On tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by what if this year, we went around the table and instead of saying what we were thankful for, we say who were thankful for. Lincoln financial helps provide Financial Security for those who are always there for you, because this is what you do for people who love. Lincoln financial youre in charge. Moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff fierce storms rolled across the south and the midwest today, but instead of snow and ice, warnings went up for tornadoes and floods. One twister struck in mississippi, and a woman died in arkansas when a tree hit her house. Officials said high winds could turn Christmas Decorations into shrapnel. Meanwhile, rain and fog caused flight delays and some cancellations across the northeast. The unseasonably warm weather is predicted to last through christmas. Ifill there has been a miraculous rescue in china, nearly three days after a devastating mudslide. It came today in shenzhen, where the massive collapse buried part of an industrial park. Martha fairlie of independent television news, reports. After 67 hours of searching, there are excited shouts from the rescue workers. They have found a survivor. A man, buried alive for more than three days under the mud and rubble of a landslide in shezhen, is carried out on a stretcher. Tian zeming, a Migrant Worker from south west china was pulled out, still conscious but with severe crushing injuries. A spokesman for the hospital where he is being treated said the 21year old man is extremely weak, with severe dehydration and multiple injuries. But doctors say after three hours of surgery, he is now stable. An army of excavators, and 4,000 rescue workers have been searching the site in shenzen city since a huge mountain of construction waste caused a landslide on sunday. An Industrial Estate including 14 factories and 13 low rise buildings was buried under ten meters of silt. Two bodies have been found, but more than 70 people are still missing. And this rescue of one survivor has given search teams the small hope they may yet find more. Ifill the vice mayor of shenzen says even though the critical window to find survivors has passed, rescue efforts will continue. Woodruff in afghanistan, fresh troops arrived today in a critical Southern District thats under siege by the taliban. The militants have overrun most of sangin, but in kabul, the acting defense minister said Afghan Soldiers are doing their best. Building an army is not the work of two years, three years or four years. It is a young army, it needs maturity, with the very reduced amount of equipment and others. But this is the bravery of our soldiers, our men and women who are fighting there, and i think they are defending very strongly and i am proud of them. Woodruff meanwhile, u. S. Troops outside kabul paid tribute to six americans killed in a Taliban Attack this week. Later, the bodies were flown back to a base in delaware. Ifill hundreds of black lives matter protesters peacefully tied up parts of minneapolis today. They started at the mall of america, the nations largest, but quickly moved outside and headed to the minneapolisst. Paul airport, where they blocked roads. The demonstrators demanded the city release video of Police Killing a black suspect last month. Woodruff the president ial frontrunners began their christmas breaks today, putting a war of words on hold. On monday, Republican Donald Trump used a vulgar term to sum up Hillary Clintons loss in the democratic race of 2008. Later, he defended his language, saying in a tweet clinton shot back late tuesday, telling the Des Moines Register ifill a christmas rally on wall street extended into a Third Session today. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 185 points to close above 17,600. The nasdaq rose nearly 45 points. And the s p 500 added 25. Ifill and, twins are being born in the u. S. At a record rate. The centers for Disease Control and prevention reports one in every 29 babies born last year was a twin. Meanwhile, the rate of triplets and other multiple births hit a 20year low. And, the rate of births to teen age mothers was down 60 from its alltime high, in 1991. Woodruff still to come on the newshour the push to retake the iraqi city of ramadi. The crisis thats brought more than one million migrants to europe. Diverging views on islam. And much more. Ifill one of the biggest stories of 2015 has been the Islamic State groups increasing grip on parts of iraq and syria. For months, the Iraqi Military has been preparing to take back the vital city of ramadi, capital of Anbar Province. And today, that push may be paying off. Ifill the crack of gunfire and boom of mortar rounds punctuated the days fighting across ramadi. Thick plumes of smoke dotted the skyline as tanks and other vehicles rolled through the streets below. State television quoted the army chief as saying his forces will finish retaking the city center in the coming days. Its a striking turnabout from may, when Islamic State forces seized ramadi. The city is located about 60 miles west of baghdad, and its loss was a blow to the Iraqi Government and army. Thats because ramadi is also the provincial capital of Anbar Province, deep in the sunni arab heartland. For months, iraqi troops have slowly fought their way back, surrounding the city and cutting off isis supply lines. Theyve been backed by u. S. Led Coalition Air strikes, but have not relied on shiite militias. The shiites were accused of abusing sunni civilians when tikrit was recaptured from Islamic State fighters back in april. At one point, the militants controlled a large swath of iraq. Even if ramadi does fall. They will still have strongholds in two major cities nearby fallujah, as well as iraqs second largest city, mosul, in the north. Iraqi military Officials Say once ramadi is fully secured, it will be handed over to anbar police and local sunni tribes. For more on what the battle for ramadi means, im joined by Ayman Oghanna, a multimedia journalist with vice news, who has recently been embedded with Iraqi Special forces near ramadi. And retired army colonel peter mansoor, a top aide to general David Petraeus during the u. S. Surge in iraq. Ayman oghanna, since you have been with the troops most recently, tell us what kind of progress is being made and how you measure that progress. Well, before this trip in ramadi in may has been taken, its night and day in terms of spirit in morale amongst the men. They are moving forward and feel confident they should have full control of the city soon. Ifill theyre doing that how, exactly . Basically, the u. S. , according to the men on the ground, they said its a matter of increase in the u. S. Led coalitions use of air support and airstrikes. There is a dramatic increase since russia in syria. They said before we had a problem getting hit which Coalition Aircraft and now the coordinates theyre giving, they get hit. The the targets get hit and the special forces move forward and take the ground. Ifill peter mansoor, how important and critical is it for the Iraqi Government or iraqi effort to regain ramadi . What is it about ramadi that makes that important . Ramadi is the provincial capital of alAnbar Province, a province composed of 99 sunni muslims, and its extremely important. Its the iconic home, birthplace of the awakening movement that did so much to destroy al quaida and iraq, the forerunner of i. S. I. S. So it has great symbolic and great plath practical and political meaning as well. Ifill the help of the u. S. Airstrikes, air support has allowed this progress to be made, but what about the shia paramilitary which has been available . Is it because it is such a sunni stronghold that that has not been possible . I think so. I think the government of albaddie understands they cannot unlibrary the shia stronghold in Anbar Province, it would probably lead to casualties which would be blamed on sectarianism and create more problems than it would solve. This needs to be a victory by the iraqi army supported by u. S. Advisors and air power and needs to be turned over to the sunni police and tribes. Ifill Ayman Oghanna, the president said i. S. I. S. Has lost ground in iraq. 40 he says, others say 20 . What does that look like on the ground . Yeah, its clear i. S. I. S. Has lost a lot of territory this year. In terms of them being a conventional military Group Holding ground. But the real questions will linger afterwards. Even when ramadi will fall to the iraqi forces soon, its still going to be a difficult place for the iraqis to hold and maintain. Even Saddam Hussein had trouble ruling over Anbar Province and its cap pal ramadi and the state has always had a difficult time controlling this area. Once i. S. I. S. Goes, there will still be a lot of elements who will support them and be opposed to the government and it might not look like wearing a black flag and having the sort of caliphate or state, but there will be a probable insurgency that will hold the ground. Ifill peter, weve heard over the years about the difficulty getting the iraqi army up to snuff. Does this mean they now are . Theyre at least good enough to take a large or semilarge city when supported by lots of air power and against resistance that, although fierce, you know, were only talking several hundred troops. It will be a far different battle if they were to try to take over mosul at this point, for instance. But it does show progress and i think its a good sign. I think the more important thing going to what the other commentator is talking about is the politics of the situation have got to be conducive to holding the area once its secured, and there has got to be some sort of political arrangement with the local sunnis that give them some sort of autonomy, much like the kurdish region enjoys, and then they could support a political way forward rather than continuing to fight the government. Ifill how does that happen, Ayman Oghanna . How do they hold the ground they have taken . Yeah, its not easy. I mean, the group that is leading this operation right now in ramadi, there are special forces who are very capable in taking ground, but the iraqi army does not have a very strong record and history and Holding Ground in sensitive sunni areas like anbar and as colonel mansoor said, i think i. S. I. S. Didnt come out of no. Where it came out of the real and modernization of sunnis in iraq and two things immediate to happen. Militarily there has to be a local trusted force. Baghdad is doing that. They are planning to use local anbarysunni volunteers after the awakening. And there needs to be an effort to include sunnis in the iraqi democratic system and that wont be easy. Ifill do you think this success can spread to mosul and fallujah . I think it can spread to fallujah next. Mosul would be a different order of magnitude altogether given the size of the city and the number of combatants up there but its a good start. Ifill peter mansoor, Ayman Oghanna, thank you both very much. Woodruff one of the biggest stories of 2015 was the refugee and migrant crisis in europe, which is showing little signs of abating. Pbs newshours own special correspondent Malcolm Brabant has been documenting the Historic Development for much of the past year, as an eyewitness to the desperate journey of many, and europes struggle to grapple with the massive influx. Before we speak with him, we hear from some of the many people he has met along the way, and look back at some key moments. Greeting migrants. Hi. We feel history is in the making. There is a huge shift in population now. The biggest since world war ii. We are just stepping stones. This is a flow. Its like a river, the constant flow and it will not stop until some kind of solution is provided so people dont have to leave their homes. There is a big problem. This is a problem for the army in syria. speaking in Foreign Language should you share greeces burden . Its so easy saying the government caught to do something, but the reality is if we have more amnesty and more people being granted a right to remain here, we are encouraging more and more people to make this hellish crossing. The truth, is if we go down that road, we would be contracting out our immigration policy to these monstrous people traffickers and allowing them to decide who gets into europe and who doesnt. The turkish gateway to europe, leading activist. The refugees all the day and during the night, theyre all coming together here and theyre reaching the price, it was 1,000 to go through the greek islands. Syria student abad. Were probably going true today. The conditions are better than yesterday, hopefully. It might be my death say veterans day or my salvation day. We can find something for our people here in turkey. We have no food. We dont have anything in order to continue our lives. We have no schools. Our children are in the streets. After ten days, you will see it was these children. This is for a child, it cost 5. This shop used to be a shoe repair or a shoe shop. Now they are selling this kind of stuff. They say theyre really good quality but its impossible to believe it. The turkish authorities have kept us a distance away from the survivors but we have been close enough to one of the buses to hear uncontrollable weeping coming from people who lost relatives. Excuse me, sir, are you the smuggler responsible for these peoples deaths . A resident. There is a lot of people stirring the water. Survivor from damascus. The bodies, the children, everything. Now they are memories. Nadi from northern syria. It is very scary. Im really happy. Im really thankful. Im thankful for you. Defending hungarys border with syria waiting for any type of solution or a suggestion from the european union. I think the nation state has to take back into their own hands, their own business and also the defense of the civilization that they are part of and defend their own borders. You dont have any i. D. . No. Reporter before introducing border controls, sweden welcomed abud whom we first met in turkey. I am very happy to be hear in a very peaceful country where im being treated like a human with respect to human life. Its very happy to be here. Reporter sheltering thousands of unaccompanied minors before we had a few new kids every week, and we thought that was a lot. Lot. And now there are 100 a day. A communist. This is a universal experience no state has ever attempted. Swedens minister. What do you say to people who think your opendoor policy is naive . Were suffering from one of the worst military crises in our time, seeing the people fleeing from syria, over 12 Million People. Just turn on your Television Set and sea for yourselves what these people are fleeing from. We as a country have an obligation to help. Reporter after macedonia barred all by syrians, afghans and iraqis, this man on rejection. It was for my family. But now you see. Totally its not fair. Reporter peter from human rights watch. What europe should be doing is to put in place a more coherent refugee policy which allows for safe and legal ways for these people to reach europe because if they drive the smuggling underground even more, it means that they also increase the danger to europe because its much easier for terrorists to slip into this flow of refugees when its underground. Reporter and finally, islam obeyed. A syrian who stayed to help. I hope some day the powerful people and government will stop bombing and having more guns. We wish for peace. Woodruff Malcolm Brabant is in copenhagen. I spoke with him a short time ago. Malcolm, welcome. That was such an effecting report we just saw. Has it become at all routine, the dealing with these people, the refugees, the migrants . Or is it still as emotionally wrenching as what it seemed to be . Well, its the generalizing half of a whole continent but you get a distorted view of peoples reactions in lesbos because you see people getting off the boats, having vulnerable, risking their lives and shivering in the cold now. Its difficult to be anything other than moved and seeing people at their most vulnerable when they have survived perhaps a lifechanging experience. The further you go down the migrant trail, the further northwards, people are becoming more used to seeing migrants. There are tens of millions of people who feel very well disposed towards them and have a great sense of generosity. But i think people are becoming perhaps a little weary of it in certain places and i think one of the main indicators, perhaps, is the reaction there was after the picture of the little boy found drowned on the Turkish Coast was published, there was a great upsurge in sympathy. But since then you are still having children drowning in greater numbers than ever before and i think the peoples sympathy is waning because its not their face all the time. Woodruff how clear is the system for cleel dealing with te people once they reach the shore . Do they then ha