announcer: this is al jazeera. hello, welcome to the newshour live from doha. i'm martine dennis, and these are the stories we'll be looking at in the next 60 minutes. making gains in kobane. syrian kurdish forces say they are pushing back i.s.i.l. the virus is rampant - a bleak assessment as more cases of ebola are reported in west africa foreign trekkers among 20 killed in a nepal avalanche

and watching me watching you - we report from inside north korea as the secretive state says it won't give up its nuclear programme. >> now, the u.s. says it killed hundreds of fighters from the islamic state of iraq and levant in the syrian town of kobane. it's on syria's border with turkey, and is the last remaining area along that border stretch that is not in the hands of i.s.i.l. fighters. within the fast 48 hours or so more than 40 air strikes have been launched against i.s.i.l. targets. in a moment we'll speak to our correspondent imran khan, in the iraqi capital baghdad. first, let's go live to bernard smith, who is on the turkey-syria border, on the turkish side, where you can see

kobane - it's a stone's throw from where you are. finally positive news to report as a consequence of those air strikes. >> it looks like it, yes. it's been quiet this morning, early quiet considering most of the time we've been here, all we here behind us is gunfair, more far fire, not even air strikes today, although the sound of fighter jets flying overhead - yes, they have made a difference. syrian kurdish fighters told us as a consequence of air strikes last night - they say there's about 11, they've been able to retake more area than have been controlled by i.s.i.l. in kobane, and have been able to retake those positions unopposed. they haven't been fighting with i.s.i.l., they've been able to take the positions back. there hasn't been the i.s.i.l. fighters around, it seems, to take on.

we are hearing one of the consequences of the strikes is that it scattered those who remained. perhaps they are trying to regroup. for now, this morning, kobane quiet. >> and has the relatively positive news coming out of kobane itself, has that filtered down to the kurdish community where you are, and helped to diffuse some of the essentials that we have seen over the past weeks? >> well, yes, last week more than 30 people killed in protests across turkey as kurds complained, took to the streets in frustration that they thought the turkish government wasn't doing enough to help the people of kobane. however, in the last few days, the kurds that have been watching from this side of the border, their mood has changed. they can see the air strikes going in, they are hearing the reports, hearing what we are

hearing, and the mood improved because they feel that things are on the turn, and might be turning in favour of the kurds trying to protect kobane, which a caution, the u.s. defense department said that while they have brought in the air strikes for humanitarian purposes, they say that it's not all that is needed, but there is a chance that kobane may fall. we have to caution the enthusiasm. >> thank you very much for that. imran khan, across the border in iraq, the situation is a different one. the fight against i.s.i.l. is over so many different fronts, involving so many different flares. >> that's right. one of the key fronts concerning many is in anbar province, amore. it is the main supply line out of anbar province towards baghdad, and it is coming under pressure from i.s.i.l. fighters.

if the town falls, it gives i.s.i.l. fighters a base to hit baghdad. on sunday the top u.s. general said that i.s.i.l. fighters was nearing the capital, and all that was going to stop them hitting the airport is a few apache helicopters. they have responded, mounting an offensive saying that the airport is secure, the perimeter of baghdad is secure, and asked state tv to put positive news stories out about how secure the capital is. we'll also keep hearing that i.s.i.l. fighters are in their thousands amassing on the border to come in. what we are hearing from international diplomatic and defense force, is that that is not true. there are i.s.i.l. fighters on the border. they are small in number, and are worried about the town of amory. that's the next front.

if that town falls, it could expose baghdad, because it gives i.s.i.l. a big base to operate from. >> a complex picture in the fight against i.s.i.l. complicated further by the fact that you have inter-iraqi tensions leading to attacks. it's been alleged by amnesty international that it's perpetrated by the shia militias against the sunni initiative. you have that sectarian violence as well. >> that's right. what we hear - we hear this more in more from international human rights foundations that because of the fight against i.s.i.l., shia militias are out of control. they are kidnapping for ransom, executing people. the shia militia leaders denied a lot of these reports, saying that these are effectively

foreign influencing groups like amnesty international, and saying that this is not what we do, that the shia militias are under the auspices of iraqi security forces and have a code of conduct that they stick to. it shows you that there's a lot of tension that goes back decades in this country that erupts when it comes to the sectarian issue, between the shi'as, and kurds as well. igniting those three blocs is key to beat i.s.i.l. they need to work together, particularly on the ground, because the air strikes are not doing enough. particularly in anbar province, the sunnis say we need a stronger ground force. >> we have the picture in iraq and around the baghdad area. let's go to the north, the oil-rich city of kirkuk, where security forces strengthened the security cordon around it in

order to prevent i.s.i.l. from getting in. i.s.i.l. fighters are outside the city. al jazeera's zooep join -- zeina khodr joined the iraqi police and kurdish forces on a security operation. >> reporter: the federal police and kurdish security forces cooperate in this corner of iraq. after all, they have a common enemy. they are looking for supporters of the islamic state of iraq and levant. the general, head of iraqi police in kirkuk is leading the operation, and directs his men towards a small village that doesn't just straddle a front line in northern iraq, but is at kirkuk's doorstep. >> the islamic state of iraq and levant repeatedly said it intends to push into the city of kirkuk. the security operation is part of ongoing efforts to prevent the armed group from taking over

the oil-rich region. it is not the first time troops raid the village. i.s.i.l. controls territory less than a kilometre away. security officials say it is used as a lambistics base -- as a logistics base. it's a sunni-arab village, and many are caught in the middle of the conflict. some feel falsely targeted, because like i.s.i.l.'s members, they are sunni. >> this is not directed against arabs. a terrorist is a terrorist. we are operating under the law, and don't detain those who are innocent. >> this man tries to explain to the police that he has done nothing wrong. his face doesn't match the photo on his identification card. he was detained. like these men who are from i.s.i.l. controlled distribute, they insisted that they left the area a long time ago, and denied

links with the armed group. their names were on a wanted list of suspects. and this is what troops found in a home - uniforms used by the police and kurdish forces. in another house - dozens of phone cards, and this i.s.i.l. pamphlet was in one of the cards. these crackdowns are necessary for security, and are causing tensions among iraq's communities. officials deny sunni arabs are being singled out. they say the sunni arabs are being released, but for now the evidence is enough to take them in for questioning now, the spread of the ebola virus is rampant in west africa. that's the bleak assessment of the world health organisation, 70 new occasions are being reported every day. the situation is worst in liberia, and guinea.

erica wood reports. >> yet another ebola victim is taken away in a body bad. in this chinese-run hospital in sierra leone, one of the biggest problems is a lack of awareness. >> translation: many patients almost know nothing about the ebola virus, going into the rooms of others once medical workers left, which challenges our attempts to control the virus. >> the world health organisation is using the word rampant to describe the spread of ebola in sierra leone. it, with guinea and liberia are the three worst-affected nations. almost 4,500 died from the outbreak, but with fear and stigma surrounding the virus, many victims are hidden away by scared relatives. the world health organisation says the real death toll a likely to be higher. doctors without borders need help. >> we have reached our limits.

that's why we are still astonished at the very slow and weakness of the actors, the state, military organization actors like the united nations and so on. i mean, they are deploying as we speak, but we don't see the result in the field. >> the w.h.o. agrees there's a major shortfall in supplies. in its latest report it says liberia needs almost 3,000 beds to treat patients. it has 620. guinea needs around 260 beds, but has 160, and sierra leone needs around 1,200, but right now it doesn't have a quarter of that. that's concerning. if there's no room in hospital, people are left to die at home, where they can spread the virus. supplies are coming in from the international community, but it

is not enough. the w.h.o. predicted the number of new cases is likely to increase from 1,000 up to 10,000 each week by december. the world needs to act now, or suffer the consequences later we can go live to amsterdam, an emergency reporter at doctors without borders or medecins sans frontieres. your organization has hit your organization, you have nothing to difficult. you have been wiped out. >> exactly. doctors without borders has been operation since last year. we have reached our tax - not a matter of money but personnel and logistics. we are trying to convince that more needs to happen. we have a few armies, we need

governments in the world to send more resources and personnel to manage. what we see now is international actors who have committed to build treatment centers much the challenge is not only to build them, but to operate and manage them. >> what is becoming perfectly evident is that this is such a threat to global security, not just west africa, that it can't be left to the voluntary section alone. you seem to appeal to state actors, governments, to get a move on to put things in place to contain the virus to the west african countries that are suffering from it. >> yes. every few weeks the numbers are replicating. it's hard to predict how it'll develop. every week it is clear.

this is not something you can leave to non-governmental organizations. they are at the end - volunteers who are trying to do their best. this requires strong operations and that's why we are appealing to the government. it needs a wholistic approach of logistics, material, transport and medical engagement. >> everyone agrees the response has been slow. in the last week there has been significant commitments from the united states and the british. wasn't it enkum band upon you, and organizations like yours, to get the message across more quickly. perhaps you weren't as forceful in letting this be known, how critical the current epidemic is. >> well, what you saw, if you

look at the history, you see doctors without borders has given regularly alarm signals. we started in april, if i recall well, starting to say that this is not the normal ebola outbreak. more needs to happen. they need to take it more serious, more sources need to be allocated, our messages became more and more urgent. and where we are trying to scream at the world to say things need to happen here. it's not something you can watch. it has been impact on the rest of the world, and the countries which have less well developed public health system, they are really at risk. it's an alarming situation, and if i look at doctors without borders, i think that we rang the alarm bells, but it more or less took the numbers to grow before people listen to us. >> thank you very much, indeed,

for telling us about m.s. s positions on ebola. thank you. >> we have a lot more to come here on al jazeera, including the dangerous search for climbers who are missing in the himalayan mountains. plus, ditching the draft. taiwan struggles to modernize its military forces. >> in sport, the kansas city royals end three years of misery. that later in the bulletin. now, shia houthi fighters in yemen have taken control of another major city south of capital, meeting no resistance as they took ib. it's not far from al qaeda-held areas in the east of the county, and it comes a day after the

houthi enters the port city of hudi,eda. let's make sense of some of this that is going on. we can talk to the editor of the yemen post. live to the capital sanaa. as we look at yemen from a distance, it looks very much as though it could be on the brink of fragmenting yet again. >> it's not complicated if you understand the scenario in yemen. the president, over the last two and a half years failed in the fight against al qaeda. he needs to find a new solution. . that's where the houthis come in, pro-shia militants. they are using the houthis to fight al qaeda, in sanaa and other provinces. the idea of spreading the

houthis around the provinces, and the southern provinces in the weeks to come, to be the lead fight, while the government takes the second step and helping them with the air strikes. >> you say it is o strayed by the president for the fight against al qaeda. >> this is orchestrated by many countries, they cannot defeat al qaeda. it doesn't make sense that sanaa couldn't be handed over to the houthis. you have ib province, and other provinces all without clashes and fighting. the only explanation, and from what we got from the presidential office is that the president is giving the banner

to fight al qaeda to the houthis, hoping that they could defeat them. this - the worries is that this could cause sectarian tension in yemen. yesterday there are hundreds of tribesman joining the lines of al qaeda, not because they like or support al qaeda or are loyal to them, but they are against the spread of the houthis in their areas, which are prodominant sunni. >> can i ask you briefly about how the successionist calls in the south, how that fits into the wider picture. because underneath all the turmoil that we are seeing in the wake of the houthi passage through the country. >> it's a complete package. i don't - i won't be surprised if i see houthi militants creating their own checkpoints

in many of the southern provinces within the next two weeks. the southern worries are serious. if no serious note is taken by the government, by november 30th, that is when the southerners will announce separation. that's where the houthis come in, that i expect and believe will create their own check points in areas of the south, upped the slogan -- under the slogan of fighting terror or security in those areas. the houthis are linked to the north and the southern issue closely and soon. >> no one explains yemen like you. thank you indeed. egypt is denying allegations that its air force has bombed factorings in benghazi. a politician in tripoli claims that there is involvement.

>> reporter: the battle for benghazi is fought from the ground and from the air. forces loyal to renegade general wants to liberate terror. many are defiant. >> the army barracks are still around. we will show you anyone that dares to mess with us, we will bury them. benghazi will be your graveyard. >> as the battle intensifies, there has been more allegations that egypt's air forces bombed targets in the city. >> after the surprise visit by the u.n. chief calling for peace in libya, we were surprised there were no calls for u.a.e. and egypt to stop their blatant

interference. we know that it is unacceptable to help general khalifa haftar with the air strikes. egypt's government denied involvement, but some say it's in their interest to get rid them. >> egypt is dealing with its open muslim brotherhood, and would not like to see an islamic regime neighbouring in libya, and so it will do its utmost to make sure that it represents the government whatever system it is, while it emerges in libya. >> libya is in the grips of the worst violence and political turmoil since the uprisal that toppled muammar gaddafi in 2011. it's been run by two governments and a number of armed groups vying for power, and upwilling to compromise. >> the u.s. state department

says the secretary of state john kerry raised the case of the three gaoled al jazeera journalists whilst on a visit to the egyptian capital. peter greste, mohamed fadel fahmy and baher mohamed have been detained in egypt for 292 days. they are wrongly aused of aiding the -- accused of aiding the outlawed muslim brotherhood, and are appealing against their convictions. al jazeera continues to demand their immediate release. >> hong kong's government agreed to revooef talks with students -- revive talks about students as to who they can vote for. the announcement is a step forward after weeks of demonstrations shut down parts of the city. meanwhile seven police officers have been suspended af being caught on camera, appearing to beat a member of the local political party. sara clerk has more. >> after hours under arrest, ken

is defiant but bruised. >> there's a number of police officer brutally assaulting me. while i was retained. >> this is what he says is the result - bruises and cuts on his face and body, when he was allegedly hand cuffed and beaten by six plain clothes officers. he's taking legal action against the police. prior to that i was assaulted and later assaulted again in a police station. >> the attack was caught on camera and televised around the world. the beating reportedly wept on for four minutes, and left a lasting image on demonstrators, more determined to stay put. >> i was shocked. i never imagined police could do

this. >> rob was born in hong kong, but lives in canada. he and his wife have gone home to show support. >> i appreciate - the appreciation from the bottom of my heart, that i see something is new, that i didn't see before. >> hong kong's chief announced he want to resume talks to a city paralyzed by a demonstration in its third week. >> the most constructive thing is to sit down and listen to the students, what we can do together, within the framework of the national people's congress standard committee. >> the talks are expect to be held next week, with the chance lors appointed as the mediators. protesters said the doors are open for direct dialogue. after the last meeting was cancelled by the government,

students are cautious. >> nepal's trekking agency says 89 climbers are upaccounted for after a series of blizzard av lamps. 25 -- avalanches. 25 are dead, most foreign trekkers. we have this report near where the rescue is taking place. >> we are at at muktinath at the base of where trekkers are stranded. the army choppers are next to us. around the corner from us. there are five bodies brought this morning. yesterday was a day when four bodies were taken to kathmandu. it's unlikely, the whether is beautiful, but the army choppers were rescuing people. up in the pass around 2,400 meters, the whether is turning,

and it will be give for the army to recover bodies or arrest more people. it's an extremely popular trekking route. there are hundreds of people that come every day. we were talking to army personnel who were saying that 54 people were registered from the other side of the mountain that have not been in touch, that have lost contact. a lot of people were coming down with broken limbs. a lot of people - looks like a lot of people are trying to take shelter in areas, wherever there was a dip. it was more than an avalanche, it was a snow storm, and people were buried underneath it. it is difficult to figure out. the know is deep up there. whoever has been rescued are people seen. recovered bodies, when the snow

melts, people see the bodies. it's difficult to say how many are still up there. >> everton has been looking at nepal and the weather. what do you have. >> conditions are good. there is fine and dri weather. little weather showing up. what weather we do have is squeezed out of the system. on the back of a psych lop, which made -- cyclone, which made its way through. there's the wetter weather pushed to the east, because the system made its way up, running into the himalayases, couldn't go anywhere, pushed out of the way. lots of warmth with it being a tropical system, and made its way eastward. drier weather coming in behind, and further as we come on through the coming days. hopefully that should be of some

assistance. on the other side of the world, where there's concerns into the caribbean and the atlantic and bermuda, you see the cloud, this is the latest tropical system, and this is a hurricane gone zalo. it's a powerful system, category 4, winds of 215 k/hr, and higher gusts. it will weaken as we go on through the next 24-26 hours. it will pass close to bermuda. strongest winds on the eastern flank. it will bring nasty conditions in as we go through friday. it is dry here. as we go on into friday, as you can see, we see the wet weather setting in. it was affected by hurricane fay. within the space of a weeping, we are looking at two systems coming through. we see a system every two years coming in across.

this is unprecedented. it will bring flooding rains and damaging winds. >> everton, thank you. still to come at al jazeera - inside north korea. the military tells us what it could take to give up its nuclear ambitions. >> and we go to mozambique where votes are being counted after the presidential election. >> in sport, find out civilians, football legends inspiring his team to victory.

hello again. welcome back to the al jazeera newshour. these are the top stories. the u.s. says its killed hundreds of fighters from the islamic state of iraq and levant in the syrian town of kobane. kurdish fighters managed to stay in control of a majority of the town, despite a month-long i.s.i.l. assault. transmission of the ebola virus in the worst-hit countries is rampant according to w.h.o. 70 new cases are being reported. the spread is worsening in liberia, and guinea. >> nepal's trekking agency says 89 climbers are unaccounted for after blizzards triggered avalanches. 25 are dead, most foreign trekkers. >> the votes are being counted after presidential and parliamentary elections in

mozambique. the opposition party says it uncovered signs of a possible election fraud. tonya page has more from the capital. >> what the leader told us is that there'd been widespread power cuts, he was suspicious about the timing, some polling stations had to conduct their count in the dark, which clearly is not ideal. he said some polling stations opened late. the head of the electoral commission which i'm standing outside, this is the nerve center where the results will come into. the head of the commission said in one of the northern prove since that a member held election, polling booth hostage. he said that they have been coluting with the governing party in stuffing ballot boxes. those are some of the allegations. there are a few more, but they appear, i have to say, to be

relatively isolated incidents because, remember, there are 17,000 polling stations across the country. and that is why we have seen the head of the observer election from the regional body saying that this has been a smooth election, staying with the electoral commission behind me, relatively mooth on the whole. >> there has been violent protests in mexico against the disappearance of students who went missing three months ago. crowds in the capital started fires and smashed window in the attorney-general's office. they are demanding government action to find the 43 missing students. adam raney has more from mexico city. >> here is this protest outside the office. attention is focused more and

more on the humanity of the missing stunds. protesters are carrying signs of the students, reading out their names in a display showing that these are individuals. 43 is not a number that can be forgotten or put out of find. they are trying to put attention on the humanity as a way of putting pressure on pena nieto and the attorney-general your, so they'll find the students and the people responsible for their disappearance and bring them to yuz. justice. the president spoke promising to use the full force of his office to bring them to justice. people here don't have faith in him or the institutions, saying that they live in a narco state, where criminal organisations and criminals are one and the same. guerra, where the student went missing has seen hundreds found

in mass graves, and the fact that the attorney-general couldn't confirm the identity of bodies found, has led to more uncertainty, and to more of a lack of faith and trust in the government. these people are not going to stop protesting until the students return and the government brings those responsible for it to justice. >> now, u.s. prisoner david mccull 'em spent almost 30 years behind bars for a murder he didn't commit. he has been released, but a prosecutor says the ordeal is not an isolated case. kristen saloomey was in court to see the miskarm of justice -- miss karmg of justice reversed. >> reporter: the last time this man appeared before a judge he was 15 and found guilty of murder. now at age 35 the judge admitted there was a mistake. >> i will dismiss the

indictment. >> sitting behind him in court was her rosemary. her son was quicted with mccall aum. he died in prison. >> these two tooep imers had no chance with professional integrators. >> mccallum's case was championed by the late hurricane carter, a boxer who himself had been wrongfully convicted in the 1960s. the stunning reversal came at the request of the attorney, ken thompson helped to overturn convictions of his predeassessors. >> my main duty is not just to qulent, but do justice. when i walk through the doors, i inherited a legacy of disgrace with respect to wrongful conviction cases. >> mccallum confessed to stealing a car. each accused the others.

there was not a shred of evidence linking either to the crimes, and the confessions were forced. >> he was lied to, manipulated, physically assaulted, and all of those things. >> tests performed by mccallum's legal team found someone else's d.n.a. on secrets. >> d.n.a. helped to exxon rate over 300 people, and it changed the way experts look at confessions. a third of those who had their convictions overturned at one point conifsed to the crime. >> i -- p confessed to the frim. crime. >> i want to go home. it's a bittersweet moment. i'm walking out alone. >> mccallum plans to help others. >> people need to pay attentions for those that cry for help. >> hundreds of convictions are

being re-evaluated in brooklyn alone north and south korea have held their first high level military talks in seven years. discussions took place in the border village. teresa bow from al jazeera has been granted prime ministers to film in the north korean area on the northern side. we can talk to teresa who is now in seoul. tell us about this fascinating trip. >> well, as you say, it was a fascinating trip, but difficult, too, especially as a journalist. it was carefully planned and staged. we had a tight schedule, very little time on each one of the locations, especially this is a very big challenge for the tv crews, having little time where we wept, when all the people we were supposed to interview are

pre set, everything was planned. it was very, very challenging. we arrived at an interesting time. it was a time when kim jong un had not been seep for at least a month. it was interesting to be in the city. we heard rumours before that the capital had been shut down, but we were able to go in and saw on the streets everything seemed normal, people were celebrating the workers party of korea, they were worried about their leader's health, but at the same time they expected him to be back soon. as a journalist it was an interesting experience and a controlled trip too. also we went - we had the possibility to go to several locations, universities, schools and talking to people in pyongyang, and outside. we went to an area where many talks are taking place. there we spoke to north korean officials about why they are not planning to dismantle a nuclear weapons programme soon. >> on the road, along the border

between the two koreas. a drive along the empty road. it's a last vestige of the war. this is one of the most heavily fortified border areas of the world. we have passed three check points, but were not allowed to film because of security concerns. >> we came to meet a ltcol of the korean people's army, and he gives his version of why there has been an change of fire at the border. it's time to uplift the atmosphere for the reyupification. south korea sends balloons with leaflets, and shows that it's a reunification, and wants to lead to the war. >> on wednesday, north and south korea met for the first time in four years, to discuss military issues across the border. at the demilitarized zone, it

made clear we can only film where we are supposed to. this is parallel 68. >> translation: that side is the u.s. and south korea, all of this is north korea. there are south korean dogs. >> north korean soldiers face off against their enemies, the south koreans, and the united states. >> reporter: this is as impose as we can get, you see the tourists. we were supposed to go in the blue building, but the doors are closed. there's 40,000 troops on the other side and 1,000 nuclear weapons, the u.s. have 30,000 troops in the southern part of the peninsula, and there haven't been nuclear weapons in the suth. the west is saying north korea needs to dismantle its nuclear weapons programme.

what will it take? >> we will give up when the countries that threaten us give up their nuclear weapons, once theirs disappear, so will ours. >> it is a nuclear question that keeps north korea isolated and under international sanctions. analysts in seoul agree. it is unlikely the north will dismantle its nuclear programme soon. >> these priorities - these are the powers. the reason why the north koreans are shouting loud about war is dead. that is the only way that kim jong un can rule the society. >> reporter: the latest military talks are a step forward, but clearly the road to formal peace is long. >> translation: we'll target those that provide a base or september assistance to the u.s., japan or south korea to

invade our country, we'll target them wherever they are in the world. >> threats and provocation make it diff to imagine an end to a war that divided korea said six decades ago. >> what we heard the lieutenant colonel say at the border, what the people in pyongyang a, that it's necessary for north korea to have a nuclear weapon programme. that's a deterrent, the only way to protect themselves from a foreign invasion, and that is raped again and again. the other issue we heard about was reunification, everywhere in north korea, everyone we spoke to talks about the possibility of a federation with two systems. they say that this is necessary for the peninsula to be united. the maps in north korea show the korean peninsula as one.

the possibility is rare. there's cycles of squirmishes and provocation. the possibility of peace seems rare. in north korea people are saying as long as the united states army remains. the possibility of peace is small. >> thank you for that. teresa bo, our correspondent talking to us live from the seen capital about her trip to north korea. >> still to come at al jazeera - he may have left liverpool for barcelona, but this golden boy commands the affection of the reds. sanaa with the details.

>> protestors are gathering... >> there's an air of tension right now... >> the crowd chanting for democracy... >> this is another significant development... >> we have an exclusive story tonight, and we go live...

now, taiwan launched an ambitious plan to transfer its military from a con scripted force to a volunteer one. but the undertaking has been hampered by scandals and setbacks. our correspondent has been given exclusive access. >> reporter: to see the failings of the armed forces you only need to spend a day with the conscripts. since 1949 all men had to serve time in the military. after decades of relative peace, the marshal's spirit is gone. >> rather than preparing to battle an enemy - fewer people

in tai wran are having -- taiwan are having children. >> with conscriptions so unpopular, taiwan is ditching a draft, transforming the military into a volunteer one. special force soldiers will be expected to play a larger role. these trainees are trying to become frog men, members of the seals. >> on 10 have gotten this far. >> part of their problem is image. >> draftee houng chun chu was caught taking a smartphone on to a base. she was held and had to endure hours of drills, until he collapsed of heat exhaustion. his death led to protests. and the government was forced to

delay implementing the volunteer army from this year to 2017. still the island's president says taiwan has no choice but to modernize its forces. >> translation: the all volunteer force, the soldiers and officers will receive more training and be more affective. i'm confident in this regard. back with the special force trainees, we see challenges. it's the final night of the triumphs. some are struggling to stay awake. >> when it comes to will power, this bump is not as strong who are decisive. some are not solid. superiors tell us they've been easing the physical requirements. while this test is not a punishment, it is geared to taxing every aspect of the

soldier from the physical or the mental. the trainers are looking for whether these recruits have the will to go on. >> whether ready or not, the responsibility of defense will be on the shoulders of members of the volunteer force. the success or failure could scrilent the future of hong kong. >> you can see the fall report on '101 east" at this time. >> time for the sports news with sanaa. >> thank you. we'll start with kansas city royals earning a royal series win for the first time since 1985, completing a clean sweep of the post season. clinical work saw them defeat the baltimore oils on wednesday. >> reporter: it's been three

excruciating decades of disappointment for cannes sass city royals fans, after make it the play off, it was to change. essay bar got his side off to a -- estabar took his team off to a great start. the orioles got a run on the board with ryan flaherty belting the ball deep into the crowd. that was to be their only joy of the match, with alex gordon outstanding in defense, smashing himself into the wall, robin baltimore's run. >> the royals rallied, putting their bodies on the line to deny their opponent. >> mark added the final touch, ending the game to send the royals through to the world series with a 2-1 victory. >> 29 years of frustration ended, the royals are going to

the world series. >> i have to go in. score run, and play two games. come in and just shake guys down. i mean, guys stepped up. we are clicking at the right moment right now. my whole goal - none of this was about me. to win a championship was about this city, our fans and players. i've been there six times before. i want my players to experience it, i wanted the city of kansas city to experience it. we'll do it here next week. >> the royals become the only m.l.b. team to go into a post season with eight wins in a row, and it begins tuesday at kaufman stayed numb in kansas -- stadium in kansas city. the san francisco giants are rah win away from joining the

kansas city royals. they have 3-1 lead over the st louis cardinals. they were behind in a game 4 at home. the home run had put the cardinals 4-1 up. san francisco was helped by errors by first baseman mat adams. it short throw allowed juan to slide in safely. and he threw widely to second base, allowing him to get home. san francisco won 6-4. >> they did a great job. great ways for crawford. the panic hit. fine ways to manufacture runs. guys did a great job. it's a comeback. >> he may have left liverpool for barcelona.

luis suarez is loved by many reds, celebrated for the good things he did on the pitch. he was presented with a golden shoe by former liverpool boss kenny dal geesh. finishing as the top scorer. the barcelona forward says he owes much to his former team. >> they help me. it's important for me and my family. >> the first countries to qualify for next year's african cup of nations in morocco. algeria made sure of their place with a 3-0 win over malawi. the ivory coast is in danger of missing out. beaten 4-3 by the democratic republic of congo, leaving them

third, with only the top two guaranteed to qualify. to formula 1. two-time world champion fernando alonzo is set to leave ferrari. it's been confirmed by their former president. he said the 33-year-old spaniard wants to move to a winning team offer a disappointing time at ferrari. fernando alonzo is expected to return to mclarn. >> martin kay mar won the -- kay mar won the world championship, leading offer two games, and wednesday tied with watson, after 36 holes. the german managed to birdy the par four 18s on the first extra hole to feel the victory.

camar bet watson during the ryder cup last month. >> he said to me every same you may me you are god. good. i'll have to stop being mean to you. i talked to my caddy, on the 16th, i said it feels like the play off at the pg. he made birdie, i didn't. 16 looked similar to 17. so there was a lot of similarities haing today. obviously i'm never hope the way i finish it off. >> more details on the website. check out aljazeera.com/sport and get in touch with the team using twitter and facebook. >> thank you very much indeed. that's it to sanaa and from me for now. coming up next - taking you through the next couple of hours at al jazeera - darren jordon.

>> calls for flight bans and the head of the c.d.c. to resign. why the agency said it was ok for a nurse to get on a flight after she was exposed to ebola. the outbreak, missteps and what's being done today to keep it contained. >> we are striking targets around kobane for humanitarian purposes. >> helping kurdish fighters regain ground near a