last 20 years might be destroyed by flawed political government, resentment frustration even hatred in rwanda and people can't express it. the fact that kagame will be now after this are through the referendum, this will mean that there will be no peaceful way of replacing kagame in the next 17 years or so. because the amendment would allow him to remain in power until 2034. >> now kagame has seen the ongoing violence in neighboring burundi after its president decided to extend his rule, other african countries have had violence break out in similar situations. do you see the danger of that in rwanda. >> no, i don't think that will happen. the regime controls the country pretty well, it is a very repressive regime, people won't take to the streets because if they did they would be apprehended immediately and jailed or even worse. so i don't anticipate any protests, outside in kigale streets, for instance, that doesn't mean that most rwandans or all rwandans or the majority of rwandans approve of what kagame does and approve the fact that he will lead the country for almost 17 years. >> there's always that concern about ethnic strife even though kagame managed to win over the hutus, despite kagame being a tutsi. >> i'm not sure ka game won over the hutu. he practiced what is commonly referred to as ethnic amnesia. it is no longer to speak about, we are all rwandans now, that is the public transcript, public discourse but much research and there has been a great deal of research in rwanda over the last 20 years. most of that research shows that there's still a great deal of ethnic resentment. more in rwanda than in burundi where ethnicity has been institutionalized. >> the african union has called for kagame to adhere to the current constitution. thank you for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> many opinion polls show prime minister marriano ahoy in spain will likely fall short of a parliamentary majority. four political groups are vying for control and there is no clear front-runner. many spanish citizens are dissatisfied with the current government policies, as al jazeera's barnaby phillips reports. >> rosa is preparing to go back to live with her parents on the coast. she studied hard, has two degrees, but all she could find was temporary work and unpaid internships. she feels bee trid by spain's leaderbetrayed by spain'sleader. >> i'm hoping for a change. a change for all the people the politician he left behind. their priority was to save banks and cut spain's debt. everything but risking ordinary people. we need them to invest in citizens. >> reporter: at the red cross they count the cost of the social crisis. they give food medicine and legal help to the vulnerable. increased by 700,000 in 2015. >> there's been a change in the profile of the people that that we help. before we supported many immigrants and now most of the people we help are spanish. they come from homes that have slipped into poverty. >> the spanish economy is now recovering even the construction industry which collapsedto so spectacularly a few years ago, has shown signs of life. unemployment is now falling. but many of the new jobs are badly paid and short term. the spanish are having to accept that economic insecurity is now a way of life. >> jose is a salesman for pharmaceutical companies. after 30 years of work he's only scraping a living. aged 50, he's also moved back in with his parents. he can no longer afford to pay the bills at hiss own apartment. this is not the career he once dreamt of. >> i have lost quality of life. salaries have dropped and they won't be like they were before. i know i will never earn the money i used to. i can afford to pay very few things. i don't go out, i don't have the same life i used to enjoy. >> so spain is at a crossroads. the government says the worst is over, it deserves a second chance but many spanish want to punish the old political parties for all that's gone wrong. that makes the results of these elections very hard to predict. barnaby phillips, al jazeera, madrid. >> monday night we'll look at the election results and see what they mean for spain. school teachers in west pokot region are sheltering girls on the run, after they refused to undergo the procedure. in guatemala, a centuries old practice has allowed girls as young as 14 to get married. it was recently raised to 18. despite the new law old habits aren't dying any time soon. >> it's not the kind of life jennifer chanta wanted. the 17-year-old had plans to finish high school and find a good job but that changed after jennifer got stuck overnight in a nearby town. her father accused her of being with her boyfriend and demanded she married him, to save the family's reputation. a month later jennifer was married, 15 at the time. >> if i hadn't gotten married i'd be studying. it's difficult to have the obligation of of an adult, when you're so young. >> all of paul's friends are married, the situation is all too common. in guatemala a third of girls are married by 18 and wednesday by the time they're 15 years old, the protection of girls is finally paying off. in late november the government raised the legal age to 18 years old. previously girls could be legally wednesday as young as 18. activist lionel says is defeating attitudes that see girls as a possession. >> more important is applying the law and raising awareness, so they understand that girls have rights. >> jennifer hopes the new law will help her seven-year-old sister to have the opportunity she never had. the right to go to school and choose her own future free from the bonds of child marriage. david mers, al jazeera, guatemala. >> a report released today by the united nations finds more than 60 million people will be driven from their homes, 20 much 2 million are fleeing war and persecution including the civil war in syria. a told of 2.5 million have spl asylum petitions pending. >> mother teresa, clearing her way to canonization. >> and how south africa is reacting. is are. >> china's military has been conducting operations in the visit of spratley islands, a heart of a debate, with the philippines and vietnam contending that they have rights to them. bomber came within two nautical miles of an artificial chinese reef in the spratley islands. a u.s. warship intentionally sailed within two miles of another chinese built islands. beijing issued another red alert for smog today just a week after its first red alert. the smog is expected to roll in on saturday and not let up until tuesday. the levels of potentially deadly airborne particles are expected 20 times what is considered safe from the world health organization. in an everyday to reduce pollution, vehicles will be only allowed on roads in alternate days. mother teresa is one step further to becoming a saint. mother trea teresa cured a brazn man who had brain tumors. al jazeera liddy dutt is in new delhi. >> welcomed here in india, the chief minister of west bengal, has expressed her happiness and prassepassed on her well wishese ministries of charities. the possibility of september the month of canonization has been reported widely. the actual date is unclear though. in terms of wider context of this news here in india there are 24 million christians in india. 24 million according to government statistics are catholics. pope francis has had a personal connection to mother teresa, they met in the 1990s and followed each other's work closely. pope francis has described her as a woman of great courage and actually are suggested he would be scared of her. now to our global view segment with a look at how news outlets across the world are reacting to various events. paper writes religion is a set of ideas and ideas should be criticized and debated. it adds, religious attorneys has mutated into mandatory religious respect when society needs to confront and criticize all religious. an editorial in china news daily, the relationship will only grow stronger. as china prepares for this weekend's severe smog event the paper says china and the u.s. should continue to work together to lead on climate change issues for the sake of themselves each other and the world. the kiev post takes aim at president obama for his plans to visit cuba if he has not even tboan ukraine. the paper writes if it cares as much about ukraine as it does about cuba, it would hope win the nearly two year war against russia. a major failure of this administration's foreign policy. the british have long been maligned for having bad teeth but english and u.s. fest u.s.,c dentistry or orthodontics. south africa is contemplating a new wave of recording artists. a new music hub in downtown johannesburg. tanya page reports it's making music available to the masses. >> this is masskandi music. , christopher manana works in a factory during the day but at night, he endulings hi en endu e music industry since the 1970s. the government bought it seven years ago with the idea of making world class recording facilities accessible to the general public and at a cheap price. the renovations aren't quite finished but the studios of busy with budding artists. >> from its inception it has always had a developmental agenda and access has always been a core issue. so our aim really is to keep our prices inta level where anyone can come in and record their music. this building has housed a music studio for decades. it's full of memories. its heritage value has been magnified by the inclusion of the first music museum in south africa. >> well, over here we had an icon here. >> dubae recorded in the studio, along with what many called the evil of apartheid. >> the music itself, kept hope shining, kept the will of the people out there, for everybody to feel, to do here. so i think it was really a very important vehicle. >> u 2 and dolly parton have both used the studio, but now south african musicians, tanya page, al jazeera, johannesburg. >> finally acknowledge keith richard has celebrated his 77th birthday. richard overcome a series of drug problems both major and minor and still going strong. ♪ >> the rolling stones are still playing venues around the world, they start a latin american tour in february. that's it for the world news on al jazeera america, bernie sanders presidential campaign improperly accessed information from the hillary clinton campaign. now there's a lawsuit. i'll be back with more news in two months. two months. minutes. >> good evening, i'm antonio mora. this is al jazeera america. >> five years ago later, i was right. >> facing the media. president obama fields questions on everything from syria to trade, defending his policies and reviewing what he has planned for next year. remembering the victims, the president paid a private visit to the parents of people who died in the san bernardino attack. and calligraphic message, prompting the close of an entire school district.

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