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Iraqi Army Says Ramadi Will Soon Be Liberated; Russia Turning to Taliban to Fight ISIS; Security Stepped Up in Beijing; Protesters Shut Down Magnificent Mile; Pope Francis to Hold Christmas Mass. Aired 12-12:30a ET

Aired December 25, 2015 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[00:00:01] NATALIE ALLEN, CNN HOST: The Iraqi army says the city of Ramadi will soon be completely liberated from ISIS. We have exclusive video from inside.

Security is stepped up in Beijing as a warning goes out to Westerners shopping on Christmas Day there.

And Pope Francis give his message about Christmas, and he says it's not all about the gifts under the tree. Sounds like something we would hear from Pope Francis.

Welcome to our viewers around the world. To those of you celebrating the holiday, Merry Christmas. I'm Natalie Allen, and this is CNN NEWSROOM.

And we begin in Iraq, where the army says it is squeezing ISIS out of the key city of Ramadi. Iraq says only 30 percent of the city is now under the control of the militants, and we're getting exclusive video from inside Ramadi. It shows Iraqi security forces in areas they say they liberated. Plus, an Iraqi soldier on the front line says he's confident ISIS will be forced out of the city entirely soon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IRAQI SOLDIER (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): The corpses are still under the rubble and no one of them are still in this district. That's it. We retook it, and it's over for them. A couple more days and all Ramadi will be clear, and there will be not one of them left in this city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: We hope that is the case. An Iraqi official said they're less than two kilometers from the government compound held by ISIS, but the toughest part may still lie ahead. Here's CNN's Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDNET.: Iraqi forces moving through areas of eastern Ramadi, where they have pushed back ISIS militants. What's left is a city in rubble, the remains of a tough fight for U.S.-trained Iraqi units, with more to come. Watching it all unfold in real time, U.S. commanders from their operations center.

COL. STEVE WARREN, SPOKEMAN, ANTI-ISIS COALITON IN IRAQ: This enemy has set up defensive belts. So they use IEDs, the very same IEDs that we faced here in Iraq years ago, but now they use them in clusters, as if they were mine fields. They will rig entire houses to be, to explode.

STARR: U.S. war planes are launching dozens of air strikes to back up Iraqi ground forces. Picking out ISIS fighting positions from the air and not inadvertently killing civilians remains a huge challenge. Administration officials are talking about how to possibly loosen up the rules restricting their strikes so they can turn up the pressure on ISIS.

WARREN: What's being talked about there is whe -- is how much tolerance we should have for civilian casualties. And that's part of our American values, right? We, we say that we bring our values to war.

STARR: Senator Ted Cruz continuing to advocate massive bombing, answering Wolf Blitzer's question this way at the CNN Republican debate.

WOLF BLITZER: Would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the ISIS capital, where there are a lot of civilians? Yes or no?

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R-TX) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You would carpet bomb where ISIS is, not a city, but the location of the troops.

STARR: U.S. military officials say indiscriminate bombing is not productive, and large groups of ISIS soldiers without civilians nearby rarely happens.

WARREN: ISIS are living in towns and cities amidst, in the same blocks, as the citizens. So when you're talking about expanding the rules of engagement, I don't see how you do that without raising the risk that women and children will die.

STARR: The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs warns the rules will stretch for a big target.

GEN. JOSEPH DUNFORD, CHAIRMAN, U.S. JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: I can assure you, if we're going after Baghdadi's command and control network or some other critical node, then, then we will go after it as aggressively as necessary.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Barbara Starr reporting for us there. Afghanistan says its forces have killed a number of Taliban fighters and their commander in the Sangin district. The militant group is largely in control of the district located inside Helmand province. Alexandra Field has more for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Afghan security forces are making another push to move Taliban fighters out of Sangin district after days of heavy fighting there. (Locals) on the grounds had said that the Taliban had taken over almost all of Sangin district, except for a police chief's office and another building used by an army battalion. But more operations have been launched now by the Afghan army and officials there say that a number of Taliban fighters have been killed, including a local commander with ties to the Taliban leader. The Afghan National Army is getting some support from the U.S. in the form of two air strikes. There's also a NATO team in southern Helmand province, which includes a small number of British troops who are acting in an advisory capacity, as the Afghan National Army takes on the Taliban. Those on the ground say that the fighting has remained fierce, and that it continues. People who are inside that police chief's office, which has been under attack for days from the Taliban, have said that they were running out of food, ammunition, and supplies. But the central government says that it is moving resources into the area and more reinforcements as they continue their battle with the Taliban.

In (Seoul), Alexandra Field, CNN.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

ALLEN: Russia is now turning to the Taliban in the fight against ISIS. President Vladimir Putin says only intelligence will be shared with the group, and no weapons will be exchanged. Brian Todd has more now and what analysts think is behind Putin's move.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT.: One of America's chief antagonists tonight again reaching out to a top American enemy. Vladimir Putin's government is in contact with the Taliban in Afghanistan over the sharing of intelligence. That's according to a Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, who tells CNN Putin's doing this to help the Taliban fight their common enemy, ISIS. The official says the Kremlin won't be giving weapons to the Taliban. But why would Putin, who's been a chief enemy of the Taliban, want to help them now? U.S. commanders say ISIS has gained strength in Afghanistan in recent months, with up to 3,000 fighters there. Putin's long been worried about thousands of jihadists from Russia's Caucasus region and the former Soviet Republic, who he says are inside Syria. And he may be trying to cut off that pipe line closer to home in Afghanistan.

OLGA OLIKER, SENIOR ADVISER AND DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: The fact that there are people from the Caucasus fighting in Syria, maybe not as many as the Russian government says, but certainly a good number, including in leadership roles, means that Russia does see ISIS and some -- and, you know, a lot of the other Islamist groups as a particular threat in a way that maybe the Taliban isn't. So the Russians may think that they are the lesser of the available evils.

TODD: But it's another risk for a Russian President who's been boldly extending his reach from his escalations in Syria to aggressive moves in Europe and North Korea. Recently Putin's military advisers were in Pyongyang for a secretive meeting with Kim Jon-un's top generals. Putin's announced he'll construct a missile which could pierce the U.S.-led missile shield in Europe. Analysts say this is all about Vladimir Putin projecting his relevance and strength.

MATTHEW ROJANSKY, DIRECTOR, KENNAN INSTITUTE, WOODROW WILSON CENTER: He wants to go back to the 1970s when the Soviet Union and the United States were equals as geopolitical leaders, as Cold War rivals, but they still sat down and they did deals.

TODD: Experts say by working with the Taliban, Putin's likely not risking a repeat of the Soviet's grinding, bloody occupation of Afghanistan in the '80s. But there's concern about one possibility if he keeps ramping up his campaign in Syria.

BEN JUDAH, AUTHOR, FRAGILE EMPIRE: If I was Vladimir Putin, which frankly I'm not, I'd be very worried about footage coming from Syria of Russian pilots potentially being kidnapped or burnt, which as happened to a Jordanian pilot not that long ago.

TODD: One key question, how is Washington responding to Russia and the Taliban sharing intelligence? A U.S. official tells CNN they don't see this as undermining the stability they're working with the Afghan government to achieve. What would be destabilizing this official says is any contact with the Taliban that would legitimize that group with international recognition.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Western countries are warning their citizens in Beijing this holiday to be on guard about a possible security threat. Those nations told their citizens to be very vigilant, especially while doing their shopping in one particular area. Here's CNN's Matt Rivers from Beijing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS CNN INTERNATIONAL, CORRESPONDENT: Several foreign embassies issued alerts on Thursday, including the American, French, British, and Australian embassies, warning their citizens about potential threats to Westerners in a neighborhood called Sanlitun, here in Beijing, a very popular neighborhood with Westerners. Now as to the exact details of those threats, the exact nature of the warning, officials are keeping that information very close to the vest. None of the embassies would go into further details about them. CNN did speak with an official from the United States State Department. And that official would also not go into details, saying only that they information that they received was credible enough to issue this alert, and that they did pass on relevant information to their Chinese counterparts.

Now here in China, the government issued what's called a yellow alert. That would be the second lowest level on China's state security alert system. Now it's unclear at this point if this yellow alert had anything to do with the information that the U.S. says it passed on to the Chinese government. Specifically the Chinese say that this alert that they issued is in reference to large and medium-sized shopping malls, where they will be beefing up security patrols, as well as increasing security outside of diplomatic compounds. Now we have seen armed patrols outside of malls across the city. And we actually have a bureau here inside one of the diplomatic compounds, and we saw increased security patrols as well. Now the Sanlitun neighborhood that was specifically mentioned by these foreign embassies is a very popular neighborhood for Westerners and today, during the day on Christmas, it is expected to be very crowded, with people going out, perhaps going shopping, going out to get something to eat, and so, amidst all of the holiday spirit, you can expect there will be a heightened state of alert as well.

Matt Rivers, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

ALLEN: Syria's Foreign Minister met with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing Thursday to discuss the crisis in Syria. The meeting follows a unanimous U.N. Security Council vote last week endorsing a Syrian peace process. The Chinese Foreign Minister promised Syria more than $6 million in humanitarian aid.

In Southern China hundreds of doctors, nurses, and psychologists are offering help to the families of dozens of people still missing in a massive landslide. More than 5,000 workers are searching the industrial park in Shenzhen five days after the landslide happened. We are hearing from one of the survivors. Nineteen-year-old Tian Zeming was buried for more than 60 hours before he was rescued Wednesday. He told China state media about the collapse and how his rescue happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIAN ZEMING (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): The five-story building collapsed suddenly when the landslide rushed down, and I was trapped in an office room. As one of my hands can move, I found a bottle of water and some snacks and melon seeds around me. When I was in the trap I heard someone drilling above me. I knocked the board and shouted loudly. The finally found me when they drilled through the board. They encouraged me and I stretched one of my hands out. I finally felt I would likely be saved, as I was found.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: A very fortunate man, and we so hope perhaps others might still be alive. Seventy-five people are still missing. There have been four bodies recovered.

Well, as several Turkish cities face a curfew, a funeral procession leads to deadly clashes with police. We'll explain what's going on here in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ALLEN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. In southeastern Turkey four towns, mainly Kurdish towns, are under curfew because of days of heavy fighting between PKK rebels and Turkish forces. Three rebels were killed Thursday during a funeral procession for two other militants.

Turkish police fired tear gas and sprayed water cannon on hundreds of people in one city. Turkey's mostly Kurdish southeast has been a rise in violence since the two-year cease fire between the Kurdistan Workers' Party and Ankara fell apart back in the summer.

Protesters shut down Chicago's Magnificent Mile Thursday, getting in the way of last-minute holiday shoppers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROTESTORS: The whole damn system. The whole damn system is guilty as hell. The whole damn system is guilty as hell.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Two hundred activists were condemning how officials handled the shooting death of a black teenager there in Chicago. Laquan McDonald was his name. They're demanding, as they have been for many days, that the Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, and the State's Attorney resign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MALE PROTESTOR: This is where the rich and powerful shop and the wannabees. And so in order to get the attention of the kind of people that (Ranna) listens to, we have to come to the people. They won't come to us, so we come to them.

MALE PROTESTOR: If you're a police officer who's morally upright, professional, courteous, treats everyone with dignity and respect, there shouldn't be any problem.

FEMALE PROTESTOR: I've just really started to understand what it means to be systematically oppressed. Not just in this country, but around the world. So it's like where would I -- I would be wrapping presents right now, so why not come here and support the cause that all (students) -- like ultimately it's about me and about the people that are going to come after me, people who look like me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: And you know what happened as these activists walked? Well some shoppers stopped shopping and joined in. They marched for a block or two with the activists. There were no reports of any arrests.

Well central parts of the United States are preparing for more rain.

It was a very stormy Christmas Eve for many people in the South. This is near Holly Springs, Mississippi. A wave of wild weather triggered storms and more than a dozen tornadoes. The mayor of one town says they lost their only church, and at least 14 people have died in three states from these storms. A tornado in Mississippi flipped over that truck right there. The person who took the video says the driver wasn't injured. Very, very fortunate.

Derek Van Dam is here because, tell you what, it has been unseasonably warm...

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It has.

ALLEN: ...and stormy, and it's not going to stop for Christmas Day for a lot of people.

VAN DAM: No. That tornado that we were looking at just a second ago on TV was considered a long-track tornado. It traveled on the ground for over 200 kilometers, Natalie. You can imagine the path of destructive of something that's that long of a duration will, will create. And you saw some of the footage there. It was horrendous. There were 31 tornadoes in total. Normally this time of year we'd only see 24 in the entire month of December. One 12-hour outbreak and we see 31. Unbelievable.

ALLEN: Right.

VAN DAM: We can blame El Nino. Really, truly, it is a weather pattern that is creating this type of a scenario.

(WEATHER REPORT)

ALLEN: My son's having a white Christmas out in Colorado.

VAN DAM: OK. I assume he's in Colorado (this Thursday). I was there as well just last week.

ALLEN: All right. Yeah, thanks, thanks, Derek. Well, throughout this year we've had some tragic stories about migrants trying to find a better life.

Well, we've got a picker up story for you coming next. We'll have this man's story about he survived a, a sea crossing and, when he arrived in Spain, he hit the jackpot. We'll have his story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: Here's the story we promised you a few moments ago. He was a desperate migrant from Senegal who perhaps couldn't imagine what would happen to him that happened this week.

Thirty-five-year-old Ngame, who was rescued at sea as he tried to get to Spain in 2007, suddenly wins big. He's one of the winners of Spain "El Gordo" lottery this week. He pocketed almost $450,000. He said he hopes to give his son a good education and that the money won't change him. Ngame said money is only money. We have to keep our feet on the ground and stay with the friends we always had. Sounds like a good guy. Good for him.

Well, later on this Christmas Day Pope Francis will deliver his annual Christmas message to Rome and the world. This follows his Christmas Eve mass where the Pope urged Christians to enjoy life's simpler things. Here's John Allen in Rome.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ALLEN, CNN SENIOR VATICAN ANALYST: Pope Francis tonight celebrated the Vatican's annual Christmas Eve mass, the vigil mass for the great feast of Christmas tomorrow. And characteristically in his brief remarks during the mass, his thoughts turned to the poor. He said that, according to the Biblical story of the birth of Jesus Christ, he was born to a poor, obscure family. So poor in fact that they could not afford lodgings in Bethlehem, and so Christ was born in a stable among animals. And on the basis of that, the Pope told Christians not to be seduced by a world that often celebrates wealth and consumerism and extravagance. Instead, he said, Christians are to embrace a life of what he called sobriety. A humbler, simpler way of life marked by the concern for the least among us.

Now this was just the beginning of a very busy holiday season for the Pope. On Christmas Day he will deliver his traditional Urbi et Orbi message to the city, meaning Rome, and to the world. The next day he'll celebrate the feast of St. Stephen, recalled by the Church as its first martyr. He'll deliver a noontime Angelus address. And then on the 27th, on Sunday, he will celebrate an important mass for the Holy Family, meaning Jesus, Mary and Joseph. All of that as prelude to his traditional New Year's Eve vesper service. And then on New Year's Day, going to St. Mary Maggiore here in Rome to say a mass in honor of the Virgin Mary, and also to release his message for the day the Catholic Church marks as the World Day of Peace. So this indefatigable pontiff, who earlier this month turned 79, just keeps going. Tonight, as has so often been the case during his papacy, his thoughts were with the poor. And this message to Christians to always be concerned for the poor.

For CNN, this is John Allen from Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: And the Christmas tradition is turning 60 years old. The North American Air Defense Center or NORAD, as we know it, has been helping kids around the world track Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. For quite a long time they've been doing that, and you can follow Santa's route on noradsanta.org, by the way. And did you know how it all started? Well, a Sears store in Colorado ran a dial Santa advertisement, but the telephone number had a typo and, instead, the calls went to NORAD. How about that one? Our station KKTV talked with a volunteer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NORAD VOLUNTEER: Well, I've had calls from all around the world, as far away as Europe, but mostly across the United States and Canada. Everybody wants to know if Santa is coming. And, yes, he is coming, but only if you're asleep will he leave some presents.

KKTV JOURNALIST: So what are the kids saying? Hey, my sister's still awake. What do I do?

NORAD VOLUNTEER: Oh, that's a very big deal, yes. It's a very big deal, but all the kids have to be asleep.

JOURNALIST: Also, everyone wants to know if they should leave cookies.

NORAD VOLUNTEER: And they should. And also they're asking for carrots and celery for the reindeer.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Be a volunteer at NORAD and you get to talk to all those kids. Well, thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM on this Christmas. I'm Natalie Allen. More top stories in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: This is CNN NEWS NOW. I'm Natalie Allen.

(HEADLINES)

Coming next here on CNN Going Green: Green Champions. See you soon.

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