most of the girls remain missing, as lucy kavanaugh explains. ♪ >> reporter: hope for a peaceful christmas renewed tonight as nigeria claims to have finally crushed the islamist streamist group saying they are on the run driven from their last enclave. hostages freed. for seven years, they've murdered and terrorized in their quest to set up an islamic state in africa. their brazen kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls inspired a worldwide campaign "bring back our girls." two years later, barely any escaped. just 21 released. most still missing. boko haram joined forces with isis last year becoming its most sinister franchise. >> they actually are far, far more lethal. they were far more lethal than isis was. >> reporter: unlike isis, boko haram's attacks are focussed on nigeria and neighboring countries. >> it could be possible that boko haram has been defeated a the base camp. they may have broken down into smaller units and going underground back into clan destine terrorism. >> reporter: as isis has already proven, losing ground doesn't mean they can't lucy kavanaugh nbc news london. >

lucy kavanaugh nbc news london. >>> now to the, that syria. an extraordinary look at the incredible scope of devastation inside aleppo. a siege for so many years. now reduced to rubble. nbc's bill neely was inside that war-torn city. >> reporter: one million people lived here, but east aleppo was a ghost town now. it has emptied. 30,000 people evacuated in just over a week. half of syria's biggest city is destroyed. but aleppo has lost more than that. war turned its ancient sites to battle fields and rubble. this was the grand mosque before the war. this is it today. a thousand years of beauty blown to pieces. gunmen were protected here, but not history. this was the market, the oldest in the world. today it's a charred ruin. after 1200 years of business, it's an underground arsenal filled with snipers' nests and spent bullets. this was the citadel a world heritage site. today it's a camp for victorious syrian troops. the walls breached by shelling. it's in ruins. aleppo was one of the jewels of the arab world. not anymore. the collapse began

lucy kavanaugh, nbc news, london. >>> now to the war in syria. we're getting an extraordinary look tonight at the incredible scope of devastation inside aleppo. besieged for so many years. a once bustling city now reduced to rubble. nbc's bill neely was inside that war-torn city. >> reporter: one million people lived here, but east aleppo is a ghost town now. it has emptied. 30,000 people evacuated in just over a week. half of syria's biggest city is destroyed. but aleppo has lost more than that. war turned its ancient sites to battlefields and rubble. this was the grand mosque before the war. this is it today. a thousand years of beauty blown to pieces. gunmen were protected here, but not history. this was the market, the oldest in the world. today it's a charred ruin. after 1,200 years of business, it's an underground arsenal filled with snipers' nests and spent bullets. this was the citadel, a world heritage site. today it's a camp for victorious syrian troops. its walls breached by shelling. its grounds, where tens of thousands of tourists ro

back comes gw, 132nd left tie letter kavanaugh corner pocket, no. a three at the buzzer. that is a buzz kill. the owls go down 66-63. >>> steve donahue and penn quakers hosting lafayette at the palestra. pick it up in the first half penn up by six, jackson donahue, drains the three, penn lead 20-11. move forward to the second half penn up by 11 points. penn almost stripped, he recovers the ball, lafayette goes the other way, matt howard, wide open, penn leads 38-25. quakers would later open it up, and win it 81-52, your final score. >>> that is all for sports, i'm don bell, have a great the day. >>> check out former sixers lou williams uncorking this long distance shot in the last seconds before half time. >> wow. >> that is in houston from 66 feet. it counts. lou was always good with the outside shot. williams is now on the lakers. he had 24 points to lead l.a. last night the but lakers lost their fourth straight game, the rockets have won four straight. >> i could do that. >> yeah, well. >> in my sleep. >> coming up in the next half an hour of "eyewitness news" we will

brett kavanaugh, judge robert l. wilkins, from the united states district court, judge brown jackson. [applause] and now, i turn it over to the marshall. >> all rise. o, yea, the supreme court of the principality of varrone that is now in session. please be seated. >> we will hear argument in the case of lord and lady montague and lord and lady capulet versus friar lawrence. counsel, are you ready? >> mr. chief justice, and may it please the court, plaintiffs seek to hold friar lawrence liable for spiritual malpractice, with all due respect to this court the friar answers only to a higher authority for that offense. if the court finds this baseless claim the floodgates will be open. what is next? is lady capulet spill if she sues hot chocolate in her lap after going through a fast-food-drive-through. is lord montague seeking millions of damages if his dry cleaner loses his favorite pair of pantalon in s. as in the claim. this has to stop. even if the court could articulate a duty of care in this context the friar did

nbc news foreign correspondent lucy kavanaugh joins us live from london with the latest. lucy, good morning. >> kasie, good morning. some progress today with those evacuations starting, but we have to keep in mind there are still several thousand people trapped in eastern aleppo. conditions, as you can imagine, are terrible. this is a city that's been nearly completely destroyed by syrian and russian air strikes. there's no food, no water, no access to medical facilities, and there are wounded civilians waiting to get out. it's been a long and disappointing weekend for them. no movement, no evacuations. finally we understand some 3,000 people have been taken out on buses. some by ambulance, out of east aleppo to the countryside, so this is progress. but also a very fragile situation. there are a lot of actors on the ground here, syrian government troops, pro government militias, a number of opposition rebel groups and any one can effectively undo the deal. that's what we saw over the weekend when a convoy of buses was torched, attacked by rebel groups. there's also concer