>> a ceasefire deal is reached in nigeria between the government and the group behind the kidnapping of dozens of schoolgirls. ♪ hello and welcome to al jazeera, i'm sami zeidan live from our headquarters in doha. also coming up on the show, more fighting between houthis, government troops and the military. and fighting rages on in

benghazi. an al-qaeda linked group in the philippines frees two german hostages after holding them for almost six months. ♪ we begin with a developing story out of nigeria now where the government has reached a ceasefire deal with boko haram. that's the armed group that has kidnapped dozens of high school girls earlier this year. we'll be hearing more later from our correspondent from west africa. let's shift gears to another hot spot. in yemen houthi rebels are fighting al-qaeda-linked gunmen. houthi leaders have sent more fighters to an al-qaeda strong

hold. but the shia minority are facing a backlash. >> reporter: soon after the friday prayers were over in sana'a, there was a clear message to the houthi fighters. houthis are not welcome here. and a pledge to protect their country. they have 2.5 million people here, most sunni. and if fighting with houthis starts it could bring a sectarian aspect to the crisis. >> translator: no one can enter by force. by the pow over my office under the constitution, my ethical duty is to securitize. it is our duty to provide security to citizens under these

circumstances, where the strong devours the weak. >> reporter: in the province south of sana'a, fighters gathered and fought with the houthis who took control of part of the province on wednesday. the fighters demand the houthis leave the city. but the group remains unopposed in other parts of the country, controlling more than six provinces and the important port on the red sea. they also control the capitol. yemen now has a new reality with the houthis emerging as a powerful force. but many people here question the ability of the military to stop the houthi alliance. many believe that the military has been formed to settle old scores with their common

enemies. sixteen people have been killed as rival militias battle for control of the libyan city of benghazi. soldiers loyal to formal general, khalifa hifter, have formed an offensive to regain the city. >> translator: they shelled our house in the middle of the night. my son was injured, but when we got him to hospital, the doctors said they could don't anything for him. and he died. the nigerian government announcing it has reached a ceasefire agreement with boko haram. let's go live to our correspondent. not a lot of details, although the government does say these girls will be released, not a lot of details on when. >> well, this is what we know. the defense forces ordered all

soldiers not to attack boko haram strong holds, and boko haram has promised or said it will not attack civilians or soldiers. in terms of the more than 200 girls abducted six months ago, we are told substantial progress has been made, but there's no date as to when these girls will be released. we know one condition boko haram had was they wanted a top commander released from prison, where they are being held. we also know these talks are continue into next week, so in a few more days perhaps we'll have a clearer understanding of what is going on. >> any indication of how far this is likely to go? >> reporter: i didn't quite hear the question. >> yeah, any indication if

there's a processing beyond the ceasefire to resolve the conflict? >> reporter: all we know is that government officials at boko haram are talking. now people have heard this before. there have been many talks starting and stopping and then the violence begins again. people are most concerned in the north and northeast of nigeria, people going through on almost a daily basis of people being attacked and kill, and then, of course, the parents of these missing girls. so a lot of people right now waiting for some kind of answers. i think people understand it is a process. they understand that these talks do have to happen, but patience is starting to run out. people want answers and peace.

of course norse parents, they want their girls home as soon as possible. sami. >> thanks so much. let's take you to syria now where more air strikes have taken place. they have been targeting group of isil in and around the border. >> reporter: a barrage of u.s.-lead coalition air strikes in and around kobani in the last four days have halted the advance of fighters from the islamic state of iraq and the levant. one kurdish activist in the town says bodies of isil fighters are littering the streets. the battle for kobani has taken place without the involvement of the turkish military. the government here wants to target the regime of the syrian president as well as isil.

but the u.s. only has isil in its sites. kurdish leaders from kobani say eyre air strikes won't be enough to save their town. >> if they send when -- wh when -when -- and ammunition, the battle will end soon, but if it stays like this, the battle will be long. >> reporter: kurdish fighters say ildz -- isil wants the border crossing so it can send its injured fighters for treatment. they have sent in more and more fighters as reinforcements. that's partly why the u.s. said there has been an increase in air strikes. they have more targets to hit. the battle for this town,

though, is far from over. the pentagon has held a briefing on the latest air strikes, let's go straight to rosiland jordan who is at the state department. so the message is the fight against isil will take time, rossland. >> reporter: it will take a long time. that is the message sent for what is being called operation inherent resolve. the general had his first-ever press conference since he took the job 18 months ago. and he said the air strikes which the u.s. and coalition partners are carrying out are having an impact, but as you indicated, sami, it will take time. >> we're no longer seeing them move around the country in large convoys. now they are mostly traveling in civilian vehicles in smaller numbers. this is hindering their ability to amass and shift combat power.

we have also seen them alter their methods of communication. and so we are having the desired effects, but this will take some time. >> reporter: now there were two other points which general austin made to reporters, one that he is not opposed in principle to the concept of establishing some sort of buffer zone or no fly zone in northeastern syria on the border with turkey if that's what it takes to help to continue to contain isil's advances, but he said it's a policy decision, something for president barack obama and other civilian leaders to decide whether that is where general austin should be arranging his forces. and he noted that it is going to be take a considerable amount of time to basically enhance the capabilities of the iraqi security forces. he said there has been a period of what he called neglect. we didn't get a chance, though,

to ask him what he meant by who neglected the iraqi military. >> rosiland jordan from the state department. across the border in iraq, the security forces are trying to push back isil fighters in several regions. the iraqi army and police have launched escalation and shelling in a mosque has also killed ten people in tikrit. it has a sick economy, but a healthy job market, how russia is managing to keep a low unemployment rate. and now imagination and innovation in cape town are helping students design their city and their future. ♪

>> i wanted to be in on the big >> many of these involved

♪ you are watching al jazeera, let's recap our headlines now. the nigerian government has reached a ceasefire agreement with boko haram. negotiations are believed to still be underway for the release of the kidnapped schoolgirls. at least ten people have been killed in yemen in the battle between two groups. air strikes from the u.s. and its allies have pushed back fighters from islamic state of iraq and the levant. the armed group is trying to capture the syrian border town of kobani. philippine rebel group, abu

sayyaf has released two german hostages. officials report a portion of their ransom was paid. harry fawcett has more details from southern philippines. >> reporter: confirmation late friday night from the philippine military that the two german hostages have indeed been released and are now in philippine military hands. that follows an announcement coming from the fighters earlier in the evening, one which we heard ourselves. we wish they had been in contact throughout this hostage crisis. the message came through live on air that these two individuals had been handed over to philippine authorities.

abu sayyaf said they had been paid the full ransom amount they had been seeking, $5.6 million. no confirmation from either the government or the military here. and that followed a day of what appeared to be intense negotiations. the deadline for the beheading was pushed back by two hours as these negotiation carried on. increased military activity as well. now the military says they were first taken to the base and will be transported by boat here to the city, where a naval base is being prepared, medical facilities and beds and then they will fly on to the capitol. hong kong police used pepper spray and batons against protesters who had gathered. it's part of a wide effort by police to put an end to the

protests. >> reporter: the police greatly outnumbered the dozens of protesters. it was considered a high-risk zone. this area has been the scene of some of the most violent confrontations. police have managed to clear three protest sites, but their biggest one will be this one. its leaders have told protesters to stay put despite agreeing to talk to the government. >> we don't know whether or what the government deliver to hong kong people. so i guess it only has to be after we have the dialogue, we can see what the government can provide. >> reporter: the protesters have been calling for full democracy by 2017, a demand the chief executive says is impossible, because beijing will not change

its decision to vet candidates for the election. the government has made it clear they will no longer tolerate the blocked roads and highways, and they say they will not use the protest sites as a bargaining chip in their up-coming discussions. there are at least 700 tents at this sighted. the students are making sure they will be able to stay as long as it takes by making it comfortable as possible, and even setting up study centers. >> we [ inaudible ] protests until the last minute when the government trying to have some really action -- to take some really -- real action instead of just saying something useless. >> reporter: despite the early-morning clearouts, by evening crowds had gathered again at the intersection to show their support for the protesters there. while the government succeeded in physically taking down the

barriers, the protesters say it will take a lot more effort to break their will. the kremlin says president vladimir putin's meeting with petro poroshenko in italy was difficult and full of misunderstandings. the two leaders met on the sidelines of a summit. they talked about the falters ceasefire in ukraine and the gas supply dispute. many european countries have jobless rates in the double digits. but new figures put russia just under 5% despite serious problems for the russian economy. >> reporter: a job fair in moscow and this company is looking for please. disinfecting hospitals isn't particularly glamorous work, but it pays. he is finding it difficult to replace his aging work force.

>> translator: people that retire are highly skilled professionals. they are now entrusted in training the new staff, but at the moment there's no adequate replacement. there are no longer specialized colleges that teach this profession. >> reporter: it's a situation many companies face here, a shortage of specialists, and with an official unemployment rate that would be the envoy of many countries russia seems to have more jobs than workers. >> translator: the registered level of unemployment is lower than it used to be. now we have 3,000 unemployed in this district, but five years ago the rate was much higher. in our district alone we have over 16,000 job vacancies. >> reporter: russia's low unemployment figures can seem like a paradox, how can a country with such a sickly economy not have a better

joblessness. russia has long through a long period of population decline, and it's population is aging, therefore there aren't enough people to service even a stagnating economy. but this social economist thinks this explanation is too simplistic. russia's low unemployment situation he says is more complicated than that. >> translator: one of the factors is the shadow economy and the casual in the shadow economy pace more than unemployment benefits. this is a very important factor. the other one is that many companies in russia maintain a low-performance level. if we compare the manpower productivity in russia and other developed countries, we are lagging behind. >> reporter: in other words, russian firms should probably have smaller work forces than they do, and the unemployment numbers themselves could be misleading as a large chunk of the economy is off the books.

but if russia's economy continues to deteriorate, employers, and unemployment figures might be forced to get real. rory challands, al jazeera, moscow. now rescuers are widening their search for stranded trekkers in nepal. at least 29 people were killed and dozens of trekkers are missing. we have more. >> reporter: the recovery operation of those missing from tuesday's snow storm has halted after rescuers have had to focus their attention on rescuing and evacuating around 40 trekkers who tried to pass just right behind me. the trekkers who were evacuated, the ones that we met, said that they had absolutely no idea that

the path further down was completely blocked. the army official that we talked to earlier said that there's still -- the snow and ice is chest deep and impossible to cross. the army officials and the other rescuers, local and private chopper pilots have already been stretched and working flat out, and had the trekkers not started moving, they could have continued with the recovery process, so the government has stepped up recently and -- and the information has gone out to the remaining trekkers who are stranded up in the other side to not move, because the path are still blocked, but -- and the government has also been saying that their information, system, their weather preparedness system is going to be better, but critics are saying that their response has been very slow, and maybe this is a bit too little, a bit too late.

well the genocide trial of two former ka mare rouge leaders has resumed in cambodia. they face charges over the killings of ethnic vietnamese. in august the same court gave them life sentences in a separate trial for crimes against humanity. the u.s. president has appointed a white official to spear head the ebola outbreak. he comes as three caribbean countries restricken try to people traveling from sierra leone, liberia, and guinea. >> reporter: this is the hospital in the capitol. here people with ebola and those suspected to be incubating it are treated. part of an outbreak who's threat has now convinced three caribbean countries to institute

travel not the united states, who's president says a ban could be counterproductive. >> history shows that there is a likelihood of increased avoidance. people do not readily disclose their information. they may engage in something called broken travel, essentially breaking up their trip so they can hide the fact that they have been to one of these countries where there is a disease in place. >> reporter: in west africa itself the number killed by the disease is now about 4.5 thousand. liberia has been one of the hardest hit countries. it is home to 4 million people. 80% of the population live in poverty. the government spends $102 per person per year on health. but there are less than 50 doctors in the country. and they are having to cope with thousands of ebola patients. >> we have treated over 2,600 as

of today -- 2,600 people, who have been infected by the virus or been in contact with people. >> reporter: the u.n. has renewed an urgent appeal for countries to send more money. but aide agencies say money alone is not the answer. >> we need more people to come to work here. we don't need money. we need people. we don't need head, we need arms and legs. >> reporter: but health workers are among the most at-risk people in this outbreak. dominic kane, al jazeera. a british naval medical ship has left southern england for sierra leone to help contain ebola. it is carrying a crew of about 350 members of the british armed

forces. it has been set up as a medical facility to help the deployment in sierra leone. the ship is expected to reach the west african country at the end of the month. in mozambique the opposition party is demanding another presidential and parliamentary election. results show the ruling party won wednesday's vote, but opposition leaders are rejecting the results. they claim fraud. design experts worldwide are focused on cape town, south africa. the title is meant to inspire cities to rethink how to promote social change. projects in cape town are aimed at transforming everything from classrooms to neighborhoods. >> reporter: like any school at lunchtime, the girls are in a huddle, the boys are messing

around, and like about 85% of south african schools, it didn't have a library. but private sponsors have built one. the initiative aims to promote cities that use design to advance their social, cultural and urban development. it's all about meeting the people's needs. >> [ inaudible ] our teacher she listens and spelling. >> the good thing about the library is you can go any time. you are free to go any time. even after school. >> reporter: another school is getting a garden. the children will grow their own vegetable to supplement the daily meal the government provides. it's an example of how those running the project want to see the design as part for everyone.

>> it's to say don't think about the word design. think about it as design thinking as a way of solving problems. not the fabulosity of the architect. apartheid was designed to transform people, but the capitol title can further activate change. >> all of the projects that make -- like this bigger picture that we're looking at every year, so at a micro level like at the schools and things like that. but i think it could be activated more. >> reporter: one of the problems is what people call the bridge to nowhere. more than 20 years ago, the engineers realized there was a mistake with the design, so construction stopped. it has been like this ever since. it's a big design failure right

in the heart of the city. but now university students are being asked to come up with solutions. it could soon be more than a pigeon's perch. the show goes on, online at homeandfamilytv.com.